#captive prince story

[laurents-laces]

So some random Canadian bookstore posted a new capri cover on their instagram story, apparently. Like it's not even an announcement post, it's just on their story with no other information 😭

But I assume this means we're getting new covers from them, in English! I don't know if it's all three books separately or if it's just the first one or if they're doing an anthology. But it's finally happening!

[bluebutter-art]

My designs for The Captive Prince Trilogy book covers and its short stories!!

This has been months in the making, and thus making it the longest project I’ve ever worked on! I’m so excited it’s finally out in the world.

Please be sure to click and see each image because tumblr as per usual has dropped the quality quite significantly.

EDIT: You can now find the HD images to print or use as personal book cover here

[aliciarose-art]

Guess what I’ve been rereading….again 😔

[victor-v]

the polish covers by littleulvar live in my mind rent free

[swords-and-starlight]

i feel the need to remind everyone that Damen’s literally one of the smartest and most well-educated characters in the series. He’s extremely well-read and knowledgeable about military tactics and strategy, which if you didn’t know also includes a huge depth of history knowledge, and his talent comes from both education and years of experience. He’s smart enough to know geography and terrain information of an area he hasn’t needed to have information on in seven years, and even then, the lands they are talking about were in mainland Vere, not Delpha, so his studies were his own initiative. he has favorite poems! HE ENJOYED DEBATING OBSCURE PHILOSOPHY WITH HESTON!!! like y’all Damen is just as intelligent as Laurent, it’s just that Laurent’s intelligence is about manipulation and chess and Damen’s just a nerd.

(also people are gonna be coming for me for this one but i think Damen likes books and libraries a lot more than Laurent ever did)

[unhelpfulfemme]

Another thing I liked is how Laurent's trauma is handled, because usually when a character has a Secretly Traumatic Backstory there's some kind of annoyingly maudlin scene about it. Either they get into some kind of big conflict with the love interest and are forced to explain themselves so they don't get judged or dumped, or the love interest intrudes on a vulnerable moment and sees them being abused or somehow handling the consequences of that abuse, or they are explained the circumstances by a benevolent third party, and this changes their view of the abused character because now they're god's poorest meow meow and I just fucking hate it every time.

Like, this is why I stopped reading this type of story: because the amount of crowding and backing into a corner and privacy violation that happens to abused characters in order to coax them into opening up about it and reassure them that they're okay is so annoying. I feel like I've been psychologyposting on main too much lately, so I might explain later why I feel this way or I might not but in any case I hate it.

I love that this book is the literal opposite of that, that Damen not only doesn't crowd Laurent and insist that he open up, but that Damen ensuring space and privacy and time to calm down for Laurent when he's overwhelmed is repeatedly portrayed as an act of friendship and caring and love (that Laurent later reciprocates, because they both lose their heads when something pushes their buttons and understand this about each other).

I also love how Damen doesn't fall in love with Laurent because Laurent is sad and fucked up, or because he's so brave to have put up with the abuse, or because Damen too is sad like Laurent (I'm physically restraining myself from going off on a rant about how shared trauma is hardly ever a good foundation for a relationship): no, he falls in love with Laurent because he's whip-smart, and a good leader, and funny, and tender once he opens up, and a lateral thinker, and a man of integrity who keeps his promises and pays back his debts (and because he's pretty and blonde and good at sporty shit that Damen likes). Some of these things may have been shaped by the awful shit that happened to Laurent, as they were also probably shaped by his station or his education or his body type or any other circumstance of his life, but it's refreshing to have a character who went through awful shit but who also has other things going on for him that make him loveable instead of being completely defined by his trauma. And even when Damen finds out, the way he thinks about Laurent literally doesn't change at all - the things he likes about Laurent are still seen in the same light as always, Laurent's personality as a whole is still the same, even his attitude towards what Laurent did to him when they first met doesn't change much (as we see in the short story epilogue). And even this last bit is really cool because Laurent is never stripped of his agency or made out into some sort of helpless victim currently, both of which would probably mortify him with how much he's trying to establish that he's not at any opportunity.

And I also like how it's not necessary for Laurent to tell Damen about it in order for them to be close, nor does Damen push him into it. And everyone else seems to agree that it's Laurent's story to tell when and how he wants it told, except for the villain of the piece, who reveals it in the most awful way possible. This is particularly important because Damen spends three books grabbing everyone in Laurent's life by the shoulders and shaking them and going, "Why do you care about this guy??? Have you noticed that he's kind of an ashole?? Why are you loyal to him?? Why???" and no one ever says anything, because they're protective of Laurent and don't want to take away his agency or privacy because it's his fucking story to tell. Even after Damen finds out, we don't see him mention it and he probably lets Laurent open up or not on his own terms, as he does with everything else that doesn't directly concern him. Even though we've seen through Laurent's dialogue time and time again that he's probably conceptualizing it in some fucked up ways in his own head and needs yet to realize that he's not some kind of twisted pervert for what happened to him, crowding him about it before he's ready won't accomplish much.

And the story itself backs all this by never being maudlin about it even though it's obvious what happened pretty early on (I figured it out really early, I remember suspecting it almost immediately and being dead sure of it by the Ancel scene in the garden); it kind of elipses around it, gives hints and parallels to other characters in similar circumstances, has Laurent say incoherent shit that makes sense in context, has other characters hint at it, but with Laurent being one of the central characters it's cool that the story gives him that respect and doesn't wallow in the tragedy of it all.

[quotesthatiliked]

‘I thought, I have lost everything and gained you, and I would almost make the trade, if I didn’t know it had happened that way for you, too.’

- C.S Pacat,The summer palace(A Captive Prince Short story)

[gaelmeee]

Drawing my favorite duo

[nasirsagron]

The only thing I will say about the CaPri discourse is that we are in 2024 and if you can't read the subtext and a complex story that's on YOU and not on the author

[grumfield]

sorry to people on tumblr but I actually very rarely give a shit about found family like i prefer to read about 2 characters being somewhat narratively isolated and getting stuck in a metaphorical blender and it’s them only them and the blades of the story blender turning them into one delicious 2 ingredient smoothie that’s undrinkable to anyone else

[ninicaise]

i love kings rising its the total opposite of a tragedy pacat really said the love was there and it changed everything love is not just a feeling love is a choice love is action love has real life consequences love CAN save you

[vividxpages]

The apricot trees stand proud and in full season when the letter arrives.

It is a warm summer night, a sky full of stars over the heads of Nikandros' family. He sits at the head of the table, the senior of the household and he is surrounded by his sons and their wives, his many grandchildren chasing each other through the gardens or still remaining seated to enjoy the last bits of dinner.

To his right, his wife takes a sip of wine and smiles at him and Nikandros thinks about how thankful he is to be granted with all of this. To live another day in a long life that has seen more days of peace than war.

He overlooks the small company they make as someone new arrives in the patio, all business and quick steps into his direction.

The Kyros is an old man now.

Over the course of his life, many letters have come and gone through his hands. Messages from the capitols, strategic correspondences on how to rebuild two countries into one. The first wedding invitations and swearing-ins in the new and rewarding peace times.

But the messenger is pale, jaw clenched and fidgeting with his hands as he approaches the table.

Nikandros nods at him and with a little less hesitation, the messenger from Arles stops the head of the tables and hands him an envelope with a respectful bow.

His hands are calm and steady as he breaks the sigil, his eyes roaming over the short message before they start at the beginning and some place deep inside of him starts to translate words into facts into reality.

Nikandros,

Although I wish my words would find you in a more adequate way, I see fit to inform you that my beloved husband and your king has passed away peacefully in his sleep.

I do not have the words, I am not sure I will have them tomorrow or on any day I will live without him. But I want you to know that in our last, happy days together, he often mentioned how he could not wait to see his most trustworthy and loyal friend again soon.

Until we see each other, soon.

Laurent

Silently, Nikandros puts the letter down on the table and watches as his thumb brushes over the parchment, its broken dark blue sigil. He doesn't feel their textures on his skin nor does he hear what his wife speaks to him, until he feels her hand on his shoulder.

He looks up and meets her and their children's concerned gaze, the younger ones in their family proceeding to eat dinner as the messenger quickly disappears down the path he has come from. Nikandros doesn't remember having dismissed him.

His love frowns and Nikandros watches himself take her hand, pressing a apologetic kiss to her knuckles before he rises and excuses himself with a short phrase that sounds like gibberish to his own ears.

He is eerily calm as he walks away, feet aimlessly carrying him into the wilderness.

At the top of the hill, he sees two of his grandchildren, cavorting through the meadow and laughing with each other. Their laughter echoes over the grounds of his home, endless and forever taking up a place in his heart.

A window to the past that isn't just the past anymore, but a time where Damianos has been alive.

His feet carry him right into the apricot tree grove and it will take almost the whole night until the Kyros returns home again, composed and with plans to leave for Vere in the early light of a new day.

[tajmutthall]

my absolute favorite Captive prince fanfictions.

I had hoped that simply marking "rec" for the ones I really liked would narrow it down for myself and others. But after doing that for a while, I am approaching 500 stories and I don't really want that many in my "absolute favoritest" list. So I am slowly going back through them and adding the ones that really stick with me to this collection , Taj MuttHall Capri favorite fanfiction. Enjoy!

(and let me know if there are stories I should check out that aren't on either of my lists.)

[captaindamianos]

If you aren't yet, please do yourelf a favour and go read 'even in another time' by @irregularcollapse / phlegmatic on ao3

scanning colored pencils is not ideal, learnt my lesson.

[unhelpfulfemme]

What I like the most about that Charls short story is that your knee-jerk reaction is to go, "Surely this was all entirely unnecessary? You are kings, surely there's a more efficient way of dealing with this guy breaking your laws than the acting rulers of two whole countries going incognito as fake cloth merchants!"

But then you realize that this is absolutely a want, not a need. They love pulling this kind of shit, they've had the time of their lives every time they've done it: Laurent was laughing his ass off as he was running across rooftops and dodging assassins in book 2, Damen's reaction to regaining his birthright and getting to be at the head of an army again was, "But no more shenanigans?? 🥺 The fun Damen and Laurent shenanigans?? 🥺"

And at this point in the story they've been stuck politicking and roleplaying Normal Responsible Adults for, what, six to eight months? And Laurent's ascension, which means even more politicking and less free time, is looming over them, so based on what we canonically know about how sensation-seeking they both are, I am totally buying that they heard about some guy breaking the new slavery laws and went, you know what, this may be our last bit of freedom for a while, let's go absolutely apeshit. Sleeping in seedy inns and other weird places did always give an extra oomph to the old sexual tension. Oooh, you know what we could do, we could involve Charls, that guy was always a hoot! And you know what else'd be funny? If we didn't tell him that you're the Akielon king and waited to see how long it takes for him to figure it out!

10/10 completely in character, they do canonically take turns being each other's Impulse Control and obviously sometimes the system will break down because they're both feeling impulsive

[quotesthatiliked]

‘And how is it you now fight for Veretians?’ said Alexon.

Charls found himself curious to hear his answer, but Lamen only said, ‘I came to know one of them.’

-C.S Pacat,The adventure of Charls,the Veretian cloth merchant(Captive Prince Short story 3)