"Attend Me"

“But you left,” Damen says. “You left the city at noon.”

“Yes,” Laurent says. “Right now I am on the road to Varenne.”

Damen swallows. “This is risky.”

“I was careful. No one saw me.”

“Laurent–”

“No one saw me.”

Something about the way Laurent is standing, one hand wrapped around the carved post of their bed, is both familiar and unfamiliar at once. It is, Damen realises, a kind of wariness that Laurent doesn’t find necessary with Damen any more. He is holding himself with ruthless control, as though something terrible will happen if he lets himself relax.

“Has something gone wrong?” Damen asks. He’s still no great hand at deception, though anger is easy enough, and Laurent was the one who pointed out that nobody would expect Damen’s feelings to be anything but mixed. Even if they are supposed to be fighting, even if they aren’t speaking, Damen’s eyes can still follow his husband with hunger.

“No,” Laurent says. “We’re still safe. It shouldn’t be much longer. Joran believes I’m ready to do almost anything out of spite.”

“Is this sneaking around for my sake?” Damen says, with a fraction of a smile. “Despite what you may think, I can survive a month sleeping apart without beating down your door in the middle of the night.”

“So I see,” Laurent says. There’s a strange, off-balance moment. Laurent removes his hand from the bed post and flicks it, casual, in Damen’s direction. “You have half the court thinking they might actually have a chance at the position of King’s mistress. Or the male equivalent.”

Damen looks at him. Laurent looks back, unwavering.

“Laurent,” Damen says.

Laurent inhales; his chest rises with it. He holds the breath like a waterskin over-filled, and says, “Come here.”

Damen obeys.

Laurent’s control doesn’t break until Damen is within arm’s range, when Laurent reaches out to drag him forward the last step. Then halts him again, half a foot away, with a fist full of Damen’s clothing. The angle of Laurent’s elbow, the line of his wrist, are like architecture. Immovable. Laurent leans carefully over his own hand, and rests his forehead on Damen’s chin. Damen can feel the hot, steady air of Laurent’s exhalation against the hollow of his neck.

Damen says, with slow pleasure, “Are you jealous?”

Laurent raises his head. His eyes are dry and intense; his mouth is dangerous.

“Yes.”

Damen lifts a hand and slides all of his fingers over and past Laurent’s ear, gentle on the side of his skull, savouring the feather-softness of Laurent’s hair.

“Do you miss me?”

“Yes.”

“Can you survive a month–”

“Be quiet,” Laurent says, savage, and turns his head into Damen’s hand, burying his eyes blindly against Damen’s wrist. He hasn’t released his grip on Damen’s clothes.

Some strange pottery in Damen’s chest cracks and spills warmth through his body, drenching him with tenderness, so full and so urgent that it’s almost like pain. This is Laurent, who can eviscerate hardened politicians with his tongue, who can order armies to their knees. Who is still so unpracticed at asking for what he wants.

Damen draws Laurent’s head towards him, then tilts it and kisses the full, deadly mouth. Laurent’s tongue flicks out against his like a whip. Damen almost groans with the relief of it, the sense of stepping out into fresh air after weeks underground.

Sentiment. 

DAMEN/LAURENT FANFICTION REC POST

sooo an anon asked me to do this rec list forever ago and i totally forgot (sorry!) but here it is now i hope you like it whoever you are!!

Has and Has Beans by specialrhino (1/1 | 14,047 | General)

In which Damen, ex-heir to the corporate empire that is Peet’s Coffee and Tea and first year grad student, finds himself working at an independent coffeeshop run by the heir to Starbucks. He did not sign up for any of this (except for the grad student part).

Eyes Closed, Head First, Can’t Lose by Uglysweater (1/1 | 3,946 | Teen)

football, espionage, and fake dating because why the hell not.

Soups and Smiles by will_warin (1/1 | 524 | General)

There was only one thing worse than Laurent coming down with flu, Damen discovered six weeks into his stay in the house, and it was Laurent coming down with flu and absolutely refusing to acknowledge it.

Age of Consent by cathalin (1/1 | 1,050 | Teen)

“Hello. I need to lose my virginity. You look suitable. Are you likely to murder me or something else fatal?”

Temperament by punktius (1/1 | 1,834 | Explicit)

As if their situation isn’t precarious enough, Laurent decides to test Damen’s patience.

Battles Won, Wars Lost by misura (2/2 | 2,639 | Teen)

All roads end at Charcy.

Loss by Apricus (1/1 | 1,214 | General)

Laurent loses the thing that was most important to him.

Asylum in Akielos by PeaceLilies (3/3 | 2,871 | Teen)

A few short pieces of what might occur with Laurent in Akielos, under the protection of the rightful king Damianos, risen from the dead.

Questions by Josselin (1/1 | 1,802 | Teen)

Laurent noticed that Damen talked a great deal during sex.

Time To Give In by matanee (1/1 | 3,084 | Teen)

“And what about you?”

Damen might’ve been able to give a fairly confident answer had Laurent not chosen this moment to turn around and face him. His face was emptied of emotions, only the shallow rise and fall of his chest implied that his heart was probably beating faster than usually. They stood each other’s gaze and Damen couldn’t help but step closer, only a little.

“You already know.”

Set after Volume II. The battle is won and Damen’s secret is out. He isn’t ready to leave without seeing Laurent one last time, though.

Seven Daughters by Josselin (1/1 | 2,943 | Teen)

“Your daughters,” said Laurent. “They have come from Vask to stay with you to learn your fighting and hunting techniques.”

Artificial by novembersmith (1/1 | 5,272 | Teen)

Damianos, perhaps intelligent enough to sense danger even without his systems online, remained silent in obnoxiously faux submission. A child could see his frustration, the tension in his muscled limbs enough to make even his heavy, dead arm twitch. He kept his eyes demurely lowered. He looked, for a moment, almost human in the low light, the flicker of sweat on one arm nearly as bright as the metal on the other.

“Perhaps he’s defective,” suggested Guion. “Without the cybernetic processing, he can’t understand us.”

Say It by matanee (1/1 | 8,606 | Mature)

Seven months after the war, King Laurent rides to Ios to meet King Damianos and seal the peace between the two nations – and two lovers.

Just Talk by Josselin (1/1 | 1,454 | Mature)

“What would it have been like,” said Laurent, “if I had been your slave, in Akielos?”

Unmasked by xyai (1/1 | 19,100 | Explicit)

“You proved to be invaluable at Nesson-Eloy,” Laurent said. “I expect your singular assets will be similarly useful tomorrow.”

A detour is taken. It ends in the truth.

Retaking Ios by Josselin (1/1 | 2,311 | Explicit)

Damen and Laurent retake Ios, and Damen finds that everything is both too similar and too different.

Sent Away by Josselin (series complete | works: 5 | Explicit)

a series of vignettes of young Laurent’s life when he is sent to be fostered in the Akielon court. 

A Game of Pretend by Josselin (1/1 | 1,319 | Teen)

Despite all of Laurent’s explanations, Damen could not really picture what it would be like to have Laurent pretending to be his slave until it was happening. 

Lines on Palms by Fahye (1/1 | 13,639 | Explicit)

“Ah,” says Damianos. “The game is not to be seen.”

Laurent of Vere attends a wedding, plays several games at once, and finds himself in a place that he did not expect.

A Maze in the Garden by Josselin (1/1 | 3,333 | Explicit)

“If my brother runs as you approach him,” said Auguste, “it is because Laurent enjoys being chased.”

Escape by Josselin (15/15 | 21,845 | Explicit)

After Damen escaped, he made it three days before Laurent caught him.

Lion Salient on a Field of Gold by st_aurafina (1/1 | 6,288 | Teen)

Laurent will be damned if he’ll let an assassin kill him in King Damianos’ court.

Dreams and Waking by Josselin (1/1 | 2,369 | Explicit) 

By the time Damen allowed himself to be led from the main fire toward one of the tents, he had drunk a great deal of hakesh.

An Unfair Fight by Josselin (1/1 | 1,247 | Explicit)

“You seem to be making a habit of killing my family,“ said Laurent.

Postbellum by FaustianAspirant (1/1 | 3,474 | Teen)

In which Laurent miscalculates, Damen dawdles, and neither are as practical as they would necessarily believe themselves to be.  

The Arena by Josselin (1/1 | 4,631 | Explicit)

“I don’t fuck on command,” said Damen.

“You will,” said the man, “Because I have a plan to escape this coliseum, and it does not involve being killed by the one prudish barbarian who would rather kill me than bend me over.”

An Arranged Marriage by Josselin (1/1 | 17,785 | Explicit)

Afterwards his father only remarked, “His features are very fine.”

“I am not marrying him for his features,” said Damen.

“No, you are marrying him for his dowry,” said Theomedes.

The Viper Among Wolves by ViridianChick (16/16 | 16,153  | Explicit)

relationship goals: late night talks, pushing each other against walls and roof jumping while being chased by the bad guys

“Apricot?”

“A kiss would be sweeter.”

“Would it? I believe you told me apricots of this region were unmatched in their sweetness.”

your future husband’s real close to touching ya shin stay calm

(jumps on the AU bandwagon)

…Shortly after the party, the Crown Prince Auguste is told that his brother is engaged to Prince Damianos. (Just kidding. Or am I)

“He was everything I had”

Stirring drowsily, Laurent shifted a fraction closer and made a soft, unthinking sound of pleasure that Damen was going to remember for the rest of his life.And then Laurent was blinking sleepily, and Damen was watching Laurent grow aware of his surroundings and come awake in his arms.He wasn’t sure how it would be, but when Laurent saw who was beside him, he smiled, the expression a little shy but completely genuine. Damen, who hadn’t been expecting it, felt the single painful beat of his heart. He’d never thought Laurent could look like that at anyone.

Prince’s Gambit - Chapter 20 by C.S. Pacat

Beautiful commission made by my awesomely talented friend marty-mc of one of my (and hers too) favourite moments in the story, also know as ‘the scene where I lose it every time I read it’. I have so many feelings over this scene and what happened in chapter 19, I really can’t.

I wish I had a Twitter so that I could share this precious work with the author!

I’m so happy to hear that Laurent is a horse person xD So I drew him with the horse he had in book 1, braiding its mane and sticking flowers all over it <3 <3