Leo stirred in bed, cold sweat on his brow. He'd blocked much of what had happened. Only the idea of his father abandoning him remained from the horror of being in that situation.
Leo blinked in the darkness and turned onto his back, groaning at the pain. The cold, wet ground rubbed against his bare skin and he would have shivered had he not stopped doing that a while back. There was murmuring outside the door. Voices rising louder until he could understand some words.
"…King…"
"…ransom…"
"…fucking mess." Leo closed his eyes and the same darkness greeted him. His ears sharpened to listen closely, for the sake of breaking the monotony with something other than that brute.
"…can't we just take a fucking ransom? He's got five fucking kids, why is he going to care about the little cunt?" Kurt's slimy voice slithered through under the door.
"I hate to agree with the sick bastard but that prince means nothing. You think that King, the King that ended all wars and brought peace and prosperity to Granzreich, is going to restart a war with an already defeated nation for no fucking reason?"
"My reasoning is none of your business. I pay you to do as I say, and that is all." That was the third man. He'd recognise that voice anywhere. He spoke more refined than the other two, though he forced some crass language from time to time.
"The fuck does your little act matter when he's already seen your face?"
"Shut up, my people know what we are doing. Kurt, you've taken him as a little play thing, make sure he thinks you're the only one that will get him out of here. I want that stupid little brat broken. I want him returning to the king in a state of madness, nothing less."
"I have no trouble, playing with him on your command." Kurt gave a malicious chuckle and Leo heard Klaus scoff in disgust.
"You two make me sick." Klaus grumbled.
"You enjoy his pain as much as Kurt likes to fuck him. You'll both do a wonderful job on him." The third man said, contempt in his tone. Leo heard no more. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Leo jumped awake and gasped, as if he'd been underwater with lungs ready to burst. He took several deep breaths as his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room rather than the dark room he'd escaped from.
The cool rays of the moon was the only light illuminating his bedroom, but his bed was warm and the sheets were soft.
Despite that, sleep had left him and he knew he would be unable to go back to sleep. He got up slowly, still sore but mostly healed. He turned to the nearest oil lamp and turned it on. The clock on his table told him it was three in the morning and no time for anyone to be awake.
Leo stared at his room and hands curled into fists. He hurried to get himself dressed and looked at himself in the mirror. Even in the glow of the oil lamp he could see his perfect face, perfect clothes, perfect hair.
"My lily of Greinzreich." The memory of the whisper tickling his ear made him shudder and he threw a sheet over the mirror.
Lilies symbolised purity. White lilies even more so. Clean. Untouched. Everything he did not feel.
He turned away from the covered mirror and left the room.
"Your highness?" A guard asked as he left the room. "Shall I fetch a servant for something?" The guard was understandably confused. If he ever needed anything, all he had to do was pull a rope by his bed and a servant would soon be up to get whatever he needed.
"No. I will be heading to the library. There is no need to escort me." Leo said coldly.
"With all due respect, your highness." The other guard said. "Our duty is to guard you, not your room."
Leo stared at them. "I see. Very well. But stay back a bit, I don't like the feeling of being followed too closely." He walked ahead, without looking back. He hid his fear well, the fear that came with hearing footsteps somewhere behind.
Once in the library he could breathe. He held his oil lamp high and went straight to the books on Geography he'd been learning with Heine. He focused on the chapter on their kingdom, and he began to study the maps of the land with a nervous focus he'd never felt before.
Sleep, that normally would come to him within minutes of sitting with a book to learn, evaded him. Though his stomach grumbled for breakfast, it was too early, and he didn't want to wake a servant to get him something. Instead, he sat, and read, and took notes until the sun rose on the horizon.
oOoOoOo
Heine woke up at sunrise and got ready for the day. He started the day as Viktor commanded. Business as usual. It felt wrong, but until Leonhard was ready to come out of his room there was nothing they could do. The last week he'd spent it alone in his room, shutting everyone out.
Nonetheless, Heine walked by his room and panic struck his heart as he saw no guards and after a quick check, no prince.
"Royal tutor, we've just changed shifts, the prince is in the library." One of Leo's guards said and Heine let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
"Thank you. Since when has the prince been up?" He asked.
"Since three in the morning, sir." The knight said. Heine nodded slowly.
"Has his highness eaten?" He asked.
"I'm afraid not sire. He has not called for a servant, or anyone at all."
"Thank you, you may go rest." Heine said and looked down the corridor that led to the library.
oOoOoOo
Licht met Bruno in the corridor. Kai was already at the breakfast room, waiting for them. Adele entered with her grandmother and walked quietly to her seat. The clock struck eight and his father entered the room followed by Eins, who was still ordered to stay with them.
"Good morning, everyone." His father said.
"Good morning, father." The princes said. Adele's voice in the mix.
"Has prince Leonhard eaten in his rooms?" Viktor asked as he always did to the servants serving their meal.
"Not this morning your majesty. His highness was in the library since before dawn."
At this everyone looked up. "Leo's left his room?" Licht asked, hope in his voice.
"Make sure to take his breakfast to him." Viktor said.
"I'm afraid his highness is no longer in the library." The servant said.
"What do you mean? Where is he then? He is guarded, right?" Bruno asked and Licht looked at the servant. The servant looked uncomfortable and leaned down to whisper in their father's ear.
"He what?!" Viktor exclaimed, shooting to his feet and storming out. Licht looked at his brothers and leapt to his feet to follow his father.
oOoOoOo
Leo walked slowly but forcing himself to look confident. By now, only one guard remained, the other rushing off to inform his father of where he was headed.
The dungeon was cleaner than he thought it would be. Even the further in he went it wasn't as bad as the room he'd been in. Finally he reached a corridor in the darkness, guarded by a couple of knights.
"You can't pass, your highness." One of the guards said.
Leo smiled, a chilling feeling inside him. It must have shown in his eyes because the guard flinched and looked down to avoid eye contact. "Step aside." He said.
After a couple of hesitant seconds the guards stepped aside and Leo walked toward the cell at the far end, looking inside to see a very bloody man, wrists chained to the wall, keeping him a few inches from the floor.
"Good morning, Klaus." Leo said. The battered man smirked with blood stained teeth.
"If it isn't the royal little cunt. I'm not saying a word to you." He said.
Leo stared at him for a long time. "What was his name?" Klaus spat at him, but he was too far away for it to reach him. "He's someone I'll recognize when I see him, why cover for him now? You could save yourself." Leo said with a shrug to his shoulders.
Klaus looked at him for a long time, as if considering his options. "You don't have the authority to do anything for me." He scoffed.
"Not true, I convinced father to let me ask you before my dearest eldest brother starts chopping bits off." He said casually, finding courage with each word he spoke. He was the one in power now. Not him. He could make him suffer rather than the other way round. "I said you may reveal that other person if you could leave with your life. You didn't hurt me as much as Kurt… so I thought I could offer you mercy." He said.
Klaus looked at him and looked down. "Come closer." Leo took a deep breath and did so. Even if the other spat on his face it wasn't anywhere as bad as what had been done to him already. But somehow, he didn't believe that's what the other would do. "Closer." Leo did so until he could smell his sweat, grime and blood. Again, he had smelt worse.
"What is his name?" Leo asked.
"He never told us his name. My guess is that he's a noble." Klaus said.
"So, you choose maiming then. I'll let my brother know." He turned to leave.
"Wait… wait you fucking little…" Leo turned back to him and crossed his arms over his chest. "He's the son of some noble. Up north, on the border to the kingdom of Verstace."
"He's a noble from our court?" Leo whispered.
"Yes, that's all I know. All your father had to do to save you is finish seizing the territory. Your father chose peace with an already defeated nation over your safety. Maybe Kurt would have taken better care of you." Leo felt nausea at those words and reached behind him. "Heheheh, now keep your end of the barg-GEH!" The man's throat was easier to slit than Leo imagined. His hand only trembled after it dawned on him how easy it had been. The knife sharper than he had imagined or the skin protecting Klaus' neck simply weaker than he had anticipated.
He stepped far back though some blood managed to splutter on his hand clothes and face.
"Leonhard!" Leo didn't turn at the sound of his father's voice immediately. He stared at the blood in his hands and smirked glancing back at his family, his father looking to him in shock, his brothers running up behind him seconds later. Behind him Klaus still gurgled in pain, suffocating in his own blood.
"Good morning, your majesty." Leo greeted and gave a regal bow. "You'll have to excuse me, I should go take a bath." His father gripped his arm hard and Leo shuddered remembering someone else doing the same.
Klaus finally went still and quiet behind him.
"Why did you kill him Leo?! You had no right to do this! He was still being questioned and deserved to be tried for his crimes!" Viktor exclaimed.
Leo looked up defiantly. "Did I break the law, father? I thought the price for committing treason and targeting the royal family was death."
"That was not your call to make, Leonhard!" Eins chimed in. Leo tore his arm away from his father and made his way past Eins.
"Leo, stop, we have to talk about this." Bruno said and Leo stared at him coldly.
"He's right Leo, come on, Heine tell him." Licht said. Leo looked at Heine who looked at him with concern in his normally expressionless face.
"Did he tell you anything?" Heine asked instead.
"No." Leo lied. "Excuse me." He tried to walk past him but Heine gripped his wrist painfully hard and Leo looked ready to attack the royal tutor right there and then.
"The guards and servants may be even more concerned if you go up to them with this in your hand." He said. Leo slowly opened his fingers allowing Heine to retrieve the knife. Leo's fingers had been gripping so strongly that they had gone numb and were painful to open.
The release of the knife made Leo gasp and drop his shoulders, staring at the blood-stained hands once more. "I don't regret anything!" He yelled loudly and continued to storm away, not looking back at his very concerned family.
