Chapter Text
As you have acted as beasts, so as beasts you shall roam your ancestral home for eternity
The witch had stared down at Coriolanus, barely six years old his bright blue eyes full of fear as he hid behind his grandmother’s skirts alongside his cousin, the bodies of his parents laying on the floor of the great hall before them.
Only when a child of your house is loved truly by a sworn enemy, shall the curse be broken.
-
Sejanus stumbled through the unyielding storm, desperate to not let himself stumble into the mud that threatened to suck him down with every step. He was soaked down to his bones, shivering underneath the cloak that he still clutched tightly around himself. There were no roads to be seen, nor had he seen one for what must have been miles. He was lost, thoroughly lost.
Lightning crackled through the sky above Sejanus, making him jump. He was grateful for it though, when it illuminated a castle in the distance. Maybe safety, or at least a brief respite from the storm. Sejanus would take anything he could get that wasn’t the storm beating him to his core.
The trek took the last of his strength, barely allowing him to crawl up the front steps, lifting himself to his knees so that he could hit the door knocker before darkness overtook him, slipping into an unconsciousness heap.
-
Sejanus woke to a throbbing head, but blessedly warm as he opened his eyes to a crackling fire. He was wrapped in a robe, his clothes drying on a rack by the fire, and covered in a soft blue blanket. Someone had to be there, but no one appeared as he looked around. He was in a sitting room that must have once been grand, but years of age and wear had left the place in shambles. There was little furniture other than the used love seat he’d been laid on and an old armchair closer to the fire. A half boarded up window let in no light other than quick flashes of lightning in the distance promising that the storm raged on.
“Hello?” Sejanus called out as he slid off the couch. “Is anyone there?” There was no answer but the dull echo in the empty room. He took advantage of his solitariness to pull on his dry clothes, leaving the robe and blanket folded nicely on the love seat. He wandered toward the door on the far side of the room, pushing it open with a loud creak that echoed through the long twisting hallway.
Sejanus called out again. “Hello?”
The stillness of the hall gave no answer. It was clearly a once a stunning place, though it had fallen to disrepair. Sejanus found himself running his hand across the wall where the aged marks showed there had once been tapestries or perhaps furniture that was now gone. What happened here?
At the end of the hall was a dining room with three places set and a pot of steaming soup in the center. When Sejanus lifted the lid it looked like mush of cabbage and potatoes that made Sejanus’s stomach twist. He was starving, for sure, but he’d never eaten anything worse than the stale biscuit that had been his last supplies after fleeing from his father.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A thundering voice came from the darkness of the hallway and Sejanus snapped around, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see the strange figure.
“I- I was just trying to find someone. I passed out outside and I woke up in- I guess the sitting room.” He gestured down the hall where he had come from. “Where am I?”
“Somewhere you should not be.” The voice growled, sending tingles of fear down Sejanus’s spine.
“I’ll leave,” Sejanus offered quickly, “I don’t mean to be here, I was just lost.”
“Who are you?” The voice demanded.
Sejanus froze as the figure came more into view. There’s no way that’s a human . They were easily two heads taller than him with a pure white mane that poked out from the shadows. “I’m no one. Just lost, trying to get out of the storm. I mean no harm.”
“Leave then. Leave anything you’ve taken and get out.”
“I’ve taken nothing.” Sejanus promised.
“Back off him Coryo,” A softer, more feminine voice rang from behind him and Sejanus turned, nearly dropping to the ground as he saw the striped half-human tiger. Her blonde hair was piled in wild curls around her face, black stripes running across her face and down her arms leading to long white claws at the end of her fingers. “My apologies, dearie, there’s no need to be frightened,” She flashed a bright, yet terrifying smile with sharp fangs glinting in the dim lighting.
“I-I’m sorry,” Sejanus swallowed, trying to calm himself. “I really don’t mean to intrude.”
“Nonsense,” The tiger-woman tutted, “It’s my cousin you must forgive, he’s given up on being a people person nowadays.” She shot a sharp look towards the shadowy white figure. “We’re happy to let you stay until the storm is over. We were just about to have dinner.”
The first figure stepped closer and Sejanus tried not to startle. The man was a white lion, with pure white curls flowing out as a mane around him and tufts of white fur that poked from the holes in his once fine suit. “Absolutely not. He said he would leave and he will. We hardly have enough to spare for vagabonds.”
“He could die out there, it’s cold enough to chill and the storm hasn’t let up in days, I won’t turn him out like this,” The tiger-woman insisted, turning to Sejanus. “Please, take a seat. I assure you, my cousin won’t harm you. He’s just stubborn and unfriendly nowadays.”
Sejanus nodded quietly, taking the seat she gestured towards, trying not to stare at the beasts he found himself in the company of.
“Let him die out there, as if I care,” The lion, Coryo, as his cousin had called him, grumbled, sitting at the head of the table. “Lot of good taking in strangers has done us.”
“How can you be so cruel, the boy was half dead on our doorstep!” The tiger-woman huffed as she moved to serve the stew, giving Sejanus a generous portion as her cousin growled at her. “Here love. I’m Tigris, this is my cousin, Coriolanus.”
Sejanus gave a soft smile as she set the bowl in front of him. “I’m Sejanus. I really cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”
Tigris smiled brightly back at him, swatting away Coriolanus’s hand as he tried to portion his own stew. “We don’t have much, but you’re welcome to stay here where it’s warm and dry at least until the rain stops.”
“And when was I going to be consulted on any of this? it’s my home too, Tigris,” Coriolanus snapped at her. “I do not appreciate unexpected vermin hanging around here.”
Sejanus bit his tongue that he was not vermin , but he was grateful for the food and warm place to stay. By any means he ought to be dead by now, a spoiled prince running away on his own with no plan or proper supplies. He’d surely been a fool, but life with his father was going to kill him anyway. What difference was it if he died with a few short weeks of freedom under his belt? At least he would be able to taste the sweet bitterness of life without the pressure of taking over his father’s kingdom looming over his head and the oppressive nature of the king himself forcing him into someone he was not.
At least he would die as himself. A nobody. Sejanus, instead of His Royal Highness, Prince Sejanus Plinth.
“Coryo that is no way to speak about our guest! Where have your manners gone?” Tigris chided him before turning to Sejanus. “Can you believe he used to be a proper gentleman? Charmed the ladies. And gentlemen.” She chuckled to herself, shaking her head.
Sejanus opted not to reply after a quick glance towards Coriolanus proved that his mood had not improved much. Instead he ate his stew as quickly as he could manage without choking on the texture and taste. It was flavored with onions, pepper, and salt, which wasn’t horrible, but he’d never tasted anything so mushy or… rustic. It was filling enough for his aching stomach, though and he swallowed it gratefully.
“Where are you from, Sejanus?” Tigris continued on to ask, looking him up and down.
That aren’t going to eat me, are they? There didn’t seem to be an abundance of food in the run-down mansion, but Tigris had been kind enough, and it would at least be a quicker death than slowly out in the rain. “The north,” He answered vaguely, “I’ve been traveling a bit now.”
Tigris gave him a strange look before humming softly, sipping her own stew.
She’d asked him a question, so it was only fair he got one as well. “How long have you two lived here?” Sejanus hoped it wasn’t too intruding, but he couldn’t think of much else that didn’t have to do with their bizarre appearances.
“Oh our entire lives, it’s our family home,” Tigris beamed, “There was a town in the valley when we were young, before the war, Coryo’s parents were the Lord and Lady of the land. This place was practically a castle.” She seemed delighted to reminisce, though Coriolanus growled low in his throat.
“That was a long time ago,” Coriolanus reminded her with a huff, “It hardly matters now.”
Sejanus recalled tales of the towns ravaged by the war, the Lords and Ladies most often killed as well as most of the townspeople who were unable to escape. It had been horrific and most of the land was just barely recovering.
Sejanus’s father had funded that war. He’d accepted the ravaged lands as his own kingdom as payment for doing that to people. It had been rumored that there were witches among his father’s army as well, though he had always denied it, what if that was what happened to them?
“What about your family?” Tigris broke through his thoughts and the extended silence.
Sejanus hesitated, scraping the bottom of his bowl idly for the last scraps of dinner. “We’re not on the best of terms right now.” It was better than outright admitting he’d run away, but he hoped it didn’t invite too many further questions.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tigris frowned sympathetically.
“You commit some sort of crime, huh? On the run?” Coriolanus pushed, finishing off his own stew. “We don’t harbor criminals.”
“Coryo!” Tigris pushed her own empty bowl toward him. “You can do the dishes while I get our guest settled. Try not to insinuate anything else horrible about him while I do.” She hissed in his direction before motioning for Sejanus to follow her which he did quickly, eager to escape Coriolanus’s critical gaze. She led him back to the sitting room and straightened the blanket on the loveseat.
“I’m terribly sorry we don’t have another room with a proper bed. Most of the furniture has rotted to the point it’s barely good for firewood,” Tigris sighed, “But we make do, as we must.”
Sejanus smiled softly, standing closer to the fire to keep warm against the draft permeating the house. “I cannot thank you enough for everything, really.” If it hadn’t been for her—because surely she’d been the one to lift him from the doorstep and bring him inside—he’d surely be dead out in the cold and rain.
“You’re welcome,” She smiled back at him. “And I promise you, Coryo is much nicer once you get to know him. He’s just… grown rough around the edges over the years. He’ll warm up to you.”
Sejanus wasn’t confident he had any desire to see the lion-beast warm up to him in any fashion, but he simply nodded along with the statement.
“Anyway, you’re welcome to rest, or just lounge around here for the rest of the night. I’m sorry there’s not too much to do. Try not to wander out in the halls; a lot of the rooms are quite cold and Coryo and the Grandma’am don’t care for people near their quarters.”
“I’ll stay in here, it’s alright,” Sejanus didn’t care to find out who ‘the Grandma’am’ was, especially in the dark and cold when both of his current hosts had been less than entirely human. “Thank you, again.”
“I’ll come fetch you when it’s time for breakfast then,” Tigris brushed past him with a soft pat on his arm before disappearing back into the hall.
Sejanus laid back on the worn loveseat, watching the fire as it crackled brightly. The storm would end soon. It had to end soon. Then he could move on, find a town somewhere far away he could find work as an apprentice and never be recognized again. That was if he didn’t die out in the woods, which was probably more likely, but he had to try at least.