Dumbfounded, Phinn responded to the forward pressure communicated subtly via Hew\'s body the only way he was able; he loosened his grip and opened his arms so that the boy might press himself to his chest and sob into his throat. Instinctively, he held the weeping royal in return, his grubby hands floating gently over his unblemished skin and coming to rest upon the back of his head. His fingers stroked, stroked, stroked while he murmured soothing noises meant to comfort and quell the crying. He may even have rocked, though he wasn\'t aware of it.
Truthfully, Phinn wasn\'t aware of much at all. His gaze was fixed on the wall opposite him, unseeing and stagnant as his sluggish mind processed the confirmation he\'d received. Yes, he should leave his home and this city, if he wanted to remain in one piece, for the king would hunt him like a lone wolf in Full Hunger Moon if he didn\'t.
It hurt to contemplate and was entirely befuddling, but Albert Phinneus was not going to be made a dolly in the public eye - a dolly left out in the sun too long, found bleached and torn when it was next seen, for it was no longer the plaything in favour. He was certainly in Hew\'s favour, but the prince was the boy and his father the man who would remind him of his status by casting his toy aside, somewhere deep, dark and impenetrable. The king would break him for his little tryst, his fun little game... and the slum lord was not used to losing, especially when the stakes were hidden and higher than he\'d ever have gambled with. If only he\'d known sooner.
Captain Wilson was wishing much the same thing outside the bedroom at that moment; if only she\'d known sooner. If only she\'d seen the signs, not been wrapped up in her own life so much, she might have put more weight on the little things she\'d noticed, might have connected the occasional smug and secretive expression with the dew-eyed eyes and seen that something serious was afoot. Her charge had been sneaking out of the palace, for Talon\'s sake! Sneaking out into entirely disreputable areas and consorting with people she wouldn\'t voluntarily have had Hew pass in the street, if she could help it, yet he was found in the man\'s bed.
If only she\'d known sooner.
Eventually, the stunned silence and wide-eyed communication shooting wordlessly from one of her guard\'s gazes to the next got the better of her and she gave a frustrated sigh. "I\'m going back up there," she told her men impatiently, gripping the bannister tightly. "Stay here, I\'ll be down with Prince Kestrel in a moment." She hauled herself up the stairs then, taking them with swift strides and trying to ignore the excited whispering that rose at her back the instant it was turned towards them and the semi-darkness surrounding them at the foot of the stairs.
She knocked briefly on Phinn\'s bedroom door before she swung it open and walked in, closing it soundly behind her. Finding her favourite student crying heartbrokenly against her newest enemy\'s chest did nothing to alleviate the strain she was under, nor loosen the tight coil of apprehension within her. They were taking too long; even though very little time had passed, at Lam\'s core was a frantic, whirling alarm that was telling her that she was wasting time. It was bleeding second thoughts into her as well, making her wonder if she should follow Hew\'s orders and walk only him out of here... if the boy didn\'t hurry, they would get the better of her and she\'d falter, despite not wanting to lose him and his friendship. The line between him and his father was a fine one, to say the least.
"Your highness, we have to be leaving," she said smartly, neither barking an order nor mewling a request, but simply standing her ground in the middle of the room, feet shoulder width apart, thumbs hooked through her belt and speaking in a manner that brooked no argument. There was a finite amount of difference between leaving immediately and leaving later and she didn\'t wish to entertain the consequences of the latter.
