Chapter Text
“Valerie Eden.”
Val's attention drifted from the window as her teacher called her name. With black, wavy hair framing her face and bright, big green eyes and freckles that sparkled like stars, she turned to face the man standing in front of her.
“Sir?” she asks in a monotone voice. He sighs and points to a board that reads: Steps for a formal dinner setting are?
“Would you please enlighten me with the answer to that question?” The teacher sarcastically responds. She rolls her eyes at him when he walks back over to his seat.
“One lay an ironed tablecloth on the table—” An angry knock saves her from answering the question. Val stands up when she sees Zagreus walk in the room. He had chocolate brown skin, a half brown half blonde short fluffy haircut. The man had icy blue and brown heterochromia eyes. He has a very muscular build and is intimidating. His parents immigrated here from Stro Don before he was born and he shared their accent.
“Excuse me Richard-” Zagreus crosses his arms and leans against the doorway- “Valerie is fifteen minutes late for her next lesson.” Richard rolls his eyes at the younger man.
“Zag, we would’ve been done fifteen minutes early if she didn’t stare out of the window the whole time,” Richard huffs. Val takes this opportunity to chime in about how boring the class is.
“Sir if I may-” Val starts but Richard glares at her, cutting her off. This made Val upset. Not only did this guy keep teaching her things she already knew, he was talking down to her. He is disrespecting the actual princess of Frusia. “Sir, I already know everything you are trying to teach me. I apologize if I get a little distracted,” Val grits with teeth clenched.
Richard narrows his eyes at her and scoffs, “If you know everything, you won’t mind me testing you at your debutante tomorrow,” he folds his arms in front of him. Zagreus jerks his head toward the hallway, signaling Val to leave the room with him. Walking out she looks over her shoulder.
“Richard, if you embarrass my mother in any way at the debutante, she will literally have your head on a silver platter,” She smiles and Zagreus shuts the door behind them. When they are alone he drops his scary face. They start laughing and she hops on his back. Zagreus super speeds them to their training room. Val hops down, smiling at him. He punches her shoulder.
“Are you ready for your debutante?” Zagreus inquires, and gives Val a noogie. Val shoves him off of her and grabs a half and half sword.
“It’s not my debutante, it’s just the first one of the season,” She waves the sword in a circle, “and it’s my first one.”
It’s pretty important and Mother will have a stroke if things don’t go secondo il piano,” Val shrugs and readies her sword. Zagreus grabs the same sword and readies as well.
“You know as well as I do that Queen Avery will have a stroke even if things do go according to plan. If you run around stressing about everything, you’ll be as useless as a chicken with its head cut off.” Zagreus bawks as he slashes his sword at Val.
Val is quick to parry the attack. “That’s easy for you to say, you have two parents who are supportive and shower you with attention. Mine only cares about my existence for social events and ‘princess stuff.’
“Babbo only made me take self defense lessons because I don’t have Fae powers like everyone else my age.” Val strikes and almost hits Zagreus, but he ducks and rolls away.
Zagreus readies himself for a heavy hit. “My parents have made sure to treat you as their daughter.” He grits out a little irritated. He swings and Val jumps back. He barely nicked her cheek. Val rubs her cheek with her thumb and sees the blood. She sucks on her teeth.
“Aah, that hurts,” She takes a breath and continues to fight him, “You know that’s not what I meant, Zag. I’m so grateful for how wonderful they are to me and I love them so much.
“Royal children have always been raised by nurses and nannies. I’m sure they love me, but they have more important responsibilities elsewhere,” She does a barrel roll to get out of the way of Zagreus when he comes running at her with his half and half sword at his waist. She jumps backs up, rotating the sword around in her hand. She stretches her neck. “Someday I will too,” she mumbles to herself.
Val pivots the sword and strikes Zagreus’s chest. The cut is deep, but Zagreus can’t heal himself with Val near him.
“I wonder what the monarchy would look like if Royalty actually raised their own children instead of depending on nannies and maids.” Zagreus hissed while touching the gash on his chest. Val smirks at her handiwork, but then frowns at the comment.
Deep in thought, Val swings from over her head and slams the sword from over her head. Val was distracted and didn’t register the tshing from the top half of Zagreus’s sword hitting the ground.
“Oh my Gods, Val,” his gasp brought her back to the moment and she saw what he was on about. Zagreus dropped his sword and raised his fist. Val does the same.
“We wouldn’t, I’ve seen what my parents do on a daily— what I will do someday. You can either be a real parent,” She grunts as she ducks a punch, “or you can run a monarchy. You don’t get to do both, fae children are a lot of work.”
Zagreus tries to sweep her leg but she reacts just a little bit faster. She punches him in the gut. He doubles over and takes a second to recover.
“So are adult fae,” he super speeds behind her and kicks her in the back, “What does your dress look like?” Zagreus elbows her in the sternum, knocking the wind out of her.
Val stumbles forward and Zagreus shoots his arm forward to put her in a chokehold. Val uses that split second to flip him over her shoulder.
“You were too busy trying to get into my brother’s pants to be there, so you’ll be able to see it at the debutante. I still can’t believe you two are actually together, it feels like you’ve had a crush on him forever.” Val teases. Zagreus jumps up and tries to roundhouse kick her. She ducks and barely evades him. He throws his hands in the air.
“That date was planned a year in advance! The deposit alone was worth more than my wages. There was no way I was gonna cancel that.” Zagreus manages to wrestle Val to the ground. She slowly grows somber. He pins her for a second.
“You know I would spot you the cash anytime, right?” She throws him off of her and she tries to pin him. His face fell.
“I know you would E, but I’m grateful that I have you in my corner. I’m not going to abuse that,” He sighed. Val pinned him and won.
“Zag,” she sighed, “I don’t want you to have to do without because of your pride. I love you and I want to make sure you can live comfortably. We’ve known each other long enough that it shouldn’t be a barrier. You are my best friend, I don’t want you suffering when I can make it better.” Val stands and offers him a hand up. They begin to walk back to her room. They let her words set around them for a minute.
“It's not Pride Val,” he turned to face her as they approached her bedroom door, “I don't ever want to make you feel like I'm here for your status or money,” he placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead. “You're my best friend because I love you as a person,” he hugged her and walked away.
Val went into her room and flopped face down on her pillow. She was so exhausted she immediately fell asleep.
“Val honey, E sweet, time to wake up,” the voice of her handmaid made Val jump out of bed and launch herself toward the 5’9’’ blond haired woman in front of her. She almost knocked her over.
“Missy!” Val exclaimed, “How was your maternity leave?” Val jumps from foot to foot in anticipation.
Missy pulls Val into the bathroom. A hot bath is waiting for her. “Oh it was wonderful although, I do wish my Vallie Girl would’ve come to see me. Someone is still waiting to meet you. His name is Isaac, and he’s so sweet and wonderful,” Missy started to scrub Val once she stepped into the tub.
After her bath, Val sat at her vanity while Missy brushed and fixed her hair in a braid to keep her hair tidy until she had to get ready for her debutante later that day.
“May I see some pictures of him?” Missy nodded and she pulled up the pictures on her phone and handed it to her.
“He’s so cute! May I send these to myself so I can get them printed?” Val asks. Missy nods and they go over to her closet and she gets her pre-debutante outfit out. Missy puts her corset on.
“Don’t worry Missy, after this debutante I’ll have a whole bunch of time on my hands. I promise I’ll be over so much you’ll end up asking me to leave.” Val laughs and Missy grows somber.
“Val,” She inquired, “Why aren’t you going to Torwin Academy? They wouldn’t accept Zag and not you,” Missy tilts her head slightly. Val looks away from the older woman.
“I’m not allowed to go until I present physical powers,” Val takes a breath, “Which is utterly ridiculous because I have powers. Any type of fae power can’t be used within fifteen feet of me. I can feel my powers trapped inside me, I just can’t get to them,” Missy Continues to put her debutante dress on her. When she's done Missy kisses her head and Val goes to oversee the prepwork.
Val Walks around, straightens up the placements. Val makes sure the food is exactly how she wants it, and the dance floor is cleaned properly. When all of her Duties are done as host she walks into the kitchen area anxiously.
“Hey Denise," she is a pale Russian woman in her late 30s. Denise has dyed red hair and a muscular build, “Do you have anything you need help with?” Valerie asks. She needed something to keep herself busy since everything on her checklist was done.
“Yes, actually. Can you stir the pot back there?” She points behind her at the stove. Val does as she’s told. After she’s done helping in the kitchen, she walks to her room to get changed into her white debutante dress. Upon arriving she finds her red haired, green eyed lanky nineteen year old, older brother Alessandro, Zagreus and Missy, waiting for her.
Alejandro walks forward and Embraces Val in a hug. "Today is the big day Val. I'm so excited! You can begin courting today!" Alessandro spoke in a thick Frusian accent. Val rolled her eyes and hugged him nonetheless.
"Guys, you know I'm only doing this because father needs me to. He says it won't be necessary when I manifest my powers," the room grows somber for a second. Val losing her throne would be devastating to everyone.
The Monarch would be in shambles because Alessandro, her older brother, was born illegitimate. The throne would be given to someone outside of their family until they could get the law changed to allow either Val or Alessandro to take the throne.
If Alessandro got the throne he would be forced to break up with Zagreus and marry a noble lady. Val would do everything to keep that reality from happening, even if it meant she had to deny herself everything she'd ever wanted. All she had to do was marry and produce an heir to secure her throne if her powers didn't present themselves.
Val hugs Zagreus and the boys leave the room. Missy changes Val and hugs her good luck. Val leaves in an off-the-shoulder white ball gown dress with lace on the top. She has elbow length white gloves on, her hair is in a waterfall braid with curls at the bottom.
Val made it to the entrance where all of the other debutants were being introduced. She was being presented last so she could be introduced as the host for the night. When it was her turn to enter, the steward banged his cane on the ground.
"Her Royal Highness, Princess Valerie Eden of the Kingdom of Frusia,” he pauses to take a breath, "In honor of King Cain the First and Queen Avery the First, her Royal Highness is the host of this season's first debutante ball."
Val walks down the entrance steps and crosses the floor to her parents. She curtsies to them then joins the other debutants. They all do a full court bow. This officially introduced them into the society.
After three dances Val took a seat. She needed to rest a minute. as Val sat down another debutante sat next to her. She looked exactly like Zagreus. She had chocolate brown skin, half blonde half Brown long wavy hair. She had Icy Blue and brown heterochromia eyes. She 100% could pass as Zagreus's twin fraternal sister.
The debutante smiled at her like she was a friend she had lost 6 hours ago at a bar. She was way too interesting not to talk to.
“Hello, my name is Valerie.” She decided she'd start the conversation. This made the girl smile a bit wider.
“My name is Melantha, it means—”
“Dark Flower,” Both girls utter,
“Greek is my first language. it's kind of odd since both my parents can’t speak it.” Val smiles.
“You must have had a Greek Nanny then,” Melantha offered. the girls started laughing. “You can call me Val. it's not a nickname I let many people use for me, you should feel special,” Val whispered. That made Melantha laugh.
“You can call me Melody. It's a nickname I let everyone use, so don't feel too special. Melantha is a lot on the tongue," she laughed, "Will I see you at Torwin Academy this year?" Melody asked. This made Val's face fall. Melody saw this and placed a hand on Val's.
Val stiffened, “Unfortunate circumstances have made it to where I am unable to attend," Val stood up, "I must find my mother. She should be expecting me by now, I will see you later?" she asks Melody. When she nods in agreement, Val takes her leave.
As Val is walking she is unsettled by a lone shadow traveling across the floor.
“Val, wait." Melody grabs her hand, she tries to get her attention but the shadow figure has now moved behind her mother. The figure raises its arm and produces a knife out of thin air.
Just then her mother turns around and sees the shadow. Her mother screams and Val throws her hand out.
"NO!” she hollers. Just then the powers that were locked away inside Val broke open and a bright, blinding light burst straight for the shadow creature's head. This burst of energy was powerful enough to disintegrate the form.
All the guests were shocked at the assassination attempt and the princess with such strong powers. Val stared at her father with wide eyes. They were both thinking the same thought.
"What was that?" was asked in more ways than one that night.