Their Hidden Princess Chapter 91

Valentin

A Year Prior to the Great War

Valentin heard the crack of the whip before he felt the stinging in his back. It was enough to cause him to slam his eyes shut as he waited for the burning pain to lick up his spine and into his brain. It happened a few seconds after the noise hit his ears and he cringed. A grunt escaped his lips which made the wielder of the lip cackle in response.

“Faster, boy!” A male voice called over his shoulder. “I don’t have all day!”

Valentin grit his teeth as he bent down to unload another suitcase from the carriage. He felt the blood dripping down his back and into the unfinished hem of his trousers. He tried to not focus on the pain as he pulled the last case out. He loaded them all on a dolly and pushed them into the vestibule.

The man with the whip followed after him like a hawk. When they finally made their way inside the castle, he huffed, annoyed beyond words.

“Renault,” he sneered. “You really must be harsher with them. This one took the longest amount of time to unload my things. My servants would have had it done in mere minutes.”

Valentin looked up and saw the man was glaring at his back. He turned around and noticed another man was waltzing down the grand steps of the castle to meet his companion. It was the same man who’d plagued Valentin’s nightmares for the last twenty years.

He was pale as a ghost, with pulsing red eyes narrowed under white eyelashes. He had jet black hair that curled slightly at his jaw line. His thin lips were curved into a smirk as he looked between Valentin and the house guest. On his feet were a pair of delicate shoes, swirled with silver stitching. His jacket and trousers had similar threads. The collar of his shirt, a stark white that glowed against his skin, was high and ended right under the bottoms of his pointed ears. As he descended the stairs, he seemed to float across them.

“Now, now, Francois,” he said. “Valentin is my most loyal servant. He’s earned the respect from all the castle as well as my guests. I demand he be treated as such.”

Francois, the man with the whip, curled his lips into a snarl before glaring at Valentin. “He’s still a mutt,” he snapped. “You know as well as I do that they need to be tamed to be kept in line.”

Renault hummed. He gave his guest a bored look. “Don’t tell me how to command my house and I won’t tell you how to command yours,” he said. He looked back at Valentin. His tone was still bored. “Is your back okay?”

Valentin didn’t bother to speak. He nodded once even though it stung like the high heavens and the blood had reached his ankles by that point. Renault hummed again. Then, he casually threw a hand towards Valentin.

It was if all the energy in the room had shot into Valentin’s brain. He grunted as he tried to stop from keeling over. The liquid pooling by his feet shot back up and into the wound that the house guest had made. He felt his skin stitch back together as the Dark Magiks that Renault commanded worked. Then, the energy dissipated, and he was left feeling the way he’d felt before Francois had attacked him.

“There,” Renault said as he regarded his guest. He narrowed his eyes at Francois. “Don’t make me have to do that again.”

Francois seemed to become more pale, if possible. He ducked his head as he spoke. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Valentin,” Renault said to his servant. His tone was apathetic again. “Please bring Duke du Pont’s things to his room. While you’re in the East Wing, please check on Aveline. Remind her that dinner is to be served in an hour.”

Valentin nodded, bowing his head deep, before he yanked the dolly towards the eastern wing of the Castle. As he pushed the luggage along, he was met with several tapestries, all with various depictions of battles. The one thing that was the same amongst them all; there always was a pale, human-looking creature in silver and a large, wolf in gold. They were on opposite sides of the battle, snarling at one another.

Valentin sighed and shoved his dolly farther into the cavern.

He hadn’t been alive when the vampires enslaved the wolves, but he’d heard a great number of stories from the elders. The vampires and wolves used to co-exist with minimal conflicts. It wasn’t until a few hundred years ago that the vampires decided to ruin that by enslaving the wolves. They tapped into the Dark Magiks of the ancient times and used those forces to limit the wolves’ natural powers.

It was how he ended up schlepping some asshole’s luggage across a castle that used to be owned by the wolves. His parents had, apparently, been killed off when an uprising that had been squashed. He’d never known them and lived the first twenty years of his life parentless. Yet, he was not alone.

After he dropped off the luggage, he walked down the hall to an ornate silver door. He rapt gently on the door and waited for someone to call him in before he pushed it open and entered the room.

Inside, was another pale woman with the same red eyes as Renault. Her hair, however, was as white as her skin. It was woven up on top of her head into intricate plaits and folds. She was standing on a small stage, holding a corset to her chest as two other women laced her into it. She lifted her head and gave Valentin a soft smile.

“Hello Valentin,” she said gently. At the mention of his name, the two other women lifted their heads. Both wore massive grins on their faces.

“Val!” One of the women called. She dropped the laces of the corset and ran into him. Her puffy red curls tickled his nose as she wrapped her arms around him. He left out a soft “oof” as she slammed into him. He laughed gently and returned her hug.

“Hey Tori,” he replied.

He looked up across the room at the other woman. She had the same bright red hair as the other woman. Her’s, however, was straight as a wire. It flowed down her back in sleek strands, hitting in the middle of her back. Her features were softer than her sister’s. As she made eye contact with Valentin, a blushed warmed up on her cheeks. She quickly looked back towards the corset she was doing up.

“Victoria,” the pale woman drawled. “Please help your sister. I believe Valentin is here to tell me I’m going to be late to dinner with our guests.”

“I am,” Valentin agreed, stepping into the room and ushering Victoria back to the pale woman. She went willingly, darting across the room. When she got back to the pale woman, she sighed.

“Miss Aveline,” she started. “Promise me you’ll bring up the treatment of wolves tonight? I know you read through my proposal.”

“I did,” The pale woman, Aveline, said. She jolted slightly as Victoria tightened her corset, shoving her chest high and proud. “I will bring it up to Francois and Renault. I know it means a lot to you. But I cannot promise anything.”

Victoria beamed. “Thank you so much,” she said, voice cracking with emotions. “It will mean so much to the wolves too. Especially the ones under Mr. Francois’s command. I’ve heard horror stories from the Wolfham Manor.”

“Aye, me as well,” Aveline agreed. She shifted her gaze to Valentin. “Was he kind to you?”

Valentin rubbed the back of his neck. “Kind is not how I would describe him,”

Victoria’s sister immediately dropped her laces and stared at Valentin, wide eyed and afraid. “Val,” she started, lip trembling. “They didn’t—”

“I’m fine, Zahara,” he stated. “Any pain he caused was healed by Master Renault.”

Zahara nodded slightly then went back to her laces. Valentin didn’t miss the way the color returned to her cheeks. The sisters finished lacing Aveline’s corset then pulled a deep red dress out from the wardrobe. They had Aveline step into it and shimmied it up her shoulders. All the stitching on the dress was the same as Renaults; a shiny silver that caught in the light.

“You look lovely, Miss Aveline,” Valentin stated. “Master Renault will be pleased.”

“Thank you, Valentin,” Aveline shook the skirt of the dress out. Zahara ran to the front and smoothed the skirt. Victoria stood back with her hands on her hips.

“We do good work, sister,” she said.

“I do good work,” Zahara emphasized, still smoothing Aveline’s dress. “You mess about until the last minute.”

“Girls, girls, please,” Aveline hushed them. “I don’t have time for this today.”

Instantly Zahara and Victoria froze. Valentin knew that Aveline’s patience was low. He also knew what would happen to the girls if they tried to push her. They both shrunk away from their Mistress and into the back of the room. Aveline walked towards Valentin and grabbed him by the bicep.

“Escort me to dinner,” she half-asked, half-demanded. Valentin immediately extended his arm to her. He turned over his shoulder to see Victoria and Zahara both still had cast their heads down. Aveline squeezed his bicep and he turned back to her. She gave him a soft smile that made his skin crawl.