My interpretation is that Laurent’s primary driving force through much of Captive Prince is fear.
It’s possible that the Regent may have even planned it to prompt Laurent into suicide to leave the throne free for him without any direct involvement on his part. It is a plan to break Laurent to the point where he would be unable to rise again, to have been tricked into the bed of the man who killed his brother. The really twisted thing about the Regent bringing in Damen to be a pleasure slave for Laurent is because he wanted to wait for the moment when Laurent actually allowed Damen into his bed and then the Regent would reveal Damen’s identity. The intervention is not for Damen’s sake or for maintaining any shallow respect for Akeilos, but for his future plans for Damen. The threat to put Damen onto the cross to break him is a first painful reaction from Laurent to cause Damen as much pain as possible in retribution for killing Auguste (though Damen doesn’t actually make it onto the cross at this point due to the Regent’s intervention). He’s meeting his brother’s killer and the trigger point for all of the subsequent abuses and grief Laurent has experienced since that day at the Battle of Marlas. At this point, Laurent has basically had the last six years of suffering hurled into his face without warning.
When Laurent and Damen first meet, Damen’s blond fetish rears its head and he’s instantly transfixed by Laurent, not yet knowing who he is. Laurent’s initial behavior is following this expectation. When Kastor sends Damen into slavery, specifically to Vere, it is with the expectation that he will suffer, that he will be abused and humiliated. Re-reading reminded me that to begin with all of Damen’s suffering is from his brother’s hand. It was easy to forget after reading a while that Kastor even really existed, because the presence of Laurent in the books simply dwarfs him. Captive Prince is a wholly different experience this time around.
Reading this series with the knowledge of what happens introduces an entirely new perspective.
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