Chapter One:

"Wake up, my Queen," his voice is soft, warm and loving, as it ever was. "The children wish to show you something..." His hand brushed against her cheek as her blue eyes fluttered open. His face was a vision, like one of the Gods; handsome and glowing as Apollo, with a smile like Cupid's dart that went straight to the dark haired beauty's heart.

She was Diana of Themyscria; Queen of the Amazons. Her husband, the love of her world, was a king in his own right, of his own realm. Their marriage united the two communities, the two worlds, and brought them out in to the greater world. Now, six years on, they were happily together, he had left his mistress behind much to Diana's joy and life was moving on.

He took her hands and helped her to her feet. He covered her eyes, playfully, with one hand, while leaving the other on her lower back to gently guide and caress her. She couldn't help but let a giggle escape her lips; when he acted like this, she was reminded of their courtship.

They stepped down from the marital bedroom; her love led her out to the edge of the classical Greek building. "Only a few more steps, Diana," he said, his voice lyrical in her ears.

"Here we are," he said, his voice brimming with a smile as his hands dropped away from her eyes.

What Diana saw, was enough to take her breath away - in yellow, red and blue flowers, the children had formed their family crest, an amalgam of the two insignias. It brought tears to her eyes. She brought both hands to her face, covering her smile, eyes wide.

"It's beautiful," she said, leaning back into her husband as his hand wrapped around her waist. He kissed her neck and she sighed happily. "Cassie, AJ, it's beautiful!"

She stepped forward, embracing her son and daughter tightly. The dark haired boy was the spitting image of his mother; dark hair, blue eyes and a gregarious nature, always looking for the next adventure. Cassie, on the other hand, with her blonde hair and charming smile, looked like her father and had his more conservative nature, always looking at the consequences. Together, they represented the best of their parents.

Diana looked up at Arthur and smiled. "We truly are blessed," she said, standing and pulling him into a kiss. They both smiled at each other and kissed a second time.

Her husband drew the back of his hand across her cheek, fingers curling into her dark hair. "Yes, the Gods have smiled on us for sure, my Queen," he kissed her, eyes closing as he bent into the kiss.

"Ew gross!" AJ said, squishing his face up, as little boys tend to do when their parents express their romance and desires.

Cassie gave him a light push, enough to knock the poor boy onto his backside; she was her mother's daughter after all. "It's not gross," she paused with a dreamy tone. "It's romantic!" The little girl swooned over her parents expressing their romance, twisting her hips from side to side, smiling.

Their kiss ended and Diana found the dream world slipping away as her blue eyes fluttered open. Instead of the handsome, God like face of her would be husband of a future ripped asunder by jealousy and hatred she saw the white and violet drapery that covered what would have been her marriage bed. The lonely Amazon queen let out an exhausted sigh.

That sweet voice, that sweet gentle voice that she had loved and learned to hate, was gone. It was a memory. A figment of her imagination; a soft, warm dream on a cold night. It was something Diana had yearned for since the end of the war. His warm voice, the touch of his hand...

"Diana," Arthur's voice called as if he were right here... She pushed the sheet back, climbing from her bed down to the shore where she heard him calling. While she knew this couldn't be true; that Arthur would never come to her, his voice so soft, so warm, so loving, ever again. That time passed; between the war, the deaths, the hatred they had spewed at each other, even while her heart ached at the pain she had caused him, she knew she would never again be with the only man she had ever wanted to love.

And yet, she found herself, boundless, sprinting down the steps to the propylon, her bare feet hardly noticing the cold marble fading into coarse sand as she dashed out.

It was a warm night; the songs and scents of Themyscira hanging over her island exile. On most nights, the sounds mocked her, but tonight she failed to notice them. The smell of salt, the warm voice of the man who would have broken all tradition, marrying an Amazon Princess, who would one day reign as Queen of two monarchies, introducing a King to the all-female society, drove her beyond logic.

The sound was coming from the ocean; a shadowy outline stood, just hint of red reflecting off his shoulders in the moonlight, confirming that it was him, her once and never King. The figure's arms opened to her, head tilting to the side, beckoning her to him.

"My Queen," a shadowy figure spoke, reaching a black gloved hand out for you.

It was as if she were intoxicated; drunk off the memory of what it was like to be in his arms. While it was never openly discussed whether they truly were in love, and in fact during the war hotly debated their open hatred for each other, Diana had never felt the connection she had with Arthur with anyone else, male or female. That is why, she believed, she dreamed of him, she heard his voice on the wind. Why their last meeting, her attempt to extend an olive branch to the war ravaged king, hurt so very much.

She rushed the figure, unable to resist his lure. Her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders as his own wrapped around her waist. He bent to kiss her and she was met with the salt water that always clung to his lips.

"You are breath taking," he spoke, none of the anger that he possessed the last time they were together, none of the hatred or bitterness touched the words he had said on what would have been their wedding day. He stroked her cheek and kissed her a second time, lips tasting sweet and salty, bringing emotions buried deep within the Amazon queen to the surface.

His arms tightened around her, and it was then she was hit by the foul stench, rotten fish and sun burnt death, but it was already too late.

Diana felt the cold wash of the waves rising over her head as she was dragged under the surface of the water. She could hold her breath for some time, but not forever, and the urge to fight back against the almost iron grip was immediate. Why would he do this? She wondered to herself.

It was then the creature's true form, a Sea Cyclops, was evident now.

Arthur had shown her these creatures before in better times; they were kept as pets by many sea gods, his Gods. This one bore the mark of Triton, she recognized her one time suitor's scars anywhere, and was nothing like the youths she had seen before. It was large and very strong, tentacles gripping her, tightening with every thrash of struggle she attempted. Having come from her slumber, Diana was unarmed except for the Lasso of Truth, which she had with her at all times. Her loose fitting clothing, breezy and comfortable on the surface, was a hindrance in the water, tangling her legs and allowing the creature to drag her further below.

And it was to Triton's shrine she was taken, kicking and thrashing the entire time. The water was cloudy with blood, a reddish rusty brown that hung like a haze, disembodied tentacles and debris floating around him as he stood, ever proud, with his back arched, his head held high, as if she was coming to him of her own will.

He smiled, a sneer that made Diana wretch. Triton was the eldest son of Poseidon, and one of the worst tempered. He had tried to court Diana in her youth, before she met Arthur. Her Mother, under the protection of the Goddesses Athena and Aphrodite, who had no love, ironically, for the God of the Sea or his children, denied him access to her only daughter, protecting the then still child Diana from a fate worse than Persephone's.

"First you decline my proposal, Amazon," his voice came to her, his hand gripping her throat, the Cyclops still holding her tightly, squeezing her body tightly against her thrasting. "Then you agree to marry the usurper? I should let you drown."

He held his face inches from hers and she could feel the heat of his breath through the water. "But, it would be such a waste," he said, reaching for her waist, where the golden lariat was wrapped around her middle. He took it, binding her hands before he bid the creature to release her.

"I know your secrets, my Queen," he chuckled. Her secret was that she would fall victim to the whims of whom ever were to bind her; she would be their obedient servant, especially when bound by her own lasso. With her hands tied, but body freed, she felt even more compressed than before. How had Triton learned her secrets?

"Here are your options. I can kill you for the humiliation you caused me, denying my proposal, but not before I resink that chunk of rock you call Paradise, killing all of your precious Amazons and the refugees you've taken in as balm to your blood stained conscience," he paused, his white teeth reflecting in the darkness of the water as moonlight struggled to penetrate the dark waters. "Then, I'll make you watch as I gut your little fishy boyfriend like the guppy he is, let you die knowing you could have prevented all of that pain, all the suffering…"

He tugged her forward until she collided with him. The God Son chuckled; pulling her close, hand sliding down to her backside and roughly gripping it. The look of disgust and horror, the turn of her face away from the horrid divinity in front of her, made the laughter bigger.

"Oh poor Princess," he chided, cupping her chin and forcing him to look at him. "Are you still pure?" His grin was sickening, his sharp teeth glinting in the dim light that filtered through the murky water. "Poor Arthur... All that work for nothing, good thing you let him keep that little redheaded fish around..."

Diana winched as he mentioned Mera. Mera had been Arthur's lover, before he and Diana had even met. She loved him dearly, more than Diana, or at least more surely than Diana had. She had made a concession; she would not deny her husband a discreet affair with the woman he so dearly, so obviously, loved. When their wedding was called off, he quickly married his redheaded lover, making her Queen of Atlantis, a title that should have been Diana's, that would have been Diana's. Then, in a true move of subterfuge, his brother and most trusted advisor Orm talked Mera into believing that she could defeat the Amazonian Queen.

Mera was a rival for Arthur's affection, but never was she a match for the Queen in combat. Diana, furious at the audacity that the Atlantian Queen, a usurper of a throne she had been so ready to take herself, slaughtered the red haired siren, sending her body back to Arthur without her head. She donned the helmet of the Queen of Atlantis, claiming it as a right.

Diana would admit. It was not her finest point, and it was a turning point in the war. It was the point of no return, regardless of what Arthur told her.

He cupped her chin, tilting her head to look up at him. "But back to business," he chuckled, pulling her close for a putrid kiss. "Option two: you can help me reclaim what is rightfully mine. You will take your spot as the Queen of Atlantis, and I will be the first King of Themyscira..."

Her head was starting to pound, her eyes rolling back as he pulled her to him once more, kissing her deeply this time. The kiss was not just to prove dominance over the Queen, but to deliver a precious breath of air.

"Your army will be at my disposal, and I will save your little fishy boyfriend from his inevitable fate."

Diana felt sick, not just from the smell, but the thought of being Triton's queen. She had denied him for several reasons, not the least of which was he was untrustworthy. The Son of Poseidon, sworn enemy of the Amazon patron Aphrodite, he was the strongest, but least honest, of his brothers. He had killed his own brothers to reign as the strongest of Poseidon's children.

"Amazon, you're running out of air," he said with a mocking tone. "What is your answer? Will you die? Or will you be my queen?"

She closed her eyes, feeling her stomach turn as she nodded her head slowly, a curtain of black hair floating around her as she did. She didn't do it for herself; she didn't care about the crowns any more. For Arthur, for her Amazons who had been through so much already, she had no choice. The world swirled around her and she blacked out as she heard Triton laughing, releasing her hands and returning her lasso to give her a fighting chance with Arthur. She began to drift towards the surface, her brain and lungs burning from the lack of breath. Arthur... She thought, I'm so sorry...

I do, and will always, love you...