Phanes

Author comments: thank you very much for your nice reviews! I hope you also enjoy this chapter ^^

~~~~ Phanes - Chapter 02


‘Son?’

Phanes looked up from playing with his food and threw a watery smile at his father, who had just sat down in the throne next to him, the most elaborate chair in the entire Dinning Room, as a King should have.

‘Father… how are you doing?’ he asked, voice steady despite the shaking of his hands. He had to maintain a strong appearance, at least in front of the Court. Lunch and dinner were always eaten with the whole Court, so it was a perfect opportunity for the nobles to take a good look at each other and start criticising and whispering behind their backs about the clothes certain lady wore, or the way someone behaved. Phanes did not want to be the focus of that unwanted attention, and he didn’t want to worry his father either, so he always tried to do his best in those meals.

‘Son, are you alright? I heard from Styx that you had not been feeling very well…’ said his father, worry evident on his face. Phanes felt more than saw Ares stiffening next to him, and he was in a way glad that he was not the only one slightly angry with Styx for telling about his little outburst to his father, who already had enough things to worry about.

‘I’m ok, father. Don’t worry about me. I just had some trouble sleeping tonight’ His father’s hand squeezed his, and he smiled reassuringly up at him. His father was very tall, and his hair was black and long with some white hairs. All in all, he didn’t resemble his father much, thought Phanes sadly. He had inherited his mother’s delicate looks and, while he was admired for his almost feminine beauty, he wished he were a bit taller, because there was no one shortest than him. Not even his eyes were like his father’s; his right eye was blue while his left was green. And his mother had been born in the other side of the world, where people had different hair colours than in his father’s country, so he was always the unwilling centre of attention.

He resumed playing with the food on his plate, with no intention of eating it. After dinner he would have to return to that room, and he was not looking forward to it. He had to ask his father if he could sleep elsewhere from then onwards, but he couldn’t seem to come up with a good enough reason. He just couldn’t tell him that he was scared of a painting, could he? After all he had no problems with the ones decorating the halls –at least for now. Sighing, he looked at his father from the corner of his eyes. He had to ask or die trying… for his sanity’s sake.

‘Father…’ he coughed, blushing slightly when his father’s dark eyes looked at him. ‘I was wondering if… I could be allowed to change rooms today?’

His father sat up, looking slightly puzzled. ‘And why is that? You have always been in that room, why do you want to change it now?’

At least he’s letting me explain, thought Phanes. It could have been worse, he had half-expected his father to outright deny him, but now it seemed like he had a slight chance. He had to come up with a good reason!

‘I just would like a change of airs; I’m a bit tired of that room and always seeing the same paintings and decoration… I would like to be able to see the garden when I wake up’ he finished lamely, playing with a long strand of his blond hair and blushing furiously. He was so bad at lying… he always blushed to the tips of his ears, and that was why he didn’t do it very often, but this was an emergency and he had had no choice, he wasn’t about to admit that he thought there were ghosts trapped in the painting of Goddess Catalonia.

‘Then you will have to bear with it, son’ the King told him in a stern voice. Phanes looked up, surprised at the tone of voice his father was using with him. Usually his father only talked to him in a gentle and loving way, he never spoke in that tone of voice with him! ‘You know that your room is the safest one in the whole castle, you will have to get used to it’.

‘Then… then… will you let Ares or Styx sleep in my chambers? They can use the couch!’ Phanes looked at his father imploringly; he couldn’t bear with the thought of being all alone with the ghosts inside that cell.

‘No, and that is my final decision on this matter’ answered his father, pressing his lips together so tightly they were turning white. Phanes looked down at his plate again, tears of frustration welling up in the corner of his eyes and threatening to spill. He had always thought that his father spoiled him rotten, he had never refused him anything… then why, why when he needed one thing the most he wasn’t allowed to have it? He felt a cold shiver run up his spine, and he closed his eyes, biting his lip. He did not want dinner to finish.

He looked at the nobles eating through his bangs, glad that they hadn’t seemed to pick up this small fight between father and son. It would have been too much for him, to be the source of rumours for the next week.

‘Let’s go, prince’ whispered Ares softly from where he was standing next to his seat. Dinner had finally come to an end. Phanes nodded and let Ares pull away his chair, standing up and leaving the dinning room without saying goodnight to his father. He felt numb; his hands were cold as ice from the intense fear that gripped him. He did not want to go to his room, but that was where he was going, gently guided by Ares’ hand on his shoulder.

When they were standing in front of the big doors he felt Ares’ hand leaving his shoulder and he gripped his bodyguard’s sleeve tightly, not looking up. ‘I do not want to go in’ he whispered, but he knew better than to beg to Ares or to Styx, who was already standing guard outside the door. They could not go against his father wishes, even if they wanted to, for they were part of the King’s guard.

‘I will be right outside the door’ Ares whispered back, standing close to the prince. Styx nodded from where he was standing not too far away and said ‘If you need anything just ask us’, giving Phanes an excuse to make them enter if things got too insufferable inside the room.

The prince nodded and looked at them both, trying to smile. ‘Thank you’

With a sigh, he opened the door and entered to the darkness that was his room. The only source of light inside his chambers was a small candle by his bed. Not taking his eyes away from the floor, Phanes quickly changed into his silk pyjamas and got inside of his bed. He stayed still, only listening to the quick sound of his breathing and the scared beats of his heart. He had to calm down, nothing would happen unless he looked at the painting, and he was not going to do that, he was not. He gripped the sheets and covered his face with them, taking steady breaths to try to relax.

Just when he thought that nothing would happen, the familiar feeling of being watched overcame him. He shuddered and whimpered. ‘Oh no no no no’ he whispered, closing his eyes even more tightly. He was being observed, he was so sure… the eyes of the Goddess had become alive again, and were surely running up and down the small lump he made in the bed, curled up in a ball as he was and covered with the sheets. He heard a small sound and quickly covered his ears, thinking that if he was going to do he preferred it being fast and silent, so he would not suffer much.

He thought that when his father saw him dead in the morning, he would learn what a mistake it had been to let Phanes sleep there all alone. He thought of his father’s face when he found him dead and almost cried, thinking of the sadness and grief that would probably be reflected there. Thinking of dead always depressed him, and now that he was about to experience it he found he did not want to leave this world and got sad just thinking about the pain his father would go through when that happened. He chocked back a sob, not wanting to make any noise that would alert his soon-to-be killers of the fact that he was awake.

And suddenly, hands were on him, quietly pulling away the sheets. He twisted and kicked, trying to avoid them, but the hands would not be stopped. He desperately wanted to see his attackers now, but the candle had run out and everything was covered in darkness. He felt tears running down his cheeks, and his heart was beating so fast he was afraid it would jump out of his chest, but the sweet caress of a hand against his cheek, drying up his tears, surprised him into stillness. And that’s when he felt what seemed like two bodies lying on either side of him, hands gently holding his hands and caressing his arms and face, or occasionally petting his hair. Whatever they were, they were obviously harmless or at the very least had no intention of harming him at that moment. He started to relax, the scary feeling of the paintings watching him slowly fading away until he felt very tired.

And the two bodies, or whatever they were, but they were obviously warm, were completely surrounding him now. Something had spread out above him, he felt the soft sound of it moving and then laying still. Almost like the fluttering of a bird’s wings before folding.

With the hands caressing and protecting him, he fell sleep.