Chapter One- Wickedness and Vice
Diplomacy and charm had always been two of Loki's strong suits. He wore them with the pride of a pauper in a fine hat, and found that they, like a hat, where qualities he could remove when it suited. Certainly when the situation required it he could be the most diplomatic and the most charming ruler you ever met, and with his upcoming welcome into the virtuous house of D'uvall he would need all the diplomacy and charm he could muster.
Following the end of battle which had made certain Loki's reign over the Earth, he had realised that in order to restore any semblance of dignity in the world he had conquered, he would have to make nice with the mortals. The next few months had been full of the tedium of politics and poker faced transactions with thugs and terrorist organizations. Yes, Earth was his now, and that meant that the mortals were not to be blowing it up.
War was, under no circumstances permitted, and arguments over religion were both futile and a criminal offense, there was only one god they should be bowing there heads to.
Yes, Loki had changed much in his short rule, but it was just the beginning, he had a long way to go before Midgard would even come close to resembling the shining image he had nestled in his mind.
The next step however was to talk politics with another of Earths wretched leaders. The last one in fact. All the others had already been persuaded to join his cause, or at least tolerate it. The good king Nikolei had been last to convince on the list, do the fact that Loki did not think him so averse to the absolute rule of a Norse God. King Nikolei did not seem very averse to anything really, if rumour was to be believed. And Loki had a sneaking suspicion that the rumours surrounding the famed D'uvall family, were to be believed.
The plane, infernal thing, touched down and broke Loki from his revery, he looked across the aisle into the questioning eye's of his advisor, Alex Nickle, before standing and stretching with feline grace and saying "Come my friend, or we shall be late"
Alex Nickle grinned slightly and stood "You know, My Lord, I have a good feeling about this trip"
Loki walked down the aisle of the plane towards the exit, ignoring him completely and gesturing to one of his travel maids to gather his belongings, a small leather briefcase that was enchanted to carry more than it would have in usual circumstances. Alex Nickle strolled casually behind him. "Your highness, I understand that one in your position may be under ...some pressure, but it does not hurt to cut loose once in a while, you look ...tense"
There were not many people in the realm that Loki would permit to speak so freely with him, but Alex Nickle was one of them.
The teenager had proved more than once, that he was worth his mettle, his familiarity with Earthly concepts and colloquialism had been invaluable. Loki knew the young man to possess an ingenuity beyond his years, and that above all things was what had earned him his position as Loki's chief advisor.
Perhaps Alex Nickle was a little more casual with him than Loki would prefer, but despite this Loki knew that the man did not harbour any cruel intentions towards him. "Yes Alex, I am aware that you would have me 'cutting loose' more often, if only to enlarge your own prospects and control"
He snarked bitingly, it was all in mischief, Loki was in a relatively good mood, and the verbal sparring was a sign of it, he waited for his friend to flail under the weight of his words. Alex Nickle, wisely, did not rise to the bait, instead he replied cooly "Speaking of prospects and control, I couldn't help but wonder just what was going on in Madame Germaine's quarters yesterday evening"
Loki did not know wether to hug or slug the boy. The bold comment would not be accepted had it come from anyone else, but Loki liked witty banter as much as the next god of mischief and found that he did not feel any inclinations to torture the boy for his remarks, only a grudging admiration and a pride in his own wise decision to appoint Alex as chief advisor.
"Low blow my friend, very low blow, but I'll have you know that when control is exercised in such situations, the prospects are nearly always... gratifying " Loki allowed the words to roll of his tongue with all the smoothness and honey that had earned him his title as 'Silver-tongue'.
Alex smirked "I'm sure they are my liege, but I was merely referring to lack of control Madame Germaine seemed to possess in regards to her washing machine, the thing is broken and it was bashing against the wall for a good while, what was it you were talking about?"
Loki chucked at the faux innocent expression Alex had plastered across his face.
"Oh, nothing of importance..."
It was a poor excuse for a comeback and Loki knew it, but by now they had reached the vehicle that would be taking them to their destination. Loki slid elegantly into the backseat and Alex followed. The travel maid placed their luggage into the boot and the chauffeur turned the key in the ignition. They were on their way to the court of D'uvall, but there is no rest for the wicked and both Alex and Loki continued their verbal sparring the whole way. It was safe to say that by the time they had reached their destination the driver needed an aspirin.
After such a long time in a confined space Loki found himself glad to be out of the car. He quickly relieved the travel maid of his luggage and took the time to truly appreciate the surrounding scenery. After traveling up a driveway of roughly twelve kilometers he had surmised that the King and his family were most definitely wealthy, the last hundred metres of the drive had been lined with carefully maintained cherry blossoms, which bathed the area in a dappled green light that softened the austerity of the ancient building that stood before him. Loki could tell that the palace must have been there for centuries. Parts were made of stone which led him to believe that the medieval mortals must have had some hand in it's construction, but other parts of the architecture spoke of more recent renovations, large glass windows paneled almost half the front wall of the palace, and were each framed with a fine chestnut trim. Loki felt as though he were looking into a particularly exquisite dolls house.
Through the closest window he could see a ballroom, the high ceilings and ornately carved walls did nothing for him, having been spoiled at a young age by the riches of Asgard. Loki was much more interested in dancers. Faintly he could hear the sweet melody of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonnata, and he watched as a couple spun gracefully around the floor, he was unfamiliar with the routine but surmised that the couple where completing each step to rigid perfection. Suddenly the music stopped and he heard pleading voices, some laughter and finally the resumption of the melody. The woman who had been dancing stopped scowling at the disturbance, which was just outside his line of vision, and began dancing again. Another couple came into his view, the looked younger, he thought, and much more carefree. While the first couple continued their practiced pattern across the floor the second couple spun riotously around the entire room, laughing the whole time.
The sound of the gravel crunching reminded Loki that he was not here to gawk through windows.
"I thought you were never coming" Loki snapped at Alex, cautious that he may have been seen staring.
Alex, who had not noticed Loki's voyeurism knew better than to respond, and instead began the short journey up the crumbling stone staircase that led to the door. Loki followed wearily, forgetting for a time about the dancers. Alex rang the doorbell to signify their arrival.
"Now, I know you're tired, but do try and pretend that you're nice, it saves me such effort"
Loki scowled, the boy grew more and more insolent each day.
"Just remember that I am the one who signs your pay cheque"
For once Alex was silent as they waited for someone to welcome them in.
After several more minutes Loki rang the doorbell himself and heard it echo throughout the house, if this was how he was to be received he did not see a good political future for the house of D'uvall.
Aila, the servant girl, did not know how it had come to this. The young aristocrats had begged and pleaded for her to play piano for them and she had given in. It was thw twins he thought, they were so pretty no one could say no. For a second she thought she heard a faint trill in the background, and she suddenly stopped playing her music.
The eldest, Leonilla and Sergey, paused in their dance. Sergey wondered why the maid had stopped playing until he heard the doorbell ring, for what he assumed must have been the second time.
Without the sound of the music playing, the four D'uvall offspring could not deny the next loud trill of the doorbell.
Slowly all four of the D'uvall offspring remembered just who they were supposed to be welcoming that day.
The eldest, Leonilla, felt her heart flutter with nerves, she looked at Sergey anxiously and tried to remember which one of them was supposed to greet the visiting All-King, Sergey
raised his eyebrows as if to say 'not me'. She sighed and felt the burden of being the eldest once again heavy on her shoulders. When she looked across the room to her younger siblings, the twins, Lilah and Fyodor, it was the boys guilty face that spoke volumes.
"Fyodor" she said quietly. He looked her straight in the eye. "You did remember to organise someone to meet the All-King... Didn't you?"
Fyodor looked as if he were thinking very hard about what he would say next. For a moment his face screwed up, trying to remember, "Well I may have... I might not have had the time,or, or the resources... It''s all a question of..."
His words died off and he looked pleadingly at her. Leonilla had to fight a sudden rage as her blood boiled. "Do you mean to tell me that you, a perfectly capable young man, were not competent enough to complete the very simple, but very easy task of greeting, or sending someone else, to greet the All-King, who, might I remind you, could kill. Us. All?"
Leonilla could act a right snake when in a bad mood, but she knew she would be blamed for this discrepancy and could not quite mask the fury that was winding it's way through her. Fyodor looked anxious. "Well Leo, you know I have a tight schedule, and arguing about it won't make much of a difference now, right, maybe we should just forget that I-"
Leonilla held a hand up to retaliate but then froze. He was right. The longer they all stood bickering, the longer the All-King would be kept waiting on their doorstep. This sudden thought seemed to hit all of them at once and quicker than Loki could tell a lie, all four of the D'uvall offspring were running a race against time to the front door. Aila, sat alone at the piano for a moment before hurrying after them, she hadn't really been trained for this.
Loki suddenly heard what sounded like a stampede of baby elephants rushing towards the door. He looked curiously to Alex who only shrugged. The door that had one moment ago looked so steadfast, now flew open. Loki began to smile at the tall girl who had opened it, but he only got halfway there as another three mortals crashed into her back and ended up in a pile before him. He looked down at them curiously, the two younger one's were laughing and he couldn't help feel that their energy was infectious. He looked to Alex, Alex looked just as befuddled so Loki gathered this was not the traditional greeting of Midgardians. The eldest boy was first to rise, and Loki recognised him from his research as Prince Sergey. He smiled apologetically at them while the others got to their feet. Holding out a hand that he intended Loki to shake Sergey began to speak.
"I am Prince Sergey of the house D'uvall, we welcome you and apologise for... this"
He gestured to his siblings who were still brushing dust off their clothing.
Loki could not find it within himself to be cruel about their tardiness, or even their impromptu pile-up. Despite the long car trip his penchant for mayhem made the situation humorous to him. He smiled to show that he was not offended and shook Prince Sergey's hand.
"I am Loki, this is my advisor, Alex, we thank you for your welcome"
The royal children had now organised themselves and began their own introductions.
The stern looking girl who had first come out of the door held out her hand to shake and stated simply. "I am the eldest of the D'uvall children. My name in Leonilla."
Loki could not help but think what a ghastly name it was, but reached for her outstretched hand anyway, he knew she had intended it to shake but he brushed a kiss over the skin anyway. Diplomacy and charm.
Loki looked up at her then and smiled, she looked very stern and retracted her hand quickly. She didn't have any hint of youth about her and he could tell immediately that she was very reserved. When he was about to look away she spoke.
"It's a pleasure to meet you your highness, I hope we did not keep you waiting for long"
"No, it was no trouble at all Milady" He lied smoothly.
He saw Alex give an approving nod out the corner of his eye. Alex was the one who had given him the 'diplomacy and charm' pep talk in the first place.
The next D'uvall child he looked at was a young man. Very unusual looking, but not unappealing, Loki suspected that this would be the 'Lady Killer' of the two boys. He had hair almost as dark as Loki's but eye's as yellow as a cats, and just as calculating.
The boy held out a hand. "You need not kiss mine, a shake will suffice, I'm Fyodor"
A smart arse then. Well, they couldn't all be pliant Loki supposed. Loki shook the boys hand and prayed that they would get along. He looked to the girl next. She said nothing, instead Fyodor spoke up again. "This is the princess Lilah, she is my twin sister, the youngest" the girl looked looked at Fyodor quickly when he mentioned her age status, but still said nothing until Loki smiled at her. Then she held out a hand and said softly "We welcome you", he smiled again and bent over to graze his lips across her hand. "And we thank you for that welcome, Princess"
He supposed he should have guessed they were twins from the beginning, Fyodor had his arm behind Lilah's back very protectively and they seemed like two parts of the same machine. Physically they were as different as night and day, while Fyodor reminded him of a night in the desert, dark and eternal, but almost overbearingly warm, Lilah was like a frost bitten morning. Her skin was pale and he could see the veins carrying life through her body, her pale white hair was swinging femininely around her waist and as she looked up at him with pale green eyes, Loki thought that the two very attractive twins could pose more of a threat with their looks alone, than the eldest two could with any fine words or dignified mannerisms. He smiled at them both, plans were beginning to form in his mind, he would just have to wait and see how they panned out. The twins returned the smile at the same time. They smiled the same smile. Full pink lips that quirked at the edges in a loving embrace, blushing cupids bows that promised secrets he would never know, it was like they were laughing at a joke that none other than them would understand. He felt as though he had just been hugged, such was the warmth that emanated from the two. Alluring indeed. "Shall we proceed?"
Loki's gaze snapped back to Sergey who was regarding him closely.
Loki nodded.
"Yes. We shall"
Alex Nickle had a hunch that it was going to be a good trip. And as he had had followed Loki and the four D'uvall children on their tour of the palace, he could not help but feel that his hunch had been confirmed. Lilah was very beautiful, that was a definite.
Some polite small talk had confirmed that they were the same age, and for once he was happy to be only 19. He thought the clothing style of the children curious. It was as though they were out of time. Leonilla wore a purple dress that touched the floor and covered her arms. She seemed very conservative. And Lilah wore a very pale green dress that ended just above her ankles, he could see that she was barefoot. The sleeves capped her shoulders and he liked the way her arms looked. Long, pale and slender. There was no doubt about it. The girl was blessed. Alex found himself wary of Fyodor though, just as good looking, though very much darker he had noticed Alex's fixation and been glowering at him ever since.
Fyodor and Sergey were in slightly more relaxed clothing. Both of them in dark jeans. Fyodor wore a crisp white dress shirt, that he had left unbuttoned around the top, like his twin he did not wear shoes, just a mismatched pair of socks which Alex found amusing. The elder, Sergey, wore dress shoes and a dark blazer over the top of a cool white dress shirt. Unlike Fyodor he wore a tie and looked more formal, similar to Leonilla in that regard.
Soon enough Loki was showed to his rooms and Alex was left alone with the D'uvall children. Lilah approached him.
"I hope you enjoy your stay here, we don't get visitors often"
He smiled. Even her voice was beautiful.
"If it means spending time with people as welcoming as you and your siblings, then it should be very enjoyable"
It was her turn to smile.
"Quite the charmer, here are your rooms"
The group came to a stop and he figured he was expected to leave them.
"Thankyou for the tour, I will rest up for now, what time are Loki and I expected for dinner?"
It was Leonilla who replied coldly even though he had addressed the question to Lilah.
"Seven. Sharp. Our family are very picky about tardiness, so please don't keep us waiting"
He nodded and gave one last smile to the group before going into his room and shutting the door. After checking to see if all of his luggage had arrived, he slumped down on the bed.
"Don't relax now"
Alex didn't even jump, by now he was used to his Kings sudden appearances.
"What do you want?"
Loki smirked.
"That is no way to greet your King"
Alex rolled his eye's and gestured to an armchair that sat in the corner of the room.
Loki sidled over and gracefully lowered himself into it.
"What do you think of them?"
Alex had known it would come to this, he had not formed any solid conclusions about the four they had met today, yet he had known that Loki would not be satisfied without a detailed debriefing on all of their characters.
"I found all four of them very intriguing"
It was Loki's turn to roll his eye's.
"Yes, so did I, but what of their personalities? I want your opinion... as a mortal"
Alex bit back a scathing remark. He knew to be careful with his words. "The eldest, Leonilla... I don't know. She is a closed door. It's like her natural expression is a poker face. I feel as though she hides everything away, very conservative, I guess it's not so unusual in a family like this though."
Loki nodded his agreement, from what he knew that he would have to be very careful in his interactions with her. She had been so stern, and so abrasive to her siblings during their tour of the palace that he had realised that he would never want to incur her wrath, he thought it might turn all of the siblings against him. He gestured Alex to continue his debrief.
"I quite like Sergey, he seems very perceptive, if reserved. I feel as though he understands more of what goes on than anyone, yet would keep everything to himself."
Loki had thought that to. The piercing gaze, so full of intelligence, that Sergey had continued to throw his way had been slightly off putting, but his polite manner and calm handling of the situation on the doorstep had led Loki to believe he was likable enough. Loki nodded.
"What of the twins Alex?"
This was where it would get interesting. The twins had been new to him. So beautiful and carefree, it felt to him as though there was something hiding behind their angelic smiles, he had glimpsed it momentarily on the doorstep, but did not see it again for the rest of the tour. In fact both of them were perfect hosts the entire time. Fyodor maintained a polite, yet interesting conversation and Lilah had laughed appropriately at all the right times. They were perfect, even if they didn't wear shoes.
"They are very attractive my lord" Alex said slowly.
Loki could tell he was holding back.
"And? Surely you thought more than that?"
"They seem very close, very connected, Fyodor was very friendly"
"And the girl?" Loki asked.
"Lilah?... she seemed... nice"
Loki smirked. The girl had been quiet yet charming the whole afternoon. He suspected she was well practiced at playing coy. He would not deny that it was attractive though. She was warm and sweet and he looked forward to talking to her. She was very beautiful.
"I think it will be beneficial for me to form bonds with these people Alex, you too of course"
Alex smiled thinking of Lilah. "Of course, just remember, diplomacy and charm"
"Agreed"
Loki teleported back to his room thinking all the while of the four D'uvall children he would have to befriend.
Diplomacy and charm. He snorted as he thought of Lilah's sweet little face, and her frosted cherry lips that he had already decided he would claim.
Diplomacy and charm, he scoffed.
More like wickedness and vice.