They sat watching their den-mates splash about with Miza.
Valon, Justin, and Donte sat under the ancient oak, the Sacred Tree, hidden within the Verdant Forest. This was a private place—spiritual. Lore said this was where the Great Mother and the Great Father consummate their union. A lake, clear as crystal, so that you could see the rocks and plants covering the bottom and aquatic life swimming in the water. It was surrounded by oaks, willows, and other plant life that thrived no matter the season.
The area was fragrant due to the tea tree and lavender flowers dotting the terrain past the rocky banks. Every inch of this lacustrine cave system made it apparent that this place was the den of the Primi Consortiu. The Goddess’s power ran deep here.
Miza climbed to sit on a pile of rocks outside the mouth of a hollow, just in front of the waterfall from a mountain stream. She waved to the men before standing and jumping into the water, laughing.
“At least today she gets to be a kid,” Justin murmured with his gaze softly on her. “Well, at least for a little while.”
“Does it get to you, Justin? I find that since we moved into the Academy, what is normal has been hard at times. The age gaps, the arranged marriage, the expectations.” Valon pushed forward before Donte could interrupt him. “She says she wants to experience life as a normal girl, but how normal can she really be as a princess of a mystic land between the gods and the humans? Whose culture and norms are not accepted in the society she wants to blend into? I’m turning 23. I am the first consort. She is to be my wife. Justin, you are 16. What happens if other chevaliers awaken and struggle to get with the program?”
“It’s what she wants, Val. We have to fight for her. We have to persuade her father that her attending a normal high school and living as a regular child for a while will benefit Lestania. Even if we are skeptical and, at times, the social differences will be challenging.” Justin said.
Donte finally interrupted.
“ Mizarmonie is wise beyond her years. She has to be. I also don’t think she needs this to lead the unveiling. This life in the human realm, however, is the way that she wants to go about it. I, as her guardian, you, as her head of security, and you, as her head counsel, must help her to find the best ways to navigate and learn about the world outside of the veil. The last 300 years is not what will help Lestania integrate into this world. Our Emperor does not want to hear it, but I spent years between the veils.” Donte explained to his nest-mates.
“This world outside the academy walls is not mystical. It is further from the gods than we as a society have ever been. They will react to us with fear if we can not navigate this correctly. While this may not be the most Academy-style plan any faction has launched, this is our faction's plan, and this faction is a royal faction with a mission far greater than the others. We cannot fail due to dissent. The four of us need to be in harmony.” Donte clarified, not wanting any of them to be confused about what they were trying to do.
“Can there be harmony if you aren’t honest with us or even yourself?” Alex said. Xe was always so quiet when xe approached. Donnie grunted as Alex lay beside him, putting xyr head on his lap.
Donte shifted, leaning back on the blanket to create more space. His gaze was smooth and cold, shadowing all of his emotions.
“That is not the topic. It is a complication that will be dealt with later.” He huffed angrily. “Right now, we must be willing and able to lead this faction when needed and stand with Miza, even when we disagree, to help her navigate this mission. Right now, she is stressed, and we have less than three days to convince His Highness to allow us to do as Miza requests and devise a system of managing ourselves for a lie of this capacity. I also don’t think she has realized that she will build a life and have to leave it behind.” Donte sighed, irritation still apparent in his stiff posture.
“As Goddess incarnate, she can’t abdicate. She has to take the throne and complete the ceremony by her eighteenth birthday.” Alex reminded them as he lightly rubbed Donte's thigh in an unconscious attempt to calm him.
“Valon, this rides on you to prep her. You are the first consort and God Incarnate. Your denblings will follow your lead in how they support her. We don’t simply have a faction. The 9 of us are not just a Nest. We have brought dens back. This is a family with a small subset making up a faction. Donte, you keep saying mission, but this is more. The large of the den is not prepared for anything like this. Most of our nest-mates are only a few months in. They have never been outside of the Lestianian Property; Akeirda is new to everything. This is a test integration of a Lestanian family and a complicated one that we have not seen in almost 400 years. Yes, there is a mission, but what about our responsibility to the non-crew den-mates?”
“It will be handled. I will ensure it will be handled.” Donte said, not fully knowing where he would find his resolve.
⁓
“Mizarmonie, come eat lunch. We have to go soon.” Donte heard a loud groan from the water, followed by a screech and Justin’s name being shouted. Justin loved her, and there was no question why he was second consort, but he was still a 16-year-old male. You could forget they were a royal couple when you watched them away from the prying eyes of duty. At 16, Justin became the second-youngest head of security when Valon was no longer eligible due to his title as God-incarnate. Faction missions were outside of the purview of the General of the Lestanian Guard.
“I’ve been a brat today.” Miza sighed. She reached for a hand pie and broke it open. Lentil-pies. “ I am nervous and not handling this well, am I, Donnie.” She peeked at him woefully under her long lashes. “ A princess should be better at managing schedules, right? This is just so much. I knew I would have a lot with a royal faction, but I-” She paused. “How did I end up as Goddess-Incarnate? Ugh.” Miza shoved half of the pie into her mouth and chewed a bit. “I have to stop complaining,” she mumbled with a full mouth.
“You are 13. Of course, you are struggling. Even though royals rise young, they are rarely required to follow through with daily duties. They generally still have time to enjoy their adolescence. Give yourself grace. You weren’t being trained according to succession, and your life has changed in a handful of months. You are the heir and the Goddess Incarnate. This is more than any Royal has had to oversee at once in centuries.”
“Why would the Blessed Goddess anoint me?” Miza grumbled. Valon and Justin shared a glance, and Valon nodded.
“Miza, you owe Alex and me some time.” Justin stood and reached his hands out to her to pull Miza to her feet. “Alexandra, let’s go.” He called to the brunette. He picked up a basket packed apart from the den lunch so they could go off by themselves.
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“Let’s go to the orange grove.” Alex hooked xyr arm with Justin’s as he took Miza’s hand, and they started making their way to the trail down the mountain.
Valon and Donte watched the trio disappear.
“Donnie, let’s schedule some time in the next week to discuss your future in the den and strategize with J. You have a lot of experience, and right now, we need it. We need you to accept who you are to her.”
“Yes, My Lord,” Donte said with hesitation as he watched Valon's gaze settle over the den members, still enjoying themselves. This was a large den. There had not been an extended plural family in centuries, and it was uncommon for one so large to exist.
“Complicated,” Valon thought, “Miza’s life has gotten too complex, and I hate complicated things.”
⁓
Valon rubbed his hands over his face. He was exhausted, and they had only returned from their morning for a few hours. He needed to visit the saunas but still had reports for the new men at arms to review, missions to approve, and the final verification of tomorrow’s security protocols for the ball and ceremony. Representatives of the Lestanian aristocracy were coming through the veil and arriving as early as the morning, some staying through the week.
“Allyion, let’s meet,” he called out to his secretary. He picked up his office phone. “Jaime, yes, Lord Valon, here. I need you to pull a list of high schools and housing. I sent you an email with the specifics. I need the report by Friday. Alyion will assist. Yep. Thank you, Jaime.” Allyion had entered and taken a seat across from him. You’ll be coordinating with Jaime on a project. Also, we will need to start coordinating needs for going fully remote. Let’s get through these reports so we can call it a day. I’m sure you are just as exhausted.”
It was 4 a.m., and he wanted to get back to the residence at a reasonable time. The den needed more time, like today. Miza had seven ‘romantic partners, including Valon. Some of them had partners and families of their own, leaving the den at a 17-member family unit, and they were still missing a chevalier, according to the insignia. Since Miza was anointed as Goddess Incarnate, the den was constantly unavailable. All of Miza’s partners had or needed jobs related to Lestania’s governance, and Miza, being touched by the Goddess, had irrevocably changed their lives. Even before then, /Miza had chosen to live her life as she saw fit, sometimes bringing back the old ways. She did so because she could be an example, and she wasn’t connected in any real way to the country’s governance. But with the anointment, she was named heir to the throne.
Luckily, the matter of King Consort was resolved as a faded version of her mark appeared on Valon’s left hip, a mirror to hers. He was God Incarnate, meaning he would be her spouse even if they had not been previously engaged. He didn’t know what he would have done or felt if he had not been. The idea of letting her go was terrifying. There had never been such a large reigning family before. It was a headache.
Valon and Allyion worked diligently and finished their analysis quickly. They packed their work and sent out their parcels to go through the veil back to the Verdant Palace in Lestania. Valon left the offices and took an elevator to the second sub-level of the communal baths.
“We aren’t ready.”
None of them were ready to wear the weight of the expectations of being the heir. He wasn’t prepared for Marc Anthony. The man was furious when he was stripped of his position as heir and Commander of the Listanian Guard. He had always hated his sister because of their mother’s death, but this was the last of it for him. Not only did he feel his sister had taken his mother from him, but she had taken his throne. Mark Anthony’s fiance’s family broke the engagement. He lost his rights to his royal faction as heir and had to restructure. His lands were taken, leaving him with only his residence in the capital and rooms in the palace, though the apartment he grew up in was also shifted to his younger sister. For 25 years, he was the heir, but suddenly, he wasn’t. He was forgotten in the flurry and excitement of the kingdom’s beloved Princessa gaining power.
Of their Goddess’s return.
She was beloved. She wasn’t an absent royal. As Valon walked down the corridor to the dressing rooms for the baths, he thought about who she was and how beloved she was by the people of Lestania. She was their joy—a beacon of light in their corrupt history. While Donte had done an excellent job raising her and her brother for Maximillian, it was clear that it was not just the former second-in-command of the Emperor’s training that made Miza the way she was. It was something innate. A characteristic of love deep within her that allowed her to see past who she was supposed to be and who she needed to be, even when she was young.
He settled into the sauna. Laying his head back, he shifted his mind to their faction’s medallions. The circumstances around Miza’s upbringing were different from those of her siblings. Her father shifted guardianship and responsibility of her to Donte so that he would not have to experience the grief he felt looking at her. The Emperor was still her father and wanted the royal children protected, so he gave Donte the authority to set up a faction in her stead. Valon was brought to the palace at ten years old at the birth of his new fiance, so when Donte moved him to the royal residences and set up apartments for them, he was not ready, either. He trained hard for the last ten years and became Miza’s personal guard while Donte worked to establish them.
After her fourth birthday, Donte finally named the faction ‘l'aube du loup.’ He had watched her, how she interacted with the palace and Academy staff, and how she enchanted the people when she visited the city with him. Days before her fifth birthday, she had a small task as the only princess to perform. Simple because she was young, but impactful because it was her cause.
Donte had overseen a series of children’s homes that were being opened based on the different developmental needs of the children. Miza had said something during her daily tutoring about not understanding why small children were on the streets when the palace always had open rooms. Valon, who was older and had lived outside of the palace in his parent’s Dukedom, traveled with them often. He tried to explain the social classes and how many were affected by the money they had available to them. As his parents had recently passed, it happened to others, but the other kids didn’t always have a family to take them or money to support themselves. If Valon were not a part of the aristocracy, he would not have money to live without the grace of the Emperor, and he was lucky that he was with her because it had given him standing early in his life independent from his parents, prompting the Emperor to allow him to keep his title and wealth.
Miza was furious that things were like this. She left her lessons to ask her father why this would happen to their people, only to be turned away. She demanded that her faction find a solution. With their limited power, Donte petitioned the High Council and Parliament to allow him to restructure the care of orphaned children through a foundation that the princess would patronize.
Donte brought various aspects of the homes to her for her outlook. Miza was young, but she still needed to understand that she was in a position of authority, even at four. She needed to be guided in making choices based on information and her convictions. Ultimately, they had an infant home, a youngling’s home, an adolescent home, and an Academy Preparation home for teens. A small trust would be made in each child's name, and a review would be made one year before leaving the adolescent home to help them create a plan for their rising and adulthood. Rising for non-royals was generally around their 17th or 18th birthday, and aristocrats could do so earlier in cases of a parent's death, causing an heir to be confirmed early.
At the ribbon-cutting, she met a youth for the youngling home. He came home with her to be trained in the royal house as a knight and member of her faction. Three days later, Valon and Justin woke with a knowing and access to shadows of each other’s emotions. During a private dinner, Donte arranged for the princess and prince’s birthday; Donte presented them with their medallions and brought a priest to perform the ancient rite of chevaliers. Valon and Justin’s minds were opened and connected to Miza. They were one.
“Islac Ve Consta. Vedi Ve Custi.”