Author's Note: I wrote this story for Archive of Our Own's 2018 Yuletide Exchange. Stardust is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I had a blast writing this. Enjoy!
It had been quite some time since Stormhold had been thus riled. The return of Princess Una, and all of the events leading up to it, had inspired a long series of rumors—each one more incredible than the last.
First, there were the rumors that the Lillim Coven had returned. The kingdom of Stormhold was abuzz with theories about how the three sisters might regain the throne. Gruesome tales about what little was known of the Lillim resurfaced, mostly from the elder subjects of Stormhold who still remembered the tales of caution from their childhoods. Once considered the only remaining threat to the king, the Lillim Coven had been largely forgotten, and stories about the terrible trio were generally considered fairy tales to keep the children of Stormhold in line. It had been three centuries, at least, since a member of the Lillim had even been spotted—or at least, spotted and lived to tell the story.
When Yvaine confirmed, in front of the entirety of Stormhold at Princess Una's return ceremony, that not only were the Lillim still alive until recently, but that she was responsible for obliterating the last of the most powerful witches who had ever walked this side of Wall, the crowds did not quite know how to receive the news. After this revelation, there was no end to the rumors surrounding the poor star. Who was this Yvaine? Stars had powers? How could she be trusted, if she was powerful enough to defeat Lamia? Were stars some form of witches, then?
"A witch indeed!" Yvaine practically spat out. "I almost had my heart cut out by those monsters, and they accuse me of being among their ranks!"
"It'll all calm down soon enough," Princess Una responded in an even tone. She stood behind Yvaine, rubbing her shoulder and smiling at her through the mirror in Yvaine's quarters. "I'd forgotten how fickle the people can be. We all have access to magic in this part of the universe, anyway."
Yvaine gave Una a weak chuckle. The two had taken to each other rather quickly in these past few weeks. With the fear of sudden death or lifelong imprisonment looming ahead, they'd bonded on the carriage ride to the Lillim castle. Lamia, in her wraith-like, decaying form, had gawked at Yvaine with an eerie gleam in her eyes, as though she were hungry—but not for food. Una's maternal instincts seemed to kick in at once, and Yvaine would never forget how Una had embraced her on the carriage ride, shivering and brokenhearted over her capture, and brokenhearted over thinking she'd lost her beloved Tristan.
How different things were now! Still, Yvaine sighed and turned around in her chair so that she was facing Una. "Will they ever accept me?"
"Of course they will. They're just scared of what they don't know. Goodness, I certainly don't miss being imprisoned by the old hag, but being back in these halls...I remember now why I ran away when I was little. What got me kidnapped in the first place! There are so many rules to follow. I was bored, and my brothers were too busy fighting among each other to pay me any mind. My mother, the queen, had recently passed, and my father was too busy ruling the kingdom to pay me any attention, either." She paused, as though she was trying to move past something. "Now...while I don't recommend indifference to the public, because revolt is always a risk, you also can't show weakness. You can't show them that you care what they think, but you have to show them that you care. Does that make sense?"
"Yes? No…? I don't know! I'm not royalty, Princess. I didn't grow up as you did, learning the royal ways. I'm still getting used to my human form, and all I really know how to do well is shine. But they're all afraid of that, so it doesn't really do me any good, does it?" Yvaine averted her eyes from the Princess, afraid the tears welling up behind her eyes would reveal themselves. She hadn't shined at all since Tristan had gone away on royal business—whatever that was—to prepare for the coronation. How she missed him.
"You will learn to shine in your new role, just as you did in your old one."
"I love Tristan, but I didn't ask for a kingdom. I didn't even know he was a prince! I'm not meant to be queen. Oh, how I wish Tristan were here!"
"He'll be here soon enough." Una smiled and paused for several moments, as though she was contemplating something. There was a touch of mischief in her eyes.
"What is it?"
"How about a little adventure?"
.oOo.
A secret night out was just what Yvaine needed. Una's grand return ceremony was attended by what seemed like the entire kingdom. Yvaine was intrigued to learn that it took but one small prick on Una's ring finger to confirm her status as Stormhold royalty. She also learned that the kingdom seemed to have poems for nearly everything:
Prick a finger,
If blood runs blue,
'Tis a royal mark
Of a blueblood's hue!
Yvaine watched Una beam as she waved her pricked hand at the roaring crowds, the curious blue liquid trailing down her fingers. Una delivered a rather moving speech soon after, describing her capture in great detail and ending with Lamia's demise just a few weeks past.
Tristan's confirmation was a bit trickier. He seemed shocked to find a purplish tint to his own blood when they pricked his hand. He swore that this was not the case back when he lived in Wall. Since his father Dunstan was not of noble birth, it would make sense that Tristan's blood wouldn't be completely blue, but Una assured Tristan and Yvaine that once Tristan took the throne, his blood would be fully restored to the royal hue.
After Una's celebration, endless, rote procedure ate away nearly all of the couple's (well, Tristan's) waking hours. Despite the purplish blood, it seemed there were a few skeptics who still needed appeasing. A mystical heir to the throne appearing shortly after Septimus's body was found? And soon to be married to a star! No, that didn't do at all! They (it was always unclear to Yvaine who "they" were) brought out the royal seers—queer folk who seemed to speak in nothing but nonsense poems—and cast various spells on Tristan in an attempt to prove he was really who he said he was. They were harmless spells, of course, though Yvaine was quick to make a fuss about it after her experience with Tristan as a mouse.
After the preliminary confirmations of Princess Una's and Tristan's identities were complete, the endless procedures began. Those, in addition to the celebration for the new king, required at least a month of preparation for the coronation. Yvaine hardly saw Tristan at all these days! And to top it all off, the royal advisors, their eyebrows raised to the skies, were positively scandalized to find that Tristan and Yvaine had already...well!
"The impropriety of it all! It simply wouldn't do to have the royal couple spending their nights in the same quarters prior to the royal wedding!" 'they' would say.
Yvaine was more than ready to take a break from it all. As she was still new to the kingdom, and Una hadn't been seen since she was but a child, they decided the risk of an outing would be worth it. Una had managed to bribe some maids in the castle to lend them peasant's clothes. Dressing beneath their station should do the trick, Una assured Yvaine, especially as they had spent most of their time cooped up behind castle walls preparing for the coronation. No one would recognize them.
And no one did! Yvaine and Una snuck off to the city gardens at first, careful not to draw too much attention to themselves. The gardens weren't visited much at this time, and even in the moonlight they were stunning. It made for a nice, quiet getaway.
Yvaine, feeling herself for the first time in weeks, could hardly keep her giggles to herself.
"You're going to give us away if you keep shining like that!" Una teased.
"I can't help it!"
"There's an inn over there—let's go. You're less likely to be noticed in the light. And I heard they serve delicious mead!"
"Lovely, I've never had mead before!"
Two women alone at night did draw some looks, but once Princess Una revealed to the innkeeper that they had plenty to spend, he made sure not to let anyone bother them. Not only the mead, but the roast, too, was exquisite. So much so that Yvaine said she'd ask the new king to have the innkeeper's mead served at the coronation.
Una shot her a look, to which Yvaine quickly corrected herself. "That is, I know the king's valet at the castle very well—I'll ask him to put in a good word for you!"
"Oh, thank you kindly, miss!" said the innkeeper.
Yvaine gleamed at him, a little too brightly, which won her another stern look from Una.
"Speaking of the castle, I think it's time we got back, don't you?"
The twinkle on Yvaine's face faded a little, but she knew it would probably be wise to head home.
.oOo.
Once back at the castle gates, Princess Una finessed her way back through—or rather, bribed. A week's worth of wages for the guard's silence.
The two women bade each other good night, Yvaine gleaming as she contemplated the night's events. She was already making plans to do this again.
When Yvaine finally arrived at her bedroom door, she was a little surprised to find it unlocked. "Must have been one of the servants on her way out."
With the door locked safely behind her, she began untying the simple bodice she'd borrowed for the night. She wondered if she ever really would have the chance to steal away again, perhaps even with Tristan, without all the pomp and circumstance associated with leaving the castle. She also smiled at her newfound friendship with Princess Una. In all her years as a star, she'd observed centuries of failed romances; sadly, many of the relationships had been severed by clingy, overbearing mother-in-laws.
She threw one of her outer skirts on the bed after humming a simple tune she'd heard earlier at the inn.
That's when she heard it.
A faint breath.
She froze. The light that had been emanating from her promptly snuffed out. She had hardly enough time before she felt a hand clasped over her mouth, preventing any screams she might have delivered. Before she had time to process the hand at her mouth, another hand was at her stomach, gripping her tightly so that she could not escape. She writhed, cursing herself for failing to heed the warning of the unlocked door! That's when she heard a gentle whisper that sent her heart soaring.
"Here I am, home early, and ready to surprise my true love, when I find you've disappeared! You're lucky I didn't send the guards to search for you."
Tristan's breath at the nape of her neck sent her heart pounding in a quickened cadence. He laughed into her ear before he released her.
She slapped his hands away, spinning to face him. "You treacherous cur! I nearly died of shock!"
"You? What about me! The servants said you'd retired early! What was I supposed to do when I found out you were missing, and all your clothes all over the floor? I nearly died of shock!"
"I swapped clothes with the servants so I could go out with your mum!"
He raised his eyebrows. "So this is her doing. Well, then I must thank her. She's gotten you to do all the work for me," he said, glancing at her clothes on the bed. He stepped closer to her, dropping his hands at her waist. Yvaine, now mostly in her undergarments, blushed.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"I know," he said with an arrogant smirk. "I can't wait until the wedding anymore."
"Tristan!"
"Who's going to catch us? Who would dare walk in on the new king and his bride to be?"
"Oh!" Yvaine tried to step away, but his grip was firm at her waist. The truth was that she didn't want him to leave. For a few moments, she averted her eyes, but he smelled of cedar and sunshine, and she couldn't deny how fiercely his scent drew her to him. At last, she returned his gaze. His eyes were soft.
"I've missed you," she murmured.
Tristan said nothing in response, but the smile in his eyes melted into another look entirely—one that Yvaine hadn't seen since their night together at the Slaughtered Prince, the tavern he'd first revealed his love to her. He inched closer and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
His hands moved steadily upward. This time, she delivered no protest.
"Yvaine."
His lips moved towards her neck, his hands deftly working to remove the last of her skirts. Yvaine could feel her insides catching fire. She'd so longed to be held like this by him again! Fears of getting caught were swiftly disappearing as she found herself giving into his passionate embrace.
No sooner had her fears disappeared than Yvaine's bedroom door burst open.
"Oh, Yvaine!" Una called out. "Quickly! We must return the—"
It took several moments for Una to process the scene before her. You'd never know that Una was a blueblood, the way her cheeks burned red in the seconds after she'd caught her only son and his wife-to-be in the early stages of lovemaking.
"Oh, dear, I'm so very sorry! I should have knocked!"
The princess turned to leave, but Yvaine, in her own pretty shade of rose, pulled away from Tristan, mumbling a clumsy apology. "He was just leaving!"
"I was just leaving."
"He was just leaving!"
"Yes, of course! Well, then…!"
Tristan, partially undressed, swooped the remainder of his clothes from the floor and kissed his love on the cheek. "I was just leaving," he futilely reassured his mother. "I'll leave you ladies alone. Good night." He gave his mother her own peck on the cheek, but Yvaine noticed that he did not look Una in the eye.
Una waited until Tristan was gone before she spoke again. "I'm so sorry. Had I known—"
"Please. He shouldn't have been here. I told him so."
Una chuckled a bit, clearly embarrassed. "It's only a little bit longer before the wedding and coronation ceremonies. Thank the stars we planned them on the same day."
"I know."
Yvaine smiled to herself, the red in her cheeks aglow from the light inspired by Tristan's lips. All of her troubles had faded in his arms.
Only a little bit longer until the coronation, and Tristan would be hers at last.
.oOo.