Soren de Lambert, crown prince of Valeraine, had no shortage of people to have sex with. Aside from being the crown prince, the next in line to the throne of the biggest, most powerful country in the world, he was also quite handsome. His dark curls reached his shoulders. Blue eyes watched the banquet hall. 

So far he’d been given a wide variety of gifts. He had six new horses, all of which were incredibly beautiful. He had a stack of new clothes and jewels. He had more gifts than he knew there were countries. He’d also have much rather had a small celebration in his own rooms with just his friends. 

Yes, someday he’d be king, but that wasn’t today. Today he had work to do to run his company and take care of the people he was responsible for. Spending all day at a banquet in his honor wasn’t really what he wanted to be doing.

“Your Royal Highness, My Lord, Soren,” Louis said, to get his master’s attention as he passed him a note.

“Louis,” Soren responded, giving his assistant his entire attention. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, My Lord,” Louis said, nodding, “but I thought you might like a heads up on the next gift.”

“I see,” Soren said, before opening the note. Apparently, a small country to the west has sent him a tribute, a priestess-selected submissive virgin, and a man! “Louis, see that the table is moved and bring a small chair.” He motioned for the platform in front of him, almost at his feet, where he would sit his new slave. He didn’t think he was ready to receive a slave as tribute. Slavery had been abolished in Valerain for two hundred years. The only exception was if a temple selected someone and gave them to royalty as a tribute.

It was against the rules to fall in love with the slave or marry them. Soren had never wanted to have sex with someone if he couldn’t also love them. A plan of giving the man away to his father or one of his brothers was already forming in his mind when the magic door opened and the temple men dragged the unfortunate man through. The man looked terrified. 

Soren expected that if he were being given to a stranger as a sex slave, he’d be terrified too. The man was very handsome in an unthreatening way. Of course, he was dressed for a royal banquet, because the temple had possession of him. He had soft brown hair and green eyes that reminded Soren of the forest.

The prince motioned for him to be brought closer. He was not skinny, but not fat, fit, but not heroic. The men holding his arms dragged him forward and Soren moved to meet them. He waved the temple guards off and held his hand out to the man. “I’m Prince Soren.” 

The man stood up a little straighter, glared for a moment at temple guards who had let him go, then reached out and took Soren’s, as if they were equals. “I’m Antoine, the teacher.” 

“I’m delighted to meet you, Antoine, the teacher, please come sit by me. Have you eaten today?”

“Actually no,” Antoine said, letting himself be guided to the chair that had just been brought for him. Louis, having been Soren’s assistant for many years, had shown the wisdom of bringing two chairs to be on the same level. Louis set a small able between them and then other servants brought a variety of different dishes, pastries, and cheeses. “Today has been wild! I started the day as a teacher and here I am at a banquet.”

“Well, you know sometimes life takes wild turns.” Soren rested his arm over Antoine’s shoulders and his hand came up to gently caress the magical marking on his cheek. “Did that hurt?”

“No,” Antoine said. “It was like she threw a puff of glitter at me. I haven’t had the chance to look at it in the mirror yet.”

“Louis, can you get us a hand mirror, please?”

“Yes, my lord,” the servant said.

“Please, sit, dine with me. It’s my birthday today.” 

“Happy birthday, my lord,” Antoine said. He sat down where Soren gestured for him to sit. He was pretty sure he wasn’t being as polite as he was supposed to be, but he’d never met royalty before. “I fear I didn’t bring you a gift. I guess I am the gift. That’s awkward.” 

“Your company is the best gift, I could get,” Soren said. He also sat down and was surprised that he actually meant it. He had the entire world for company, but this one pretty-faced commoner held his interest. “Please don’t worry, Antoine. No harm will come to you while you are at my court.” 

The teacher nodded, though it was a little hard to breathe at that moment. It was overwhelming, the difference between the slums of Kenry’s capital city and this banquet hall which was probably bigger than the king’s castle in Kenry. Only in that moment, when this impossibly beautiful man smiled at him, did he finally start to realize how much trouble he was in, how from home he was. “I really want to go home, my lord,” he explained. “I teach and without me there’s no one to take care of my students. Morning will come very quickly and I need to be there to open the doors.” 

“I don’t think that’s how this works, my dear,” Soren said. He hadn’t eaten when he was at the head of the table, on the dias, but now a bit lower, at the same height as everyone else, now he felt hungry. He tore open bun and started piling cheese and meat into it. “I’ve never met a temple tribute before, but the legends have a lot to say. It’s for your own safety that you have to stay near the one you were tributed to. If that were not the case, I’d certainly have you escorted home.” 

As Antoine watched the other man make a sandwich, he didn’t seem so intimidating anymore and he decided to eat too. “So are you really the crown prince of Vailraine?”

“I am.” Louis brought the mirror to him and Soren held it out to Antoine, in case he wanted to look at the mark on his face. “On the upside, no matter where you go, people will know you’re mine and not to be harmed.”

Antoine tilted his head, watching the light play across the marking on his cheek. “Well, I guess that’s an upside.”

“It might not seem like much, but please believe me there is a future for you here in the palace, Antoine. Everything will be okay.” 

It was very hard to believe, but when Soren said it, Antoine did his best to believe it.