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i.
Wanda has never seen Pietro quite like this. Not responsible - she knows Pietro is perfectly capable of being responsible when the situation demands it - but… she doesn’t want to call it besotted but he certainly seems very attached to Crystal.
This isn’t a bad thing, and certainly not if they’re getting married, but it’s distinctly odd. For all Pietro’s ability to seduce almost any courtier he chose to his bed, the only people Pietro had ever seemed truly attached to had been family, and possibly an exception made for Agatha for her tending of them all for so long.
Seeing him being affectionate - overtly affectionate, for Pietro - was something else.
ii.
Arranging a wedding - and a Royal wedding at that - is no mean feat. Wanda is more than capable but having Lorna to help as well helps, especially when they learn that the Queen of Attilan herself intends to visit for her sister’’s wedding. (They’ve all heard of Queen Medusa, of her mane of hair which can act on her whims almost as terrifyingly as the Medusa of myth, but they don’t believe it until Crystal assures them that despite the fact that magic is a rumour Queen Medusa’s abilities are quite real.)
(Wanda starts to consider her family’s knacks, at their father’s skill with metal that matches to Lorna’s precision with steel-tipped arrows - but never practice shafts - Pietro’s reflexes, her own skill with people, wonders if magic is latent or trained, and resolves to ask Agatha.)
iii.
It’s slightly frustrating, with the date set so near, that their father won’t help in the least, though Wanda does consider it a blessing that with Pietro soon to be married he has ceased trying to arrange betrothals for her. Wanda is very good at slipping out of them, at escaping from Father’s plans and expectations while still remaining as perfect a princess as Lorna, but it is one less thing to worry about and that she is glad of.
Instead, with Father distracted by a long distance chess game with a man named Xavier, Wanda calls again on Simon Williams’ service.
As it turns out, the Captain of the Guard is very good at organising big events.
“I have to be,” he admits to Wanda, as they look over plans for the event. “I have to plan the patrols and ensure that everyone at court is protected; I can’t do that if I am disorganised.”
Wanda had smiled at that. “Then let us hope that with your organisational skills, and my planning and politics we might be able to ensure my brother’s marriage is not the fiasco so many events in his life have been.”
iv.
Pietro spends more of his time with Crystal, and while she and Lorna are welcome to join them - and indeed do on occasion - Wanda still finds it odd for Pietro to not be so immediately to hand when she needs someone to talk to. They’ve always been there for each other - indeed not being there for each other is the entire reason he’s doing this; marrying someone who will allow him to stay at court, while leaving Wanda free of an unwanted marriage and similarly at court - and him suddenly not always there is… not worrying but odd. Unusual.
It’s hard for Wanda to endure, even as she knows it’s going to happen. At least, she supposes, she, in turn, is not as readily available to Pietro for conversation, with so much to ready and prepare for him.
v.
The Queen of Attilan - and her silent husband - arrive with surprisingly little pomp and circumstance. With the constant bustle of new people arriving at court, Wanda almost misses them, but Lorna, always prepared does not.
“They are a mile out,” she says, stirring Wanda from her stupor. “If you wish to be ready when they arrive you have only a few minutes to prepare.”
Lorna, framed by the doorway, green tint to her hair accentuated by a green dress, verdigrised copper, golden jewellery, is smiling. Wanda, hunched at her desk, looks more like a scholar than anything else.
“True,” Wanda says, and sighs, rises. “Help me?”
Lorna’s smile as she leaves the doorway, shuts the door, and helps Wanda into her formal gown is all the agreement the sister’s need.
vi.
“You know we’re Father’s favourites,” Wanda says to Lorna that evening at dinner. Queen Medusa’s hair is indeed magical, and moves oddly at her whims, and her husband, the silent King of Attilan, is already rumoured to have a voice capable of destroying whole cities. They sit by Father, to one side of him, and Pietro and Crystal to the other. For once she and Lorna have been relegated to a seat a little further away, and it only serves to highlight to Wanda the difference of status between them, that Father has to change something to favour Pietro.
Lorna nods. “He is biased. It likely pains him to have to show Pietro this level of trust and respect.”
Wanda cannot help her snort. “More fool him. Pietro can be foolish, but he has always been more than Father has seen.”
“We know that,” Lorna replies. “But we are siblings. Ruling has distracted Father from family. He has his own follies.”
vii.
Lorna’s reports say that Crystal is more than prepared for the wedding, and with her own family visiting to help her prepare she has almost nothing to do. Pietro on the other hand…
Wanda has always known that the longer they spend apart the more problems there are to talk of when they next meet, but Pietro walking a rut into solid stone is not something she’d expected after only a few weeks.
“Pietro,” she says tiredly, one hand reaching out to catch his wrist, other hand cupping his face gently. “Talk to me. Tell me what is worrying you.”
His eyes are bright and blue and wild, the way they always are when he has done something foolish or reckless or thinks they are in danger.
“Breathe,” Wanda murmurs thumbs stroking over the back of his hand, over his cheek. “Breathe. Tell me what worries you.”
“Marrying,” he says in a surprising rush for one small word. “Crystal is… Crystal is calm and wonderful and she’s prepared for this but you know me, you know I never planned to- that this is as much because we like each other and understand the practical side of a political marriage and-”
“Breathe,” Wanda reminds him. “And slow down. Calm down.”
“Is it right?” Pietro says. “To marry for reasons like this?”
Wanda laughs, softly and gently. “I honestly cannot say. But Crystal seems accepting of it and you planned it, and you both like each other - rather a lot you have said - which helps matters.” Pietro’s eyes are still wild and Wanda’s thumb grazes gently over the skin beneath his eye. “You are both going into this with your eyes open, aware. If you have second thoughts about it you should tell Crystal as soon as I - we both would have to make alternate arrangements she for leaving and I for undoing the wedding plans - but if you are set in this course of action then… your eyes are both wide open. What more can you ask?”
She is certain of what she has said, and she knows - as she ever has - that her certainty calms Pietro as much as Lorna’s safety calms them both. His eyes shut, slowly, blue calming, his face tilting lightly into her gentle touch.
“That is true,” he says quietly. “That is true.”
When he opens his eyes Wanda knows, with all of her strong certainty that he is calm.
viii.
“He was worried,” Wanda says quietly to Captain Williams beside her. “He was so nervous I thought he would wear a circuit into stone he was pacing so. You would not think it, looking at them now, would you?”
“Not at all,” Simon replies.
In the centre of the room, newly wedded, Pietro and Crystal dance in a slow spiralling circle. There are other dancers around them, certainly, but Wanda can always spot her brother, and with Crystal’s bright-pale dress, Pietro’s striking blue, they catch every eye.
It helps, Wanda thinks, that they smile at each other with the precise same teasing note, certain and shining and absolutely understanding.
It pleases her to see Pietro so happy.