Tiefling Boyfriend: Mercutio Part Seven (complete)

“It’s so boring here.” I’m half asleep. Having been here three days already, I am uncertain I can survive until Lynk’s banquet.

Lynk opens a window, letting in more sunlight than I would normally approve of. “Can you stop complaining? It’s a vineyard. What did you think would happen?”

I shield my eyes from the uncomfortable rays. “Not this!”

“Oh stop it, you big baby.” Lynk refills my glass. “You’ve had more wine since you got here than most people ever will. Calm down. You’re pouting since your lover boy has gone off to become a gallant lordling.”

It’s been well over a month since August left. I’ve actually lost track of time since then. Lena has been chiding me for dating my letters wrong. Still, it seems like there is no time at all, or never enough of it. I was startled when Lynk told me it was time for the banquet he planned so I could meet my half sister, Valentine.

“He’s off trying to reach your level,” I scoff.

Lynk throws his head back and laughs. “That’s not very far to go. All he has to do is sit up, really.” 

I scowl at him, watching him move around half-naked as he sets up our lunch. It amazes me what he can do when only a few people are around. “Tell me about my supposed sister.” I sit alert in my seat. “Do you think she will like me?”

“Oh, goodness no.” Lynk turns his attention away from the cheese he is cutting into. “You two are far too much alike to really like one another.”

I look down at my hands. “She’s that much like me?”

“You’re both hiding a lot of yourselves to make your way through life. Her father thinks of her as a bargaining chip, and your mother uses you as a pawn.” Lynk offers me a plate of sliced cheeses, meats, and fruits. 

I grasp the plate, taking a crisp chunk of fruit. “We’re both treated as objects.”

“Except you would probably look at one another and see what you don’t have. She has the power and the legitimacy that you crave - and for her, well, there’s a lot.” Lynk sits down across from me with his plate.

“Well, tell her I have nothing worth wanting.” 

Lynk gives me a grin and an arched brow. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

I slam down my wine goblet and glare at him. “She was raised in luxury! She probably had a stable of maids looking after her. I bet you she’s a condescending little brat. I grew up with nothing. Thankfully I had my mother, but I was beaten, taunted, and judged all my life by everyone else. My mother died because of it. My mother deserved to be a queen.”

Lynk returns my angry stare in full. “You don’t know her at all. I thought you were better than to judge someone without even meeting them.”

I sniff and avoid his stare by focusing on my plate. “I have my reasons to be angry with her.”

Lynk scoffs. “And that is why you two are so alike.”

There’s something in his tone that gives me pause. “How close would you say you are to the princess, then?”

Lynk reaches for his cup and drinks, as if stalling. He hums as he sets his glass down. “This was not a good bottle.” He dabs his mouth with a napkin. “Sorry about that, I must have grabbed from the wrong shelf. What did you ask again?”

I roll my eyes. “Princess Valentine. How close are the two of you? Obviously close enough that she’d take your offer to meet with me.”

“Oh, that!” Lynk laughs. “We’re close enough I’ve made her come once or twice.”

I sigh heavily. “That’s ‘hello’ for you.”

Lynk’s grin grows tense. “No need to be a bitch about it, Mercutio. But the princess and I write often, and she sleeps with me out of spite for her father.”

“Something else we have in common,” I snicker. “Okay, so she’s at least on a personal level with you.”

Lynk’s gaze grows distant for a moment. “Yes. It’s personal.” he says.

His somber tone piques my interest again. I glide my fingers over the tabletop, smoothing out a wrinkle in the cloth. “Would you call her a friend?”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “I don’t call many people that, you know this about me, Mercutio.” He tries to brighten his tone. There is something that Lynk is hiding from me about this princess. I’m not sure what he hopes to get out of it, but obviously it’s something worth hiding. “The meeting will take place during the banquet, so you’ll be able to find out all those things once she arrives.”

I know to be prepared for anything and everything, but I find myself nervous about this meeting. I know that blood does not dictate my family, but this woman shares actual blood with me. We must deal with lives we don’t necessarily want, all because of one man. I suppose that’s as binding as anything. This could possibly be the one person who understands me most in this world, and that could go horribly wrong.

The guests for the banquet trickle in throughout the day, so I keep to myself in Lynk’s chambers. I’ve barely had anything to eat out of pure nerves, so I’m picking at a dish of grapes on the table. I slap a grape between my palms on the table top, watching it go back and forth in front of me. I hit the grape too hard, and it slips from my fingers and rolls onto the floor as the door opens. A young woman walks in, with Lynk close behind her. I notice his hand on her waist, but it quickly drops away.

The second thing I notice is how much the young woman’s eyes look like mine. Her features are soft and rounded, but we have the exact same nose. I stand as she steps forward, looking down at her as she keeps her neck stiff. We stare each other down like alley cats crossing each other during a hunt. Normally I would like this, even be aroused by it, but with her I am on edge. The hair on the back of my neck bristles, and I twitch my fingers so that they pop.

“So,” she speaks first. “You’re my brother?”

I raise my hands and clap them together, forcing a smile onto my face. “If your father put his dick in your mother and left her a gooey little surprise, then yes. I am your brother in that regard.”

Valentine reaches up, unpinning the young woman’s black hair. It flows down in springy curls, and she has a lock of premature white on her widow’s peak. “I’m sure that’s what he did. He keeps putting it everywhere these days, so I don’t know if that is a proper classification for siblingship.”

My mouth is a bit dry. “Sit down and have some wine with me.” I motion to the table, watching as Lynk pulls out her chair. Her hand touches his, and I see a flush of color on her cheeks. I pour her a goblet of wine as Lynk’s fingers brush her newly-freed hair from her face. “How was your trip here?”

“It was fine,” she says simply. Her smile vanishes along with the color in her cheeks. “Just a trip.”

“You don’t seem too happy to see me, sister.” I place the goblet on the table near her hand. “I thought this would be a rather joyous reunion.”

“You think you are my only half-brother?” she demands. “I have three from my mother. It was the only reason my father married her to begin with. He thought she could give him a son, but instead she gave him me. He let her die because of it. Family is no more reason to celebrate than full moons or rainclouds. They exist everywhere.”

“He gave me away,” I say coldly. “Gave me to a servant and told her to kill me.” I look down at her, even more in contempt of her than before. “She raised me and loved me instead.”

Valentine looks me over, her gaze as sharp as knives. “Lucky you. I wish I had been sent away to be killed.” She tilts her head. “Why am I here, ‘brother’?” She says the word mockingly. “What can I do for you when I can’t even do anything for myself?”

I take a long drink of my wine. “You can vouch for my legitimacy.”

Her brown pinches even harder. “And why would I do that?”

“Because if you’re standing on my side, it’s better than standing on his. I was brought into this world as a means to an end, a bargain between devil and human. But that doesn’t mean I have to go along with it. I didn’t agree to their terms. So I have been working myself into the world behind their backs to...”

Valentine yawns. “And what will you do for me?”

She’s better than I thought. “What do you want?”

Valentine’s eyes flick towards Lynk for the briefest of moments; had I blinked I would have missed the exchange. But she definitely looked his way.  “I’d still be in the same position I am now. What good would it do me?”

“It would do you better than being his piece of the pie,” I huff. “You wouldn’t be an object to me. You’d be part of my team.”

“A team?” she scoffs. “What sort of team?”

I lean forward. “Like minds working towards the same goals. You’d have a speaking part in every scene. No longer a background character. No longer a shadow. You’d have the stage just as long as me.”

Valentine tucks her hair behind her ear. “You seem to think I have a voice.”

“Lynk says you do. He speaks exceedingly highly of you.” I glance towards him, seeing the corner of his mouth twitch. “He talks about you often.”

The color returns to Valentine’s cheeks. “Yes, it’s easy to impress him, I’ve found.”

I look her over, feeling I’ve finally started to get her back against the wall. “You’re a fetching young woman, and of age as well.” I tap my fingers against my jaw. “Surely you have suitors, even secret ones.”

“I’m not even discussing marriage plots with you,” she scoffs. “Let’s get on with why we’re here.”

“To screw over Dad, yes, of course. But it begs me to ask why he hasn’t had you married off to some friend of his. It seems that if he doesn’t like you, he would want you sold off to the highest bidder at least. Have you pop out a grandson he could take under his wing.” I sigh and lean back. “Considering I asked Lynk here to marry me, it would be a boon for me to have a sibling who could produce an heir for me.”

Valentine stiffens and looks over at Lynk for the longest time. Her eyes are wide, her color pale. Even Lynk looks horribly uncomfortable. “You and Lynk are engaged?” she asks breathlessly.

“I asked him to marry me a while ago,” I say with a smirk. “Does that bother you, dear princess?”

Valentine takes a deep breath and settles herself back into her chair. She’s stronger than I gave her credit for. “No. It just seems Master Gaiseric could make a better choice than you. Besides, I won’t give my father heirs. Why would I give you any, either?”

I smile. “It seems he would have something to say about the child you have now.”

Lynk turns to her. “What child?”

She slams her hand down on the table. “Enough of this! Did you bring me here just to mock me?”

“I brought you here in hopes of making a partnership with you. I want to give you everything you want in return for your help. But I can’t help noticing a few strange things about you princess. So tell me, what will you do with your baby?”

Valentine stares up at me, trying to keep up the steely facade she’s held this entire time. Instead, tears fill her eyes. 

“You’re pregnant?” Lynk whispers.

I look at him. “Is it yours?”

His mouth hangs open. He doesn’t know, or maybe he has no answer to give me. He looks back at Valentine, whose tears have now gathered to fall from her lashes. “I’m used to being called fat,” she whispers. She looks at Lynk and her hands cover her belly. “So he doesn’t notice.”

Lynk rises, but I hold him back from approaching her. “So you admit it?”

Valentine scowls at me. “I needed to see Lynk more than I needed to speak to you.”

I continue to keep Lynk at bay. “So Lynk is the father of your child?”

“He’s the only one I have ever let touch me. The only one who...” Her voice catches in her throat. 

I approach her and place my hands on her shoulders as she starts to shake. “I’ll help protect your child, but I will need your allegiance.”

“This is blackmail,” she whispers.

“No. I haven’t even gotten to that part yet.” I place my hand on her belly. “I would help your child for nothing. But I need you, Valentine. I truly and honestly do.”

She wraps her hands around my wrist. “I’m powerless, I told you.”

I shake my head. “You have your own court. You can bestow honor on noble houses. AndI need you to bless the House of Brassard.”

“You’re joking,” Lynk exclaims in disbelief.

Valentine furrows her brow at me. “They’re a low-ranking house. Why them?”

I smile at her. “Their son August is a very intelligent young man. I suggest you gain his favor, because he will be able to help you. You also need to realize the power you do have. Kingdoms love their princesses, and if you find favor with the people, that means more than a crown.”

Valentine whimpers and grips tighter onto my wrist. “Fine. I’ll help you.”

I move her over to Lynk, who instantly pulls her into a tight embrace. She sobs into his chest, and I must admit I grow horribly jealous watching the two lovers come together.

“The engagement was broken off, by the way,” I confess. “I just needed to find the weak point in your walls.”

Valentine looks up at me, wiping away the tears in her eyes. “That was cruel.”

“I know, and I apologize.” I take the pitcher of sangria from the table and raise it to them. “I will leave you two alone, then.”

I walk out of Lynk’s chambers, wandering down the empty hall until I step outside and through the vineyard. I hide in the toolshed, drinking sangria and eating the fruit from the bottom all night. I fondly remember the last time August and I embraced, how warm his body felt, how strongly his hands held me. I wonder what he’s doing now, how he’s sleeping, what he had for supper. 

I set the pitcher aside and hold my head in my hands, sobbing. I would marry August now if he came back, it doesn’t matter what status he holds. I would love him even if he was a shoemaker. I gulp down more sangria and pass out on the bags of mulch. I have sweet dreams about August and lovemaking. 

My rude awakening comes when the gardener opens the shed. I wave off the bright sunlight and the gardener’s own panic as I make my way back to the vineyard house. I go into the dining hall, where the banquet has not yet been cleaned up, and pick at the food left over, plopping myself down before the smoldering fireplace while I eat handfuls of cold roast.

“There you are. Come to bed.” Lynk beckons softly.

“What about her?” I ask.

Lynk places his hands on my shoulders. “She’s asleep. Just come to bed. Put that old food away. I’ll have them make you something special for breakfast.”

“Will you be a good father?” I grumble. “Will you love that child?”

Lynk kisses the top of my head. “I already do.”

I look up at him. “You have to be good.”

“I will.” He swipes the food from my hands and wipes them on the tablecloth. “Come on now, pouty face.” He takes me back to his room where Valentine is asleep in bed. Lynk lies beside her and pulls me into his arms.

“I’ll send Lena to be with her,” I whisper.

“But then you will alone,” Lynk murmurs.

“I know. It will be fine. Before this I was used to being alone.” I rest my head on the pillow as tears come. “It will all be worth it.”

Lynk kisses my neck and cheek. “It would mean the world to me.”

“I’m sure it would. Just hold me, alright? I don’t need you to talk.” I close my eyes as his embrace tightens around me. I pretend it is August holding me, and turn my head to cry into the pillow.