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Prisoner of war
Slade bore the king’s crown upon his head with a patience he normally would not hold for such decorative trinkets during the weeks that followed the takeover of Gotham. It had been the single greatest military victory of his entire life. Slade had never gained so much nor lost so many in such a short span of time. Now a few weeks and thousands of lost lives after the fateful final stand, the kingdom was still reeling from the defeat of their army and the execution of King Bruce. It marked the end of one era and the start of a new and yet unknown one. It was almost being flippant to say that tensions were high between the citizens dealing with Slade's remaining troops confiscating homes and women for themselves amidst the spoils of a war they had won and the sovereign citizens scrambling to regain what semblance they could of safety and peace in their lives.
Slade was trying to speed up that process for them all, looking to speed up a more pacifying merger by way of his most recent and pressing decree, the decreed arrangement of a marriage set between Gotham’s oldest omega prince and his own alpha son, Grant. To take charge of the care and show such respect still to a prisoner of war would help to soothe the animosity and uncertainty of the people who looked up to the royal family still, and securing an heir that held both blood lines for the future throne would bode well for both his loyalists and Bruce’s.
There were still a few affairs to see to, however, and with the wedding set just a few nights from now there was no room for indirectness, so Slade had sent for the would-be bride to be brought to his rooms rather than go out of his way as he looked over a study that had been recently published on omegan behavior and biology.
‘Infertility is most often begotten by substandard omegas for a number of poor behaviors, including but not limited to a poor diet that would make them and their wombs too heavy or too thin. A healthy and well-shaped omega is always indication of a healthy and well-shaped womb. The omega is best to rely on diet restriction rather than exercise and exertion to maintain their health in this way. The less strain and movement a womb is put through the better for the seed inside to establish strong roots that a healthy child may grow from. Do not allow this process to be disrupted by indulging the silliness of omegan whims and wilds. Further, the best practice for child growth is first established in the climate of the womb itself. Do not allow that it should become too dry nor chilled. An overly dry womb is not ideal for conceiving nor carrying a strong sperm sample to birth, damp and warm is optimal for growth and is thought on average to favor the creation of alpha pups over omega ones.’
Slade was not pulled from his reading even when there was a firm rapping on the heavy wooden doors of the king's suites and Wintergreen’s voice drifted through to announce the arrival of he and the prince that had been sent for. "Prince Richard to answer your summons, Sir- Your Majesty."
“You may enter,” he permitted as he read a little further still. Slade only marked his place and turned from the study when he heard a curt ruffle of fabrics and a sharp hiss of "Let go of me" as the requested prince was somewhat forcefully pulled along inside of the suite by the older lieutenant now appointed to king’s steward.
The omega prince was flushed already, face and eyes both red as if he had been perhaps crying not so long before being brought to his new king. Tears were an improvement, however, despair a step closer to acceptance. The first time that Slade had set eye on him, right after the fall and capture of he and his younger siblings, the prince had been all spiting fire and a clawing scent of enraged distress choking up the air. It had been very unsettling and unbecoming for those unfamiliar with such raw and powerful emotions coming from an omega. For a battle-hardened conqueror like Slade and his men, the scent had been unable to daunt them from securing the family and claiming them as spoils of the war. With a few weeks time spent in the quiet solitude of guarded rooms, Prince Richard stood now with a more subdued understanding and resignation to the situation he and his family were now in tapering the edge of his fury towards their conquerors. His scowl was fixed into the lines of his flushed face, but he turned his eyes away in defeated deference when Slade’s met them.
Although filled with passions unbecoming of omegas, Slade held approval for the way the diminished fire inside caused the omega to glow even now in his difference. His beauty was undeniable, tanned skin and soft ebony tresses putting Slade in mind of caramel and chocolate deserts that were rare delicacies to come by. His blue eyes were half-hidden by dark thick lashes, but they shined in the candlelight with the leftover moisture of tears shed. His flush put Slade in mind of the only acceptable physical activity that an omega’s blood should be made to rush for, and though he knew it was not caused by such it was easy to envision the similarity as his eye followed that flush down the omega’s collar bones left exposed by the dipping cut of his garments. Slade didn't know who had tied a bow with silken blue ribbon around the prince’s throat to sit upon his mating gland like a gift-topper, be it himself or a hand-maiden seeking some semblance of propriety, but he appreciated the suggestion it conjured of being just that.
He could already imagine after the official wedding ceremony, when crowds and public rituals would give way to more intimate traditions between his son and this prince. As the king, he would remain one of the few left to observe the completion of the marriage, and could already envision how his son might leave such a bow in place even when all other dressings were long-removed, waiting to undo that until the last moment when he was atop the omega, rutting deep into his womb. It's what Slade would do, anyway, wait until that last moment before his knot engorged to slip that ribbon from Richard’s neck, allow the long tails of the silk to trail across his throat in a caress right before the sharp contrast of alpha teeth sunk into the omega gland located there that would awash his mate with his scent upon puncture.
Slade couldn't help but look ahead to that moment, to appreciate even second hand the gift that he was to bestow upon his son by way of this beautiful omega.
He was brought out of his own musings on this when Richard grew impatient enough to risk speaking first. "You can dismiss me if you've changed your mind... or call all this off if you are the least bit displeased with anything you see. I will hardly be offended."
Slade's chuckle was no more than a breath through his nose, and a small pull of his lip to expose one side of his alpha teeth to the prince.
Richard stilled at the sight, giving no overt reaction of nerves beyond his stillness and the tightening of his grip upon his dressings.
“You will greet his majesty with proper respect, your highness,” Wintergreen warned the omega with every ounce of decorum he held.
Dick’s jaw grit like an insult had almost escaped it. With both heads of the army that had succeeded in invading and overthrowing his kingdom, however, he had only a limited amount of patience he could dare to test. He gave a stilted and fully hesitant, “Long live the king,” between his still clenched teeth, the customary respect to be paid.
Slade certainly intended for it to serve him better than it had the previous king.
"Wintergreen, if you would give us a moment," Slade prompted.
Wintergreen nodded his head, and without a second glance to the young prince, slipped back out to leave him to Slade's care.
Richard’s stillness persisted, but the edge of anxiety and anger blossomed through his scent to now find himself alone with the new king and alpha that had bested, killed, and taken the crown from his father's freshly severed head.
"We are only a few short days away from your marriage to my son. A marriage that will allow you to still one day reign as queen over this kingdom. Do you feel prepared to do your duty to your people?" Slade prompted without hesitation, setting aside his reading and getting up to move steadily closer to he could still be heard clearly even as he quitted his voice between them.
The prince's frown hardened, but at the same time his eyes started to shine brighter from under those thick dark lashes with sincerity. The waves of his voluminous raven hair bounced a bit from the firmness of the nod of his head, as if agreeing to his final meal order being sufficient. Still, his voice was steadier than Slade had anticipated when he spoke back to him. "I understand my duty to my people and my family. I will do whatever I must to secure their safety and keep my kingdom free from tyranny. I shall not waver to my fear," he very nearly recited, as if it were a vow long memorized by him, one made long before Slade ever set his sight on these lands.
Slade gave a small nod of minor approval. "Very good. And my son, your future king, do you make such a pledge for him as well?"
Richard's whole face soured as if he would spit rather than answer, and it was almost comical to behold, but Slade was very serious in this matter. "Don't worry omega, there is not much you will have to do to fulfill your most sacred duties to my son. Everything you need to keep an alpha at peace you were born with. Your gift is that of your sex, and the creation it promises. Fulfilling that promise will be enough to secure the safety and fulfillment of your kingdom and marriage.”
Richard did not respond to that favorably, not that Slade expected him to. Indeed, his own lips curled back, and a low growl escaped him before he could cut it off, taking a sharp step away from the older man before him as his anger stole his better judgement; typical of emotional omegas. "Your son's fulfillment is hardly my concern," was his brush snap in response.
Slade held his control and his composure with ease by way of his rebuttal. "I beg to differ, for an omega such as yourself, it is going to matter a great deal to you. You’re best to tell me now if there's any cause to think he might not gain his fulfillment with what you have to offer him. Has your only gift ever been enjoyed by any other before him?"
The omega's already flushed face grew so red it nearly glowed, for anger or embarrassment it was impossible to tell. Perhaps a combination of the two. Again, emotional. This time when he spoke the anger was thickly present, and he stuttered around trying to bite it back down. "I- Sir I don't- That is assuredly none of your business! Were any other to dare before to ask me such scandals their only answer would have been in the flaying of their skin under a lash!” Richard bristled.
Slade did not retreat before that anger, not even flinching. Instead, he advanced, stealing ground from the prince as he backed him even further into the suite of his late father. The first few uncertain steps the prince took brought a glimpse of fear skittering across his defiant scowl just before Slade reached out and grabbed his insolent jaw in a punishing grip. Smaller hands snapped up to Slade's forearm in a further show of fear and an attempt to pull away, but the grip was too strong for that. The prince allowed a single wince to show just before Slade gave a shove and released him, allowing him to fall backwards freely.
There was only a single undignified yelp of a noise that escaped him as he fell, only to hit his back upon the king's bed rather than the hard stone floor beneath. Richard's blue eyes widened like he might have preferred the floor instead, scrambling right away to righten himself or roll off the side, but Slade was there, fitting himself between the skirted legs of the omega, chasing down scrambling hands to grab and force the omega's wrists together into one secure hold that he could press down upon his chest to pin him in place.
He almost swore he could feel the omega's heart hammering under the fist he held his wrists pinned in as he forced his hips closer against the prince’s own to further the pin and lessen his struggles against what must be done.
After all, it would be such a waste of time and efforts if it was discovered later after the ceremonies that the omega could not fulfil his duties to Grant for any reason.
"Be still," Slade ordered to deaf ears as the prince continued to squirm and fight against him uselessly, causing a friction that might have been delicious if Slade had been more in the mood for such things.
"Release me! Your majesty release me!" came the desperate pleading demand, which also fell on equally deaf ears as Slade started flipping up the layers of silk skirts and underskirts from Richard's legs to reveal deceptively strong and shapely thighs that likely could straddle and grip expertly even the most wayward stallions to keep him secure upon them. Slade could perhaps appreciate that knowledge later, either after the ceremony whilst observing the prince and his son's consummation or at least in his mind's eye during the duller rituals set to take place before that.
He was not set upon inspecting the omega's shapely thighs, however, despite their lust-worthy length and musculature. Instead, he pressed on insistently, the prince jerking under his touch as though he had just been struck by the hand of God when Slade pushed the last of the skirts up and palmed the mound of his sex and cock through the final silk layer of his stockings.
Richard choked on his gasp beneath that assault, and Slade felt himself harden just a bit as the coughs that brought forth caused the prince's cock to twitch under his hand, and then promptly start to half-stiffen between nerves and the possibly completely foreign touch upon his person.
"Your- your majesty! No!" he squeaked out. "Unhand me!"
Slade did not consider himself kind, he was a conqueror, and he had never shied from that instinct in the past, though he held himself half-back in this instance because there was of course that alpha part of him too that had its own definition of what it meant to conquer someone. He did, however, fail to hold back a bit of wry amusement for the omega's response as his lip quirked up at one edge. "Indeed, do you have preference for which hand should be removed at this current moment?” he teased, not about to remove either. “It is not my wish to subject my son’s soon to be bride to the extensive explorations of a row of physicians to answer questions I can simply seek confirmation for myself. Cooperate and you shall likely find me satisfied in painless short order with my findings."
Richard looked horrified by either option, desperate tears clinging to the edges of his eyes, but they did not turn from Slade for a moment as he struggled to regain even a modicum of his composure under the king's unrelenting hold and unmatchable strength.
Slade watched as a nervous pink tongue darted out quick-fast to try to wet his already bitten up bottom lip. "Can... can I plead that the agency of my hands be returned to me at least? If I- If I should cooperate as you say? You did ask me to choose which of your hands I'd rather have release me a moment ago. I doubt you would heed any other request but... can I ask you to give me back my hands?"
Slade had been mocking when he had said that, but he could appreciate the attempt of the prince to bargain when he had absolutely nothing to do so with. It was almost endearing in the strange way that a child might offer a rock they favor in exchange for something of actual worth. What could Slade lose to humor him when he far outclassed him in physical size, strength, and rights given by rank over him? Nothing. And he would have some meager showing of good faith between them if he acquiesced.
Slowly, deliberately slowly, he released his hold of Richard's wrists, waiting as the omega dared not move them from his chest right away. "Think of it as an early wedding gift that I should give you back freedom to just your hands then," was Slade's finally mockery as those trapped single tears escaped down the backs of Richard's eyes to trail back into the dark forest of those tresses that begged to be gripped and pulled and stroke and cherished with their natural softness. Still Prince Richard did not move, and Slade merely kept their hips pinned together now, able to regain the prince’s hands again in a second if he tried any further resistance. Unchallenged, Slade turned his attention back to the silk stretching over Richard’s cock and dampening beneath that with the slick from him omega sex.
Hesitating didn't even really occur to him as he pulled down the silk band of those delicate stockings.
A most pleasing sight, the younger man's cock was quickly stiffening upon newfound freedom and the ghost of air over it in place of the heat of the stockings. His racing blood from nervous fright plumping it up nicely under Slade's intense single gaze to the point the skin turned rosy and flushed just as much as his face had prior. At his hips a neatly kept thatch of more dark hair framed the base and the opening of his omega hood, folds shining with slick already in more evidence of a nervous arousal.
So far so good then, everything his son could work with, with no obvious obstacles that might give reason to think a pregnancy couldn't be achieved through time and effort on Grant's part. Slick and well-formed from the outside appearances, Slade was half-assured. Slade could feel the heat coming off of him even before his fingertips came into direct contact with those soft slick folds, parting them easily due to the nature of the omega's natural lubrication. Indeed a gift of nature for otherwise largely inferior omegas.
Richard whined in trepidation beneath him, and Slade glanced up long enough to see those hands reach up to grip nervously at his own curls instead as he pressed his eyes closed tight and turned his head away like he wanted only to escape this.
"You've never been touched here before, correct?" Slade pressed.
Richard shook his head, eyes remaining closed through his own response to such a prying question.
Slade felt something deep in him flare in primal interest at that knowledge, intentions awakening deep inside that would ultimately not come to fruition. This would still be a gift for his son to appreciate the full experience of. The claiming of an pure omega was a gift worthy for a king, or a future one on this day at least.
Slade was very careful in further inspecting and probing around the limited opening that Richard could provide at present, intact as he was and so very tense with trepidation. It didn't stop his omega cock from stiffening further, however, or his slit from growing slicker with each brush and light probe of Slade's fingers exploring and testing through those folds. Once they were slick enough for Slade's satisfaction, he gave in enough to his own instincts to bring them to his lips for a first hand sample of scent and taste. It was indeed pleasing, heady and grounding at once and a satisfied alpha rumble escaping him strong enough to vibrate down through his large body with almost the same force as a growl.
It elicited a responding tremble in the omega that passed back through him in turn where his legs rested at either side of the king. Richard's started to squirm once more as more tears slipped back from his eyes, most likely unconscious attempts on the omega's part to turn over and to present himself to the alpha causing him to slicken up so nicely. His arousal was undeniable even if it was outside of his control. Slade wanted to pin him down in place for a little longer, to lean down and go straight to the source to touch and taste and savor that distinct taste until it coated his lips and chin and sat thick on the back of his tongue. He could savor and recall it all through the ceremony to come. Then after the wedding he could remember the taste and scent with every breath he took as Grant saw to his own duty to fill the air with the scent of the official deflowering of his new mate.
At the same time... it would take nothing right now to coax Richard to do exactly what his body instinctively wanted to do, to roll him over and tuck him into a kneel upon the bed that had once been his father's own. Slade could mount him easily, take the full first experience of the omega for himself. Grant was young yet, and would surely still find appreciation enough in the just sole experience of mating an omega, used or not. Keeping Richard pure before then was a gift that Slade didn't strictly have to be so generous to give. He was the king, and a prisoner of war was his to give or take in kind as he saw fit, really.
Clearly he could see it in his mind’s eye, his own cock stiffening in his trousers, at the vision of himself lining up behind the omega, of mounting him, pressing in and carving out his own fit within the younger man's naturally welcoming body, of his knot burying deep and eventually expanding, catching as Richard cried out and wept beneath him in overstimulation. Would it matter? Still being of his own family line if seed should be planted... be it from him or his son, it wouldn’t even matter which produced an heir when it was the same blood either way, the same family ties.
Slade started to actually do it, to allow his own iron control of himself to slip just a little more to grip Richard's hips and forcefully guide him over onto his stomach. Richard hardly fought it, though his breath hitched and he trembled and shuddered once more. “No, please,” came a final soft plead from against the sheet he now turned his face against.
Slade's admiration of Richard’s form was renewed needlessly but strongly as he considered the omega from behind. His strong legs merged seamlessly up into a glorious and pert set of butt cheeks that also begged to be gripped and maybe smacked upon or parted so that other areas could be explored by his tongue that would positively make the young omega's toes curl with the scandal of it against the sheets. Slade hardly even registered he had let go of Richard’s hip to start undoing the ties of his breeches when-
Tap tap tap
The sound of Wintergreen rapping once more upon the suite door had Slade freezing like he had just been caught. He was king, and could do as he wished, so that was absurd. However, he allowed his hands to fall away from both his own ties and the curve of the omega’s hip. This was not for him.
He reminded himself of this belatedly with Wintergreen’s distraction. Prince Richard would be for his son’s enjoyment alone. Slade cleared his throat self reproachfully before answering back to the door and his awaiting steward, Richard remaining frozen against the mattress in his own shame and fear. “Yes, Wintergreen?”
“Just wishing to know if the prince shall need an escort back to his rooms yet tonight.”
Slade ignored the prince’s flinch when he grabbed the skirts once more, pulling them down to cover him once more without even bothering to righten the stockings before he pulled himself away fully. Grant would truly never know how much Slade self-sacrificed for his sake. “You may come retrieve the prince. He’s passed inspection.”
X
The wedding was a tense series of ceremonies that everyone shuffled through in more or less a daze of decorum and wishing to see it finished with. None more so than Prince Richard, who looked miles away through the entire day and didn’t even flinch when Grant took him by the shoulders and turned him at the officiant’s request for a kiss. Richard might as well have been an apparition for no more than it seemed to touch him wherever he was safely locked away in the protections of his own mind. Upon declaration from the officiant that their union was as official as he could make it, the rest up to the final act so to speak, it was like a shiver of relief and resignation swept through the entire congregation.
While Slade openly admired the omega prince throughout the ceremonies and the celebration that followed, looking perfect and beautiful despite seeming haunted in his detachment, he only had a brief chance to speak to him directly. Slade congratulated the prince for carrying out his duty to this point with only grace, knowing that it was sure to all fall away beautifully once his deflowerment began. Slade kept his anticipation for it to himself.
His only response from the prince had been a sincereness in his voice that didn’t at all match the detachment upon his face as he reiterated. "I understand my duty to my people and my family. I will do whatever I must to secure their safety and keep my kingdom free from tyranny. I shall not waver to my fear tonight.”
Slade had spared him from an outright laugh, but a wry smirk that said he knew otherwise was immanent pulled his lip into a smirk before he took a sip from his goblet and moved on to congratulate his son and offer him some last words of wisdom on how to best push such a frail creature through an event that was sure to be more than their mind could grasp.
X
Red.
That was the beginning and end of Slade’s understanding, of his comprehension.
Then the scent hit him, so familiar it was like a memory a child would carry of a homecooked meal. It brought the realization with it of what that red was.
Blood. Red was blood.
Blood was expected. On a virgin’s wedding night, blood was normal.
But his mind wasn’t grasping why this was so wrong, so abnormal. The blood was wrong.
The blood was on his son.
There were screams and panic and the blood was on his son.
Things had been going so well, Grant had had the omega on the marriage bed. Slade, Wintergreen and the officiant had all been present to see. They had watched and commented and smirked knowingly between themselves as Grant had started to force the omega into a pin. There had been no tears, the omega turned down easily enough for the alpha. Grant had positioned himself behind the omega. Everything as it should be.
Except now everything was wrong.
Prince Richard had pulled something from the bodice of his wedding gown when he had been turned away and Grant had moved in close behind him. There had been a sudden twist of his body back towards the alpha, a flash of silver, and then red. So much red. Red was blood. Blood was spreading still from the gaping wound across the neck of Slade’s son as he lay still where he had fallen back upon the bed.
Slade’s every instinct was slowly moving from shock and static towards actual thoughts and emotions that would be beyond his control or grasp.
But in the moment before all that, his gaze was only locked with Richard’s who still held the dagger stained with Grant’s blood in hand with an expression on his face that was unreadable, but present enough as he regarded Slade at length.
There was shouting around them, Slade heard it like it was underwater. But he heard Prince Richard clear as a bell when he spoke as Slade's son and heir gasped his last breath between them.
“Long live the king.”