It had been the toughest week of Roman's life ,he knew being King was tough but he had no idea HOW suspected it had something to do with the fact that his father was a tyrant and he'd spent more time calming his people and had even managed to repair the damage with a kingdom that his father had nearly eradicated .

"King Roman….a word of your time if you will"

Roman took a deep breath, as if being king wasn't stressful enough his father had "gifted" the new Kings with Xavier's servitude. Since he didn't trust the little weasel as far as he could throw him he placed Xavier in charge of the prisoners.

"Yes Xavier"

"I have something in the dungeon that I think you'll be happy to see."

Roman rolled his eyes and got up, he hoped it wasn't another peasant that he'd caught stealing fruit. The last four he'd merely given a good meal and sent on their way, two of which he'd employed as garden help so they could support their families.

"Lead the way"

Roman was very close to throwing him out of a window he hadn't stopped talking since they'd left his office and he was really not in the mood for it. Thankfully they had finally reached the Dungeon .

"they're right this way your highness"

Dean heard the heavy doors to the entrance and his heart began beating rapidly this was it…..he'd lived a full life...kind of thinking quickly he situated Brie in the corner where she couldn't be seen and placed himself between her and the door.

Roman nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw the 'prisoner' and tried not to give anything away. Dean's eyes widened in shock mentally going through all of his more recent conversations with Afa trying to remember if and when he'd ever mentioned that Roman had become the King and more importantly what happened to Sika?

"Where did you find this one?"

"One of the mercenaries Paige spotted them hiding out on the South Shores, your father ordered they be brought here as they are to serve the king….so here they are."

Roman gave himself credit for not bashing Xavier's head into the wall.

"Thank you Xavier...you may take your leave"

The servant bowed before he took his exit completely unaware that he'd most likely be dead later. Dean waited until he heard the door close before turning back to Roman.

"When did this happen?"

"At my Coronation...It was a week ago Fat a- Sika stepped down..How long have you been in he-"

"Daddy?" Roman's ears perked up when he heard the familiar voice.

"Daisy?"

She rushed over towards the door where her parents stood Roman's mood got worse when he saw how beat up she looked. her face was bruised and swollen not to mention she was holding a blood stained cloth to her head and added Paige's name to the list of people he was going to murder .

"Daddy I'm scared what happened?" Before he could answer he heard a voice that he absolutely did not care to hear.

"Roman?"

"Yes Seth"

"what are you doing do-...well,well , well look what the cat dragged in" The younger man's attention was quickly caught by Dean's presence.

"I always knew you'd end up in a dungeon but, WOW this is hilarious, Romie how come you didn't tell me?"

"I was just informed of this as well and if I had been notified sooner it would not have made a difference."

Something Roman was grateful for, Seth wasn't the best person to be around when he wasn't getting attention and Roman had been very focused on the betterment of the kingdom as of late.

"I was bonding with our daughter….you know the one whom you've been neglecting."

Roman took a deep breath, Seth had been extra pushy lately and he wasn't sure why.

"I have hardly been neglecting anybody I've been busy running this kingdom ALONE."

Dean had to fight to keep the smile from his face when he saw the look on Seth's. Obviously Roman still wasn't one to argue or use aggression but when he did it was always fun to watch people back down.

"Nevermind. Xavier told me something interesting."

Seth opened the cell and made his way over towards Brianna and stopping in front of the young girl as he spoke.

"It seems someone was stupid enough to impregnate that thing and you know what THAT means."

Brianna kept her eyes firmly on the ground , no way could this monster find out who she was. She hoped that he left soon and wondered why her father was doing nothing to stop him or at least get him away from her.

"It means nothing"

Roman quickly spoke up hoping that Seth wasn't going to say what he thought he was. As much as he wanted to step between Seth and Brianna it was hard to do when it was taking all of his strength to physically keep Dean from doing something that not even he as king could spare him from the consequences of.

"It MEANS THIS CHILD IS A SLAVE JUST LIKE HIM !"

"Is that really Necessary?"

Turning his attention towards where Roman stood with his arms wrapped around the runaway who looked ready to kill. Raising an eyebrow at the picture before him.

"Oh is the filth upset?, "

Roman's eyes widened in shock and turned Dean so they were facing the wall when he felt the younger man clawing at his arms to get free. He doubted Seth knew just how close he was to death and he wasn't sure if he wanted to stop it or not.

" Baby calm down , he's doing this on purpose, If you attack him he'll take it out on Brie"

Roman whispered soothing words into Dean's ear until he felt his body relax and hesitantly released Dean , he backed towards where Seth stood before turning around making sure to keep his body between Dean and Seth.

"Bec….Rebecca Needs help in the stables and you're always complaining about Nicole's unruly horse roaming around perhaps she can keep watch of him."

Seth nodded in agreement Roman did have a point , that filthy animal was a problem and hopefully this was a good solution.

OK …...What about him?"

" Bayley could use some help tending to my needs, I'm being stretched thin….and it'll give me some more free time to spend with you and Nicole."

Dean fought to keep himself from knocking Roman down and strangling Seth.

Seth turned around and threw his arms around Roman's neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Roman you know everything"

"only the best for my family"

Thankfully Seth was more oblivious than he'd originally thought but standing like this in front of Dean made him incredibly uncomfortable.

"Seth why don't you go upstairs and i'll send Fergal up to give you a massage…..while I get these two set."

They younger King's eyes lit up Seth absolutely loved to be pampered and Fergal was the absolute BEST when it came to giving massages.

Without further preamble Seth all but ran out of the Dungeon allowing Roman to let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned towards Dean who was giving him the worst look he'd ever seen , He turned back towards Brie who had tears running down her face and pulled her into his arms holding her close.

"Roman what the HELL did you just do?"

Dean was LIVID how dare he put her out in the stables he'd seen what happened to children out there and to send his own daughter into that was king quickly led them out of the dungeon being careful to avoid anybody that may have been lurking sure to stop Bayley and let her know to contact Fergal so he could tend to Seth before continuing on his way .He didn't want to explain to anyone why he was carrying Brie around and thankfully they made it to the Stables without any questions.

"You didn't answer my question"

"It's going to be hard enough for me to pretend like I don't have feelings for you and now that he knows he can get to you by messing with her he'll use that against you. Then I'd have to kill my husband."

"So you put her in here where some sikko can do GOD KNOWS WHAT TO HER HOW THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO HELP!?"

Roman could understand Dean's fear, part of the reason he'd started spending time in the stable as a child was because of that very reason.

"Are you two done arguing?"

Dean looked over and smiled once he saw the familiar face.

"Tara?"

She carefully lifted Brie out of Roman's hands and sat her on a hay bale while she tended to her wounds.

"the one and only, I sensed the child was in danger and ….here I am."

Dean followed her and took a seat next to Brie. He gently took her hand in his and began stroking the back of it .

"Thank goodness because ROMAN has decided to throw his child to the perverts"

Tara smiled Dean was very protective of Brianna, and for good reason.

" Rebecca would not allow anything to happen to her."

Rebecca was a for lack of a better term a 'hell raiser' she'd traveled to many different kingdoms living hand to mouth until one day Roman caught her attempting to steal his Rubies. She spoke with the sharp tongue of an adult and fought like the fiercest of warriors but looking down into her green eyes he saw nothing more than a frightened child. Instead of putting her to death like his father would have done he took the child in and trained her to tend to the horses. Being cautious of the types of slaves who preyed on young children and brought them to the stables he had a sword forged for her so she could protect herself and neither he nor Tara had doubt that she would protect Brie as well.

"Who?"

"Rebecca is the stable hand she tends to the horses"

Tara finished up tending to Brianna's wounds and called for Rebecca to dispose of the water.

"OK so step one hide Brie, step two beat the hell out of Roman for putting her out in this fuc-"

Before he could finish Tara grabbed Dean and headed off to the other side to the barn to discuss what she had planned. Meanwhile Brianna had seen and fell in love with the horse that her father had often told her about. She had seen Pele ea from a distance but , had never been able to get close enough to touch her. Roman noticed the look in Brianna's eyes and smiled , it was the same look he got when he had first laid eyes on his horse.

"You wanna meet her"

Brianna nodded eagerly and ran over to the horse's coral practically bouncing as she waited for Roman to open the door.

"Pele ea This is my little girl Brianna , I want you to look after her and keep her safe"

Roman gently pat the horse's head and gently took the his daughter's hand letting the horse get her scent her carefree giggle made him forget all about what would happen if his Seth were to find out , nothing else mattered in this now was as good a time as any he handed her a carrot out of the food bin and she carefully began feeding the one heard the barn door open until they heard a throat clear.

"Father where...Who's SHE?"

Brie looked over and her eyes widened in shock, It was like looking into a mirror. She quickly diverted her eyes back to the horse so her little sister wouldn't notice her their way out here her dads had made it perfectly clear that she was not to tell ANYONE who she really was and judging by the fear in the two people who they passed on their way out here's faces she knew it was for good reason.

"He's upstairs getting pampered by Fergal"

Nicole had originally came out here to tell him about how Alexa had broken her brush but she took one look at him and whoever this girl was and her jealousy kicked in.

"Why do you always tell me where Dad is when I talk to you? Is it a crime for us to spend time together?"

"Nicole I want nothing more than to bond with you, It's just that you always complain about how dirty it is when I ask you to do anything involving the horses."

"well I changed my mind."

King Roman was HER father and nobody else's….. as far as she knew. She stomped over to where the pair stood and wedged herself between Brianna and Roman.

"I wanna feed her."

Roman chuckled when he saw this , he never in a million years would have pictured Nicole getting jealous over him of all people.

"Sweetie,it-"

"You always say …..your FIRST duty is to your family"

Of all the damn times Nikki picked to listen to his words.

"Dai-Brianna Do you mind?"

He extended his hand to his older daughter gesturing towards the carrot in her hand and she opened her mouth to speak but Nicole put an effective end to that snatching it out of her hand and turning a disgusted eye towards her.

"Daddy there's no need to be nice to THEM…..we're in charge" Nicole turned to Pele ea completely dismissing Briana's presence he hated the scorned look on her face and made a mental note to comfort her some more later.

"Don't be like that Ni-"

"Brie"

Tara's voice filled the barn as she motioned for the older princess to follow her Roman was both saddened that his time with his eldest daughter had been cut short and relieved that Brianna could get away from her less than friendly little sister when Tara came back in and whisked her silently watched as Tara guided her out of the barn before returning his attention to Nicole.

"Daddy can we go for a ride on the horses?"

Roman raised an eyebrow at the unusual request , He'd given Nicole a pony for her 7th birthday which was a huge waste of time because she was more interested in the necklace Seth had given 'd spent most of his time after that still trying to do it just yesterday he'd asked her to join him on a ride and both she and Seth had laughed in his face.

"Nikki you've had your own horse for eight years and you haven't once wanted anything to do with it."

It was a shame really , He'd gotten her a beautiful tan horse with a brown mane he had the most amazing hazel eyes Roman had ever seen and had named him 'Le fefe' which meant 'Fearless' because despite the fact that he was very big he was also very gentle and was an excellent listener( not just because he couldn't talk) but it was as if he were a soldier , at night he would patrol the castle grounds and alert the guards of any intruders.

"Well Dad always says 'it's never too late to try something new' "

Roman nearly choked on his tongue when she said that ….mainly because HE had told Seth that one night when he was trying to get the younger man to suck his dick. It was kind of bad taste for Seth to tell this to his daughter considering HOW he'd heard it. He couldn't deny the excitement in his heart, whenever it came to Nicole and Seth he had always been the one to sacrifice and do what they wanted. Never had either one of them been willing to do what HE wanted to do and he was going to take full advantage of it.

"OK" Walking over to Le fefe's pen he opened the door and let him out , Nicole backed up a little sure she'd seen him walking around the castle grounds but that had been at a distance and he was a LOT bigger in person.

"Papa"

Roman looked over and saw the fear in her eyes , Even standing next to him the Stallion was still huge. He braced his hand on her back to keep her from running and pulled her close to him

"calm down sweetie …..you can ride Pele and I'll ride Fefe."

She nodded Eagerly not wanting anything to do with the giant horse. Roman quickly turned to saddle up the the black mare and helped Nicole up taking time to make sure she was stable before preparing Le fefe for what would be his first official time with a rider.

Three boring hours later Nicole was finally able to convince her father to end the horse second her feet touched the ground she ran out of the stable and back into the castle leaving Roman to straighten up. He carefully removed the saddles from the horses and made sure they were fed and had fresh water before he too made his way back to the castle. The first thing he saw was Seth making his way towards him a smile on his face that let him know that Fergal had done an amazing job. As soon as he was close enough Seth threw his arms around Roman's neck and planted a deep kiss on his lips.

"Thank you for the massage , that was JUST what I needed"

"Your welcome."

"I've been thinking a lot lately"

"About what?"

"I want another baby."