by C. S. Pacat
They drew alongside the stairs.
It was a simple misjudgement on Laurent’s part: a dip in the marble altered his footing and affected his line, his blade cutting too far to the left. He wouldn’t have misjudged if he hadn’t been tired. The same had been true for Auguste, fighting for hours on the front.
His eyes flying to Kastor, Laurent tried to correct the mistake, close the gap into which a man could drive his sword if he was ruthless, and willing to kill.
‘No,’ said Damen, who had lived this, too, jerking hard on his restraints, ignoring the pain in his side as Kastor took the opening, moving with merciless speed to cut Laurent down.
Death and life; past and future; Akielos and Vere.
Kastor let out a choked sound, his eyes shocked and wide.
Because Laurent wasn’t Auguste. And the stumble wasn’t a mistake, it was a feint.
Laurent’s sword met Kastor’s, forcing it up, and then, with a neat, minimal motion of the wrist, driving forward into Kastor’s chest.
Kastor’s sword hit the marble. He dropped to his knees, staring up sightlessly at Laurent, who was staring down at him in turn. In the next moment, Laurent brought his sword once across Kastor’s throat.
Kastor slumped and fell. His eyes were open and didn’t close again. In the silence of the marble baths, Kastor lay motionless, and dead.
It was over; like a balance restored, the past put to rest.
Laurent was already turning, already at Damen’s side, on his knees, his hands firm and strong on Damen’s body as though he had never left. Damen’s relief that Laurent was still alive for a moment obliterated all other thought, and he just felt it, felt Laurent’s hands, Laurent’s bright presence beside him.
Kastor’s death he felt as the death of a man he had not known, or understood. Losing his brother—that had happened a long time ago, like the loss of another self who had not grasped the flawed nature of the world. Later, he would face that.
Later they would lay Kastor out, taking him on the long walk, inter him, where he should be, with their father. Later he would mourn, for the man Kastor was, for the man he might have been, for a hundred different pasts and might-have-beens.
Now, Laurent was beside him. Aloof, untouchable Laurent was beside him, kneeling on the wet marble hundreds of miles from home, with nothing in his eyes but Damen.
‘There’s a lot of blood,’ said Laurent.
‘Luckily,’ said Damen, ‘I brought a physician.’
It hurt to talk. Laurent let out a breath, a strange airless sound. He saw an expression in Laurent’s eyes that he remembered from his own. Laurent didn’t flinch from it.
‘I killed your brother.’
‘I know.’
Damen said it, and felt a strange empathy pass between them, as if they knew each other for the first time. He looked into Laurent’s eyes and felt himself understood, even as he understood Laurent. They were both orphans now, without family. The symmetry that ruled both their lives had brought them here, at the end of their journey.
Laurent said, ‘Our men have the gates and the halls. Ios is yours.’
‘And you,’ said Damen. ‘With your uncle gone, there won’t be resistance. You have Vere.’
Laurent was very still, and the moment seemed to draw out, the space between them private in the hushed baths.
‘And the centre. We both hold the centre,’ said Laurent. And then: ‘It was one kingdom, once.’
Laurent wasn’t looking at him when he said it, and it was a long moment before he lifted his eyes to Damen’s waiting ones, and Damen’s breath caught at what he saw there, the odd shyness of it, as though Laurent was asking instead of answering.
‘Yes,’ said Damen, feeling light-headed at the question.
And then he really did feel light-headed, because Laurent’s face was so transformed by the new light in his eyes that Damen almost didn’t recognise him, the expression full of joy.
‘No, don’t move,’ said Laurent, when Damen pushed up onto an elbow, and then, ‘Idiot,’ when Damen kissed him.
He pushed Damen firmly back. Damen let him. His stomach hurt. It was not a mortal wound, but it was nice to have Laurent fuss over him. The thought of days of bed rest and physicians was made sweeter by the thought of Laurent alongside him, making barbed remarks in public, and in private, newly tender. He thought, Laurent alongside him for all the span of his days. He lifted his fingers to touch Laurent’s face. Iron links dragged over marble.
‘You know, you’re going to have to unchain me at some point,’ said Damen. Laurent’s hair was soft.
‘I will. At some point. What’s that sound?’
He could hear it even in the slave baths, muffled but audible, the sound ringing out from the highest peak, a peal of notes, proclaiming a new king.
‘Bells,’ said Damen.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Captive Prince was born in a series of Monday-night phone conversations with Kate Ramsay, who said, at one point, ‘I think this book is going to be bigger than you realise.’ Thank you, Kate, for being a great friend when I needed it most. I will always remember the sound of the wonky old phone ringing in my tiny Tokyo apartment.
I am incredibly lucky to have the help of a group of talented and extraordinary friends Vanessa, Beatrix Bae, Anna Cowan and Ineke Chen-Meyer. Thank you all so much for the generosity, brainstorming, insights, laughs, and for always inspiring me to be better. This story wouldn’t be what it is without you.
My agent Emily Sylvan Kim and Cindy Hwang at Penguin both believed in and championed Captive Prince, and I’m so grateful for everything they have done for the book. Thank you both for taking a chance on a new writer and a new type of story.
To my wonderful editor Sarah Fairhall and the team at Penguin Australia, thank you so much for your inspiring excellence, and for all your hard work improving every detail of the book.
Captive Prince began its life as an original fiction serial online, and I owe everything to the encouragement and support of its readers in those early days. I want to personally thank all the following—the commenters and early community—who used to gather in the days of “freece” to share their love of the story.
So thank you:
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And thank you also to the anons, the lurkers and to all the readers who have followed Captive Prince over the years. It’s been an incredible journey.
Captive Prince
May 2008 – April 2015
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