Hi!! This is crooquette! Really loved your beastman oneshot and want to request for more! Can I either get a part 2 continuation from the first entry to explore their relationship after he becomes king, OR his perspective on the events in the original oneshot? I think it would be fun to explore his thoughts while Reader was busy doing her best. Thank you!!
OH MY GOODNESS YES!!! PLEASE drop another ask for perspective Iâd LOVE to write in his perspective!!
Anywho hereâs a part 2 đ
The room was too quiet for a palace.
No servants moved outside the doors, no guards paced the corridor, no attendants hovered with trays of fruit and watered wine. The silence pressed in, thick as wool, forcing you to hear things youâd never noticed before: the crackle of the hearth, the rustle of your own breathing, the soft swish of a tail moving back and forth in measured arcs.
No - at the man who now wore the crown that should have been your fatherâs.
The circlet did not sit right on him. It was fashioned for human brows, too narrow for the subtle lift of his ears, so it tilted slightly, catching on a tuft of dark fur at his temple. Gold clashed with him. He was not made for ornament. He was made for chains or claws, never something as delicate as filigree.
Yet the crown did not look wrong. It looked inevitable.
You swallowed. âHow many died?â
He regarded you for a long moment, golden eyes unreadable. âEnough that no one will contest my claim.â
âThatâs not an answer.â
He sighed, the sound carrying that same careful restraint youâd always heard when he poured your tea or folded your cloaks - as if every breath had to be measured, weighed, made small enough to be allowed. The difference was that now, he chose it.
âYour fatherâs elite guard,â he said at last. âMost of his council. Some nobles. Few servants. The beastmen were told to run, and they did.â
You flinched. âYou told them?â
A flicker of something like amusement touched his mouth. âWho else would they listen to?â
He stepped closer. Instinct made you shift back on the bed until your shoulders met the carved headboard. His ears twitched, catching the sound, and his gaze softened with a strange, unsettling warmth.
âI woke up in a different world,â you snapped. âForgive me if my composure isnât perfect.â
For a heartbeat, his expression cracked - not with guilt, but with something more dangerous: hurt. Then it smoothed over again. He sat on the edge of the mattress, careful not to touch you, though every line of his body screamed that he wanted to.
âThis world was always here,â he murmured. âYou just watched it through a curtain.â
You lifted your chin. âI tried to change it.â
âAnd I,â he said, voice quiet and sharp, âsucceeded.â
The words hung between you, heavy. You remembered long debates in the council chamber, your fatherâs laughter when you argued for beastmen to be allowed into guilds and militias, the way nobles glanced at Lirion as if he were a piece of furniture that had somehow learned to stand upright.
âIs this what you call freedom?â you asked. âA throne built on corpses?â
He finally looked away, gaze drifting to the window where smoke curled in the distant sky - the last remnants of the fighting, or perhaps just chimney fires struggling against the winter air.
âFreedom is never given,â he said. âIt is taken. Clawed. Torn. I learned that from your father.â
Your voice came out raw. âHe trusted you.â
Lirionâs tail stilled. âNo. He possessed me. There is a difference.â
He turned back to you, and the hunger in his eyes was no longer masked. It was not the wild, unfocused hunger of a beast; it was precise, human, sharpened by years of watching you from the shadows of your own life.
âYou were the only one who forgot,â he continued softly. âYou spoke to me. Asked my opinions when you thought no one heard. Shared your speeches, your hopes, your fears.â
Heat prickled at your cheeks. You remembered late nights in the library, his quiet suggestions about phrasing, the way heâd tilt his head when you practiced. Youâd thought he was grateful to be treated as⊠if not equal, then something close.
âYou wanted to remake the kingdom,â he said. âSo did I.â
He smiled, and it did not reach his eyes. âYou wanted the beastmen free. You did not specify how gentle the path should be.â
You opened your mouth, then closed it again. There was an argument there, something about morality and lines that should not be crossed, but it shriveled under the weight of his gaze. He believed every word he said. In his mind, this was not betrayal. It was fulfillment.
âWhy keep me alive?â you asked quietly. âIf you hate my blood so much - my fatherâs line - why not end it completely?â
His reaction was immediate, visceral. His ears flattened, his tail lashed once against the mattress, and his fingers closed around your wrist before you could pull back.
âDo not say such things,â he hissed.
You stared at his hand on your skin. His claws were blunt by law - filed down, always kept short - to make him less dangerous. You remembered the routine: once a week, the royal handler would call him, inspect his nails, force them against the whetstone if theyâd grown too long. Your father had watched that once, smiling.
Now those same dulled claws dug into your flesh, not enough to break the skin, but enough to promise they could if he wished.
âYouâre hurting me,â you whispered.
He blinked, looking down as if heâd forgotten he was touching you at all. Slowly, reluctantly, he loosened his grip, though his thumb stroked your pulse point once, feeling the frantic beat beneath.
âI would never harm you,â he said, each word deliberate. âNot truly.â
âTruly?â you echoed, bitter. âWhat does that mean?â
âIt means,â he answered, âthat if your bones break, it will be because you ran into the bars I put there. Not because I raised my hand first.â
It was such an absurd sentence you almost laughed. Your voice trembled instead. âBars?â
His gaze softened again, shifting into something almost reverent.
âYou will be safe here,â he said. âNo daggers in the council hall, no poison in your cup, no nobles whispering about âthe girl who loves animals more than people.â You will not have to beg for scraps of kindness from men who measured your worth in heirs and treaties.â
He lifted your captured hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it. His mouth was warm, his breath fanning your skin. The gesture might have been courtly, romantic, even, if not for the collar-shaped ghost you could still see on his neck where the metal had rubbed his fur raw.
âYou asked them to see us as people,â he murmured against your skin. âI will build a world where they have no choice.â
âAnd if I refuse to stand beside you?â you forced out. âIf I denounce you in front of the entire court?â
He smiled against your hand. It did not feel kind.
âThen I will break the court,â he said simply. âAnd ask you again.â
Your heart stuttered. âYou canât rule without them.â
âI can,â he replied. âI will make new lords. Beastmen generals. Freed slaves turned ministers. Men and women who owe me their lives, not their titles.â
His eyes met yours, and you saw the answer before he spoke it: saw the shape of his obsession, the way it wrapped around you like a second skin.
âYou are not owed,â he said. âYou are⊠chosen.â
The word sat heavy in your chest. You thought of how your father had framed Lirionâs presence at your side: a gift, a symbol of your status. You had learned, over the years, that anything called a gift in this palace was usually a chain in prettier metal.
âChosen for what?â you managed.
He leaned closer, bracing one hand on the headboard beside your head. The movement caged you without touching, his body heat seeping through the thin linen of your nightgown.
âTo be the voice the humans will still listen to,â he said softly. âTo temper me when I would go too far. To whisper in my ear as you did before.â
His breath brushed your cheek.
âTo remind me that not all of your kind deserves to be crushed.â
You swallowed. âAnd if I fail at that?â
He tilted his head, considering. âThen I will forgive you,â he said. âBecause you are also chosen for something else.â
Your throat was dry. âWhat?â
He smiled, and this time it did reach his eyes, though what glittered there was not tenderness, but something burning and absolute.
âTo belong to me,â he said. âNot as a master. Not as a slave.â
His free hand moved, fingers brushing a strand of hair behind your ear, lingering against your neck.
The word should have tasted like power. It tasted like ash.
You forced yourself to ask, âHave you told anyone?â
He blinked. âTold them what?â
âAbout us.â The phrase felt wrong; there was no âus,â only you and the man who had torn your life apart and was now offering you a place in the ruins. âAbout your plan to⊠marry me.â
His tail resumed its slow, controlled sway. âThere is no need yet. The court is occupied with survival. The beastmen are occupied with not being hunted. The priests are occupied with rewriting their scriptures.â
âBesides, if I announced it now, someone might be foolish enough to try to steal you to use against me.â
A chill ran down your spine. âAnd what would you do then?â
âKill them,â he said. âAll of them. Their families. Their friends. Everyone who touched the idea of taking you away.â
Your fingers dug into the sheets. âYou canât rule like that.â
âI was not bred to rule,â he replied. âI was bred to obey. That did not work out for your people. Perhaps you should let me try it my way.â
Silence fell between you again, broken only by the distant tolling of a bell somewhere in the city. A death knell? A call to prayer? You couldnât tell.
At length, you drew in a breath. âIf I agree,â you said slowly, tasting the poison of each word, âwhat happens to the others?â
He stilled. âOthers?â
âThe beastmen,â you said. âAll of them. The ones still in chains. The ones in noble houses and mines and arenas. What happens to them?â
His gaze sharpened. âYou would bargain now?â
You met his eyes, steadying yourself. âI would know if Iâm sharing a throne with a liberator or just another tyrant.â
A soft huff of laughter escaped him. âYou think tyrants cannot free slaves?â
âNot without expecting chains in return.â
He watched you for a long time, something like pride warring with irritation in his expression. Finally, he spoke.
âI will break their collars,â he said. âAll of them. I will outlaw the trade, dismantle the houses that profit from it, drag the nobles who resist into the square and show the city they bleed the same as anyone else.â
His fingers squeezed your hand, almost unconsciously.
âThey will have rights. Land. Names they choose, not ones given. I swear it on the years I spent on your floor, waiting for you to call.â
Your chest tightened. It was everything you had wanted to hear in the council chamber, everything you had dreamed of putting into law⊠wrapped in blood and fire.
You whispered, âAnd the humans?â
He shrugged one shoulder.
âThose who accept it will live well. Those who do not will learn.â
His smile returned, thin and sharp.
âSlowly,â he said. âPainfully.â
You exhaled, a tremor you couldnât quite swallow.
There it was: the shape of the future he offered. A kingdom where beastmen walked unchained, where the slave markets were ash - and where mercy was a luxury he might remember only because you whispered it to him at night.
âYou can stop me,â he said suddenly.
âIf you stay,â he continued, eyes burning into yours, âif you stand beside me and say no when I would say yes to cruelty, if you look at me the way you are now - like I have disappointed you - then I will listen.â
He leaned in, and your backs pressed fully against the headboard.
âYou have no idea how much power you have over me,â he murmured. âYou never did.â
Your heart clenched. You thought of all the times you had thanked him quietly, the times youâd defended him before your father, the nights youâd fallen asleep at your desk and woken covered with a blanket you did not remember fetching.
You thought youâd been kind to a servant. He had been memorizing a god.
âI wonât be your conscience,â you whispered. âI wonât be a leash you pretend is a halo.â
âYou already are,â he said. âI am only changing the collar.â
You closed your eyes, desperate for something solid to hold onto.
âGive me time,â you said finally. âTo grieve. To think. To decide if I can stand beside you and still recognize myself.â
Silence stretched. You opened your eyes, fearing his answer.
Lirion studied you, then nodded once, slow.
âThree days,â he said. âYou will not leave this room without escorts. You will speak to no one without my knowledge. You will eat, sleep, and bathe safely. No harm will come to you.â
âAt the end of those three days, I will ask you again. And whatever you choose, I will not kill you.â
You swallowed. âThat is⊠kind of you.â
His smile turned wistful, almost boyish, and for a fleeting instant you saw not a king or a killer, but the collared youth who had stood behind your chair, eyes downcast, heart already fixed.
âIt is not kindness,â he said. âIt is selfishness. I would rather live with your hatred than your absence.â
He rose then, releasing your hand at last. The air felt colder where his touch had been.
âRest, my princess,â he said, ears flicking forward in a gesture youâd come to recognize as something like affection. âGrieve your father, if you must. Curse me, if you need. But remember this.â
He glanced back over his shoulder, golden eyes gleaming in the low light.
âYou wanted a better world. There is no path to it that will leave your hands clean.â
The door closed behind him with a soft click, the lock sliding into place like the last piece of a puzzle.
And somewhere in the depths of the palace, the former slaves were being told that the new king wore their face.