down the rabbit hole

[princeriley]

crwnprncssfrya·:

“As long as you promise me that you’re happy I will let it go for now but only because I want to focus on Addy right now and finding the perfect ring,” she admitted unable to help herself as she twirled around in happiness. “If she does throw a tantrum I will happily let her also give me away too.”

“I promise you on Novalie’s life that I’m happy. Now let’s find a ring.” He insisted, though Riley did roll his eyes at the twirl Freya did, his lips curling up at the sight of his twin so utterly happy. “Did you have any ideas?”

[princeriley]

princesaelvira‌:

“Nej, självklart inte.” Elvira spoke with ease. Years of practice to communicate with her princely counterpart left her with many phrases under her belt. She bounced the little princess as Riley spoke, her eyes leaving the blonde in lieu of looking towards the prince.

“Always, if you promise to make me a cup since my hands seem to be otherwise occupied.” She wouldn’t be putting the girl down in the near future, not even for a cup of coffee. It was just too long since she had felt this secure. It made her remember why she was fighting so hard to keep herself alive. This little girl.

“Oh? Finally. I was always rooting for those two to end up together.” Elvira grinned at Riley. “How did you get your parents to agree?”

“Of course.” Novalie was happy in Elvira’s arms and not running down a hallway chasing after something, Riley would do anything to keep her there, especially if the price to pay was one as small as making her a cup of coffee. 

Though the other price he had to pay was something much higher and Riley cast his eyes to the ground, looking at his feet as they walked down the hallway towards a sitting room to make coffee. After a moment of silence he lifted his head, presenting Elvira with a smile that spoke ‘What can you do?’ before he did speak. 

“I sold my soul to the devil. Or to the highest bidder. I promised my parents that in return for Freya getting to marry Adaline undisturbed and to be happy with her for the rest of her life, I would enter willingly and silently into whatever martial agreement they decided upon for me.”

[princeriley]

cfsweden‌:

there was a warmth to athens that stockholm did not share in the winter, and with his recent arrival, the difference almost seemed significant. he’d hoped that a walk might climatise his body properly — especially since he was unaware of how long, or how often he’d be visiting greece. still, it seemed that almost every recommendation that he received had led him to the beach. at no point did he imagine that he would see his niece and brother ( who he noticed from a distance ) which gave him a sense of direction. “hej sötnos,” greeting his niece upon his approach, “hur mår du, min gullgosse?” bending down so that he was at her level before looking across to his older brother. “or do we all speak english now?”

A warm smile graced Riley’s face as Oscar stepped out of the sun and he could actually recognise his brother’s face, though if he hadn’t, he would’ve recognised the man’s voice. He allowed him to speak to Novalie in their language and even allowed the little girl to respond excitedly before he nodded at his brother. “I’m trying to stick with English. Her English is still a little behind and I’d like to keep encouraging it.” Riley sat up before he stretched his arm over Novalie, extending his hand towards him. 

“When did you land?”

[princeriley]

crwnprncsslili‌:

“Novalie is such a pretty name for a pretty little girl,” her comment was directed towards the girl with the warmest smile hoping to encourage her even more. She knew that it was all too important for children to have adults that encouraged them rather than brushing them off. 

“Oh, I’ve loved languages since I was a child. My parents allowed me to learn French and Spanish but when I conquered those I got bored and they tried to keep me interested and figured that Swedish would be a good challenge which it was.”

Riley was fascinated with what the woman had to say as she spoke, his gaze occasionally flicking down to Novalie who wasn’t causing any trouble for herself, something he was thankful for.

“I think I mainly stuck to our main languages, Swedish, Finnish, Yiddish and English. Though I did dabble in French and Spanish when I had the time, though I think my accents in both are horrible now.”

[princessalycallahan]

“Didn’t think hell would look like this place.”

Someone really did not want to be there; she’d rather be back in Ireland training for the national archery championships.

[princeriley]

Riley had been walking down the hallway, holding Novalie’s hand when the woman spoke, causing him to frown. 

“Depends on your interpretation of Hell I suppose.”

[princeriley]

princesaelvira‌:

Elvira whispers responses to the girl, mostly in the Swedish she had learned over the years, but with a mix of few English words thrown in where needed. With Novalie resting on her hip El closes the distance between herself and Riley, bouncing his daughter on her hip. “Have you been keeping your poor daddy from sleeping?”

She coos, nuzzling in on the little Princess and giggling as she does so. This is her happy place, decidedly, with the little girl wrapped around her.

“No...” Novalie grinned, resting her head against Elvira’s shoulder while she grinned at her father. Riley shook his head, pushing his hair off of his face before he nodded towards the general direction of the kitchen. 

“I’m going to go and get some coffee. Did you want to join me El?” He couldn’t help himself, Riley had convinced himself that if he kept acting like everything was normal then it would be. They could pretend like they’d never slept together and he wouldn’t lose his best friend. But the more he spent time around Elvira, the more he was certain that things had changed. There was something between them now that wasn’t there before. 

He needed to talk to Freya about it.

“Did you hear the news? My sister is engaged to the love of her life by some miraculous intervention on my behalf.”

[princeriley]

crwnprncssfrya·:

“I have to worry about your happiness every second of every day, Riles,” She pointed out draping herself over her brother knowing that nothing would ever compare to what he did for her. “Lunch is on me and maybe a cute locket for Novalie after all I have to ask her to be my flower girl.”

“And I am happy. Though you’re clearly outshining me today.” He laughed, his arm going around Freya’s waist before he started to walk them towards the front doors of the palace. “Let’s just hope that she doesn’t throw a tantrum halfway down the aisle. Otherwise I’ll be giving you away while holding her.”

[princeriley]

crwnprncsslili‌:

Li Li had to admit that her own Swedish was weak at best but she supposed her vocabulary wouldn’t be far from the little girl’s at the very least. She shook her head as she stood up to introduce herself to the man. “it’s completely fine. My own Swedish is probably about her level so I think we can communicate quite well with each other.”

She held her hand out for him with a cheerful smile, “I’m Li Li by the way. The crown princess of China. I’m going to guess that you and this cute little darling are from the Swedish family?” She asked raising her eyebrows even if she knew she was right. It was always interesting to meet those from around the world and she never held back on trying to make new friends.

“We are. I’m Riley, my twin sister Freya is the crown princess. And this is my daughter, Novalie.” He explained, returning the smile she gave him. He shuffled around on his towel, sitting up properly to speak to the woman and to also watch Novalie. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

He was surprised that the woman knew even a small amount of Swedish, given that their respective countries were located so far away from each other. “Where did you learn Swedish, if I may ask?”

[princeriley]

crwnprncssfrya‌:

“You know I’m going to have to make it up to you somehow,” she had no idea what her twin had given up to give her the life she wanted so desperately but she was willing to bet that it wasn’t anything small. Not with their parents. Which meant as much as he hated it she was going to have to poke her way through his life.

“Are you willing to do that with me?” She asked him curiously.

“Don’t worry about that for now.” He meant his words. One day he would tell her the price he paid for her happiness, but for now, her happiness was the only thing that mattered. At her words he chuckled and nodded, glancing down the hallway. “Novalie is in daycare at the moment so I have the rest of the day to help you pick out the perfect ring.”

[princeriley]

crwnprncsslili‌:

Li li enjoyed the beautiful weather especially being able to actually breath somewhat fresh air as opposed to inhaling the fumes inside of a major city. It seemed though that she wasn’t the only one that had the same plan as she noticed a beautiful little girl calling out a greeting to her as she moved to kneel down in the sand beside her with the warmest smile as she held her hand out for her. “Hello there little darling, and who are you?” She asked her curiously.

The crown princess’ eyes shifted to glance up at the girl’s father hoping that she wasn’t over stepping her boundaries. “I’m Li Li. Do you think you could show me how to make this really pretty sand castle?” She asked curiously.

She had always wanted children but she wasn’t sure it would be an option for her. 

Socialisation was something that Riley was trying to encourage in Novalie, pushing her towards being more friendly with people. But since her English wasn’t that great, it meant that such an idea wasn’t always executed perfectly. 

“Daddy!” She turned around and yelled at her father, staring at him as she waited for Riley to translate for her. He groaned slightly as he tried to remember the Swedish word for ‘sand castle’ before relaying the question back to his daughter in Swedish. Once she understood the woman, Novalie was happy to show her, chatting away in Swedish to the woman. 

“I’m sorry, her English isn’t great.” Riley finally interjected, smiling at the woman.

[princeriley]

princesaelvira‌:

Elvira had been avoiding Riley since their little moment on the wall, and now that she was settling in she was finding herself with even less to do around the castle. By the time she had finally left her bed it was mid afternoon and she wasn’t expecting many people to be walking around the castle. Unfortunately she couldn’t get so lucky.

The little voice rang out, alerting her from a message she’d been reading over on her phone. Almost immediately the phone went into her pocket and she was near kneeling on the ground, unafraid of getting her jeans dirty because her favorite girl in the world was racing towards her.

“Hola Princesa.” Elvira coos, arms meeting the familiar feeling of having Novalie wrapped in them. But, where the little girl was Riley was hardly far behind. “I see she’s becoming more rowdy.” She greets, though it is less of a greeting as her feet stop her in front of him.

“She just had a nap, so she’s just bursting with energy.” Riley explained, watching as Novalie threw her arms around Elvira and started chatting to the woman in Swedish. Language was never something that was difficult with Elvira, she knew enough of his language that when Novalie held a conversation, she could understand what the little girl was saying. 

It made it easier on Riley since he didn’t have to translate everything each person in the conversation was saying.

“I, on the other hand, was only halfway through mine. So I’m still waking up.”

[princeriley]

princesaelvira‌:

“You mean you didn’t like the blonde?” Truthfully she hadn’t been much of a fan herself, it washed him out and made him look ridiculous. Something she’d never say to his face. “I’d give anything to look like Freya.” It was meant to be a joke, but even as she said it the words dug into her a little.

Elvira stopped at the hold on her wrist, turning to face him. Her brows knitting together confused at his expression. Her face did soften when he finally asked and her instinct was just to nod. “I can ride if it’s not for too long–and you can be as involved as you want to be.”

Her words sent a chill through Riley’s bones. He was nearly positive that she meant it as a joke, but even so, with what he now knew, he couldn’t shake the other interpretation of them. His fingers slid down her wrist, intertwining with her own as he gripped her hand tightly, tugging her closer to him before he started towards the stable again. 

Truthfully he wasn’t sure how involved with her recovery he could be. After all, she had kept her diagnosis a secret from him. And that was something he would never forgive himself for. 

“Let’s ride then.”

[princeriley]

crwnprncssfrya·:

“Have you heard the great news yet?” She asked him curiously trying her best to hide her smile from him even momentarily but it wasn’t possible. She couldn’t help herself as she finally reached out to hug her brother. She had no idea what he did but she knew that he was involved.

He embraced Freya as hard as she was embracing him. Riley knew that Freya probably already had suspicions that he was involved in her sudden change of engagement, so he didn’t see a point in trying to hide it. “You’re welcome.” He whispered in her ear, sighing happily as he tightened his grip on her. 

“Looks like we have to go engagement ring shopping.”

[princeriley]

It was still winter in Greece, but even winter had uncharacteristically warm days on occasion and such was a day. He lathered himself and Novalie in sunscreen before grabbing the necessary tools for making sand castles and wandered down to the beach. The water was still far too cold for swimming so while Novalie sat next to him, singing to herself as she built her sandcastle, Riley removed his shirt, closed his eyes and lay down on the warm sand, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his bare chest. 

He drifted on the verge of sleep for half an hour until Novalie’s voice woke him up. Riley sat up, realising that she had been waving and greeting a person also walking the beach and nearing them. 

“Hi!” She called out happily, waving at the person with her shovel, a smile spreading across Riley’s face at her social skills.

[crwnprncssfrya]

Freya knew that she had a smile on her face that seemed to be permanent since the phone call from her parents. Despite the cold winter outside the walls nothing could get to her. “It’s a beautiful day outside isn’t it?”

[princeriley]

Had Riley sacrificed some of his own pride and possibly sold away more years of his life to his parents than he had wanted to? Yes. Was it worth seeing the smile on his sister’s face? Also yes. 

“It is. Quite a lovely day.”

[princeriley]

crwnprncssfrya·:

“I mean I wouldn’t mind taking said three year old for a few days for you,” She reminded him as she leaned against him unsure how to describe just how much she loved Adaline. “I don’t think I could love anyone more than I love her, but I know that mom and dad will never allow it. Instead I just have to deal with whoever they do believe is supposedly good enough. No matter how unhappy I will be.”

Riley tried to live his life believing that no matter what happened, everything in life occurred for a reason. But occasionally, when it came to his sisters, he failed. He didn’t believe that what had happened to Elsa was meant to happen for a reason and now listening to his sister’s heart break as she explained how she would never get to be with the woman she loved, he came to the same consideration. 

Except this time he wasn’t going to let Freya receive the same fate that Elsa had. Without changing a single expression or shifting his demeanour, Riley decided he was going to talk to their parents about Freya’s engagement and see if he could convince them to change their minds. 

For the moment however, he squeezed his sister tighter. “I’m sorry Frey.”

[princeriley]

xprincesselsax·:

“I definitely hope I don’t end up looking like you when I turn thirty, that would be weird. I would rather look like Freya, at least I would still look cute.” She smirked, looking at her brother. “Let’s not do that, I don’t want to make you all sad and depressed, we don’t need more of that.” 

“What is with my sisters insulting me at the moment. Is it the Greek air?” Riley laughed loudly, rolling his eyes at Elsa before he reached over her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug against his side. “Let’s not.”