Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

To Crow’s gratification, it looked like Penelope was just as taken with the way he looked tonight as he was with her. Catching her eye, he could see the redness on her face as she stared at him. He hadn’t done nearly as much to his appearance as she had to hers, but the additional effort he had put in felt worth it now that he could see the way she reacted. Strangely, he almost felt like he didn’t deserve her admiration though. Perhaps it was because of how beautiful she was in her elaborate ensemble or perhaps it was because they had been forced to put so much distance between each other that he didn’t feel as close to her as he had before, but her lingering eyes made him want to blush like the lovesick puppy he’d been accused of being in the past.

He managed to cling to his composure by a thread as he crossed the ballroom to join the knight and his sister. Almost as soon as he reached them, the latter wasted no time trying to take advantage of the slip up she had caught. Crow forced a roll of his eyes at Naida’s question to Penelope, though inwardly, he craved to hear what his secret lover had to say. Her eyes had already given away the fact that she had been captivated by him the instant their gazes had met, but he was a glutton for her compliments. So, when she said he looked good, he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from grinning.

“Thanks,” a deferential smile took the place of the affectionate one, and he nodded his head to her in the same manner he would have treated any other woman at the party. During the brief motion, he couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering to the skin that had been revealed by her low-cut dress. It was going to be difficult to pretend he was uninterested in her when she was wearing such a seductive outfit.

Naturally, Naida was dissatisfied with the formal exchange. She swiped a glass from the tray of a passing servant and stepped over to her brother’s side as she passed it off to him. “Don’t be rude,” she chided, poking him in the chest with one finger and then turning toward her friend with a foxlike smirk. “When a lady compliments you, you’re supposed to return the favor. Don’t you think Penelope looks gorgeous tonight?”

Crow hesitated for a split second before he nodded. There was no point in lying to his sister when she had already caught him staring at the knight. It would be easier to play off his actions as mere physical attraction rather than trying to convince her that he hadn’t been gawking at Penelope just moments before.

“She does look beautiful,” he confessed in a low voice.

Naida was delighted. Her mischievous eyes danced between the two before she announced: “You know, I think I saw Braden with some of the men by the entrance. I’m going to say hello to him for a minute. Don’t go anywhere until I come back!” Without waiting for a reply, she bounded away, leaving the others alone.

Crow watched her go before he turned back to Penelope. For once, his sister’s match making had been a good thing. There was no telling when they would have time to themselves again tonight, so he was going to take advantage of the gift, even if they only had a minute. “You really do look amazing,” he breathed, keeping his voice down so they wouldn’t be overheard by anyone else. His eyes swept over her one more time, and he shook his head incredulously. “Gods, I’ll never understand how I got so lucky. I think I understand why Toreus picked you to do this though… Wearing that, you could convince a bee to buy honey.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I think so too.

Crow wasn't prepared for how good Penelope looks in her dress, and Naida busted him xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Having never attended a party like this before, the first glimpse left Crow awestruck. As soon as he stepped into the ballroom, he froze, dazzled by the sea of colors in front of him. All the guests were dressed up in vibrant ensembles, and decorations covered almost every surface in sight. He could hear a team of minstrels playing music somewhere in the room, but the crowd was already thick enough that he couldn’t pin down the musicians’ location. Most of the lords and ladies were mingling amongst each other, talking and laughing as they caught up with acquaintances they hadn’t seen in a while, but a few were already dancing in the center of the room. Brilliant dresses flowed and fluttered as the twirling pairs executed smooth spins, adding another layer of interest to the intricate scene and leaving the inexperienced viceroy in a trance.

“What do you think?” Preston asked at his side, noticing Crow’s slack-jawed stare. The attendant had also changed clothes before they arrived. Instead of the wool shirt and scarf he’d donned for most of the day, he was now wearing a uniform that distinguished him as a high-ranking servant. His tunic was a similar shade of red as the viceroy’s top, and a gold emblem had been sewn into the breast. On the way to the ballroom, he’d explained that the outfit would tell the other guests that he was only there to serve one specific individual, so he wouldn’t get caught up in running errands for every noble who needed a favor.

“It’s amazing and sickening at the same time,” Crow shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but I don’t want to know how much money is in this room for fear that my heart may stop.” Though he didn’t have an exact number, there was no doubt in his mind that there were more riches in front of him now than in all of the outer villages put together. It was a surreal thought.

Preston nodded in understanding, his eyes wandering over the faces in the ballroom until he caught sight of a small group of noblewomen watching the viceroy and talking amongst themselves. “You’ve got company,” he forewarned as soon as the well-dressed herd began their march toward them.

Snapping out of his daze, Crow turned to the women. He wanted to turn right back around and walk the other way, but, reminding himself that it was hopefully the last night he’d have to indulge them, he masked his discomfort with a smile. “Evening, ladies,” he greeted with more amiability than he felt inside. Discreetly, Preston slipped away to let the nobles converse alone, heading to the edge of the room where the rest of the idle servants stood in wait for chores to do.

“Good evening, Collin,” a brunette girl whom he recalled was named Tilla curtseyed respectfully. Her blue eyes swept over him with the calculating look that he was familiar with, but this time, there was an underlying something that was different than before. When she straightened again, he was surprised to see a rosy pink in her cheeks that seemed natural instead of forced. “You look handsome,” she flattered, meeting his gaze with a sheepish simper. The other two girls who had come with her nodded their agreement.

“Thank you,” he blinked, unsure what to do with their sudden and possibly genuine interest in him. When he’d spoken to them over the last few days, they had obviously just been after his status. As a seasoned liar, it was easy for him to tell the difference between a real and fake smile, and he had been able pick up on their stiffness around him right away. If he had actually pursued any one of them, he was sure she would have had mixed feelings. Until now, they had wanted the rank but not the man attached. Today though, it almost seemed like their prejudices were starting to fade. He wondered just how different he looked after a little bit of maintenance.

“Will you be staying for the whole party?” a raven haired girl named Fye asked him curiously. “I heard there’s just going to be a speech by someone named Vermillion later. We were thinking about slipping out early… You can join us if you want to.”

“I’m staying here,” Crow said quickly. Thinking for a moment, he casted the three women a more amorous smile that softened his features in a way he knew they would like. “You should stay too. I’m sure the speech won’t be long, and they’re going to keep serving drinks throughout. There’s no reason to miss out on whatever she has to say.”

“Oh, right,” Tilla mused. “You’re friends with Vermillion, aren’t you?”

Crow shrugged, “I am, and I know she’s been working on this for a long time. I think it’ll be worth listening to.”

“What’s the speech going to be about?” the third girl, another brunette with dark brown eyes named Palatina, leaned closer with new interest.

“Who knows?” the viceroy said with an air of mystery, letting his eyes wander over the crowd as he added: “I promise it’s going to be good though.”

The three girls exchanged intrigued looks among themselves before Fye spoke for them all, “Okay, if you’re sure it won’t be dull, then we’ll stay.”

“And,” Tilla jumped in, batting her eyelashes at the viceroy playfully. “You have to save each of us a dance.”

A hint of pleasure crossed Crow’s face. It had been almost too easy. “Alright, I will,” he agreed. He had already expected that he’d be dancing with them later anyway. “I’ll come find you when I’m done catching up with everyone else who wanted to speak with me.”

“Don’t keep us waiting too long,” Palatina chaffed. She offered her hand to the viceroy, who politely kissed the back of it, and the three noblewomen walked away giggling amongst themselves.

Finally alone, Crow rolled his eyes and commenced his search for the people he actually wanted to spend time with that evening. After a moment of looking around, he spotted Naida and Penelope by the drinks. A genuine smile briefly painted his lips, but the expression was swiftly replaced with one of astonishment when his gaze landed on the knight. She looked stunning. The gold dress she wore hugged every sultry curve in just the right way, and the plunging neckline revealed just enough of her cleavage to tease him to want more. Warmth colored his face as he stared at her from a distance, marveling that this was the same woman whom he always saw in trousers and armor.

Unfortunately, Naida caught him ogling. His sister looked between Crow and Penelope before a wide grin took over her mouth, and she raised her hand to beckon him over. The viceroy hesitated, already knowing the subject the princess would want to discuss, but there was no one else he wanted to spend time with more than Penelope, so he caved and strode across the room to join them.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I figured xD Of course, nothing would come of it, since Crow is straight as an arrow and already with Penelope, but it'll make their later interactions more interesting as Percival deals with his feelings.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When he finished cleansing himself of the dirt and oil that had built up over the past week, Crow bid Percival goodbye and headed back to his room alone. Luckily, no one had stabbed him in the back yet, but he continued to stay on edge after getting a glimpse of how many noblemen had been invited to the event. He had only just started getting used to the faces of the people who lived in the palace with him. Throwing in so many unfamiliar people made him jumpy. He hoped the effects of the wine would wear off soon, so he could function without feeling so fog headed. Right now, the slowness of his reflexes only served to give him more anxiety, because he couldn’t trust himself to react if one of the guests proved to be malicious.

Heading into his room, the viceroy looked up to find that he wasn’t alone. “You’re back early,” he commented obviously to Preston, who was setting up a station for him to get ready in front of the mirror.

The attendant glanced his way and nodded before returning to his task. “I left my sister to nap,” he explained without looking up again. “She still loves the goose down blanket you gave her.”

“I’m glad,” Crow smiled, pleased to hear that the blanket was doing the good he’d intended for it. He stepped over to the chair by the mirror and sat down, examining the face of the reflection in front of him. His hair was starting to flow past his shoulders, so he decided it was about time to cut it. “What will you be doing during the party?” he asked the boy as he picked up the comb on the table.

“Whatever you need me to,” Preston shrugged. He reclined languidly against the bed as he watched the viceroy take care of his own appearance. Most of the duties he was supposed to fulfill as a personal attendant had been negated by his master’s own denial of accepting more help than he needed. It had taken a few weeks, but the boy no longer stood rigidly at attention now that he knew there was rarely any work for him to do. “I’m just supposed to be present to test your food and take care of any responsibilities you need done during the festivities.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be an easy night for you,” Crow smirked, tugging at a particularly stubborn knot in his hair with the ivory teeth.

“Every night is an easy night when my master won’t let me do my job,” the attendant pointed out wryly.

“Then you should thank me,” the viceroy caught his gaze in the mirror.

“I suppose I should,” Preston mused. He stepped away from the bed and bent at the waist in a bow. “Thank you for being an independent prat, my lord.”

Crow threw the comb at him.

Once he finished cropping his hair with a knife and trimming down his beard to a manageable length, the viceroy allowed his servant to pick one of the more elaborate outfits from his closet—just to spite him for the comment he’d made—and changed clothes. He put on a pair of clean black trousers and a vermillion shirt with a belt that rested over the top of his white undershirt. The nested clothing didn’t bother him as much as it had the first day he’d worn layers, but he had a feeling he was going to be warm when he stepped into a room full of hot bodies later. Still, he didn’t complain. He knew it was the kind of outfit his father would have wanted him to show up in, so there was no point in fighting it.

Preston declared him presentable for the noble public, and the two made their way to the ballroom to join the rest of the guests that had been invited to Penelope’s party. Crow could feel his heartbeat quicken in his chest in anticipation to find out if the knight’s hard work would pay off.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Percival may have done the same to Crow xD
Crow thought he was just looking at his scars, but he was way off lol

I'm not sure if it'll ever come up in the IC, but Percy's secretly gay. Of course, that wasn't acceptable in medieval times, so he wouldn't be open about it since he could be killed. I just figured it would make him a more dynamic character cx especially since he's gonna be one of the knights assigned to go with Crow to Younis later. It could be interesting if he starts developing a bit of a crush

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

After spending a surprisingly relaxing afternoon in the company of his half-siblings, Crow excused himself to take the bath he had been neglecting for over a week. Though Naida had said they would just be drinking one bottle of wine together, the mischievous princess had slyly taken out a second one after the first had been emptied. The viceroy’s head felt muddled from the drinks he hadn’t been careful to monitor. He supposed he should have known better than to trust his sister with his sobriety, but at least he wasn’t drunk. He was sure he wouldn’t even feel the wine anymore by the time the party started that evening.

When he arrived at the bathhouse, he blinked in surprise, finding the steamy room packed with other noblemen in various stages of undress. Almost all of them had attendants to accompany them, making the small space feel even more cramped. The former thief lingered in the doorway, suddenly far less eager to strip down and get in the water. He hadn’t minded sharing the pool with a few other people before, but this was overwhelming. While he didn’t recognize most of the men around him, he knew they remembered his face from the wanted posters plastered all over the kingdom. Some were already beginning to whisper and stare. As one who always watched his back around people he would consider enemies, the idea of shedding even the thin protection of clothing in front of those who probably wished to see him dead was nothing short of petrifying. The alcohol clouding his head didn’t make it any easier either.

“Collin?”

Lost in his thoughts, Crow nearly jumped at the sound of a voice behind him. He turned around to see Percival walking up with a frown on his face. In the back of his head, he found it strange that the knight was in the bathhouse when he’d thought the members of the king’s army were supposed to clean themselves in their own quarters. However, his thoughts weren’t quite coherent enough to voice the peculiarity. Instead, he found himself staring rather dumbly as the nobleman approached and came to a stop next to him in the entrance.

“The king opened the bathhouse to the public as a courtesy before the party,” Percival answered the unasked question anyway, seeming to read the viceroy’s mind. “It looks like half the kingdom has decided to take advantage, hm?”

Crow gaped at him for a moment longer before he realized the other man had just addressed him in conversation. “Is that what’s going on?” he turned back to the chaotic scene. “Nobody told me or I would have come here earlier.”

Percival grunted—Crow thought the noise was a universal language among male knights—and casted him a sideways glance, “Better wash fast before they soil the water.”

The viceroy wrinkled his nose, “Gods, that’s disgusting.” It was persuasive though. He followed his acquaintance into the room, where they found an isolated corner to remove their clothes. Though he was still uncomfortable with making himself vulnerable in front of such a large crowd, Crow was privately glad that Percival had shown up when he did. Out of all the men in the castle—excluding Albin and John—the knight was perhaps the only one who had earned enough of his trust to convince him to venture into the pool with so many strangers. He wouldn’t call the other man a friend, but the soldier had expressed enough concern about the state of the outer villages during their previous conversations to be deemed acceptable company by the selective thief.

As they dipped into the warm water, Crow noticed that Percival’s eyes lingered on his scarred torso. The knight had the decency not to comment on his physique though. Instead, they both remained silent as they scrubbed themselves down with soap, moving with haste so they could get out of the bathwater before any more unwashed bodies showed up to dirty it.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Aw nice, haha.

Crow managed to win Willow over cx She's still pretty young, so he appealed to that

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow stood awkwardly in the doorway as his younger siblings gawked at him. It was obvious that Naida had gone ahead and invited him without letting Braden and Willow know first. He wondered who would be the first to break the tense silence that had fallen over his sister’s bedchamber. Would Willow be made uncomfortable and leave? Perhaps Braden would demand that the former peasant shouldn’t be allowed to share the same air as the rest of them? The viceroy certainly had no intention of opening his mouth before they did. He would stare them down until someone’s heart stopped before he would ever ask permission to sit with them.

In the end, it was Naida who shattered the quiet.

“I asked Collin to hide out with us before the party,” she belatedly explained to the two dumbstruck individuals sprawled on her bed.

“And here I thought we were going to have a good time,” Braden grumbled bitterly.

“We are,” Naida shot him a cold look. She grasped Crow by the arm and gave him a tug into the room. “He’s our brother, Brae. Now, move over. You’re taking up half the bed.” Without waiting for a reply, she flopped down next to the crown prince, narrowly missing his shoulder as he rolled out of the way. Patting the spot beside her, she casted her half-brother a friendly smile, “Come over here, Collin. I’ll fill you a glass.”

Crow hesitated, put off by the hostility radiating from his other siblings, before he reluctantly complied. He stayed closer to the edge of the large mattress though, instinctively giving himself the option to get up quickly in case Braden decided to get even more confrontational than he already was. He hoped his father’s second-born wasn’t violent, but he didn’t know him well enough to make any assumptions yet.

“There,” Naida chirped happily. “See? We can all get along.”

“You’re going to have to have your sheets washed.”

“Braden,” the princess hit her older brother in the back of the head. “Don’t be so rude. There’s nothing wrong with Collin. Right, Willow?” She turned to the youngest Mannering with expectant eyes.

Willow bit her lip as her pale green eyes darted from Naida to Crow. “W-Well… He was a criminal. People don’t change overnight...” The layers of distrust were clear in her meek voice.

“Not you too,” Naida groaned.

Crow looked between his half-sisters and took an idle sip from the drink the older one had poured for him. Braden’s hatred came from a place of entitlement and prejudice against commoners, but it sounded like Willow was just afraid of his criminal past. That was fixable. “That’s true,” he nodded sagely. “I’m not so different than I was a month ago.” As he spoke, he subtly reached into his pocket to slip a gold coin from the half-empty purse he kept on his person. Palming it in his hand, he casted the young girl a smile, “But I promise I wasn’t all bad. Here, I’ll show you.”

Holding up his empty hand, he gently reached toward his little sister’s face. She cringed at the motion, and he paused briefly to show her he didn’t mean any harm before he reached behind her ear. “Go on, check it,” he teased when he leaned away again. “There’s a coin.”

“That’s stupid,” Braden scoffed, lying flat on his back with his gaze fixed on the ceiling. “She’s not a little kid.”

“There’s nothing there,” Willow frowned, gingerly fingering the dark hair behind her ear.

At that, the prince barked a laugh. “He couldn’t even do the trick right.”

“I never said the coin was behind your ear,” Crow corrected with a sly smirk. “If you’d let me finish, I was going to tell you to check your pocket.”

Willow’s eyes widened, and her hand flew to the slit in her dress. “It’s there,” she confirmed, fishing out the gold piece and gaping at it as she tried to figure out how he’d fooled her. Even Braden’s smug look had fallen off his face.

Crow just shrugged, pleased that the simple slight of hand had left his siblings mystified. It had been easy to drop the coin into the girl’s pocket with two fingers while she had been distracted by the bigger gesture. Braden just hadn’t been watching closely enough to catch the switch. “I’m not always a thief,” he downed another swig of wine. “You can keep it.”

Naida grinned at him, “You’d better teach me how to do that trick sometime.”

“Only if you refill my glass.”

Crow’s amateur magic trick seemed to lift most of the tension in the room. Only Braden continued to act coldly toward him while the four siblings drank and talked amongst themselves, wasting the hours by sharing stories and laughing as they placed wagers on the noblemen and women whom they expected to make fools of themselves at the party that night.

~Bonsoir~

Vail’s heart thudded against his ribs as he closed the manor door behind him, not because of the effort of whisking Victoria all the way from her home nor because of the rush of being chased by The Order. His pulse had quickened as the realization struck him of what he had just done. He had, quite openly, brought the Crest heiress into his home. If there had ever been a chance of keeping their secretive meetings in the dark, it was gone now. There would be no hiding the smell of her sweet perfume or the tantalizing aroma of the blood that had stained the cloth he’d tied around her fair neck. It was only a matter of time before one of his relatives discovered them, and then Peter’s wrath would be upon him.

The Hygrace heir moved silently through the dark room without pausing at any of the impressive décor. The entire mansion was the product of generations of immortal beings with too much time on their hands and a need to turn their reclusive nest into a comfortable safe haven. With their vast wealth, they had accumulated novelties from all over the globe, creating an eclectic world in which they could hide away from the real one beyond their walls. Every room was a grand display, but to Vail, it was all the same. Material things could never hold anyone’s interest for long. To dazzle him for two centuries was impossible.

As quietly as he could, the vampire made his way up the stairs and down the hall that led to his room. At best, he had a few hours until his father would wake and recognize an unfamiliar scent in his territory. He intended to use the time to check on the state of Victoria’s health and try to get his thoughts in some kind of order, so he could explain himself when the head of the clan demanded to know what was going on. Already, he was dreading the conversation he knew they would have to have. In just a few hours—if not sooner—he was going to have to come clean about everything he had been doing behind his family’s back. If they chose to disown him, he would have deserved it.

Gently, Vail set the trembling woman down on his bed and wrapped her in the sheets to bring some warmth back to her frail body. Leaving her there briefly, he took a clean rag from the adjoining bathroom and wetted it. When he returned to her side, he sat down on the edge of the mattress and removed the makeshift bandage from her neck to softly clean the punctures in her skin so she wouldn’t get an infection. His hazel eyes remained fixed on her face as he worked. He hadn’t bothered turning on any lights, since he could see perfectly fine in the pitch black room, but he studied her features just as intricately as if there had been a lamp directly over her head.

“You’re safe now,” the murmur escaped his lips though he wasn’t sure if it was true. They may have eluded the Order for now, but there was no telling what the Hygraces or even the Wynters would do when they found out where she was. Regardless, they were safe at the moment, and he wanted to comfort her after everything she had been through.