Valerian

SPOILER WARNING

by PhantomRin

**Valerian** was a faerie in Cardan Greenbriar's inner circle of friends.

## Physical Description

Valerian had polished gold hair and pointed ears. He frequently wears expensive red clothes.

## Personality

Valerian was very cruel. He repeatedly showed that he was comfortable with murder, especially if it was someone of a lower status. He had a furious hatred of mortals. Violence was his sole interest. Cardan described Valerian as someone who "loved cruelty the way some Folk loved poetry." Cardan also told Jude Duarte that being friends with Valerian was not much different than being his enemy.

## Biography

### Early Life

Valerian is part of Prince Cardan's inner circle, along with Locke and Nicasia.

Once, Valerian stole a silver pen of Jude’s, and Madoc replaced it with a ruby-studded one from his own desk. This threw Valerian into such a rage that he cracked Jude in the back of the head with his wooden practice sword. Another time, Valerian bragged about campers he and his friends had tricked into feasting with them, gorging on rotten leaves enchanted to look like delicacies.

* The Cruel Prince

At the revel at the court, Valerian pulls Jude's hair and insults her looks. At lessons the next day, he joins Prince Cardan and Nicasia in bullying Jude and Taryn.

Jude sneaks salt into Cardan, Locke, Nicasia, and Valerian's lunch in retaliation for kicking dirt on her lunch yesterday. After lessons, they attack Jude and Taryn. Valerian grabs Jude and pushes her into the river. He tells the girls that there are nixies in the river and that if they find them, they will pull them under the water and eat them. He, Nicasia, and Locke throw their belongings into the water.

After the Summer Tournament, Valerian shoves faerie fruit down Jude's throat. He begins choking her with the apple, watching with an expression of mild curiosity. Cardan shoves Valerian off her saying that if she dies, his prank will be over before it begins.

A few days before the coronation, Jude falls asleep in class and Valerian pushes her to the floor. She wakes up and he shows her that he took her necklace of rowan berries, thinking that now he can compel her. He tells her to call Cardan and tell him that he has won and then to jump from the tower. He says, "After all, being mortal is like being born already dead." Jude is shocked by the violence and finality of his command. She realizes he's been planning her murder since the day he choked her. Because of the geis from Prince Dain, Jude is able to refuse his compulsion. Valerian becomes furious and yells at her about being mortal and how little her life matters. She doesn't let him bait her. Valerian begins to choke her, and she stabs him with the cold iron knife she's started carrying, allowing her to escape.

Valerian sneaks into Jude's room at Madoc's Stronghold. He is clearly drunk and furious with her. He attempts to kill her, but Jude manages to kill him instead. Jude buries Valerian near the stables, but outside the paddock, so that even the most carnivorous of Madoc's sharp-toothed horses are unlikely to dig him up and gnaw on his bones.

## Gallery

by PhantomRinby PhantomRinby PhantomRinby sktchesanmin
## Trivia

* Valerian cursed Jude two times before his death: *“May your hands always be stained with blood.”* and *“May death be your only companion.”*   But he died before he got to his third curse which Jude dreamed was that her life would be short and sad, and when she died may no one mourn her.

## References

1. ↑ *How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories*: page 39
2. ↑ *The Cruel Prince:* Chapter 18
3. ↑ *The Queen of Nothing:* Chapter 5