Northstar Vale If you can't hear what I'[m] trying to say

There was no denying the boy's intentions and how Takeshi perceived it by the soft murmur that left his throat from above. Clay nearly thanked the gods for that, for this small piece of pleasure he was granted. For this gift he so deeply saught. "Yes, emperor,"

Twitching his ear to the sound of the white male's paw steps, the prince raised upward, his head turning back to look at the man, to spare him a glance once more just to make sure this wasn't a dream. That Takeshi was playing as sick of a game as he was, that the emperor wouldn't slit his throat and leave him to die within his most vulnerable moment.

"Don't add to the scars," was all he murmured next whilst bending down, bowing his front half towards the dirt where he hid his face in shame and excitement. His cheek fur curling upwards and splaying across like a fan. Clay had told himself a million times that those ugly marks didn't define him, that they weren't sealing his fate and retelling a story bound to repeat itself.

But now he wasn't so sure. Was the only difference that he had a choice this time?