Blaine pressed fingers against each of his temples and rubbed them in, trying to alleviate the ache growing in his head.

"This is unacceptable! I will not accept an Anderson in a position of leadership in Westerville. What am I supposed to tell my daughter when she asks what the difference is between this curly haired Anderson and the last one?!" Noblewoman Sue Sylvester spoke over voice over other nobles. The only female member of the nobility and the one with the biggest voice.

Kurt snapped back, "He is not the same! His father left him behind for a reason! They do not share the same views!' He stood beside Blaine's chair at the table where he and the most prominent of the nobility were meeting to discuss the same situation for the umteenth time. The transition of leadership to Blaine.

"This is absolutely ridiculous porcelain boy! I demand to speak to your father!" Sue snarled and pointed back at Kurt.

"He will be back on duty tomorrow. Until then you are stuck with me, and may I also remind you that once the threat of Elias Anderson's army is dealt with, it will be Blaine in charge. We will be gone." Kurt's hands were balled into firsts and Blaine knew he had let Kurt fight for him for too long now and spoke up.

"What am I supposed to do to prove to you that I'm worthy of taking over the throne and caring for the citizens of Westerville?"

Different ideas were shouted in the room. Did the nobility have any sense of volume control?

"Kill yourself!"

"Marriage alliance!"

"Kill your father!"

Blaine narrowed his brows and looked down the table, slamming a fist on the table, "Enough!"

It was the first time he had raised his own voice in one of these meetings and the stunned silence that it resulted in was exactly what he wanted.
"I will not be killing myself - that would leave you with no one. I wasn't born for the throne, I'm not the first born, but since none of you will rise to the occasion, I am your best bet. A marriage alliance is out of the question. I will not have the interests of another nation weighing us down when we need to focus on restoring our own people to prosperity. And don't you think I would deal with my father if he had the balls to show himself?"

His rant was met with more silence and the nobles looking between each other, having silent conversations until Sue Sylvester spoke again, though to her credit, a lot more calmly this time.

"I will be petitioning Marshal Hummel tomorrow. We have collected a fund between all of us to keep his army here. We want him to remain in charge."

Blaine sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Fine. We will discuss this tomorrow since we're, once again, not going to find any resolution today."

The nobles left in rapid succession, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone in the meeting chamber.

"At least if your father agrees to stay there's a better shot at convincing you to stay." Blaine said quietly, mournfully. As their relationship had progressed, so too had the contention over what would happen when it was time for the army to depart. Kurt had given him no commitment and still spoke as if he would be going, much to Blaine's heartache.

Kurt sat himself down in the chair closest to Blaine and reached to take his hand in both of his. "You know my father will never agree to staying. He wants to retire with Carole more than anything now. His brush with death has left him even more adamant about that."

Blaine nodded. He knew. It was a futile hope.

"I can't believe they suggested that you kill yourself..." Kurt added, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I am a representation of everything they've grown to hate. It doesn't help that I look like him."

Kurt lifted Blaine's hand to his mouth and left a small kiss on his palm. "You look nothing like him. Your eyes carry hope, and innocence, and joy. In all the pictures I've seen of him, he has hate in his eyes. He has frown lines and you have laugh lines."

Blaine murmured, "Do you think... if we could convince Cooper that he could come back and rule instead? Instead of me? Then I could go with you..."

Kurt dragged his chair closer to Blaine using his feet, released his hand, and put his hand on Blaine's shoulders. "You see how you're treated by the nobility? Imagine how it would be for Cooper who fled with your father. Cooper may not get out of this alive given his choices."

Blaine made a small whimper and Kurt immediately leaned forward to kiss him and wrap his arms around his shoulders. He was doomed to this life, this existence of living yet not. In the past few weeks he had experienced more than he had in the entirety of his life. He felt more real, more alive. However that came with the politics and juggling of everyone else's interests above his own.

"I'm sorry." Kurt stood and reached out for Blaine's hand which Blaine gave him and stood up beside him. "Let's go have supper. This is my last day of having to be the big boss and I'm more than ready for it to end."

Blaine was led by Kurt out of the room and through all the halls and stairs to Blaine's room where supper had just been dropped off on his table. Cat was also on the table, trying to paw off the serving tray cover and steal some of the food within.

"Get down Cat!" Blaine shooed Cat down with his hand and stepped ahead of Kurt to pull out his chair.

Kurt smiled and sat, "My gentleman."

Blaine pushed in the chair and went to his own seat, "Always."

They ate, quietly. Blaine avoiding asking Kurt about staying again and Kurt avoiding saying anything that might upset Blaine further. Finally Kurt did speak up.

"Your brother's armies are still scattered, although all are quite close. They're either not united or their intent is to hit us on all sides."

Blaine nodded and mused, "Maybe they know ways into the passages that we don't."

"I thought only your dad and Cooper knew the mappings of the tunnels." Kurt asked, pushing his plate away as he finished off his meal.
"I thought I knew a lot of things before. What I've learned is that I don't know much of anything." Blaine responded and took a sip of his cider as he finished his own meal.

Kurt put his elbows up on the table and rested his head in his propped up hands as he smiled at Blaine, "Like what?"

Blaine looked at Kurt lovingly. He wanted to say how much Kurt meant to him, how much he loved him and also hated him for planning to go. He didn't dare say anything because he didn't want to give up that last bit knowing that it wouldn't change anything.

"Just... nothing. I'm tired. I think I may go to bed early tonight."

Kurt stood up and covered the remnants of their meal with the lid of the tray. "Well then come on. I'll tuck you in. I'm going to see my father and Quinn yet before I come to bed and make sure he's really ready to come back to duty."

Blaine chuckled and went about pulling his boots off and setting them neatly by his bed. "Tuck me in? What am I? A child?"

Kurt came up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing the back of his neck. "Sometimes, but I'm sure you're a man where it counts."

Blaine released something of a mixture between a chuckle and a moan. "Kurt... you're such a tease."

He felt Kurt's head rest against his back and Blaine wrapped his arms over Kurt's hands. They stood there a moment when Kurt whispered, "I'd better go... I'll be back when I'm done, but don't stay up for me." He pulled away and Blaine felt immediately incomplete without the contact.

He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed to unbuckle his belt and pull it off as Kurt left the room. Their intimacy hadn't really progressed but Blaine was alright with that. He didn't want to give, or take, something more only to have it taken away later. He was having a difficult enough time coming to terms with Kurt's eventual departure. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep it together if they become more intimate and then Kurt left.

Blaine leaned over to blow out the candle beside his bed, leaving only the fireplace for light. He pulled the covers up over him and drifted off, hoping that Kurt would wake him when he came back.

A touch did wake him and Blaine tried to stretch but found he could not fully move his legs or feet. Panic swept over him and he fully opened his eyes, greeted with the sight of Sebastian staring down over him. "Wakey wakey pretty little prince."

Blaine tried to yell for help but found his mouth was taped over. How the hell had they done this while he was sleeping?! He was a heavy sleeper but not that heavy! He struggled against the bindings on his feet and hands. He was still in his bed, but couldn't move or talk.

"Oh no, no, no. We don't want to have to use the ether again!" Blaine looked to his other side and saw Hunter there, waving a rag close to him. Well that explained it.

Blaine calmed himself a little, not wanting to be put under if they were going to do something. How the hell did they get in? Had they overtaken the castle while he slept? Was Kurt alright?

Blaine wasn't given much time to worry because he was suddenly overtaken by a sharp pain in his abdomen as Hunter punched him. "The king didn't like your message little prince."

Sebastian grabbed Blaine's hair and stared down at him, "So we're here to send a message back." A slap against his face, followed by another punch to his stomach.

Blaine tried to gag, but the tape over his mouth limited the air he could control. His eyes were watering and he was desperately trying to figure a way out of this between the radiations of pain that were going through him.

Hunter and Sebastian took turns hitting and eventually Blaine lost count. He was just trying to stay conscious now. That was his purpose now. He needed to know if Kurt was alright.

"Not everyday that you get an order from a king to kill a prince. We need to make this last." one of them whispered.

Blaine's eyes went as wide as they could, both of them already swelling from punches received. He was going to die here, in his bed, and Kurt would never know how he felt. His father would retake everything and everything he had been working towards would be undone... and Kurt. All he could think of was Kurt.

Suddenly the quiet chuckles of Hunter and Sebastian were interrupted by a loud yowl and a hiss. Someone screamed and the other yelled out. Blaine hadn't realized how quietly they had been beating him until he heard them fight off something he couldn't see. He heard a flurry of feet run into the room and more screams and yelling as he faded into black.