Captive Prince

The novel’s apparent antagonist for most of Damen’s time in Vere, Laurent is the Prince of Vere after his brother, Auguste, dies at Marlas. His uncle, the Regent, controls the country until Laurent comes of age, which occurs in about 10 months from the time the novel takes place. Laurent is young but exhibits an understanding of court culture that places him among Vere’s most powerful people, even without his royal status. However, he’s constantly under pressure from the Regent to improve as a prince in preparation for his ascension. For Laurent, the gift of enslaved Akielons from Kastor is more a burden than a privilege, since his urge is to hurt or kill all Akielons to get revenge for Auguste’s death. This desire reveals both that Laurent genuinely loved his brother and that he’s capable of horrific acts if driven by strong feeling. These traits contrast the general characterization of Laurent as restrained, calm, and confident, most evident in his resistance to the drug chalis.

Though Laurent is initially an antagonist, he’s a tentative ally to Damen in the end as the Regent becomes the true antagonist. Since the novel is a dark romance, readers expect romance to build, and Damen’s inclusion in Laurent’s Guard at the novel’s end indicates that they’re growing closer. However, Laurent is known among his men for his lack of sexual interests (other than as a spectator); different people speculate that this stems from restraint, genital mutilation, or deviant tastes, none of which the text confirms. However, Laurent’s interactions with the Regent, a known pedophile, reveal that he likely abused Laurent when he was a child. Though asexuality could simply be Laurent’s sexual orientation, separate from any trauma or psychological issue, the novel emphasizes how Laurent’s survival of sexual abuse as a child left him distrustful of sexual attraction and even immune to sexual stimuli, such as Damen’s closeness in the bath.

The true antagonist of the novel is the Regent, Laurent’s uncle. A “regent” is someone appointed to run a country in place of a monarch who is underage, incapacitated, or temporarily removed from power. In Captive Prince, after the king and heir to Vere are killed at Marlas, Laurent becomes next in line for the crown. However, he isn’t old enough to take the crown, so the Council appoints his uncle, the Regent, to run Vere in the meantime. When Damen enters Vere, the Regent is firmly in control of the country, and Damen even respects the Regent’s apparent attempts to maintain peace across Akielos, Vere, Vask, and Patras. As Damen learns more about Vere, the Regent appears to be the only honest person he can find, but over time he realizes that the Regent is an enemy, not only to him but also to Laurent and to Akielos. The Regent’s plot is to remove Laurent, preferably through an assassination he can blame on Akielos, allowing him to secure true power over Vere, lead a war against Akielos, and unify the countries under his rule. The novel contrasts this plot specifically against Laurent’s desire for revenge and Damen’s desire for freedom, since the Regent’s plan will likely include overtaking Akielos as a subservient nation.

In addition to his political aims, the Regent is morally reprehensible even within the world of Captive Prince, where slavery and abuse are the norm. The text implies that the Regent sexually abused Laurent when he was a child, as is apparent in his interactions with Laurent involving caresses and fond remembrances of him as a young boy. Laurent also reveals that Nicaise, who is 13 years old, has been the Regent’s “pet” for three years, meaning that the Regent has been sexually abusing Nicaise since he was 10. The pederasty in Vere disturbs Damen, but the Regent’s position of power adds another dimension to this sexual abuse, since “pets” like Ancel and Nicaise view appointment to powerful men as a form of social mobility, essentially creating a system in which Nicaise must submit to the Regent’s sexual advances to have any hope of bettering his own life.

The 13-year-old boy Nicaise lives in Vere as a “pet” to the Regent, though he’s also seen around court with Councillor Audin. Nicaise has been a pet at court for three years, and his primary duty is to serve as a sexual object for the Regent. Though Nicaise is young, Laurent warns Damen of Nicaise’s skill in deception and manipulation, which Damen sees for himself in the conflict between Laurent and Nicaise over the enslaved Akielons. Nicaise is a secondary antagonist, since he’s allied with the Regent, through whom he hopes to achieve status in the future. Though Laurent offers to take Nicaise on as a pet, Nicaise refuses the offer, remaining with the Regent because he predicts that the Regent will win against Laurent. Though he’s capable in many ways, Nicaise is a child and is prone to outbursts, such as stabbing Damen with a fork or exclaiming when Laurent tricks him.

Nicaise’s role in the novel is as a functional doppelganger to Laurent, who was also sexually abused by the Regent as a child. Nicaise, like Laurent, has an aptitude for the kind of charm and intelligence required to succeed in Vere’s court culture, and he’s also ambitious, competitive, and cruel. However, unlike Laurent, Nicaise doesn’t seem disturbed by Regent’s abuse, rationalizing it as part of his path to power. In part, this is because Nicaise isn’t related to the Regent like Laurent is. Additionally, Nicaise comes from outside the court, so becoming a pet was his only chance to escape poverty. Regardless, Nicaise is determined to beat Laurent, but his tone periodically shifts to a more friendly attitude, implying a sort of collegial rivalry with Laurent. When Damen sees Nicaise after the assassination attempt, he seems to be in a trance, implying that he’s uncomfortable with the Regent’s plan to assassinate Laurent.