The sound of Kunzite’s boots hitting the stone floor echoed in the hallway. Jadeite kept up with the quick pace, matching him step for step as they made their way through the palace.
“Enough, Jadeite,” Kunzite warned the blonde haired man.
“I suppose that my eyes deceived me much like the way that my ears now do the same,” he stated firmly, a look of disgust written across his features.
Kunzite grabbed Jadeite by his jacket and pushed him against the wall. The younger man made no effort to fight the hold on him nor did he acknowledge the stern look he was being given. “You will say nothing more about this.”
“And will you tell your fiancée yourself?” he challenged. Jadeite shoved Kunzite back a step and smoothed his jacket. “I thought that you changed your ways. Apparently I was wrong to believe you much like she was wrong to trust you.”
Kunzite grabbed Jadeite’s jacket in both hands this time. “If you don’t know what you’re talking about then perhaps you should stay silent,” he growled ominously. Jadeite’s hands grasped tightly on Kunzite’s wrists, pushing back against the taller man.
“Kunzite!” Endymion shouted, running the length of the hall to approach the two men. He placed a hand on either man’s chest attempting to separate them. “Kunzite,” Endymion warned his first General, keeping his voice low. “Whatever this is about discuss it in private. I will not have my highest ranking Generals creating a scene like this.” Kunzite held onto to the other man for a second longer before pushing him away. Jadeite pressed his hand against the wall to steady himself, his eyes full of venom for the silver haired man across from him. “Where have the two of you been?” Endymion demanded. “Nephrite and Zoicite returned a week ago.”
“We would have returned sooner but someone was temporarily otherwise detained,” Jadeite spat.
“I’m not going to warn you again, Jadeite,” Kunzite growled.
“Then you should have thought twice about your actions since we both agree that they were regrettable.”
Endymion pressed himself between the two men as Kunzite took another step towards Jadeite, attempting to keep a peaceful distance between them. “I want to know what’s going on and I demand that one of you start talking now!”
“This is none of your concern,” Kunzite rebutted quickly.
Shock passed across Endymion’s face only to be instantly replaced by anger. “You are an extension of me,” Endymion answered firmly. “When I ask you a question, you answer me.”
“It’s a personal matter that does not need to be reported to you.”
“I will ignore your response and wait for you to give me the one that I am looking for,” Endymion warned. He watched as Kunzite ground his teeth, the only visible flicker of reaction from the stoic man. It was a fine line that Kunzite was treading, a mixture of acceptance knowing that he could not refuse orders from the one man above him combined with a desire to jostle him and press him for silence much like he did to Jadeite.
“There is nothing to speak of,” Kunzite’s gaze cooled as his eyes met Jadeite’s.
Jadeite’s eyes narrowed in anger as he looked at the man across from him. A growl escaped his lips as he prepared to retort until he was silenced by a soft voice calling out from the hallway’s entrance.
“Kunzite,” Minako called out his name. All eyes turned to see her and Serenity walking briskly down the hall to approach them, a tall guard with dark red hair in tow. Minako held Serenity’s hand tightly in her grasp, eyes wide at having watched the exchange between the two men that had been anything but courteous.
“Not now,” Endymion responded to the girls, his gaze still fixed on Kunzite.
“Jadeite is needed in the infirmary,” Serenity spoke up, her voice firm. “Rei’s been in labor with the baby since last night and the doctor is concerned for her health.”
The look on Jadeite’s face immediately changed from anger to worry, yet he stood motionless, torn between his duty and his love. Endymion put his hand on Jadeite’s shoulder and nodded his head, freeing Jadeite from his frozen state. Jadeite shook his head, absorbing the words being thrown at him, dread filling him at the thought of everything that could go wrong. He turned to Kunzite, looking at him with disappointment in his features. “You’ll never know what the rest of us have.”
“You’re wrong,” Kunzite replied. “I already do.”
Without further instance, Jadeite grabbed Serenity’s arm and began pulling her down the hallway, asking her to tell him all that he missed while he was away. Endymion turned back to Kunzite, ready to continue their argument when the silver haired general turned his back on him and crossed over to Minako, wrapping his arms tightly around her. A smile appeared on her face and he pressed his lips firmly against her temple, deeply inhaling the sweet floral scent that wafted from her hair. With a few murmured words that Endymion couldn’t hear, they started walking down the hallway, Kunzite’s arm keeping her smaller body firmly against his own.
Minako had heard through whispers passed among the palace’s servants that Kunzite and Jadeite had returned. Without a second thought, she dropped the book that she had been reading and ran out the door, Serenity, and her assigned guard, quickly in tow. Neither woman had expected to see the two men embroiled in a battle of wits with Endymion attempting to mollify them. All of that was instantly forgotten though once Kunzite wrapped his arms around her. The weeks of loneliness and concern were quickly pushed aside as his lips brushed against her face, and now that his body was pressed against hers, there was nothing left but the two of them.
After the weeks that they had spent sleeping side by side with minimal intimate contact, she found his sudden eagerness to claim her very surprising. They had barely stepped into their shared room when he pulled her against him and began kissing her feverishly, his hands firmly holding her against him. He led her to the bed and laid her down, his body quickly resting over hers as her dress was discarded. She barely had the chance to react, words attempted to spill through her lips which were once again covered by his. Unlike their first time together, he seemed needier, his movements rough and random, almost bruising as he squeezed her breasts, his lips pressing against her neck. She gasped as he bit the flesh where her neck met her shoulder, his lips sucking on her skin as his tongue teased the area. The pain wasn’t un-pleasurable though as she helped to undress him, her nails scratching against his back as he pushed himself into her. At that moment he was unable to notice any of it, his mind had been completely taken over by the intoxicating scent of her, only to have the sensations intensify as she arched her back, bringing herself completely against him. Time was lost to the couple, neither knowing if the encounter had last hours or only mere minutes, yet neither caring as they laid together afterwards.
As much as he wanted to stay in bed, wrapped in the comfort of her arms, he knew that he needed to speak with Endymion about their earlier encounter. His choice was to either wait to be summoned, which inevitably would happen, or to face the issue head on and deal with it before Jadeite allowed for it to spiral any further out of control. There were facts that needed to be understood and even more so, there were revelations that needed to be discussed. So with much regret on his part and subtle resistance from her, he extracted himself from her grasp and sought out the discarded remnants of his uniform. A teasing grin formed on his face as he handed Minako a pale yellow robe, playfully holding it just out of her reach so that she would have to rise from the bed to reach it. As she fastened the robe’s tie around her waist he pulled her to him, stealing one more kiss before letting her slide away. His eyes shifted away from her full lips long enough to notice the dark spots that were forming around her neck, his first realization that he had been less than gentle with her.
“I kept my word,” he finally said, breaking their imposed silence. “Every night as I fell asleep, it was your face that I thought of and it was you I dreamt of, my Mi-ko.” She bit her lower lip, appearing childlike at that moment. His hands found their way into her hair, gently rolling the strands between his fingertips.
“I was afraid that something happened to you,” she spoke softly, her eyes holding steady to his. “You were gone for so long.”
“We were delayed,” he answered her as simply as he could.
“Can you tell me now why you went away?”
“Why do we need to talk about this?” his voice was agitated, surprising her. He turned away from her and scooped up his belt and sheathed sword from the floor.
“I was only concerned,” she responded.
“Have you ever travelled to the southern-most border of the kingdom?” he asked her, turning back to meet her gaze. She shook her head slowly. “Then I will bring you there. It’s a different culture than what you are accustomed to here. There the temperature is always high, even late into the evening, and the sun always seems to be directly overhead. Many of the people stay indoors during the high point of the day just to stay cool. Jadeite and I learned that very quickly,” he mused, a hint of laughter in his eyes. “We very happily traded in our uniforms for their much lighter style of dress.”
“I would have liked to have seen that,” she teased him, poking her finger playfully at his chest. “It’s a rare occurrence that you are out of uniform.”
“It was only a few minutes ago that you very resourcefully helped me to discard of this same uniform.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Yes, but I doubt very much that you would have traded in your uniform for something that….scant. Although if you had I’m sure you would have found yourself at least one admirer out of the crowd.”
“I don’t think I could have competed with Jadeite’s charm though,” he chuckled. “On one of our last nights there Jadeite had, had entirely too much to drink and allowed for the women to teach him how to dance. His tendency to act elaborately, even while stumbling over his own feet, earned him some admirers and I hate to think how many broken hearts he left behind in his wake.”
“And what about you?” she asked quietly, her features softening, and maybe even a flicker of concern buried within the depths of her blue eyes.
“I was only concerned about the one that I left behind.” He gently cupped her chin, staring deeply into her light blue eyes.
“And there is that silver tongue again,” she laughed, pulling herself away from his gaze. “Always with just the right words.”
He smiled, although it was a hollow effort as his eyes failed to fill with the same warmth that his curled lips offered. “It’s a gift.”
“To say the least,” she responded before walking away from him. “Speaking of gifts,” she said, pulling a small package from the nightstand by the bed. “I got this for you.”
“A gift?” he repeated, taking the package from her. “For what?”
“I just wanted to get this for you.”
He unwrapped the tan packaging to produce a golden pocket watch with a seal emblazoned on the back. “Where did you get this?” he asked, his eyes still taking in the familiar details inscribed.
“The storekeeper was very skilled at drawing. I was impressed that he was able to draw that insignia so perfectly, especially based on my memory alone.”
“It’s striking.”
“I went into town last week with Serenity and Makoto.”
“Does this have anything to do with why there was a guard with you and Serenity earlier?” he asked, his mind recalling their earlier encounter.
“An escort is all,” she answered dismissively. Instantly, she could see that familiar look of annoyance and anger that would build up behind his eyes when he didn’t receive the answer he was looking for from someone.
“An escort for Serenity or for you?”
“It was at Endymion’s insistence. He’s the only one who was really bothered enough.”
Her indirect answer was enough to tell him who the intended person was. “That doesn’t seem worth the effort of having guards on watch when he could have had one of Serenity’s ladies stay at your side if it was for nothing more than concern. It would have been more appropriate to say the least.”
“Some thief cornered me and stole some jewelry, nothing of any real value. We left immediately after that though,” she said, trying to pacify him.
He fingered the golden pocket watch clutched tightly in his hand. “The thief was not concerned enough to rob you of this trinket as well?”
“There wasn’t enough time. The guards who escorted us started to chase after him. It all happened so quickly.”
“You’re lying.”
She frowned indignantly. “I’m not lying.”
“Minako, it is my job separating the truth from everything else. You wear very little jewelry on a normal day if any at all. If the thief truly had so little time than I imagine that he would have had to rip the objects from your body,” he grabbed her right wrist where a thin golden chain rested against her pale skin, “and since I don’t see any marks on either your hand, wrist or neck, it leaves me to believe that things didn’t happen as you said.”
“You’re making something out of nothing,” she insisted, attempting to slip her wrist from his grasp.
As her hand started to slip away, his forefinger caught between her skin and the bracelet, pulling the chain taut against her wrist. She winced at the pinch of the chain digging into her skin. “I want the truth. I’m not Endymion and I guarantee you that I won’t be nearly so easily appeased.” Minako looked up at him warily. “Who approached you that made Endymion so nervous?”
She held her breath for a moment, not wanting to back down from Kunzite’s prodding. His eyes held hers and she could feel her resistance fading. The stoniness of his expression left her with little wonder how most interrogations with him ended. “Adonis,” she exhaled quickly. Silence ensued for another moment as he took in her answer.
Slowly he released her wrist, extracting his finger from where it had been trapped, and she reflexively held it against her chest, wiggling her fingers as the circulation rushed back into them. “Did he hurt you?”
“He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“He’s wanted for treason. He’ll do whatever it takes to help his cause get at the throne.”
“Whatever it takes? Does that mean telling me truths or lies?”
“Tell me everything he said to you.” He watched as she withdrew her eyes from his gaze. Whatever had been said clearly affected her. “You are the most important thing to me. I want to be able to protect you from all of this, but if you are going to lie or withhold the truth then I have no choice but to wonder at your intentions.”
She looked back up at him, shocked by his implication of what may have happened during her encounter with the other man. “He said that you were with another woman,” she responded angrily. “Maybe even more than one, I don’t know. I didn’t want to believe him. I didn’t want to believe that you were capable of any of the terrible things he said, but maybe I should if you can still so willing make the same accusations to me.”
“I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you,” he answered quickly. “There is no more truth than my telling you that I wanted nothing more than to return to you and have you back in my arms,” he responded, slowly pulling her to him. “I turned my back on Endymion earlier to take this time to be with you, which I can assure you I will pay for before this day is out.”
“Why were you fighting with Jadeite? I saw the way you pushed him.”
“We spent the last four days on horseback returning here. The ride was long and the weather didn’t make for pleasant traveling conditions. It was nothing more than an argument.”
“So what was it that he said you’ll ‘never know’?”
“He and Rei fell in love and chose to marry each other, we did not. It was a childish barb.”
“You make everything sound so simple.”
“Sometimes it is.” He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. “We’ll have dinner together when I’m done meeting with Endymion, just the two of us. We’ve spent a great deal of time apart from each other and I don’t want there to be any more.” She nodded her head in quiet response. “Is Serenity still waiting for you?” he asked her, brushing his fingers through her hair.
“No. I’m sure Serenity is still waiting by Rei’s bedside. I wouldn’t want to be in the way.”
“You and Rei speak so little that you don’t want to visit her?”
“It’s not so much that,” Minako said carefully. “Sometimes things are what they are. Now go. I’ll be here waiting for you.” She gave him a gentle shove against his chest, pushing him towards the door. He placed his hands on top of hers, holding her palms against his chest and leaned in to kiss her one last time. She smiled in response, watching as he left the room. Once the door closed, she walked over to a nearby chair and dropped down into it, glancing back at the door.
“He will return in a few days, and when he does he will come to you, make love to you, and tell you everything that you want to hear.”
Adonis’s words rang in her mind. Is that what Kunzite had just managed to do? Would it be so terrible if she allowed herself to indulge in this fantasy a little bit longer? Although at the same time she thought about how he called her his ‘Mi-ko’ and a smile slowly crept across her face pushing out the darker thoughts. It was a small term of endearment to call her by some pet name, but coming from him it meant more than she would have thought.
It had fallen upon Saphir’s shoulders to explain to Endymion what had happened during the ladies visit into town as the second in command to Endymion’s personal guard – which was the reason that he was sent to go with the women in the first place. He paused outside of the door to the Prince’s study and took a moment to check his appearance, making sure that his uniform was crisp and smooth. While he would want to look presentable under any conditions of seeing the prince in person, it was probably more so a habit driven into him by Kunzite than a normal prepping. He raised his hand and rapped his fist sharply against the dark mahogany door twice, pushing it open when he received an acknowledgment from within. Endymion appeared to be exhausted and ragged looking as he sat at a large oak desk, his eyes quickly scanning through the contents of a letter held firmly in his fingers.
Endymion looked up at the new arrival. “Saphir, I’m surprised to see you back so soon. Serenity said that she planned on spending most of the day away.”
“That was the original plan,” he responded calmly. “However there was an incident and I felt that it would be best if the ladies returned as soon as possible for their own safety.”
Endymion put the letter face down on the desk, an obvious effort that did not go unnoticed by Saphir. Although the angle of the parchment did allow him to identify the remnants of the seal affixed at the top as belonging to Kunzite. “An incident?” Endymion repeated rising from his seat and leaned forward slightly as he placed both palms on his desk. “What type of an incident?”
“Serenity is fine,” Saphir quickly responded. “It was with the Lady Minako. One of my soldiers saw her being accosted by someone wearing a dark gray uniform who ran off once he realized he had been spotted. We attempted to apprehend him, but he was able to disappear amongst the townspeople. I questioned her about the encounter, but she claimed it was nothing more than a thief who stole some jewelry.”
“Is she ok now?”
“She’s strangely almost completely unaffected by the whole incident.”
“Where is she now?”
“With the doctor. Serenity wanted to have her checked out just to be sure that she really was as fine as she protested. There’s no reason to take any chance in an instance like this.”
“She has already been to see the doctor last week,” Endymion muttered, his words barely carrying over to the dark haired soldier in the deep blue uniform. “Were you able to identify this man at all?”
“I have reason to believe that it was Adonis, although he was always so loyal to Kunzite that I could not imagine him doing anything to endanger her.” Saphir watched Endymion’s response closely, noticing that his eyes darted back to the letter briefly before returning to him. “Is everything all right, my prince?”
“I want you to place a guard on watch with her. Make sure she is attended to at all times. Once she’s done with the doctor send her in to see me.”
“Very well,” Saphir answered, bowing his head. “Is there anything else?”
“Tell no one what we discussed today.” Endymion sat back in his seat, his eyes clouding over as he mused over the conversation in his head. “You are dismissed,” he said to Saphir, waving his hand towards the door.
Saphir bowed at the waist, watching Endymion’s sudden change in reaction. Without another word he backed out of the room, shutting the heavy hard wood door behind him.
So what did this all mean, Endymion asked himself. Since the incident with Minako all actions with the rebel army seemed to have ceased. In the past week, there was not one raid, not one rebel uprising, not one attack on a member of his army or guard. It seemed to be a bit of a stretch to assume that the two things could be interrelated at all, but this was too big of a coincidence to ignore either. His wedding to Serenity was only 3 weeks away, with the coronation following a week after that. If there was ever a time to be concerned, this was it.
A soft knock on the door notified him of Kunzite’s arrival. The tall General opened the door to Endymion’s study and leaned stiffly against the wall with his arms crossed at his chest. His appearance gave the illusion of being calm and collected, but Endymion was sure that his thoughts would indicate otherwise. He rose from his seat behind the mahogany desk and gestured for the fair haired man in front of him to sit, but a quick shake of the head was his only response. Endymion sighed to himself and walked around to sit on the edge of the desk. He scuffed the heel of his shiny boots against the plush carpeting before crossing the restless leg across the other at the ankle. Kunzite remained silent and unmoving, allowing Endymion to start the dialogue and the line of questioning to resume where they had left off.
“How was your journey?” Endymion asked.
Kunzite raised an eyebrow at the simplicity of the question. “Long and arduous,” came his brief response.
“I received the letter that you sent back. I’m surprised that Adonis was able to go undiscovered for as long as he did. How did you discern it was him?”
“We found an informant and with some….persuasion Jadeite was able to make him talk. The best lead we were able to obtain was the emergence of someone new – someone named Danburite. It sounds like he is someone high up in their ranks, but again, we were unable to get much more that than. Whoever is leading this front has taken every effort to keep their identity secret from even their own people. The only names we were able to extract were vague and non-sensible.”
“Such as ‘The Ghost’?”
“It sounds like Nephrite and Zoicite got the same responses.”
“Indeed it does.”
Silence passed between the two men for several moments before Kunzite finally spoke up. “I suppose you still want to know about the argument from earlier today.”
“I’m disappointed that two of my highest ranking officers carried on that way in public eye let alone at all.”
“It was a delicate situation and we both acted irrationally.”
“Don’t try to downplay the situation or try to make it appear less than it really was. I want the reason behind this and I only want to hear the facts.”
“Jadeite claims that he saw me with another woman the day before we left to return here.”
“And?” Endymion asked; a mixture of confusion and boredom on his brow. This admission was hardly worth the argument he had witnessed.
“He says that he saw me take her back to my room.”
Endymion stood abruptly from where he was leaning on the desk and took a step towards Kunzite. “Kunzite.” The disappointment was evident in his voice. “It’s not my place to tell you what you can and cannot do in your personal affairs, but I would think that you would have the decency to remain faithful in your relationship with Serenity’s cousin.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Of course. Whenever you involve so many people it does tend to get complicated.”
Kunzite sighed and shifted against the wall, his first visible inclination of being uncomfortable throughout the conversation. “I don’t remember any of this happening. There’s no reason to think that Jadeite would have made this up, but I wouldn’t have done that, not with Minako here waiting for me.” He paused. “I have no recollection of the entire night leading up to that morning and I had nothing more than one drink with dinner. Short of something being slipped into my drink none of this makes sense. I don’t even know that I actually touched the woman other than what little Jadeite claims he personally witnessed.” Kunzite shook his head. “I just need to figure this all out. With everything that happened that morning, I was unable to get many of my questions answered.”
“Did you tell Minako?”
“I can’t tell her,” he responded, annoyance written on his features.
“You’re making a mistake if you think that this will remain quiet. The walls tend to have ears and even I can’t guarantee that Jadeite will say nothing. He’s angry over what he saw and I think we both know how unpredictable he can be under these circumstances.”
“He won’t say anything,” Kunzite answered confidently. “Once I’ve spoken to him, this will all be forgotten.”
“Jadeite has always had the utmost respect for you, even when he denies it, he admires you. I can only imagine the disappointment that he felt when he found you to be more human than he believed. Now to solve this issue you will pull rank on him rather than deal with it? You’re going down a path that I think we both know is not going to end well.”
“And if I tell her what happened - without being able to explain how it happened, I think we both know that I will lose her.”
“Does she really mean that much to you?”
“How do I know that he loves me?” Minako asked Endymion, her head tilting slightly to the side. “How do I know that I didn’t just make a huge mistake?”
“Maybe you would like to ask me an easier question, perhaps why does a cat meow?” he said, attempting to lighten the mood in the room with no success. “Minako,” he leaned forward in his seat, elbows on his desk hands clasped under his chin, “I can’t even pretend to assume to know what he’s thinking. While he does confide in me on some things, his relationships have generally been off limits. His protective nature of you is definitely a sign of his feelings - that much I can assure you.”
“For a time I thought that maybe he was starting to, but I’m concerned that once he returns he’ll prove me wrong.” She paused and glanced down at her lap, timid in asking her next question. “There’s something that I need to know, and I hope that you will answer me truthfully. Did Kunzite agree to marry me because you told him to or because he wanted to?”
“What’s bringing this on?”
“I think it’s a fair question.”
“Have you asked him yourself?”
“I could never. But I need to know. Why did you arrange for this marriage?”
“Because you needed each other. Serenity told me about your situation at home with your father and asked me to help. There was very little that I could do, but I wanted to do something. It was actually Serenity who wanted me to introduce the two of you in particular. Although our attempt failed as you both missed each other by seconds. After that it was too late since he was involved with someone else at the time.”
“Catherine,” she said, interrupting him.
“Catherine,” he repeated, nodding his head. “The first time that Kunzite saw you though, I could see you held his interest. He was curious about you even if he would never admit it. It wasn’t until after everything between Catherine and him ended that I brought up the idea of his marrying you. At first he declined, so I let it go. Not too long after that he brought the idea back up with me. I don’t know why he changed his mind, I never asked.”
“Did he love Catherine?”
“Catherine was something else,” Endymion leaned back in his seat as he answered. “He told me that he didn’t love her, and he told me that she said she loved him, but he didn’t seem to believe her. I’m not sure what his fascination was with her, to be honest I’m not even sure that he even liked her. Jadeite told me about a conversation he had with Kunzite about her towards the end and, while I won’t repeat the context, it seems he wasn’t with her for any reasons other than to satisfy his libido.” Endymion frowned as he recalled the other portions of that conversation as well. “Kunzite is an honest man. He will not lie about his intentions to you or for you.”
“But would he marry me because of you?”
“No,” Endymion answered with firm resolve. “You should discuss this with him. I’m sure that he can better ease your concerns that I can.”
“That’s the problem, Endymion. He always has just the right words. Sometimes I’m not sure if he’s speaking to me from his heart or if it’s all random words that he has managed to throw together into perfect prose.”
“I understand what you mean. He has managed to derail my thoughts from time to time as well,” he mused. “I really wish that I could give you better answers or be more helpful, but when it comes to my lead general I’m in the dark nearly as much as you are.”
“You’ve been extremely helpful,” she hurriedly responded. “You at least give me the honest answer. I love Serenity dearly, but she is too optimistic.” Minako rose from her seat.
Endymion stood up as well and gestured for her to sit back down. “There is something more that I wanted to discuss with you. I’d like to talk about what happened earlier today.” He watched as she slowly sat back down and he followed suit. “Why did you say it was a thief that approached you when really it was Adonis? He’s a dangerous man, Minako.”
“To prevent all of this fuss from occurring. Adonis wouldn’t hurt me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“For the simple fact that he has been proclaiming his love for me since I first encountered him.”
“Does Kunzite know this?” Endymion asked, frowning in concern.
“Not completely,” Minako answered slowly, noticing the tension in his hand as his fingers paled from pressing so firmly against the table. “I didn’t want to make him angry. There was an instance before, between Kunzite and I that did not end very well. I knew that it was a problem, but I didn’t want to give Kunzite any reason to worry either. It just all seemed nonsensical before, things of sordid affairs, nothing that would really happen. Does that make sense at all?”
“Not really,” Endymion smiled pleasantly.
“Which is all the more reason why these measures are unnecessary.” She rose from her seat, her clasped hands resting in front of her. “I really do appreciate your concern, but I insist that you relieve the guard who’s been following me around all afternoon. I’m sure there is a better usage for him than to have him shadow me as I have tea with Serenity. Besides, Kunzite will return in a few days and I’m sure that I will never be safer than when I am at his side.”
“Or so he’s been notorious for reminding me as well.” Endymion rose from his seat and walked around the desk, placing his hand lightly on Minako’s shoulder. “As curious as I am to know why Adonis chose now to reveal himself, I’d rather not wait until he’s had the opportunity to find you alone again. He’s dangerous whether or not you want to admit it. Just please humor me for the time being.”
“You’re hardly giving me a choice in the matter.”
“Of course you have a choice. You can either willingly let him follow you around or you can make it difficult and exit rooms from secret entrances so that he will spend hours searching the palace for you. Although you didn’t hear that last part from me.” He led her towards the door and paused as his hand rested on the handle. “I know that you haven’t been happy here these past few weeks and I wish that there was more that I could do for you other than offer a few words of comfort.”
“You’ve done more for me than I could possibly ever thank you for.”
