Link couldn't sleep. He had been laying in bed beside Malon for nearly three hours, and she while she snoozed contently beside him, curled up in her half of the bed, Link stared at the ceiling. Millions of thoughts raced through his brain, and he couldn't seem to stop them.
The last year had been a whirlwind of emotion for the Hero of Time. And it had landed him here. Married to a woman he didn't love.
What troubled him was that he knew Zelda loved him. Everyone he knew had been telling him so since he and Zelda hit puberty. He had seen it in her eyes, felt it in every accidental touch. She loved him, and he loved her. But they weren't together, and Link's mind would never settle until she told him why. If there was another man, then he would let it be, but he had to know the truth.
Was it simply that he wasn't good enough for a princess? Zelda had never cared much for status and rank, or at least she didn't seem to. Maybe as she had grown up, that had changed.
The longer he laid there, the more questions formed in the young hero's mind. He sighed. He rolled over and looked at Malon. Her face was peaceful, and her long red hair was falling across her pretty face. She was pretty, Link thought, but she wasn't Zelda. Zelda was who he wanted. He couldn't help it, or stop it.
With sudden impulsiveness, Link climbed out of bed and dressed in a simple tunic. Then he crept out of the room he shared with Malon, carefully closing the door behind him, and trying very hard not to wake her. She would surely wonder where he was going, and he didn't want to answer her questions. He went downstairs quietly as possible, tiptoeing. Then he went outside and to the stable, where Epona stood, waiting for him. Link patted her affectionately, and put her saddle on and gave her some oats and water. At last, he mounted her and began the ride to Hyrule Castle, his mind a cloud of thoughts that couldn't seem to slow down no matter how he willed them.
Zelda always had that effect.
Inside her bedchamber at Hyrule Castle, Princess Zelda couldn't sleep either. Her mind was full of unwanted images, and she wanted nothing more than to erase them forever.
The ceremony in her courtyard, her safe haven. The flowers like gems. Malon in her pure white dress and lace, glowing with happiness, ribbons braided into her shimmering red hair. Link in his best tunic, looking terribly handsome, but his blue eyes so sad. The way he looked at Zelda as Malon said her vows, not at his new wife. And the way he kissed her when it was over. A kiss that hurt Zelda's heart, because Link looked so full of sorrow, so distressed and hurt. Zelda caused that hurt. She made him marry a woman he had no real love for.
Zelda couldn't bear to stay long at the reception. She congratulated her Hero of Time and his wife as a proper princess should, then quickly returned to the castle, telling all who asked that she was ill and needed rest. Now that she looked back on it, she hadn't been lying. Her head had ached all day, though not as much as her heart.
She had just rolled onto her side and started to drift into sleep when she heard a noise. She frowned, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Agitated, she got out of bed. The sound was coming from her window. It sounded like pebbles being tossed onto the glass. Frustrated after everything that had happened in the past three days, Zelda threw open the window. She looked around, but she saw no birds or other flying creatures. She was about to close her window again, but she heard her name from below. "Zelda!" the wonderfully familiar voice called. "Zelda, don't go!"
The princess looked down, and there at the foot of her window was Link staring up at her, his face apologetic as she'd ever seen it. "I love you, Zelda," he said. "Why won't you marry me?"
A million emotions flooded Zelda at once. Anger, hurt, frustration...and love. She loved him so much that her eyes welled up with tears and spilled down her cheeks. And she mourned the loss of the only man she'd ever truly love. The one she'd given up, the one who got away.
"I can't," she said through sobs. "I just can't. I don't know how to explain it."
Link breathed out hard. "I tried so hard all my life to have you for my own," he confessed. "I have always loved you, Zelda. And I'll never stop, no matter what."
Overcome with happiness, Zelda could only cry harder. "I love you too," she said. "I cannot think to live without you, Link. Please don't go. I'm sorry. Marry me, come live with me here. I want to spend my life with you, else my life will be only half a life."
Link looked so relieved and joyful that Zelda wanted to laugh with joy as well. "I'm coming up," Link said, and before Zelda could ask how, he was climbing up the wall!
When he reached her window, she helped him in, and he wrapped her in a tight embrace, savoring what she felt like in his arms. He breathed in the smell of her hair, the softness of her skin, and her lips as he kissed her. He ran his strong hands through her flaxen hair, and over the curves of her body. For once he wasn't restraining himself in her presence, he was letting go. He gripped her waist tightly, and they kissed passionately as lovers that were about to part forever. Then his hands found their way to the laces of her nightgown, and her carefully untied them, not wanting her to feel his fumbling, nervous fingers. He slid her nightgown off her body and laid her down on her bed, taking in every inch of her body: her bare arms and shoulders, her breasts, her legs, and he touched her everywhere, touching her body as if he were trying to form it into a memory. Zelda was a virgin, and as they first made love she gasped in pain, but then reveled in the pleasure of it, in having Link for her own.
The sun rose early that morning. The sky was painted with pink and orange and cerulean. Link held Zelda's naked form close to him, murmuring sweet words in her ear. Zelda smiled, feeling happy as she could possibly feel. But then Link climbed out of bed and dressed himself under Zelda's watchful eye. His face looked different now -- it was tight and filled with anxiety. Zelda closed her eyes briefly. She felt something terrible coming on, but she couldn't place it, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.
As he bent to kiss her good-bye, Zelda hugged him close to her. "I'm afraid," she whispered.
He kissed her hair. "Do not be, my princess and my love. Everything will be okay. I promise you that, my Zelda." Then he kissed her lips and then her hand. "I love you. Do not forget."
"I won't," she said, trying to feel secure.
Link squeezed her small hand, and the climbed out the window again. He smiled, but his smile was still tight, and there was a flash of brief fear in his bright eyes.
Zelda sighed, and she wasn't sure if it was a sigh of contentment or worry. Part of her couldn't be happier. She had Link, she loved Link, and he loved her too. They were together. But, she thought, what of Malon? Would she find out? Would Link tell her? Or would she find out by some other way, from some other person? And what if...
No, Zelda thought, pushing that horrifying thought from her mind. No. She wouldn't think of it again. It simply would not happen. She was a Sage, she held the Triforce of Wisdom. Things like that couldn't happen to her. The Goddesses were so profoundly connected to her, they watched over her closely. They would let no harm come to her.
Or would they?
