Chapter Text
The sun was blazing that day, Damen could feel the sting of sunlight against his back as he held Nikandros on the ground. Nik squirmed under Damen's grasp unable to break free. He couldn't help but laugh, only just a couple weeks it was always Damen who ended up pinned against the grass. Damen smiled down at his friend, "told ya, I'm getting better." His parents kept him isolated so the few connections he was allowed to make, he cherished deeply. Sometimes Nik felt more like a brother to Damen than his own.
"Damen!" Kastor called out to his younger brother. He leaned against a stone column, rolling his eyes at their childish games. "Father's returned home. Say good bye to your friend and get cleaned up."
The two did as they were instructed. Damen could tell by the sound of Kastor's voice that cleaned up meant putting on his nicest robes. He hated dressing up, most of the time it felt pointless. Did he really need to be draped in luxury for intimate family dinners?
He quickly rushed to baths to throw off his sweat soaked tunic. The hot water felt divine against his skin. He knew better to doddle when his father requested him, though he did wished he could linger just a bit more. Damen crawled into his robes and laced up his sandals as he ran towards the sitting room.
His father greeted him with a warm smile, "Damen, come." He approached slowly as he noticed a strange boy standing between his father and mother. "There's someone, we'd like you to meet." Damen smiled cautiously, his eyes studying the boy's unusual clothing.
"This is Laurent," the boy bowed in silence. "He's going to stay with us awhile. He's here to study."
Damen's mother spoke up, "he's around your age, you two will surely be great friends."
"Yes, well, Damen," his father's hand urged the boy closer to Damen. "Why don't you two go play while we finish getting his room ready?"
Damen stood between his two guards and dearest friends, Nikandros on his right and Laurent on his left. He fiddled the small curl tucked behind his ear. "I hate this," they stood in the darkness of a corridor as they watched the guests enter. He exchanged a quick look with Nik, "it's embarrassing if you think about it, arranged marriages."
"Yeah, all these beautiful women pinning after you." Nik teased.
"It's going to be the dinners, only this time..." Damen's thoughts trailed off. It was bad enough his parents were setting him up, this time they brought in so many women it was like a competition. "You think this is weird right?" He turned to Laurent, who was often more agreeable of the two.
"Is it so difficult to just pick one?"
Damen groaned. "I don't want to marry someone I don't love."
Nik chuckled, "well, if she ends up not pleasing you, you could always divorce her like Kastor."
"It's not like you have many opportunities to meet someone on your own." Laurent sighed. "You should just pick one, if these parties bother you that much."
"He's not going to pick anyone out of this lot." Nik rested against the wall, "too many brunettes."
"Brunettes?" He looked over the crop of women again. Most were either had brown or black hair with a few red heads sprinkled in.
"Too bad, I think most of the eligible blondes were turned into bed slaves."
Laurent turned to Damen, "is hair color really that important?"
"No," Damen voice shrunk.
The party went on how Damen expected. A bunch of women clambering for his attention. They were beautiful, vapid, and only spoke of themselves. The night felt like dragged on forever. He knew this was a sick punishment his father devised for rejecting Akielos's most eligible blonde bachelorettes. Even though he barely moved the whole night by the end of the party, he felt sore and exhausted.
Laurent escorted Damen back to his chambers. The King and Queen were strict about Damen not being alone, so Laurent and Nik took shifts guarding the prince as he slept. Laurent offered to take the first half of the night, so Nik could rest. "I take it none of them caught your interest?"
Damen collapsed on his bed, he mumbled a no into his pillow. "You really should just pick one, it's a requirement for you to be marry before you inherit the throne, right?"
He groaned a drawn out yeah before freeing his face from the pillow. "By my 25th birthday, it's a dumb rule but I still have time." Damen sat up on bed as Laurent handed him clothing to sleep in. "I just don't understand why my father's rushing me so much. There's plenty of time." He yawned as the threw his nice robes on the ground.
Laurent draped himself along the window sill. Damen admired the way the moonlight caressed his skin. He walked over, his fingers gently moving a lock of blond back in place. "You want me to tuck you in?" Laurent tilted his head.
"You're spending too much time with Nik." Damen fell back on his bed. "His terrible sense of humor is starting to rub off on you."
"Good night, Damen." He smiled at his prince before turning his eyes back to the stars.