Disclaimer: I don't own the G'boys, I just borrow them from time to time to play with and return them a whole lot happier, ne? Written for pleasure not profit.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Sap, angst, bondage, slavery, Yaoi, Lemon, lime, het, violence, dark, fluff, AU, OOC.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 1xR, 2xR

Betaed by Karina *snugs*

Summary: Heero is the eldest son of the King of Colonia. His 21st birthday is approaching and as tradition dictates his betrothed is soon to arrive. However he is also bound by tradition to select his own personal slave. The events that unfold lead him down a path that not only tests his sanity but his humanity and love as well.

Author's Note: This fic was started back in 2004 and has languished on my hard drive ever since, only sporadically being added to when I have the time (and the muse the inclination) . Updates will be far between, but rest assured, it will be finished. Feed back is most welcome as are honest critiques. Flames will be dealt with as I deal with all flames – with sarcasm.

Commenced July 2004 – published January 2008


"Bound, Bonded and Betrayed"

Chapter 50

The clatter of hooves had startled Relena, that jolt turning into complete shock when she saw exactly who had ridden in. All she could do was sit in stunned silence as her husband leapt from his horse, jumped onto the platform and grabbed that gutter snipe. Her shock soon turned to anger when she witnessed the prince holding that slave close.

The words her husband spoke next sent her cold all over as dread found the pit of her stomach and settled like a lump of lead into it.

Heero let his eyes lock with hers, that deep blue piercing right into her soul as he directed his words to the King. "There is more to this than both you or I know about, father. It is time we got to the bottom of it all."

The words caused her to pale significantly, her head began to swim and she had to turn her gaze away lest the prince see the lies that sat within her heart.

"Mistress?" Dorothy's concerned voice cut through the princess' thoughts and she turned briefly to her maid.

Dorothy was also in shock, the cold hand of fear gripped her heart and held it in its icy fingers. The look on her mistress' face when the prince spoke had her most concerned for the princess' health. Relena had gone deathly pale and a few beads of sweat could be seen on her brow. "Mistress? Are you okay?" she asked again, hoping to distract both her mistress and herself from this current situation long enough for them to be able to think.

"No, Dorothy, I am not alright. I think... I think I'm going to pass out." Relena's words were a little slurred at the end and as she finished speaking, she slumped forward in her seat and would have slipped all the way to the ground if not for Dorothy managing to grab her just in time.

"Just what is it with all this passing out around here?" Wufei muttered, looking around and taking in the scene before him. Prince Heero had an unconscious Duo in his arms – that he could understand. Prince Trowa, likewise, had an unconscious Quatre in his arms. Looking at the state of the slave and noting the equines still standing in the courtyard, flanks heaving, drenched in sweat, he now knew the answer to Quatre's disappearance and probable reason for passing out.

But the princess? He would like to think it was the shock of the sudden return of her husband and manner in which he'd made his entrance... But the look on her face, the anger, shock and then dread that passed across her features told him a completely different story.

The flash of fear and paling of the princess' skin did not go unnoticed by Heero either, but he ignored his wife, turning instead to his father. "Father, I will leave to take care of my slave and once I am assured he is alright I will have audience with you in relation to this matter."

King Treize looked from the unconscious slave to his son and then to the princess and her maid. His brows drew together in a frown. "What of your wife? Surely she is of more importance to you than your slave?"

"The guards can assist the maid to return my wife to our chambers. I will have the healer attend her shortly. Until I have answers to my many questions I do not consider her to be of much importance at all."

The king was slightly taken aback by the venomous tone his son used, the prince was not one to speak in such a manner as a rule which told the king there was something going on here that he wasn't aware of – and it was obviously distressing his son a lot. "As you wish. Send word to me once you are ready to talk and I will meet with you in the throne room."

"Thank you." Heero turned to see Wufei standing at the edge of the platform a mixture of shock and relief on his face. To the side of the Captain stood the executioner, sword, point down and hands resting on the hilt. "Executioner."

The man stood stiffly to attention, unsure of what was going on and what his part in all of this would be. "Your Highness," he replied softly.

"Take your sword and sheath it, there will be no execution of my slave today; or in the future," Heero ordered.

"As you wish, sire." The executioner bowed, took his sword and stepped down from the platform to leave. As he walked back across the courtyard the relief stood out in his posture and manner of walking.

"Captain, have some of your guards assist the maid to return my - " Heero paused and gave a distasteful look in the direction of the princess, "return the princess to the marital chambers. Send for the healer too, but ask her to come to the slave quarters first, Duo and Quatre will need her help."

"I will take care of it immediately, sire," Wufei said with a small smile and bow. Quickly he stepped off the platform and spoke with the guards.

Shifting Duo's still unconscious weight in his arms, Prince Heero walked to the edge of the platform and stepped down to stand beside his brother and the blonde slave in his brother's arms. "Let us take them to the slave quarters and take care of them both. Then we can get to the bottom of all of this."

Prince Trowa nodded and fell into step beside his brother.

The guards all moved to carry out their assigned tasks. Three guards went to assist Dorothy and the princess, another three escorted the King and his advisers back inside the castle whilst the remaining guards started to clean up the courtyard area and dismantle the platform. There would be no execution taking place any time soon.

The remaining people in the courtyard all disappeared back to their respective places.

Leading Wing towards the stable block behind the stable master and the two other stable boys who had taken charge of Prince Trowa's horse and the one Quatre had ridden, the young lad turned to stare at the retreating backs of the two princes. "I'm so glad you made it, Quatre," he whispered. With a smile on his face, he muttered soothing words to the exhausted stallion as he led him into the stables to take care of him.

# # #

Between the three guards and Dorothy, Relena was soon carried into the castle and back to the marital chambers where she was placed upon the bed. With their task complete, the guards hastily left.

Dorothy was worried; not just for her mistress' health, but with the overall situation. She made sure her mistress was comfortable, removed her shoes and loosened the dress she wore. A wash cloth was produced and Dorothy began to gently wipe away the sweat from the princess' brow. As she worked her mind went into overdrive. With the sudden return of the prince, all their plans had been thrown into turmoil and given the look on Prince Heero's face, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

"Dorothy?" Relena murmured as her eyelids started to flutter.

"I'm here, mistress," Dorothy replied.

"What happened?"

"You passed out, mistress."

"Oh. Was it because of all the blood?"

Dorothy looked up sharply, noting the confusion in her mistress' face. "No, mistress. There was no blood."

"There wasn't?" Relena frowned. "When someone loses their head there's always a lot of blood," she stated.

"Mistress, there wasn't any blood because there wasn't any execution," Dorothy explained carefully.

"Then..." Relena's eyes narrowed as she obviously thought long and hard for a moment. "It wasn't a dream, my husband has returned."

"Yes, mistress, the prince has returned."

Cautiously, Relena began to sit up, her head swimming for a moment before clearing. Dorothy fluffed the pillows to support her and dropped the wash cloth back into the basin. "Where is the prince?" Relena asked.

"He took that slave and went into the castle with him," Dorothy replied with a sneer.

Relena was torn in two with that information. Part of her was disgusted that her husband had obviously chosen that slave's welfare over hers, the other part relieved as it gave her more time to think on her current situation and just how she was going to explain what was going on.

"Mistress?" When those blue eyes turned to face her, Dorothy swallowed and continued. "What are we going to do now?"

Thinking on her maid's words for a moment, Relena came to a decision. "There is nothing to be done, Dorothy," she stated.

"Mistress?" Dorothy questioned, clearly confused.

"Dorothy, we continue as we always have. The prince will have questions, of that I'm certain, and he will be quite angry as well, but all we have to do is stick to our story. The King has already held the trial, that snipe has been found guilty and sentence passed. My husband cannot stop the sentence from being carried out."

"Are you sure, mistress?" Dorothy wasn't at all convinced.

"Of course I'm sure," Relena snapped. "Oh, my husband will rant and rave, demand to know the details and we will give him those details. The Captain has our statements and as long as we stick firmly to our story there is nothing the prince can do. It just means that slave's demise will be delayed a couple of days. We have waited this long, Dorothy, a couple more days isn't going to make a lot of difference."

Dorothy had her doubts but held her tongue. Her mistress was right she supposed. So long as neither one of them wavered from their story then there was absolutely nothing the prince could do.

# # #

Heero carried his slave to the quarters Duo sometimes shared with Quatre and placed him gently on the bed. His brother followed behind with Quatre and lay the blonde on his own bed and looked to his brother. "What now?" he asked.

"We wait for the healer to come," Heero replied and turned back to his slave. His eyes raked over the form of his personal slave, noting the paleness of the skin and missing collar. He frowned. A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts. "Enter," he called out, turning to face the door.

The door opened, the Captain and healer entering and greeting the princes'. "I have brought the healer as you requested, sire," Wufei said and moved to stand at the side of the door.

"Your Highness'," Sally said with a curtsy. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Both slaves require your services," Heero stated. "Please check them both and do whatever you think is necessary."

"As you wish," Sally curtsied again and with her basket in hand, moved to take a look at Duo first.

"Wufei?"

The Captain snapped to attention. "Sire?"

"Where is Duo's collar?"

Wufei lowered his eyes. "It is still in his cell in the dungeons, sire. I – I had to remove it for the- "

"Please fetch it," Heero ordered, cutting the Captain off.

"Yes, sire." Wufei saluted and spun on his heel.

Satisfied, the prince turned back to the bed where the healer was tending to Duo and gasped. Trowa moved immediately to his side.

"Brother?" Looking to where his brother's eyes had landed, Trowa also gave a soft gasp of horror.

"Who did this?" Heero hissed, eyes drawn to the bruising, welts and wounds littering Duo's back.

"It was part of his punishment," Sally growled.

"I promised him he would never be beaten or flogged here." Heero's voice held a raw edge of rage to it.

"Try telling that to the princess," Sally muttered under her breath. There was a whole lot more she wanted to say, but held her tongue for now.

Picking up on the barely audible words and knowing there was more the healer wanted to say, Heero took a calming breath before he spoke again. "I will be getting to the bottom of all of this. I will need to leave shortly to have audience with my father and discover exactly what has happened here in my absence. Once you have finished tending to Duo and Quatre, would you check on the princess? She is in my marital chambers."

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Thank you." Heero continued to hover, noting the healer didn't seem too happy with his request to tend the princess and keeping in mind her muttered words, he promised himself he would speak with the healer later.

A knock to the door saw Wufei return with Duo's collar, Heero taking it and gently placing it back around Duo's neck. With Sally having finished with Duo and turning her attentions to Quatre, Heero decided it was time to have that audience with his father.

# # #

"Heero, Trowa," the King greeted as both his sons entered the throne room.

"Father," the two princes replied before being seated.

"Father, why was my slave about to be put to the sword? And why was he flogged?" Heero questioned, getting right to the point.

The king drew in a breath and picked up several rolls of parchment. He passed the parchments over to Heero and began to explain about the princess' allegations, the questioning, statements and ensuing trial along with the results of that trial.

"Why did you not wait until I had returned?" Heero demanded, barely holding onto his temper.

"The princess requested that this matter be dealt with quickly and discreetly. Given the nature of the crime I could understand her concerns; a crime like this is not something a woman in her condition should be subject to in the first place, that in itself is traumatic enough. But the resulting aftermath of ridicule, pity and such that she would have suffered had this waited and been dealt with through the usual channels would not have been fair and would also have been very traumatic."

"It wasn't fair to put Duo on trial at such short notice either," Heero stormed. "He wasn't given any time for a proper investigation to take place or to build a defense of any kind."

"I realize that-"

"No!" Heero cut his father off. "I don't care what the princess says in regards to her own standing should word of this get out." Heero paused, took a breath and lifted the papers. "You said these are the statements that Captain Chang took from the princess and Duo?"

"Yes, they are."

"Then a proper investigation should have taken place. Both statements differ and as you well know, father, evidence needs to be presented to back up these statements."

"The Captain and the princess' maid heard the screams and walked in on the scene! How much more proof do you need?!" the King demanded, his own temper starting to rise.

"Did they actually see Duo trying to force himself onto the princess?" Heero snapped.

"I – I'm not completely sure," the King allowed.

"Then how can you find him guilty?!" Heero roared.

"Heero..." Prince Trowa placed his hand on his brother's arm. "You need to calm down, this is not helping matters any."

Glowering at his father from underneath his bangs, Heero nodded. "You're right, brother." Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, Heero raised his head and stared defiantly at his father. "I apologize for my temper, father. However, I demand that the guilty charge against Duo be suspended whilst I investigate this matter thoroughly."

Knowing his son had every right to demand a retrial as such considering the manner in which the original trial had been conducted, the King locked eyes with his son and spoke. "Very well. I accept your apology and the guilty charge is hereby suspended pending further investigation."

"Thank you, father." Heero bowed. "I will take my leave and begin my investigations."

"I will assist you in any way I can, brother." Trowa smiled to his older sibling.

"Thank you, Trowa, your help will be most welcome."

"I am sure that Quatre will also be willing to help in any way he can too."

"May I take these statements?" Heero asked his father.

"Of course. I would suggest speaking with Captain Chang too as he was the first one on the scene and the main one to deal with the case. The healer was also involved in checking the princess and looking after Duo," the king said quietly.

"Thank you." Heero paused for a moment. "Why was Duo flogged?"

"He was punished for touching a royal without permission."

"I see." Heero's eyes narrowed as his mind churned over, but he didn't say anything more.

"Come brother, we have much to do," Trowa said softly and placing a hand on Heero's arm, he gently pulled his elder brother from the room.

# # #

"Uhhh..."

"Hush, Duo."

"Mistress Healer?" Duo groaned. "Am I dead?"

Sally smiled. "No, Duo, you are very much alive."

"It wasn't a dream, my master..."

"No, Duo, it wasn't a dream. Your master is home, he rode in just in time and saved you from the sword," Sally said, her tone soft as she applied the salve to Duo's back.

"But, how... How did he know?"

Moving back slightly from her seated position on the side of the bed so that Duo could see across the room, she nodded in the direction of the other bed.

"Quatre..." Duo whispered. "He went to find my master and bring him back?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what he did," Sally agreed.

"So that's why he didn't come to see me, why Wufei couldn't find him."

"He's certainly got some spunk," Sally stated with a smile at the exhausted, blonde slave.

"He's a very special person," Duo said, a lump forming in his throat as he realized the risk Quatre had taken just for him. And he'd been thinking that Quatre didn't want to see him or associate with him anymore because he thought Duo was guilty, when in fact, he'd been doing his best to prevent Duo's demise. Silently he berated himself for thinking such things of his fellow slave. He would need to apologize and thank Quatre – when the blonde woke up that was. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I haven't checked him properly yet, but from what I can tell he's just exhausted. Nothing that a good night's sleep and some hot food won't fix. Right, that's your back done. I want you to sleep, Duo. You've been through a lot these past couple of days and your body needs to heal along with your mind."

"What is to become of me now? Am I still going to be put to the sword? Or am I to be sold?"

"Duo, I can't answer that question for you, but I do know that your master was not happy with what happened. He said he would get to the bottom of everything, but what he plans to do exactly, I don't know. You will have to be patient and wait for your master to come and speak with you."

"Where is my master? I should be up and about looking after him." Duo started to push himself up from his bed, only to have Sally gently push him back down.

"No you don't. The prince brought you here and asked for me to tend to you. You are to remain here until the prince returns or sends for you. Do you understand?"

Duo nodded meekly. "Yes."

"Good. You need to sleep, rest and heal. I will give you something to help you to sleep." Sally fetched some powders from her basket and mixed them with water, handing the goblet to Duo for him to drink. Once the goblet was empty she placed it back on the small table. "Sleep now Duo. I will check Quatre over and make him comfortable. You are safe now your master is back."

The exhaustion finally catching up with him saw Duo's eyelids starting to droop and he gratefully let the sleeping draught Sally had given him take him into slumber. The healer watched as she tended to Quatre, smiling softly as the long haired slave drifted off.

# # #

"I would suggest we begin our investigations in the morn. We are both tired and weary from our ride home, it's getting late and most of the people we will need to speak with will be retiring for the eve," Trowa said as they traversed the castle halls, heading in the direction of the slave quarters once more.

Scrubbing his tired eyes, Heero nodded. "You're right, it's getting late and we really need to have a fresh mind in order to investigate this thoroughly. I will send word to Wufei that the guilty verdict has been suspended and we will be conducting our own investigation into the allegations. I'm sure he will be able to assist us."

"Good idea," Trowa replied and did his best to stifle a yawn. "I will check on Quatre and then retire for the evening."

Heero smiled. "Quatre deserves a big reward for his efforts. If it were not for him coming to find us, Duo would surely be dead by now." The shiver of fear for what could have been passed through Heero's body.

"Don't worry, Quatre will be well taken care of." Trowa opened the door to the slave quarters and stepped inside, Heero right behind him.

"Your Highness'," Sally greeted, pausing in placing her things back into her basket.

"Mistress Healer," Heero acknowledged and headed straight for Duo's bed. "How is Duo?" he asked, noting the slave's eyes were closed and his chest rising and falling evenly.

"He will be okay, sire, he's sleeping right now and probably will be for some time. He's suffered quite the series of traumatic events and whilst his body will heal in the physical, his mind is very fragile right now," Sally answered honestly.

"What of Quatre?" Trowa asked, sitting on the edge of the blonde's bed and running gently fingers through sweat matted hair.

"He will also be fine. His ailment is pure exhaustion, sire. From what I can piece together he would have been riding for most of last eve and today. His energy levels are completely drained, but he will be perfectly fine once he gets some decent sleep and hot food into him." Sally gave the prince what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Have you tended to the princess yet?" Heero asked, his voice low.

"No, sire. I have just finished here and was going to check the princess next."

"Healer, did you tend Duo and the princess after the... the altercation?" Heero questioned, blue eyes fixed firmly on the woman's face.

"Yes, sire, I did."

"You may or may not be aware, but I have asked my father for a suspension of the guilty verdict and he has agreed. I will be conducting my own investigations into this accusation and I will need to speak with you in relation to it, but not now. I will start in the morn."

"Sire, I am more than happy to speak with you. Send for me when you wish to have audience." Sally curtsied, picked up her basket and prepared to leave. "Will you be coming to the chambers shortly?"

Heero looked up, a scowl on his face. "No, I will sleep in my old chambers tonight. I will speak with you later in regards to my wife's condition. Thank you."

"As you wish. Good eve, princes'."

# # #

The return of Prince Heero just in time to save Duo from the sword had spread through the castle like wildfire. Many rumors were running rife, but most of them had a touch of truth in them. The general word was that Quatre had managed to locate the prince and get word to him of Duo's situation – it was the how he'd done it that spurred the imaginations.

Regardless of the rumors though, all in the castle were agreed it was a good thing that the prince had made it back in time. Now further news was circulating, the news that the prince would be conducting an investigation into the charges brought against Duo.

In the kitchens, Hilde was collecting a tray of food that Noin had prepared for Prince Heero. Deep inside her stomach churned as she carried the tray through the castle halls to the prince's chambers. She was so happy that Duo had been spared and yet the information she had hidden away still ate at her.

With the prince to start his own investigation she had decided that regardless of her low position within the castle staff, she would take the risk and speak up, tell the prince what she'd overheard. If the prince believed her and it would help Duo she would be happy.

If the prince doubted her though...

That was something she would have to deal with when the time came.

tbc...