The only thing in danger was what little remained of Yuze's innocence.
Kai Low was nothing if not a relentless flirt. Charming, bright, and only occasionally annoying enough that Yuze seriously considered giving into the urge to cut out his tongue.
He's pretty sure most of the other tribesmen travelling with them wouldn't stop him. Kai Low was definitely earning the ire of his compatriots with his unceasing attention towards Yuze.
They still had two days left in their trip north and Yuze hadn't found a single opening to slip away. It wasn't even the other tribesmen, even if they did believe Kai Low about Yuze being a spy, which didn't seem to matter at all, Kai Low's attention was so intense that Yuze could feel the other man's eyes on him even when he was pretending to sleep.
Kai Low insisted on staying right next to him the entire trip, even reaching over and taking Yuze's reigns from him, like some husband leading his wife.
Yuze couldn't push back too much, because as annoying as Kai Low was, he had no idea how loyal the other tribesmen were. Yuze was good in a fight, he was great on a his best day, but there were forty experienced tribal warriors with them and those were odds Yuze couldn't bring himself to bet on.
Even now, as they bedded down for the night, Kai Low's eyes hadn't left Yuze from across the fire as he unrolled his bed and Yuze tried to find a comfortable position with nothing by his cloak.
"You didn't bring much with you."
Those golden eyes were dangerous in the fire light and Yuze was careful to keep the fire between them. "I prefer to travel light."
Kai Low snorted, but he dropped it. He'd been needling yuze nonstop, asking thousands of questions that Yuze ignored or turned around on him. Unfortunately, Kai Low was as clever as he was annoying and had avoided answering most of them. All Yuze had managed to find out, aside from his personnal tastes, was that he relatively high up among the Bandri and was unmarried, which didn't surprise Yuze in the slightest.
A dark lump flew across the fire and Yuze's reacted before he even registered it, reaching up to catch it before it hit his face.
It was a blanket. Horsehair mostly likely and worn soft. Yuze glanced across the fire, and found Kai Low unrolling a second over himself.
As much as he didn't want to, there was no real reason not to be polite. "Thank you."
Kai Low ignored him, squirming like a child as he made himself comfortable.
The nights in the prairie were cold even during the high heat and the last few nights it had been difficult to sleep. The blanket warded off the chill immediately and Yuze felt a reluctant stirring of gratefullness. He was so tired from being on edge since he'd left the Crimson Army camp that it was probably wiser to get a good nights sleep instead of staying up to try and sneak out.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave me?" The question came out of the darkness, just as Yuze was stealing his nerves to sleep among his enemies.
He quinted across the fire and found Kai Low's eyes immediately. "We don't even know each other."
"We could."
Yuze snorted. "Such an innocent offer. Do you think I'll confess my sins in your bed?"
Kai Low gave him a salacious grin. "People have been known to."
Yuze rolled his eyes.
"There are worse things to be known for." Kai Low continued.
"Better things too." Yuze countered, slightly uncomfortable under the constant gaze. Even in the early days of their relationship, Akari had never stared at him with anything near the same intensity. The closest thing Yuze could compare it to was a handful of times he'd thought Fox was watching him, but those times weren't…Uncomfortable? Unnerving? They didn't set his nerves alight?
Kai Low didn't seem bothered by his disagreement. More amused than anything else. "Someone you're aching to get back to?"
Yuze turned his eyes back to the stars. The night sky above the prairie was always spectacular when there were no clouds and nothing but stars as far as the eye could see. Bright and beautiful and terribly distant. They inspired a brief moment of honesty in Yuze. "My brother."
But it seemed to have the opposite effect that he would have expected because Kai Low's face closed off and his eyes went cold immediately. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky and the night chill grew stronger.
It was a surprising moment of weakness from someone Yuze hadn't observed much weakness in. "Do you have a brother?"
Kai Low was silent for so long that Yuze started to think he was being ignored, but then, "Brothers are the worst. They destroy families. Can't be trusted."
Surprised, Yuze blinked. "Not all brothers."
Kai Low snarled. "All of them."
Yuze waited a heartbeat. "What did he do?" He continued when Kai Low didn't answered, but he could hear his angry breathing over the crackle of the fire. "It must have been bad if you hate him so much."
Kai Low stayed silent for moment. "He murdered our sister."
Yuze stiffened, he hadn't expected that.
"And destroyed our family. It took years to restore our honor."
"You must have succeeded," Yuze pushed. "To be be trusted by Beng Shai."
Kai Low snorted. "My sister was his wife."
Yuze froze. He'd been trying to identify Beng Shai's wife ever since his double cross.
"He was devestated by her death. It nearly destroyed the tribe." Kai Low continued.
Yuze considered his next question carefully. "I thought I heard he was considering marriage."
Kai Low scoffed. "No. He loved my sister. He vowed never to marry again."
"Oh…that's disappointing." And surprising. Marriages among the leadership of the tribes were often like the political marriages of the capital. There was little love involved.
"You'd rather have Beng Shai than me?" The outrage is palpable from across the fire.
As is Yuze's exasperation.
~ tbc