Warnings: Talk of face slapping, panic attacks on Blaine's part, slavery, pretty sure that's it.

A/N: So, so terribly sorry for the fact that I didn't update this or La Pute last week, I got horrible writers block on this chapter and spent so much time trying to write it that I didn't get around to La Pute so I just took an unplanned week long hiatus to sort things out, and, funnily enough, what I had planned to have happen in this chapter that was blocking me so much, ended up not actually happening, but we'll be jumping right into it at the beginning of the next chapter, and it's flowing much better now. And I will be updating La Pute tomorrow after I get home from work as I usually do, so at about 5 PM MST. Onto the story.

Word Count: ~ 3,500

Kurt and Burt made it back to the castle shortly before dinner. Kurt spent a little more time in the barns with Pavarotti, spraying him down, brushing out his fur, and picking the rocks and dirt out of his hooves before putting him back in his stall with plenty of grain for the night. Finally he made it back to his room, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

He paused in the doorway when he saw that one, Blaine was not asleep, he was sitting on the couch with a bright smile on his face, and two, he wasn't alone, with Nick sitting close beside him and arm wrapped around his shoulders and Blaine's head resting comfortably in the junction where Nick's neck and shoulder met, face pressing further into Nick's throat as Blaine laughed.

Something bitter settled in Kurt's stomach, and he shifted unconsciously as his eyes travelled down to the way their hands were entwined together on Blaine's thigh. Kurt's heart clenched painfully. He'd been sharing a room with Blaine for a month, trying his hardest to be good to him, and he would barely look at him. Now he'd just met Nick and Blaine was already more relaxed with him than he'd been in even his good moments with Kurt. Kurt took a few steps backward as pressure started to build behind his eyes, needing to get out of there and sort out what he was feeling and why his throat was clogging up and making breathing difficult and…

He heard the impact more than he felt it, the slave behind him hitting the wall and the clothing they'd been carrying flying everywhere. He spun quickly to see the small brunette dropping to her knees with her head bowed as she fearfully started shaking. She was new and he didn't know her name.

"I'm sorry, your highness," she gasped, "I-I was distracted, I'm so-"

"Hey, no," Kurt said dropping to his knees next to her and starting to pick up the clothes, "it's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."

She looked at him, eyes wide with panic, "S-sir, I'll clean up, you really shouldn't-"

"It was my fault, therefore I should help, it's no big deal," he set one folded shirt on top of the pile and reached for another, frowning when he saw the brown stains covering the back.

"I-I tried to get those out, Sir," she said quietly, "I washed it five times. Everyone said it was okay, but-but I can take it back and try again"

Kurt shook his head, setting the shirt away from the pile, "It looks like manure, probably one of Finn's, I swear he loses at least four shirts a week to rolling around in the mud with the horses. We'll just throw it away," he gave her a soft smile but her breath was still quick with fear. "And you can call me Kurt, you know," he said kindly, reaching over to still her shaking hands where they were anxiously trying and failing to fold a pair of Puck's signature ripped up jeans (he claimed the rips came from his work, but the lines were much too precise and straight, but Kurt humoured him and asked him about the story behind each new tear).

"C-Carmichael was very specific that all slaves refer to you with terms of respect, never your name, your-your highness. He even slapped Brittany for referring to you as her unicorn."

Kurt's eyes narrowed but he tried to soften his gaze when he saw her shrinking in on herself, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"R-rachel," she stuttered.

"Rachel, do you know who runs this castle?" he asked carefully.

"The-the king?"

"Exactly, and he has the most power over the slaves. He makes the rules, the job assignments. And when he's not here, that job falls to me. Do you know who never gets that job?"

She pursed her lips, shaking her head.

"Carmichael. Which means what I say goes, not what he says, okay?"

She nodded quickly.

"Now, I would like for you to call me by my name. If it makes you feel more comfortable you can call me the prince while any council member is around, but when you're just with me, or with the other slaves, I would like you to refer to me as Kurt, can you do that?"

She gave another cautious nod, "I-I can… Kurt."

He smiled, patting her hand and went back to folding the clothes. When they were all placed carefully back in the basket, he stood, his knees cracking, and held out a hand to help Rachel up before leaning over to pick the basket up and handing it to her.

"Thank you, Kurt," she said with a nervous smile.

"I have one more request," he said, stopping her when she started to walk away. She turned back, looking at him carefully, "if you see Carmichael punishing any of the other slaves, the way he did Brittany, notify me as soon as you can without getting yourself put in the path of his wrath. That's not his job, and I'd like to know when he's doing it, okay?"

"Yes, Kurt," she said, her smile becoming more relaxed. He patted her shoulder as she walked away, turning back to his door and jumping when he saw Nick and Blaine standing there watching him. Nick was smiling, almost proudly, at him, Blaine's brow was furrowed in concentration but he had a soft smile on his face too. Kurt started to return the smile until he saw their hands still linked between them and his face fell, the sick feeling returning to his gut and reminding him why he'd been fleeing the room in the first place.

Blaine noticed the change and followed Kurt's eyes to their hands, immediately letting go and wrapping his arms around his stomach instead, eyes going downcast and smile falling from his face to be replaced by a look of fear and Kurt could already see the nervous tremors starting up. "I-I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly, "I sh-should have asked before invit-inviting Nick back to the r-room."

"No, no," Kurt said, shaking his head, "it's fine," his voice didn't sound fine, it sounded hoarse and hurt, so he cleared his throat and tried again, "really, I'm glad you're making friends. That's good, I don't-don't want your life to revolve around me. Should I give you two some more time alone…"

Nick shook his head sadly, "I wish I could stay longer, but if you're back that means Burt's back, and he's not going to assist himself so I really should get going."

Blaine looked like he was going to protest, eyes darting anxiously between Nick and Kurt but Nick just pulled him into a tight hug. Blaine froze for a second, looking at Kurt over Nick's shoulder, but Kurt was pretending to not look at them, even though he was, and it hurt more than he liked when Blaine finally melted into hug and clung to Nick. Kurt could hear Nick whispering in his ear and he could only make out little bits of what he was saying.

"He's not angry…" , "He won't hurt you…", "You need to talk to him…"

Kurt saw the way Blaine kept nervously glancing at him, not looking like he quite believed Nick. "I don't want you to go," Blaine whispered and Kurt's heart broke at how scared he sounded.

"You're safe with Kurt," Nick assured him.

Blaine's response was so quiet Kurt had to strain his ears to hear him, "Don't disappear on me again," he whimpered, "I need you, I can't do this alone."

"I'll come back tomorrow," Nick promised, squeezing Blaine even tighter before letting him go and stepping away. Blaine looked near tears, his arms wrapping tightly around himself again as he tried to hold himself together. Nick glanced to Kurt and then back to Blaine. They seemed to have a silent conversation with only their eyebrows and a jerk of Nick's head and then Blaine sighed and went back into the room. Nick turned to Kurt.

He gave him a gentle, but stern smile. "Kurt," he said, "I know you're confused, I know this is difficult for you and you're just trying your best. but you can't just keep ignoring Blaine or letting him ignore you, because that's not going to make the problem go away. It's only going to make things worse."

Nick placed his hand on Kurt's shoulder waiting until he looked at him, "Talk to him, explain what is going on, explain what your plans are for his future, because, yes, you are in charge of his future and it'd calm him down if he knew what you were planning. He's not a mind reader, Kurt, and neither are you, so the only way to figure things out is to talk to him about it."

Kurt opened his mouth the protest but Nick shook his head.

"I know, I know, Blaine doesn't like to talk about the complicated things, especially when he's upset. It's even more difficult when the only person he really has to blame for all of this is you. Part of him knows it's not your fault and you're trying, but that doesn't change the fact that the majority of his anger and hurt is being focussed towards you. You're going to have to force him to talk to you, and I know you don't want to, but if you don't, he's never going to come looking for answers and his resentment of you is only going to grow until his hatred becomes irreversible, trust me, I've seen it happen before. I was on the receiving end of that resentment for a while and the only way I stopped it from ruining our friendship was by making him talk to me about what was wrong.

"Kurt," Nick sighed, "I don't know if you've fully comprehended this yet, but you're stuck with him for the rest of your life. You can't free him, and I know you won't sell him, so this is forever. You think it's hard to live with someone who won't talk to you? That's just how his anger is presenting itself right now, you're not going to like it when it turns to pure hatred and everything you do disgusts him and is met with a sneer. Stop it now before it goes too far. Help him redirect his anger to the people who actually did this to him and show him you're going to do everything you can to make his life as nice as possible, okay?"

Kurt nodded, thoughts racing to process Nick's words. Him and Blaine had known each other for a while, and since Blaine had only been a slave for a month that meant it was pre-enslavement for him and possibly even pre-enslavement for Nick too. Nick knew him, and he knew him well enough to tell Kurt with complete conviction what he needed to do to fix their problems and what would happen if he didn't.

Nick didn't say anything else, seeing from the lost in thought look on Kurt's face that he was already deciding how to go about this. He gave him a quick, reassuring hug and left the prince to work things out with Blaine.

Kurt carefully stepped back in the room, shoulders slumping when he saw that Blaine was curled up on the bed again, fist pressed to his mouth and shoulders shaking minutely. Kurt sighed, deciding he'd give Blaine a little while to calm down before he tried to make him talk and went to the bathroom for a quick shower.

Blaine was still on the bed when he came back, but now he was sitting up against the headboard, knees curled protectively towards his chest as he stared at the bed. Kurt knew he needed to talk to him, but his stomach grumbled loudly and he realized he hadn't eaten anything since the sandwiches with his father earlier that afternoon and it was getting past dinner time.

"Blaine?" he said softly, standing at the foot of the bed. Blaine raised his eyes just enough to show that he was listening. "Do you mind if we just eat in here tonight? I don't really feel like going to the kitchen at the moment."

Blaine swallowed, giving Kurt a short nod before wrapping his arms around his knees and hiding his face in them. Kurt wet his lips with a sigh and picked up the phone to call the kitchen. He could feel the shake of Blaine's body as he perched himself on the edge of the bed, even hear the quiet gasps as he started crying again. Kurt didn't know what was wrong this time, or if he just hadn't gotten it out during his last cry so he let him be and next called the slave quarters.

He'd neglected a lot of his duties in the past week, spending all his energy on Blaine, but this was a duty he refused to let go. He asked for Brittany when the phone was answered, smiling when her cheery voice came across the line. He requested she join him for dinner in his room and she immediately told him she was okay, he didn't need to worry-she knew what a request like that meant, what he'd found out about-but he insisted she come and she only agreed after he okayed Santana joining them as well. He'd expected as much and called the kitchen back to request that two more meals be brought up.

Brittany and Santana didn't knock when they arrive, Santana simply barged in with a snappy order to put their clothes back on. Normally Kurt would have just rolled his eyes at the comment, but he saw the way Blaine sat straight up, wiping the tears from his face with shaking hands and looked at the girls tensely, made Kurt grind his teeth together.

Brittany made a beeline for Kurt, hugging him before pulling away, avoiding his hands as he tried to make a grab for her face to check for bruising or redness as evidence of Carmichael's attack, and darting over to Blaine to hug him tight. Blaine stiffened in the hold, eyes wide and panicked as they darted to Kurt. Brittany pulled back, the sweet smile falling from her face when she caught sight of Blaine's red rimmed eyes and tear stained face.

"Aww, puppy," she cooed, pulling a tissue from the box beside the bed to wipe at his face with,"don't be sad. I promise he didn't hurt me badly."

Blaine's brow furrowed and he was too stunned to pull away when she kissed him on the cheek before scooting to sit beside him and hold his hand.

"I don't think Blaine wants to be touched right now, Brit," Santana said sternly, watching how still he was, back ramrod straight and knees still held tight to his chest by his free arm, hand twitching in Brittany's grasp. She turned a glare on Kurt who looked down guiltily, not sure what had Blaine so scared at the moment, but he had no doubt that he was the cause of it.

Brittany's shoulders slumped, "Hand holding should make you feel better, not worse," she said dejectedly.

Blaine glanced nervously at Kurt who tried to give him an encouraging smile, but it probably came out a cringe with the guilt twisting in his gut. Blaine pulled his hand away from Brittany, wrapping it back around himself and staring at his feet.

Kurt sighed, "C'mere, Brit, let me look at your face."

Brittany frowned but climbed off the bed and went to stand in front of Kurt. Kurt cupped her jaw gently, twisting her head to each side, "Where did he hit you?" she tapped her right cheek. There was no bruising or redness but she winced when he prodded it with his fingers. "When did this happen, Brit?"

She shrugged, "A couple of days ago, it really didn't hurt that bad, Kurt."

"Doesn't mean you deserved it," he said quietly. "Was it just the once?" Brittany nodded. "You should have come told me."

"You're sad all the time lately, unicorn, I didn't want to make you even sadder."

"What good will I be as a king if my subjects won't tell me when things are wrong so I can help? If Carole were sick or hurt, would you all try to hide it from me? Even if you knew it would make me sad?"

Brittany shook her head, "No, the kitchen would be chaos without Carole, we'd all starve."

"And what makes you any different? You're just as important to this castle as Carole or Nick or Finn, you don't need to be head of the kitchen, or assistant to the king, or stable leader for me to care about you. When any of you are hurt, I want to know, so I can help, especially if you've been hurt by a member of the council. You can't fight back against them, but I can, and I will to keep you all safe, do you understand me?"

"No, Kurt," Brittany said, "you shouldn't fight with Carmichael. He'll take away your throne, then what will happen to us?"

"If I sat back and let him treat those I care about poorly I'd lose the faith of the part of the council that actually likes me. I can't appease them all, and I'd rather appease the one's I don't constantly want to strangle."

"Then why did you have sex with Blaine?"

Kurt froze, seeing Blaine stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Because even some of the nicer council members want me to be something I'm not. Protective of what I care about, or what belongs to me, is a good trait to them. But they still have slaves and being ungrateful is not something they like." He kissed her right cheek gently and dropped his hand away from her jaw. Blaine was watching him with that same thoughtful look he'd had after watching Kurt with Rachel. Brittany danced back over to the bed, sitting next to Blaine again and bumping shoulders. Blaine's eyes were cautious as he stared at Kurt, carefully unfolding an arm and reaching it out for Brittany to take his hand. She did so with a bright smile and Kurt gave one in turn that made Blaine relax slightly, head dropping back to rest against the headboard and legs folding underneath himself instead of held tightly to his chest.

"Don't get too touchy with her, Blaine," Santana said sternly, coming to sit at the foot of the bed, facing Brittany and Blaine, "Hand holding is all you get for now. Once you've proven you're a true gold-star gay, I might approve of some cuddling, got it?"

Blaine eyed her nervously and even though her eyebrows were raised in a threatening manner, the corner of her mouth was curled up in a teasing smile. Blaine nodded returning the look with a small smile of his own.

They ate dinner on the bed. Blaine remained mostly quiet through the whole meal, only speaking when he was asked a question. His posture wasn't as open or relaxed as it could have been, but he didn't close back up, for which Kurt was grateful. When they were finished eating, Brittany laid her head on Blaine's shoulder. He froze for a second, glancing nervously between Kurt and Santana, when neither made a move to comment, continuing their conversation with Brittany, he settled back into the headboard, carefully leaning his cheek against the top of Brittany's head.

When the girls finally left Blaine opened his arms for a hug from brittany, hugging her close with eyes closed in contentment. He even offered Santana a quick little hug before Kurt was ushering them out the door, reminding them to tell him if any of the council overstepped their bounds and punished one of the slaves.

Blaine stood carefully, and went to the chest of drawers to pull out some sleep clothes. It took him a few minutes to find the right drawers, having never actually pulled his own sweats out, Kurt always grabbing them for him, but he was tired and didn't feel like asking Kurt, so he did it himself.

When he came out of the bathroom after changing, Kurt was leaned against the headboard, brow furrowed and eyes staring unseeingly at the wall. He crossed the room quietly and went to climb under the covers but Kurt caught his arm, shaking his head. "We need to talk, Blaine," he said quietly.

Blaine swallowed nervously and sat on top of the covers beside Kurt, waiting quietly. Kurt took a deep breath and spun abruptly towards him.

"I think it's time you knew the rules of being my slave."

And Blaine stopped breathing.