Logan
He has always cared for her; the older brother who was a little aloof, but at the same time gave the greatest advice she had ever received. Rina cherishes her memories of him, now he's left for another land in order to let Albion heal. Of course he will always be there, in letters and reports, to advise and guide her.
When she was a baby they never thought she'd make it, she was small and weak, but Logan, just five then, cuddled her and kept her warm while her mother slept. She owes her brother her own life.
For a brief period, she hates him, can't stand him. He ordered the death of a man she cared for, stopped short her naivety.
She realises soon after he was preparing her for ruling the kingdom. And when she meets the Crawler, and discovers Logan left Aurora, she is neither torn nor judgemental. Logan must have known the Crawler would try for Albion, so he decided to save Albion, his own country, rather than stick out his neck for a stranger. Admirable and patriotic, though selfish.
And when the choice comes, to kill or to spare, she throws herself off of her throne and hugs her brother, rather than have him executed. Rina owes him her life, after all; she has red in her ledger, and she will not forget a debt simply to appease her own people.
And when he leaves for a foreign land, she understands, she forgives, and she moves on to find two bullet wounds in her body and a soldier who would give his life for her, not simply because of duty, or the oaths he swore.
Luna remembers little of her childhood.
But what she remembers of it never includes any sibling affection between her or her brother. Anger, spats, and comments about her tomboyish personality are abundant. He chides, tells her to wear dresses, sighs when she turns up dirty from gardening or hide and seek.
During balls he hands her off to young men simply to alleviate himself of the burden of her presence; that changes when she meets Elliot, though, and he tries to force her to stay by his side, rather than allow her to cavort away with her friend.
The final nail in his coffin is when he tries to order her to kill her lover, her boyfriend, the man she plans on marrying and has claimed with her very soul.
And when the order comes, Logan's death or reprieve, she doesn't even remember that he's her brother. He argued with her, attempted to kill her lover, sent a troop of soldiers to their deaths, executed Swift, abandoned Aurora, and more importantly took Reaver's advice. To her, he is no longer flesh and blood, but a tyrant king.
There's more of her mother in her than she realises, watching her own brother's execution.
He isn't even Tallusa's full brother; he's a half, left over from Sparrow and Reaver's romantic, sexual liaison when Sparrow was fuming at the whole of Albion. And yet he is the best big brother a girl could hope for.
When she is learning to walk, Logan is beside her mother the entire time giving her words of encouragement. And when her mother is resting he picks his little sister up and urges her on. When she falls on him he giggles, hugging her, and sets her right again.
When she is five some older boys pull faces and make her cry, and Logan hares through the garden waving a large stick to chase them away, tearing his fancy clothes on thorns and muddying his shoes. And when he finds his weeping sister he picks her up and carries her away to the kitchens where the cooks feed her cake. And it doesn't matter that he's fifteen by then; he is Tallusa's big brother, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone hurt her.
He frowns every time Elliot is around; when Clarke tries to force her to sleep with him he has the boy castrated; whenever Reaver teaches her to shoot he stands by the side watching his father and sister to make sure that neither of them hurt each other.
After he forces her to choose between man and rebel and sees the hurt on her face, he locks himself in his room and mopes for an entire week. It takes Reaver and several cups of tea liberally spiked with whisky to coax him out, and even then he is grumpy.
And when Major Swift is going to be executed, she realises, as she's standing in the crowd, that's he's locked eyes with her and he's nodding. His way of telling her that she must free Swift; it is imperative.
He almost knows what she's going to do when it comes to down his life. Before anyone has even barked out a reason for his death her hand is up, silencing the dissenters. She simply says 'I think not' and everyone knows it is useless to argue.
She does not worry for him, during those eight months she is gone. Because he finds Page, and Page gives him Lizzie.
It is not many times that Valkyrie has questioned her own self. But Logan causes her to.
She remembers him, the big older brother, the shoulder to cry on, the one who introduced her to Reaver. She remembers calm words and relieved sighs – and also exhausted sighs of a man who has tried to move mountains and failed, the mountains being her seductive siren's personality and mindset.
Valkyrie likes the debauchery of life, but at the end of the day she looks back on herself and despairs of what she was. It takes Logan to do that.
During the revolution, she is indifferent; sure, he's a tyrant, fine, yeah, she's going on the throne. Just provide her with a willing man in her bed later on, and she'll be fine.
But on that day when it's the choice between killing a tyrant and sparing her own brother, she looks back on all her decisions so far and suddenly changes, realises her life so far has been wasted on her. She needs to do something for the people, she needs to stop being so selfish.
Although that doesn't mean she'll appease them by murdering her own brother.
A/N Thanks for the reviews, LunaMarr and LaBellaDJalisco! They are always appreciated!
Your friendly neighbourhood review whore,
Lizabetta
