The Prince

The Stranger

⚠️TW⚠️

It hadn't been just any day. Reid had been excited because it was his day. His birthday. He had been so excited about it that he had gone out and about seeing everyone and talking to all his friends and people. He had insisted on helping others on his birthday rather than getting presents or a ton of attention. It should have been a good day, and a carefree one at that. But everything had been turned upside down when he had helped one such person. He hadn't recognized them as a part of his father's kingdom, but they got visitors all the time. It was then that he was drugged and dragged away, his father none the wiser of what happened to his son.

He had woken up hours later, no longer in the ocean, and instead of his tail, he had two feet. They were as foreign to him as fire was and he hadn't the slightest clue how to actually use them. He was used to swimming everywhere with fins and a tail. These two twigs attached to his body now seemed useless. Not that he could walk anyway. The feet were chained together, as were his hands, and he was carried far away to another kingdom, and given to a very cruel man. The man that he was only to refer to as his master or his king kept him tied to the bed and helpless, defenseless against the desires of the king and reduced from a prince to nothing but a toy.

Hope was not lost though. The long nights spent crying himself to sleep were heard, and a maid heard him and set him free. She helped him out of the palace and gave him a new life. Once out of the palace, and wrapped only in the cloak that the maid had found for him to wear, He stumbled through the streets. It was loud and busy. He hadn't had a lot of practice walking since the king had kept him tied up the whole time he had been there, so it was strange to him, made worse by the pounding headache he had and he felt like he was still drugged.. maybe he was. He found that alley to go down, an escape from the noise. The king had been too busy playing with him to brand him, so he had gotten away without the king's mark. If anyone found him, they would be none the wiser about it. He had thought that the alley would allow him to clear his head, but it still spun and he found himself on the ground with darkness closing in, and then it completely swallowed him.

--

Reid slowly blinked his eyes open. It was impossible to tell how long he had been asleep. The flickering of the candle caught his eye first and then the scratching something on paper. He shot upright in bed, eyes darting around the room as he found himself scooting away from the candle's flame. A stranger was sitting at a desk, writing away. His gaze immediately dropped to his hands and feet. The deep marks from being tied were still there, but there was nothing binding him now. His gaze furrowed into a confused look. Wasn't that all that any human wanted him for? Why wasn't he tied up? His gaze returned wearily to the stranger that he had to assume had brought him to wherever he was. Emerald eyes gazed at the stranger as he stood and came closer to the bed. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest as the stranger neared and he flinched away from the touch. The only touch he had ever received from any land dweller was forced or painful, so naturally, he expected the same here.

He listened silently to the male speak. His breaths came slightly fast and shallow and he frowned. He had already woken up once? The stranger was right, he didn't remember it at all. And the stranger had given him medicine? He wasn't aware that he had even been sick. His gaze shifted to the plate that sat to the side and then back to the stranger. This male wasn't going to hurt him like the sorcerer or the king?

"I feel better.. thank you for taking care of me, sir.." His voice was quiet, like the king had liked it when he was allowed to speak. He tentatively reached for the food and picked at the vegetables to take the edge off the hunger. He didn't want to be eating all the stranger's food though, so he ate half the vegetables and a few bites of the meat before putting it back to the side. "..Where am I?"