One Shots

Vanity (MxF) *SFW* Part 2

She had once promised herself that she would never come back here, back to this village, back to his rule, back to the memories she tried for so long to forget.

She had left with nothing and when she finally settled down as a waitress at a tavern a few days ride from the only home she had ever known, an older gentleman started coming in regularly. She hadn’t thought he was the most handsome, but he did tip very well and he made her laugh, and after several times of him asking, she finally accompanied him to dinner at his manor house.

He was nice, a good man, could and wanted to spoil her, and promised her a decent life. He was the Baron Lavorel, after all. He knew her heart had been broken so he never pushed for love, all he wanted was a friendship that could turn into something more when she was ready.

A few months after meeting Percival Lemois, Sydney decided she didn’t want to wait for her heart to piece itself back together and thus, they got married. And two years later, after just turning 19, she found out she was pregnant. That first child was one of five children she would share with Percival.

Kinnedy and Riella, aged 23 and 21 now, were both married into families of wealth thanks to their father, may he now rest in peace.

Jameson, 17, was serving as a knight to the Prince of Greed in the war between his kingdom and Lusts’.

That left Joslyn, 13, and little Nellie, who was only seven, in the care of only their mother. Percival had fallen ill with age and now, at 42, Sydney was a widow.

Percival left everything to Sydney and their children. He promised to always take care of her and he did so even in death and Sydney knew that even though she never grew to truly love him, she did love the friend she found in him. She loved the man, but she was not and never would’ve been in love with him.

When Sydney was alone in the house with only the staff and Joslyn and Nellie... All she wanted was her mother. She wanted to be held and told that, though she was without a companion again, life would still go on. That everything would be okay with time.

Sydney wished for her children to know her parents more. They came to visit Lavorel during the holidays, sure, but it wasn’t the same and she couldn’t take the chance of going back there, of running into him. Of hearing all that he had been up to since her departure from his realm.

Of hearing who he would’ve married and started his own family with.

But...as fate would have it, 25 years after she’d fled this quaint little place, her mother had become ill in her old age and, with her father being elderly as well and barely capable of taking care of himself, it was up to Sydney to come back and take care of the both of them.

Sydney was tasked with drafting wills and getting the necessary paperwork in order so that when the time came, there would be no doubt who the lands would go to--her younger sister.

Sydney, Joslyn, and Nellie already had a home a few days horse ride from here and besides, there was no way Sydney would get stuck here again. She intended to be in town for however long was necessary without a certain princes’ knowledge of her presence.

It had been two weeks since her arrival and her childhood bedroom was how she remembered it though the maids that had been tasked with taking care of her had made the bed. It seemed as though the room was closed off to anyone after she left.

She couldn’t say she blamed them. She ran away from the prince, from one of the greatest possible marriages she could’ve ever acquired. She, undoubtedly, brought shame to her family... Until she married the Baron.

Her parents were upset for some time, but seeing as she had still married well above her station, they grew to accept their eldest daughter’s new life and husband, thus coming back into her life.

Now, back in her family’s home, her girls got to share Sydney’s sisters’ room down the hall and even now she could hear them giggling while getting ready for bed.

After putting away all of the dinner dishes and making sure everyone was in bed where they were meant to be, Sydney felt a little caged within these walls.

She knew it was winter and she knew it was blistering cold, but all she threw on, before she stepped outside and made her way around the back of the house, was a cloak.

Staring out over the lake behind her family’s home, all that could be seen in the darkness in front of her was the clouds of breath spilling from her parted lips, red with chill along with her cheeks and nose.

Her fingers were tight around her fur cloak, trying to hold it tighter around her frame but the ice in her body seemed impossible to thaw.

She had run away from this place, run away from the memories that still hung in the air. She had run from the naive girl she had been but she was back.

She was strong now, still broken, but stronger than before.

***

Sydney had been lying in bed for hours, watching the shadows of the flickering candle flame dance across the ceiling without really seeing it. She, instead, was torturing herself with memories of her time here from before.

She missed when she could look back and not see that glaring white-hot obstacle in front of everything else. It seemed to obstruct every other memory now. Even those from her childhood when it was just her and her sister and she didn’t have to worry about anything other than if she was going to be found while hiding in her spot in the cornfield.

Now, it was of him, and of his long blond hair, his stormy grey eyes, and of how regal and pristine he looked when she first laid eyes on him in his sitting room.

“How long ago that seems now,” she whispered while swiping her fingers along her temple as a first droplet was creating a path for others to follow.

The memories of his touch, and his kiss and how real it all felt in those few moments, it seemed like, that she had spent listening to his lies, were the ones she wanted to throw away the most.

To remember how he looked, how utterly beautiful he was...those memories had absolutely nothing on how it felt to feel like you were the center of his universe, to feel his affection, his touch, his love.

And then the memories of how easily all of that could and would change, of how easily you could be cast aside for someone willing to give in to what he wanted.

She sniffled and found that her nose was blocked, her temples and hairline were saturated with the effect of replaying these memories and she needed a handkerchief now.

While grabbing the cloth from the table, she heard the hinges on her door creak and turned around.

“Mommy? Are you crying,” Nellie asked as she padded further into the room.

Sydney dried her tears and blew her nose and then discarded the cloth before picking up Nellie and putting her in bed beside her.

“I am,” she admitted, “But crying is what happens when you have too many strong emotions and you have no other way of getting rid of them.”

“Is it sadness,” Nellie then asked and snuggled to Sydney.

“Are you sad about your mommy? Is she going to see my daddy soon?”

Sydney cleared the lump from her throat and ran her hand through Nellie’s” hair and down her back to soothe the girl back to sleep.

“I am sad about my mom. I am also sad that your dad isn’t here with us. But I’m sad for other reasons too, honey,” she said quietly.

Nellie yawned before speaking up again.

“Will you tell me the other reasons then?”

“No, Nell. I don’t want to make you sad too, and right before bed,” Sydney said.

“Then will you tell me a story? One about the Prince and the girl again? I like their story,” she yawned again and Sydney could tell that she most likely wouldn’t make it to the ending but decided to indulge her.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a little village, just like this one actually. She grew up not having everything she wanted, but everything she needed.

“It wasn’t until she was older that she met the Prince of the realm. He was beautiful, and like all the legends of Apollo, the God of the Sun, he had golden hair and eyes like a thunderstorm.

“The girl immediately caught the princes’ eye and though she tried very hard to dislike him, the girl fell in love. The prince showered the girl in riches, the finest clothes, shoes, jewels, and foods from distant lands. She soon felt like a princess with all the love and affection the prince was throwing her way--”

“--Uh, oh. Here comes the bad part,” Nellie whispered sleepily.

Sydney sighed and whispered, too quietly for Nellie’s ears, “Indeed, here it comes.”

“There was a bad woman who was always watching the girl and the prince together. She was jealous because the prince had once liked her and when he grew tired of the woman, he broke up with her. It wasn’t very long after that he met the girl.

“The woman thought the girl was to blame for her losing the princes interest so she decided to try and hurt the girl to get her out of the way--”

“--But she doesn’t succeed, right,” Nellie asked, as she always did when she heard this story.

And this was the hardest part for Sydney to tell because it required her to push down all the hurt she felt and give her daughter a happy ending.

“Of course not. The prince loved the girl and what do we say about love?”

“Love will always be stronger than hate,” Nellies’ voice was barely a whisper now as she would soon be fast asleep.

“Exactly, the prince found out about the woman trying to hurt the girl and banished her for her hatred. The prince’s love saved the girl and when the prince finally became king, he married the girl and they ruled over the land with peace and love and no one ever tried to come between them again. They lived happily ever after.”

Nellie was, indeed, asleep. Her little puffs of breath hitting Sydney’s neck as she gently ran her hand through her daughter’s long black hair.

And Sydney needed that handkerchief again.

***

Candle wax mountains formed around their holders on his table from years and years of him staring into the flames, wishing with all his heart that somehow...it’s effect could work on him. He was, sadly for him, a Seven Sin Prince so that would never be possible.

In all the years he had been alone, without the light of the outside world, the one thing he wished for the most was to succumb to the darkness.

He didn’t want the gift he was given. He didn’t want to live forever, he wanted to be able to pierce his heart with the sword that hung over his fireplace and no longer be of this world.

But he was made to endure this life. He still ruled, he still signed orders, he still punished when needed, rewarded when needed...

But he was a shell of the man he had been.

He thought he would never be punished for his sin because he was a prince, therefore chosen by a higher power.

But he could see clearly now, that he was being punished. No one goes without punishment for their sins...

Not even the Prince of Pride.

***

Sydney and Nellie took a trip into town for groceries while Joslyn stayed at her grandparents to play with a little girl that lived next door.

“What’s on the list, Nell,” Sydney asked while looking through the market at stalls they would need to visit.

She could hear Nellies’ little laugh a few feet away and that was unusual because she always stayed close by Sydney’s side.

When Sydney turned in the direction of the laugh, she saw that about ten feet away, Nellie was talking with a woman who looked familiar.

Sydney pushed her way through the crowd and quickly, and a little harsher than necessary, grabbed hold of Nellie’s hand and yanked her back into the safety of her arms.

“You touch, talk to, or even look at my child again and I will take the life from you myself,” Sydney spit venom at the woman she now knew was Emily.

And Emily just chuckled and smirked, “She looks so much like you.”

Nellie squirmed but managed to turn around in Sydneys hold, “Mommy, it’s okay. She’s funny and she said she use to be a friend of yours.”

Sydney looked down into her daughters’ green eyes and gently grabbed her chubby little face.

“This woman is not nice or funny, my love. She is a stranger, not a friend and we don’t talk to people we don’t know, right?”

“But she said--”

“--And I said,” Sydney didn’t mean to yell but she didn’t want Emily anywhere near Nellie, her friendliest child.

Joslyn was a bit more skeptical and wary of new people, but Nellie talked to strangers like she had known them her whole life.

“Relax, I wasn’t going to take her,” Emily scoffed and turned to leave but Sydney reached out and grabbed the woman by the forearm and spun her around.

“I mean it. If I catch you near me or my family again, I will--”

“--Yeah, yeah,” Emily replied and pulled her arm from Sydneys grip.

Sydney then heard a sniffle and looked down to find Nellies’ eyes glossy.

“I’m sorry I broke the rules, mommy. I’m sorry I upset you. I thought she was a nice lady.”

Sydney sighed and hugged her daughter tighter, “It’s okay, baby. You just have to stay away from people you don’t know. Even if they say they are a friend. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Sydney, then, pulled away and squeezed Nellies’ shoulders before wiping her tears.

“Now, what does the list say, hmm?”

***

The very next day Sydney received a summons from the prince.

She did not go, and she did not answer.

The next summons came a week later. She, again, did not go, nor did she answer.

A week after that, there was a pounding on the door.

Sydney answered and there stood two guards, their faces void of any emotion.

“By order of the prince, you are to come with us to the castle at once,” one of them spoke.

Sydney chuckled once and then sighed.

“Give me a moment,” she said and shut the door.

“Girls!”

She was putting on her cloak and gloves by the time the girls came rushing into the room.

“Yes, mom,” Joslyn asked.

“You are to look after your sister. I need to go with the guards outside the door but I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Joslyns’ brown eyes widened, “Mom, are you in trouble? Are they arresting you?”

Sydney chuckled and gestured for her girls to come closer before she kneeled, “No, my love. I am not in trouble. As I said, I will be back in a few hours. Be good for me, please. And both of you check in on your grandparents.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered and when Sydney opened the door, both of their eyes widened at the sight of the guards.

“I’ll be back soon,” Sydney reassured them before closing the door behind her.

One of the guards held the carriage door opened and helped her in before he hit the door twice, signaling for the driver to take off.

***

She had never wanted to be somewhere less than she wanted to be here.

Stepping out of the carriage and in front of the castle doors, she, so badly, wished to be back home in Lavorel and away from here.

She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready to see him and she didn’t think she would ever be.

Why did he want to punish her more by bringing her to the place where her heart had broken?

The doors opened and there stood a butler, different from the one years ago, of course, ushering her in.

“The sitting room is--”

“--Right this way, yes, I am familiar with the layout of the castle. Thank you,” she said, her head held high as she walked down the hall and into the room where all of her memories of him started.

Seeing the rug, the one depicting him standing before his subjects, the portraits on the wall showing how regal he was, it all took her breath away.

It was hard to take in a deep breath and her heart was pounding.

She turned to the window and tried to take her mind off of everything around her, even for just a moment.

“It’s going to be fine,” she whispered and finally took a few deep breaths.

She, then, heard footsteps coming into the room and she tensed.

She was acutely aware of the static in the air, of every breath she took, and of where he had stopped, just at the edge of the rug.

“It’s been years,” he said in a whisper, his voice hoarse from weeks of it going unused.

Sydney took a deep breath.

“I wish it were a lifetime.”

She could see through the reflection in the window that he still looked the same as he had 25 years ago, he hadn’t aged a day.

Van sighed and would be lying if he said that comment from her hadn’t hurt his heart.

He wanted her to turn around so badly. He could see her through the reflection in the glass and while she had aged...

She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever know.

He cleared his throat and spoke up again, “When did you come back? You haven’t been here long, for surely I would’ve--”

“--Was it Emily? Is she still your spy? Did she tell you she saw me a few weeks ago?”

In truth, yes. It was Emily who came to him with news that she had seen a little girl with raven hair and green eyes, and then that upon speaking with the child, she had seen Sydney.

But it was the first time Van had willingly spoken to Emily in years. Every time Emily tried to come back into his life, into his good graces, he would tell the guards not to let her in, to place her as far away from him as possible within the realm.

Van told Emily the last time that if she were to come back, he would remove her head from her body and display it on a pike outside the castle gates for all to see.

And when she had brazenly come back, Van came down from his room to see her personally.

"You really wish your shoulders a head lighter, hmm? There could be no other explanation for why you are in my presence right now," he had said mere inches from her, poison dripping from his words.

He hated her and all she caused.

"I have news of Syndey," she whispered, her eyes trained down to the floor.

"Speak!"

Trembling, she had managed to whisper out the words, ”She’s back,” before Van sent her flying backward from the force of his hand against her cheek.

"You dare...lie...to me? You want to be so far removed from this Earthly plane that you would lie to me about the one thing you took from me?"

His voice had been cold and he had never hated someone more than her right then.

"I’m not lying," she had sniffled out, ”I saw a child that looked like her in the market yesterday and then I saw her. I spoke with her, Your Highness. It is her. Send a summons to her family home and see for your self."

Van was brought back to the present by Sydney turning around and facing him.

“Yes,” he answered.

She scoffed quietly and stepped forward and for a moment, Van thought she would strike him and he would’ve let her, but she, instead, went around him and moved to the door.

“Please, Sydney. Please hear me out this time,” he pleaded and watched her stop in the door frame.

She turned her head so he could see her side profile.

“I didn’t stay to hear you out then and I won’t now. Nothing has changed, Vanity. I am only here to take care of my parents. When they pass, I will leave and never come back.”

She turned her head, took a breath, and moved to leave.

“I know you’re hurt, Sydney. I know I hurt you, but you don’t know the truth,” he pleaded again as he followed her through the hall and out into the main foyer.

“Everything has changed,” he continued, “I know you’re hurt and I know you won’t forgive me easily but--”

“--I wanted to hurt you, Vanity! I wanted, so badly, to hurt you, as you had hurt me,” she yelled as she faced him.

“I wanted your heart to break just as mine did,” she said more quietly, her chest heaving, her eyes glossing over, a sob racking through her body.

“I wanted you to suffer for what you allowed to happen. The memories of you, and of my time with you haunt me,” she took in a breath and continued, “like a restless spirit and you are never far from the first thought in my mind...and I hate you for it. And because of this rage, this hatred, this...love, I have never been able to find peace.

“Even when I left and found a husband, a good man who loved me and fathered my children, I still thought of you! I could never be truly faithful to him because of you. He didn’t even know you and you were his greatest enemy.”

Van slowly moved closer to Sydney. Tears were spilling from her eyes freely now and her raven hair was messy and her cheeks were red with anger and her green eyes were shining...

And he still felt that utterly sharp but filling presence of the love and devotion he had for her.

It was always there but it was, once again, consuming him fully.

“I am so sorry. I will never be able to forgive myself for allowing her to blindfold me, but pleas--”

“I don’t want to hear it. What do you think you would’ve done, would’ve said, would’ve felt if you had seen me sat atop another man, finding pleasure in that man? What would yo--”

“I would’ve killed him!”

His voice clashed with every wall, every surface, every sculpture, and vase in the foyer as he yelled but it still hadn’t fazed Sydney.

Van’s face was red with fury now at her putting those images in his head.

“Do not take me for a fool, Sydney. I knew how much time was passing. I knew you would not remain a maiden forever. I knew one day... I knew you would take a husband and have children but I never let my mind wander to thoughts of what you were doing with him, how you were having his children or the consummation of your marriage because if I did...

“I would’ve written to my brothers and asked if you were in their kingdom and who you were with, and... I would’ve made you a widow without you ever having known it was me.”

Sydney inhaled sharply.

“You’re psychotic,” she whispered.

Van laughed, “You can’t tell me you didn’t want to rip Emily’s head from her body. You can’t tell me you didn’t think of, at least, a thousand different ways to kill her.”

“To plot someone’s murder would’ve been treason--”

“--Oh, who gives a damn about treason when your heart is broken?”

Sydney scoffed, “You don’t even possess a heart for someone to break.”

“Oh,” he asked, one brow raised before he grabbed her hand and placed it to his chest.

“Then why is mine racing,” he asked as he looked down into her eyes.

She let out a puff of air as she was pulled forward and her hand was placed to his chest.

To feel his warmth again, even just on the palm of her hand...

She blinked away those thoughts and got captured in his thunderstorm eyes.

“Forgive me, Sydney. You can feel it. You know you do,” he whispered as he slowly leaned down.

“What is it,” she asked, feeling like, despite having just spent all of 25 years hating this man, she could still feel like she did before that night.

“We’re connected. We were from that first moment we looked into each other’s eyes. You’re my soul mate and I, yours,” he whispered, only a hairs width away from her lips.

Sydney exhaled a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding and then she felt his lips on hers.

Van pulled her closer and to have his arms around her again, to feel not just their weight, but their weight...

She pulled away and slapped him.

“You broke my heart, Vanity Peccatum. You don’t just get to kiss me and believe that you’ve just now made 25 years of heartache suddenly alright again!”

He shook his head and put his arms around her again.

“I don’t assume one kiss will make it right. I don’t assume even two will. But I vow to you that I will work, for the rest of our lives, to mend your heart. I will make you love me again, Sydney Dryden.”

“I already do, Vanity, and that’s the issue,” she whispered and looked away.

Van was still looking down at her, not sure what else to say, what else to do to make her believe other than time.

“What about Emily? Has she worked for you all this time? Have you still been sleeping with her? I don’t assume you stopped wanting...sex because I left but please tell me it was with anyone but her,” she pleaded, still not looking up at him.

He pulled her face to his and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“I threw her out that night and I haven’t let her back in since. I even threatened to remove her head and place it on a pike but then she told me you were back and I, instead, locked her away in the dungeon.

“I’m so sorry she was able to poison you, and I’m so sorry that I allowed her to blindfold me. I thought she was you. She didn’t even speak. All she did was place the blindfold under the door and I thought it was from you.”

“You thought I would’ve wanted my first time to be with you blindfolded, Van,” she cried and tried to push away from his hold.

“In hindsight, I now know it wasn’t you, and the thought that if you wouldn’t have come in and I would’ve...and she would’ve fallen...′

“Pregnant? If I wouldn’t have burst in and instead you had finished and she would’ve become pregnant,” she filled in the ugly, disgusting blanks for him, feeling like she could throw up at any moment.

“Yes,” he said gently, “I hate that you saw what you did but I’m grateful you stopped it. If she would’ve had my child...and I would’ve had to endure being close with her for the sake of that child...”

Sydney sighed, “You would’ve made a wonderful father and you would’ve loved that child despite its hateful mother.”

He just looked at her for a moment, his eyes roaming all over her face, and then down her body before they found their place back in her gaze and he abruptly changed the subject, “Can this be the part where things start to get better for us?”

Sydney sighed and looked away for a long moment...but then looked back, “I’m not sure. Can they, Van? Is that even possible after all that has happened?”

“I have to believe so, with all of my heart, yes,” Van nodded his head and then smiled, “Speaking of children though... I know you have at least one. A young daughter that looks identical to you.”

At the mention of Nellie, Sydney smiled, “Nellie, my little mini-me. She’s seven.

“Nellie..,” he said with a smile, “Any others?”

After taking a walk out into the garden with Van listening to everything that had happened in Sydneys life since leaving, including learning about all five of her children and that she was a Baroness, having married a man with a considerable amount of money, Van held up his hand.

“May he rest in peace, of course, but I care not about your late husband,” he said and tried to change the subject.

“Van, he was a good man, a very good friend and I did love him,” Sydney said, wanting him to understand that just because she was back and...willing...to forgive, didn’t mean she hadn’t had a life for herself or that that life now meant nothing because she was to be with Van again.

“Yes, but you were not in love with him. That would’ve been impossible. You may only truly love your soul mate...and that is I,” he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her.

After he pulled away, smiling, Sydney couldn’t help her mind wandering.

“So, you haven’t had anyone to love since I left? What have you been doing?”

Van’s smile turned into a sad one.

“I have had no one. I locked myself away. I wished, with all my might some days, that I could die, that it was capable and that it could happen to me.”

Sydney gasped at his admission but he continued.

“I didn’t want to live in a world were I had found you and loved you, and then let you pass me by while you lived out your life. Without marrying me and consummating our marriage, you will continue to age while I stay the age I am and always will be,” he confessed as he stared deep into her eyes.

It took a moment for the words to process through her mind before she opened, and then closed, and the opened her mouth again.

“Will I always be this old then? Destined to be 42 for the rest of eternity?”

A small smile crept up on Van’s face before he took her face in his hands.

“You are a beautiful 42. Your beauty is unmatched and will continue to go unmatched, even by those younger... But no. You will revert to the age you were when you first fell in love with me.”

Sydney’s eyes widened, “But what about--”

“--Hey, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. We can talk about all of that at another time when such talk is appropriate. For now...let’s just work on mending what is broken between us. Let’s work on fixing us, and then we can make sure you stay with me forever. Is that okay?”

***

It didn’t take long for the Prince of Pride to mend Sydneys broken heart.

And though he was the one that had broken it...he did, eventually, place all the pieces back together for her.

He made a vow to her on their wedding day, one where he declared that he would never let her go again, one where he declared that he would never break her heart for that would mean to break his own...

And for the rest of their very long lives...even until this very day, he has kept true to his word.

Sydney’s heart still remains the one possession Vanity Peccatum would always be most prideful of.