•Crowns And Arrows• [Klance]

Mother Knows Best

Keith closed his eyes as he heard the balcony door close behind his short salvation.

As soon as he knew Lance couldn't hear him, he let out one, short sob, his shoulders shaking in pain and grief. It hurt so much, though the Prince wasn't sure if the pain was caused by his injuries or the departure of his lover. His Lance.

But there were no tears on his face, he didn't cry. He couldn't. Guards would soon be here, and showing weakness to outsiders was strongly discouraged. So he took a few deep breaths and attempted to suppress the pain. It didn't really work.

At least there were no tears when, a few minutes later, the door opened to admit a bunch of guards who's names Keith didn't know.

Why wasn't Shiro there? The commander would have done something, would have helped him somehow.

The guard in charge awkwardly cleared his throat and looked glanced up at the Prince before looking down again. "Prepare for the arrival of the King."

Keith nearly wanted to laugh. How was he supposed to prepare? 'Oh sorry, just let me fix my hair. How do I look?'

But he wiped the amused expression off his face as the familiar footprints approached, and he forced himself straighter on his feet. Don't show him Lance was here. Let him think you were alone all night. He looked up as the feet stopped in front of him.

"Father," he spoke, a slight crack to his voice. Emotions rushed through him, but none of them showed on his face.

How was he supposed to feel? He had always been fine with it, accepted the pain that came with his position. But Lance had shown him something else. Maybe it wasn't completely his own fault...

He was sad, and angry, and incredibly in love. But his face just showed submission, and a little bit of curiosity as to what would happen next.

"I hope you have already meditated on your actions and the meaning behind your punishment. After all, I gave you plenty of time to think last night," the king stated firmly, looking down at the scene the boy was in.

"Pitiful," he scoffed in disapproval. "Such deplorable state must have had implemented sense of duty in you, am I correct?"

He took special care in analizing Keith's tone when he replied in agreement, staring at those eyes he so terribly loathed, the eyes that haunted him day and night like a ghost of the past.

Of course his son couldn't look worse than that, but for some reason Zarkon could've sworn that tiredness and fear just weren't there. Perhaps because it was the first night and Keith was trying to prove himself worthy of redeeming. It had to be that.

"However you shall show me how truly compromised and effective you can be, how hard you are willing to work for your kingdom. Therefore after being deep in thought, I've concluded you shall work through the day filling the castle's paperwork, from royal documents to politics, events, laws, give consent to certain actions and keep in touch with our kingdom's representatives and their individual conflicts. I will try to gather some spare time to advise your progress and see if you are mature enough to run real business."

He steadily walked around him to take a look at his back. Just as he'd left it.

"Due to work the rest of your schedule will be on hold, including most foods and training, until the Commander gets back. You shall get your wounds treated, but if you mess up again, trust me to burn them open once more."

He warned the prince behind him as he walked around to face him again. "You shall be chained at night until further notice, your punishment will be how I see fit and that is not negotiable."