Valko Viktorov Petrov

Eye patches were for weenies; that’s why he’d given one to Valko.

“Whatever.” Noah huffed. He liked his hair. He was also beginning to feel oddly claustrophobic in the lounge, as more and more bodies filtered in. He’d gone through a period where he read too much about public fires, about theaters where the doors opened the wrong way, about dinner clubs with unmarked exits. Crowds got him on edge.

Never mind that these royals would kill him without a second thought, the first second they got. Noah wet his lips.

“Alright, well. Don’t you wanna go talk to her?” It felt a little bit like the first day of school, a big brother trying to shrug off his clingy, younger half. “Go on. She won’t bite.”

Or if she does, you probably like that, you vampire.

If she did, he wouldn’t have minded. Valko lips curled up at the corners and he winked as if he knew exactly what Noah had thought but left unsaid. He didn’t. That had just be exceptional timing. Lifting his glass in a mock salute, Valko pushed himself away from the bar, and staggered in the direction of his betrothed.

“Watch yourself around those princesses.”

“You know why,” Aaron said haughtily, annoyed, but not enough to fix a fully rendered glare at the other prince. Watching him spit wine everywhere was amusing enough. Having Aaron explain his apology was the opposite of amusing, though. It required admitting fault for starting a fight between them. It required acknowledging that he had been wrong about Valko. So Aaron wasn’t going to do it.

He reached over for the wine bottle and tried to steal it back as if he had not just graciously handed it over. “I do not want their to be any bad blood. That is all.” Aaron pressed his mouth into a thin line and looked away. He had bad blood with most royals on the island and he didn’t want his sister’s future husband to be one of them. What else was there to say?

“This wine is cheap.”

“If you’re sorry for anything, it should be how much you whine.” Mostly because Valko didn’t want to listen to the sound of Aaron’s voice. Maybe someone with more time to spare and less astute hearing wouldn’t have minded as much. Valko grimaced as the bottle slipped through his fingers, and found its way back into Herzog’s grasp.

“Wait... whine. Wine. Get it?” Valko chuckled at his own joke.

“Here.” Aaron held out the bottle of riesling to the other prince, not very reluctant to share the disgusting sweet wine with a man he didn’t particularly like. The Bulgarian crown prince had somehow situated himself above some of the other royals on the island that Aaron actually despised more. Mina didn’t complain about him. Mina actually, maybe, liked him. And Aaron still wanted to keep a sharp eye on the man, but at a certain point he had to trust his sister’s judgment. Or he’d go crazy with worry.

The full moon loomed high in the sky bathing the beach in pale silver light. Aaron stared out across the ocean looking like still glass. Words burgeoning to the forefront of his mind were forgotten by the view. Finally, he said: “I am sorry, Petrov.”

@valkopetrov

It was a beautiful night, marred only by the company he kept. Valko wasn’t entirely sure how he had ended up on the beach with Herzog, but it wasn’t the first time he had unexpectedly found himself lying next to someone questionable and it surely wouldn’t be the last. Whatever. He sat up as soon as he saw the bottle, and accepted the riesling without complaint. To future brothers, he thought, that hopefully wouldn’t ever have to see each other due to over-scheduling issues.

“I am sorry, Petrov.”

Valko spat wine all over his lap. Then he glared Aaron, the cause of the waste, before lifting the bottle back to his lips and taking another drink. A longer drink. He had to make up for the first mouthful that barely graced his tongue.

“... Why?”

“My apologies.” Once the pocket sized flashlight was turned off Tristan rolled his eyes. Nobody was more dramatic than a crown princes.It didn’t matter where they came from either. Tristan was certain this was a scientific fact. Princes in general were a special type of fragile being if you asked the pirate. “And it is a glorious tan. You sure are the smartest of all the Princes working on it at this time of night. Alas, I did not come out here to give you the admiration.”

“And yet here you are... admiring,” said the prince. He winked, and clucked his tongue. Without the flashlight on his face, Valko was happy enough to settle back into the dark. Cool sand pressed against his back as he laid down. Valko placed both of his hands behind his head.

“What did you come out here for then?”

Petrov’s lack of morals was at once astonishing and refreshing, and, not for the first time, Noah wondered if their roles should have been reversed. In many ways, his agreement with the prince felt more like captivity than he wanted. Somehow, Noah seemed constantly subjected to his whims.

“What are you talking about?” Noah huffed, glancing down at the black jeans he always wore. The shirt was different, though. A lot of color for his usual motif. “I’m in it.”

Rolling his eyes, he nodded. “You should’ve been a parrot. Then you’d match your bride over there.”

Hashtag lovebirds.

In it, shmin-it. Noah wasn’t even wearing his eye patch.

“No need to be jealous that I’m set up to be happily married one day.” Valko slowly tilted his glass back and forth, swirling his drink. Whether or not he would actually be happy was beside the point. Valko had already managed to avoid a number of deep conversations today, he was not about to get dragged into a debate on the merits (or lack thereof) of arranged marriages amongst the monarchy.

“There’s someone out there that’s perfect for you too. And one day you will find him or her. Don’t you worry. I bet they’re gonna have a big smile, and... hair.” Valko gave a half-hearted gesture to the perfectly coiffed, if excessive amount on Noah’s own head.

“No, no. Not during that, I promise.” She put her hand on his arm, squeezing it softly. “It’s the only time I don’t really hide. With my family, anyway. I mean if it was just us or your family I probably wouldn’t do that.” She took another sip of her drink, not wanting to go down that road anymore. She didn’t even know if the two of them would actually marry. “You know for the first few years my father used to say I was asleep during the Christmas photo? Well who am I kidding…he still does that now. It’s not exactly the place you want to be when it’s clear people don’t want you there.”

Valko’s head sort of bobbed up and down. It was almost a nod, albeit a lazy one. He glanced toward the door where someone dressed entirely in green had just walked in. Now there was a costume he could not for the life of him figure out. Frog was his first thought, but frog didn’t explain the pom-poms on the shoulders. Valko tore his eyes away, and tried to focus on his betrothed. Christmas photo. Unwanted.

“That’s...” His voice trailed off. It was what it was. “Do you want tea? I’m gonna make tea.”

He had nothing to say to that, save for a cough, mid-drink, and a series of watery-eyed blinks that followed. Just when Valko couldn’t get any more messed up, he found something else to drink and something worse to say. Noah wondered, not for the first time, how the people of a nation would survive under his rule.

Honestly, it would probably be like Margaritaville.

Doing his best to shrug it off, Noah looked out across the lounge. “…Is Herzog’s sister dressed like a bird?”

At that Valko actually took the time to lean back in order to see around Noah’s abnormally tall hair. He followed the pirate’s gaze, searching the crowd until he saw the feathers. The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly, and he sipped the drink that was a Mai Tai only in name. Future wife was 

“Looks like a Victoria’s Secret model to me. Except... a little overdressed.” He turned back to the bar. “What happened to your costume?”

“I want to,” she said without a second thought. “It…I may dislike most of my family so the holidays are never fun but that night? Seeing their eyes light up. The wonder on their faces as they see what they thought was just in their imagination? Worth every second of me hiding in my room the rest of the time.” She took another sip of her drink, not really realizing what she had said at the end. “I try and do a lot with them. Or as much as I can. I just want to leave this place better than it was when I left. I’m not sure if I’m doing it or what but I’m still going to try.”

“Fair enough,” he answered. There were few paths in life, if any, better than the commitment to making a better place, or so many conventional Christmas-themed television programs would have one believe. “I’m not hanging out at a magical mountain Christmas party alone while you hide in your room though. Just be forewarned.”

–

“You look nice tonight.”

Tristan hadn’t been walking along the beach for long before he had found what he needed to. Who he needed to find. The beam of light from his flashlight had shown directly into the eyes before him before he switched it off. “Now wanna tell me what you’re doing all the way out here alone at this time of night?”

Fucking hell. That was a bright fucking light. Valko’s stunned expression did not change even after it clicked off. He stared into the darkness, blinking a few times. He wasn’t sure if it was just normal dark again, or if he had been permanently blinded.

“Sitting on the beach,” said Valko. As was evidenced by that fact that he was, indeed, sitting and they were on the beach. “I do look nice tonight, don’t I? I’ve been working on my tan.”

“The twins thought it would be fun to tell me at six. Kind of ruined everything after that. I was quite upset. My mother tried to convince me otherwise but I knew they were right by how hard she was trying to convince me.” She turned to look at him, a small smile on her face. “I’m not sure how good I’d be at that. I love the mountains at Christmas but the actual holiday isn’t my favorite. Too much past bad shit to really enjoy it.” 

“Hmm.” Valko took a drink. It was his reflex in the same way some people used their phones to cover when they didn’t know what to say or where to put their hands. Hold a drink. Take a drink. He didn’t even miss his phone. This had always been his vice of choice.

“So do you want to take orphans up a mountain because you want to give them a Christmas party, or because you feel like you should them a Christmas party? Because really you could probably take them up a mountain any time. Forget the party. Just give them a few sleds or something, and turn 'em loose.”

“You’ve got a fucked-up sense of chivalry, then.” Noah returned with a scoff. He found himself sitting on a bar stool, staring at his captive. Coworker. Employee. Drinking partner? Valko was weird, and Noah preferred to blame all of the ambiguity of their relationship solidly on him. 

Noah took a sip. “Yeah.” He commented, pushing the prince’s drink toward him. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t get it. Who gets captured and is immediately all ‘well, they’re cute, guess I’ll screw them?’”

A better question might have been why Noah was expending so much energy thinking about what other people were doing in the bedroom, but Valko took a sip from his drink instead of bringing it up. He had a feeling that a question like that might open up a deeper conversation he wasn’t interested in having.

“Have you ever been captured?” he asked, “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

Mina sat down when Valko moved them towards a table. It felt much better than she’d care to admit. She couldn’t help but laugh at his question, shaking her head. “No, no. Not at all.” A huge smile was on her face as she thought about it. As much as she would like to see that, she wouldn’t make him do it. “We get someone who truly looks the part. Back home it was a retired cook and I swear if Santa was real, he would have been it. For sure.”

“Fess up. How long did you think Father Christmas was a real thing?” Valko sat down beside her. She was in quite a good mood. Which, compared to the last time he had come across her in an inebriated state, was something of a fortunate turn of fate. If he had believe in that sort of thing. He reached out to tweak a lock of her hair.

“You should be the Mrs. Santa though. Red is a good color for the season.”

“God, no.”

Contrary to the rest of his kind, Noah didn’t share the same fascination with all of the pretty princesses swarming the island. They were pretty, to be clear, and he didn’t mind catching their eye as they fluttered past. But there was something about a captive woman that made him uneasy in the back of his throat, like he might throw up at any given time.

Noah shrugged, exchanging the empty shot glass for his drink. Whiskey wasn’t the best chaser, but it was better than the lingering taste of cinnamon on his tongue.

“That doesn’t bother you?” He asked suddenly, a little surprised. “You’ve got a sister here. And a fiancée. You don’t worry about that with them?”

“They are grown women. They are capable of making their own choices.” However wrong those choices might be, especially in Maia’s case. He had lied to his sister when he said he would approach her new found love with an open mind. Falling in love was going too far. He had told her that he was fine with her having whatever fun she felt she deserved, but someday they were going to leave this island. Love (or even just complicated lust) was only going to muddle that up. 

“Unless you’re referring to the implication of the power dynamic,” he added. He threw back his head, and downed his shot.

Mina was not drunk enough to not catch that he didn’t want to talk about what happened. It had affected them all. Nobody was immune to having an opinion on this. Valko included. If he didn’t want to talk here she understood. But she would have to see about it later. She didn’t want him to be hurting if she could help it. “For the adults or the kids?” She let him lead, thankful to be wishful thinking for a few moments. “Adults would just be a fun party. The one for the kids would be much more….magical. Invite kids from schools and orphanages and in homes and just give them some fun. It could also work for Christmas, too. Though sometimes with that it’s been more fun to take them to the mountains so they really feel like Santa is there.”

Probably a better time to throw a party, all things considered. Halloween wasn’t much of a thing in Bulgaria, but right after he’d just told her she could throw a large party in celebration of it didn’t really seem like the time to mention that fact. There was plenty of time to bring it up later. Or not at all. Valko steered his betrothed toward an empty table, and waited for her to take a seat.

“That’s sounds... like something kids would like.” He cleared his throat. “Just to be clear, you’re not expecting me to dress up as the Santa right?”