The Prince did his very best to push the unexpected events into the back of his mind. A kiss upon the nose meant nothing. It was merely Blaine’s way of proving to Kurt that humans should embrace their flaws rather than treat them with disdain. Beyond that, it meant nothing. There was no need for it to mean anything either way. At least, that was how Kurt viewed it.

For he was still to die in less than half a year and any such attachments might very well prove to be dangerous.

That is not to say that a relationship between two men would be dangerous. Gracious no, not in Vaerithea. Men have married men and women have married women for as long as Kurt could remember. He recalled, in the generations before his father’s ascension to the throne, the dual queens in Vaerithean history. It was perfectly acceptable. The heir had simply been born from the seed of a relative on the second queen’s side of the family, not of the birth mother, to ensure the bloodline.

No, the danger came from the fact that Kurt was sure to die and he would not allow himself the romantic love of another. For one, he knew he would be heartbroken at having to leave his beloved behind. But he also feared the heartbreak his partner might suffer in the same light. It was unfair, bordering on inhumane.

And anyway, Blaine was immortal. He would live forever and Kurt would become nothing but a hazy memory.

The Prince didn’t think he could live with such a thought.

With his decision made, Kurt made sure to focus only on fond friendship with the other boy. They did not discuss the kiss, much in the same way they did not discuss Blaine’s experiences during the Days of Darkness. Instead, the talked of Vaerithea and its history, of Rachel’s budding romance with one of the other servants, and of Blaine’s lives before the Darkness.

“Do you really remember the beginning of time?” Kurt asked one day over lunch.

“Vaguely,” Blaine answered, sipping from his favorite goblet.

“What was it like?” Kurt wondered, starry-eyed at such an idea.

Blaine graced him with a smile. “Bright,” he recalled. “Bright and colorful. Just…gasses twirling together in the void, creating stars from dust.”

“But what were you back then?” Kurt asked. “I mean to say, you couldn’t possibly have been human.”

“I do not know,” Blaine said. “Some days I think I was only a presence, form taking up space.”

“Perhaps you weren’t really born from magic,” Kurt said, humor dancing in his eyes. “Perhaps you were born from stardust and your parents are the sun and moon both.”

“It’s very possible,” Blaine returned as his grin widened, lighting up his face in an instant. “Perhaps I rode in on a comet’s tail.”

“Or you burst out of the sun’s flames,” Kurt added with a laugh.

“I think I might have danced on the rings of a far away planet!”

“And you skipped though the Aurora Nebula!”

By that point, the boys were doubling over with laughter, the last of their meal forgotten. Kurt always felt in high spirits around Blaine, so long as he didn’t think about the almost-kiss they shared.

“I can’t think when I last laughed so hard,” Kurt gasped, wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes.

“I think it’s been at least five hundred years for me.”

The statement was so absurd, yet completely true, and had Kurt laughing uproariously once more. His heart felt light and free. For so many long months his life had been full of gloom with the prediction of his death, but here and now, with Blaine’s rosy cheeks and precious smile, the Prince almost believed he’d live like this forever. It was as if all was well again.

As if he wouldn’t die in five months.

Such a thought sobered Kurt’s gaiety quite quickly. He could tell when Blaine saw the humor leave his eyes, for Blaine’s smiled lessened as well.

“What must it be like,” Kurt wondered, “to live so long and know you’ll live longer still?”

Blaine’s gaze turned downward, eyes focusing on the table.

“Lonely,” he admitted softly.

Sorrow replaced the humor in the air and, almost against his conscious will, Kurt placed his hand over Blaine’s atop the table.

“But…surely you’ve had friends,” Kurt said. “And your Keepers? They must have cared for you as well.”

“I have had friends, yes. Never a prince, of course,” Blaine added with light in his eyes when his gaze flickered to Kurt’s face. “And my Keepers cared for me deeply, every last one of them.”

“Then…why is it lonely?”

“Because they die,” Blaine said frankly. “They all die. I’ve had to watch a thousand friends die and new ones take their place, but I remember them all in some way and there is always a hole when they leave.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt said. “I wish I could offer you comfort, but I – I’m afraid I do not know how.”

“I expect it seems like a gift to someone like you, someone whose life is being cut short.”

Frowning, Kurt lifted his hand from Blaine’s and allowed it to fall into his lap.

“It does seem a blessing,” Kurt admitted. “What I wouldn’t give for just a few more months of life.”

“What I wouldn’t give to die with you,” Blaine whispered.

A tiny burst of air fell from Kurt’s lips, as if Blaine’s words had hit him so forcefully in his chest that he lost his breath for just one half of a second.

“I wish – I wish I could give you some of the life I have yet to live,” Blaine choked out, tears suddenly streaming down his face. It was disconcerting to see, for Kurt had never seen Blaine cry, not once during the entire month Blaine had been in the castle. “I wish I could be rid of this curse and give you time to see you marry and become the great king I can already see in your soul.”

“Do not think of it,” Kurt said, standing as swiftly as his ailing body would allow to round the table and stand beside Blaine’s chair. “There is nothing to be done. We have our destinies, you and I. I think we were lucky to even meet, given the contradictory nature of our fates. For that, I think we should be thankful. We should not mourn what can never come to pass. We should rejoice in our friendship.”

The Prince placed a cool hand on the back of Blaine’s neck, soothing the other boy’s skin with his thumb.

“Please,” the Prince begged. “Look at me.”

After a few, deep, shuddering breaths, Blaine finally did so. Kurt tucked a finger under his chin to ensure he held his gaze.

“I want you to make me a promise,” Kurt said.

“I would promise you the stars if only you asked for them,” Blaine said softly.

Kurt allowed himself the smallest of smiles.

“It is nothing so great,” he replied. “I want you to promise to remember me on days like this, when I’m not in bed all day and sleeping away my sickness. I don’t want you to remember me looking pale and weak. I want you to see the good parts of me and remember me fondly.”

“I promise, my Prince,” Blaine swore.

“Thank you.”

At that moment, Lady Rachel rushed into the room, giving a quick curtsy, though it was born out of tradition rather than respect. Kurt dropped his hand from Blaine’s face and turned to give her his most agitated stare.

“Apologies, sir,” she said breathlessly. “Your father, the King is approaching your chambers. I was sent to announce his arrival.”

“Whatever for?” Kurt asked. “He never announces his presence.”

“Unless it is on official business,” Rachel reminded.

“And so it is,” the King said warmly, sweeping into his son’s chambers.

Rachel curtsied once more and Blaine lowered his head in reverence before busying himself with removing their dishes from the table.

“Father,” Kurt greeted. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I come with news of visitors.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed,” the King answered. “King Fabray of Gieden will come to stay a fortnight. He will be bringing his daughter, Princess Quinn as well.”

The excitement regarding new faces fled Kurt’s body almost instantly. Richard Fabray was known to all as a harsh king, very unlike Kurt’s father, and many quaked at the name of his kingdom. He ruled with an iron fist. In turn, his daughter possessed a cold heart and a dry smile.

“You do not seem pleased,” the King remarked. “I’d have thought you would be glad of visitors.”

“Of course, father.”

“Yet you are not glad, which is why I make the point of saying so.”

“I know our ties with the Fabrays are important.”

“That does not explain why you look so displeased at the prospect of their visit.”

Kurt sighed heavily, seating himself in the nearest chair. “If I might speak freely?”

“Of course,” the King said graciously. “You know you have the right to speak freely with me in private.”

“Quinn Fabray is vapid, vain, and heartless.”

“Kurt,” the King groaned, as if he had heard these claims many times before. “She is-”

“I know who she is, father, and I apologize. The thought of Princess Quinn invading my life for two weeks does not fill me with anything akin to joy. I will, of course, act as magnanimous in her presence as possible but that does not mean I have to enjoy a single moment of her company.”

“You haven’t even seen the girl in two years, son. There is every chance that her demeanor has softened.”

“The only way Quinn Fabray’s demeanor would soften would be because her father’s has softened as well. She walks in his footsteps and that man is an arrogant-”

“He is a king, Kurt Hummel, and you would do well to treat him with respect,” his father stated levelly.

“I thought you said I was allowed to speak freely in private,” Kurt sassed.

Clearly at the end of his tether, the King lowered himself into the chair opposite his son, clasping his hands together atop the table in an outward display of patience.

“I had hoped your opinion of the young lady would have softened as well.”

“When she last left our castle, she looked at me like I was no better than crow droppings. You remind me of the princess she is, but I seriously doubt her father says the same to her about me.”

“No matter your thoughts, Richard Fabray is the king of the land we are the most likely to ever war with. The ties between Gieden and Vaerithea are delicate in nature and we must preserve them in every way possible.”

“You are a king as well,” Kurt said, sitting straighter in his chair with pride. “But I have never once seen you kick a servant.”

“That was years ago, Kurt.”

“A king who refuses to give his people an ounce of respect will never deserve mine. I have five months left to live and I did not intend to waste a second of that time pretending to be courteous to man who has no soul.”

The King looked to be on the verge of correcting his son’s wrongs, but he held his tongue on the matter for it was obvious he could not argue with such points.

“Will you at least give the girl a chance, even if your heart is so hardened against her father?” the King pleaded.

“I don’t see why I should.”

“I had hoped you two could…come to an agreement,” Kurt’s father said, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Even if you could not find love, I’d like to see you become something of a friend to the Princess.”

The Prince’s gaze narrowed in suspicion, eyeing the blush dusting his father’s face and the way the King of Vaerithea could not look his own son in the eye.

The realization hit him with too much force.

“You mean to see us married,” he concluded, sure to look properly aghast at such a prospect, for Kurt was truly horrified. “I cannot believe I neglected to notice.”

“The marriage would strengthen the ties between Vaerithea and Gieden,” the King pointed out. “She would-”

“She would be our next Queen,” Kurt stated without emotion. “Yes, I understand the good that could come of the marriage, father. I am a Prince, after all. Her older sister will inherit the throne of Gieden and Quinn would take my place as Vaerithea’s sole heir in the event of my death. But I am already dying, if you cannot remember. We would practically be handing that wretched girl the crown of our kingdom and I will not doom Vaerithea to such a fate, nor will I submit myself to suffer in her presence for the last few months of what I believe has been a good life.”

“She is not a child any longer,” the King sighed in frustration. “Two years can change a person in ways you cannot understand.”

“We will have to see such progress for ourselves,” Kurt said. “But my decision stands: I will not marry her and you cannot force me to do so.”

“Of course I won’t force you, son. I merely hoped that-”

“You cannot force me to do so because I would be lying on two fronts instead of just one were I to marry Princess Quinn.”

The King leaned back in the chair, massaging his temples as if the beginning of a headache was upon him.

“And what two fronts would those be?” his father asked wearily, already tired of the argument.

“For one, I cannot, nor will I ever, bring myself to love someone so cruel. Secondly…I – I would be denying my own inclination toward men and I am not a prince who denies his true nature.”

Startled at the admission, the King paused in the act of stroking his hand over his bald head. He looked to Kurt with surprise, but nothing more, as Kurt had suspected.

“I see,” the King responded before shaking himself from his shock. “Apologies, of course. We simply haven’t discussed the topic before.”

“It hasn’t needed discussion,” Kurt remarked, standing slowly and moving over to the window in order to push it open, allowing for fresh air. “I only recently realized my preference.” He turned back to his father. “But I cannot marry Quinn Fabray. Her character is only one aspect of her person to which I am not attracted. I would not be happy, father. I would be miserable and I refuse to live the last few months of my life in misery.”

“Speak no more of it.” The King waved away his son’s unease as he stood. “I hadn’t considered the possibility and for that, I’m truly sorry. You will hear nothing else from this quarter on the matter of any princess, but the Fabrays will be coming to stay.”

“When?”

“They will be here by the end of the week.”

“I shall do my best to prepare for such hell.”

“Kurt,” the King warned, yet he bit his lips together to keep his smile at bay.

“I as good as gave my blessing,” Kurt teased.

“I suppose I cannot argue with that,” the King grumbled in response before heading for the door. Just as he opened it, however, the King turned back to his son. “Kurt?”

“Yes, father?”

“Thank you for being honest with me. I’m glad you know your own mind…and your own heart.”

Kurt inclined his head, wishing to drop the matter entirely. When the King finally departed, Kurt lowered himself to the window ledge and stared out at his favorite stretch of land. It wasn’t as if he was uncomfortable with his own inclinations, it was simply a new development within him and the last person he wanted to discuss the matter with was his father.

After a few moments of silence, Kurt turned just in time to see Lady Rachel bustling in with a tonic from her mother. Kurt hadn’t even realized she’d left.

“Is it true?” Rachel asked eagerly. “Princess Quinn will be arriving soon?”

“Yes, along with her arrogant, rat-faced, King of a father.”

“I heard Princess Quinn was the most beautiful girl in all of the kingdoms,” she said as Kurt downed his tonic.

“Oh, without doubt,” Kurt agreed, handing her the empty bottle. “But her beauty is only skin-deep, I assure you.”

“But – but she’s a princess.”

“And I am a prince. That does not give me the right to treat anyone like swine.”

“Did – did her father really kick a servant?” a meek voice asked.

Blaine stepped into Kurt’s chambers, most likely walking in from his own room. His father had ordered the servant’s quarters adjacent to Kurt’s room be cleaned and given to Blaine for his own use. They didn’t resemble the other servants’ quarters in the slightest, of course. Blaine’s room held a finely crafted wardrobe, a similar desk, and a plushy bed that was only just smaller than Kurt’s. Their rooms were separated by a single door without a lock.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Blaine said apologetically.

“It’s alright,” Kurt said, reaching for Blaine’s hand to pull him closer. He didn’t know why he felt the need to do it. Perhaps it was because Blaine looked even smaller at the prospect of sharing the castle with such an awful man when, in the eyes of the other courtiers, Blaine was a servant himself. “He did kick a servant, yes. But it was not one of our servants; it was his own. Richard Fabray wouldn’t dare do something so foolish, not when the alliance between our kingdoms is already fragile.”

“Will we have to see him often?” Blaine asked.

“There will be feast when they arrive, I’m sure. I’ll be expected to attend if I’m not very ill.” When a thought struck him, Kurt allowed a sly smile to stretch across his lips. “And I suspect I’ll be very ill indeed during the coming weeks.”