A/N: Sorry about the delay on this one… and thanks to everyone for their reviews. As long as I have reviewers, I will keep writing :-) On another note, I just found out that "Vir" is Latin for "man." Made me laugh and I thought I'd share.
Chapter 10
Intersections: "Another match made in heaven"Luke glanced about the room with idle eyes, twiddling his thumbs in a perfect caricature of boredom. Next to him sat Prince Valor, seemingly partaking in his ennui, when he wasn't busy trading daggered looks with the copper-haired girl seated across from him. Princess Vivienne was her name and Luke had heard something about a potential marriage arrangement between the two. Right now, the would-be couple didn't appear to be the on the best of terms.
The other occupants of the room, the remaining members of the three royal families that were currently staying at the castle, were seated in various positions throughout. The crowned couples had congregated to one side of the room, apparently embroiled in a stimulating discussion of regional politics, taxes, and potential military conflicts. Bor-ing, Luke thought with a roll of his eyes.
However, in his opinion, the other side of the room wasn't much better. David was immersed in conversation with the wannabe knight, Virtue (a name that amused Luke to no end), accompanied by his second shadow, Terrence, and the quiet Princess Lillith. Every so often though, David would pause in his banter and shoot a not-quite-suspicious-but-less-than-trustworthy gaze towards Luke, as if he didn't quite believe his brother could remain a full five minutes without creating some sort of havoc. Which was generally true—but it just so happened that this time Luke was remaining fairly well behaved. Oh, he would have jumped at the chance to create some mischief and liven up the gathering, but as luck would have it, no opportunities had yet presented themselves.
Ah well… he continued his survey of the room. Rebecca had apparently found an audience in the aforementioned Vivienne, though Luke couldn't decide whether the princess was really as interested in his little sister's conversations as she appeared, or was merely using the distraction to avoid interacting with her less-than-amicable suitor.
"Valor," Queen Snow suddenly broke in on her son's half-hearted brooding. "Why don't you and Virtue give the others a tour of the castle?"
Suddenly Luke's mind sprang to full attention. A guided tour of the castle would be the perfect way to scope out the place—and it had to be more interesting than what he was doing now. Just barely restraining himself from jumping enthusiastically from his seat, he eagerly awaited the pair's response.
Brother and sister shared a glance before Valor gave an indifferent shrug and pulled his tall frame up from his chair. "This way," he declared with an eloquent gesture that could only be produced by those of noble birth—and their years of training in such pointless activities.
Virtue was the first to follow, then Luke, and finally the rest. As the eight piled out of the room, all in their various clusters, no one bothered to glance back at the parents who watched them go. For if they had, they might have noticed the conspiratorial looks they shared.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"And this is the banquet hall," Valor informed them, gesturing towards the large room, his tone revealing just how unimpressed he was with his new role as tour guide. Though he conducted their little excursion at an unhurried pace, he provided little elaboration or explanations of the sights they were visiting.
"And this is one of the wine cellars," he said as they walked past a closed door. "I'm sure you've all seen the inside of a cellar, so we won't bother with that," he continued as he stifled a yawn.
"Jeez Val, you could put a little effort into it," Virtue interjected with a roll of her eyes. It was clear that Valor's attitude was beginning to rub off on the group, and some of them looked as if they might have more fun if they were asleep.
"Hey, if you think you can do a better job, be my guest," her brother replied nonchalantly, not minding the possibility of losing the position.
Virtue gave a toss of her head and marched up to the front of the group in an overly dramatic fashion, while the others watched her with a small degree of amusement. "You're challenge is accepted," she declared in a mock-haughty voice. She gave a lengthy pause before she began with a clearing of her throat and a grand gesture as if she were presenting the treasures of the kingdom, "This, as my brother Valor stated, is one of the wine cellars—"
"How many are there?" Terrence asked, interrupting her in mid-sentence. Up until now, the tour had been pretty quiet with only the occasional comments such as "Watch your step" or "Becca, don't put that in your mouth."
"Eight," Valor answered for her. He stood off to the side, slouched against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Eight?" Vivienne asked as she glanced towards him, eyes widening slightly. "Why so many?"
"We go through a lot of alcohol around here," Virtue grinned as she made a slight drinking motion. "Mom says there's basically a cellar for each of the dwarves, and one for dad. But if that's true, then we'll have to add a ninth one for Val here."
Valor shot his sister an annoyed look before deciding either that she was speaking the truth, or that he really wasn't concerned about appearances. So he chose not to say anything. However, as he shifted his gaze, he found himself confronted by Vivienne's accusatory glare. He returned her look with one of his own, which seemed to say, "Hey, we're not married yet."
Vivienne reciprocated with one that read, "And we never will be, you lush." They continued this exchange for a while, both amazingly expressive despite the fact that neither had spoken a word.
Lillith, who had dropped to her sister's side, suddenly leaned over and whispered in Vivienne's ear, "Annoying though he may be at times, you have to admit he's pretty cute."
Vivienne's head whipped around so she was facing Lillith, and they were both lucky that Lillith reacted fast enough in pulling back her head, or else they would have experienced a mutually painful collision. "Yeah, if you really think so, then you can marry him," she returned in a harsh whisper.
The younger sister let out an exaggerated soft sigh. "If only…"
Despite her annoyance, Vivienne couldn't help but smile in response. "You know, you can be awful cheeky when I'm the only one who can hear you."
"Cheekiness is always rewarded in kind," Lillith replied.
Their conversation was interrupted when Vivienne suddenly felt a light tug on her hand and she looked down at Rebecca. "Who are the dwarves?" the little blond inquired.
"Oh… sweetie, have you ever heard the story of Snow White?" Vivienne asked.
Rebecca wrinkled her nose as she thought valiantly about the answer. "Um… maybe?"
"Sure you have, Becca," David said, stepping in. "Remember the bedtime story I read you just last week?"
"Oh yeah," Rebecca exclaimed, realization dawning on her face.
"You read her bedtime stories?" Lillith asked with a smile. "That's so sweet."
A derisive snort was heard emitted by Luke but David chose to ignore him, and the others decided to follow his lead. Instead, Vivienne picked up the description where David had left off. "Well, that Snow White in the story is Queen Snow, Vir's"—she couldn't seem to bring herself to include Valor's name in the explanation—"mother."
"Really?" Rebecca asked with wide-eyed wonder as she looked towards Virtue.
Virtue gave her a good-natured grin. "Sure kid," she replied, amused that Sleeping Beauty's daughter would be impressed with meeting the descendants of Snow White.
The tour continued with Virtue giving more elaborate descriptions than those provided earlier by her brother, and the general mood of the group had somewhat picked up. As they stopped in front of one heavy, solid closed door, Virtue announced, "And this is the armory. But we can't go in because the room's kept locked."
Valor added, "To keep out pint-sized princesses with aspirations of becoming knights."
At his description, Luke snickered—the older members of the group were all aware of Virtue's ambition. Of course, his response earned him a glare from his brother. David extended his index figure toward him, a signal that read, "I'm warning you." Luke, in turn, reciprocated with another single-fingered gesture, one neither so subtle nor diplomatic as his brother's.
Ignoring the by-play between the two brothers, Virtue's attention was turned toward her own. "Who are you calling pint-sized? Besides," she continued, not waiting for a response, "At least I have aspirations."
Valor frowned at her implication. "I have aspirations."
Her interest piqued, and deciding to take the opportunity to learn a little more about him, Vivienne cut into the conversation. "Really? Such as what?"
"To be king," he replied quite matter-of-factly, turning to face her.
Vivienne's brow knotted in a frown. "That's not an aspiration. You'll be king just because you're the first-born and the only male heir. Aspirations are things you have to do something for, for them to be fulfilled."
Valor gave her a look. "I am doing something to be king—and a pretty damn big something I might add—I'm marrying you."
Dead silence ensued in the hallway following his declaration. David, Virtue, Lillith and Luke remained quiet from the knowledge of what had just been revealed, while Terrence and Rebecca merely sensed the sudden shift in the mood and were too frightened by it to speak up.
"What do you mean?" Vivienne asked in a deadly, quiet voice, which was enough to fill even Valor with dread. "You're being forced into this?"
"Uh, well, it was kind of an agreement… you know, quid pro quo…" Valor stumbled to explain.
His answer did nothing to appease her. "What kind of prince are you that you would let yourself be forced into marrying someone you don't even know… or like?" Vivienne asked in open disgust.
Despite his initial wariness at her reaction, Valor wasn't ready to sit by and let her insult him for something that was not his doing. "The kind that wants to be king," he retorted challengingly. Really, it wasn't his fault that she hadn't known about the circumstances of his agreement, and he didn't think that she should take out her indignation on him.
"Well," she said, eyes narrowing and her whole body screaming her anger despite the quiet and steady tone of her voice. Finding out that someone was being forced to marry her wasn't exactly the most wonderful experience of her day and she lashed out at the only suitable target. "I hate to ruin your plans, but I never agreed to marry you. All I said was that I would consider it before I made my final decision. And now, after meeting you, there's no way in hell I'd marry you!"
The others cringed as they watched the scene unfold, each of them unconsciously stepping back from the two participants in order to keep from being caught in the middle.
"Oh really, please, you're breaking my heart," Valor replied, placing his hand over his chest in a wounded gesture, which only added to her fury. Vivienne could only glare at him before she let out an inarticulate snarl most unbefitting of a princess. Then she abruptly whirled around and stormed down the hallway, back the way the group had come.
For a moment after her exit, no one even dared to breathe—or look at Valor. The unnatural stillness was broken however when Rebecca walked up to the prince and stomped on one of his feet. "You suck!" she declared.
Valor stared down at the angry little girl in open surprise, watching as she too stamped off, long blond hair flouncing behind her. "I guess this means the tour's over," Virtue announced after a moment's pause. No one contradicted her.
"I'm going out," her brother informed her in a tight voice, rapidly parting from the group.
"What should I tell mom and—?" Virtue began, but was interrupted by a look. "Right."
"I guess I should go after Becca, make sure she doesn't get lost," David sighed.
"I'll go with you," Virtue volunteered, and David shot her a grateful smile.
"Me too," Terrence piped in, and the trio departed.
"And I guess I should go check on Viv," Lillith added, also making her exit.
Which left only Luke standing in the now-deserted hallway as he watched the others, including David, leave without a second glance toward him. He suddenly smiled. Things could not have worked out better for him.
TBCNext time: The parents are up to something… but what?