Captive Prince

Jokaste, a lady of the Akielon court, takes Guion, the Veretian ambassador to Akielos, on a tour. He’s impressed with the enslaved people Akielos is gifting to Vere, and Jokaste shows him an enslaved man they intend as a personal gift to the Veretian prince, Laurent. Guion is surprised that the man is bound, unlike the other enslaved people, who wear decorative gold bands, but Adrastus, the Keeper of the Royal Slaves, explains that the man is untrained. Jokaste suggests calling the man “Damen,” which Adrastus and Guion find offensive.

Soldiers killed Damen’s enslaved woman, Lykaios, and they fought Damen, who was powerful enough to put up a fight. Eventually, they captured him, telling him that his father, King Theomedes, was dead and that his half-brother, Kastor, ordered his capture. Damen can’t believe that Kastor is a traitor but starts to realize his naivete. The soldiers take Damen to the baths for enslaved persons and strip him. Adrastus enters, calls in an enslaved woman, and leaves. The woman strips and bathes Damen, arousing him, but Jokaste interrupts them. Damen questions Jokaste, who says she simply chose between brothers. Damen doesn’t understand why Kastor didn’t have Damen killed, and Jokaste says Kastor wants Damen to remember that Kastor beat Damen “the one time it that mattered” (16).