Title: In My King's Harem
By: Ari
Disclaimer: I don't own Fayt or Albel! But! They are locked up in my basement along with Duo and Heero, Naruto and Sasuke, L and Raito, Harry and Draco, Ryo and Ed, and many more pretty bishi's that I can't remember right now…maybe I should check on them…
Warnings: S+M, swearing, sexual themes, OOCness, Albel meanness, Fayt gets hit a lot cause Albel had anger problems!
Note's: Hehe…It's been awhile, but raison d'etre!
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Chapter 3:
Beat Me Softly
Fayt was in pain! Lots and lots of pain! He'd just ridden a horse, almost all day, every day, for two weeks. His butt hurt, his back hurt, his legs hurt. Everything hurt! But at least they were there. Finally. Lord Albel had to visit a neighboring kingdom and discuss some treaty or something with the reigning Lord. Or…Lady? Did women own things? Fayt wasn't sure.
Maria slid off her horse and began unpacking, hanging it's…gear…up, and then proceeded to brush the horse down. Fayt stood there staring stupidly at the saddle. He had no idea how to un-latch it. Maria glanced over and rolled her eyes. She scowled and began un-tacking Fayt's mare. When she finished she dropped everything. "Put it away, brush her, feed her, and water her." And she went back to her horse.
When Albel came to retrieve them, Fayt was dirty and smelly and of course Maria was clean and beautiful. Dirt didn't seem to stick to her. She had a natural shield that held dirt and sweat at bay, and she flaunted it. "Lord Albel…He's so smelly! Let's leave here and take a bath. Leave him with the horses, he belongs here."
Albel brushed her aside and went to stare down at Fayt, frowning at his dirty silks and stringy hair. "You're going straight to the baths before you even think of entering the palace or my rooms, much less my bed."
Bed? Fayt didn't like that, but talking back…no, talking at all, would get him smacked again. So instead he glared at Albel's back, carefully, so no one would see it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXFayt swallowed uncomfortably. Albel was dressed in purple tights that vanished under a brown doeskin tunic. A belt of finely woven purple cloth encircled his waist and his boots were brown doeskin as well, and tight over his calves. He held a glass in his hand and took a long sip, then offered it to Fayt. "Go on, it's only wine."
He hesitated and tasted it. It was slightly mulled, spicy and warm, and burned a path down his throat to his stomach. Albel took the mug back and set it down. "That's enough. It won't do to have you muddle-headed tonight. Though it's hard not to appreciate Aquarian Cider."
"I'm not doing this." Fayt stated, tugging nervously at his silks.
"Look at it from this simple point of view. I'm larger than you. I can force you to bend to my desires if that's what I want. You are a somewhat intelligent young man; you know that it will be easier, and hurt far less, for you to submit yourself to me."
Fayt moved backwards towards the door and Albel grinned, showing sharper than normal canines. "It's locked. And it wont unlock unless I say so."
Green eyes glared at red. "I'd rather die than do this."
"My God! What did you think you were bought for?" Albel drawled in semi-shock.
"To be a servant…"
"No, no, no!" Albel suddenly raged. "Concubines are not servants! Have you ever seen Maria or any of those wenches lift a finger for themselves? No!" he started pacing back and forth, eyes narrowed and teeth clenched. "They're treated almost as well as guests! Most of them just sit in that room all day giggling with each other!" Albel stopped and clenched his fists, taking deep, slow breaths. When he'd calmed down, he slowly turned to Fayt. "It's going to be hard to explain to you, but a concubine is…respectable. I know I've told you that before."
Fayt nodded meekly, Albel in a rage resulted in pain. "Yes, sir."
"Regardless, your training starts today. You're a concubine, male or not, it doesn't matter. It's the same thing." He turned and started at Fayt back against the door. "The point is, will you surrender and make it easy, or do I have to force you?"
Fayt sucked in a deep breath; his hand was turning the door handle to no success. It was going to happen either way. "I…"
"Yes?"
"I…hope you rot in hell!"
A sound smack rang through the room before Fayt was tumbled over onto the bed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"Lord Albel…I don't understand why you had to bring your concubine to dinner with you."
Albel smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Why Lady Nel, he's in training. I'm sure you understand…"
"But Lord Albel. You and he are both male…"
"Why, Lady Nel. Is there a problem?" Albel turned to his right, addressing Nel's first in command. "I do believe the Lady is say homo erotica is wrong, Lady Claire. What do you think of that?"
Claire tugged on a strand of hair in irritation. "I'm sure she has no problems with it." She turned to look expectedly at Nel, who flushed as red as her hair.
"Of course not! A concubine is a concubine."
"Lady Nel!" Claire explained, a blush rising to her face.
"Don't worry." Albel drawled, patting Fayt's head. "I'm sure she doesn't think of you, Lady Claire, as a concubine…"
Fayt sighed from underneath the table. It seemed every time he went to a dinner, the same conversation started. Why you bring them, he's a boy; it's still not right, blah, blah, blah. He was beginning to wonder why Albel even bothered. Was there a point to this? To bringing him here? It didn't matter either way. Here, in another country, he would make his escape.
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Fayt drew back against the far wall of the cave, trying to control his breathing. The hoof beats stopped outside the entrance and there was the sound of feet hitting the ground, walking toward the cave with a determined noise. A flash of a lantern's light appeared.
"Come out, come out, my little concubine. I know you're in there." Albel called. "I can smell your sweat and fear from here. You can't escape me that easily." The lantern's light grew stronger and Albel rounded the small bend in the cave. Fayt gazed up at him fearfully. The sleeveless tunic and short trousers he had stolen from the Aquarian washroom did nothing to protect him from the cave's chill and his arms were lined with goose bumps.
Albel set the lantern on the floor of the cave and knelt down. Fayt glared and tired to back up and escape, but there simply wasn't anywhere else to go.
"Shh..." Albel reached out a gloved hand and touched his cheek gently. "My poor little Fayt. This was very stupid of you. Did you think you'd escape me that easily? Did you think I wouldn't follow if you ran? I would track you to hell and back before I'd let you get away from me." His eyes grew concerned but that only made Fayt shrink back even more. Concern was bad. "You're cold. Here." He removed his thick riding cloak and draped it around his shoulders. "The last think I need is for you to get sick…
"Thank you." It was barely a whisper.
"Why did you run from me?" Albel question. "In these past weeks, have I harmed you?"
"No." Fayt mumbled, glaring at the floor.
"You've slept in the same fine bed I have. Shared the same meals. Each morning you use my bath. My library is yours to use as you wish. Why did you try and run away? I even brought you here to Aquaria with me…" He cupped Fayt's chin so he could look into those incredible green eyes. "Tell me." He ordered sternly. "It's okay, I'm not angry with you. Really, I'm not."
Fayt didn't quite believe him and hesitated. "I…hate you."
"What was that?" Albel's eyes narrowed and his fingers clenched around Fayt's chin a little more firmly. "I don't think I quite heard you…"
Fayt glared and whipped his head away to stand quickly. "I hate you! I hate this! My family is probably rolling in the grave right now! I'm a lowly, dirty, conbu-"
Fayt doubled over, trying to catch his breath as a foot slammed into his stomach. Albel's sharp kick was followed by two sharp smacks to the face. Fayt really should be able to predict these smacks by now… but still, he had to clench his jaw and keep his eyes shut tight until the stinging disappeared. He didn't even blink as the collar snapped around his wrist and Albel started dragging him back through the cave.
Fayt doubted being a concubine would save him from a good beating tonight.
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Fayt woke up to the chill wetness of a cloth on his face. He groaned and tried to remove it, but his arms wouldn't respond. His whole body ached. And he couldn't feel his toes.
"You should try to move, ya know!" a girls voice rang out. "The Lord Albel beat ya up pretty good, you must have done something really bad!"
Fayt blinked a few times, trying to get his vision to clear so he could see who the girl was. "You have at least two broken ribs, a concussion, a fractured jaw, four snapped fingers, and your ankle is probably sprained."
"Wonderful…" Fayt murmured out, holding back a cough to save his ribs from the pain and stress. "Where am I?"
"With the Aquarian healers. Lord Albel dumped you here early this morning."
Fayt groaned again as his eyes started to focus. The girl was very small, with pink hair in pigtails, she seemed peppy. She moved around very quickly, gathering this and that, wiping Fayt's face with the cool cloth before moving on to clean smaller cuts and abrasions left by the Lord Nox. "I'm Peppita Rossetti! I'm a healer in training!" She skipped around a little, twirling with a bucket of water before dumping it out in the sink. "I wanted to be a performer, but my parents wouldn't let me. They said a healer was much more respectable."
Fayt closed his eyes and listened to the girl chatter away as she went about her business. There were tight bandages around his chest, and some gauze on his face, and some more wraps on his ankle, but other then that, she seemed to be alright….except for the killer headache.
"Now Fayt, try to go easy on your ribs and leg for a few days, also, eat well for your headache, but you're pretty much done! Isn't that great? I healed you up all by myself!" Fayt sighed and pulled himself up, his body ached and protested, but he ignored it. "You're still in the palace, so just go left out the door and you should reach Lord Albel's rooms!"
"Great…. Just where I wanted to go…" he muttered as she merrily shoved him out and slammed the door in his face, giving him no choice but to head right back into the arms of his abuser.
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I love you all! I know I haven't updated in…well…forever…. but my plot bunny and inspiration has all but died. It comes back in tiny spurts every once in a while, hence, this chapter….which is short, I know. But it's better than nothing, ne?
Truthfully, I know exactly what I want to happen in this story, start to end, it's just typing it out….don't give up on me!
And yes, eventually a relationship will bloom, but we have to get passed Albel's temper first. And Fayt still has some spit fire left to fight back and be defiant…