The Lost Prince and The Demon King [BL]

"No," Perry said. "No. I won't do it." He shifted his gaze from the Queen to Long Beard. Logically, he knew they weren't giving him a choice, but he would still refuse.

"I do not expect you to understand my reasoning." The Queen wiped more tears with her silver handkerchief. 

"It kind of sounds like you do," Perry shot back. 

"Allow me to at least explain why, then you may make your decision." The Queen stared at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes. 

Decision. Right. As if Perry would fall for that. But the longer he kept her talking, the more time he would have to try and figure out a way out of this mess. He just didn't expect the beginning of her explanation to knock all the air from his lungs.

"You are my son." The Queen's gaze didn't waver as he stared at her, shocked speechless. "My second son, to be precise. You were born but a handful of moments after your brother."

Perry tried to rally his brain, to string together words that made sense. All he managed was silence. 

"Before you were born, I vowed to ever only have one son. I did not expect you, all the physicians who examined me like overbearing mother hens said I would have but one child. But after your brother… there you were." Her voice wavered on the last words and she cleared her throat before she continued. "And the moment I saw you, I knew I could not keep you."

Unexpected pain made Perry take a step back, as if putting physical distance between himself and the impeccably dressed woman would somehow make her words less sharp. Maybe, if he was far enough away, they wouldn't slice his heart to bloody ribbons. 

"My marriage was one of convenience, but that did not mean I did not love my King. I love him so much that I did all that I could to secure an heir. The Steward his father placed in the Western Capital grew in power and influence and on the eve of my wedding our kingdom was on the verge of going to war with itself." The Queen placed one hand on her stomach and inhaled deeply. "We did everything we could to prevent it. Months of stalling, negotiating, and grovelling to a man with a wrong sense of his own importance."

"The King or the Steward?" Perry asked dryly. 

The Queen's eyes sharpened. "I knew that the only thing that would ensure peace was an heir. If our bloodline was secure, we would have a better grasp on the Central Lords and the Clan Leaders. I did my best, did my duty, but I was unable to conceive."

"You know, oversharing isn't always healthy." Perry crossed his arms over his chest. It didn't escape his notice that he'd only found his voice to poke jabs at the woman who claimed to be his mother. 

He felt a pang in the pit of his stomach at that thought, but he filed it away for later. He didn't have time to examine it right then and there. 

Long Beard glared at Perry. "You will respect your Queen."

"Where I come from, queens sell out stadiums and make people sing their problems away." Perry pressed a hand to his chest and gave Long Beard his most earnest expression. "You need to really experience it to understand."

"You are in no position to—"

"He is," the Queen interrupted Long Beard. "As of today, he is your future King."

Perry's stomach bottomed out. "No, I'm not. I have zero interest in being anyone's king. I have zero interest in occupying any position of power. Less than zero, I have negative interest in all of this." Perry gestured to the blood stain, the Queen, and then Long Beard. 

"Your personal desires and ambitions do not change the fact that your are my son and now the single heir to this kingdom." The Queen lifted her chin, the thin elegant crown she wore on her head shimmering in the low light of the room. 

He had her eyes. Perry hadn't stopped to really look at her before now, but the resemblance was undeniable. Her hair was lighter than his, but from the shape to the color, his eyes were almost exactly like hers. 

It was a little unsettling. 

"And yet, you discarded me like yesterday's trash. Let me guess, you didn't want me and my brother dearest to fight for the crown?" Perry asked.

"No, you would not have needed to fight for anything. Keeping you would only benefit us since the Steward would have been forced to step down and relinquish his title for you." The Queen's gaze trailed back to the bloodstain. "I sent you away because I could not bear the thought of watching you turn into an abomination."

The Queen's voice was soft but her words felt like a punch to the stomach. And just when Perry thought nothing else could surprise him. 

"Unable to produce an heir, I turned to alternative methods." The Queen swallowed and circled the stain, as if examining it from a different angle might change anything.

"And by alternative, you mean…" Perry trailed off. 

"I made a bargain." The Queen's voice was hoarse and she covered her face as if embarrassed. "I called for all the physicians in the kingdom and took more tonics than I care to remember. None of it worked, so I turned to faith. I spared no expense in offerings to gods, saints, and all the heavenly deities. I begged for a son, begged. But none of them answered."

Perry didn't have any experience with magic — or gods, saints, or deities, for that matter —, but he thought he knew where this story was going. 

"Maybe that was a hint for you," Perry said.

"There is a temple, past our southern borders and in the middle of the desert," the Queen said, ignoring Perry. "It is difficult to reach and most people believe it to be mere rumor. But I was desperate enough to try. So I gathered my loyal servants and I made the trip to that barren stretch of land filled with sand and silence. And I found the temple. At first, we thought it was abandoned and all of my servants advised me to return to the capital. But we had already traveled so far, how could I simply turn back without even trying?" She shook her head. "I thought I would have to wait a long time, but as soon as the sun set, I saw her."

The image of the woman who'd approached him at Lucky Fries flashed through Perry's mind. It couldn't be the same person, could it? Given everything, Perry wouldn't rule that out. 

"I was alone in the temple and when she spoke… she knew things that I had never told anyone. Impossible secrets I did not have the courage to confess to myself." The Queen let out a choked sob. "And she offered me a bargain. 'I will give you sons', she said. 'You may keep the first, but the second is mine'."

Perry blinked. Blinked again. "And you… accepted?"

Perry needed to throw whatever he thought was true out the window. And he should come to terms with the fact that everything in this world would surprise him. 

"I was desperate," the Queen rasped out. "And she wanted my second son. I needed one heir, a single heir. After that, I vowed I would never again have another."

Perry scoffed. Then he chuckled. Then he laughed. "And you ended up with twins!"

"Sending you away was a kindness. I could not bear the thought of you being twisted and turned into something unnatural," the Queen snapped. 

"Oh, please. Spare me." Perry let out one last chuckle then sobbered up. "Everything you did was for your own benefit. Because that's how people are. Plus, how do you know that's what would have happened?"

Long Beard shifted. "What lurks in that temple is not of this world, do you understand what that means?"

"No! Of course I don't. I'm not of this world, whatever that means." Perry resisted the urge to pace because Long Beard might think he was trying to escape and out him under his control again. 

"You are of this world," Long Beard said. "You were displaced, but you were born here, in this very Palace."

It was too much for Perry to process. He raked his hands through his hair and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. 

"Stop, I don't want to hear anymore." Perry moved further away from the other two. "I don't care about your reasons or what you tell yourselves so you can sleep at night. I don't care. I'm not going along with this insane plan of yours."

"Do this," Long Beard said after a pause. "And I will send you home."