Chapter Text
The day has come. Rio delays as long as possible opening her eyes, despite feeling the morning light resting directly on her face for some minutes now. But it’s inevitable, hearing thumps and voices outside her room.
It’s her birthday after all, a day so special everyone’s been preparing for weeks –even months. Though when she opens an eye, she can’t help but let out a groan, looking at the dress she has to wear today hanging in front of her.
She knows, it’s her duty. The title princess doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t lead somewhere. And today, she’s officially old enough to marry.
All her life she’s been learning how to behave like a princess, how to become a queen one day. It’s never been something to hate or get out of, it’s what she is and everything she knows. She’s always been told she’s a lady, so she is. But Rio knows if she’d been told she was a boy, she would’ve been fine with being raised as one. She had always been credulous, a follower of the rules –and it has always worked in her favor too.
So she gets out of bed, makes herself look presentable before calling her waiting maids –the women who help her get dressed and do her hair.
Soon enough everyone starts asking her how she feels, if she’s ready; questions she gracefully answers followed by a smile. To be fair, she’s been knowing for a while now that she'd meet her future husband on her 18th birthday. It simply feels real today.
Rio’s never been one with words, she’s quiet and compliant as a girl like her should be. She does what she’s told, and finds peace in the idea, because it makes everything easier.
She has never been unhappy. She’s privileged. Her only desire –one that she often finds herself thinking about– is finding a friend in that future husband. Someone to laugh with, to confide in, someone she can trust with her deepest thoughts.
Every man she has ever met has looked exactly the same, so appearance isn’t that important. But she’s never had a friend she cared about, as friendship has always been superficial or transactional.
She takes a last breath, before they tighten the corset she’s now wearing. It makes her feel the prettiest, but she misses being able to breathe normally every time she has to get into one. After the corset, many different layers of clothing cover her body until the women around her put on her dress. Light green, at least it’s her favorite color.
“Did you know,” Rio says while one woman finishes buttoning up her dress, and the other one starts brushing her hair. “That this green means growth, balance and new beginnings? Very fitting, don’t you think?”
“All colors can mean whatever you want.” The older handmaiden whispers, her voice soft and with no intention of hurting Rio’s feelings.
It’s on her way to meet the man her family had decided she would marry that Rio learns the basics about him. He’s supposedly handsome, lives in a palace, and is just a year older than her. Rio grins, relieved. But knowing she’s gonna spend a few minutes alone with him only makes her readjust her full-length gloves, trying to calm her nerves.
Her dress had white details, small flowers broidered on her heart-shaped neckline, so she thought gauzy white gloves would make a better impression.
The palace is appealing, though not bigger than the castle she lives in. Walking through the garden to the main entrance, Rio picks a daisy, tangling it behind her head, in her half-up braided ponytail.
Everything needs to be perfect.
Wanda was the younger sibling, her twin brother winning her for a couple of minutes. But even if she had been the oldest, she never would’ve gotten the privileges her brother was having. To become king, let your title be your job.
Instead, she has always had to work double to get half the attention he gets.
However, she never cared about attention nor blamed it on him. Her brother has always been her favorite person in the whole world. He could say the same about her, but he’d try to lie first.
They would bicker on and on, run, laugh, fight, and play pranks on each other until it was inappropriate in the eyes of their staff. They did so especially during these past months, in which they grew even closer due to their parents’ passing.
Today was a big day for him. So, as always, the moment light hits an inch of her room, she decides to jump out of bed. She puts on her favorite tea gown as fast as she can, and runs to her brother’s room.
A knock. Two or three more. Her voice starts to get louder to call his name, so much so that their maid shows up, confused as she stares at Wanda.
“What's getting into you so early?!”
Wanda smiles from ear to ear, tilting her head. “My brother’s getting married, can’t I be happy for him?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll start preparing for today, then.”
To be honest, the people working for them have always been nice. Whenever the chaotic twins let their inner child out, or whenever they said nonsense to mess with as many of them as possible —they were unusually understanding. But Wanda could count with one hand the times they reciprocated the energy back at them.
So it was boring, sometimes.
Especially today. She spends hours having breakfast sitting in the main dining room, watching her brother come and go as he gets ready for this meeting. He’s tense, overwhelmed by the preparations, and his sister knows.
That’s when an idea strikes Wanda’s mind. She smiles mischievously, leaving the room in a rush. Her brother has always been a scaredy cat, and no matter how many times Wanda would scare him because it would always work. Besides, she knows it relieves stress, so nothing can go wrong.
Assuming he would wait for his future wife in the sitting room, Wanda enters and closes the door before anyone can see her. Looking around, she remembers all the times she has scared him, the places she’s hidden or what she has done. But there’s a clear winner.
A suit of armor. They have a couple there, on display. Pretty. She has always liked them.
She quickly manages to get into one, covering herself even with the helmet. She chuckles just thinking about her brother jumping in fright, but instead she jolts when the door closes behind her and she hears a female voice.
“Good morning?” By the time Wanda turns around, her vision limited to the two small rectangles caved in the helmet, she sees a confused woman staring back. “Uh… Pietro? Is it you?”
Was she early? Was Pietro late? Doesn’t matter, because now Wanda’s trapped in that situation. Her heart, already racing, looks at the other princess up and down. She has never seen anyone so beautiful. So composed, calm, and ethereal.
She’s Pietro’s dream come true. But when she clears her throat, Wanda comes back from her thoughts.
Oh.
To not explain the whole situation, she awkwardly raises her thumb up. Too late to back away, she’s now impersonating her brother in the weirdest situation that could’ve happened.
“Do you not speak?” The woman asked, unsettled yet intrigued, to which Wanda shrugged as the armor caused high-pitched metallic sounds. “Right, okay… Our families were acquaintances, so I’m sure you know the family name. But I’m Rio, pleased to meet you.”
Wanda knows nothing, except now her name. But Rio extends her hand and expects Prince Pietro to do something about it. So Wanda carefully takes it, her gauntlet holding Rio’s hand while she bends to kiss it. Or to stroke it against her helmet, at least.
Rio softly laughs, concealing her blushing cheeks. “I expected you to be… different.” Wanda shrugs again. It’s killing her, not saying a word. “Though I like your eyes.”
Wanda’s eyes open wide before squinting and smiling, something involuntary that also makes her cheeks burn. There’s not a gesture for what she’s feeling, and for the first time she doesn’t know how to proceed –no ideas come to mind.
“May we sit?” Rio asks, making her shake her head. “Right, of course. And you cannot get out of… that? I thought this would be a proper meeting, before, you know.”
Wanda shakes her head from side to side again. It’s inconceivable, throwing away her brother's opportunity. On the other side, she may actually be enjoying this enough to hope Pietro doesn’t show up and interrupt.
“What do I have to do, to see or hear you? I do not want to wait until we’re married.” And there it is again, Wanda’s heart racing. Her eyes wander across the room, thinking. She goes towards the table, where a pen and paper sit, and starts writing. “Another meeting?” Rio reads out loud. “Is that allowed?”
Wanda turns around –it’s not allowed, but it will happen either way, so she nods as she takes Rio’s hands into hers. There, she rests the folded paper with a written location in the other princess’ hands, closing them for her.
“Okay.” Rio grins. “You mustn't come with a helmet, though. I do not mind the rest, despite expecting a more normal attire, or a suit.”
Rio’s eyes shine a little brighter when she notices she managed to make her future husband softly chuckle. She moves one of her hands to reach the back of her head, taking the daisy out of her hair to give it to her knight.
“Until we are in one another’s company again.”