A Prince's Harem

Negotiations

The aura of the room was uncomfortable as Shep stood in front of the nobleman's chair in his empty drawing room in his equally empty palace, "Will."

"Your Royal Highness," Calida corrected with a wicked grin settled on her lips, "You will address him with the respect he is owed as a prince until you prove yourself worthy to even breathe in his presence."

Shep inhaled sharply and begrudgingly bowed his head as a sign of respect, "Your Royal Highness."

"What do you want, Shep?" Will spoke with an uncharacteristic ice in his voice, "You are very aware that I never wanted to see you again, especially since you are still with Captain Merton's crew."

"I am not with him anymore," the words fell from Shep's mouth with such ease that Will could not tell if he was lying, "I left his crew."

"And why would we trust you?" Apo asked with venom lacing his voice, "We have no reason to trust you."

"I will not explain myself before people I don't even know!" Shep exclaimed passionately, "You evacuated your whole manor because I arrived seeking an audience! You had all royals sans the Nether princess leave! For all you preach second chances you don't seem very willing to give me one!"

Will took a sharp breath in and turned slightly to his right, "Princess, your carriage awaits your presence. Lord Apo will accompany you to Naturalis where I entrust you into the care of Lady Jojo."

"Will-" Calida started to protest against the prince.

"I will be fine Princess, I promise," Will watched as the princess placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, considered threatening Shep before she decided against it.

Calida tilted her head slightly, "Your Royal Highness," she turned and stalked out of the throne room with Apo close behind her.

Shep eyed Will's sword cautiously as he spoke again, "I doubt you meet everyone with a weapon attached to you, Sire," the tone in his voice was judging, just like Will remembered.

"In my defence," Will started slowly, "I do not take kindly to those who wanted me dead," he spat in return, raising an eyebrow.

"I did not want you dead!" Shep hissed defensively, "Captain Merton did!"

"And the difference is?" Will's grip tightened on the hilt of his sword, just in case, "His wish has always been your command."

"I am not him in the way that you are not him!" Shep's hand subtly moved down to the hilt of his own sword out of habit, "I walked away Will, just like you did! Why can't you see I have changed? That I am different?" They took a step towards Will.

Will pushed himself to his feet quickly, drawing his sword to point at his former shipmate, "Because the last time you said that you had changed was the day you hurt my best friend for him! You decided that Caer's safety was worth less than some comfortable bedding!"

"I did what I had to do in order to survive, you don't understand what that is like!" Shep pulled out his own weapon, drawing a defensive position, "And while what I did to Caer was bad, he survived, didn't he? I would not have survived if I disobeyed!" While he was definitely taller than Will, the younger did not intimidate the prince.

"Trust me Shep, no one understands having to do what's necessary to survive more than I do," Will chuckled sourly.

"Then will you hear me out?" Shep asked cautiously, almost sounding nervous to an outsider but alas, there were no outsiders and Will could sense the determination in Shep's tone.

After a moment of quiet deliberation, Will returned his sword to its sheath with an emotionless expression gracing his face, "What do you want, Shep?" He spoke in a monotone voice as he sat back down in his chair.

"Protection, Your Royal Highness," Shep knelt to the floor and presented his sword to the prince, it was a sign of great respect for Fae folk to be trusted by a human to the point they were willing to part with their weapon.

"From what?" Will pressed, eyeing the sword trying to figure out what metal it was made from, "What could the hailed and protected Shep want my protection from?"

"From Merton and his insatiable rage, he returned today and was violent and cruel to us all, even me."

"In return for what?" Will knew that no man of Merton's did anything out of the kindness of their hearts, they wanted no debts left unpaid to potentially be collected at a later time and date, if Shep wanted something from him then he was expecting that they had something to offer to keep the score even.

For a moment Shep hesitated, something very out of character for him, "Loyalty and servitude to you, you are the husband of the Crowned Prince, I am sure that you would like a trained fighter by your side to protect yourself and your husband."

Will knew that he was right about needing more protection, being married into the royal family was dangerous enough without the added factors of being gay and powerful in his own right, he wanted to keep his friends and husband safe.

Shep bit the inside of his cheek as he waited in the tense silence, keeping his head bowed low as the moments ticked by.

Will drew his blade silently and approached Shep slowly and with poise, "Do not make me regret it or I swear to the void that I will make you suffer one thousand times more than Caer did and that is not a threat, it is a promise. Do I make myself clear?"

The pure anger and threatening tone in Will's voice made Shep remember that he too had grown up on Merton's ship, "Crystal clear."

"We are not friends and I do not trust you one bit, however I do believe in second chances," Will pressed the flat of the blade to Shep's shoulder, "I hereby appoint you as Lord Shep of Frostine, gentleman of the Prince's household."