Prologue
Regulus still remembers the first time he saw James. He was walking through the woods with his brother and heard a melody so lovely, that even the trees reached their branches in the direction of the sound.
He never heard anything like it before. Before he could think about anything else, his legs started moving and he started running towards it.
He came to a small clearing and saw the most beautiful person anyone could ever imagine sitting on a rock playing the lyre. It was a young man, probably around twenty years old. A wreath of light surrounded him and lit his skin in a golden tone. He was only wearing a red cloak draped around his shoulders, falling down to the midst of his thighs. Regulus was mesmerized.
He stopped and stood still in front of the person who looked like Apollon himself. He wasn’t able to move, being too entranced now not only by the loveliest sound he had ever heard, but also because he couldn’t even imagine that there could be any beauty in this world, that even came close to the one, he saw in front of him.
“Regulus what has gotten into you?”
He heard Sirius panting, having totally forgotten about him.
But Regulus wasn’t able to speak, wasn’t even able to avert his eyes. The music stopped and the person in front of him looked up from his lyre. Their eyes connected for not even a second and it was as if Regulus heart rate sped up from 120 to 140, or even higher. He felt the sweat starting to build around his neck and hands and a blush creeping up to his cheeks. He quickly lowered his gaze, bashful.
“I have been waiting for you,” Regulus heard through the low rustle in his ears. He wasn’t able to lift his head again, feeling like all of his muscles had gone to jelly. But he felt him coming closer, felt his energy, his presence being closer to him than before. It was like there where rays of electricity shooting through him.
“Reggie,” Sirius rammed his elbow into his side. Sirius felt it too, the presence of the person in front of him – he was certain it was a god; he was certain it was Apollon. His mesmerizing play on the lyre, his slender toned figure, his golden-brown skin, the slightly untamed curly hair and his smile that seemed to be able to make even the worst of people smile as well. The light surrounding him, the ethereal atmosphere.
It made Sirius wary; it frightened him. Of course, like everyone else he had heard the stories. The stories of goods shifting into humanlike figures. They usually did it for their own purposes. For their own benefits. For their own entertainment. One should be wary to come anywhere near a god and they were close, very close. And not only that, he was here in their favorite wood, in the kingdom of their family.
Gods didn’t stumble to places like this by accident. It was obvious he played the lyre for someone, that he came here for someone. And by his earlier words spoken towards Regulus, it was clear to Sirius, that this someone was his Reggie.
His brother - his everything. He gave anything he could to protect Regulus from any harm that might be directed towards him. Mostly from harm that came from their parents. From their obnoxiously high expectations, from their cruelty. Or from false friends, from people who were jealous of them. From lovers, that did not love him. And most of the time he succeeded.
He paid for it - with his own sanity, with his own health. But he would do anything for Regulus.
But what could one do to protect someone from a god? From someone, who could only with one arrow, send the plague to the population of whole cities? From someone who would decide about a real human’s fate only by rolling a dice? From someone that would start a war, only because they were bored? How could a human being even cope, even imagine what drove the gods?
And he feared, that Regulus did not want his protection this time. From the moment he heard Apollon’s melody, he seemed to be unreachable.
When he glanced to Regulus, his fears were confirmed. The effect the god had on him was far different from Sirius’ reaction.
Where Sirius would have rather been anywhere else, Regulus didn’t seem to be able to have any thought at all. He stood there, his usually ebony pale face bright red, his head lowered and his eyes glued to the ground. Wasn’t the situation so dire, Sirius would have broken out into giggles, because Regulus behaved so unlike himself.
Under any regular circumstances he would have held his head high, would have sneered towards anyone new, who had the audacity to even speak to him. His aristocratic posture was something that didn’t even leave him when he was far away from their palace. But it left him now. It seemed like the air was sucked out of him.
Apollon was now right in front of Regulus, Lyer in his left hand he lifted Regulus chin with his right hand. After what seemed to be like hours, Regulus looked eyes with the god.
Regulus felt the beautiful boys’ hand lifting his chin upwards. It felt like he imagined being touched by the sun must feel like. It burned. He wondered, whether one would see traces of it afterwards.
He still glanced downwards, even with his head now up again. He didn’t have the courage to look up. His legs felt wobbly, the energy around him made him dizzy.
He knew the boy in front of him was no ordinary man. He seemed to be bigger than life, his presence seemed to take up more space, than any ordinary mortal living being ever could. But he did not know, what he was.
He only felt this strong magnetic force pulling towards him. When Regulus finally lifted his gaze, he saw an otherworldly face. Something so perfect, it couldn’t be human. When he focused on the eyes, he saw the same magnetic pull he felt, redirected at him. He saw lust and love and it burned even more than the touch he felt on his cheek. His vision became black.
Tbc.