Blood of the Neko - 3. Chapter 3

Damien led his best friend to the door, feeling better for having had the break to talk with him. Oliver seemed to always be there for him, especially after his father had died, and Damien had pushed him away for so long after that. He was glad that they'd been able to reconnect over the last year. He suspected a lot of that had to do with his young neko lover drawing him out of the depressive state he'd been in for so long.

As they reached the front door, both of them cautiously glanced out before stepping forward. Ever since a large pumpkin had plummeted to the front doorstep, from where Kayden had tried carrying it to one of the decorative ledges, everyone was a little more cautious as they stepped out the front door.

"Well, have a great afternoon, Oliver," Damien said.

"You too, my friend," Druet smiled. "Maybe you should go get Gemini and ride on out to find your little kit."

"Maybe I will," Damien said with a soft smile. As much as he might want to spend the day chasing after his feline hybrid and watching his sleek black tail swishing behind him, Damien knew he had too much to do. And now, with the mine problem, he was sure to get a summons to court shortly.

As Oliver stepped down the front veranda, they noticed three riders approaching from the east. It didn't take him long to pick out Kayden's tiny form on the back of the beautiful white mare. The boy had been a natural horseman ever since Damien had introduced him to Arabella. Of course, he'd been nervous at first, faced with such a large animal that could practically bite his small hand off, but Arabella seemed to sense Kayden's needs and both of them bonded practically instantly.

As the trio approached the manor, Damien waved at them from the front steps and Kayden abruptly steered Arabella towards them, instead of heading directly for the stables. Damien noticed that Geoff Brenner, his guard captain, was trailing Kayden rather closely and the guard that had been assigned to keep an eye on Kayden was lagging behind them both. As Kayden raced forward with a huge grin on his face, Damien laughed when the boy practically slid from his horse mid-stride, landing easily on his bare feet. Kayden raced up the steps to embrace him, and Damien caught the neko up in his arms. As his lover's small body burrowed closer, Damien couldn't help a deep sigh of contentment.

"I've missed you all day," Damien whispered.

"Me too," Kayden grinned, obviously happy to see him. "But I know you've been busy."

Damien cast a glance at Oliver, who was eyeing Kayden's guard oddly. Remembering their talk about the miners, Damien frowned slightly. "Yeah, I think I'm going to be a bit busier soon."

Kayden's smile faded slightly. "I hope not."

"We'll see," Damien smoothed his hand over the boy's black locks.

God, he was beautiful. And taller, Damien noted suddenly. Kayden had to have grown at least four inches since he'd arrived at the manor, probably mostly due to his chef, Garin, and Ysmenia making sure he ate lots of protein, something he'd rarely had during his six year enslavement. Then he'd started climbing, running, riding--trying out everything he'd been denied when he'd been chained and caged. His exuberance sometimes caused Damien and his staff near heart attacks, when they caught him leaping from the roof of the barn or the back of his horse, or climbing up the side of the mansion to the balconies. His loose fitting clothes now hid a bevy of lean muscles and sleek skin, instead of the half-starved, young feline he'd arrived here as.

Damien looked back up at Geoff over Kayden's head, finding the captain's tight-lipped stare odd. "Is there something wrong, Geoff?"

Brenner straightened in the saddle as Kayden pulled back out of his master's arms to see what the man would say. "No, sir. Nothing I can't deal with."

Damien frowned at the wording, but he let it go. His captain was more than capable, and if he needed something from the duke, he'd say so.

Kayden raced back down the steps and launched himself gracefully back onto Arabella, who registered her owner's presence with just a slight shift in her stance. The young neko's black tail drifted around and landed across Kayden's thigh. Kayden had told him once that sometimes his tail laying on her flank apparently tickled like when flies landed on her, so he'd taken to trying to curl his tail in so it didn't bother her.

As the trio started back towards the stables, Damien watched them go. When he glanced back to Oliver to see him off, he noticed the odd flush to the man's face as he stared after the group as well. Damien pursed his lips in amusement as he looked back and caught the young guard glancing back over his shoulder towards them--and the man wasn't looking at the duke. Damien smiled inwardly as Oliver cleared his throat and started toward his own carriage.

"Well, I'll be seeing you soon, Damien," Oliver said.

"Come on over whenever you'd like," the duke offered.

"Yes, I do enjoy coming to visit with you. Thank you."

I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more now, Damien thought with one last glance at the back of the young guard.

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After two more hours of toiling over ledgers, Damien wasn't surprised when the missive arrived from King Eudon requesting his presence at the court tomorrow. He was sure his uncle wanted to discuss the mine situation. And Damien was pretty sure he knew what they would have to do. There was little choice other than send emissaries to the mine to oversee what was going on. They'd left the mine overseers to their own devices for too long now. The mines were owned by the Crown, but King Eudon had taken little interest in maintaining supervision over them as long as the required shipments arrived on time.

Damien rose and instructed John to let Brenner know of the impeding trip to the castle the next day. He decided that he would walk down himself and let his stable master, Lance Cessel, know to have Gemini ready in the morning for him.

He strode through the kitchens, as he often did, just because he enjoyed seeing everything that was going on. He knew he could take the side door instead of going through the kitchens, but it was nice to see the servants and slaves in his home and to see that they were happy and comfortable. So it didn't surprise him to hear his chef barking orders and the staff obeying him with amused smiles, laughing and joking as they carried on with their work.

When one noticed him, she immediately dropped into a curtsy. Lizzy, he thought her name was, dipped her chin deferentially, "My lord."

Others followed suit quickly, with a bow or curtsy and their murmured greetings as well.

"Please, carry on," he smiled as he waved them to continue whatever they were in the middle of. "Garin, I'll be gone tomorrow. I'm heading to Court early, so I'll grab something on my way out. Oh, and Ellis, can you send someone over to the East Wing and request that Harrison join me? I have a feeling that we'll both need to be involved in this."

Garin had nodded, and Ellis dipped his head. "Yes, sir, right away."

Damien followed the feline hybrid out of the door, noting oddly how even though both Ellis and Kayden were both nekos that Kayden was so much more graceful. Maybe it was because his kitten was just much smaller, or maybe he was just a bit biased.

The tawny neko took off loping easily toward the East Wing that was about a mile to the east--hence its name--of the main estate house. Harrison and his new wife, Penelope, had moved into the Eastern estate after their wedding a few months ago.

Damien smiled as he thought of the last time he'd seen the newlyweds--well, they still acted that way anyway, even after several months of marriage. Harrison fawned over his wife incessantly, to the point that she had occasionally thrown him out and sent him to visit with his brother.

It was worse now that she was pregnant. Harrison had informed him of his wife's condition two weeks ago. She was apparently only about two months along, Dr. Reid had informed them. She wasn't really showing yet of course, but Harrison had already sent for the tailor to be ready to make new dresses and outfits for his wife.

It probably hadn't occurred to Harrison, but Damien was secretly hopeful that Penelope had a son. Damien expected that his uncle would be stepping down as King soon, as his health was beginning to fail, and Damien would need an heir. He fervently hoped that Penelope and Harrison would provide him one, as he had no interest in having children of his own.

"My lord, how are you this afternoon?" a voice greeted him.

He looked up to see Lance Cessel smiling at him.

"I'm good, Lance. And you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, my lord, for asking. Are you looking for your kit? I think he's over there in the training ring with Finn."

"No actually, I wanted to let you know that I'll be leaving early in the morning. So I'll need Gemini ready to go," he said.

Lance smirked. "And you needed to come tell me that yourself?"

The duke grinned. "No, I just needed a break, and thought a nice little walk out here would clear my head a bit."

"Ahh, good. I'll leave you to your breath of fresh air, then," Lance laughed, turning back into the barn.

Damien turned his head, sweeping his gaze over the pasture. His huge black stallion Gemini was standing there near the fence, nibbling on some grass. He had a moment of melancholy as he thought of Gemini's predecessor. He had loved Jester, the horse had served him well over many years before his brother Roman's assassination attempt. Damien stamped down his hate for all the anguish that his brother's greed and treachery had caused his household. Gemini was a good horse, and Damien knew he'd grow to love Gemini as much as he had Jester.

His gaze drifted over to the training ring, and his heart stopped in his throat and the breath rushed out of his lungs.

What the fuck?

His eyes narrowed as he saw the red-headed stable hand with his arms wrapped around his little kitten. It was hard to see exactly what was going on through the fence posts, but he could tell that Kayden was laughing as Finn leaned into his back. Finn's hand slid up under Kayden's chin, lifting it, causing Kayden to giggle. Finn laughed too, his face entirely too close to Kayden's for Damien's comfort.

As Damien stalked closer, Kayden grabbed Arabella's mane and swung himself up onto her bare back. He leaned forward over her neck slightly as the stable hand grabbed his calves and adjusted their placement on the horse's sides. Damien hated the way the redhead's hand lingered on his kitten's leg, patting Kayden's thigh in encouragement.

His kitten's face grinned down at the stablehand, laughing at something the man said, and Damien couldn't help the sudden desire to yank the young man away from his boy.

When the hell had the two of them become so close? He knew he'd been busy lately, but he hadn't been so busy that Kayden would--

Would what?

Did he really think that his kitten would seek solace in this stable hand's arms? Kayden would never do that to him. Would he?

Fuck. Damien ran a hand through his hair at the insane stab of doubt that pricked at his heart.

He watched as Kayden took off on Arabella, cantering around the ring bareback. For a second, he let himself cherish the sight of his lover smiling and carefree on the back of his horse. Kayden seemed truly happy.

But was it because of Finn? Damien let the unbidden thought creep into his mind.

When Damien approached the ring, he saw Kayden's guard sitting on a bale of hay near the barn absently keeping an eye on his charge. Nothing could be going on, or else someone would have told him, right?

Kayden noticed him and waved before coming to a stop. Finn instinctively reached and grabbed at Kayden's waist as the boy slid off the horse. Damien's eyes narrowed at the stable hand's hold on his lover, but Kayden didn't seem to notice as he launched himself into Damien's arms. All Damien seemed to be aware of at the moment was the slight blush and dipped head of the stable hand.

"My lord," Finn said deferentially, clasping his hands behind his back politely.

"Finn," Damien managed to nod, causing the young man to look up at the tightness in his voice. The red-head looked confused, and Damien thought maybe he'd been mistaken about the man.

"I thought you would still be working," Kayden said, obviously surprised by his appearance at the stables.

"I've received a missive from the court," he stated. "I have to go there tomorrow. I'm taking Harrison. Maybe you'd like to visit with Lady Penelope and keep her company tomorrow?"

Damien glanced back at Finn, noting the odd disappointed look on the red head's face, and he felt a sense of triumph at sending Kayden away from the man. Of course, it didn't make any sense why he should feel that way. He certainly wasn't jealous. What could Kayden see in Finn that he didn't have in Damien?

"That sounds like fun," Kayden beamed. "Maybe Finn and I can ride over there tomorrow and practice my bareback riding."

Damien's jaw clenched.

"Are you done working now?" Kayden asked hopefully.

"No, I was just taking a break. But I'll stop and make sure to have dinner with you," Damien said, curling Kayden closer into his side.

"Do you have time for me to brush down Bella?" Kayden asked. "Then I can walk back up with you."

Damien opened his mouth to answer, but the infuriating stable hand interrupted. "I can take care of Arabella for you, Master Kayden."

Kayden smiled brightly, handing the reins over to Finn. "Thank you! Oh, and Finn," Kayden said, turning and putting his hand over Finn's, "can you give her a treat for being so good?"

"Certainly, Master Kayden," Finn grinned down at the young neko.

"Thank you," Kayden piped up again.

"Yes, thank you, Finn," Damien said, trying not to growl.

He couldn't help his irrational irritation at the touch between the two. Finn was much closer to Kayden in age. Could Kayden be craving attention and companionship from a younger man?

Looking down at his feline lover, the boy's bright green eyes gazing up at him and that innocent smile on his thin face, Damien felt suddenly stupid for feeling that way.