Thank you all for reading. Here is a story I have been working on for what seems like a year, and maybe it has been? I wanted to start publishing this for Melizabeth Week 2020, and I've managed to squeak myself in.
This story takes place after the current manga, with some adjustments to canon to make it work. I want to thank my beta, Solynacea, for her encouragement and support as I've been writing this. I hope to be publishing a new chapter about every week or so, so please make sure to bookmark and follow for updates.
"A princess born of blood and betrayal. Every bit as beautiful as her mother and every bit as doomed to be hated."
― Nicki Chapelway, Winter Cursed
There is something wrong with Elizabeth.
The years have gone on since the curse was broken and he was returned to himself. Their wedding was a celebration after the mourning, the first big affair that gave a signal not just to Liones but to all of Britannia that it was all right to be happy again. The kingdom had slowly come back to life after the death and destruction, not in any small part due Elizabeth. She had taken the powers of the Goddess Clan that lay dormant in the Horn of Cernunnos and used it to save him, and together they had destroyed the Demon King. Her magic had stayed, as had his, so it was only fitting that they assumed the roles of king and queen.
Well, maybe not Meliodas exactly — while he was technically king, he was more like Great Holy Knight. Elizabeth was the true ruler of the kingdom, and he was pleased with that. Being Grand Master was easy for him, having been Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, and before that Great Holy Knight in Danafor, and before that a general, and before that a sword for hire, stretching all the way back to his days as head of the Ten Commandments. Fighting was in his blood, the only thing he had ever been good at. It made sense for him to protect Liones, now that he could protect Elizabeth and actually succeed.
Despite their happiness, something is wrong, but he doesn't know what it is. It's a shift in her breathing, the way she walks, the way she sits. The tone in her voice as she addresses her councillors and a different angle to her smile as she waves from the balcony or the carriage. She is the same, the same clothes and hair and sweet voice, the same lips to kiss, the same crinkle in her brow as she listens to debriefing. Yet still, something has changed.
Every day the feeling grows, a seed inside his stomach that settles so lightly he barely notices. Any unusual behavior is easily addressed; after all, Elizabeth is now queen of Liones, now that Margaret is gone and Veronica went off to be a knight. And it suits her, as it always had, her history and her legacy making her even more royal than her sisters. Elizabeth was a princess born to rule . . . It just so happened that she ended up ruling Liones, not the Goddess Clan.
She runs the kingdom as he protects it, surrounded by his friends and knights and happy as the world finds peace. Liones matches the glory that Camelot had become in the years since the war, yet Elizabeth has no ambitions. Her people are safe and fed, the world so blessedly normal that nothing else matters. At first, anyway.
His first clue that something is wrong comes as ever-increasing regulations on how things were to operate in the capital city. Elizabeth seems to be taking a personal interest in everything, from the staffing to the treasury to the thickness of the stationery that had the seal of the kingdom pressed in gold leaf. It is unusual for Elizabeth to be so picky, but not for a queen, he decides, telling himself it is part of her maturing into her heavy role, even as he watches her very coldly dismiss half the kitchen staff when the soup comes out too hot for an important guest from another kingdom.
She had been right, after all: they had messed up, and they had caused a near scandal by breaking protocol for visiting dignitaries; yet the old Elizabeth would have laughed it off and used her charm to see it all smoothed over, while Queen Elizabeth snapped at the cook and sent the rest packing without pension or reference.
There are other things too: regulations on businesses, on using magic, new taxes, new prisons built. Each day he means to speak to her and talk about the changes she had brought to Liones. But there is always something, some meeting or visit or threat of a giant wildebeest in the forest that is rampaging through the paper mill. When he does speak up, it is in their private quarters, and when they are alone Elizabeth seems to be the same charming girl who had crashed into the Boar Hat, the same girl who cried over his cooking and shouted at a demon for killing her pig friend and healed a man who had tried to kill her. She is sweet and sorry and promises that yes, she will look again at the policy, and he will take her to bed, sure that things would be better.
And they would be, for a few days. Queen Elizabeth would turn merciful and giving, her love for the kingdom on display. Then slowly, without even sensing it, the new queen would return.
Then one day, Meliodas finds he can not ignore it any longer. He sits in his office reviewing plans for a new armory —something he had protested as unnecessary, but relented when Elizabeth reminded him what happened to Liones the last time the Holy Knights had been ill-prepared for invasion — when the door opens and two of his friends barrel inside: Diane, the queen of giants, dressed in a casual tunic and leggings, human-sized as she often is in Liones, and Harlequin, king of the fairies, in regal dress, his iridescent wings pulled back tightly.
"Captain!" Diane cries, storming over to pound a fist on his desk. "You have to speak to her!"
"Hello to you, too," he answers wryly, correcting his empty cup that has upended with her fury. "Speak to whom, exactly?"
"The queen," King replies shortly. "Elizabeth. Have you not heard what she's done?"
Meliodas sighs. This is not the first time someone had stormed into his office to rant about the queen's decisions, and he is sure it won't be the last. Whatever this is may be an adjustment, but surely for the good of Liones. "I suppose not. What is it then?"
Diane screws up her lips, and Meliodas wonders if she is angry or trying not to cry. "She has levied a tax on us, on our clans," she says viciously. "Any non-human who wishes to enter Liones must pay a fine. Including us!"
Meliodas frowns. "That can't be right," he says. "What you're suggesting is nonsense. You must have misunderstood."
"No." King looks at him coldly, the expression almost foreign on the fairy's face. "Elizabeth was quite plain with us. If we wish to stay, even for a brief amount of time, then we must pay the fee to enter."
Huffing, Meliodas leans his elbows on the desk. "I'll speak to her, but I don't see what the —"
"Are you serious?" Diane cries, her hands on her hips. "It's only going to drive a wedge between all of us! A human from Camelot or anywhere else doesn't have to pay. Do you think the giants will come here to see friends, sell things, buy things? It doesn't make any sense, but it needs to stop. The Giant Clan will be furious when they hear about this, and blame me."
"As will the fairies," King adds on. "We have all talked about bringing real peace. All of us, you, Arthur, Elizabeth, Diane — all of us, together, renewing the old treaties, putting the past behind us. This is an insult to our promises to one another. You can't let her do this."
Meliodas hears their concerns, and deep down, he agrees. But King's tone, which had changed so much since he had grown into maturity and began truly leading his clan in Gloxinia's footsteps, pokes at a long-dormant side of himself. It rankles him to hear his queen, his wife, being questioned, and his loyalties twisted. Standing slowly with his palms planted on the wood of the desk, he says, "And what do you expect me to do? Tell the queen 'no'? She is my queen too, in case you hadn't noticed. I can't exactly make demands of her."
"She is the queen, and you are the king," scoffs Harlequin. "So act like it. Make her see."
"I'm not making Elizabeth do anything," Meliodas says in a warning tone. "So I suggest you put that out of your minds immediately."
"So you'll let this stand, then?" Diane demands. "You'll let her do this to us? To your friends?"
Meliodas does not answer, the solution very unclear. He wants to side with them, but if that means siding against Elizabeth, then how? "There must be a compromise," he insists. "You are our friends, of course you are. And if that is true, then she is yours as well. Did you even talk to her before you came storming up here?"
"Of course we did!" Diane insists, her tone clearly hurt, but King's hand on her arm cuts her off before she can say more.
He turns and looks at Meliodas coldly. "We trusted you," he says slowly. "We trusted a demon, even after we knew what you were capable of, even after you refused to give us answers. We fought with you, by your side, for Liones, for Elizabeth. Our friends gave their lives to end your curse and to bring peace to Britannia. Escanor gave his life. And now Elizabeth is shutting us out. So do not dare accuse us of not remembering our friends."
With that, he storms out, followed by Diane after a moment's hesitation. Meliodas stands in silence for a while, turning over all of the things they had done together, all of the events of the past two decades, everything before, everything to come. His demon nature had roused from its slumber at King's disrespectful tone, but deep inside Meliodas knows he is right. Elizabeth needs to concede this, if not for the sake of their friendships, then for the sake of Liones' treaties.
His mind made up, Meliodas heads from headquarters back towards the castle proper. It takes little time to track down the queen, who is meeting with an advisor in one of her more lavish sitting rooms. He hesitates at the door and simply watches, the keyed-up energy that had tightened his muscles and made his nerves jittery melting away at the smile on her face, the clear sound of her laughter, the way her hair falls over her shoulders, the flash in her eyes when she spots him lingering at the door.
"Will you excuse me?" she says to the advisor, who scrambles to stand when she does. "It seems His Majesty wishes to speak to me."
The man looks over his shoulder and his eyes widen when he spots Meliodas. "Of course! Of course! We can speak more later." He gives the queen a bow before hurrying out, giving the king a quick bow of his own.
Once alone, Meliodas closes the door, and is surprised and pleased that Elizabeth is in his arms a moment later after sweeping silently across the room. "My rescuer," she says sweetly before planting a kiss on his cheek. "He was so boring I thought I would fall asleep sitting up."
Meliodas snorts as he gives her a squeeze, her yelp in protestation as familiar as the way her mouth meets his a moment later. She gives him a final peck once they break apart and then eases back, her hands light on his shoulders. "I'm glad to see you."
He nods and clears his throat, his hand making small circles against her lower back. "Diane and King came to see me," he says quietly.
The queen stiffens immediately. "Did they? That's good, I was hoping you'd see them before they left." Elizabeth pulls out of his arms and walks back to where she had been sitting, taking up her notebook as she returns to her chair.
Meliodas crosses slowly to join her. "They were both upset, Elizabeth. What is this tariff you have on non-humans in Liones?"
The queen does not look up from her writing as she explains, "It's simply to handle the destruction they do. Giants are so very clumsy and cause damage to our roads and buildings without even meaning to. And the fairies are like children, who run amok and make trouble for fun."
"Elizabeth," he sighs, sitting across from her. "It's unfair. The humans are just as destructive. They have just as much magic. All you are doing is alienating our friends."
"Our friends?" She looks up at him sharply, snapping her notebook shut. "Since when have they been our friends?"
Meliodas gapes at her. "Diane? King? Yes, Elizabeth, they are our friends. They have been for years, some of the best friends we know. Or have you forgotten how they fought with us? How they helped destroy the Demon King, for both of our sakes?"
Elizabeth deflates a bit, her shoulders dropping as she smiles. "Diane and King, of course. They have proven themselves time and again. But can we say the same for the rest of their clan? Helbram caused enough problems for the entire Fairy Clan himself. And the giants are no better." Then she takes his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Besides, this is just an insurance policy. They are our friends now, but who is to say in a year? In ten? Look at what Dolor and Gloxinia had done, and they were our friends."
Meliodas jerks his hand away, jumping to his feet and knocking over his chair. "How can you say such a thing?" he accuses, his voice trembling with anger.
"Say what, Meliodas?" Elizabeth smiles at him again, her eyes piercing and cold. "The truth?"
"Your version of it," he snaps. "There is more to it than that. You know there is."
There is a tense moment between them, and Meliodas can feel his pulse drumming in his ears as he tries to make any sense of this, or her. Finally Elizabeth says, "What would you have me do then? Pay for their damage with our own people's taxes? Shall I close a school or a hospital to make up the difference? Perhaps we should forgo paying your knights to protect us, because you don't want to offend our friends."
"Don't be foolish," he pleads, "there are ways we can work this out, ways we can compromise —"
"I'm not the foolish one here, Meliodas."
She rises then, drawing her shoulders back to full height so he is forced to look up at her. He is struck by how very regal she is in that moment — a queen to be worshipped and feared, truly terrible and awesome, to be loved in utter despair.
Just like the Supreme Deity.
"Those friends are a menace to Britannia," she says. Elizabeth's voice is calm, cold, no trace of love or animosity. "They are not fit to be among us. The fairies can stay in their forest and the giants can stay in their settlement. The rest of Britannia belongs to us."
The queen turns on her heel to go to the desk at the window, her back to him a clear sign of dismissal. The seed that had been laying quietly inside of him suddenly opens, a sprout of unease beginning to crawl upwards as roots move downwards, taking hold.