Crown Prince Kurt Hummel certainly had an interesting approach to the interview process, Sebastian couldn't help thinking as he tried his best to wait patiently by the far wall of the Royal Castle's Great Hall, watching the proceedings in front of him with ever-increasing boredom. Patience had never been one of Sebastian's strong points, though, and after four mind-numbingly tedious hours of watching Prince Kurt converse one-on-one with what seemed like every middle-aged political advisor in the realm, he could feel himself starting to fidget.
To be fair, Prince Kurt seemed to be faring equally badly in front of Edward Alderman; a portly, balding man with questionable ethics when it came to the treatment of the baseborn. Sebastian had been on the receiving end of more than one of his droning, painfully one-sided conversations, and he had to smile as he watched the prince stifle a barely-concealed yawn, nodding along to whatever Alderman was saying but clearly not paying much attention. Sebastian could relate, the man really was insufferably dull.
There was one element of intrigue to Alderman's presence, though, and that was his sub standing just behind him. It wasn't the boy's age that caught Sebastian's attention - though the fact that Alderman was pushing forty and his sub couldn't have been older than eighteen did make Sebastian's skin crawl, that in itself was far from unusual given their current company. No, the thing that had drawn Sebastian's focus was that he knew for certain that up until a couple of weeks ago Alderman had been in a very happy, very committed claim with a very female submissive. For Alderman to have broken his claim with his sub - the pair had been together for over twenty years! - so that he could enter into this, this farce with a boy who looked barely old enough to have his designation, simply so he could better appeal to the Crown Prince's sexuality? It was disgusting, and frankly a little insulting.
And he wasn't the only one either. As Sebastian scanned the room he saw Dominant advisor after Dominant advisor with their subs all waiting behind them, some of them absolutely screaming of a new claim. To Sebastian it seemed painfully obvious which claims were legitimate, and which were simply pandering to the base urges of their Crown Prince. He noticed with a relieved sigh that Isabella Foster was still with her girl. He always had liked those two together, and even if he did disagree with most of her policies, he now had more respect for the Dom for not succumbing to the charade that this event was turning out to be. He sincerely hoped the prince could tell the difference too; it just wasn't right.
Glancing over his shoulder to where Blaine was standing exactly one pace behind and one pace to the left of him, he quietly marvelled at how calm, how at peace his sub looked. Blaine had his hands clasped behind his back and his head slightly bowed, and looked for all the world like he could continue standing exactly like that until instructed otherwise. A small, fond smile quirked at the corner of Sebastian's mouth as he watched his sub simply be. Blaine looked absolutely dashing in a dark red tunic with gold detail, and he exuded a quiet confidence that Sebastian would never not admire. Maybe it was just because he knew his relationship with Blaine better than he knew his own name, but for Sebastian it couldn't have been any clearer that this, this right here was the difference between their claim and others around them. Surely an honest, legitimate bond such as theirs had to be better for the crown, better for the prince, than any of the poor imitations some of these Doms insisted on showcasing?
He was drawn from his musings when the sounds in the center of the hall started to rise once more in volume. With a small sigh he turned back toward the proceedings just in time to see Prince Kurt thank Alderman for his time, before nodding at the herald to call forward the next interviewee. The young teenager coughed nervously before scanning down his far-too long list to read out the next candidate. "Sebastian Smythe; second-born Dominant of Lord Gregory Smythe. Current advisor to Duke Worthington."
Sebastian threw a silent thank you up at the ceiling as he straightened his lapels and strode confidently forward to meet the prince in the middle of the room. Time to get this show on the road.
Stopping just in front of the prince, Sebastian gave a gracious bow before speaking. "Your Royal Highness; it is an honour." His voice was low and sincere, and he held his position of respect until he heard the prince respond.
"Thank you, Sebastian. Please rise." Sebastian straightened and looked for the first time up close upon the realm's Crown Prince.
The court gossip mill hadn't been lying, for once. Puberty certainly had been kind to Prince Kurt. Sebastian took a second to appreciate the view in front of him; from the sharp, piercing grey-blue eyes framed by high cheekbones and artfully styled hair, to the finely tailored clothes that just hinted at muscle underneath them. Sebastian knew that the prince was just shy of twenty-one - it was the event that this whole affair was in aid of after all - but the man in front of him seemed simultaneously painfully young and old beyond his years, and Sebastian was all of a sudden incredibly nervous. As soon as he picked a political consort, Prince Kurt would succeed King Burt as magical guardian of the realm, and this man, this boy, would suddenly be responsible for the welfare of over two million souls. And here Sebastian was, trying to claim that he was the person best suited to be his right-hand. Talk about that for pressure.
After a moment, when it became apparent that the prince had no intention of starting their conversation, Sebastian cleared his throat with a small cough. "This is certainly a novel way of meeting potential consorts, Your Royal Highness," he commented wryly, slightly unsure of how to start what was probably the most important interaction of his life to date.
The prince gave a small, sardonic grin. "Political consort to the crown is the second most important role in the realm, I need to make sure whoever I choose can hold their own in front of an audience." Sebastian could swear he heard a hint of challenge in the prince's voice, and he raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Second most important role, Your Royal Highness?" He asked, voice perfectly respectful, even as he knew exactly what he was asking. He was rewarded with a high, musical laugh from the prince, and he let a small smile slip across his features.
"One with a sense of humour I see, well isn't that refreshing." The prince's whole attitude suddenly seemed lighter, and Sebastian was suddenly aware of how tense he himself was. Taking a couple of deep breaths he forced himself to relax; he was good, he was so much better than than any of the other fuckwits in the room it was practically laughable. He had this in the bag.
"I feel I must apologize on behalf of my profession, Your Royal Highness," Sebastian continued. "Hard as it may be to imagine, there are actually some amongst us who aren't quite as deathly boring as my peers today must have led you to believe."
"Is that a fact? Well in that case you must introduce me to these mythical creatures you speak of," the prince replied, and there was that hint of challenge in his voice again.
"I'm afraid I couldn't possibly do that, Your Royal Highness. I wouldn't want you thinking that they were better for the job than I am." Sebastian responded, starting to settle into the rhythm of their conversation.
"Did I miss the part where you convinced me that you were the right person for the job in the first place?" The Prince replied curiously, and yes, that was Sebastian's cue to get down to business.
"Well, I could let my credentials speak for themselves, Your Royal Highness. I have been involved in affairs of state since I was fifteen. After my lord father was killed during the Macinly uprising, I managed House Smythe for three years until my mother remarried. Since then I have never not been sought after for my skills. In the past six years I have been in service to first House Drothstone, working alongside the esteemed William Seymour, and then subsequently House Mayfair, where I was solely in charge of day to day affairs. Most recently I have been chief advisor to House Worthington, one of the largest, and currently most profitable, estates in the realm."
Sebastian paused for a second to see how his list of accomplishments would go down with the prince. He was clearly impressed, but Sebastian was pretty sure someone as diligent as the Crown Prince would have done his research on potential candidates well before this meeting. He had yet to tell the prince anything he didn't already know. "Then of course there is the fact that you are clearly a progressive monarch. If your recent endeavours to unify inter-realm legislation didn't make that blindingly obvious then your…unique fashion sense would also be a telltale sign." Sebastian smirked as the prince raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, obviously not entirely sure if Sebastian had intended that as a compliment or an insult. Sebastian decided to press onward before the prince gave it much further thought and found the result unfavorable.
"Honestly, Your Royal Highness, you need an advisor who is as forward-thinking as you are. Please don't insult yourself by entertaining the idea that any of these fossils even stand a chance of keeping up with you. Half of the Dominants in this room were advising houses during the Dalton war; it's time for some fresh blood to enter the fray."
For a long moment the prince simply stared at Sebastian, appraising him, and Sebastian fought the urge to squirm under the intensity of his gaze. Squaring his shoulders he held his head high, firmly biting his tongue against the flurry of words his brain had suddenly decided were necessary in order to cement his case. He didn't need to sell himself any more than he already had done; he knew he was the best man for the job, now it was the prince's turn to reach the same conclusion.
After the longest three and a half minutes Sebastian had ever endured (he had begun counting the seconds in his head to stop himself from moving) the prince nodded sharply, just once, as if he had decided something.
"And who do we have here?" The prince asked lightly, and for a moment Sebastian was confused about what he was talking about. Then he noticed that the prince's gaze had slipped to focus over Sebastian's left shoulder. Of course; Blaine. Blaine, who had been present the entire time, standing perfectly still, perfectly quiet, exactly one pace behind and one pace to the left.
"Your Royal Highness, might I present my submissive, Blaine Anderson." Taking a step to the side, Sebastian nodded at Blaine to indicate that he should move forward. Dutiful as ever, his sub stepped carefully forward, hands still held behind his back as he bowed lowly to the prince. "Your Royal Highness," he said simply, voice calm and confident, keeping his eyes to the floor.
"Look at me, Blaine." The prince's voice had taken on an entirely new timbre, low and commanding. For a moment Sebastian thought he could feel the air crackling, laced as it suddenly was with an entirely new sort of tension. Keeping his perfect position of standing prostration, Blaine slowly flicked his eyes up to meet the prince's face, staring up at him through his long eyelashes.
"Well, aren't you absolutely breathtaking," The prince commented softly, attention now entirely fixated on Sebastian's submissive in front of him.
"Thank you, Your Royal Highness," Blaine replied breathlessly, and Sebastian knew that exact inflection far too well for him to be completely happy with Blaine offering it to someone other than himself. Furiously he stomped down the ball of possessive anger that was starting to form in his chest. If the prince was going to pick Sebastian as his consort then Blaine would be part of the agreement; Blaine was simply helping his Master seal the deal, just like a good submissive should.
Finally, finally, the prince broke his intense stare and turned back to focus once more on Sebastian. "Well this has been most enlightening. Thank your for your time, Sebastian."
Without another word Kurt turned back to signal once more toward his herald, and Sebastian had to bite back the urge to say anything further. With a nod toward Blaine he turned and strode out of the Great Hall, fighting every step of the way to not turn back and take one final glance at the Crown Prince.
Kurt Hummel, Crown Prince and soon-to-be magical guardian of the kingdom of Aldern, had a splitting headache. He supposed that entertaining over fifty of the realm's smartest - and most pretentious - minds in the space of one afternoon would probably do that to a person, but it didn't make it any less frustrating.
With a small groan he leant back in his high-backed armchair, left hand coming up to massage at his temple while he flicked his right hand in a short, scooping motion in front of him. In response, the pitcher of water and wine glass sitting on the table across the other side of the room jumped up and danced through the air to hover in front of him. With a click of his fingers the jug poured a long stream of crystal clear water into the glass, then trundled it's way back across the room to take it's original place back on the table. Plucking the glass out of the air by the stem, Kurt took a long sip, closing his eyes as he relished the ice-cool refreshment. Yes, it was incredibly lazy of him to use his powers like this when he could very easily have simply gotten up and crossed the room on his own two feet, but it had been a long day; he could afford to cheat just a little bit.
And what a day it had been. Kurt had known that this, the first real decision he would have to make as part of his new position of authority, would be stressful, but he hadn't quite realized just how out of his depth he would feel. He was competent, smart, more than ready to take on this new challenge, he knew that. But today, talking to men and women easily twenty years his senior, all who seemed to know so much more than he did, he had never felt more like a child playing pretend.
The only moment of respite in the entire proceedings had been when Sebastian Smythe had stepped forward. At first Kurt had simply been relieved to have something decent to look at while he suffered through another mind-numbingly boring conversation about some political dispute resolved in exactly the same way as hundreds of others before it, but Sebastian had been charming and entertaining, surprisingly so. He had showcased his knowledge without making Kurt feel like an idiot, and for the first (and only time) in the entire awful afternoon, Kurt had felt like he was interacting with someone he could actually rule alongside, rather than in front of or behind.
And then of course there had been Blaine. Blaine, with his golden eyes and breathtaking expression of submission. That had been something he really hadn't been expecting from the day's proceedings.
Kurt had long been aware of the contractual intricacies that surrounded the role of political consort. He had read up on them in great detail when he first began his search, spending hours and hours pouring over documents and talking to his father's consort, just so he could be absolutely sure about what he was getting himself into. One of the biggest stipulations was that a political consort would offer up all his possessions to the royal that he served, in order to ensure loyalty and fidelity. As was the nature of the society in which they lived, this agreement had quickly come to include a Dominant's submissive - a sort of added bonus, as it were. It was the oldest trick in the book after all; sex sells. And boy had it been on offer today. Kurt had been prepared for the blatant flaunting of submissive after submissive, and had told himself that no matter what happened he would not be influenced by temptations of the flesh. His relationship with his political consort, and their submissive if they had one, would be strictly professional, nothing more.
But then Blaine had stepped into view, and the whole universe had realigned itself, rearranging every one of its atoms so that all of a sudden Blaine became its shining center. Kurt was far from the blushing virgin he had been at fifteen, but when he and Blaine had locked eyes that afternoon for a sharp, shocking moment it was as if Kurt had never looked upon another man before. It had been exciting and nerve-wrackingly terrifying, and Kurt couldn't even begin to start processing what it meant.
And didn't that throw yet another complication into the mix. He had promised himself, sworn to himself, and while he was reasonably confident that his draw towards Sebastian was indeed down to his professional skills, he couldn't one hundred percent guarantee that he wasn't now being influenced by … other factors. Fuck.
A small knock at the door broke him from his reverie, and he hastily straightened up in his chair, trying to make it look slightly more like like he wasn't currently suffering through the most hideous of crises of confidence. He breathed a small sigh of relief as a blonde head peeked through the door, stepping inside the room and closing the door behind her before giving a quick curtsey.
The Pierce family had been in the employ of the Royal Castle for as long as Kurt could remember, and he and Brittany had practically grown up together. Brittany had even been Kurt's first kiss, long long ago when Kurt had still been working out who he was (who he was allowed to be) and what he liked (what the crown expected him to like). Thankfully they had both realized what a disaster that was, in more ways than one, and now Kurt considered Brittany one of his closest friends, free from the pressure and expectations that relationships with others of his station came with (a certain Duchess Berry sprang to mind). Kurt loved sweet, innocent Britanny with all his heart, and desperately hoped that life would be kind to her.
"Evening, Your Royal Kurt," Brittany said happily as she moved around the room, bending down to tend to the fireplace, stoking the coals so they roared fierce against the chill night air.
"Good evening, Brittany," Kurt replied, smiling as he watched her work. Brittany had never seemed to grasp his official title, but he didn't mind. It was the closest thing he'd ever had to a nickname.
"The servant's quarters are all abuzz with talk from today," Brittany chattered as she moved around the room, light as a dancer on her feet as she prepared Kurt's quarters for bed. "Have you found somebody nice to be your person?"
"I'm not sure 'nice' is what I should be basing my decision on I'm afraid Britt," Kurt sighed, rubbing at his eyes as exhaustion started to drag at his insides.
"Of course you should," Brittany paused, turning to look at Kurt like he was missing the most obvious point in the world. "If you can't have someone nice as your person how can you make sure the world is nice to each other?"
It was an interesting approach, Kurt supposed, and not entirely unfounded either. Whoever he chose as political consort was going to be one of the biggest presences in his life from now until...well ideally forever. He needed somebody who didn't make him want to claw his own eyes out after less than fifteen minutes' interaction.
"I don't suppose you're interested in the role?" Kurt replied lightly, only half joking.
"I'm afraid I can't, Your Royal Kurt. The kitchen mice have asked me to help with their war against the alley cats, and it's taking up all of my spare time." Brittany replied, deadly serious as she finished turning down Kurt's bed. "May I take my leave? Lord Tubbington is going to introduce me to the new foals this evening. He says that one of them has been asking after me."
"Of course, go have fun," Kurt replied fondly. "But Britt, you do know that boy's not really a lord, right?"
Brittany gave a small shrug, "He is to me," she replied simply, giving another small curtsey before leaving, closing the door quietly after her and leaving Kurt once more with just his thoughts for company.
Kurt sighed. Everything seemed to be so simple, so obvious to Brittany. Then again, maybe he was just over-complicating things. Sebastian was the clear choice, no other candidate even came close. And if Blaine happened to be Sebastian's submissive well, that was simply a happy coincidence, nothing more nothing less.
Before he could change his mind Kurt turned his attention to the piece of paper next to him; he had a formal document already drafted with just a space left for him to write the name of his chosen consort. Picking up a pen he took a deep breath, then in neat, precise writing added the name 'Sebastian Smythe'. With shaking fingers he folded the paper in on itself from either end, then slowly melted some wax over the crease, pressing his seal into the sticky substance just as it started to set.
There, decision made. No going back now.