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Lucien Vanserra was, like any other young fae boy, full of energy. Despite his father’s firm rule over the family and household, Lucien, and his older brothers for that matter, still couldn’t help but run through the halls sometimes - hooting and hollering.
It was best to do this when Beron was off tending to High Lord duties, naturally. The Lady of the Autumn Court, though she might offer some chiding words to a son who ran screaming past her, was not so heavy handed as her husband. In fact, she hated when he punished the children, although intervening only made things worse - for the boys, and for herself.
So, if Beron was away, she was perfectly content to allow them to burn off their energy - possibly encouraging them to go outdoors so she might enjoy a quiet cup of tea, but if they wanted to run through the halls when their father was away, so be it. It was much better that they had calmed down by the time he returned.
Lady Autumn loved all of her children. The birth of Eris, her eldest, had made her feel less alone in a marriage that had never truly been happy. As each son followed, she found her hands fuller - but her heart fuller, too. Beron did very little when it came to childcare, he believed his only real responsibility regarding the upbringing of his sons was to handle discipline. Lady Autumn had servants to help with meals and a lot of the cleaning, but when it came to actually supervising her brood, that had mostly been her. Unless Beron happened to be home and looking sternly around the sitting room as the boys sprawled on the floor looking at books or playing quietly with wooden toys, or the eldest two, Eris and Aloysius, sat at the chess table, focused hard on the game, and not their father’s gaze, which drilled into one’s soul.
Lucien was Lady Autumn’s youngest, and while his birth had been perhaps the most joyous for Lady Autumn, it was not for Beron, for Beron knew the truth. There was no hiding Lucien’s nose, his complexion, a bit darker than the rest of his brothers’. Lady Autumn had paid for that truth - still did.
So did Lucien whenever he got in trouble.
So when Beron left that morning for a meeting, and Lady Autumn saw Lucien come bursting out of his bedroom at the speed of light, she didn’t chide him about the running, she simply told him to go back and comb his hair.
“Aw, Mama!” Lucien groaned, although he did turn around and go back into his bedroom.
Lady Autumn paused as she watched him walk away.
That face he’d made just now…the faces he always made. The red hair was all her - all the boys had it.
But that face - the mischievous smirk turned pout…
That was all Helion.
Lady Autumn swallowed hard before turning on her heels to go to the sitting room.
***
Lucien spent most of his time alone. He’d met a few friends from other courts when his family had to go to them with Father for business and sometimes they would write letters.
There were some boys in the Autumn Court that he played with sometimes.
But mostly, he was at the house and his brothers were the last people he wanted to spend time with.
So he would play by himself or read by himself or take walks on the grounds by himself.
Sometimes he daydreamed. He daydreamed about having brothers who were actually fun to play with - they didn’t make fun of him at all.
Sometimes he dreamed he had a sister, too. She was younger than him and Lucien, along with his brothers, protected her.
Lucien had been reading in his bedroom - well, the bedroom he shared with Cornelius, who was fortunately off - likely with Felix and Andreas, when he started to feel…fidgety. Lucien often felt fidgety; he was a young boy, after all.
When Mama noticed he felt fidgety, she told him to walk around the room a few times before sitting back down.
When Father noticed he was fidgety he told him to “sit still, or I’ll get my strap, boy.”
But Father was off taking care of business.
If Lucien wanted to run down the halls, he could.
Lucien put the scrap of cloth he used as a bookmark in his book, closed it, and entered the hallway.
He walked to the end and mentally counted “1…2…3…” before racing to the end of the hallway.
At the end of this particular hallway was an end table with a vase of flowers on it. Lucien had miscalculated when to stop, and found himself running straight into the table. The pain in his side was nothing compared to the horror he felt as he watched the vase teeter on the edge of the end table and finally shatter on the floor.
Lucien wanted to cry, but then remembered that Father was away. He’d be honest with Mama, and while she would make him clean it up and scold him for being careless; she wouldn’t strap him. She wouldn’t even swat him with her hand.
Lucien barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief when a voice behind him boomed.
“LUCIEN!”
Oh no. What was Father doing back so soon? Lucien thought he’d be out all day.
Lucien slowly turned around.
“Father,” he said weakly.
“Why were you running in the house?” Father asked.
Lucien didn’t know what to say. No answer would be good enough. No answer would save him from a strapping.
“I don’t know,” Lucien looked down.
Father took Lucien’s chin in his hand and yanked it up so that Lucien was looking him in the eyes.
“You don’t know?” Father asked. “And look at me, boy, when I’m talking to you.”
“No, sir, I don’t know,” Lucien said. His eyes were already filled with tears.
“Well, we’ll see to it that regardless of the reason, you don’t do it again,” Beron grabbed Lucien by the arm and yanked him towards the study.
Soon, Lucien was bent over the desk, trousers lowered, as Father gave him each lash.
Lucien closed his eyes as the strap came down again and again. He winced every time. Despite being so young, Lucien had already had his fair share of strappings from Father, but he never got used to it. Never got used to the punishment itself, the shame from leaving the study and walking back to his room - especially if a servant or one of his brothers saw him.
So when Father finally hung up the strap, Lucien didn’t feel relief.
“There will be no more running the hallways - or you can get double that next time,” Father said. “Do you understand me, Lucien?”
“Yes, sir,” Lucien said shakily. He turned around and headed out of the study.
It was just his luck that not only was Cornelius about to go into the bedroom, but Eris was standing nearby.
Lucien didn’t look at either of them.
Cornelius turned the doorknob.
“Cornelius, I need to show you something,” Eris said.
“What?” Cornelius asked. He moved away from the doorknob.
“I said I have something to show you. Come here,” Eris snapped.
Lucien took this opportunity to go into the bedroom and close the door behind him. What Eris wanted to show Cornelius he didn’t know or care.
Lucien laid down on his bed and sobbed into his pillow.
Cauldron boil him, it still hurt so much.
Lucien cried until he couldn’t cry anymore. He laid in silence for a few moments until there was a knock at the door.
He wanted to tell the person to go away - but it might be Mama, and he didn’t want to tell her that. If it was Father, he didn’t want to tell him that, either, because he would only end up over his desk again.
So, Lucien said nothing. He didn’t want any visitors, but he wanted to play it safe. By not answering, maybe the person would just walk away.
But they didn’t.
The door opened and Lucien only looked up when he could hear the person setting something down on the table.
Eris had brought a tray of food.
“You’ve been up here for hours and I didn’t think you wanted to see him at dinner, so I brought you this.”
That caught Lucien’s attention. This was the same person who, a week earlier, had beaten him up for “looking at him the wrong way.”
“Thanks,” Lucien sighed.
“Are you…okay?” Eris asked.
Lucien paused. Since when did he care?
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Lucien asked.
Eris gave an awkward laugh.
“I know, I know. I just…nobody has ever asked me that after he’s…you know. Mother might pat my back and give me that sad smile, but the other boys just smirk and laugh. You just broke a vase, you didn’t do anything horrible. He overreacted, like usual.”
Lucien was quiet. Who was this person and what had he done with his brother?
Lucien finally nodded.
“One more thing,” Eris said. Lucien watched with amazement as Eris waved a hand and a small jar appeared.
“This is a special concoction from the healer,” Eris said. “It’s great for uh…tender skin.”
He set the jar next to the tray.
“Well, I’m off,” Eris said. “Take care of yourself, brother.”
Lucien slowly sat up.
Mother above, it was painful.
“Eris, wait,” Lucien said.
Eris turned.
“Will you…stay with me? While I eat?”
Lucien wasn’t sure why he was asking this. But he did.
Eris seemed just as surprised, and Lucien was sure he’d say no.
But then, Eris headed back to the table and sat down.
“Sure,” he shrugged.
Slowly, Lucien stood and went over to the table - he put the plate in front of him, remaining in a standing position as he ate. He and Eris mostly sat (or stood) in silence, but occasionally, they made smalltalk.
Lucien was sure that the next day they’d probably be back at each other’s throats.
But that evening, he didn’t care.