King's Ransom, Queen Sacrifice
is a series of Captive Prince Fanfics by Tessa Crowley. It is set in an Omegaverse Alternate Universe where Omegas are discriminated against and treated as slaves.
The story's Point of Divergence is less than a month after the Battle of Marlas, when Prince Laurent enters his first heart, presenting as an Omega. As the law bars Omegas from inheriting the throne and treats them no differently from Omegas of lower status, Laurent is immediately stripped of all titles and lands. He is shipped off to a breeding house in Marches to be trained as a future mate to a high-paying Alpha once he's old enough, while his uncle, the former Regent, becomes the new King of Vere.
Swearing revenge against his uncle for the perceived betrayal, Laurent spends the next several years training to be the most desirable Omega in all of Marches, all for the sake of snatching the perfect Alpha to help him with his plan. Finally, as he closes in on his twenty-first birthday, he is bought by what seems to be the most ideal candidate: a mysterious, high-ranking Alpha from Ios.
But everything goes wrong when he arrives in Ios, and learns who is his buyer: Prince Kastor, bastard son of King Theomedes... and older brother to Crown Prince Damianos, the killer of Laurent's older brother Auguste. Now, stuck in a hostile land and developing a complicated relationship with his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Laurent quickly realizes that his meeting with Kastor was no coincidence. If he is to survive and accomplish his goals, then he must do whatever it takes to prove his would-be Alpha's treason—even if it means allying with the one person he might hate more than his uncle.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Because he didn't grow up in a Decadent Court with his uncle constantly throwing him in impossible political games to ruin his reputation, Laurent is significantly less frigid than he is in canon. Having a best friend in Ancel and a supportive Parental Substitute in the Maitresse ensures that while he is jaded and a little cynical, he isn't overly cruel and is willing to show his softer and playful side more often.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Laurent and Ancel have no relationship in canon, and their only meaningful interaction is Ancel giving oral sex to Damen on Laurent's instruction. In this story, they become best friends after Ancel saves Laurent from an assassin while they're still living at the breeding house. Ancel is even the one who teaches Laurent how to fight.
- Unlike in canon, there is no implication that Damen is in any sort of romantic relationship with Jokaste. Instead, Kastor and Jokaste's ongoing affair is an Open Secret of the royal court, with them continuing the relationship even after Kastor brings Laurent over to Akielos to be his consort.
- Adaptational Wimp: The Regent is a significantly less dangerous threat than in canon. Once Kastor's attempt to usurp the Akielon throne is foiled and Akielos invades Vere in support of Laurent's claims, almost all his attempts to stop them prove ineffectual at best. The Veretian military is vastly inferior to the Akielon army, suppressing and persecuting the population only increases Laurent's popularity, and his last-ditch scheme of holding Ancel hostage is easily thwarted. It's implied that not having to work to cement his claim on the throne like he had to in canon caused his skills at manipulation and political acumen to deteriorate.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: While Laurent falls in love with Damen because of his kind and honorable nature, he finds Damen is most attractive when he's showing off his immense strength.
- Beta Couple: Berenger and Ancel to Damen and Laurent. Whereas Damen and Laurent's growing relationship is fraught with complicated history and a heavy dose of Poor Communication Kills, Berenger and Ancel's relationship in comparison is relatively easy-going and comical.
- Broken Pedestal: Damen's affection for Kastor gradually diminishes throughout the first story due to Kastor's poor treatment of Laurent and the increasing amount of proof that his brother is trying to usurp their father's throne. By the end of the story, he's come to hate Kastor so much that he's ready to kill the man himself, and the only reason he doesn't is because of Laurent's intervention.
- Didn't Think This Through: To suppress any potential Veretian support for Laurent after Akielos invades, the Regent passes draconian laws against Omegas with the end goal of genocide. What he fails to take into account is that the very Omegas he's persecuting are also the friends and family of the rest of the population. This only serves to ensure that the Alphas and Betas of Vere also turn against him, not just the Omegas.
- Everyone Can See It: Damen's growing attraction and affection for Laurent is so obvious in the first story that Laurent himself is visibly irritated by it. In the second story, with Laurent coming to accept his own feelings for Damen, everyone else is just waiting for them to give in to the sexual tension and mate.
- Has a Type: Just like in canon, Damen has a thing for blue-eyed blondes. It's strongly implied that one of the reasons Kastor agreed with the Regent's idea to buy Laurent and use him as a scapegoat is because the latter was Damen's type.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Regent convinces Kastor to buy Laurent as his intended Omega consort so the latter can use him as a scapegoat for Damen's assassination, ensuring Kastor's ascension and getting rid of the Regent's biggest rival in one fell swoop. Instead, this allows Laurent to expose their plans, giving Akielos causa belli to invade Vere, depose the Regent, and put Laurent on the throne.
- I Have Your Wife: As a final, desperate gambit, the Regent takes Ancel hostage to keep Laurent and the Akielon army from attacking Arles, offering to let Ancel go in exchange for Laurent turning himself in.
- Love at First Sight: Damen falls for Laurent at first sight, and in the second story, admits that he knew there was never going to be anyone else for him after that.
- No Hero to His Valet: Up until Laurent leaves for Akielos, Ancel is the only person that is willing to talk casually with him, due to everyone else being consciously aware of Laurent's former status as a prince. This behavior continues even after Laurent allies with Akielos and decides to take up his rightful position as the Queen of Vere.
- Oh, Crap!: Laurent has a Freak Out when he arrives at Ios and realizes the Alpha who bought him is Prince Kastor, the older brother of Prince Damianos—the man who killed Laurent's older brother Auguste.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: In retaliation for stabbing his pregnant friend Ariadne, resulting in her miscarrying her daughter, Laurent renders Jokaste permanently barren.
- Refusal of the Call: Initially, Laurent is only concerned with his revenge on his uncle and has no desire to claim the Veretian throne. It's being reminded of the plights of his secondary sex and that he can make things better for Omegas everywhere by becoming Queen that changes his mind, leading him to fully ally with Theomedes and Damen during their invasion of Vere at the end of the first story.
- Rightful King Returns: Played with. According to the law, the Regent is indeed the rightful heir to the throne once Laurent is confirmed to be an Omega. However, many regard Laurent as the rightful Queen of Vere because he is the last trueborn child of Aleron, the previous king. Who the throne rightfully belongs to is murky, and in the end, the Regent is deemed a pretender not because he actually isn't the heir, but because his tyranny has caused the majority of the people to reject his claim to the throne regardless of its legitimacy.
- The Scapegoat:
- Within days of his arrival in Akielos, Laurent quickly figures out that the real reason Kastor bought him was to use him as a scapegoat for his plots to kill Damen and usurp the throne.
- When Laurent is publicly unraveling his plot to murder Theomedes in front of the entire royal court, Kastor tries to throw Jokaste under the bus to save his own skin. Unfortunately for him, Laurent has more than enough proof of Kastor's treason to make sure it doesn't matter.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Laurent falls for Damen because of his kind and noble nature, including his willingness to treat Laurent as an equal instead of as an inferior.
- Underestimating Badassery: Both Kastor and the Regent decided to try and use Laurent as an Unwitting Pawn in their plot to usurp the Akielon throne, underestimating his intelligence and instead allowing him to foil the scheme and giving Akielos just cause to invade Vere.
- You Killed My Father:
- Laurent is extremely hostile to Damen at first because Damen is the man who killed his brother. Damen, having not realized who Laurent is at first, is confused by his hostility, but it does nothing to deter his growing attraction to the omega, nor does it stop him from falling in love with him.
- Subverted with Laurent killing Kastor. Neither Damen nor Theomedes hold any grudge against Laurent for Kastor's death, as 1) Kastor had already been charged with treason by the time the deed was done and was going to be executed anyway, and 2) Kastor had raped Laurent, giving the latter just as much a right to kill him as they did.
