"Two in the afternoon," Will repeats quietly. He bites the inside of his cheek, questions weighing on his mind about Kazimir's biography. "Do you know when Kazimir will be back from his duties?" He stands from the plush chair, feeling his back crack and his ankles pop.
Ivan shook his head a little bit. "I don't." he replied. "It…depends on what he is planning to do today." he shrugged a shoulder, looking over at Will and exhaling faintly, tired and a bit unsure what Will wanted from him next.
He purses his lips slightly, glancing to a large window peering out to a fairly empty area of the gardens. He is growing rather tired of deciphering words on pages, desperate to give his mind a short rest and his bones a well-deserved stretch. "Well, Ivan, do you have a favorite area of the palace?" He sets the biography down on a small end table. "Anything that you'd like to show me?"
Ivan hesitated. "I'm not allowed to take you anywhere but your chambers, here, and the gardens." he said carefully, fingers knitting together in his lap as he eyed Will to see what the young man's reaction to that would be. "So, I cannot show you anywhere." he did not want to get on Kaz's bad side, after all. That was never a good idea for any of the servants to do.
Will only barely withholds the exhausted sigh that escapes him. It's barely two in the afternoon and he already feels an unpleasant headache forming behind his eyes. "So you can't do anything entertaining?" He puffs his cheeks out slightly, momentarily looking like a fish. "Tell me, Ivan, what do you do for fun? You don't live and breathe working under Kazimir, do you?"
Ivan blinked at him slowly, clearly debating the question for a long moment internally. "Ah…no. I do not. But…" he trailed off. "I don't understand why you want to know. It is not particularly interesting of a subject." his wings twitched and shifted again, though they remained closed tight against his back. Spreading them in the library stirred up far too much dust, and he would risk knocking them into one of the shelves.
Will inhales as slow as he possibly can. "Listen, Ivan." He steeples his fingers below his nose and steadies the servant with harsh eye contact. "I am incredibly bored and I need to wait until Kazimir returns to even bother doing anything useful." He takes a single step towards the teen. "Please, tell me anything you wish or I might just order you to."
Ivan's gaze skittered away after a moment, and his wings pressed tighter together against his back. "I…yes sir." what else was there to say? Will was Kaz's concubine, and he knew better than to displease the emperor. Displeasing Will would be the same way, in all likelihood.
Will clenches his jaw. This child is… so frustrating? All Will's asking for is a conversation! To get to know the lad a little better! Is he not being forward enough? "Alright," He says slowly, trying to still the irritation bubbling in his chest. "So, Ivan…" Will glances at the wings pressing against the servant's back. "How common are winged folk such as yourself in this… realm?"
Ivan thought about that for a moment. "We…not in this area. We're more from the North and East. There are only some of us in this area." he replied, shrugging his shoulders faintly and glancing around the room rather than make eye contact. "If you went up to the northeast, there would be a lot more of us."
Will nods, slowly, and sits back down in the chair. He has to admit that this is fairly fascinating to him. He had only read about winged folk in snippets from his storybooks. "And so why are you here? Why aren't you northeast with the rest of your kind?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "My mother was brought here as a…spoil of war." he said carefully, skirting around the details of what, precisely, she would likely have been brought back here for. "She still lives here, and I'm not going to leave her." he shifted faintly, eyes flicking to Will and then away again.
Spoil of war? Will would love to say that he's surprised to hear that, but he's well aware of the Snake's war tactics. He nods, biting the inside of his cheek. "Does she also work here at the castle?" He asks, picking up Ivan's hesitation towards the topic and trying to pick the best route to go.
He frowned faintly, brows gathering together. "Sometimes." he replied, a touch cautious on how he responded to the question. After all, Will was Kaz's concubine. Directly tied to the emperor. Questions had to be answered carefully. Ivan didn't have much of a choice in that, really. It was always better to be cautious and careful in response to questions from someone powerful.
"Sometimes?" Will… isn't sure how to process that information. It's clear the servant is being skittish, not quite answering what Will's asking. How is he supposed to have a decent conversation when the recipient is hardly participating? He exhales, blowing a piece of hair from his face, and decides to change the subject. "Do you enjoy working here? They treat you well?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "For the most part, yes. It's…a good place to work, mostly." he replied, glancing over at Will again and flashing a quick, slightly nervous smile.
"That's good," Will nods. He rubs at his forehead; then he uses his arm to prop his jaw up. "Ivan." He exhales slowly. "I want you to know that I am not one you need to be scared of." He bites the inside of his cheek and sits up. This boy desperately needs to relax. It's not like Will is dangerous. He's nothing but a bookish human abducted from his village because he ventured into the woods at night. "I won't report what you tell me to Kazimir. Hell, you could tell me you were planning a mutiny against him and I'd probably help you."
Ivan studied him, still uncertain about this. Could Will's words be trusted? Could Will be trusted? Or was this a ruse? He wasn't sure. "If you say so, sir." he said slowly, blue eyes still studying Will carefully, still clearly cautious and distrustful of the young man seated across from him. The palace was not always a kind place, and just because Fae could not lie did not mean that they were always truthful.
The silence that falls over them once more is just growing increasingly and increasingly frustrating. Well, if Ivan won't talk about himself, then Will supposes that he could… "Ivan, are you familiar with reincarnation?" He inquires as casually as asking about the weather, picking at a small fuzzball on the couch.
Ivan's brows knotted together faintly at Will's words, and he shrugged. "I, ah, know what it is, yes." he replied slowly, cocking his head at Will and wondering why the other man had brought it up. It was not a concept that was popular, after all. Not something that most really considered about.
Let's pray this'll be painless, Will groans internally. If all goes well, Ivan will grasp the insanity of it all and Will could potentially have himself an ally. "I'm a reincarnation." Will pulls at the fuzzball on the couch. "In every lifetime I am killed and reborn, just to be found by the Snake and killed all again." Huffing the piece of hair from his face, Will looks up at the servant. "The Snake in this lifetime is your king Kazimir."
Ivan stared at him, raising his eyebrows. "Like the Fate cards?" he asked, incredulous. "Is that what you are saying he is?" he didn't know if he could possibly believe Will's claims about this. It seemed impossible. It was impossible. The Fate cards were just…cards. They were used by fortune-tellers and magicians to try and predict the future.
At last, Will is finally getting somewhere. He nods and sits up in the chair, trying to hide the small spark of excitement at Ivan's knowledge (no matter how minimal it may be). "Yes, the Fate cards." Just like the deck he had back up in Kazimir's room. "I'm sure you've heard of the Martyr?"
He narrowed his eyes faintly, trying to think. "Yes, I suppose so." he replied, frowning just a little bit and hesitating. "He's one of the death cards." he finally added. "Or sacrifice." his mother was a believer in the cards, and used them regularly. He had his own deck, though he didn't use it much. It was just not something he really believed much in.
How do I delicately put this? Hell, is it even possible to do so? "I am…" Will sighs. "I am the Martyr." Before he can gage Ivan's reaction, Will looks away. "In every life I am killed. In every life I am born again."