Summary: Sora led a secluded but perfectly happy life in a small village on the edge of the country before he was recruited to serve in the queen's palace. There he enters a world of corruption and sexual perversion he had never imagined. Unable to trust anyone, things spiral out of control once the cruel silver-haired favorite of the queen takes an interest in him. Soriku. Rated M for a reason.

Chapter 1 – The Palace of Flowers

They had arrived.

"It's very impressive, isn't?"

"Come on kid, this is going to be your home for at least the next ten years, you might as well go through the trouble of actually looking at it."

Reluctantly, Sora, who had been staring at his feet for the main part of their journey, looked up at the enormous structure that stood before him.

He had heard the stories. Everyone had heard the stories of the Queen's residence, the Palace of Flowers. He, like many others from the countryside, had never actually looked upon it, and none of the stories had prepared him for what he was seeing now.

The first thing that hit him was the sheer size of the building. It was almost as big as the entirety of the town he had spent most of his life in. He could not see much of the actual construction because his view was obscured by an enormously high wall. The gilded gates were massive and elegantly ornamented, but there were no guards in sight. Well, aside from his two personal guards, Squall and Seifer. The two men who had taken him from his home, from his family, from everything he had ever known. He had been travelling with them for over a week, all the way from his hometown to the capital, and finally to the Queen's palace, where they stood now. He had gotten to know them better than he wanted to. It made it harder for him to hate them.

Squall was the grim one, the brooding one, the serious one. He hardly ever spoke, and when he did he never used many words. Sora was more than a little afraid of him, mostly because it was nearly impossible to tell what the man was thinking. He had stark, cold grey eyes, eyes that seemed to pierce through Sora and made him feel almost naked. His hair was brown and shaggy, his jawline broad and masculine and his cheekbones high and proud.

And then there was Seifer. Compared to him, Squall seemed almost sympathetic. With short, straw blond hair, a sneer for a mouth and cruel, venomous eyes, Seifer's face was the face of evil to Sora. He had laughed as he pushed Sora's distraught mother to the ground when she rushed at Squall ,who was holding a confused Sora, about to drag him away from her. She had refused to let him go, even after they had shown her the Queen's sigil they carried, which entitled them to do take him to the palace. His young sister had cried loudly and kept reaching out to him. None of it had mattered. Sora was thankful his father hadn't been home, because there was no way he would have let his only son be dragged to some distant palace. His father was a tall and physically impressive man, but against those two he would not have lasted a second, Sora was sure of that. Seifer would have smiled as he cut his throat, mockingly commending his father's courage.

Seifer was the talker of the two, always regaling Leon with some rumour he had picked up from the road, or some perverse story about a girl he had slept with in one of the inns they stayed at on the road, after Leon had gone to bed early. He also liked to tease Sora, to prod him with questions about the 'cowtown' he had grown up in, or to form hypotheses on Sora's sexuality, a subject he seemed disturbingly interested in.

Now his blonde tormentor seemed determined to get an opinion from him on the Palace.

"Come on now, we are not going to see each other for quite a while, we might as well make our last bit of time together count," he sneered, winking, "you cannot look me in the eye and tell me that this does not impress you, country boy."

The palace did impress Sora, very much so in fact. It was said that the Queen had created it herself, that her magic had erected it from the very earth. If it was true, Sora feared to think about the extent of the Queen's magical abilities. Great in her power, fierce in her anger, wild in her beauty. That was what they said about the Queen in the countryside.

The gates opened then, and Sora strode through them with his guardians flanking him. They entered into an enormous garden, and Sora could not help but gasp.

It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. A paved path flanked by rows of flowery shrubbery and proud, tall pillars led to a beautiful fountain. Pale light gleamed from rectangular openings carved in the top section of the pillars. Two streams flowed on either side of the path, rows of flowery shrubbery lining their edges, and over the streams loomed arched bridges made of artfully crafted stone. On the left stood a temple or shrine of some sorts, with a vaulted roof and elegant silver benches against its walls. On the right of the path was a circular chapel of a similar structure, with a small pond in the middle of it. Flowerbeds in exquisite shapes and patterns could be seen all throughout the garden. The smell of flowers hung heavily in the air, a smell so delicious Sora found his spirits lifted for the first time since he had been taken captive.

"Would you look at this, Squall," Seifer commented, "our little ray of sunshine is actually smiling!"

That wiped Sora's smile away, but it did not manage to destroy his joyful mood.

If I have to be a prisoner somewhere, this does not seem like such a bad place.

A man awaited them at the palace doors. "I will take it from here, gentlemen. Your service is appreciated, as always." He spoke in a soft voice, while examining Sora carefully.

Sora looked at him closely. His appearance was very striking, he had dark skin but hair as white as snow, held back by a blue headband. He was handsome, with intelligent brown eyes and soft, almost feminine facial features. He was dressed rather oddly, wearing a yellow trimmed green coat over a khaki shirt and khaki trousers, with brown boots underneath. On his coat were two white panels with odd glyphs on them.

"All right. Well, Sora, it has been an absolute pleasure. We will probably not meet again, unless you intend to replace Baralai here as soon as he grows too old for the Queen's liking. Which could be any day now, I reckon. How old are you now, Barry? Approaching 30, I would say."

The briefest flash of anger passed in Baralai's eyes. Sora barely noticed it, but it was certainly there. "My age is no concern of yours. I would advise you to hold your tongue, Seifer, or I might convince the Queen you will serve her better without it."

"Easy now. I still respect you and everything. My sincerest apologies. So how about you inform us of our next target?"

Sora froze. Next target? That meant someone else was to be torn away from their home... He shivered at the idea.

"The \queen has her eye on a boy from the Badlands. A quiet youth named Shuyin living in a small town called Villeria. He looks quite a bit like Tidus, in fact."

Seifer grinned. "Is that why the queen wants him? A set of handsome twins to –"

Baralai interrupted him. "The Queen's motives are not for you to ponder."

"Just being curious, that is all. Well, I guess it is off to the Badlands than. You do send us out to the nicest places. Let's go Squall."

Sora was surprised to see the grimmer of his guards hesitate.

"Is… How is Cloud doing?"

Sora thought he saw a flash of sympathy in the white-haired man's eyes.

"He is well. He asks about you often. The Queen has seen to his wounds herself, and to my surprise decided to keep him here, in the palace. If you want, I could arrange a meeting in the chapel upon your return, if you bring this Shuyin here quickly enough."

"Thank you. I would appreciate that." There was actual joy in Squall's eyes. Sora could hardly believe it, and he wondered at who this Cloud might be, and what exactly he meant to Squall.

The two men left and Sora was left alone with Baralai, who beckoned for him to come with him into the palace. They entered into a large foyer with a row of paintings on the walls. They depicted a multitude of different historical scenes: the fall of the usurper's army, the crowning of the queen, the cleansing of the evil forest and the Burmecian estrangement. Baralai spoke to him as they passed into a wide hallway.

"As you have probably already picked up, I am Baralai. I am the first courtier to the Queen and her first and foremost servant here in the Palace. Did Squall and Seifer inform you of your duties here?"

"No."

"During your stay here you are to address me as 'my lord'. Do you understand?"

"Yes… my lord."

"Good. What do you already know about what befalls those who receive the honour of being trained at the Palace of Flowers?"

Sora hesitated, "I come from a small village in the west of Rozarria, I have never heard much of such things. My lord."

"Surely you must have heard some rumours?"

"Only what everyone already knows. That boys of around fifteen are summoned every so often to serve in the Palace. I do not know anything about what they do there, only that they personally serve the queen and that they receive some manner of training there. And after some years they leave the palace and become generals, preators, guild masters, and executors."

"You are correct. It is the greatest of honours, a privilege above all others. Only a select few are chosen to serve the queen."

"I am… honoured, my lord," Sora lied, "but I have wondered: why me? I have never excelled in anything. I grew up far away from the capital. I have no reputation the queen could possible know about. How did she even learn of my existence?"

"The queen sees much," Baralai answered mysteriously, "and she must have seen something in you, to have you summoned here. You will be informed of your various duties during your first week here. For now it suffices to know that you will serve the queen. In any way she so desires."

They took a turn, into a narrower passage. The hallways were lit by blue flames shining brightly in silver torches hanging on the wall. Enormous, exotic looking flowers could be seen at some parts of the hall, moving behind walls of thick glass.

"Tonight you will be presented to the queen. Your supper will be delivered to your quarters. Afterwards, other servants will prepare you for the night. Demyx will cleanse you and Marluxia will dress you and ensure that you look your best for the queen. Now, I have to ask about your previous experiences."

"What… experiences, my lord?"

"Your sexual experiences," Baralai replied, seemingly unembarrassed by the personal nature of his question, "have you ever been with a woman before?"

The question shocked Sora. In the village he grew up in people never talked about such things, and if they did it was certainly not in such a casual manner.

"I have… no, my lord. I have only ever kissed a girl."

The thought of Kairi hurt. He would most likely never see her again. Or his family, or any of his friends. He could still see her, the sun shining in her hair, which was the colour of fruity red wine. He could see her cheerful blue eyes, her light, elegant frame and her mouth that always seemed to smile. He swallowed heavily. The best thing to do would be to forget her entirely, to banish the memory to the back of his mind.

"Have you ever been with a man?"

This thought shocked him even more. He had heard that in the cities such things were not uncommon, and it was a well-known truth that many of the nobility and the upper class took part in couplings of that nature, but it was an unspeakable sin on the countryside. A friend of Sora's, a simple boy with a pretty face, had once been cornered by a group of older boys and raped repeatedly. Afterwards he and his entire family moved away rather than face the shame of having their son known as sodomized. Having another man inside you turned you into less than a man, in the eyes of the community. Rape was a crime almost as severe as murder, though it was more common. Once you were raped as a man you were tainted for life, you were neither man nor woman. Any prospects you might have had were ruined. Homosexuals were thrown in prison for their sins. Although the queen had denounced the church and all of its rules when she came into power, the old beliefs still lingered on the countryside.

"Never, my lord."

"No need to look so disgusted," Baralai said in a way which could almost be described as amused, "in fact, you had better get used to the idea. During your stay here you will be with many men. It is part of your services to the Queen."

"I… how… I do not understand…" Sora sputtered, unable to comprehend what the white-haired man was telling him.

Baralai sighed. "You will serve the Queen in various ways. Your services to her include those of a sexual nature. The queen has certain… appetites that we, as her servants, are required to sate."

This shocked Sora to his very core. All he had ever heard about the Queen was about her great beauty and magical power, how she had united the empire against the usurper, how her magic had cleansed the most corrupted places throughout the land of evil, how she was wise and beautiful beyond imagining. Nothing he had ever heard prepared him for this. He had been prepared to spend more than a decade of his young life as a servant, cooking and cleaning and doing other simple tasks perhaps, but he had not been prepared for this.

"You are speechless, I see." Baralai observed, "this may come as a shock to you, but the Queen has, understandably, grown restless in her immortality. You have until tonight to get used to the idea of being with a man."

They had stopped walking, they were standing in front of an ornamented purple door, in a long hallway with many identical doors. Baralai opened the door and urged Sora in.

"These are to be your new quarters. I will leave you now. I suggest you take some rest before tonight. You may very well be going to need it."