Two handlers enter the room to prepare Damen to be presented to the Prince of Vere, and Damen realizes that no one in Vere knows his true identity. Having killed the former Veretian heir in battle 6 years previously, Damen knows he is in grave danger. By the architecture, he recognizes that he is in Vere. Damen is locked into the golden collar and wrist cuffs of a slave.Īfter a period of fruitless escape attempts, a heavily drugged Damen awakens from sleep to realize he has been transported by ship and is no longer in Akielos. Jokaste (Damen's former lover, now Kastor's lover) explains that Kastor has betrayed him and is shipping him off to the foreign enemy land of Vere to serve as a palace slave. In a series of flashbacks, Damen recalls soldiers barging into his palace rooms to arrest him, explaining that his father, King Theomedes, is dead, and that Kastor has declared himself King.Īgainst his will, Damen is jailed and bathed in the slave baths. It is soon revealed to the reader that 'Damen' the slave is actually Damianos of Akielos, the prince and rightful heir to the Akielon throne, who has been betrayed by his bastard half-brother Kastor and has been sold into slavery under a fake identity to humiliate him. Jokaste remarks to Guion that the King would be pleased if they were to call the slave 'Damen'. Jokaste (an Akielon courtesan) and Adrastus (the Royal Slave Keeper) introduce a muscled and physically imposing man (who is heavily bound and restrained) to Guion - as a personal gift to the Prince of Vere. SECTION WARNING: This section is excessively detailed.Ĭouncillor Guion of Vere is in the Kingdom of Akielos, receiving twenty-four slaves as gifts from the Akielon King to the Regent of Vere. SPOILER WARNING: This section has important plot information.

Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.įor Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.īeautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos.

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat