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Becoming His Consort

Part One

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by KimberVaile

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This story has been split into two parts due to the length.

Velus prospered, a country that held the nobles with magically infused blood in the highest regard. Some said that it was a broken system, as much so as the waterways that both connected them and kept them apart, but those in power were the ones that most certainly benefitted the most from, taking their leave from the poor and the peasants as they lavished attention only on those that they thought could better their position in life. Such was the way of nobles and most certainly the fox that went by the name of Vaile.

His full name was Valerian Vaile but it was the family name of Vaile that was held in the highest regard, the well-known fox always holding a softly pitying smile for anyone that thought that they could possibly hold themselves in higher regard than him. That was simply preposterous, although his slim, effeminate form drew many eyes, not at all like the bulky mass of so many males that laboured and worked in the lower classes of the city. His clothes were made from silk and satin and the finest, rarest of cotton, soft against his russet fur, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth in a white gleam when he so wanted to draw attention downward. Tights and soft-soled shoes (for what would he ever need to do that would dirty or tarnish his shoes in life?) were his garb of choice, sometimes pants that billowed around the hips, forming him into somewhat of an hourglass shape with the big shoulders too that were in fashion. Yet he turned from one fashion to the next like furs sipped wine, never lingering on one for all that long while he had much to entertain himself with in flights of fancy.

Tipping his muzzle up imperiously, Vaile's smile never reached his eyes. He had a paw in every pot and everyone knew that he had so many secrets, though he did not spend them without due cause. Twists and turns and lies and games... Oh, they were just what kept him interested in life, although he was keener than ever on making the name Vaile the most renowned one in all the land. There was a way to go yet but those with sense in their souls knew of the threat he posed, even if he did not feel that he would ever be toppled from the pedestal he'd put himself on. Why, he'd even very nearly gotten that decrepit wreck of a wolf who thought he was a noble out of their circles, revealing skeletons from his solider days that, of course, the wolf didn't want spread. But if it was the truth, where could the harm be in letting others know just what they were getting into.

His lips quirked up on one side. Yes, he'd be rid of that one too, very soon. Confident? The fox eyed up the streets, lingering and exhaling, boredom twitching at his heart. Well, he'd always been such. Yet perfection in himself may have been too much to hope for while there was so much beneath him, just being the way it all was.

And there were so many out there to toy with too...

"You there. Peasant."

He could have been referring to any number of lower-class citizens as he leaned back in the gondola that he had a private servant to steer for him; Vaile didn't need to lower himself to such levels as to hire a public gondola, after all. The rat carrying a stack of boxes to the back of what looked to be a bar of some kind, something for the lower classes, rolled his eyes but paused, regarding him with a look that spoke volumes. But Vaile did not need to toy with someone like that when his attention was already slipping on. It was something that, perhaps, was better suited to his teenage years off on tour, when he was less into the political games and taunted those that were beneath him, well...pretty much because he could. Times had changed in his early twenties and the fox was more interested in rising above that, coming to twists and turns that were entirely of his own orchestration.

Old habits sometimes rose to the surface but, well, he could rise above that.

Truthfully, Vaile's drawing of the rat's attention did not matter one bit in the grand scheme of things, solely interested in his own affairs. A casual remark and bark of laughter from the dismissive fox, as he turned back to more entertaining matters of affair, chased the heels of the rat back into his hole, busying himself with work, to him, that mattered rather than wasting his time on the wiles and airs of nobility. It had never served anyone other than the nobility themselves very well.

Vaile swanned about, gallivanting from one affair to the other, visiting vineyards and partaking in drinks with his companions, the circle of which, oddly for someone in his station, remained the same. A bear, a stoat and a blue jay: they were his trusted friends and some of the bare few that saw the true side of him, though he was liked more widely, even if some of those were afraid of his influence too. Of course, a genial gesture here and there where there was no one else around to see it by no means excused him from having to explain himself or at the very least show his true self when that was not something for those outside his little clan.

Of course too, there were many that smiled at his approach, knowing that he was suave entertainment, even though his words could sometimes conceal the blade of a knife.

"Oh, Vaile, would you care to give us a demonstration?"

At a party late that night, the fox drew his shoulder blades back sharply, an eyebrow raised. Oh dear... Clearly someone had not been practising their best manners.

"Of course, my dear," he said smoothly. "But only when you can tell me just how you have managed to acquire such a delightful shade of yellow for your teeth. It must be all the rage for you to boast it so openly..."

The stag stiffened.

"How dare you speak of me in that way! I only asked -"

"Oh, it was merely a jest, please do not tilt your antlers at me, good sir."

Of course, as always, Vaile had played his cards perfectly right and the stag was left looking between him and his wine as if he didn't know what to think, duly confused by the fox and the little games he played. Vaile smiled, hiding it from the stag. Every opportunity that came his way was his to take and he was not known for letting them pass by him.

"I am afraid you do not understand how simply uncouth it is to insist someone demonstrates their magic...but I am confident you will come to understand that in time, my dear friend."

Shaking his head sadly at the stag, he walked away, his head held high, dignity, as always, intact while the stag was left trying to scramble together the last touches of conversation as if he had not been the one to make a serious faux-pas. With a skilled paw, he collected a glass of wine from a serving tray, though he could have found a better vintage in the kitchen if he had been so inclined. The quicker the alcohol slipped down his throat, however, the large reception hall set with flickering, dancing lanterns and vines that had to be carefully watered every day wrapped around the pillars beckoning him onward into the heart of the party. His lips turned down softly, looking for more appealing enjoyment, as he slammed the glass into the paws of a servant, one who stumbled and floundered with his words, struggling to grasp it before the ceramic toppled to the ground.

As the feline raced to catch what had been practically tossed, Vaile chuckled and shook his head sadly, friends at his shoulder with like expressions.

"I had thought we had adequate wait staff here, but perhaps I was mistaken in that assumption. Your circus antics are, however, mildly amusing."

His friends chuckled but the servant cat was left stuttering, trying to make things right again, actually dropping the wine and spilling ruby droplets over the floor. Vaile didn't care about that, however, the cat already out of his mind as dabbed at his paws with a muzzle-cloth, his enjoyment of the party only slightly soured by his lack of practice and ability to show-off.

Perhaps such a request would not have been so in other circles but Vaile had not the interest in practising what rendered him such powerful nobility, choosing to reap the spoils without sowing any seeds. No, he knew how to use magic but the practise, well...that was something that he had not engaged in for so long. Not that he would, in fact, ever need to use any kind of magic, not like those that devoted every second of their lives to it beyond early training as youngsters. He simply didn't go for that sort of thing - most particularly when there were grand events and even art collections to visit, spending his time on leisure while that rare few practised. The stag had been the one who was a fool not to know that. Vaile scoffed, though he was discreet enough to not earn sidelong looks. Did he even know what true nobility was? Probably not. That was why he had spoken so rudely. He was not to know.

The party was in full swing, the parlour done up to appear foreign and exotic, like one of the tours that he had undertaken in the years leading up to his twentieth birthday. Even at the memory, Vaile could not help but smile. Ah, he had seen much of the world then and it had not been all as bad as the high society that he was thrust into. While he enjoyed mingling with them, there was a daring air of excitement to others not knowing who he was, running amok among them while he took his leave and liberty of everyone and anyone that got in his way. He could be someone else then, someone that could do as they pleased, yet it was a different kind of doing as he pleased than what he had for himself in high society life.

Vaile's delusions of grandeur were more than well-known to his friends, Salvone rolling his eyes as the fox grinned charmingly and slapped the blue jay on the shoulder a little too rambunctiously. Fairly though, Vaile was too weak in his body to do anything all that bad to him but that did not mean that his behaviour did not annoy his friends when he had a little too much to drink.

"Oh my," Vaile snipped snidely, prodding one of his friends in the shoulder as too much alcohol flowed through his system, throwing his judgement and usual attitude off-kilter. "Did you see what Serrone was wearing? How ghastly..."

His friends didn't seem to want to join in with him on that but he snatched up, fluidly, another vessel of wine and raised it to his lips, letting it soothe his throat. Down and down and down... It was easy to let himself go when he was too far gone, a little tipsier than usual, tail flicking back and forth even as his tongue grew sharper.

"Vaile..."

"Oh, have no fear," he said, waving his paw as he chuckled. "They don't care what I'm saying. No one cares. My dear friends - it is a party, after all!"

"I thought I heard your voice."

That had further words, general enjoyment of the party, dying on Vaile's lips as they pressed together and he turned, all manner of lightness gone from his frame. There was no one quite like Alfanco to turn a party sour for him, even more than those that had already seemed to make things a little more difficult than they had to be, the wolf's shadow cast over him as other party-goers made merry in the background. Yet the chill between them was impossible to ignore as some of the guests nearby, all dolled up in their finery, turned to see what the problem was.

Vaile regarded Alfanco with a look that one may have given a chamber pot.

"Ah... You made it here all by yourself, Alfanco?" He smiled without the light of it reaching his eyes. "Whoever taught you to read must have a saintly patience indeed..."

In a friendly tone, that sentence would have been loaded but, as it was, it came out dripping with sarcasm. Alfanco raised his eyebrow, the tall, black-furred wolf easily dwarfing the petite fox. Vaile was not the tallest of furs at the best of times but the bulky, burly wolf was comical towering over him, not even having to move a muscle, truly, to exert his dominance.

"Indeed, I have," Alfanco answered smoothly, as short on his words and as curt as he ever was - just another reason that Vaile never quite got along with him to say the very least of it. "Though you are disrupting the party with your...loudness."

The fox tilted his head, though the tight smile had no friendliness in it.

"Oh, Alfanco... I believe it is you that is disrupting the party, although I believe it is well-known that those of your station are, perhaps, not as inclined towards bathing as our kind."

There was something about the wolf, who was not even a real noble but a solider that had been escalated to such status, that got his back up. He'd only come out to spend an evening with his friends in good company and it seemed that wherever he went that damn wolf had to come and intervene and spoil everything with his blocky muzzle, the scar on the side of it hardly becoming of a noble. But that was just why Alfanco was not a real noble to him, that he had not a drop of magical blood in his veins, an imposter in their midst.

Vaile pressed on.

"A thought for you, dear pup: mingle with your kind and we'll do the same," Vaile said, waving him off as if he was dismissing a servant. "We have no time for your kind here."

The smartly dressed wolf smiled pleasantly, spreading his paws out as if he was the more reasonable party in the equation. Yet the fact of the matter was that his years as a solider had taught him more than anyone, unduly, gave him credit for, sizing up the situation at paw and seizing his chance. Sometimes, a wolf could be even slyer than a fox - and that was indeed saying something.

"Tell you what," Alfanco said with a smile, leaning in far too close to Vaile as the fox leaned back from one who he perceived to be a ruffian. "Beat me at cards and I shall leave, never to return...at least to this party. You can drink yourself to immobility once again and be the laughing stock all on your own but you shall not have to see either hide or hair of me at this event. Do we have a wager?"

Despite scoffing under his breath, a slip in his decorum, Vaile eyed up the wolf coolly. Anything to see the wolf gone, even if only for a time, would be a pleasure indeed, muscles tight and uncomfortable whenever the beast was around. That was because he was a ruffian, Vaile was sure of it, the wolf bringing out the worst sides of him. It could have been something to push him higher in the status of the world, simply by removing one who aggravated his last nerve.

The fox smiled coldly, though did not offer his paw.

"We have a wager, if only you will leave Velus forever after this, ending what this is between us." Vaile shook his head, drawing himself up tall. "This city is fouler for having you in it, Alfanco, and we were a happier city without you."

It may have been a rather extreme reaction, considering that nothing specific had passed between them to cause such a rivalry, but Vaile could not have played more keenly into the wolf's paws if Alfanco had had a greater paw in orchestrating it. No, all he'd had to do was to put it out there and the fox had wandered into the trap as if he thought that he was finally going to get what he wanted but, truly, it was the wolf that was going to come out top.

Alfanco shook on it before Vaile could change his mind, though a note of suspicion entered the fox's eyes as he realised that the wolf had not stated what he would want for his side of the wager if he was to win. That was a political mistake but there were too many eyes on him to back out then, his shoulders stiff and muzzle tipped arrogantly high. Of course, losing was not a possibility and potentially why he had not clarified beforehand, but he was quite sure the scoundrel was simply after coin or some of his wealth. It would hardly hurt him at all to toss a few coins the wolf's way, though he would be loathe to see the heathen spend it for him.

"And what of your side?" He asked loftily, as if the answer was of no consequence to him. "What would you have me wager? I assume you want me to leave this party too? Though the event will be greatly diminished for not having me here..."

Alfanco smiled, though only the bystanders caught the glint in his eye and the stiffness to his tail, how his ears were pricked and perfectly rigid.

"Then you have to do as I say...fox cub."

Vaile raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely not. Did you not tire of taking orders as a soldier? Perhaps you should go back there and make a pretence of working your way through the ranks if that's the sort of game you wish to play. True nobles don't have to buy their way in."

His words were pointed but the wolf had taken more than enough swords and arrows directed at his chest to not be bothered by any manner of it. Instead, he merely stepped back and offered for Vaile to join him in the entertainment room for gentlefurs, a lavish affair where they could get away from the lady-folk and speak amongst one another with the air of ones who were familiar with each other.

"I am confident all will wonder at you turning down a simple game of cards, the why of it... Just a game of cards," Alfanco said pointedly, canny enough to hide his smirk. "Nobles talk... But you do not care if furs talk, do you, Vaile?"

Vaile tensed but tried to hide it. He was left with no choice, following Alfanco with his head held high to the gentlefurs room, rife with smoking and liquor. Of course, he should have been the one leading but that was more difficult to do when he was tipping and swaying, doing rather a lot more than he should have been doing simply to stay up on his paws, wondering if he had slipped up on the amount of alcohol he had imbibed already. But that did not matter to him as he laughed more merrily, proclaiming how hard Alfanco was going to fall with too much cockiness, though those that knew the two of them knew that the wolf's snarl was in his silence.

He would have the fox right where he wanted him, sitting down at the round table that was designed for more players but, that time, it would just the two of them. Then and only then did Alfanco smiled, showing a flash of fang, ears slipping back as a smirk tugged at his lips, wrinkling his muzzle.

Vaile shuffled the cards, confident in his position. He didn't know. He couldn't have known.

"Let's play."

*

"You cheated."

Vaile stared at the cards, heart sinking into his stomach, though the roil and churn there could have very well been since he had downed rather a lot of wine, which was all well and good, fairly so. But his reflexes had been slow and his critical thinking in a game that, still to some extent, was up to chance, and the cards did not lie at the end of the day. Well, not unless somebody had cheated, that was, and there could be no possible way that Alfanco had won without cheating, though those watching could only concur that it had been a fine game and a fine paw indeed that had won it.

Scowling, Vaile threw his paws up half-heartedly and shoved his chair back, though the wine swimming in his head made that a little more difficult than usual.

"I've had enough of this!"

What he didn't expect, however, was the wolf to kick his chair back in, Alfanco's longer legs allowing him greater reach than the fox's shorter, although well-proportioned to his body, legs.

"Are you backing out on our wager, little fox?" The wolf growled, leaning in close to him so that no one would hear their conversation, though they had attracted enough attention already during the night. "Do you want everyone to hear that you are a yellow-belly, a coward? That you do not follow through on your agreements? That would disappoint so many here to learn that of you, though it should not surprise anyone..."

Vaile stiffened, alcohol sloshing around in his stomach, the pit of his belly aching though he could not tell for what. He had to do it or tales would be told and his reputation would be ruined. It was all a game, a thing that would come to haunt him if he did not play his cards right. What was a wager lost in the big picture, the piece of artwork that was the entire span of his life? Vaile shook his head, trying to clear it, but the alcohol had worked its own kind of magic in muddying his senses.

He shouldn't have gone, shouldn't have gotten into it at all, the wolf an impediment to his position in society, someone who threw him off his game. How was he to woo his consorts and splash out to impress when the wolf was always there, lurking in the background? He rose without thinking, the wolf guiding him by the elbow, though his claws dug in with enough force to cut through the fine cloth of his jacket, the billowing sleeves hiding his light and lithe figure.

Vaile shook his head, alcohol dulling his senses. What was pulling at him? What made him want to move? He was too far gone into intoxication to understand that it was magic, though not the kind of magic that came from a fur but the kind of magic that one bought. And Alfanco had enough coin to buy whatever he needed whenever he needed it, wherever he needed it. Vaile should never have forgotten that.

"Where are we going?" He said stiffly, buying himself time, still thinking that there was some way he could get out of it. "We can settle this here, Alfanco. Be reasonable. We are both gentlefurs here, both...both nobles."

But the wolf did not stop, towing him from the party as if he was a mere cub who needed to be directed, muscles bulging even through his fine shirt, his attire tailored as if he really was a noble. The pull increased, though the fox still could not understand it, could not understand the feel of magic when he was so out of practice with it; all that he had drunk too, teetering on the edge of blacking out with his stomach rolling and the party spinning greyly around him, didn't help either. Vaile clenched his jaw tightly, a muscle jumping anxiously at the corner of his lips, tail clamped down, though that didn't help the flip of his stomach. Alfanco did look the part of a noble but that did not mean that he was a noble. That was something that everyone would do well to not forget.

"You're a lot more clearly spoken than you were a short while ago, my friend..."

Yet Vaile was not his friend and shook off the wolf as they paused before his private carriage, his horses already hitched up and pawing at the ground.

"Horses?" Vaile rolled his eyes in a drunken tilt, losing his usual air of nobility for a fraction of a second. "With our waterways, why would you need horses?"

The wolf's smile glinted in his eyes, reflecting the light of the moon.

"Because my manor is in the countryside, fox boy."

Continued and completed in part two.