Work Text:
“You summoned me?”
“Have you forgotten what respect is, little brother?” the king asked, leaning back on his throne. “I thought Father had made sure we both learned that lesson. I never forgot. How did you manage it?”
Hawkeye met his brother's gaze, not allowing any of his natural reaction to those memories show. When he was younger, he would have flinched. His mouth would have lost all moisture, and he would have started to panic, remembering the pain and the fear and the paralyzation of the question of what would come next when the worst should already have been over.
“If you wanted me to bow, you would do more that was worth respecting.”
“I should remind you of all the lessons you seem to have forgotten, but I have another task for you,” the king said, playing with the embroidery on his sleeve. He smiled when he looked up. “I know you think little of the bride I have chosen.”
“I think little of anything you do.”
“Nevertheless, you will attend my wedding because it is your obligation,” the king said. “You will obey the usual civilities required for the occasion.”
Hawkeye frowned. “You brought me here to tell me things I already knew? You are not that frivolous.”
“Of course not.” The king said. He smiled, and Hawkeye's stomach tensed, that warning intuition screaming at him to run as it had every time their father had determined on a lesson for them. “Tonight, after the wedding feast is over, I have a task for you.”
“Where are you sending me this time?”
The king laughed. “You need not leave the castle for this one. You can walk down the hall to your room when it is done.”
“When what is done?”
“You could not guess?” The king's laughter resumed, crueler than before. “My dear little brother, tonight you will kill the queen.”