Sons and Heirs chapter 1: The Assignment

In the fireplace-lit twilight of his office, Luca looked down at the orders on his desk, the dark seal of the king as heavy in his hand as the order itself was on his mind. He ran a hand through his short cropped blonde hair and pulled out a cigar. The end of it flared on its own and he took a long drag, blowing the smoke up towards the dome ceiling. He'd insisted on the round room because it didn't allow for any shadows to be thrown by the glow of the fireplace set deep in the wall. It was devoid of anything on the mantle, spartan like the rest of the room. He pushed himself up from his desk and ambled past the couch, to the wall of floor to ceiling windows.



The night sky was full to bursting with stars and he felt like even if the fire went out he'd still be able to see the room clearly. He stretched his thickly muscled arms over his head and cracked his back, opening the door and crooking a finger at the guard standing to one side of it, ready to do his bidding. "Bring Borden to me," he murmured before turning back into the room. Black furniture, wood floors… it was all so clean and orderly. Sometimes it made the blue-eyed man want to scream, but now he was glad for it as he sat back down at his desk to wait.



He didn’t have long to wait, though; his right hand man usually stayed close, at least when he wasn’t out doing his boss’ bidding.  Borden opened the door without a knock and stepped into the room silently.  He stopped near the center of the round room before throwing a glance toward the window.  “Yes?” he asked, glancing back at the other.  Borden wasn’t a man of many words, but then neither was Luca.  Things worked well between them.  Meet.  Talk.  Leave.  Do job.



"The King has brought it to my attention," Luca started, looking up at him, "that there have been an alarming increase of slaves escaping from the cities." He'd always felt that being behind the desk put him in a position of power, and even if he was sitting lower than the other man, it was like he could look down at him. "He is not at all pleased about this."  Borden’s face had remained passive as always as Luca spoke, and now he nodded.



“And you think there’s something I can do about this… problem?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.



"No. I was thinking I'd send someone else. But I figured that I would tell you about it anyway. I love to waste my time telling you things that have nothing to do with you." Luca snapped and rolled his eyes.  Borden smirked slightly at Luca’s sarcasm and looked down. "I want you to get out there and find out who is running this. Someone has to be; there is no way all of these slaves are smart enough to do it alone."



“Of course,” Borden responded.  They both knew what Luca was talking about: Borden ‘becoming’ a slave, running away with them, and getting as deep into their network of leaders as he could.  “It will take a long time for them to trust me.”  Borden held up his wrist, looking up at Luca.  “Especially if I don’t have the marking of a slave.  His Majesty has to understand that I’m not going to get results or information in weeks, or even months.  It could take years.”



Luca grinned over at him. "Well you are getting a marking. So that will solve that problem right there."  Borden gave him a sunny smile in return and dropped his arm.



“Lovely.”



Luca shrugged with a frown. "Of course, I know this won’t be easy. His Majesty understands that as well, and as long as you give me something to show him that proves we're making some sort of progress…." Luca trailed off, tapped his quill pen on the King's orders and sighed slightly. He was just as eager to stop any sort of rebellion as the other man was, but he hated sending Borden away. It wasn't that he couldn't be without the other, Luca was a perfectly independent person who didn't need anyone’s help. Borden, however, was the person he went to with any problem he needed taken care of. Any problem. It was going to be a very large inconvenience to not have him on hand for... months. There was no way he was going to let this go on for years.



“By when do you need me to leave?” Borden asked.  His smile was gone, and he had his serious face on.  The cold, calculating soldier beneath the dark haired man’s passive exterior was showing.



Luca shrugged; the sooner the man was gone, the sooner he would return and Luca could use him again. "The end of the week,” he answered finally. Three days should be plenty of time to prepare for his mission. "Do the branding tonight so that it will be healed in time for you to go out amongst the others." Borden looked down, a hesitation unusual for him.  “Problem?” Luca asked, irritated.



“My mother lives in Terithia, two days away.  If I’m going to be gone for as long as this will take… I’d like to see her one last time before I go.  I can go tomorrow and be back in five days.”



Luce frowned, and finally nodded. "That's fine. But I want you gone by the end of next week,” he murmured.  He dropped his pen on his desk with a sigh, leaning back in his chair and looking over at the other pensively. "This isn't going to take years Borden. I won't allow it."



“I’ll just make sure to tell the slaves that I need to be back by a certain time.  They won’t dare cross you.”  He nodded and smiled graciously at the other.  “Is that all, sir?”



Luca looked over at him and put his cigar out in his hand. He was always amused by Borden's light humor, but he never showed it. "Get out of here,” he snapped and rolled his eyes.



“Of course, sir.  See you in months instead of years.”  He saluted before turning and leaving the room.