I like Victoria (FemVigarde) and Fado, but somehow it's really hard to see them as a real couple. A fling or two, maybe, but a relationship... is questionable.

Attention: Implied sex at the end, Fado is 16/17 in this fic.

"It is always worth to try get at the father through the son." was the last thing Victoria´s father told her that evening. He had disappeared, then, with his most loyal allies ('lapdogs' was more fitting, Victoria thought) in the throng to find his original target, the king of Renais. She sighed, willed away her incoming headache, corrected the fit of her dress and went to find that prince of Renais.

A few men called her over, either to win some favours with the emperor (they knew the same proverb as her father, it seemed) or to win a favour from her. She only waved them off with a charming smile. Men who approached her could always wait, Victoria knew, they rarely had great value to her father.

Eventually she found the prince of Renais sitting in a corner together with what seemed to be his personal knights. Victoria stopped for a moment, wondered how they had got admission to this private feast, but quickly gathered her wits again. Pushing her long, wavy violet hair over her shoulders, she walked over with long strides and an inviting smile. The two men, who looked nothing like nobles, jumped to their feet and bowed low (knights, just as she had thought); the prince first only turned his head. When he recognized her, he stood and offered her his hand.

"Princess Victoria," he said with a broad smile. Victoria accepted his hand and they exchanged a kiss on the cheek; Victoria had to bend down to him. She was taller than most men she knew and at times found this fact very empowering.

"Prince Fado, have you been hiding from me? I haven't been able to meet you since you arrived here two days ago." His smile turned a tad apologetic – it didn't seem too honest to Victoria.

"There was too much to see." He threw a quick look at his knights. "I rather explore than sit at home."

"I see." Victoria smiled pleasantly even though she found his attitude very unbefitting for someone of his station. "Well, have you enjoyed what you've seen?" She shifted slightly so that the cloth of her dress fell differently and emphasized her breasts. Prince Fado didn't seem to notice.

"I did." His eyes lit up. "We've been to the Great Colosseum and watched the fights." For a second, her smile twitched into a smirk. Of course he would like that, she thought, every man she knew liked the Colosseum. "I've wanted to join the fighters in the arena, but Louis, here, " he jerked his head over to the older looking knight, "stopped me." Victoria blinked surprised as Prince Fado huffed – he was almost pouting. "I would've shown them what a real warrior is."

"Of course you would have," the older looking knight said and bowed. "But that would've been unfair to all the other fighters, wouldn't it? They are earning their living with this 'sport'. It would not have been proper for a prince to take that away, would it?"

Victoria watched curiously how Prince Fado first grew pink with embarrassment and then nodded sheepishly. The knight named Louis only smiled amused in return.

"I wouldn't have kept the money," Fado mumbled and focused his attention solely on Victoria. Louis just bowed, still smiling knowingly. "Anyway, we've also been to the sea."

"You haven't been to the sea often, have you?" Victoria asked before she could truly think about her question. She slapped herself mentally when Fado grinned broadly at her question.

"Every year I visit Frelia, we go to the beach. But the sea is different here," he added thoughtfully. "Frelia´s sea is calmer, most of the time. Though the storms are worse. I hear it has to do with the rocks and mountains underwater..." He threw a questioning look at Victoria, who nodded. "Have you ever been to Frelia?"

Victoria bit herself on the tongue before all the (pathetic, in her opinion) reasons her father had given her for why she was never allowed to set foot on Frelian ground could fall from her lips. "No," she just said with a polite smile.

"That's too bad." Curiously, Victoria noted that his smile was a bit tampered. Her wonder didn't live long, though. Fado suddenly seemed to remember something and gestured to the sofa he had been sitting on earlier. "Please, have a seat." As Victoria threw him a warm smile and sat down, the two knights suddenly bowed and excused themselves. She felt relieved that they left on their own; the conversation would've been much more awkward if she had to ask them to leave. Now she could act as if she had started the conversation without any ulterior motives.

"Thank you." Victoria crossed her legs and leaned back against the low backrest; the long slit in her skirt of her otherwise modest dress offered a generous sight of her shapely legs – when she was standing the slit was barely noticeable. A tiny pearl tied the two pieces of her skirt together at the very end and another in the middle so that she didn't lose complete control of her dress. Victoria caught Fado at throwing a quick glance at her legs. She smiled, even though he immediately looked away again. Leaning back, she slightly arched her back in a way that would emphasize her curves.

"Grado is a very beautiful country," Fado said into his cup of spiced wine.

"It is." Victoria pushed her hair back over her shoulder and let her gaze roam over the room. 'Never let them notice that you're watching them' – amongst other things – had been hammered into her head since she had started to talk and understand words.

Victoria let the conversation die down for a moment; she watched Fado closely enough, though, so that she knew when he let his guard down. To her delight, he was no uptight person and after a few sips of wine, he turned to her, smiling.

"You seem happy," she remarked.

"I'm always happy when I can travel around. I love seeing all of Magvel. I hope that I can convince my father to let me travel north instead to Serafew when we return home." He seemed to grow giddy at the thought. Victoria´s smile became genuine for a moment. "Have you heard of the hunting grounds they have along the mountain border? It's said that the strongest and biggest bears live there." Fado´s eyes started to shine.

"Well, yes, but you can find the bears in every mountainous region in Grado. It's just that in the borderland there are less places for them to hide than in other regions." While Victoria had been talking, a storm cloud seemed to have gathered over Fado´s head; it took Victoria aback.

"Well, that's no challenge then." He crossed his arms and leaned back. "We'll have to go somewhere else." Victoria blinked slowly; she had manoeuvred herself into an awkward direction, she noticed. Instead of enforcing his good mood, she unintentionally had worsened it. Her tongue flickered out and over her lips.

"You can hunt bears to the west of Serafew," she offered, slowly. "The forests are dense there, and the Borgo Mountains make the weather unpleasant." Her suggestion seemed to please the Renaitian prince. Victoria relaxed while thinking that this prince had a strange idea of how hunting should look like.

"I'll have to try that," he said with a smile. "Then I won't have to argue with my father too much." He nodded to himself. Victoria wanted to make a grab for her cup of wine to flush down her slight uncertainty (she had rarely that many difficulties with winning someone´s attention), but she felt it would be too obvious if she had to drape herself over the sofa again.

"The negotiations are taking long, aren't they," Victoria said with a sigh and looked around the room. Their fathers were not in sight. In the corners of her eyes, she saw Fado nodding. "Well, thanks to that I have the chance to meet you." She threw him a look that was supposed to prompt him to sigh in sympathy. He just smiled politely – it did not rattle her, but she took it as a warning. She looked away.

"I didn't think they would be over quickly," Fado said after an awkward second. "My father doesn't look like it, but he's as stubborn as I." His genuine broad smile was back. "If he absolutely doesn't like something, you can't force him to accept." Victoria frowned inwardly; this was why her father had been in such a bad mood yesterday. Outwardly, she feigned sympathy.

"That sounds familiar," she answered. Victoria grew more confident when he laughed in answer. She was on the right path, she thought. "Though it's a sad thing, don't you believe?" She crunched up her forehead in a concerned manner – when he looked over, she tilted her head towards him. "It would be far more beneficial for both Renais and Grado if the negotiations would go over more smoothly." When she saw that she had his full attention, she shifted – her skirt moved and displayed a tad more of her long legs – and looked him in the eye. "Rulers shouldn't be that stubborn, I believe."

"Well, I don't think..." He hesitated and avoided her gaze. Victoria was a bit worried because he hadn't sneaked a look at all. Maybe he isn't into legs, she thought and leaned closer, acting as if she wanted to hear him better, so that her breasts were squished upwards by her arms. "I believe my father has his reasons for being stubborn," he finally said.

Victoria frowned and looked as genuinely confused as she could. "How do you know?" She looked away and pushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. In the corners of her eyes she saw him watch her movement so she took her time and let her finger innocently glide over her cheek and neck before placing her hand in her lap. "I cannot think of a reason why he would. I don't understand why your father discourages a new trading agreement. We could've already be celebrating." She threw him an innocently questioning look. The almost blank expression on his face surprised her.

"If my father 'discourages' this agreement, he has his reasons." Victoria steeled herself as he pronounced the word "discourage" very slowly. "If you want to find out how to convince him, I cannot help you." That took Victoria visibly aback.

"Prince Fado, I did not intent to-"

"Then you're always acting like this?" he interrupted her, raising his eyebrows in wonder. She stared at him confused. "Your posing," he added. "How you're sitting."

"I don't know what you mean," she quickly retorted, but her voice was tight and not convincing.

"If you say so..." He tilted his head and his expression spoke volumes; she had lost her credibility. "Your acting just seems... unnatural."

"Unnatural?" She blinked and decided to let all pretences fall; she sat up and her back rejoiced. "You're the first to tell me that."

"Truly?" he asked in wonder. "I found it really obvious."

"How so?" Victoria was curious now. Fado started to smile again.

"Well, you just looked like you were trying to seem happy even though you aren't." Her headache gently knocked against her temples to remind her that it was still there. "And while the position of your legs looked natural," he threw a look at her legs, which were mostly hidden now (Victoria noticed that now his gaze lingered), "the rest of you didn't." He laughed. "You looked pretty uncomfortable." Victoria gave a long, suffering sigh.

"You're more perceptive than other men." Fado laughed again.

"I don't think so. The other men are just blinded by your beauty." Victoria genuinely smiled at him. She didn't heed most compliments, because she was never sure they were honest, but this one she had earned, in a way.

"Thank you." He gave her a short, almost mocking bow, which made her laugh. She sighed, feeling comfortably, and rested her head on one hand. "So your father doesn't share his political decisions with you?" Fado threw her a suspicious look for a second, but she seemed to look genuine enough for him to relax again.

"No. He's a bit... peculiar about it."

"How so?"

"Well..." Fado looked at his lap sheepishly. "He talks to my tutors too often to care about my opinion about politics." Despite herself, Victoria laughed with him. "I assume your father involves you?" Fado asked after they had calmed.

"Yes," she said, nodding, "from the very beginning. He thinks one learns more by watching and participating than by dry lessons." Fado nodded thoughtfully.

"Understandable. Though my father probably wouldn't have had the patience to let me watch his meetings." His grin turned decidedly impish. Victoria laughed again and slumped without noticing. His easiness seemed to infect her. She pulled her legs close and raked one hand through her hair.

"You are a handful, I see." She was still smiling when she turned to him again; slightly surprised she caught him staring at her legs. He quickly yanked his gaze up to her when he noticed that she was watching him.

"I don't believe you're doing that intentionally this time..." Confused and curiously, Victoria threw a quick look at her skirt; the slit had shifted and was now displaying not only much of her thigh but also half of her knee and lower leg. She smiled crooked when she looked up at Fado through her eyelashes.

"Actually, no." Fado lowered his gaze and looked pointedly.

"You've wanted to make me look earlier. Is it forbidden now?" Victoria hesitated; the question seemed so strange and unfamiliar to her that it took her a moment to decide if Fado was serious or mocking her. The moment of hesitation gave her the opportunity to look at him more closely; his hair seemed unruly and was all over the place, his face had still a trace of boyishness though the rest of him was clearly 'adult' – he was not her type, but cute. Suddenly his gaze met hers; his eyes were gleaming.

Her decision was made.

"No." His mouth curled into a strangely reserved smile – a sensual smile, she thought, and she returned it. Victoria let her free hand glide down, stroking her bare skin, and rested it on her knee. Fado shifted, turning his body towards her. His gaze was roaming over her, from her legs up to her waist and breasts. His smile widened the more he saw. Excitement flared up in Victoria´s chest; such open appreciation was nothing unusual for her, but the fact that he seemed to be genuinely interested in her made this moment so unusual.

Then suddenly his gaze arrived at hers. They looked at each other for a moment – he had very pretty green eyes, Victoria thought – before Fado leaned forward. Victoria met him halfway.

Their kiss was surprisingly gentle at first; judging from the impression he had given her, Victoria had expected more passion. But these gentle caresses, the slow approach and his teasingly nipping of her lower lip made her heart jump far higher than a passionately aggressive kiss would have.

After a beautiful moment, Victoria pulled back. "We should take this elsewhere, shouldn't we," she whispered huskily. Fado´s grin broadened and he nodded. They stood up and sneaked out of the ballroom hand in hand.

The next day Victoria told her father that the night had been unsuccessful. Which was not entirely untrue, Victoria reasoned, for her father hadn't got what he wanted. She, however, had found a friend and had a pleasant night.