Chapter Five

Sébastien did the buttons on his trousers before he turned to grab the lantern he'd set down. Sudden, sharp agony pierced his left thigh, and he was sure a few dozen needles had stabbed his flesh. It was enough to make him shout as he looked at his thigh.

A yellow thing had latched onto him. He smacked at it which only made the pain worse, and it didn't let go.

"Fuck!"

As he jerked backward and swiped at it again, vines snapped, and the thing remained stuck on him. The pain didn't grow any better. In fact, it started to burn.

Remus didn't say anything about yellow things that bit people. He grabbed the lantern and ran toward the beach.

"It's biting me!" Sébastien screamed as he swiped at it again. "FUCK!"

Remus was already rushing toward him, and Whisper neighed.

The damn thing hurt more with every second, so Sébastien finally grabbed it fully and ripped it off. That was agonizing, but it was off at least. The thing, whatever it was, landed in the sand with a soft thump.

"Damnit!" Remus snapped as he came close enough and saw it. "Come here!"

"Don't tell me to come here! It fucking hurts!" Sébastien pushed away Remus before he stumbled to the side and clutched at his leg. Anger burned through him. "Fuck!"

"Stop moving," said Remus.

"You told me nothing was in there!"

"I didn't know there'd be a tooth trap! They're usually much farther south, and people destroy them when they can."

"I don't know what the fuck a tooth trap is!"

"It's a plant. It bites anything that touches it, and it really hurts."

"Yeah, no shit! I can feel it fucking hurts."

"You're not supposed to rip it off like that!"

"How would I know?!"

Strength trickled from Sébastien's limbs, and his hands started to shake. Even with the trap off, the bite burned, and he thought about stumbling into the water. The salt likely wouldn't help.

"You're not going to feel too good, but I promise you won't die." Remus held up his hands, and for a moment, Sébastien almost wanted to deck him. He'd said nothing was out there, and now he had a few dozen flaming pinholes in his thigh. Putting weight on his leg was almost too much.

"It feels like it's on fire," Sébastien said through gritted teeth.

"It has poison, but it's for bugs, frogs, and that kind of stuff. It's more to incapacitate them, and it won't kill a fairy unless they're extremely sick and weak. Even then, it likely won't. It also won't liquefy your leg. The needles need to come out because I'm sure you've got quite a few stuck in there. Come on. I'll bring you over to our stuff."

"Don't touch me," Sébastien snarled as Remus reached for his arm, and he turned away.

"You can't walk on that, and the needles have to come out. You can't leave them. I know how to do this because Quintus got one on his arm once. He pulled it off a bit more gently, but a few still were stuck in him."

Sébastien needed a second, and he'd go over to their stuff on his own. He didn't need help fucking walking. Once the burning wasn't so bad, he'd deal with it and get the needles out. No one was touching his damn thighs.

The lantern light jiggled as his limbs trembled. Sweat was already blossoming on his face and chest, and he wanted to curse himself for being so fucking stupid and not paying attention to his surroundings. Whisper had come over, and he nudged Sébastien's hair with a whicker.

"Sébastien, I'm sorry. I didn't know there'd be any tooth traps around here. Please, let me help you. Your hands are shaking."

Sébastien's first instinct was to snap that he'd manage it himself. Except his hands were trembling so badly, he might push the needles in farther which wouldn't help. He could barely keep one steady as he planted a hand on Whisper who was nosing at his shoulder in concern. The whole process would take forever. How could he let anyone touch his bare thigh? He'd have to take off his trousers just to properly see the area.

It was Remus, not some other stranger, and Remus wouldn't use his weakness as a weapon to take advantage of him in any way. He wouldn't demand something as payment in return either because he wasn't the Regent.

"Fine."

Remus approached and took the crystal lantern. "He'll be okay, Whisper."

The unicorn stamped a hoof and backed up. Remus hooked the lantern on his belt. "Uh…this will probably be easier if you take off your trousers. Or I guess I could cut the leg enough so I can see the wound. The punctures are going to bleed, so it needs to be wrapped too so you don't get sand in them."

Sébastien could put on a new pair afterward, and he wouldn't have to remove his drawers. "Fine." He tried to make his shaking fingers work on the buckle.

"Do you want me to?"

"Mhm." Sébastien couldn't bring himself to look at Remus. This was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be this weak. If he'd fucking been more careful, he wouldn't be practically helpless. If anyone came at him with a sword right there, he couldn't fight back. He'd be lucky to draw his weapon without rattling it in the scabbard.

Remus undid the belt and buttons and pulled down his trousers while keeping the waist away from the wound on his thigh. He let them drop the rest of the way and went around on Sébastien's other side to take his shoulders. "Step out."

Once Sébastien's legs were entirely free, Remus carefully scooped him up like a bride.

"What are you doing?"

"You're not walking. The movement would press more poison into your flesh. I said you didn't have to carry everything, and if that means carrying you..."

Before, when he'd made Remus pick him up the first time, it had been to make others think they'd be busy in some way the night of the werewolf entertainment. The other had been to trick Lord Dubois into believing they'd been simply fooling around.

To his dismay and disgust, he'd liked both times although he wouldn't have said a word even if someone had put a knife to his throat and demanded that he admit it. There was something about a big man carrying him that made him almost want to toss restraint to the wind, not that letting go of control was a good idea. Since he didn't hate Remus's guts anymore, he liked being carried more than he should. Unfortunately, all of the muscle against his body wasn't enough to distract him from his injury.

Remus started to head back to their stuff and instead, he switched course to get closer to the treeline.

"We need a flatter spot," he muttered. "I won't have to move you again, and it'll be more comfortable to rest."

Some parts of the beach were uneven with mounds of sand and dips formed by the wind, rain, and storms. Closer to the tree line, a few weeds struggled to survive in the sand, and it was better for sitting or laying. Remus set him down, and Whisper stood by him.

"Don't touch the wound," he warned.

Sébastien watched him get their stuff and tried to breathe deeply. It didn't help his leg or calm him that much. Being in his drawers wasn't comfortable either. Remus brought all their stuff over, spread out the blanket, and helped Sébastien to sit on it. With the light set close, the wound looked like a nasty bite mark, and around the outer edges, he could see the tips of the needles. It still burned enough to make him angry, and the flesh was red and irritated.

"I wish I'd been born with healing powers." Remus dug through their packs. "Did you look through the little kit he had?"

"Not fully. I glanced inside." The shaking wasn't any better, and Sébastien wanted to go to sleep too since he felt so weak. While he didn't feel hot elsewhere, it was rather like being ill with the shakes and fatigue. He'd never get any sleep with the burning.

A kit for minor injuries had been under Bill's bed, and Sébastien had taken it since it was good to have. Bill had healing powers, but that sort of magic can't cure illnesses, and he might have gotten the kit during his army time and kept it. Remus opened the small box that held rolls of bandages for those that needed to quickly wrap an injury in a pinch. Nestled among them were glass bottles that likely contained basic concoctions for vomiting, fever, and coughs. One looked like vodka for disinfecting.

"It's going to scar if we don't get you to a healer."

"I'll live with a scar. I'm not taking down my trousers for someone else."

"Try not to move when I'm doing this. A little poison will come out from the needles when they're moved, but you'll feel a lot better when they're all gone."

Tucked under the bandages, Remus found a pair of tweezers, good for splinters or other nasty things stuck in the skin. He adjusted the lantern and gripped Sébastien's thigh. He almost jumped, but Remus was only doing it to hold him steady since he couldn't stop shaking. With the tweezers, Remus gripped one of the thin, brown things that he could just see poking out.

Removing them was almost as unpleasant as they'd been on the way in. Each one was over an inch long, and the burning worsened while Sébastien tried to keep his leg from reflexively jerking. He also hadn't felt a man's hand on his thighs in ages, and the foreign sensation was so unsettling at first, he almost wanted to do it himself again.

Remus's steady hand plucked out each needle with the tweezers. Once the last was gone, he let go of his thigh. "The damn trap left an even two dozen in you. Is it better?"

"A little." Sébastien finally dared to lay back, and Whisper nudged his hair. "I'm okay, boy." He patted the unicorn's nose. "What happens to bugs and things caught in a tooth trap?"

"The trap releases something after a few hours to start slowly dissolving it. It gets its sustenance from the liquified prey. I'm not entirely sure how that works. Don't worry, your leg won't start dissolving. Once the head is off, it can't do that anymore."

Remus tried to be gentle with the vodka too when he cleaned it and made sure his skin was free from blood. The vodka burned like fire. Sébastien didn't want to punch Remus, but he wanted to deck something until that subsided. Remus wrapped his thigh in bandages and said that was it.

"You'll feel like shit for a while. I'd suggest trying to sleep through it. Look for yellow in the woods in the future, although I doubt you'll see many around here. They're bad for livestock and everyone else, so they're usually burned when found. You have to dig up the roots because they're hardy little fuckers. I'm sorry. I didn't think there'd be any."

"It's not your fault. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Remus would be used to someone knowing what to look out for, so it wasn't his fault. He helped the Prince into a clean pair of trousers.

Sébastien did his belt. "Thanks."

"No problem. Do you want bread?"

"No." Sleep would be nice.

"Drink some water."

Once everything was put away, Remus settled on the blanket by him and made sure they weren't touching. Sébastien hadn't counted on them sleeping quite that close, but what else were they supposed to do? Flip a coin and the loser got the sand and a cloak?

Back in Rowing Rest, he'd positioned his pallet so he could be closer. Even though the distrust refused to go away, there were some times when Remus made him feel safer in a way he couldn't quite explain, as strange as that was. That night had been one since Remus had damn near decked Lord Dubois's face and tried to protect him.

He'd also positioned his pallet so that Remus couldn't roll over on him in the night and pin him. Distrust often made him think ahead to the worst thing that could potentially happen.

Now they were side-by-side, and he thought he'd be all right with it. When touching his thigh, Remus had let go of it as soon as possible. It was Sébastien's mind that always jumped to the worst because the worst always happened before.

He reminded himself that he wasn't fourteen or fifteen, Remus wasn't sick like that anyway, and the Regent was nowhere near.

The pain was less, but the shakiness and lethargy weren't gone, and he couldn't quite seem to make himself relax. He debated with himself when he thought of something, told himself to close his damn eyes, and even did so, trying to block everything out. Remus had done enough and would want to sleep too. Three days of sailing, sleeping in shifts, and hoping Bill didn't grow brave and stupid had worn them both out.

He'd still taken care of Sébastien without any complaint.

He'd also said Sébastien could talk to him at any time, and he probably wouldn't complain if it was a small request. He hadn't pushed things or taken advantage of Sébastien's freezing. He also wasn't the Regent who took fearful silence as a ‘yes' and a full invitation.

He carefully rolled over onto his stomach by Remus. "Would you rub my back…like you did before?"

"You really want me to do that?" Remus asked like he thought he'd heard that wrong.

"Just my back. Nothing else."

Remus shifted onto his side. "Does something in particular hurt like one of your shoulders?"

"No."

Sébastien couldn't help but tense when he felt a large hand on his upper back and the warmth through his shirt. Remus rubbed a circle on his shoulder blades and paused.

"I hate feeling you shake."

"I can't exactly stop it." Sébastien tried to ease his back.

"I know. It's…if it's too much for you…I don't know if I should stop or if it's only the poison."

"I'll tell you if I want you to stop."

Remus started rubbing again. When Sébastien was thirteen, he'd found a couple of naughty books in the library and secreted them away in his room to read in private. He'd known Remere had owned a couple, but he would've noticed if they went missing, and he'd refused to let Sébastien even take a peek inside.

The one with a heavily muscled man and lots of spanking had particularly interested him. The idea of someone big and strong easily picking him up had given him all sorts of feelings that his thirteen-year-old self hadn't been able to quite articulate.

Despite Remus's size, he was surprisingly gentle yet firm enough, just like when he'd massaged Sébastien in the cabin. He only lowered his hand to rub around the middle, just below the shoulder blades. Not once did his fingers wander lower as if testing the waters.

He just rubbed. It was all Sébastien wanted even though he didn't deserve it, and his muscles loosened as he let his body grow heavier on the blanket. The low sound of the waves on the beach even seemed gentler. Remus stopped to stroke his hair and rub his scalp a little bit. That sent deep tingles through him, and the fingers made little circles on his shoulder blades again.

For a moment, he was almost sure he was drifting in the water, except it was warmer than he'd expected.

He opened his eyes to find it was morning, and he was still in the same position. Remus had gone toward the water and was kneeling where it was still dry. A fistful of sand drifted through his fingers as if he needed to feel the ground and know that he was truly in his homeland.

Although it wouldn't be the same as before he left. If Sébastien stepped foot in Soleil again, it'd never be the same either.

Remus stood, headed for the water, and doffed his shirt. The muscles in his back rippled as he slipped his trousers and drawers down. Sébastien's morning wood suddenly felt like it would never go away.

Not with the sight of Remus's hard back, tapered waist, and his firm ass with the light on it as if the sun wanted everyone to get a good look. The powerful thighs and calves…Dear fucking Elira. The sight was far better than any drawing in a naughty book.

Sébastien quickly shifted to lay on his right side and winced at his thigh. He shouldn't be staring even though it was such a lovely body. He'd be furious if Remus was gawping at him while naked. Nothing about the trees was interesting or erection-inducing, and he let his eyes close while trying to ignore his hard-on. The little movement had made his thigh hurt too, and thankfully, the shakes were gone.

When his leg eased, he tried not to think of Remus, naked and likely in the water now with all of those muscles glistening. Or when he'd seen him naked at their first meeting.

The fact that his new "present" had been the exact sort of man Sébastien liked appearance-wise had made him angrier when they first met. Remembering him naked from the front wasn't helping, and he could still almost feel the ghost of Remus's hand on his upper back.

He forced his mind to other matters, like getting across Rowland. They'd take the bridge to South Sea…

He jumped slightly, not even realizing that he'd drifted off again.

"Hey. It's just me." Remus, dressed and slightly damp, held out the waterskin. "How do you feel?"

Sébastien accepted the water and blinked at the sunlight which had grown a little brighter. "Better. I think the poison's out."

"You might feel tired today. We can stay here so you can rest."

"We can go."

"I think you should rest," Remus said in a firm voice. "Losing a day won't make much difference now that we're in Rowland. Even if Billy plans to tell the whole Kingdom that he saw us, he won't be back yet, and anyone would have a hard time catching up. We'll be fine and can hurry later."

Sébastien sat up to drink and shifted his leg. Maybe resting would be better. "The bite still hurts."

"I figured. Those things are fucking nasty. Do you want to see them? The traps I mean. I found a few."

Sébastien replaced the lid on the waterskin. "As long as we're not in biting distance."

Remus picked him up. Sébastien's morning wood threatened to return with the hard body he'd earlier seen against him once more. The sun was stronger here, and Remus's chest was warm against him. Suddenly, he wanted to see Remus naked from the front that time, so he could admire everything and rub his chest. Sébastien hadn't been one to slack in training despite being more into books than his brothers, and he wasn't a weakling, but he was sure no amount of physical effort would ever give him such a big chest and shoulders.

Remus carried him into the treeline and gently set him down so he could put his weight on his good leg. "There."

Among the weeds, grass, and other innocent plants, two yellow vines rose a couple of feet into the air with smooth, roundish heads at the top. Sébastien almost expected them to snarl and bare their needles. A line showed where the mouth opened.

"Pesky bastards." Remus picked up a twig and tossed it. It hit one vine, and the head suddenly opened and lashed out as if to catch the twig, although it missed. With nothing to grab and eat, it grew still, although its mouth was slow to close. Dozens of the little needles were visible in the mouth.

"Ugh. I'm glad we don't have those in Soleil."

"They grow better where it's mostly warm all year. We could wait until it catches a bug, but that might be forever. Honestly, you wouldn't see much anyway once the bug is in its mouth."

Remus drew his sword and got close enough. A single whack took off the heads, and they twitched in the dirt.

"Since they secrete poison, can the liquid be used?"

"I'm sure someone's experimented. If there is anything, I don't know about it." Remus tore out the harmless remainder and made sure to get the roots. Using his sword, he swept the remains into a small pile. "Toss some fire on it."

Sébastien summoned fire to his hand and threw it. The tangle of roots clumped with dirt, the yellow vines, and the heads caught. The mouth gaped as if to bite the flames before going still and shriveling. Remus stomped on what was left to ensure the embers were out. The last thing they needed was to leave a burning forest in their wake.

The loose clods on the ground brought something to mind that Sébastien had thought of over the years. The memories either made him furious, or they made him furious and also brought a strange sensation of loss and regret like missing out on a grand thing. It wasn't like he should have ever expected to be saved.

Outside of Norraco, there was someone he could go see if they were still there. Sébastien had considered it before.

Going there would mean revealing the truth behind an event and saying the words to someone he barely knew and hadn't spoken to in years. If he was wrong and ended up revealing beyond private things to another who might know nothing…The prospect was so horrifying, he'd added it to his plans "for later" and hardly dared to allow himself to think about it or make a full decision. It was one of those things he wasn't sure if he could actually go through with. Admitting the barest bits of his past to Vemer, Remere, and Remus had been hard enough.

He should swallow his fear and do it. It was truly something he needed to do because if he was right, it would help later.

"Sébastien?"

"Hm?" He realized Remus was looking at him.

"Do you want me to go for a minute, so you can piss? I figure you need to go by now."

Imagining that unthinkable thing had him suddenly scared that Remus would leave him there, so he could ditch the used goods traveling with him even though he insisted Sébastien wasn't. If Remus abandoned him, he wouldn't be surprised. Hurt but not shocked.

Sébastien also didn't need to be watched while he pissed. "Yeah. I do need to go…"

"You looked kind of…"

"Can you turn around so I can get it over with? You don't have to leave."

Remus turned around while Sébastien fiddled with his trousers. To test it, he put more weight on his left leg, regretted it, and instantly shifted back to the right. Nope. Not today. Riding would be easier, but the constant movement of Whisper underneath him would grow quite unpleasant.

"Is it normal for a bite from that thing to hurt so much the next day?" Sébastien asked once he was watering a poor clump of weeds.

"Yeah. The needles are thin, but they go pretty deep, and even though it doesn't burn and feels better after a bit, the poison makes the flesh tender. Quintus said his arm was pretty sore the next day. He couldn't train or use it a lot. Tomorrow, it should be mostly fine as long as you're not doing a lot of walking or running. Does it feel like it's bleeding?"

"No."

"You should change the bandage later and keep it covered for a few more days to be safe since you've got a bunch of little punctures."

Sébastien tucked himself away, still warring in his head. He could wait until he was able to walk better and didn't feel so weak before telling Remus what he needed to do. In a way, he felt like his mind had cracked a little from the stress lately. He'd been damn close to giving up. Keeping everything bottled up had hurt, but it had been contained. Anger helped him deal. Letting things out because the pressure grew to be too much also hurt and was like ripping off a scab to reveal the wound that had never healed. If he kept putting it off, it'd still be difficult.

Remus had said that Sébastien could speak to him about anything. If he really cared…maybe he'd stop caring if he knew something that Sébastien hadn't admitted. Remus only knew the bare basics so far, and Sébastien regretted asking for the back rub. It had felt so damn good, but he didn't deserve it. Remus might decide he was truly shit and decide to keep their relationship to business only: get his throne back and go to war with Soleil. Part. Rule their respective Kingdoms. Keep the peace, and stay separate.

Forget a leisurely unicorn ride with nothing to worry about in the future. Remus could very easily decide that he didn't want to know anything more about the Prince because the rotten bits were beyond foul. He also couldn't go toward Norraco and simply not tell Remus why.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"You always can."

"Do you think I'm dirty? Or disgusting-whatever."

"No. You're not dirty." The answer came in such a sure tone, Sébastien almost wanted to believe it. "You're not used or whatever awful things you think about yourself in your head. Or what anyone else has called you."

This was something he hadn't even told Remere. The words had never left his lips even to the werewolf.

"I initiated it at times when I was fifteen," Sébastien said in a rush. "I mean-I came onto Corentin-"

He'd had a reason back then. It seemed so flimsy in his eyes now, and whenever he thought about it, it only made him feel worse.

"People don't do that. They don't go to their abuser and ask for more unless there's something wrong in their head."

There. It was out, and if Remus decided to ditch him, he could do so. Sébastien could get on with figuring out his life while alone. Like usual.

"Can I turn around now?" asked Remus. "I don't think you're still pissing."

"I'm not," Sébastien ground out as his chest pricked with pain. "Did you hear anything I said?"

Maybe Remus was so disgusted, he couldn't even find words to reply and didn't want to hear or discuss the matter any further.

"Yes, I heard you, and it feels like you're trying to chase me off." Remus gestured as he turned around. "It's like, ‘look at this horrible thing I did. Please hate me.' You almost walked away back near Biatano. It's-it's like you feel the need to push me away."

Why not? Everyone else had gone away.

"You can tell me anything, but I hate when it's framed as if I need to start thinking bad shit about you," said Remus. "I wish you could see that I won't look at you like that."

"I did something wrong, and there's something I need to do, and if you find out later-Uncle could say part of the truth, and he wouldn't even have to twist that part."

If backed into a corner somehow, Uncle could honestly say his nephew had initiated sex before. People would say that was wrong and disgusting to screw his blood along with doing the act with someone under the age of eighteen. That was a crime.

The problem was that Corentin, who had the image of being a caring Uncle and an honest person might play humble and regretful while saying that his nephew had tempted him in a way that a man couldn't say no to. He could make it sound more believable by pointing out how Sébastien didn't appear to have any lovers or interest in others, and he was a cold bastard who was angry because he couldn't have his Uncle anymore.

Not everyone would believe that. And while most would still say he'd committed a crime regardless of the reasoning, enough might believe Sébastien was a sick man. Corentin would tarnish Sébastien right along with himself. What kind of person tried to get in his Uncle's trousers more than once? If he felt he had to, Uncle would jump on the chance to smear his nephew's name in a worse way.

Remus folded his arms. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"I guess you want me to get started on hating you and rethink everything-future unicorn rides and that kind of thing?"

Yes, exactly. Because with the truth laid out, Remus would rethink things, and he'd never want to rub the back of some sick bastard who came onto Corentin. Hiding that big of a thing was like lying, and Sébastien couldn't pack it all down anymore.

"If you've got something else to say, say it," said Sébastien.

Remus rubbed his forehead. "Can we go back to our spot on the beach and talk this out? You can be more comfortable and say anything you want. It's not going to change things between us."

Bullshit.