Act One Part One
The Imp’s long nails run soothingly through Regulus’ shoulder length hair , twisting it into elaborate horns on top of Regulus’ head. He really should do this himself, but Kreacher would feel cheated. The imp had traded Regulus’ father, Alphard, for something years ago and given years of service to the general as payment. So Regulus lets it fuss with his hair.
The horns anger him now. When they had first come to Fairie, he and Sirius had stuck out like a sore thumb. They looked so human with their rounded ears and dull features. Treated with suspicion, if not direct hatred, by the folk since their arrival. Regulus had been the one to suggest it to his brother, to give themselves an animalistic feature in an attempt to fit in with the fae. At Age six, it seemed reasonable. They had poured over their copy of The Brothers Grimm together, one of the only things they had brought with them from the human world, searching for a fitting fable to help them find courage. Regulus had taken the book off his brother after they had argued over the different animals available, and flipped to his favourite story; The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn.
The tale tells of three brothers who go to find their fortunes. They travel for days until they come to a mountain of silver. The oldest brother decided that this was enough for him, unwilling to risk a more dangerous journey for the allure of more than he needed. More than he wanted. The remaining brothers continued on their trip for a few days more until they came to a mountain of gold. The second brother decided he had risked enough for this reward, filled his pockets and returned home. The third brother however, had wanted more. He continued on his quest. He travelled for far longer and farther than he should. He risked everything, often going without food or water in his stubbornness, determined to prove his brothers wrong for ending their endeavours so soon, to call him feckless for risking too much.
Eventually he came across a tree. The brother climbed the tree in search of food, he found none, but when he returned to the ground there was a tablecloth full of food. The brother ate his fill and took the table cloth with him on his journey. He came across a coal miner on his way and found the man with nothing but potatoes, the miner offered to share with the brother who thanked him and returned the offer, opening his table cloth and commanding it to appear full. The cloth obeyed and the men ate their fill. Impressed by the cloth the miner offered a trade. For the miner owned a magical knapsack which, once tapped, conjured soldiers at your command. The brother agreed to the trade and swapped items. After a time, he used the knapsack to summon soldiers and had them go retrieve his cloth from the miner.
Some time later, the brother came across a tree logger. The logger only had a meat pie, but offered to share with the brother, who thanked him and offered to do the same, commanding food for them from his table cloth. Once they had eaten the logger asked the brother to trade, for the tree logger had an enchanted hat which, when spun 12 times upon the head, would summon 12 cannons which would explode and decimate everything around you. The brother agreed and they exchanged items. Within the hour the brother summoned his soldiers again and had them retrieve his table cloth.
He next came across a hunter with a rabbit. They agreed to share and again a trade was proposed. The hunter had a special horn. Once blown the horn would fell every wall around you. The brother agreed to his trade and as he watched the hunter walk away, summoned his soldier for his tablecloth and decided it was time to go home.
When the brother returned however, he found his brothers settled and well off. Content in their small happiness. When he made to greet them, they turned him away claiming not to recognize the man before them after so long. Enraged and full of spite, the brother used his objects to lay siege on his brothers.
When the local king heard of the commotion he ordered his forces to stop it, but with his magical objects, the brother defeated the king and took his throne. The brother also took the princess as his wife.
The new queen resented her partner, hated how he had forced himself into power and plotted against him in quiet. She discovered the power of his hat first, daringly ripping it from his hand and summoning troops to defend her. Unaware of his other tools, the brother used his hat to make cannons go off and vanquished her forces easily. The queen had begged for mercy and the brother had forgiven her. After a time she plotted again. This time stealing his hat from his head in the night. The brother had awoken and used his horn. The walls had crashed down around him. They crushed the Queen.
No one ever opposed him again and the brother became the King of it all.
Regulus loves this story, his mother read it to him a lot as a child and he would make his siblings play out the battles with him, each taking a different part to him as the third brother. When he had read it for the first time in Faerie, hidden behind Alphard’s stables with Sirius, Regulus had thought he felt the very ground beneath him shudder.
“There are no animals in this story Reggie,” Sirius had huffed and Regulus had hummed.
“We could give ourselves horns though,” he whispered. Sirius had looked up to meet his eyes, they were identical to a tee but when Regulus looked in Sirius’ eyes, he found light rain clouds. When he looked in the mirror, he saw raging thunder storms
“Like the Beast?” Sirius had asked with a grin. Beauty and the Beast had always been Sirius’ favourite movie when they were still in the human world. Regulus had grinned back at him.
“Exactly like Beast.”
And so, they had created a way of fitting in, something they would sustain without magical help from one of the folk, something they could do for themselves. Only, they had become somewhat of a trademark for the mortal twins, and no one had ever believed the horns to be anything other than two mortal boys desperate for a place to belong.
The fae did not want them though. Especially the children of the gentry. Alphard was the General of the High King’s army, and as such a very prominent member of the court. His children therefore, including his two mortal strays, attended school at the place under the hill with the Nobel Faerie children, All of whom found their dirty mortal presence to be a disgrace and strove to make sure both boys knew it.
See, the Fae are magical beings, they don't sweat, they don’t age. They’re all ethereally beautiful, nothing a mortal could ever hope to be. They have graceful pointed ears and other animal-like appendages, from butterfly wings to hooves. Or like Andromeda, cat eyes. His sister; being Alphard’s daughter with their mother; had pointed ears to go with her feline gaze.
The fae also held magic over mortals, able to place a geas over an unprotected mortal, and force them to do their bidding. Or drug a human with fairy fruit, keeping them high in another world, at the disposal and influence of the folk. Unprotected, a human could be made to do anything a fae commanded. Humans who drank too much fairy wine had been known to dance until they died. One of the first things Kreacher had done for Regulus and Sirius when they had arrived in this place was string them each a necklace of rowan berries, to protect them against a geas, and a pouch of salt in a belt around their tunics each day, to sprinkle over their food and protect from fairy fruit.
Regulus at six, had hoped to hide his humanity, to be accepted here in this place that felt so right. Regulus at 17, knows better. He has spent 11 years in this place, not fitting in, enduring taunts and abuse from his classmates. Reminding him endlessly how he smelled, how abnormal his ears are. How untrustworthy humans are.
You see, for all their impressive magic and beauty, the folk cannot lie. From the fairies to the imps, not a single member of the folk can lie.
“Master must be on his best behaviour for the revel tonight,” the imp mutters behind him and Regulus sighs. “Master thinks himself a knight already, but the tournament for selection is not for another three nights.” He is right and Regulus hates it.
As members of the General’s household, Regulus and his brother will be expected to join Alphard to High King Fleamont's revel tonight, Along with Alphard’s new wife, Narcissa and their young son Draco. It’s unlikely Andromeda would attend with them. She is 19 now and as Alphard’s true heir and a fae, she gets away with whatever she likes. Unlike Regulus and Sirius.
Regulus strides down the stairs and into the sweeping entrance hall of Alphard’s home, straightening his doublet with slightly too much aggression. Andromeda is nowhere to be seen, but Narcissa is near the door, dressed in a sweeping gown and standing with that preternatural stillness of the fae. Draco is running around the room, the boy is in a doublet much like Regulus’, but with hooves in place of feet.
The boy is almost eleven years old now. Alphard had met and married Narcissa within a few months of Regulus and his siblings coming to live here and she had the child shortly after. Regulus doesn't remember much of that time now, just that they couldn’t see the baby for a while because it had come too early.
Draco is an interesting quandary to Regulus, he views the boy as much his brother as Sirius is and yet… Regulus resents him. He resents Andy too if he’s honest. Both have their animal attributes and skill for enchantment. Andy has never used magic on him, but Draco…
Once, when Draco was six, he caught Regulus coming out of the bath, without his necklace. Draco hadn’t understood what he was doing, Regulus knew that. The child had just told Regulus to play with him. And Regulus hadn’t had a choice but to obey. It hadn’t been too bad at first, Not until Draco realised how funny it was to make Regulus slap himself. Regulus loves Draco. Regulus has only ever once wanted to hurt Draco and it was that day. as his brother in name made him slap himself across the face as hard as he could. It was an hour before Narcissa had found them.
Regulus had not hurt Draco, not once Narcissa broke him free of the enchantment. Not as she held Draco away from Regulus and watched him with fear. Regulus had never and would never hurt Draco. But he learned a lot that day.
He learned he would never get to be vulnerable here. He must keep his guard up at all times, even with those he loves and trusts the most. Even amongst his family.
He had also learned exactly how much he enjoyed power. How much people feared retaliation. Even now, Narcissa keeps a tight grip on Draco anytime Regulus comes close. She does not trust his forgiveness, she sees his Alphard in him, and his father would not let an insult like that pass. But Regulus is not his father, he never wished his brother ill, not really. The power the situation gave him was unbridled. It was the day that Narcissa stopped treating him like a nuisance and started threatening him like a threat. The hand shaped bruise had lasted three weeks. His new found footing with Narcissa lasted forever.
She was right though, as much as he hated it. Their new parents had trained the two of them the only way they knew how. Sirius had clung to Narcissa and the courtly etiquette lessons with her soft, patronising smiles and flowing gowns. Regulus had taken much more aptly to his fathers teachings. Alphard had pressed a blade into Regulus’ hand three weeks after they arrived. Regulus had very quickly learned how much like flying swordplay can be. His father ran drills with him daily, always trying to improve Regulus. And Regulus is grateful for it. Thrilled to have the upper hand on his fae competition during the upcoming championship.
As his feet meet the floor of the staircase, Draco slams into him and Regulus laughs, wrapping his arms around him with a wide grin.
“Are you excited for the ball?” Draco asks with wide eyes and Regulus feels his smile tighten.
“Of course,” two seemingly simple words, but they are a lie. Draco can’t tell that, but Narcissa can. Yet another reminder of his otherness, his ability to lie makes him untrustworthy to the folk. Regulus enjoys that, having a small thing on them. He can lie to them all. The folk spend so much time finessing their tricky words to mislead people, but Regulus? He lies like he was born to.
“Draco, come here” Narcissa snaps. Regulus uses what self-control he has to not shoot a glare at his step mother as he releases Draco, who runs immediately to her side.. “Where is Sirius? We’re going to be late,” Regulus smooths his hands over his doublet with as much disinterest as he can muster.
“You know Sirius, he’ll be ready once he deems himself so and not a moment earlier.” Regulus meets her gaze, absorbs the wariness masked by impatience and smiles; “you should be proud he cares so much for your tutelage,” unlike himself. Regulus is wearing the simplest black doublet he could find. It fastens with a line of buttons on one side, the sleeves are not capped but flare out slightly on his shoulders. His simple white tunic cuffs at his wrists, his only other adornment is in his hair, chains swooping from his twisted horns into his curls. He wants to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Sirius, on the other hand.
“You can’t rush this sort of thing,” his brother admonishes and Regulus turns to find him standing atop the stairs. Sirius is wearing tight high waisted trousers, a loose shirt, tucked in and buttoned up. He has gold chains, matching the ones in Regulus’ hair, on his trousers, accentuating the very human curve of Sirius’ hips. His brother has a gossamer cape draped over his shoulder and fastened tightly at his throat. Despite the aggressive differences between their outfits, their hair remains identical. Both of them keep their black curls at shoulder length, it allows them the volume and length to manipulate their hair into the horns. While Regulus usually ties his back into a bun once his horns are in, Sirius regularly spends time pinning his hair into place with clips and whatnot. Tonight his horns simply bare the same chains as Regulus’, a simple yet needed reminder that they are on the same side.
Sirius also appears to be wearing far more makeup than Regulus, who simply drew on some eyeliner. Sirius is already sparkling in the flickering lights, his highlighter unmatched even by fae magic. Regulus knows this because they had bought it on their last stolen trip with Andy into the human world.
Sirius is stunning, a word Regulus never uses for himself. They are identical but there is something inside Sirius that Regulus does not possess. Where Sirius is radiant with joy and starlight, shimmering and eye-catching, Regulus burns with rage, it thrashes about inside of him, tongues of starfire burning up his throat and out his mouth in vicious tirades. Regulus is monstrous, Sirius is wondrous. Where Regulus finds his humanity clunky, a problem to work around, an added difficulty when it comes to battle, Sirius has found ways to make his humanity appealing. Sculpting his outfits to compliment the soft roundness of his body. Desirable, Regulus supposes.
By the time the fabric of Sirius cloak settles on the tile next to Regulus, Alphard is striding towards them. He offers them a warm, genuine smile and reaches out to pat Regulus on the head as he passes them and strides out the open front door into the waiting carriage.
“You all look wonderful.” The thing is, Regulus knows he means it. This male who strode into his life so many lifetimes ago and slaughtered his parents. Alphard does love Regulus the same he does Draco or Andy. It makes Regulus rage. Because he loves him too. He loves this murderer.
The story was told to Regulus and Sirius eventually. The story of how a mortal girl fell in love with Alphard, how she had been a beauty great enough to capture even the General’s heart. Looking at Sirius, Regulus can believe that. His mother had married Alphard and soon gotten pregnant with his child. Until one day, Alphard had been out dispatching High King Fleamont’s enemies and returned to find his manor burnt to the ground. The bones of a mortal, babe in womb, had been discovered. Alphard had been broken, devastated to learn of the loss of his wife and heir. Until one day, rumour reached him of a mortal woman carrying his mothers name. Alphard had followed up and discovered them. His wife, alive and well, remarried with not only his child, but two of her own. Regulus remembers what his mother had said that night, how she had hated it here and fled. He can understand that now, often finds himself wondering if Alphard’s love had offered any protection, or if she was treated the same way he is.
“No sign of your sister?” he asks as they follow him out to the carriage. Regulus and Sirius exchange a look. Personally, Regulus has not seen his older sister since the previous evening. Sirius sent him a helpless shrug and Regulus rolled his eyes. For as much as Regulus hates fairy, Andromeda hated it more. She hates them all, he thinks. She hates that he and Sirius forgave Alphard, she had understood more, he thinks. She had spent the first year pinching them hard every time they had fun in this new place. Reminded them nightly of what Alphard had done, who he was. For being the only one of them born of him, Andromeda hated him the most. She loved the human world. With no plans to do much of anything with her life now that she was finished with school, Andromeda spent her days with Pandora. Princess Pandora is the fourth eldest of High King Fleamont's six children. She and Andy are very close, the same age they attended school together and now spend their free time playing in the lake or on hunting trips. When Andy isn’t with Princess Pandora, she sneaks off into the human realm. She often vanishes for days on end before returning with no explanation. Alphard argues with her over it almost constantly. Andromeda never feels the need to please him, she doesn't feel like she had to earn her right to exist. As he watches Sirius hold his body in the exact way that Narcissa taught them to, doing his best to keep a placid expression on his face, Regulus wonders who they might be if they felt the same.
“Boys, have you remembered your protections?” Narcissa asks sharply, as though the twins had the luxury of ever being in this place without them. As though they could forget. Regulus grinds his teeth, Sirius smiles pleasingly, laying his hand on Regulus' knee and squeezing.
“Of course we have Narcissa, and we remembered our salt.” Narcissa leans back with a pleased air, clearly glad to have them behaving.
“You must remember not to drink the fairy wine either,” Regulus would never drink the fairy wine. He knew all too well where that led.
“You don’t need to speak to us like we’re children Narcissa, we’ve been coming to these long enough to know the rules. We won’t embarrass you,” Regulus spits and she presses her lips together.
“This time.” Bitch.
“I am sure that your step mother only wanted to make sure you boys were prepared,” Alphard cuts in. That’s the end of that then. Regulus rolls his eyes and looks out the window. Sirius pinches his knee in reprimand and Regulus kicks his ankle.
The ballroom is warm but Regulus and Sirius easily make their way to the secluded corner of the room they usually spend these gatherings in. Much easier to stay out the way of half mad folk. Especially during a revel. The fair folk at court fall into three factions, each dedicated to the eldest of High King Fleamont’s children. The first third is dedicated to Prince Lucius. First born of King Fleamont, the prince savoured those who love to party. He holds bacchanalian level events in his own home outside of the palace. Known for reckless joy and intoxication.
Prince Tom leads those who followed in the military path, always surrounded by knights and soldiers. It’s Prince Tom that Regulus respects the most. In the upcoming championship Regulus will get to show off his sword skills to the court in the hope that one of the royals might select him to be a knight, should Alphard allow it. Regulus will finally be respected, feared.
The third, that follow Princess Bella, are devoted to her. Most of the other mortals at court flocked to her too, she adores musical talent, plays and dancing. Regulus had once thought King Fleamont’s second child to be kind, that she might find him interesting. This idea had been laid to rest when one night a bored member of the gentry had found Regulus hiding under the table. He had been about 13 at the time. He had dragged Regulus out. In the scuffle, Regulus’ protective necklace had come out from his shirt. The male had ripped it from his throat and completed Regulus to drink the fairy wine. Even now, years later, Regulus is unsure how much time passed while he laughed and danced, dizzy and delirious. He hated it. He was completely out of control of himself, lost his senses entirely until he passed out. Princess Bella had found him, slumped half dressed and still drunk on the fairy wine, in the corner. She had returned him to Narcissa like a lost dog. Depositing him like she was perturbed to even look at him. Narcissa had been the one to force the salt into his mouth and return him to his own mind. He had endured her lecture on how stupid he had been to drink it, not bothering to defend himself to her. Even as she wrapped him in a blanket on the ride home. Even as she had the grace to ignore the tears that had dripped silently down his face the whole way.