The Letter V

Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine… One hundred.

Violet had lost count somewhere after fifteen, but she humored herself into counting the napkins to pass the time. Truth be told, she had no idea how many she had washed, only that it seemed like a reasonable number and that her hands felt like they would shrivel up at and fall off at any moment. She hung them all up individually on the clothesline, along with all of the other stray pieces she had washed because she was already at the basin.

She stood up and brushed a bead of sweat from her forehead. Surely this earned her something of a break from all the monotony.

“Aw, blast!” came a voice from across her corner of the palace lawn.

Violet wiped her hands off on her apron and used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. The voice was male, and after a few moments she recognized that it belonged to Xander, the ostler. She wondered vaguely what he could be doing at the moment that could warrant all of the frustration.

Deciding that yes, that would do as a welcome distraction, Violet made her way over to the riding paddock. It was a small, fenced-in lawn that was used for the equestrian sports - polo, dressage, whatever the royal fancied. But currently, a chestnut-brown young stallion with a white spot on its nose was running circles around its perimeter. A frustrated young man with an unruly head of blonde hair was standing at its center, trying to coax the energetic young horse near the bit and bridle.

Violet approached the fence, but hesitated at the gate. She was not keen on horses - she respected their power, and their ability to crush her with a wayward step, and therefore decided it was best to leave them in their natural state. While they were beautiful, they were, like most beautiful things, best admired from afar.

She hopped up onto a viewing platform, swinging her feet off the side. “Perhaps the horse knows better than you do, Xander!”

The ostler turned quickly at the sound of her voice. When he recognized her, his face lit up with a smile, and he waved enthusiastically.

He was an energetic young boy, a little younger than herself, who had been surrounded by horses his entire life. Xander had been the most recent in a long line of horse breeders and caretakers, and had been selected by the Queen herself to care for the royals’ fleet after spotting him at a polo match in the capitol a few years ago. No one can say for sure if it was because of his ability with horses or because of his boyish good looks.

Violet got the feeling it had more to do with the latter, she mused.

Xander waved, letting the bridle drop to his side. “G’mornin’ Violet!”

She smiled, pulling her long golden hair over her shoulder. “It’s closer to afternoon, I’d think,” she muttered, weaving her fingers through her hair. “Anyway, with all the napkins I’ve washed this morning, it sure feels like it.”

The ostler started over to her side of the paddock. “Fair enough - whoa!” He jumped backwards, out of the way of the young horse’s path, just narrowly avoiding a collision.

He deftly pulled himself up onto the viewing platform and planted himself next to Violet, who had become engrossed with braiding her hair into a plait. Xander lifted a hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead, brushing his floppy hair out of his face.

Violet squinted in the sunlight as she braided. “He’s new,” she mused, watching the horse’s coat glisten in the afternoon sun. “Beautiful. Who’s he for?”

Xander reached for a canteen he’d had on his waistband and took a long swig of what Violet could only assume was water. “Housewarming present,” Xander scowled, before offering the canteen over to her. “For Prince Nathan from the Queen.” He gazed off at the horse, watching as it began to slow and eventually stop to paw at the ground just beneath their feet.

Violet took a swig of water - she was surprised to find that it was cool. She also hadn’t realized how thirsty she had been. “What happened to Puckett?”

Puckett had been a mousey-looking mare that was deemed tame enough for young Nathan to ride. Violet had accompanied the prince on a few rides with Puckett before he had left, none of which had ended on a good note. The horse had been splotchy gray, and had a grudge against the world.

“Puckett?” he laughed, “She’s not in riding shape anymore. Mostly just avoids us in the grazing pasture - I leave her be.” Xander sighed and nodded over toward the new horse. “His name’s Ranger - his father won loads of races in his younger days. Should be a fast horse, if anyone can ever manage to ride him.”

Violet chuckled. “I take it this is as far as you’ve come?”

“You’d be right.” Xander groaned, flopping backwards so that he was laying on his back on the deck of the platform. “I’ve been at this for a week and gotten nowhere. Prince Nathan was a polo player at University - he’ll be expecting a prize horse when he arrives.”

What Ranger lacked in discipline, he made up for in grace and speed - Violet had never seen the other horses move so easily around the track. Granted, most of the other horses were older, mediocre steeds at best. They were work horses, some of whom could be taken on the King’s occasional hunting trips. They were not elegant, not like Ranger clearly was.

Perhaps Xander was a little out of his depth.

“I’m sure the Prince will have other obligations to fill his time,” Violet told him, holding out the canteen for him to take back. “Polo is probably not too high on the list.”

Xander propped himself up onto his elbow, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. “How else is he supposed to avoid his mother?”

Violet rolled her eyes and stood up, dusting herself off. “Point taken, I suppose.” She glanced around them, trying to spot a wild Elisabeth coming to complain at her for taking a break. When she saw none, she sighed and started down the side of the viewing platform. “I’ll be off, then - loads of laundry to do, you’d understand.”

The ostler snorted. “Loads.” After a pause, he crawled over to the edge of the platform and looked down to see Violet already trotting away, back toward the clotheslines. “Wait! Violet!”

She turned over her shoulder and looked up to see his disembodied head floating over the edge. “Wha?”

Xander cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well, if you can spare a moment, tonight - or, perhaps, another night, I suppose, whatever suits best - perhaps I could convince you to try the horses again?” An embarrassed flush crawled over his cheeks.

Violet bit her lip and played with the braid in her hair. “Perhaps, Xander - but not tonight, there’s too much to do before the ball, and I’m already behind on the tasks Elisabeth gave me.” That much was true - she had already been away from her work for too long. “Good luck!”

The ostler offered a half-hearted thank-you and returned to his work, only to see Ranger take off around the paddock once more.

Violet sighed. As she walked back toward the building, she bent down and picked up a small white flower. She admired it for a moment - five crisp, white petals and a magenta spot at its center - before tucking it behind her ear. It would look lovely, she decided, at she needed something lovely to help her get through the day.

With that, she headed off to the library - after her accidental brush with royalty earlier, she realized it needed a thorough clean more than anything.



“His Majesty, Prince Nathan!”

Nathan shushed the butler and furrowed his eyebrows. “Shh! No, that’s not what I-”

“Ah, brother, dearest!” Edmund shouted, louder than he needed to across the lavish foyer. He approached his brother with outstretched arms, as though he were going to embrace him by sheer strength.

Nathan had little patience for Edmund’s fake affection, but allowed him to embrace him anyway. With an awkward pat on the shoulder, he pulled away, immediately regretting his decision to return to Alvandor entirely.

“It’s been too long,” Nathan remarked half-heartedly, pulling on his uniform sleeves to try to ease some of the smothering discomfort he was feeling.

The elder brother laughed. “Ah, we saw each other but a few months ago, the National Ball,” he said fondly. “What a lavish night, eh?” He clapped his younger brother on the shoulder and began to escort him into the building. “I’ll take him from here,” he said, directed in the butler’s general direction.

Nathan shifted uncomfortably, but allowed Edmund to guide him through the palace like he hadn’t spent his childhood here.

Once they were out of earshot of the butler, Edmund leaned in toward the younger brother. “You are a lucky bastard, you know that?”

Nathan let out a genuine laugh. “I’ve been told a few times.”

Once they reached the palace staircases, Edmund stopped and stood in front of him, chuckling, more from disbelief than anything else. “I’m serious. Think of all the freedom you had - all the parties, the travelling, the women - and I’ve been cooped up here this whole time!”

The younger brother scoffed. “Travelling? Women?” he echoed in disbelief. “What exactly do you think I’ve been doing, brother?”

“Not what, whom,” Edmund corrected with a wicked grin.

Nathan scoffed. “Surely you don’t need to try to live vicariously through me just yet, Edmund,” he chastised, glancing around the palace for the first time in ages. Now that he thought about it, it did look different - and yet it looked remarkably familiar at the same time. “Your marriage is still a week away, surely you’ve earned some of your own freedom while you can still enjoy it.”

Edmund snorted in a way that was very un-royal. “How much freedom could I possibly expect when I’ve been shut up in this damn palace?” His voice turned mocking. “As is only fit for the future King of Geneveira.”

He had a point - while Nathan had been off seeing at least other parts of the county, Edmund had spent large portions of his time at home in Alvandor. At least, when he wasn’t touring with King Charles II for various national appearances. Nathan had been given a set of liberties that Edmund hadn’t even dreamed of because he was the second heir to the throne, and not the first.

Leaving aside, of course, all of the ruckus Edmund had created in his youth that the Queen had been desperate to avoid a second time.

It was apparent to anyone who looked at the two brothers that Nathan was the more stately of the pair. He had always had the calm, even demeanor of a royal accustomed to the public eye. Where Edmund’s face was severe and angular, Nathan’s was regal and trustworthy, the kind of face one would expect to see on an official national portrait. They both shared the same chocolate brown hair, but Edmund’s was long and unruly where Nathan’s was cleanly cut and never out of place. Edmund’s emerald green eyes were fierce with passion and desire, while Nathan’s were cool-toned and spoke of a wisdom beyond his years.

Even in their actions, it was clear that Nathan was more royal. Edmund had spent his younger years in and out of trouble, preferring juvenile hijinks to studies and intellectual pursuits. Nathan stayed in line, preferring to better himself as an intellectual, and because of this was an excellent candidate for university.

Then there was their reputations, which perhaps were the most influential of all. Edmund was a well-known womanizer, who courted a new woman every week at slept with a new one every night, if the rumors floating around the palace had any truth to them. Until he had become betrothed to Penelope - then all word of his affairs were kept under the tightest wraps. Nathan, on the other hand… Well, no one was even sure if he was interested in women. He had shown no indication that he was.

It was only a fluke in their birth order that would name Edmund as the future king, and not Nathan - but both of the brothers knew this from the beginning.

As the pair walked and chatted amicably, Nathan felt something drawing him down a hallway he hadn’t remembered from before. It pulled him out of his thoughts rather abruptly.

“Say - has this always been here?” he asked, turning to Edmund for some sort of explanation.

Edmund glanced down his line of sight. “Ah, this is the study and the library.” He immediately sounded bored. “Father never allowed us to roam this hallway, for fear that we would damage some of these books. Right, too - I may have drawn in a few of them in my younger days,” he mused, continuing down the path he’d originally been walking.

He couldn’t explain why, but Nathan felt something pulling him in toward the library. Perhaps, he thought, it was the desire to be somewhere that felt familiar, even if it wasn’t - he had spent so much time amongst his books at university that they had begun to feel like home for him.

“You have some wedding affairs to sort out with Penelope, I’m sure?” Nathan asked, sounded like he only half-cared about the answer.

The older brother furrowed his eyebrows. “Always. I assumed that I could take some time away this afternoon to catch up with my long lost brother.”

Nathan sighed and turned away from the library that seemed to be calling him. “How about we all meet up for a poker game tonight?” the younger suggested, “With Callum, and Daniel, like we did on your visits to university? Surely Daniel will be around for the ball mother is throwing this evening.”

Callum and Daniel were each Edmund’s and Nathan’s closest men, respectively. While they were also polar opposites, they were never known to turn down a night of drinking and games.

Edmund seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before finally offering a non-committal shrug. “Whatever His Highness requests,” he mocked, and faked a bow. “Until later, brother!” And then he took off, as far away from the room full of knowledge as his feet would take him.

Nathan walked with purpose towards the library door, which he could see was just slightly ajar, as though someone had just gone through it. Curious, he thought - he could have sworn it was shut tight just moments ago. Had someone entered since then? How heavily trafficked was this place? He had wanted to use it to hide out from his family - he knew none of them would dare come near the dusty old volumes for fear of obtaining the knowledge they contained.

After a start, he realized that there was someone in the room, but that someone surely wasn’t his relatives.

Instead, he saw a bundle of spun-gold curls piled atop a mass of blue fabric, sitting in the middle of a deep scarlet floor rug. It was a girl - a beautiful girl, the most striking creature he had ever seen.

Who on earth was she?