Captive Prince: Volume One by C.S. Pacat

Captive Prince: Volume One by C.S. Pacat

Author:C.S. Pacat [Pacat, C.S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Gatto
Published: 2014-03-28T03:00:00+00:00


‘So he’s tame,’ said Estienne, and reached out tentatively, as though to pat a wild animal.

It was a question of which part of the animal he was patting. Damen knocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest.

‘Not that tame,’ said Laurent.

He didn’t reprimand Damen. He didn’t seem particularly displeased with barbaric behaviour, as long as it was directed outward. Like a man who enjoys owning an animal who will rake others with its claws but eat peacefully from his own hand, he was giving his pet a great deal of license.

As a result, courtiers kept one eye on Damen, giving him a wide berth. Laurent used that to his advantage, using the propensity of courtiers to fall back in reaction to Damen’s presence as a means of extricating himself smoothly from conversation.

The third time this happened Damen said, ‘Shall I make a face at the ones you don’t like, or is it enough to just look like a barbarian?’

‘Shut up,’ said Laurent, calmly.

It was said that the Empress of Vask kept two leopards tied up by her throne. Damen tried not to feel like one of them.

Before the negotiations there were to be entertainments, before the entertainments a banquet, before the banquet this reception. There were not as many pets as there had been at the ring, but Damen did see one or two familiar faces. Across the room he saw a flash of red hair, found a pair of emerald eyes; Ancel uncurled himself from his master’s arm, pressed fingers to his lips, and blew Damen a kiss.

The Patran delegation, when they arrived, were obvious from the cut of their clothes. Laurent greeted Torveld like an equal, which he was. Almost.

In negotiations of consequence, it was common to send a man of high birth to act as ambassador. Torveld was Prince Torveld, younger brother to King Torgeir of Patras, though in his case ‘younger’ was relative. Torveld was a handsome man in his forties, close to twice Damen’s age. He had a neatly trimmed brown beard in the Patran style, brown hair still largely untouched by grey.

Relations between Akielos and Patras were friendly and extensive, but Prince Torveld and Prince Damianos had never met. Torveld had spent most of the last eighteen years on Patras’s northern border, in dealings with the Vaskian Empire. Damen knew of him by reputation. Everyone knew of him. He had distinguished himself in the campaigns to the north when Damen was still in swaddling. He was fifth in line to inherit, after the King’s litter of three sons and a daughter.

Torveld’s brown eyes grew markedly warm and appreciative when he looked at Laurent.

‘Torveld,’ said Laurent. ‘I’m afraid my uncle is delayed. While we wait, I thought you could join my pet and I for some air on the balcony.’

Damen thought Laurent’s uncle probably wasn’t delayed. He reconciled himself to an evening of listening to Laurent lying a great deal, about everything.

‘I’d be delighted,’ said Torveld, with real pleasure, and gestured for one of his own servants to accompany them also.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.