Tarnished Crown

With Alec and Lily as king and queen, duty pulled them away from their son more than they liked. At times like this, he was almost always put in Belle's care. She was the only one who knew him as well as his parents did, and previous experience proved random servants to be quite untrustworthy. Not that Belle minded, of course. She loved Lucian to death, and likely would die if she ever had to be separated from him. She watched as he squeezed paints into a tray, abandoning his brush to messily mix the colors with his hands and fingers. Belle tried not to cringe as paint dripped onto the white marble floor. After all, they'd designated this spot in one of the lesser used rooms for Lucian's painting. They couldn't get mad about the boy getting it dirty.

Every since Gwendolyn had introduced Lucian to paint when he was just four years old, he'd been completely hooked. Now, he was quite the child prodigy. He could paint landscapes from memory that were almost frighteningly accurate, down to each detail. He didn't have much control over brushes like a professional artist, but his technique of smearing paint on a parchment or canvas and using his fingers to blend was remarkably good. He told Belle to watch as he painted the "pretty lake", and as Belle watched his progress, she found it looking more and more like the lake she and Alec had grown up near, which they'd taken Lucian to visit and swim in not too long ago. He used blues, purples, and just a bit of black to create a night sky, blending and smearing it all around with his small hands. Belle was positive he was going to make some breathtaking paintings when he was older. Hamilton was already commissioning art from him, with toys and candy as payment.

"Are you sure you don't want to wear a smock?" Belle asked him softly. "Your mother is going to be upset if you get paint stains all over your brand-new white clothes."

"Don't like white clothes," he said plainly.

"You know, someday, you'll get older and things like white clothes will be important to you."

Lucian looked at Belle, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "I'm not gonna get older. I don't want to."

"Well, it's not your choice," Belle reminded him.

"I'll get bigger, but you only become a grown up if you want to," Lucian told her, turning back to his painting. "That's the rule. Papa says that no one can make me do anything I don't want to do, and if they try to tell me I have no choice, I just say NO!"

He flung paint everywhere, nearly getting it on Belle's skirt where she was sitting against some plush pillows on the floor.

"Careful, Lucian," she warned.

He just squealed and jumped onto Belle, getting paint all over her dress. She wanted to yell at him, but it was so hard to be angry with him when he was laughing and cuddling up to her like that. She kissed the top of his head and released him to go back to his painting, trying and failing to wipe paint off herself. She looked up when there was a knock on the door.

"It's open, come in," she said.

To her dismay, Caspian is the one who opened the door and leaned against the frame with a smirk on his face. Belle just stared at him in disbelief.

"What are you doing? How on earth did you get in here?" she asked him.

"I actually got a royal summoning," he explained. "Couple of guards showed up at my door and told me to come with them."

"Who summoned you?" Belle questioned. "I hope you don't think that I did."

"As much as I wish that were the case," he chuckled, "I'm not here for you. Your little companion sent the summon."

Belle looked at Lucian, seeing the boy grinning wide.

"Lucian, you know you can't send out summons unless it's an emergency," Belle told him.

"I can do whatever I want," Lucian said, proudly puffing out his chest. "I am a prince!"

"You're a little twerp," Belle grumbled. "That's all you are."

"Caspian is my friend," Lucian announced. "He can draw. But I can paint. So I'm better."

"Right you are," Caspian told him as Lucian shoved a pad and pencil into his hands and pulled him to a seat next to Belle on the cushions.

She scooted away as he flopped down, though he seemed to notice and sat unnecessarily close to her for that reason specifically. He flipped the pad open and let Lucian snuggle up next to him and watched intently as Caspian started to outline a face.

"I didn't know you drew," Belle said, realizing he was here to stay and reluctantly looking over at the pad with Lucian.

"Didn't get the chance to tell you, since you always squirm away from me," he smirked, tracing out a pair of eyes. "Maybe if you didn't, you'd also know that I can play the violin. And juggle. And I know several card tricks that are a hit at parties."

"Can you tie your shoes?" Lucian asked.

"No," Caspian said, widening his eyes at Lucian. "Only people who are really good can do that."

"I can do it!" Lucian beamed. "I'm better than you!"

Normally, Belle would scold Lucian for saying something like that, but she said nothing.

"You've beaten me again, your highness," Caspian said.

"I can also brush hair really good," Lucian told him. "Sometimes when I don't want to go to bed, Auntie Belle says I can stay up if I brush her hair really good. Sometimes she makes me do it for hours until my arms fall off."

"That's not true, Lucian," Belle said. "I've never made you do it longer than you wanted and you have both arms."

"I believe that your arms fell off," Caspian said. "They grew back, obviously. Obviously."

"She doesn't get it," Lucian said. "You know why? It's a secret, but I'm going to tell you."

"I won't tell," Caspian promised.

"Auntie Belle is actually a girl," Lucian whispered. "Girls are stupid and gross. But Auntie Belle isn't like other girls."

"No, she definitely is not," Caspian said, shooting her a cocky wink that made her roll her eyes. "But what about your mother? She's a girl, too."

"She's not a girl, she's my mother," Lucian said, as if it was completely obvious.

"That's right, how could I forget?"

Lucian and Caspian continued chatting as Caspian finished up his sketch of the face. Belle just watched in silence. She wanted to leave, but she couldn't leave Lucian alone with him. Even if Caspian seemed good with children. Eventually, Lucian yanked the pad and his drawing out of his hands, lying on his stomach to start coloring it with his paint.

"Good job working together," Lucian told him, like Alec always told Lucian when he "helped" Alec and Lily with things.

To make his point, he patted Caspian's leg, leaving a bright red hand print on his black pants. Caspian just chuckled, turning to Belle.

"Now we match," he said, gesturing to her paint stains. "I'll treasure these pants forever. And I'll think of you every time I see them."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Belle asked him, annoyed.

"Actually, I do," he said, standing up and brushing himself off. "Quite late for it, if I'm going to be honest. Time flies when you're having fun, after all."

"Don't go!" Lucian cried out, grabbing his leg and getting dragged across the floor when he tried to walk away.

"Oh, well this isn't the last time," Caspian assured him. "We can paint together in a park or a garden, next time. So I don't have guards showing up at my door."

"Four times a week!" Lucian demanded.

"You have my word," Caspian promised. "How does the meadow area by Joan's Creek sound. I know your auntie knows that place well, with all the admirers that take her and Princess Annemarie. In fact, she can bring you. Four days a week."

Belle stared at Caspian in disbelief, and he gave her a bright smile.

"Yeah, that's good!" Lucian said, jumping around and tugging on Belle's hand. "You'll take me, right? Right?"

"I don't think so, Lucian," she said quietly.

"No! Why?!" he cried, throwing himself on the floor. "I'll scream!"

"Don't scream," Belle warned him.

Caspian watched in amusement as Lucian let out a loud scream, until Belle quickly grabbed him and covered his mouth with her hand, muffling the scream. He licked her hand and she pulled away, wiping her hand on his paint-covered shirt.

"Fine. Fine! I'll take you to the creek to see... Him."

"Okay!" Lucian said, smiling bright as if nothing had even happened. "Bye, Caspian."

"Until next time," he said, bowing to them both before leaving.

Belle sighed as Lucian cuddled up in her arms again, like a puppy trying to make up for making his owner upset. She rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.

"Alright. Now clean up all that paint before your father slips on them again and threatens to take them away."



Not a day went by that Belle didn't miss Daniel. She stared at the large portrait of the handsome man on the wall of Dominic's manor. He was always a very proud person, much like his adoptive father, and it showed through the portrait. His green eyes seemed to pierce into your soul, and the painter had even captured the lock of brown hair that always came out of place, which Belle was always brushing back for him. Everyone was gathered in the parlor, but there was something about the manor that made Belle uneasy. She imagined it was because she could still feel, got a moment, that Daniel was still alive. None of his things had been moved since his death, though Dominic still had his servants clean and dust the floors and shelves of his bedroom. She looked down when she felt a tug on her skirt, smiling and holding Lucian's hand when he reached for her.

"It's okay to be sad sometimes," he told her.

"Who told you I was sad?" Belle questioned.

"You have sad eyes," Lucian told her. "But I want you to have happy eyes. But Uncle Dominic says that his son was your really good friend, and since he went away, you're sad."

"That's right," Belle sighed. "He went away to a far away place. A very beautiful place. Sometimes people have to go there. It's important to remember, though, that they're happy where they are. It's their perfect world."

"Then why are you sad?"

"Well, when they go to that place, they can never come back," Belle explained, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking. "When you love someone a lot, it's sad to see them go away, knowing they'll never be back. And it gets lonely, sometimes. But you just have to remember that there are also lots of other people that love you, and you're never really alone."

"I love you, Aunt Belle."

"I love you too, Lucian. Very much. You're the only man I need in my life."