C. S. Pacat

'I met the Prince in Vere. I thought as you did. I didn't know his heart.'

It was Laurent who said, 'No.'

'I came to learn it slowly.'

'Damen, don't do this.'

'I came to learn his honesty, his integrity, his strength of mind.'

'Damen-'

Of course Laurent wanted everything done his own way. But today it was going to be different.

'I was a fool, blinded by prejudice. I didn't understand that he was fighting alone, that he had been fighting alone for a very long time. And then I saw the men he commanded, disciplined and loyal. I saw the way his household loved him, because he knew their concerns, cared for their lives. I saw him protect slaves. And when I left him, drugged and without friends after an attack on his life, I saw him stand up in front of his uncle and argue to save my life because he felt he owed me a debt. He knew that it might cost him his life. He knew he'd be sent to the border, to ride into the very same plot to kill him. And he still argued for me. He did it because it was owed, because in the very private code with which he ran his life, it was right.'

He looked at Laurent, and he understood now what he had not understood then: that Laurent had known who he was that night. Laurent had known who he was and had still protected him, out of a sense of fairness that had somehow survived what had happened to him.

'That is the man you face. He has more honour and integrity than any man I have ever met. He is dedicated to his people and his country. And I am proud to have been his lover.'

Damen said it with his eyes on Laurent, willing him to know how much he meant it, and for a moment Laurent just gazed back at him, his eyes blue and wide.