The Merciful Prince
(The story setting, and the characters Alessander (Less), Devlyn, and Taryn (mentioned) belong to @spookyboywhump ...this is my fanfic of his delightful work! All other characters are my original creations.)
CW: pet whump, manhandling (that hair was made to pull-), assassination attempt, captivity, implied torture, public humiliation, character death (mentioned).
This is a tale of the mercy of a bloody hand.
The poetess Loretta finally sat back, finally satisfied with the line she had strung together. A smile tugged at her lips, and for a moment she set down her quill to quietly observe the paraphernalia she had collected, all contributing to her pet project. Her hand ran over worn parchment, on which were written accounts from the scribes of the neighbouring kingdom, penning in detail the deeds of their prince. The book on the edge of the table was open to one specific page, containing a portrait of the man in question. At first glance, one would think the artist of the piece had condescended to exaggeration. The man was startlingly beautiful, with defined features and defined hair, and eyes that seemed to stare through the page. Such was how he was always portrayed - in paintings or in sculpture. An awe-inspiring sight.
Loretta knew, courtesy of months and months of following the goings on of his kingdom, that these accounts were no exaggeration.
Every bit of praise was utterly deserved by Devlyn Satura, the Merciful Prince.
Sitting back up, she cracked her neck, cracked her knuckles and once again put the quill to paper.
He heard the news of impending doom, with no frown upon his face.
Instead he stepped up, with the courage of kings,
To face the challenge with grace.
Rebellion. Infiltrator. An assassination attempt. Hearing about all these at once was too much; the Chief’s mouth fell open and his mind went blank.
What was worse was that he was hearing it from his prince’s mouth.
Prince Devlyn looked in turn at the faces of the squadron leaders assembled in the throne room. Most of them were in various states of shock, blinking stupidly or turning to each other with mirroring looks of confusion. Before the sun had even come up over the horizon, they had been given urgent summons to the prince’s throne room. All had stumbled in to find Prince Devlyn, sitting peaceful and bored on his throne as he examined the sword he held up to the early light of dawn. Its blade was painted with blood.
The prince had smiled, welcomed them in, and calmly as ever he had told them about the infiltrator he had caught in the dead of last night. That too in the middle of an attempt to assassinate him.
“Thought he could stab me in the back, in the hall of my own chambers.” His voice turned hard, eyes flashing. “The guard in place turned out to be a conspirator, too.” Yet, the part that chilled the Chief the most was not the story being told. It was the next words of the person telling it.
“Not to worry; I took care of them both.”
Dead silence enveloped the room for a moment, and then the prince stood up. Tall and imposing, with eyes lit up with purpose. “That’s not, however, what I summoned you here for.” He pointed the sword outwards, towards the door of the throne room. “See, we have a few rebels on our hands that we need to take care of.”
The Chief thought fast. “The assassin was planted by a group,” he ventured slowly.
“Precisely.” Devlyn sheathed the bloody sword. “A small group, whose location and numbers I’ve already pulled from the traitor.” He didn’t give more details, and the Chief found himself thinking he really didn’t want any. “Sympathisers of the old- ahem, royalty,” he placed mocking emphasis on the word, “who think they just need to bring me down, and their precious little prince will step back up to the throne.”
For the first time, his calm demeanor vanished completely, giving way to a cruel smirk on his face. He tilted his head, directing his gaze behind him.
“I think they’re in for a huge disappointment, aren’t they, love?” He paused. “Why don’t you come out here?”
And from behind the throne, out crawled the little prince.
