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apprentice-maliya · 3 years

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Do Me a Little Favour

In which everybody is trying to make a deal.

words: 2,3k

warnings: scorpios alcohol

notes: I have complicated relationship with this one and I think it shows in the end that I just had enough of it. Previous part.

The thing about fighting with Valerius, Ev thinks, is that she never truly wins. That’s what is so deceptive about it all. The moment she thinks that she has won, something reminds her that she hasn’t. It’s nothing but win and then lose, lose, lose...

“…did you lose your mind?! What new brand of idiocy is this?!” Valerius’s voice echoes inside Ev’s head and she winces in pain. She only slept for two hours. As soon as she came home last night, she started working on this plan, and quickly became so obsessed with it, she couldn’t think of anything else. She eventually dozed off on the couch, but her dreams were so restless and strange, filled with dozens of reports she still tried to read despite the warm distracting whisper, right against the back of her ear, belonging to the voice she wished she did not recognise, that when Ev trembled awake she refused to allow herself to close eyes again, even for a moment.

Her proposal, carefully planned to take only a single sheet of paper to appear as discreet and simple as possible, now lays on the consul’s desk and, judging by how things stand, will soon face its end and get torn to shreds. Ev feels sorry for this poor paper, and even more so for herself. She rubs her temple lightly and looks up at Valerius. Those wistful eyes and soothing voice from the carriage ride last night are long gone now. The consul clenches his jaw, and lifts his wine glass carefully, like it is taking every ounce of control he has to not use it for violent means. And there she was, thinking that they could finally be civil.

Ev crosses her arms. “I think you are missing the point here. Did you forget that you owe me? You have already agreed,” she says.

“I didn’t agree to this,” Valerius looks down at the paper in front of him so angrily, Ev can only wonder how it does not set on fire. “You have no right.”

“I have your word.”

His face twitches slightly and something like hope rises in Ev’s chest. Appealing to the man's pride might be just the only way to manage him. She holds her breath while Valerius slowly takes a sip of wine, considering, but then his attention returns to her and the knife-sharp expression of derision on his face alone is enough to kill all her expectations. “As if you were worthy of my word.”

“Ouch.” Ev thinks that if she makes it sound sarcastic, he won’t know that she is serious.

The consul’s brows slant in strong disapproval. “Do you turn everything that you do into one of your deranged jokes?”, he asks and his glare intensifies. If Ev thought that it did not sting that much a moment ago, it surely does now. It’s like school all over again: she is being scolded and the worst part is that she knows that her recent behaviour won’t give much leverage to whatever protests she might have. Ev drops her eyes to where her foot has started angrily tapping the leg of the desk. What else can she do in this absurd situation? “Pray tell,” Valerius continues, “what shall I expect next? Will you perhaps challenge me to a game of chess and put being acting ruler of Vesuvia for a day at stake?!”

This makes Ev’s eyes snap back to his. What a tremendous idea. Valerius would have to do everything she says, including treating her with some basic respect. She leans forward, chin in hand, “Imagine how hard I will make you work after you lose.”

“In your dreams,” he says stiffly after a pause and a faint throat-clearing rasp.

Not my bloody dreams. Ev bites her lip and retreats back in her chair, her every movement trailed by what she can only describe as the consul’s death stare. Now that she thinks about it, she has never seen Valerius smile, let alone laugh at her jokes. Not like she would want him to. What an asshole.

For as frequently as she wants to smack Valerius, Ev can’t forget what she is here for and decides to resort to diplomacy. “Look,” she sighs, “in the grand scheme of things this is nothing. You still have control over the city, I am only asking you to do something about the flooding spreading from the Shopping District to the Center City because Prakran trade guild is right on the border of two. If it wasn’t for my constant reassurances they would have already packed and left, they just can’t continue repairing the property, it will literally sink at this rate.” Diplomacy and some mild exaggeration. “Here -,” she reaches to gently point at the particular paragraph of her proposal, “I am not an expert but I think this should work for the time being.”

This time it looks like Valerius is actually studying the paper. “How long have you been planning this? You didn’t discuss anything with me,” he says frowning.

“Would you have listened?”

“No.”

Ev exhales, long and slow, because she has to physically stop herself from growling. She will treat herself to it later, when she is alone. One last attempt. She looks at Valerius’s unfazed, blank face and tries to see past it, where that soft expression and kind but sad eyes hide in the golden lamp glow wrapped in the darkness of the night. “This is really just a small favour, consul,” she says and gives him her best smile - swing of perfect fans of eyelashes, genuine contact flaring in the bright eyes and lips lifted in an easy curve, bringing delicious colour to the apples of her cheeks, “- please.”

A loud bang almost makes Ev jump out of her own skin. Valerius has just slammed both his hands on the table. “You call running a city a small favour?!” He looks like he is one second away from going stark-raving insane. Ev knows the feeling all too well.

“What did you think I would ask you?!”, she lashes back at him, “Take me out for dinner? Find me a good tailor? Another city tour?!” Ev breaks to take a breath and to move a strand of hair out of her face, and glares at Valerius standing behind the desk. Suddenly, the consul seems to be unable to decide what is worse, eye contact or none. If anything he looks confused. Ev can spot a faint wash of brighter colour on his cheekbones. Oh. Valerius is embarrassed as hell. It’s so ridiculous that it only makes her angrier. Before she knows it, she jumps out of her chair and her palms land on the desk with another bang, “I have one problem in this life and it’s your damned inability to make rational decisions!”

The one thing that Ev cannot deny is that, even when he is furious, the consul is still fascinating to look at, especially now that she knows that it is not the only emotion he is capable of. The tensing jaw makes all his features sharper and intriguing darkness takes over the golden taupe of his eyes. It makes maintaining the withering glare just a little bit harder, because she has to try not to notice. Ev wished he would look away first so she could let her eyes wander to his mouth for a second but he does not. They both just stare at each other from opposite sides of the desk, unable to move. Energy and anger seem to suck all the air from the space between them. Ev hears the drum of pulse in her own ears racing uncomfortably fast and her breaths turn so desperate she can feel her lips going dry.

A knock on the door, followed by another.

“Enter!” Valerius barks, his eyes still fixed on Ev’s.

The door opens slowly and the palace chamberlain and a young woman with fiery red hair appear from another side. Judging by the sheepish look on their faces, they have been standing there long enough to hear the shouting.

“I apologise for interrupting,” the chamberlain starts.

“No need,” Valerius raises his hand, cutting him short, “our Prakran guest is already leaving.”

“Actually,” Ev interjects and slides her elbows down on the desk, stretching, and casually rests her chin in the palm, “I am not.”

“Right, forgive me, I wanted to introduce the new maid who will be attending to the Countess,” visibly confused the chamberlain gestures to the young woman who has been watching them with avid interest.

The redhead gives a small curtsy, “Pleasure to meet you, my name is Portia.”

Ev returns it with a small wave. “Ev Panopolis, emissary of the Prakran royal family. Congratulations on your appointment, and good luck. You will need it in this place.” She gives Valerius a side-eye. He glances back, almost amused.

“Shall you really disturb me with such a trivial matter?” Valerius turns to the chamberlain with a bored, irritated expression. He is clearly not in the mood for pleasantries.

“My sincere apologies again.” The chamberlain bows hurriedly and rushes Portia to leave.

Once the door closes, Ev turns to Valerius. “Well, aren’t you just great at first impressions?”

“Talk about yourself. What was that just now?” Valerius pinches the bridge of his nose and glances at Ev, still stretched over the desk. “Get off my desk!”

Ev reluctantly flops back down into her chair and rubs her temples again, “Listen we both have our ends of the bargain to keep.” She can feel her patience running out. It’s painful. “You either do it or you don’t. I will go work on my review then, and trust me your name will be repeated so many times, people will complain.”

“Yes. Well. As if I cared.” Valerius picks up his glass and walks to the window. “Now, I believe that we are done with this conversation.”

“You did care yesterday,” Ev reminds him but the consul does not react. “Shall I also mention your peculiar relationship with the late count?”, she pushes on. “That will go nicely with the matrimonial drama in the play.” Apparently she is a professional blackmailer now. This is what Valerius does to her. “Intimate trust and that sort of thing,” she adds meaningfully.

Valerius turns so red, Ev has to give his wine glass a concerned glance. Is it some new strong stuff?

“How do you -“

Ev interrupts him with irritated huff. “That’s what happens when I have nothing better to do. Ignore me for another two weeks and I will know what you eat for breakfast.” She is either completely losing her wits or finally getting somewhere with this insufferable man. Probably both.

“ - Come up with this nonsense.” Valerius’s face has defaulted back to grave and serious. “I suggest you find a more - ” he pauses for effect, “- dignified way to spend your free time than listening to the commoners gossiping in the kitchens.”

“Sure”, Ev says gamely, if the consul does not consider her worthy of his word, whatever she says is not going to hurt him neither, “but will it still be commoners' rumours if it comes from me? You are not particularly popular with the citizens, and - ”

“Why do you even care?” Valerius interrupts.

“About what?” Ev is left with no choice but to play it cool now.

Valerius frowns but does not respond, instead he gets back to his desk and lifts the paper with Ev’s proposal, “this.”

“That’s the point, consul,” she narrows her eyes. “I don’t. But you clearly are not fit to rule the city, or your court. Nobody is doing anything!”

“Don’t you think that it’s not up to you to judge? Remind me, how long ago did you arrive?”

“Oh not this again!” Ev is no longer able to contain herself in the chair so she gets up and steps behind it, her hands firmly grabbing the wooden back. “I don’t understand what the problem is. The city is flooding. I offer you a plan. You can’t listen. Do you have any better ideas ? How else are you going to solve this problem?!”

“Don’t talk to me like I am sitting here doing nothing!” the consul shouts and jerks his hand, making the wine fly over the edge of the glass in raging wave of red.

“Whatever you are doing is not enough!” Ev shouts back without thinking. When she looks at Valerius’s face, he looks shaken. In that moment she knows that she is never going to hear those stories about Vesuvia from him again and the realisation breaks something inside of her with a painful snap.

***

It’s the middle of the night and the world is spinning around Valerius as he restlessly moves in his bed, shuddering and gasping, sheets sticking to his skin and tangling his limbs. The last bottle was definitely a mistake, especially because it did nothing to silence the voice in his head. How else are you going to solve it? You are not fit to rule, not enough... He is twirling through endless loops, that is why Valerius is not sure where the reality ends and his nightmare starts.

Crimson red chambers. A stranger. He has seen him before.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? A problem?” Consul, would you like me to solve it?”, the stranger asks.

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Oh, but you did. I heard it from the deepest part of your heart.”

“You misunderstood”

“Impossible!” the stranger waves his hand. “Look at you, so tired, too tired to deal with it all yourself. As a consul, you should know that sometimes the best solution is to delegate,” he smiles knowingly and gets closer. “I’ll handle this, you just need to say a word.”

#how nice is waking up to this!! 😳💘#i love your writing style so much; everything is so cohesive and the shift of prospective? excellent #also ev is a QUEEN god bless her for her patience cause valerius was particularly sufferable this time #it’s so lovey though that she kept comparing his reactions to his melancholy in the carriage ride home i think it says a lot about—#—his character!#when he got embarrassed when ev mentioned taking treating her to dinner 👀 we see that blush val no need to be shy about it #ev panopolis #💗💗💗 the more i read of her the more i fall she’s truly so well written #in all senses #wait i didn’t mention the banter!! that was superb #and portia’s introduction was such a nice addition to the story!

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