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Laurent was irritated.
The fact alone was not so atypical that it would have caught anyone off guard. Despite his marriage and the fact that Vere and Akielos were ruled over as one Kingdom, Laurent was still widely known as being a cold cast-iron bitch. He was fine with that assessment. It had helped him on more than one occasion and he knew it would continue to do so. There were people who had seen other sides of him and that was plenty fine. The less people knew about the beatings of his heart the easier it would be to protect himself if there was another threat.
And there was another threat.
A rebel group, made up of both Veretians and Akielons, had decided to defect from the rulings of their Kings. They made their distaste known that it was ruled as one. A disapproval for the marriage between himself and Damen. He had thought it foolish to fight against the weight off armies that had proven themselves loyal over their time together but Laurent could also see the threat they posed.
It wasn’t as if their rulings had come without argument from the people. First and foremost the abolishing of slavery in Akielos. It had been long, drawn out, grueling, and painful. It had seemed to be disaster after never ending disaster. The people had wanted to maintain their culture of it but Laurent had also noted the discomfort on their expressions when they realized the golden cuffs around the wrists of the Kings. Damen never tried to remove his. Laurent found himself looking down to his or touching it whenever he missed his husband at his side.
They often spent their times together but they knew the importance as well as standing and ruling on their own. It had been a rule Laurent placed for them in the beginning of things. They needed to prove that they weren’t being used by each other to their people. They needed to earn the respect of the people without the shadow of the other at their side. While they loved each other and they no longer made any secret of that fact, power could easily be controlled by love.
Both of them knew that lesson far too well.
None of that was the reason for his current frustrations.
For the last two days, Laurent had noticed the slight sniffling and hoarse sound in his husband’s voice. He hadn’t said anything for it originally. It would be gone as quickly as it was there and Damen would always speak clearly and comfortably in the following moments. He had only caught it happening early in the mornings when they were making each other ready for the start of the day. He’d thought it was something simple, nothing that mattered. Today he had woken up without Damen beside him in their bed. He’d frowned and then found him on the balcony with his shoulders trembling under the weight of keeping coughs silent. He had questioned him. He’d told him point blank that he sounded sick since his fool of a husband was seeming to miss that fact. Damen’s reaction surprised him.
Laurent had expected for him to be honest as he so often was. The straight forward way of the Akielons was so deeply ingrained in Damen that even after all the trials and manipulation the both of them had faced, he was still honest to his core. Instead of admitting to his ailments, his husband had denied them fervently. He’d made the remark that it was nothing and that he was fine. That he had work to do.
Laurent had no chance to argue with him after that. His lover had moved past him and exited the room without another word. No comment to the choked sound of his voice that made Laurent wonder if he was about to lose his battle with the coughs he’d been failing to smother. He had gone to the meetings they were meant to attend together and found himself alone on the throne. When people asked him where their second King was, Laurent told them plainly that there was other business Damen needed to tend to. A good number of them accepted that without a fight or argument.
With the rebel group taking in their fighting more and more it wasn’t too hard for them to assume that there had been another attack or that there were rumors for one. If there was bound to be fighting, despite what Laurent had proven of himself, people still assumed that it would be Damen to take care of things. He was stronger, he was faster, he was a powerful opponent and yes Laurent would admit that Damen would defeat him in a fight should the world ever come to such a thing. That didn’t mean he was as useless as half the Akielons they encountered over the years believed. It seemed they were all so stuck in their traditions and stereotypes that they failed to comprehend how a Veretian could handle combat. Let alone a spoiled Princeling who had spent all of his time indoors rather than out in a fight or a yard learning combat.
Laurent was irritated that Damen wasn’t there. That the day had gone through and he had yet to catch a glimpse of his lover.
Meeting after meeting and there was no sign of him. He didn’t hear anything useful for the rebel group so he supposed he could take that as a small victory that he was only fighting against one battle today.
By the time the sun was set and he could retire comfortably to his room, Damen was already there. Sat primly on the edge of the bed and looking over to him as if that alone would be an apology for the earlier events of the day. Laurent didn’t say a word. Damen’s cheeks were pink be it from a fever that he was sporting or simply a kissing of the sun from the day’s activities he didn’t know.
“I’m sorry, for earlier.”
“You’re sorry,” he repeated.
Damen frowned.
“I should not have left as quickly as I did.”
“And why did you leave?”
Damen didn’t meet his eyes.
“My father was never ill until….I never saw him ill until the end.” The words settled heavily between them and Laurent made his way closer until he could sit beside his lover on their bed. “He was always so strong. In all of my memories he is a great King. he is resilient, he is powerful, I had always wanted to be like him. He was never sick. There was never an ailment that kept him from his duties to his people.”
“Until Kastor poisoned him and killed him.”
“Yes.” Damen admitted. “Until that.”
Laurent showed his understanding through his expression but he was sure Damen missed it with how he would not lift his gaze to look at him properly.
“To rest is not a weakness.”
“Would you?”
He bit the inside of his cheek.
“You are better use to our Kingdom alive than you are wearing yourself into the ground.”
“We are being attacked.”
“Not in the moment.” Laurent held his gaze on the side of Damen’s head. “If I had not slept every moment I thought my uncle’s plots would come to attack me I would have driven myself to madness and death long before you were sent to me. Attack or not, you need to heal when you are able. The enemy will turn their head eventually, lick your wounds when they do.”
Damen’s huff sounded like a laugh strained by sickness.
“You do not lick your wounds.”
“I smother them.”
“So allow me that same—”
“You are better than me, Damianos. I want to see you prove that.”
To anyone else it might have sounded mocking. It might have sounded like a slight. They could have used the words to argue that the Veretian throne did not truly care for the Akielon one and that the marriage and leadership was nothing but a scam for control and power. But Damn knew. Laurent could see by the look on his face, the drooping tense of his shoulders, the way he breathed out, that Damen knew. He knew it was a sign that he loved him. He knew that it was a tenderness reserved only for him.
“We faced my uncle, we can face our kingdom.”
They went to bed.
Laying beside one another and relishing in the presence they offered each other. It reminded him of their trials learning one another if he was honest. The nights that they had stayed awake late and planned and plotted. How Damen had helped him with learning his Akielon and refining his speech. How they would talk to each other and oh so slowly he began to realize that he cared for him. The man that was his brother’s killer and Laurent cared for him. He was the only one he could trust back then. There had been times during that era where he was hurting and continued on. There hadn’t been time to waste allowing himself to heal because his uncle would spot any hesitation as a weakness as surely as a shark smelled blood in the water. His uncle would have had him slaughtered for trying to tend for himself. His people would have died, all things would have been lost.
His shoulder still tinged in pain from time to time. When nights were drawn late and days were filled with activity. Paschal had done a wonderful job with tending him but his constant exertion of it had made its mark through his body. He didn’t mention it even now to his lover. He didn’t want Damen to worry for something that could not be fixed. he knew the argument too. Damen would blame himself when there was no reason to. It was simply the kind of person he was. He cared too much for his heart to be able to carry. He would say that hiding a wound or pain was the same as he was doing now with his illness.
It was different.
Laurent’s pain could not be treated with anything other than his stubbornness. Damen’s cold could be remedied by rest and medicines and teas.
When Laurent woke in their bed it was to the feeling of heat radiating from beside him. He turned to see Damen on his side facing away from him but he was shivering. The blanket was drawn up to his shoulders and he trembled like a leaf beneath the bedding. It was painfully visible that his illness had progressed. He needed the time to rest and recover himself without straining or worrying about anything. The fool that he was would make himself stand and go to meetings and pretend for the sake of their people.
Without much thought to the action, Laurent reached out and placed a hand to his husband’s forehead. Damen leaned into his touch in a second. He was moaned softly and Laurent pet at his hair to ease him back into sleep.
“It’s early…”
His voice sounded like he’d swallowed rocks. He was exhausted but Laurent hoped what he was about to say would ease him to sleep later than their normal schedule permitted.
“You’re staying here today.”
“I’m well.”
“You are not.”
“Our people—”
“The last time Akielons saw their King ill he died. Do not give them that fear with you. Care for yourself.”
Dark eyes cracked open to look at him. Fever bleary and flooded with so much emotion it nearly made him sick. Laurent’s kindness was visible to his husband and his husband alone.
“Care for me?”
Laurent hummed to him.
“And leave our people?” He teased. Damen all but pouted. Laurent pet his hair again. “When our generals are secure and our plans are in place. I’ll come back up for you and we can rest for the remaining part of the day. How does that sound?”
He could see his eyes closing again even as he nodded slowly and tucked his face back against the pillow. It made him smile despite himself. Damen was always so strong and so bold and his presence always commanded so much of a room. It was different to see him like this. To see him laying pliant on the bed and following the words that were said to him. Laurent was sure that when he woke up properly after the sun had climbed the sky he would most likely be upset with him. He would probably try to drag himself out of bed and assist with the work that needed to be done with ruling a Kingdom.
Laurent would simply have to complete the tasks faster so that Damen wouldn’t have the chance to be careless.
He made himself get ready in the dark. Careful and practiced movements that guided him through his routine to dress by the moonlight and slip his way silently out the door after a kiss to Damen’s temple. He’d heard the hum from his lover as he drifted back off to sleep and tasted the heat that came from his brow. He would need medicines most likely but that would be conversation to see what exactly a good rest could do for him. If his body was simply realizing with his admittance out loud that he could begin to fight the illness properly and was trying to burn it out then so be it. He could monitor that.
He would respect his husband’s wishes to keep things quiet until they were no longer able to do so. Damen was as stubborn as he was. It was part of why the two of them were able to work together as they did. Neither of them ever seemed to know when to back down.
He could still remember the trial clearly. He had been ready to lose his fight against his uncle. He had been ready to die. Damen should have taken his escape and saved himself but instead he had thrown his life to the line in his efforts to protect him. It had been careless and stupid and everything so truly belonging to Damen that it drove him nearly mad. He hated the twisting it did to his heart. The feeling that he could not control when he looked at him any longer than a second. Damen could hold his stubbornness here until it came to a point where there was no other choice than to bring a physician to tend to him. Laurent would give him that. He would care for him on his own before bringing in another. He could make excuses for his lover to the people of their meetings again. They believed him here in Ios.
It was important for the two of them to show their power balanced with the rebels making their way through the towns to bring people to their side but it was more important now for Damen to rest. Laurent had become nearly liked here in the capital after his time at Damen’s side. The people here had seen the most what the two of them were like. Children in the streets had been witness to his failed attempts at magic or his soft spot for animals. The people here had heard him laugh arm in arm with his husband. They would listen to him if he said that Damen was occupied. For at least a few days longer he would be able to stall for his husband’s whereabouts.
Laurent went through his routine easily enough. Simple steps to make ready for the day and down to the kitchens to fetch something small to eat. He wasn’t in the mood to wake the entirety of the palace and if they knew that he was up so early they would be likely to send someone to attend Damen at his usual rousing hour. If his goal was to keep Damen’s condition a secret and to allow him the most rest possible, then he could not allow himself to be seen.
He moved silently through the palace halls and completed his tasks. The whole way until he was settling in the meeting room early as the sun began to climb and kiss the sky. He finished his meal and he read reports of what the rebel group was doing. They had information that there were scouts of them spotted and tracked but lost before they could make it back to their leading base. he frowned when he read them over. He would need to discuss this during the council meetings today. Nikandros, he was sure, would have much to say on the matter. He would also be the one to question Damen’s absence the most.
He would deal with it.
By the time the meeting came Laurent was ready with his arguments already planned. The discussions began and he listened carefully to the insight that was offered to him but his thoughts kept straying back to his bedroom and his husband resting there. By the sun’s movement beyond the window, he could guess the time that Damen would rise. he would be groggy most likely, disoriented by the break of routine. If there was anything he’d learned of Damen over these years it was that he was never down for long. The fool was probably dressing himself and planning to come down for the meetings. He would be outed for his illness in moments. There was not a single person in this room who would be fooled into thinking he was any sort of a picture of health. One cough from him or tremble and they would be fretting over him.
The Akielon people were direct. They would make no secret of what they saw when their King arrived ill before them.
Damen was already thinking of his father and blaming himself by his comparison. If Laurent could spare him even a moment of that, it was his duty to do so.
“There was new information this morning,” one of the counselors spoke evenly but Laurent could hear the concern tucked in his voice. “A small group of rebels dressed as palace servants was discovered only a few hours ago trying to escape to the woods.”
They were here then. Their attack plans were coming into motion.
“What do we know of their attempt this time? The city? Are the people secure?”
This information should have been given to him at the start of the meeting, not now. He should have been made aware the moment it happened not several hours later when the sun was crossing over its high point in the sky.
“They carried poison, your Majesty.”
Laurent went still.
“Poison.”
Nikandros looked at him. Out of everyone in the room he was the only one who noticed the shift of his tone and posture.
“Yes. But as you and the Exulted are in good health and no one else has shown any symptoms we don’t believe there is a true threat. The stores are being checked and tested so that any meals can be trusted. I would like to suggest that you both take use of poison testers for your meals until we can be truly certain—”
Laurent stopped listening.
Kastor had poisoned Theomedes under the noses of everyone here. Kastor had murdered the King through poisons and silent illness and no one had known. Everyone had missed the signs including the people who ought to have known better that a man so strong would not have fallen ill as he had in the way that he had. All of that, Laurent knew.
But he had almost missed the same.
His heart beat drowned the sound of shock of the council as he stood abruptly. He did not give them an excuse. He did not try to ration with them. he simply turned and he left. His legs carried him as swiftly as he could to get out of the meeting room and to his chambers. Dimly, he was aware of Nikandros following behind and parts of the council further behind him. Nikandros was calling out for him to stop. To explain what was happening. Laurent did not.
They made it to the main hall when Laurent saw him.
Damen on the stairs dressed clumsily and pale enough his tan was gone and his skin rivaled the shade of washed marble. He was sweating, it was visible even from here. His shoulders shook with the weight of his breaths and Laurent’s pace grew stronger.
There was no hiding it now. There was no secret to be kept.
“Damen!”
He clutched the railing of the stair like it was a lifeline to him. The closer Laurent got to him the more he could see the lack of awareness in his eyes. The sway his body was beginning to take. The unsteadiness of his legs.
He wasn’t going to make it.
Damen’s eyes found him for the barest of moments before Laurent saw them roll back into his head and his body fall. Nikandros yelled somewhere behind him and Laurent ran.
He didn’t make it.
Damen’s body crashed into the steps and fell. He could remember facing off against Kastor in the slave baths. The stairs at that time. The blood. How Damen had looked and the pain he’d been in. What Laurent had done. He watched him fall and it felt so much the same. Damen’s life was on the line and he was afraid.
Laurent hated being afraid.
Every beat of his heart forced him to fight away the memories that surged to the front of his mind. He dropped to his knees beside his husband and there were bruises already blooming on his body. A bump on his head that was turning color already and his lack of consciousness did nothing to ease his fears. Nikandros called for a physician. He knew that it would be Paschal that would tend him.
“Wake up.”
His voice shook. He fought to steady it.
“Wake up, look at me.”
Damen groaned under his hands. Laurent worked to keep his body still. he didn’t know where else he was hurt and until they could know for certain that his neck or spine were not shattered and waiting to kill him, he wasn’t allowing him to move.
“Just look at me.”
That was all he needed. That would be enough.
Dark eyes peeled open and Laurent could see the evidence of his fall clearly in his eyes.
“You couldn’t rest, could you.”
He needed to fill the silence.
“You had to get up.”
“One Kingdom,” Damen whispered slowly. As if it was hard for him to think it or speak it. “Two rulers.”
“I am capable on my own for a day.”
“Sorry…”
Damen’s eyes were closing. Laurent had seen enough people die and faint and black out to the world around them to know the signs of it. He cupped Damen’s face and ran a thumb across his cheek.
“You were poisoned.”
“Me?…”
“Yes, you.”
“Like…”
Laurent nodded before he could finish the thought out loud.
“I will not let you be like him. You will be fine. I will take care of it.”
Damen’s hum turned more to a groan.
“Stay awake?”
He didn’t mean for the order to turn out like a question.
“Do not leave me.”
His fear beat like an animal in his chest.
“Do you hear me, Damianos?”
His eyes slipped closed. They would not open again. Laurent felt the beat of his pulse.
“Damen?”
It was still strong. He heard the rushing steps of guards and the calls from Paschal.
“Do not leave me.”
He was forced to move and give Paschal space to work. He was forced to watch the ministrations over his husband. Nikandros gave orders to others when Laurent found himself staring and unable to speak.
His fingers caressed over the golden cuff on his wrist.
Damen was being tended. They knew now. They had not caught him on the stairs but it seemed they’d caught the poison in time.
He would be alright. he heard the words from Paschal and he could do nothing but nod.
Damen would be alright.
And so Laurent breathed.