title: Bless Me Sweet Queen
rating: PG
warning: um, some mentions of religion?
disclaimer: not mine at all. Spain as a character belongs to Himaruya.
genre: h/c, angst, gen, power-mongering, the usual.
Spain kneels, eyes level with the hem of her luxurious skirts. He glances up at her; she is smiling down. Where is her husband? No matter: he prefers his Queen.
"Rise, Antonio. You have done well in your travels. Spain is prospering!" Her hair shines as bright as the gold he has brought to her. He waits for her to speak again; surely she has more to say than praise. She does.
"I am marrying Katarina to the English prince, Arthur. She will be Queen of England. I would like you to accompany her, Antonio," She looks at him expectantly. He dares not defy her calm, steady gaze. He wouldn't want to, in any case. Antonio does not want to see that troubling English knave, but since she has asked him to, he will.
Queen Isabella has made him stronger, brighter, a true power. He can truly shape the world this way, a sword in one hand and a cross in the other. Ferdinand does not speak to him: that is solely Isabella's territory. But Spain watches him, watches them both, craft a new country: he is strong and unified.
It hurt, of course it did. The Reconquista was not without its darkness. She called them growing pains and kissed his forehead. She did not look at the jagged red line across his stomach, did not speak of the way he woke at night, screaming and nauseous. He still wakes hurting and clutches a cross of pure gold, praying for release.
There is guilt, and guidance. He kneels at the altar and cries, devotion and shame. What was necessary and what was cruelty? The lines blur in his mind.
He crosses the Atlantic and steps foot and a new shore and tells himself:
This is my beginning. My Queen, My King: you have given me one religion, you have given me new power, you have given me this new land. This is my world, New World, and I shall rule it.