The Prince Who Never Begged

The night air was thick with smoke and sweat, the scent of burning wood and cheap liquor blending together.

Kaelion followed the girl through the winding alleys, his mind still replaying the scene at the gambling den.

He had made a man destroy himself with only a few words.

And he had felt powerful.

The girl suddenly stopped. "We have a problem."

Kaelion blinked. "What?"

She pointed ahead.

A group of five men stood blocking the alley. Not just thugs. They were part of a crew.... the kind that controlled entire sections of the slums.

And Kaelion recognized their leader.

Ronan.

A man who ruled these streets through cruelty. His face was marked by a long scar, and his left eye was missing.... replaced by a glass one that shimmered eerily under the lantern light.

Kaelion had seen him before. The last time, Ronan had been dragging a bloodied corpse through the street like a sack of grain.

The girl's voice was quiet. "He knows you were at the gambling den."

Kaelion's pulse quickened. "So what?"

The girl gave him a sharp look. "So the man you broke? He owed Ronan money."

Kaelion went still.

Ronan stepped forward, his boots crushing discarded bones on the ground. "You."

Kaelion met his gaze but said nothing.

The older man tilted his head. "I heard a little rat's been playing games in my territory."

Kaelion clenched his fists. He had no weapons. No way to fight five men.

The girl beside him didn't move. Her expression was unreadable.

Ronan smirked. "Smart rats run. Stupid ones get crushed."

Kaelion still didn't speak.

Ronan's smirk widened. "Beg. Maybe I'll let you go."

Kaelion's jaw tightened.

Beg?

He would rather die.

But he wasn't going to die.

His mind worked quickly. He needed a way out.

His gaze flickered to the girl beside him.

She wasn't afraid.

She was waiting.

Testing him.

Kaelion took a slow breath. Then he did something Ronan did not expect.

He laughed.

A low, quiet chuckle.

Ronan frowned. "Something funny, rat?"

Kaelion lifted his chin slightly. "You're afraid."

Ronan's expression darkened. "What?"

Kaelion took a step forward. "You wouldn't be here unless you were afraid. A prince walks into your streets, and suddenly you feel threatened."

Silence.

Then.... one of Ronan's men shifted uncomfortably.

Kaelion noticed.

He took another step. "You kill thieves. You kill traitors. But a child?" He tilted his head. "If you kill me, what will that make you?"

Ronan's glass eye glinted in the dim light.

Kaelion knew the answer before he said it.

"Weak."

One of the men behind Ronan coughed. Another shifted their weight.

Doubt.

Kaelion's heart pounded. He had no weapons. No allies.

Just words.

And they were working.

Ronan's face twitched.

Then.... he spat on the ground.

"You've got a sharp tongue, boy." His one good eye gleamed. "Let's see how long it lasts."

He turned and walked away.

Kaelion didn't move until the footsteps faded.

Then, he exhaled.

The girl beside him let out a low whistle. "You just talked your way out of death."

Kaelion turned to her. "You knew he wouldn't kill me."

Her lips curled into a smirk. "No. But I wanted to see if you knew."

Kaelion stared at her. For the first time, he understood.

She wasn't just helping him.

She was training him.

The next morning, the streets were different.

People whispered when Kaelion passed.

A child—a boy who should have died—had walked away from Ronan's wrath without a scratch.

And that meant something in the lawless district.

It meant power.

Kaelion felt the change in the air. The way the beggars looked at him with something other than pity. The way the street merchants didn't try to cheat him.

The girl walked beside him, silent, watching.

After a while, Kaelion spoke. "You planned that."

She smirked. "No. But I hoped you wouldn't die."

Kaelion narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe in hope."

The girl's smile didn't fade. "Then believe in survival."

They turned a corner, and Kaelion immediately stopped.

Ahead, a crowd had gathered.

There was a man in the center... a body strung up by the neck, swinging gently from a wooden beam.

Kaelion's stomach twisted.

"Execution," the girl said casually. "Public warning."

Kaelion's fingers curled. The man's eyes were wide open, frozen in terror. His lips were still parted.... as if his last breath had never fully left his body.

Kaelion hated it.

The helplessness.

The silence.

The people watching, saying nothing.

He felt the girl's gaze on him.

"You don't like it," she observed.

Kaelion didn't answer.

The girl tilted her head. "You spoke your way out of death yesterday. Let's see if you can do it for someone else."

Kaelion turned to her, sharp suspicion in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

The girl nodded toward a man kneeling beneath the beam.

He was next.

Kaelion stiffened.

Ronan's men stood beside him. The executioner held a rope, looping it around the prisoner's neck.

Kaelion's pulse hammered.

This was different.

Yesterday, he had talked himself out of danger.

Now.... someone else's life was at stake.

And Kaelion had never tried to save anyone before.

The girl leaned in close. "Go on, prince. Talk."

Kaelion's breath was tight.

He took a step forward.

Then another.

All eyes turned to him.

"Stop," Kaelion said.

The executioner hesitated.

Ronan's men did not.

One of them grabbed Kaelion by the collar. "You again?"

Kaelion did not flinch.

He kept his voice steady. "Let him go."

The man laughed. "And why would we do that?"

Kaelion thought fast. This wasn't like yesterday.

If he said the wrong thing, they wouldn't just beat him.

They'd kill him.

The prisoner looked up..... hope flickering in his bloodied eyes.

Kaelion clenched his jaw.

This was his test.

He exhaled.

Then, he smiled.

"Because I'm worth more than him."

Silence.

Kaelion could feel the girl's amusement behind him.

Ronan's men exchanged glances.

Kaelion pressed forward. "You kill him? No one cares. You kill me?" He let the words sink in. "People will ask questions."

The men hesitated.

Kaelion had been seen with Ronan.

Rumors had already spread.

He knew how the slums worked.....perception was reality.

He had to become something they feared to touch.

One of the men grunted. "Ronan never said anything about this one."

Kaelion didn't blink. "Then let me speak to him."

The executioner sighed and waved a hand. "Fine. Get lost, kid."

The rope was cut.

The prisoner collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

Kaelion turned away quickly, pushing down the nausea in his stomach.

The girl was watching him with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Interesting," she murmured.

Kaelion wiped his palms against his ragged shirt.

He had won.

But for the first time, he realized..... he had never actually been close to death before.

And now?

Now he had felt it.

Not his own.

But someone else's.