#well bitch cALL ME RAISHAN BC I AM A DISEASED DECEIVER BABY

[waltwhitmansbeard]

turned my water into wine #6

see my masterpost for what came before this. this drabble takes place after chapter twenty-three of my fair lady. prompted by both @blorbologist and @tiamat-zx. inspired by @romeoandjulietyouwish's medieval au.

Vex cannot believe she is expected to perform her duties as usual as if she did not spend this morning watching her brother, her twin, her best friend, her other half, marry a princess in secret. As soon as the little ceremony was finished—so sweet, the two of them, flushed in the dawn light with the promise they'd just made to each other, yes, perhaps her heart of ice melted, just a tad—they'd all scurried off to wherever they were meant to be, eager not to get caught in the absurd circumstance they were just in. Vex climbed to her office in the guard tower in a daze, trying to wrap her mind around her sister-in-law, the princess.

Now it is nearing noon, and she must eat before she starves. As is her wont, she winds her way to Percy's study, a cat slinking through its familiar alleys, and finds him there staring at some ledger and very clearly not reading. She raps on the open door and startles him out of his reverie. "Can't imagine what's got you so lost in your own thoughts," she deadpans, throwing herself into a chair opposite his desk and snatching some grapes from his leftover breakfast plate.

He laughs, pulling his glasses off to rub at his eyes. "Yes, well..." The door is still open, and they must be careful. "It was an early morning, to be sure."

Vex is contemplating how to have the conversation in euphemism, but before she has to, Pike stomps into the room, slamming the door shut behind her. "Are either of you coming unglued as keenly as I am?" she demands.

Vex kicks the other chair in front of Percy's desk so it skids to face her. "Sit, Pike, and let us grouse about our truly ridiculous friends."

Pike clambers up into the chair. "It was not until I returned for my morning devotions that I realized what we'd done. If the sovereign finds out how we've participated in this..." She lets the threat of it hang in the air.

Percy sighs. "Yes, we have taken on a liability, that is for certain. But at the risk of sounding saccharine..." He leans back in his chair. "I shudder to think of the man I would have become had I not been so steadfastly loved by Keyleth from the moment of my arrival in Zephrah. Of course, my care, my education, my position in court are thanks entirely to the sovereign and his endless generosity, and I owe him my life and my loyalty and so much more, but...she is, as you said, my truly ridiculous friend, and I cannot imagine a world in which I deny her her heart's greatest wish."

Vex knows he speaks true. One of the first things he learned about him, in the earliest days of their liaison, was his ceaseless love for the princess. She worried, in fact, that his love was something romantic, something with which she would feel the urge to compete, but she could not have been more wrong. She knows now that Percy loves her like he loved the sisters he lost, and thinks of her with fondness and vigilance of an elder brother. And in truth, she is glad the two of them have each other, since they both lost so much at such tender ages.

"I, of course, feel the same about Vax," she says quietly. "The truth of the matter is, he has given up a great deal for me. I was..." She swallows thickly. "I believed the lie I told myself about my father, that some day, if I worked hard enough, if I behaved well enough, I could earn his affection. I was wrong, and Vax, gods bless him, knew the reality of his cruelty long before I did. His insistence that we leave saved me from untold heartbreak at the hands of that man so...yes, even though I still think this..." She drops her voice to a whisper, just in case. "...marriage with the princess will end in heartbreak yet, I will never be able to look him in the eye and tell him I do not support his wild pursuit of happiness."

"Well, perhaps this could be a good thing," Pike suggests hopefully. "Perhaps now, when word spreads of what happened, there will be more...leeway for unions between those of different stations." Vex keeps her eyes trained hard on the inkwell on Percy's desk, barely breathing. "Courtly negotiations are always so formal and rigid, and I should think we would all be better off if we could love without regard to wealth or title."

If Vex nods, she doesn't feel it. All she can feel are the pair of icy blue eyes boring into the side of her head that she cannot meet right now. "Yes, well," she croaks out—oh, curse her tremulous throat. "Be that as it may, right now we ought to be concerned with our present circumstance. Do think he'll hang us for our betrayal, or shall we live out the rest of our days in the dungeons?" She's attempting levity, but she can't keep the hollow tone out of her voice.

"Vex'ahlia," Percy chastises, and oh if that doesn't make her toes curl. As Pike buries her face in her hands with a groan, he rushes to reassure her. "Sovereign Korrin is a good and fair man. If anyone is going to die, it's Vax."

"Percival!"

He shrugs at Vex's outburst. "He's the idiot who fell in love with her."

He's not wrong.

Pike claps her hands together. "Alright, enough. We are now being the truly ridiculous friends. This is a day of joy! Our friends are wed, and they are happy, and we are happy for them, regardless of what the future holds. Yes?" The question is pointed, demanding agreement.

Vex chuckles. "Alright, Pike. Yes, as foolish as my brother and the princess are, I am happy that they are happy."

"Agreed." Percy pushes from his desk and stands. "Come. Let us find Keyleth and Vax, and we'll have our lunch together, and we will remind our friends how happy we are."

Pike hops off her seat and makes for the door. As he rounds the desk, Percy reaches out to snag Vex's wrist. She looks to him, confused, and when their eyes meet, there's something in his that she cannot identify. They look at each other half a moment, Vex's spine suddenly tingling with some strange energy, and then his hand and his eyes are gone, and he is following Pike from the study, and she is left there, strangely warm and confused.