Names used: Hungary (Héderváry Erzsébet, Erzsi), Austria (Roderich Edelstein), Bohemia/Czech (Anna Pražak), Germany (Ludwig), Prussia (Gilbert), France (Francis Bonnefoy), Spain (Antonio), Belgium (Emma), Monaco (Camille), Liechtenstein (Lili), Switzerland (Basch), Ukraine (Irina), Norway (Lukas), Sweden (Berwald Oxenstierna), Denmark (Christen Densen)

Author's note: This is dedicated to the wonderful wifeofbath; we apparently passed our one year anniversary of pissing away time together on Tumblr this week, yay! In honor of that, having posted over 100 stories on this site, and her graduation, I give you her requested story of Austria/Hungary/Czech, late 1910s to mid-1930s. I know she's dying to read it. ;D

Background information that is important because while wifeofbath will probably get most of the little references here and there, I don't know that we all know as much about this period as she does (I didn't tbqh, I had to do research on JSTOR for this). The idea was that towards the end of WWI in a desperate attempt to save Austria-Hungary the idea had been thrown about to sort of elevate the Czechs to keep the empire together. In this story those politicians get their way and the three are forced to carry on life in a menage à trois. Everyone thinks this is wonderful, the way politics will go in the future, and that the three are perfectly content.

At first this story was going to be long, then short, then it ended up as this but I'm quite proud of it, it's grown on me immensely I must say. There's a nice crescendo before the diminuendo; we both agreed that Erzsi would not be one for drama but rather hidden strength. And Anna (Czech) came from wifeofbath though I filled her out a bit on my own.

But enough of the jibjab, let's get on to all the scandalous things!

A Bohemian thing

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. -Book of Esther, 2:15, KJV

"I am your wife," Erzsi says through gritted teeth, leaning forward over Roderich before making to quit the study. A delicate hand grabs her thin wrist.

"Erzsébet," he warns, rising slowly, "I am doing this for us." When she tries to wrench her arm from his grip he steps in closer, taking her into his arms as if this is a waltz and not their marriage they are discussing. "The empire is crumbling," he says in a tactful combination of anger and sadness that only the Austrian has ever been capable of. "If we do not, Austria-Hungary will split."

"Maybe we want that," the Hungarian challenges, finally breaking free. She steps across the room before turning back to him, her arms crossing over her chest. Her dress is light, teal, so unlike the court dresses that for centuries she was forced to wear for Viennese pleasure. Erzsi's hair is pinned atop her head, a diamond hair comb sparkling in the light of the setting sun like the diamond in her simple wedding ring. "Maybe Hungary does not want to be subject to Austria anymore, or did that thought never cross your precious, noble mind?"

"Don't," Roderich breathes, the informal speech a testament to his boiling rage hiding just beneath a sense of propriety and love for his wife. "Not today Erzsi, do not push me today. This is about our love and our country."

"They are different!" the woman screams, making her way out the doors into the garden. There's the sound of footsteps following, Roderich still in his military uniform he had returned to her wearing this morning. "I love you Roderich, and I will always love you, but I must think of Hungary before I can think of us." Turning suddenly Erzsi places her hands on the chest of the startled Austrian. "Tell me you understand, that if I leave you will not blame yourself."

His hands hold hers, one of them raising a palm to his lips to kiss, violet eyes holding her emerald ones in a passionate gaze. "I would still blame myself, for having lost you."

She closes her eyes, sighing and allowing herself to be pulled to that chest that is neither wide nor thin but all hers. "You won't have lost me; you'll have let me go."

"Not so long as there is another way." And so to the beginning of the conversation they return.

It was a wild idea, a desperate one to save them as the Great War waged on. Part of Erzsi knew that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was never meant to last, that it was better to let go on good terms than wait for the worst of days to come, but Roderich is too stubborn to admit that he knows the same because the compromise, the political maneuver, could save the union and thus their marriage; deep down they both knew which their hearts held more dear despite their duties.

"My love for you," her husband starts in slow Hungarian, his fingers weaving through her hair as he lets it down, "will never die nor lessen, only grow stronger with each new day we pass together for many, many more years."

"I am your wife," she protests once more, "not her, and I will not share my husband with another like some French prostitute."

"If that is your sole objection," Roderich starts, his words drifting off.

Pulling back to look up into that handsome face, the one Erzsi has adored for so long, she smiles inwardly feebly. "I am still not so sure I like what you are proposing," she admits honestly. Roderich shrugs.

"It is not I who proposed the idea; they will have to speak with the other ministers, to reach an agreement before it is too late. This is beyond me."

"But it could work?" The Austrian shrugs again.

"Things cannot become any more bleak, if I am honest with you dearest."

She's taller than Erzsi remembers, the girl having grown since they last visited her in Prague. Standing beside the Hungarian Roderich sighs; she knows his heart, likes hers, is racing.

"Nervous?" she teases without looking at him.

"It will never work."

"Really?" Erzsi raises an eyebrow at his pessimism.

"It will work," Roderich corrects, taking a step forward, leaving his wife to laugh. She's become used to that, to his stating what the worst case is before stating the better outcome, the one he works hard to bring to fruition. So rarely has he ever let the Hungarian kingdom down.

Her eyes take Roderich in as he takes one of Anna's hands, bowing and kissing it like the aristocratic gentleman he's always been. She doesn't miss the way the Bohemian blushes, speaking in soft German that Roderich replies to. Erzsi waits, trying to calm her heartbeat, before Roderich turns and gestures for her. She walks to his outstretched hand, taking it as his other arm comes around her to hold her close to him, presenting her to the woman as if they had not met a thousand times before.

Héderváry Erzsébet of Hungary, his wife.

Anna Pražak of Bohemia, their new partner.

For the first few months life carries on as normal save for days like today, where Roderich is gone to the capital to speak with ministers or else out to the field to see generals and discuss military tactics. Erzsi now has a companion in the house to keep her company on these days, to fight away whatever loneliness once came as she has hidden away from the world, a jewel for Austrian eyes only.

Erzsi's always liked Anna, that Czech immortal who is soft-spoken and often neglected. The woman's blond hair is long and sleek as she pulls it above her head, letting is slide down in waves over her neck and shoulders. Her dresses are new, since the ones she'd arrived with were not up to Roderich's high standard. Despite the war embroiling all of Europe, the tailor had come at once when Erzsi'd sent for him, new dresses ordered quickly. Anna had seemed delighted and that had made the Hungarian smile.

When Roderich comes home for the day the three eat together, Erzsi to his right and Anna to his left. They speak of light things, of poetry and art and the weather. And when they retire Anna goes down the hall to her room, leaving the married couple to their own devices.

In his arms Erzsi lays, listening to her husband breathe. She can tell by how long he holds each breath that he is still awake, contemplating something. The words finally come.

"Are you happy?"

Erzsi thinks before shifting to kiss her husband deeply, her hands on the side of his face before running down his bare chest. Her body lays on his, their naked skin coming together as it always has, as if they were made for one another. "I'm with you," she says in sweet German. "Of course I'm happy."

"But with Pražak?" Roderich asks cautiously. "I do not wish to hurt you."

"What are you getting at Liebling?"

His hands rub Erzsi's back, her body rising and falling with his chest. "They wish for me to…." When he trails off she raises an eyebrow.

"Your officials wish for you to- what exactly?"

Those violet eyes are open, honest, searching when Roderich finally replies, "They want me to consummate the union with her."

She sits immediately, shifting so that her legs are beneath her body, beside his hips. In the heat of the evening Erzsi lets the sheet fall from her naked form, Roderich sitting slightly behind her. "That was not the agreement we had."

The sound of resignation. "I tried to explain that but they would not budge. She may not be my wife but she is the third member of this empire's union now-"

"And what of me?" Erzsi asks, turning, incredulous. "And what of me, who has stuck with you through all of this? Your wife? Shall I watch you do with another woman what you do with only me?"

For a moment his mouth is still open, his face lost, before he grins deviously, always too knowing when it comes to his Hungarian treat. "It is not as if you have not watched me before." Sometimes she hates him, picking up her pillow to smack him with it, though the comment does help her anger dissipate a little, relieving but another tense moment they hate having.

Roderich Edelstein had not always been hers; more years than not he had belonged to another. And when it was to other countries, well, yes the Hungarian had watched occasionally, partaking in the act when the fancy struck her. Not that Erzsi had ever admitted that to another; only Roderich and their shared three bedmates knew: Antonio, when the Spaniard had come to visit his former husband in a time of peace; Gilbert, that time an accident where in the furry of the moment Erzsi had walked in to find them stripping one another; and Francis, who drove Roderich crazy but had on some occasions done so in all the right ways. The Frenchman had been the most pleasurable of the men to share her sweet Austrian lover with, speaking of other men they might enjoy to share with.

But times have changed and though the world has grown modern, the Hungarian has grown more possessive of her husband; she's refused to share him since their wedding, finally her turn to exert sole control over Roderich. She was enough, everything he needed, and Erzsi did not want to play nice.

This time, she would not share.

Falling into his arms, Roderich kissing her lips slowly, lazily, Erzsi makes up her mind. "No," she breathes.

"No what?"

"No, I will not let her have you."

The Austrian sighs, pressing his forehead to hers. "We may not have much choice."

"They cannot command us in the bedroom," Erzsi states, "as if it is some battlefield."

"I know," Roderich whispers, pulling his wife close in his arms. They lay back down together, the Hungarian shifting to better face him. "Yet if this is what it takes for the union of our three countries, if this is what we must do to stay together-" Roderich seems so lost in that moment that Erzsi's heart breaks.

"I told you," she interrupts, "that even if we are separated, my love for you will still be there when we are reunited."

"And I told you, Frau Edelstein, that I would never willingly let you go." For the night, she lets the argument go at that.

As the year comes to a close Erzsi lays in bed by herself. The war is not going as the German brothers had planned, but Austria-Hungary is still secure, still strong. With the union having been expanded to include Czech power there is more support, less of a desire from the other nations to break their empire up.

Instead it will break up her marriage.

The tears fall silently, the covers pulled up over her head. She imagines her husband with Anna, she imagines him making love to the other woman the way he normally would to her, to his wife, to the only one he should be intimate with. Gone, he was gone if he could do this to her, did he not see how much it hurt her? Kills her? Erzsi loves Roderich enough to let him do as he insists but not enough to accept it all as for the better.

Her body is still shaking, from cold and anger and loneliness, when the sheets shift and someone slips in behind her. She means to sit but her husband has already pulled the sheets over himself too, his eyes sad and searching. She tries to ask why but her voice breaks, becoming a sob.

"Forgive me?" he asks pitifully, throat tight. Erzsi reaches out her arms and pulls Roderich to her chest, holding him close in their misery.

The weeks that follow are tense for her, Anna seeming to sense the Hungarian's anger and thus steering clear of her. Roderich passes a lot of time in his office, foreign nations Erzsi hasn't seen in so long coming to speak with him.

Peace, she sighs, watching the sun move high in the sky over the rolling Hungarian countryside. Peace, and though they had not fully won the war, they had not lost one another and so Erzsi must be happy with that.

"My my," a voice chimes in from behind. Turning the Hungarian sees Francis Bonnefoy at the door onto the balcony, leaning against it with a casual grace that she hates to admit she loves in him. He steps forward, smiling knowingly. "I hear you are now in a menage à trois with the very pretty Anna Pražak. Monsieur Edelstein is indeed, once more, the luckiest man in this world," he concedes.

"Hmm." She purses her lips, turning away from the Frenchman, but he's faster, placing his hands on each side of the railing, his body pressing lightly into her back. Erzsi remember that body, remembers making love to it: she was not the innocent nation others took her to be. From the way he moves, smelling her perfume at the nape of her neck, Francis remembers that fact too.

"Though love is blind," the man whispers in her ear and she understands the French without problem, "jealousy sees too often too much." His lips kiss her jaw, trailing down under it to her neck. He steps in closer as someone else steps out onto the balcony.

"Oh!" Erzsi turns quickly, Francis calmly standing, as the two more powerful nations take in Anna who has barely uttered three words in the last month while in the Hungarian woman's presence. Yet she does not make to leave, her eyes instead narrowed as she continues to take in the Hungarian.

The Frenchman smiles, kissing Erzsi on her cheek. That nation does not stir, her eyes locked with Anna as Francis leaves.

"She is worried, it seems, that you have been untrue to me." Roderich places down his cup of coffee, still reading the papers before him. Erzsi stands before his desk, doing her best to not roll her eyes at the ridiculousness that at least her Austrian was not buying into.

"I like Anna, I do," she says, "but something has gotten into her."

"On days like these I am glad I was born a man." At that Erzsi laughs.

"As if you have never been jealous."

He closes the folder, placing it away in a drawer. Roderich gazes up at his wife, sighing before smiling. "Did Bonnefoy have any pearls of wisdom for you on the way out?"

"He spoke of us as if we three were living a menage à trois."

The Austrian stands. "People will talk," he states, walking around the desk to pull his wife's hips to his, kissing her once. She melts into him, moaning as he presses into her. "So long as I have you, let them."

Anna has been staring at her for at least twenty minutes now, Erzsi knows. They're in the garden where the hedges are tall, only visible to the outside world if Roderich were to step out onto the balcony from their bedroom.

"What?" the Hungarian finally asks, slamming her book closed. "What are you looking at? What do you want?"

The Bohemian teenager watches her, blinking with those big eyes. In her lilac dress, the fabric flowing freely in the spring wind, the woman lounges. Closing her eyes and shaking her head Erzsi resigns herself to never fully understanding this one, picking up the book and going back to her story.

Not since Roderich had his week of pure bliss at Francis's Waterloo defeat has Erzsi been surprised by a kiss, Anna suddenly over her, lips pressing into hers. Erzsi drops the book, the blonde Czech girl moving to sit on her lap. Hands thread through her hair, the pins falling along with strands of brown locks that tumble down her back.

As Anna's nose passes over hers, their heads changing tilt, Erzsi pulls the girl down further onto her, deepening the kiss. The Hungarian has never kissed another woman before save a chaste moment stolen with Lili while Roderich and Basch spoke in a Swiss office. It's nice though, she thinks, different than the men she's kissed over the centuries. Roderich is soft too, gentle just the same as the Bohemian, but Anna is daring the way Erzsi is with her husband and that's nice.

Against her lips the girl gasps, burying her head in the married woman's shoulder. Erzsi cradles that head, kissing at the Bohemian hair; when her eyes go up she sees her husband leaning over the railing of the balcony, his face blank as he takes them in.

With war's end comes a ceremony of unity for Roderich and Anna, Erzsi standing off to the side in her pale yellow dress. When her husband kisses the second bride, holding her delicately in his arms as if she might break, the Hungarian claps along with the townsfolk. She shakes hands with the guests as they leave, Roderich and Anna standing off to the side.

"… for three weeks, which may be too long for me to be away," Roderich finishes, "but I believe it is well worth it." He strokes Anna's cheek lovingly.

"Hello, hello," Erzsi says happily, one of her hands resting on the small of her husband's back. She gets a kiss on the cheek from the groom, the bride smiling.

"Do you require any assistance?" Roderich asks grinning before looking around. When he sees the servants have already cleared most of the garden he frowns. "Did I really miss all that?" Erzsi laughs.

"You were preoccupied," she murmurs, looking at Anna with caring eyes. The girl's pale blue dress is especially elegant in contrast with Roderich's normally dark clothing, today navy. "Sometimes you are the sentimental one too Liebling."

"I am never sentimental," he protests and both women raises their eyebrows at that. "I am the man here."

"Funny," Anna says in her high voice, "I always imagined Erzsébet as the man in your marriage." The Hungarian roars with laughter, her arms spread wide as she steps to the Bohemian, pulling her close. Roderich is glaring, she knows, hates when passes are made about his wife being stronger, more dominant, so rebellious. In the moment, though, she finds she doesn't particularly care.

"Maybe you two should be married instead then," the Austrian huffs.

Taking in the other woman, arms holding each other intimately, Erzsi smiles. "What do you say Anna? Shall we leave Roderich to marry one another?"

"I find that arrangement much more agreeable," the young woman chuckles in response. Roderich huffs again.

In the south they lounge on a sunny beach in swimsuits: Anna's is a pale green with cream accents, her hair braided around her head as if a golden crown; Erzsi wears red and white stripes, a gift from young Ludwig years earlier when her and the three German men had last come to the sea; Roderich hides under an umbrella in dark brown.

With their husband watching the women splash about in the sea, occasionally holding each other close to steal a scandalous kiss or two. Once done with the water they lay in the sand beside Roderich who decides to read to pass the time more quickly. When Anna grows hungry Erzsi pulls her to one of the tents to change, the women teasing Roderich that no, he can't follow, so there.

The woman is slender as she changes, feminine in a way that is different than Erzsi. Roderich had conceded earlier in the week that he found Anna lovely with her small breasts and pale skin, blonde hair and tiny frame; it was his Hungarian lover he called beautiful though, with strong hips and a thin waist, a full chest and a sense of defiance that she carries herself with. Still, she can see what her husband likes in the other woman.

"Kiss," Anna pleads as Erzsi pulls her slip over body, the Bohemian holding a towel to her naked frame. She rewards the young woman with lips sweetly meeting hers, the Czech giggling before helping her partner to dress. Finished the Hungarian assists Anna, and together they leave to join their husband.

In their house just outside Győr Erzsi makes up her mind. Over two years now they've passed like this and though the world outside is at peace, life remains hard for many. The Hungarian nation is aware of just how fortunate she is to be well cared for, to have a man like Roderich love her and provide for her.

Well, and for Anna too.

The woman is making her way down the hall after taking her goodbye kiss from Roderich, prepared to leave him with the first wife. "Anna!" Erzsi calls out and both the Czech and Austrian stop to look at her. She pushes open the door to the master bedroom and watches the moment of realization dawn on the other female nation who smiles gleefully at the invitation.

Roderich's face is blank as Anna bounces on the large mattress, always too big for Erzsi and Roderich to begin with. The Bohemian crawls to the foot, Roderich moving pass the mattress to begin undressing. Erzsi meets her sister-wife, kissing her forehead and hugging her. "Normally, I sleep on this side," she begins and Anna nods, crawling to the other side of the bed to try it out.

Stepping into the wash room a hand grabs her elbow. "Why are you doing this?" Roderich asks, a genuine question of confusion. "You do not have to, you know that; you are my wife." He kisses her cheek.

"This isn't about you and me," Erzsi replies quietly, stroking the side of the Austrian's face. "This is about you and me and Anna."

"Do you like her?" he demands, eyebrows knit together. His wife smiles.

"Let's go play," she says in a mischievous voice, holding out a hand behind her. There's a moment's hesitation before the man grabs hold of it, allowing himself to be pulled back to bed and the awaiting night.

Tonight, tonight Erzsi is grateful that she had not been left alone in the bed to cry her tears, that Anna is here to hold her just as tightly, to cry just as hard.

Roderich hasn't been back in days; awful things are passing in Vienna, in other powerful capitals. They had had peace, they had had stability, this union was to bring them everything to keep them going, to keep Roderich and Erzsi together because nothing, nothing, was more important than their marriage.

Not the cost.

Not the loses.

Not the countries.

Their love was all that mattered anymore.

The bed feels a little less cold with the Bohemian in her arms but it's like ice to the Hungarian nation nonetheless.

"I had hoped it would be easier," Roderich mutters as his head comes to rest on his wife's shoulder, exhausted from the turmoil he feels within the empire. Erzsi kisses his hair, laying her head atop his to watch Anna attend to the garden.

"Hope gives a man strength, not sense," Erzsi reminds him.

"Ja," he sighs, "I have learned how little sense I have in my long and arduous life at least." There's a bitterness to his voice, one that's been building for years, centuries, but has only now really comes into its own. That saddens his wife.

They pose for their portrait in Paris, the three nations linked together, all dressed in elegant clothing; even Roderich had dressed for the occasion tonight, the photographer smiling as he lets them continue on.

At the ball nations and mortals alike dance, embrace, reminisce. The Great Depression is finally lessening to some degree though with sadness Erzsi notices that her two Prussian boys are not here. Francis and Antonio instead swoop in to steal the attention of the three nations.

It was a new fashion trend they had started, the men inform them: alliances like theirs were surely where the future of politics were headed. Francis raves and Antonio laughs, pointing out that no one would want to be in a union with the French republic. They bicker for a bit, most of the time spent with Roderich making faces, Erzsi stifling her laughter, and Anna smiling brightly to cover her lack of understanding. Several women approach, stealing Erzsi and Anna away; Roderich's face pleads to not be left alone but by then the two other men have taken the place of the Austrian wives, dragging him away to booze him up.

Camille is sitting quietly in a chair, Lili releasing Anna and joining the Monegasque. In the distance the Hungarian can make out a silver-haired Belorussian speaking quietly to her sister; when Irina leaves to join them the woman watches the room quietly, whispering to a red head the Hungarian has never met. Emma remains with her arm linked through Erzsi's as the Ukrainian joins them. "So," the Belgian starts. When nothing follows that both Erzsi and Anna raise their eyebrows.

"So," the Hungarian repeats. "Why do I get the impression Lili should not be here for whatever conversation we are about to have?" The Liechtensteinerin giggles, Anna sitting between her and Camille, who pulls a face.

"Because we are," the Monegasque replies haughtily.

"Oh hush," Emma chides, "we all know your brother is next."

"Next in what?" Anna asks.

Erzsi rolls her eyes. "Please don't say he's our next sister-wife, that'd be too much woman in the house." The others chuckle, even Camille giving a little with a smug smirk.

"No no," the Belgian laughs. "Unions, like your's and Anna's. We all know they are so much better than the way politics were carried out before, so tell us about it, about what it's like!"

Sighing the older wife looks to the Bohemian, who shrugs. "Erzsi and Roderich have been married for a while now," Anna says quietly. "That is not new."

"You are," Irina observes and Anna blushes.

"Oh, well, yes I am."

"Are you happy though?" Lili asks. Erzsi doubts the little one from the western portion of the empire will ever have to worry about Roderich trying to marry her off; he's already allowed her to go where she pleases, which is mainly to pass lazy with her brother in Switzerland.

The group falls quiet, all eyes on Anna. The Hungarian nation is once more struck by the woman's beauty, which seems especially radiant in this group. All night the men had smiled at Anna, winking and speaking with her. Roderich had said nothing, holding as tightly to Erzsi as ever, and at the moment she had thought nothing of it because she was married and had long since forgotten the teases of handsome men.

But Anna was married now too, had been for years; she had no forgotten.

"So happy," the Bohemian breathes and in that moment Erzsi thinks she hates her.

"I'm upset," she mumbles to Roderich in the washroom, Anna already asleep in their bed.

"What about?" the Austrian asks smoothly, stepping to his wife and stroking one of her cheeks. An arm slips low around her waist, pulling her to him; she can feel a slight erection pressing into her stomach and for a brief second her mind wonders if she should pleasure him, without Anna, to remind him that she is better, she was here first and she loves him more.

Then she blinks and lets the thought go, swallowing down her pride and admitting, "I think I'm jealous of Anna. I think I'm starting to hate her for it."

Roderich's face is concerned, wide purple eyes behind fine glasses. The Hungarian lets her fingers play with some of the hair curling around his ear. "You should not be," he says finally.

"Oh? And why not?" Erzsi asks bitterly. "She's younger than me and more beautiful than me and everyone adores her more than me-"

A mouth over hers silences her words, her hands threading through the dark hair, before Roderich breaks the kiss and says, "I do not care about any of that, whether it is true or not. All that matters is that you are my wife and I love you." He kisses her nose. "I have always loved you Erzsi, long before Anna came and-" He sighs, his voice dropping. "I will love you long after she is gone."

"What's going on?" Erzsi whispers but her husband shakes his head.

"I do not know," he says as their foreheads push together. "I do not know."

"You seem distracted," Lukas states before sipping at his coffee. Erzsi sighs, smiling as they sit in some grand French hotel waiting for Roderich and Christen Densen to return from their negotiations.

"I'm afraid I am," the Hungarian states in German and Lukas nods.

"Understandable." Sometimes she wonders if he says things because he knows, or if the Norwegian has rather perfected the art of saying throw-away statements that always seem to apply to those around him.

"May I ask you a question Lukas?" He nods, blank blue eyes meeting her brilliant emerald gaze. "When you were in union with Sweden, I always received a birthday letter from Stockholm. Why is that?"

A smile seems to tug at the corner of the Norwegian mouth. "Berwald," he starts slowly before seeming to find his words. "Berwald has always been… rather fond, of you." That intrigues the Hungarian.

"Really?"

"Oh yes," Lukas says. "He thinks you are very beautiful and admires your strength, how you are both exactly what a lady should be and everything she should not be. He finds in you that combination to be… most alluring," the Norwegian settles on. That has Erzsi blushing deeply, having not expected that.

"I highly doubt I am those things," she starts before the Norwegian snorts.

"Just because that Austrian husband of yours," he almost hisses, "does not treat you how he should does not mean you are not the most valuable woman in the world. We all see your beauty, do not doubt that, but Roderich Edelstein has made it plain for centuries that you are his and if he were to catch anyone making advances on you, flirting with you…," The words trail off but Erzsi can imagine what her husband had threatened, can sense why Lukas reacts so strongly to it: she remembers such threats going around from Christen Densen about his Norwegian lover. He understands.

Erzsi lest her hand cover Lukas's on the table. "Thank you, for your honest. I didn't know." She smiles as he takes up her hand, kissing it.

"Do not let him finally acquiring the Czech woman ever let you doubt how desirable you are," the kingdom adds as he stands. Erzsi is only vaguely aware of men approaching them, trying to remember all his words desperately. "It is far more than your lands and people that draw others to you."

Finally. The Norwegian had said finally, him finally acquiring the Czech woman, as if he had meant that Roderich had been pursuing her. The thought makes Erzsi sick.

Thin fingers stroke her cheek. "In what dreams are you lost today?" Roderich teases in a light voice, the car jostling them as they are driven. When her gaze snaps to him, visibly angry, the Austrian calmly pulls his hand back, his face going blank. Erzsi remembers days when Roderich could do nothing but love her freely, love her so much it was overwhelming. Those days have long since passed.

"Nem mind arany ami fénylik." He chuckles haughtily.

"And what is that suppose to mean?"

"Not everything," Erzsi translates to German, "is gold which shines." In her lap she plays with her wedding ring but never slips it back onto her finger.

Time passes quickly, ten years having gone in an instant. The Hungarian hates all of it: the kisses, the smiles, the happy times they once had.

As if it would ever last.

She takes a deep breath as she enters the Austrian study to find Anna already there, sitting on their husband's lap and feeding him bonbons. Erzsi makes to turn, to leave, but Roderich has seen her already, calling out something. "Do you require anything my love?" he asks joyfully before another chocolate enters his mouth, sucking on Anna's fingers as she pulls them from his lips.

Though she hates to admit it, they look good together, better than Erzsi surely ever looked with Roderich: they're thin and lanky, soft curves, Anna's light hair and eyes in contrast with Roderich's dark coloring, both German-speaking nations with their skin as pale as snow, as creamy as milk.

"I'd wished to speak with you alone, Your Highness." She spits the words out between gritted teeth and immediately that sends up a flag for Roderich, the use of his title she has not had to call him since their marriage. Anna, however, completely misses the deeper meaning.

"Secrets!" the Bohemian squeals, tucking her head under Roderich's chin. "Secrets are no fun, Erzsi." She smiles brightly before hands roughly grab her, shoving her from the Austrian lap unceremoniously.

"Stop it," Roderich chides, his face twisted in an ugly look. He was always so unattractive when angry, Erzsi thinks. "You are no child, control yourself."

"I'm sorry," the Czech tries, leaning over him as he leans forward, clearing his desk of papers. Large eyes search for Erzsi's, as if expecting her sister-wife to help her; the Hungarian does not intend to.

On the verge of tears and stamping her feet Anna quits the room, slamming the door closed behind her. "She was always so childish," Roderich says and Erzsi can sense that that's more for something to fill the space than anything else. "She was never you."

"No," Erzsi says smoothly, coolly, "she never was." Violet eyes, lost like a dropped amethyst, watch her step slowly to the large mahogany desk that Erzsi had purchased for Roderich for some wedding anniversary; what a piss of money.

The Austrian nods then, slowly at first, growing more sure as she comes before him fully. Roderich smiles pitifully, laughing to himself and shaking his head as if in disbelief that he had not seen this meeting coming. "Have you finally come to say you are leaving me?" he inquires in a gentle whisper.

Erzsi doesn't answer, her heart beating too loudly in her chest. She doesn't want to risk it, this carefully planned performance she is putting on. Roderich had taught her this, in the mid-eighteenth century after having taken her with him to some battle. They'd laid naked in bed while he performed for her, talking about how it's not the words that mattered but the show others watched you perform. Roderich had always been a skilled actor, the very best. Erzsi did, after all, believe all his words for so long.

Fingers, not so dainty but still feminine, slip her wedding ring from her hand, placing it carefully before Roderich. Erzsi stands tall then, her gaze meeting his defiantly like it once did, long ago, when he told her that she was his property now and would be for all the years to come. Not anymore, she thinks.

"A light," she starts in German, perfect Viennese accent, "is still a light, though the blind man cannot see it." Roderich nods, slowly, before she continues. "I have decided to end what should have ended long ago, while there is still time to remember only the good. Do not come after me, for I will not be so kind as to spare you or your precious Anna."

Noble eyes take in the ring, Roderich leaning back as he holds it up to the light, inspecting the gold and diamond and emeralds held in its setting. He grasps the ring firmly in his palm, looking off into the distance, before meeting his wife's gaze again and sighing. "I will always come after you. I love you Erzsi."

She shakes her head and leaves, too afraid of telling him she still loves him too. Out the front door Erzsi steps towards the packed car; she leaves Győr.

His favorite saying, she didn't even fully understand all that he took from it but it had been the perfect thing to deliver to him in that moment Erzsi knew.

Because their love had given them hope, had given them comfort, had given them something words cannot capture like a hunter shooting at the moon: though he may aim he will always miss. Love had blinded them with its bright light but they had also been blind to love and its ability to survive.

Erzsi doesn't know what she believes anymore, letters awaiting her in Budapest: Antonio, worried that she may change her mind as he many times wished to; Francis, asking after a broken heart that was not so broken as it should be; Gilbert, assuring her that she would come to him immediately if she called upon him; and one from Berwald Oxenstierna.

From a small box painted deep blue with gold accents she pulls out the other letters the Swedish kingdom has sent her over the years, reading them all over. Then she reads over the collection from Francis, the sporadic ones from a far away American and a too-close Russian, the random letters from nation she had not even known the human names of but that seemed to wish so much to connect with her: not Hungary, but Erzsébet, a woman worthy of love and compassion.

Bittersweet is the newspaper the next week with a headline about dissolving the empire. Part of Erzsi wants to blame the politics for ruining her marriage; the rest blames herself.

She had liked Anna, had consented because at the time Roderich was all that mattered, so lost and confused and unsure. She built her life up around that man because he was all she'd had, he was all she gave him. If Lukas's words were true-

To Oxenstierna she sends a short letter, cutting straight to the point: why had he seen those things in her? What did he really want to say?

The response comes quickly, as if it had been sent the moment her letter had reached the Swede in far-away Stockholm.

"Because I too," it had read, "have loved someone so desperately, someone I controlled and smothered, someone who left. I understand Edelstein though I do not wish to. I only wish to him I had been able to give the lessons I learned, to save you from this pain as I could not save that which I loved: love."

At the window Erzsi makes up her mind, piling all the letters high upon her desk and setting down, prepared to answer every single one: the ones to nations she knew, the ones to nations she liked, the ones to nations she had never met. She didn't need Roderich, didn't need him to control her anymore. She was strong, independent, beautiful, worthy of love. Not just Austrian love but any love, wherever she may wish to find it.

Towards the bottom of the pile she finds a small envelope, her heart freezing as she recognizes immediately the handwriting of the Bohemian woman she had once adored.

The letter asks how she too could leave Roderich Edelstein.

A few days later someone comes to pay a visit. "Ludwig," Erzsi sighs, walking to him with open arms to embrace the handsome German man, kissing his cheeks before pulling him to the couch to sit beside her. "Tell me for what reason you have come to visit an ugly, undesirable woman such as me?"

The man looks shocked, incredulously retorting, "You are neither ugly not undesirable." The Hungarian smiles.

"Some days I feel so."

"Then you feel wrong," Ludwig immediately says.

"Do tell me why you are here, Liebling. Is all well in Germany?"

A large German hand takes one of her smaller ones, pulling it up to his lips to kiss. "No," he finally admits, sad blue eyes meeting hers. In his gaze Erzsi sees something mirrored in her own: the pain, the anguish, the wounds that never healed. "No, everything is not alright. And that is why I am here, I am- I- I am confused," and his whole body sags, "and I did not know to who else to turn."

Arms wrap around his broad shoulders. "Tell me everything," Erzsi murmurs, "and let me aid you."

"There is this man," Ludwig starts and she listens. "He grows more powerful by the day."

On the balcony of the palace she sees him approaching, a mask hiding his face but his gait giving him away. Erzsi leans on the railing as he comes beside her, one of his arms instinctively snaking low around her waist. She allows him to kiss at her neck, his mouth moving up until their lips meet, twisting and moving against each other as if not a moment has been missed.

"You are still the most beautiful woman in all of Europe," the Austrian practically purrs in Hungarian against her skin.

"And you are still the most obnoxious man." He smiles.

"I hope you will find it in yourself to one day forgive me. I will always wait."

"Anna?"

"Gone," and Roderich turns to look out over the ancient capital. "She was not nearly so eloquent in delivering your words as I'm sure you would have been."

Erzsi tuts smugly. "I am not surprised."

"We should not be so hard on her-" Erzsi knows he really means she shouldn't be so hard on Anna, though he was always the one criticizing and ridiculing her over the years leading up to their marriage "-she was young and foolish."

"We were all foolish."

"At least we tried," Roderich sighs.

"At least we tried," Erzsi repeats.

There's a moment's pause before the mood seems to change, Austrian nation smiling to himself before looking at her with a wicked expression. "I have to admit, I did quite enjoy our… Bohemian experiment."

Erzsi chuckles, time having helped to heal some of the wounds. "You always were one for a Bohemian thing. Now," and she stands, holding out her arm which Roderich instinctively takes, "come, I wish to dance with a partner worthy of me."

As they set off Roderich asks, "Oh? And where shall we find such a man?" She laughs, kissing him as she always has, married or not.

Because though Erzsi may no longer have been his wife, their love and their countries always having been two separate matters, and Roderich will still blame himself for losing her, the truth was Erzsi was never lost. She had left but she was not gone, and neither was her love for the Austrian beside her.