The Winter Ball (12.3)

Kaedan had no idea how things had gone off the rails so quickly. 

One moment, it had been just him, Xander, Lumina, Mina, and Leon—Well, with the addition of Chaewon, Elliot, and Bella—And now all of sudden, there are explosions, gunshots, and somehow, Hyunwoo, Risále, Fenix, Owen, Val, and Nia were all here, too. Which was exactly what they were avoiding. They had an actual plan at some point.

And at some point, that plan had been thrown out the window. 

He called out to Lumina, "Hey, Lumina! I'm going after Xander, who knows what that crazy freak is doing to him? Can you hold up the fort here?"

Lumina was about to call out, noticing the person sneaking up on him, but before she could say anything, the person was knocked to the ground by a strong kick. Elliot grinned as he flexed his fingers into fists, "You let your guard down, Your Majesty." 

"Oh, do not start with that, I've heard enough 'Your Majesty's for one lifetime," Kaedan muttered, wrapping his whip around two people and pulling them over to him, roundhouse kicking them both in the face.

Elliot whistled, "Damn, you've gotten better since the last time I saw you, huh?"

"Well, the last time you saw me, I was literally twenty-two years old, so I don't know what you expected to happen in the last six years. But if you think I've improved, just wait till you see Xander. He's like a whole different person now," Kaedan raised an eyebrow.

At this, Elliot laughed, "Oh, I saw. Couldn't take my eyes off of him—Was he always that attractive when he was fighting?" He asked, and Kaedan shook his head, a smile on his face.

"You're asking his boyfriend, do you think I'm going to give you an unbiased answer? Also exactly how does Chaewon feel about you hitting on Xander?" Kaedan asked rather pointedly, shifting his weight onto one hip.

Elliot shrugged, "Well, I did hit on you as well so doesn't that even it out? Chaewon doesn't mind—In fact, we were racing to see who would hit on one of you first. I won, I think. Unless she got to you before I did?"

"Nope, you were first." 

"Perfect, she has to take me on a date the next time we go out."

"Aw, that's cute. Now, are you done chatting me up, I'd love to keep talking but I also really don't want to leave Xander with that psycho," Kaedan said, raising his eyebrows.

Elliot choked on air, "Are you serious? Julian? Him? I thought he'd hate him because Xander was dating you and Julian was obsessed with you?" 

Kaedan ducked under the man that was trying to chop off his head and slammed him hard enough on the ground that there was a cracking sound, "Ah, shit, I might have killed him. Oh, well. So, good news, I think Julian is a little less obsessed than me though I don't think he'd give up any opportunity to get with me. Bad news, I'm starting to suspect he just has a thing for pretty older people. The woman he was dancing with earlier was gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but she was also definitely more than a decade older than him."

"And, of course, Xander hits both of those checkboxes. Pretty and eight years older than him. I guess the White Lotus tattoo was probably another check in his book," Elliot punched a man hard enough to send him flying. Kaedan whistled lowly.

"Did you get even more ripped while you've been off the radar?"

"Now, who's hitting on who?"

"Shut up. And, ugh, you have no idea how frustrating it was to watch Xander dance with him and walk off with him. I mean, you know how possessive we can be of each other. Well, how possessive I can be more than the two of us but we know Xander has his times. Like firstly, get your paws off my man, and secondly, back the fuck off, child. Ugh. No one else gets to hit on Xander for the next three years," Kaedan muttered.

Elliot fluttered his eyelashes, "Except for me, right? I get a pass, don't I?" 

"You get a pass because you're both Xander's and my ex, you have a hot wife, and I pick up a lot of good flirting tips from you to use on my boyfriend," Kaedan said, dropping to the ground and sweeping his leg out to take out three more people.

Elliot made a pouty face, "And here I thought it was just my charming looks that made it impossible for the two of you two to forget me."

"You'd better be joking or I will teach you exactly how much I've improved with this whip," Kaedan warned.

Elliot raised an eyebrow, "Ooh, kinky. Is that the kind of thing Xander is into? Although he'd literally let you do anything so I'm not too surprised."

"There is actually no winning when it comes to you, is there?"

"I like to think that just by talking to me, we're both winning," Elliot winked, "I'll stop holding you up, go save your boyfriend from the royal terror before Xander goes and does something stupid."

Kaedan choked on his laughter, "Royal terror—God, I missed having you around, you know that?" He clapped a hand on Elliot's shoulder, patting it, "We'll catch up later and hopefully Xander will not have ripped his own head off by then."

"I would hope not, he's handsome to look at and while I don't quite mind if I was looking at his pretty head and his pretty body, I would prefer to see them still attached to each other," Elliot responded, stepping in front of Kaedan, "Go ahead, I'll cover you. Be careful, don't do anything stupid."

Kaedan laughed, "No need to worry, you know me."

"That's exactly why I'm worried."

"Fair enough. Make sure everyone else is alright."

With that, Kaedan ran off towards the source of the explosion, knowing that from Xander's words, the one that set it off was Julian himself. He burst into what would have been the throne room if it hadn't been absolutely wrecked. 

On the throne, Kaedan saw something that chilled him to his bones. 

Xander seemed to be knocked out cold, and Kaedan could make out the blood in his hair, so it must have been caused by a head injury. His arms were tied down, and he didn't seem to be aware at all of what was going on around him.

Julian was on the throne too, his knees bracketing Xander's legs as he was practically on the other man's lap, a knife held to Xander's face.

Oh, hell no.

Within moments, Kaedan's whip was wrapped firmly around Julian and he yanked the man as far away from the throne as he could, slamming him against the opposite wall. He heard the man groan in pain and took the opportunity to run over to Xander, quickly untying him, "I'm so sorry for taking so long, baby," He said softly under his breath, "I'm here now, I've got you."

"So you've finally shown up, Your Highness," He heard Julian's taunting voice, and the way the man said his title made Kaedan shiver uncomfortably. It was so different from the way Xander and Mina said it, playful, funny, endearing. Julian said it with venom in his voice.

Kaedan turned around to face Julian, a darkness in his eyes that held the threat of a thousand deaths. He stood in front of the throne, shielding Xander with his body, "Don't come anywhere near my boyfriend ever again. Do you hear me, you brat?"

"Boyfriend?" He scoffed, "You can't make a lover out of a whore, I thought you would have found that out by now—"

In seconds, Kaedan was already across the room, kicking the man in the stomach, relishing in the crack that he heard as his body slammed into the wall behind him. He wrapped his hands around Julian's neck, squeezing tight enough that his intention to kill was undoubted. He lifted the man off his toes, and Julian scrabbled at Kaedan's hands, trying to get him to let go, "I won't stand for anyone speaking about the man I love in that manner. I have no qualms with snapping your neck into two pieces right here. Apologize."

Julian gasped out in manic laughter, "I'd focus more on Pretty Boy over there if I were you, head injuries are always the trickiest to deal with. Could be fatal," He cackled. Kaedan looked over to Xander quickly. He hated to admit but Julian was right. The fact that the other man was still out cold was a telltale sign that something was wrong. 

Kaedan growled, and then let go of Julian, "You're a fucking coward, that's what you are," And he turned away and made his way over to Xander as quickly as he could, scooping him, an arm under the taller man's knees and the other around his back. 

He looked back to see Julian still on the ground, gasping for the air that he had been deprived of. The man was so far over the edge though, it seemed that he wasn't even thinking about self-preservation, "Run away, not like that's new. You're always going to end up running away."

The older man scoffed, "...You know, for the fact that your older sister is Mina, you really are so much weaker than her."

As he left the room, he heard Julian let out an enraged snarl. Good, he had hit a nerve. As he looked down at the man in his arms, he pressed a kiss to his forehead. Xander actually seemed to stir a bit at this, his eyes fluttering, "...Kaedan?"

"I'm here, Alex. I've got you. We're getting you to Mina so she can make sure you're alright and patch you up," Kaedan said softly, shifting Xander so that the man's face was buried in his neck.

He could feel Xander's smile against his neck, "I know you've got me. You always have."