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Bound, Bonded and Betrayed	By : Deb Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 13359 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 38
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"Bound, Bonded and Betrayed"

Chapter 38
Quatre sat with Duo for some time, quietly offering comfort to the troubled slave and doing his best to try and boost the other slave's confidence. They talked a little more, Quatre repeating some of the conversation he'd heard between his own master and Prince Heero, Duo taking some measure of reassurance from what Quatre recited.
As Duo relaxed a little more, he couldn't help but voice his concern for his well being now that the princess had caught him with his master in a compromising position. “Even if my master insists that I stay, I just know that maid will do something to get me into trouble,” he said sadly.
“Then we will just have to be more vigilant,” Quatre replied. “So far by staying together whenever you're not required by your master we've managed to thwart anything she's tried to do. We just need to continue to do that, only now we need to be aware that she's really going to be out to try and get to you and make sure she doesn't get that opportunity.”
“It's not going to be easy,” Duo replied.
“I know, but I'm sure we can do it.”
“Thank you, Quatre.”
A soft knock to the door brought them from their thoughts, Quatre answering the knock to be informed by another slave that they were both wanted by their respective masters.
*
Duo hurried along the hall towards the bathing chamber, he'd been summoned by his master to prepare his bath and he didn't want to keep his master waiting. He passed through the smaller halls, ones usually only used by the slaves as he really didn't want to run into the princess or her maid whilst he was still feeling so raw and vulnerable. Reaching the royal bathing chamber he gave a sigh of relief when he found it empty. Quickly he set about preparing the bath, sealing the bottom and letting the warm water flow in. With the tub filling, he fetched his master's jars and sat them on the edge. Drying cloths were laid out and Duo checked the depth and temperature of the water. Happy with the results, he turned the water off and knelt by the edge of the tub to wait for his master.
Only a few moments passed before Duo could hear the unmistakable sounds of his master's boots on the floor, those sounds getting louder as the prince approached. The door opened and Prince Heero strode into the chamber.
“Ah, Duo,” he said when he spotted his slave by the edge of the tub.
“Master, your bath is... Master?! Are you alright? What happened?” Duo had begun to raise his eyes as he spoke and when he saw his master he completely forgot his position and spoke freely.
A wry smile crossed Heero's face as he observed the concern his slave showed for him. “Yes, Duo, I'm okay,” he replied. Seeing that his words hadn't done much to reassure the slave that he was fine, Heero thought it better to explain a little. “I was sparring with Wufei. I needed to work off some of the anger and it seemed the perfect way to do so. I think we got a little carried away though.”
Duo gave a sigh of relief. For a moment there he wasn't too sure what had happened, if the princess had maybe vented her anger on his master. There were several bruises starting to appear on the prince's arms along with a darkening on his cheek. “Shall I fetch the healer for you, master?”
“No, there's no need for that right now. I just wish to take a bath and clean up.” Seeing the disapproving look on Duo's face, Heero almost chuckled. Trust his slave to be the one concerned for his well being and not his wife – although the princess hadn't seen his battered form yet. “I will pay a visit to the healer after I have bathed,” he consented, more to appease Duo than himself.
“I think it would be best, master,” Duo replied and getting to his feet, he began to undress the prince.
Relaxing into the warm water, Heero sighed as it seeped into his bones and eased away a lot of the tension and soreness from his body. When Duo began to gently wash him, he felt almost boneless with the care and concern his slave showed. “Thank you, Duo,” he murmured once Duo had finished. “I think I will relax here for a little while. Come join me.”
Placing the wet cloth to the side, Duo moved to his master's side and found himself swept into a warm embrace. A gentle kiss was pressed to the top of his head and Duo allowed himself to enjoy the warmth and security of his master's arms.
They remained together until the water started to cool and only then did Heero decide it was time to move.”Come, Duo. I have lingered for longer than I should. There is dinner to be had and then I need to discuss our coming trips out into the kingdom with my brother and father.”
“Yes, master,” Duo replied and climbed out of the tub to fetch the drying cloths.
Once his master was dry and dressed back in his earlier clothes as neither man had brought a fresh set of clothing with them, (Duo had been summoned direct to the bathing chamber and Heero hadn't thought about a clothing change) Duo quickly dried himself off and redressed. He tidied up the bathing chamber, a little concerned that his master was still there and hadn't returned to his quarters. “I'm finished, master,” he said and dropped to his knees.
“Good. Come, we will return to my chambers and see if the princess has eaten already or has waited for me.” Words said, Heero turned and left the chamber. Duo fell into step just behind his master, a little apprehensive of being around the princess.
*
The princess was sitting by the fire when Heero returned, her maid alongside her. She looked up and couldn't hide the scowl when she spotted Duo behind her husband.
“Have you eaten yet?” Heero asked his wife as he proceeded through the sitting area and into the bed chamber, Duo close behind him.
Duo hadn't missed the scowl, or the sneer on the maid's lips when he'd followed his master into the chambers and despite his master's assurances that he had no intention of getting rid of him, it still sent chills down his spine.
“No, I have not,” Relena replied, a little short.
In the bed chamber, Duo assisted his master to quickly change into fresh clothes and followed him back out to the sitting area.
“I'll send Duo to fetch dinner from the kitchens, your maid can assist in the task,” Heero stated and took a seat opposite his wife, nodding to Duo and Dorothy to fetch their dinner.
Although Duo wasn't happy with having Dorothy with him, he wouldn't disobey an order from his master and quickly left to fulfill the task.
With the two slaves fetching their dinner, Relena turned to look at Heero and noticed the darkening bruise on his cheek. She frowned. “What happened to your face?”
“I was sparring with Wufei,” Heero replied.
“Why would you want to do that? Surely you have no need to go rough housing with the guards or need fighting skills; after all, the guard is there to protect you.”
“It is in my best interests to be able to protect myself. One never knows if someone wants to attack them and the guard can't always be there to protect me. It's common sense to be able to look out for myself.”
“I still think it's barbaric and besides, that guard who caused that damage to you should be on report,” Relena sniffed.
“Wufei has done nothing wrong. He is a very good teacher and it was my own fault I was injured.” Heero was beginning to get tired of the conversation and decided to change the subject, although he knew he was probably going to get another tirade from his wife.
“I will be meeting with my father and brother after dinner. It is tax time and we will be needed to travel out into the kingdom to visit many of the holdings and set the taxes for next year.”
He was right, the princess wasn't at all happy with that news.
“What about me?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Heero replied.
“I don't have all that much longer to go before this child is born. You should be here with me, not out gallivanting around the countryside.”
“Relena, you still have another three months at least before the child is due to be born. I have to ride out to several of the holdings, it's a part of my duties as prince. I cannot expect my brother to take on more of my duties, he has enough of his own to deal with,” Heero replied in a patient voice.
“Surely your subjects will understand if you don't go and I'm certain Trowa wouldn't mind given the circumstances,” Relena complained.
Heero sighed, he was well and truly over these arguments by now. “I would suggest you get used to the idea of me being away at times. As crown prince it is expected of me to carry out certain duties, some of which entail being away from the castle at times. I would not be a worthy king if I don't look after my kingdom and the people in it. I thought you would have understood all this considering your own kingdom.” Heero couldn't help the touch of sharpness to his tone. After all, the princess came from a respected kingdom and most kingdoms were run in a similar fashion.
“My brother has duties, yes,” Relena began, “but he wasn't away from the castle much at all. We had advisers that did most of that sort of thing.”
“And what of you? Didn't you have duties to carry out?” Heero replied, a little frustrated that it seemed he wasn't getting through to his wife.
“Of course I did. As a princess it was my job to oversee the arrangements for the banquets and balls. Sometimes I would travel out to open a new building or christen a ship.”
Well that figures, Heero thought to himself. “Well here it is expected of the king and the rest of the royal family to shoulder certain responsibilities and carry out several duties. As I am the crown prince there are many things that I am required to do and being away from the castle at times is a part of that. You still have a while to go before the child is due and I will be based back here at the castle when that time is drawing close. In the meantime, if I am to be present for the birth of my child then I need to make sure that all my away duties are completed so I can remain here with you.”
Whilst Relena didn't like it, she really couldn't protest the logic that her husband had presented her with. She decided to leave the subject alone for now, she could work on Heero a little more in a couple of days.
Duo and Dorothy returned then with their respective trays of dinner for the prince and princess and further discussion was kept to more mundane things.
To be honest, Heero was a little surprised that his wife hadn't tried to bring up the topic of Duo and their earlier confrontation, but he didn't dwell on it, relieved that the princess seemed to have accepted that he wasn't about to get rid of Duo and had decided to leave the topic completely alone. He wasn't aware of the conniving that had gone on behind his back between the princess and her maid.
Duo sat quietly at his master's side and doing his best to ignore the maid and the princess. He was still fearful of them both and wanted to attract as little attention to himself as possible. The walk to the kitchens had been made in silence, Duo reluctant to speak at all and for some reason the maid kept her mouth shut too. That had Duo a little puzzled as the maid was usually on his case every chance she got and he was fully expecting her to give him a verbal lashing.
He didn't know which unnerved him more, the verbal abuse or the complete silence.
He listened with half an ear as the prince and princess discussed everyday, boring things, obediently opening his mouth for the food that his master passed down to him. It wasn't long before the food was gone and Heero stood up.
“If you will excuse me, I need to speak with my father and my brother now in relation to the taxes,” Heero informed his wife.
“How long will you be?” Relena questioned.
“I'm not sure. I will return once our business is concluded, but it would be best if you didn't wait up for me as I could be quite late,” Heero replied and turned to his slave. “Duo, you will accompany me.”
Relena's eyes narrowed. “What about the dishes?”
“I'm sure your maid can handle them, I need Duo with me as he will be required to accompany myself and my brother when we ride out and he needs to be informed of his duties whilst we're away.”
“I don't see why he has to go,” Relena all but sneered.
“Duo will accompany me as he is of great assistance to me when riding out,” Heero stated, a little annoyed that his wife would question him yet again. Hadn't he already had this type of conversation with her before? Why couldn't she just accept his word and leave things alone?
The princess huffed, Heero saw his chance to escape and latched on.
“I will return later,” he repeated and before the princess could say anything else, Heero turned on his heel and quickly left the chambers. Duo scrambled to his feet and all but ran after his master.
Once he was out in the castle hall, Heero slowed his pace and gave a loud sigh. ”Why does she have to be so difficult?” he muttered.
Unsure if the prince was talking to him or not, Duo wisely kept silent and followed along.
*
Once the prince had left the chambers, Dorothy got up from the floor and sat next to her mistress. “Are you alright, mistress?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, Dorothy,” Relena replied although her attention seemed to be elsewhere.
Noticing the distracted air about her mistress, Dorothy frowned. “What's wrong? You're distracted, mistress.”
“I'm just thinking, Dorothy.” Relena turned to face her maid. “If Heero is going off around the countryside for days at a time and planning to take that gutter trash with him, how are we going to put my plan into action?”
“Good point,” Dorothy muttered.
The two women fell silent, each one turning over the prince's information in relation to his riding out and trying to find a way to implement their plan. Then Dorothy gave a smile.
“Mistress, I'm sure the prince won't be taking that slave with him every time he rides out. If you remember back to when the prince was busy with the harvests and visiting the many holdings there were several times he went without that slave.” Dorothy waited a moment for her words to start to sink in.
“Yes, I remember that; but he only went on day trips without the slave,” Relena replied with a frown as she did her best to remember.
“Yes, he did do several day trips without the gutter rat, but there were a few trips that involved a few days away that he didn't take the rat with him either.”
“That's right,” Relena said, a smile starting to tilt her mouth only to disappear again within seconds. “But that might have been because that slave couldn't ride. He's been taking lessons from that other slave and I assume he's a much more accomplished rider now, and that means he will travel out with Heero more.” Relena sighed. “For this plan to work we need to know that Heero is going to be away for at least a couple of days and leaving that snipe behind.”
“I know,” Dorothy replied. “I have a feeling though that the prince won't always be taking him along. There are still things to be done here and if it does look like he's planning on taking him on every trip, I'm sure we can fake something to make him leave the mouse behind.”
“I suppose so,” Relena said. “I guess it wouldn't be too hard to get that thing to slip up and have Heero punish him by leaving him behind.”
“You leave it all to me, mistress. If the prince isn't going to leave the mouse here then I'll come up with something to ensure that the rat has to stay behind.”
* * *
When Heero arrived at the King's sitting room, his brother was already there, Quatre at his side.
“Ah, Heero,” the king greeted.
“Sorry I'm late,” Heero apologized.
“No, you're not late at all,” the king said with a smile to his eldest son. “Trowa has only just gotten here and he was early. Come, sit and let's get started.”
Heero made his way to the other chair that sat to the side of his brother and not quite opposite his father, Duo followed along behind and once his master was seated he dropped to his knees beside the chair.
The king and his son's went over the paperwork from the previous year, sorting through the yields, sales of livestock and other income and expenditure for the various holdings within the kingdom. The results were compared with the current year to give a clear view of how the kingdom was progressing.
Everything was pointing towards a very prosperous year for the kingdom and its subjects. The harvests were up, a bumper fruit crop and the livestock had increased by twenty-five percent on the previous year. Trade with neighboring kingdoms was also on the rise and whilst this was all pointing in the positive direction, the king and his sons were well aware that the following years may not prove as fruitful.
As with all kingdoms and their subjects, they were all bound and dependent on Mother Nature. And she could be fickle in her ways. A shortage of rain followed by baking sun could see the crops wither and die. Likewise if there were too much rain then crops could be easily swamped and either rot in the ground or wash away completely.
King Treize was wise in his ruling and aside from receiving produce from the farm holdings that belonged to the castle itself for the castle's use, he also bought a fair amount of grain for storage from other holdings within the kingdom, ensuring that regardless of what happened with Mother Nature, his subjects would not go hungry and they would have seed for future use.
“What have the advisers got to say in regards to the next harvest season?” Heero asked as he looked over the figures.
“They are predicting we will have fair weather which will result in another good year, one equal to or better than this year,” the king replied.
“Then I would suggest we leave the taxes for this year at their current rate but advise the subjects that there will be an increase in taxes for next year of around two percent should the season result be the same or better than the current one. What do you think, Trowa?”
Having studied the facts and figures and being a lot more familiar with the royal granary and the produce side of things in the kingdom than his brother was as that was Trowa's role, the younger prince thought for a moment before replying. “I think that would be a fair call. The granary is well stocked and the royal holdings are doing very well. A small rise in taxes next year shouldn't cause any hardship. Actually, given how our trade is also up, a lot more of our subjects are living more comfortably now.”
“Then that is what we will do,” stated the king. “I will send messengers out to the larger villages to inform them of the tax rates and the future changes within the week. Are you both able to ride out to the other holdings and inform them of the changes and collect the taxes?”
“Yes, father,” both princes replied.
“Good. I would suggest we make arrangements for you to start in three days time. There are quite a few holdings to be covered and I know your wife will want you home here before the birth of your heir, Heero.”
“That would be appreciated, father,” Heero said in a neutral tone. His father wasn't aware of any of the issues Heero had been dealing with in regards to the princess and Heero didn't want to burden his father with them either. He would deal with them by himself. Besides, how could he be expected to successfully run a kingdom if he couldn't keep harmony in his private life?
“Then if there is nothing else I suggest you both retire for the evening and begin your preparations tomorrow. There is a lot to be arranged and not much time to do it all in. Good eve, my sons.”
Both prince's bade their father good evening and left the sitting room to return to their respective quarters, Quatre and Duo followed along behind.
Duo was hoping his master would take him along, a few days away from the castle, the princess and the evil maid sounded like heaven to him. Beside him Quatre was mulling things over in his own head. He was pretty sure that both Duo and himself would be required to ride out with their masters if the princes followed a similar routine to previous years.
“How long do you think it will take to cover all the holdings?” Heero asked his brother as they walked.
“We should be through them all within three weeks. I'd suggest we ride out as we have in previous years. Cover the kingdom in sections, that way we can visit several holdings in one area over a few days, return to the castle for a day to refresh and then head out again,” Trowa replied.
Heero nodded. “It sounds like the best thing to do. May I suggest that we meet in the morn and plan out the different areas, figure out how long we will need to cover each one and map it all out for the maximum coverage in the shortest time possible? There are a few new holdings since last year that we will need to add in.”
“That is an excellent idea, Heero,” Trowa affirmed. “Shall I meet you in the war room after breakfast?”
At the words 'war room', Duo's eyes widened a touch and he looked to Quatre. “War room?” he whispered.
Quatre smiled and gave a quiet chuckle. “That's what our masters nicknamed the meeting room. It has a large map of the kingdom along with several smaller maps of all the areas within the kingdom. It's where all the records are kept and where all the planning for the kingdom's infrastructure and the like is done.”
“Ah,” Duo whispered back, relieved that the name wasn't literal in the sense of going to war. His mind shifted gears and he began to wonder once more if his master would take him along with him.
“I will see you on the morrow, brother.”
The words broke through Duo's thoughts and he suddenly realized that they had arrived at Prince Trowa's chambers. Realizing he was becoming distracted by his mind wanderings, he did his best to bring his thoughts back to the here and now.
“Sleep well,” Heero replied and continued along the hall towards his own chambers. “Come, Duo. I have to inform my wife of the arrangements and when I will be leaving.”
“Yes master.” Duo followed along obediently, although he really wished he could be somewhere else when his master spoke with the princess. He had a strong feeling that the princess would be very upset with the confirmation of the news she was opposed to.
Duo didn't envy his master that task at all.
~ * ~
tbc...
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Bound, Bonded and Betrayed