Zelda felt a hand on her back, gently shaking her awake.

She woke with a start, feeling something stuck to her cheek where she'd drifted to sleep on the desk. She pried a piece of paper off her face and blinked awake, looking to see who's hand it had been.

Seres.

"Princess," she whispered. "You should change."

Zelda looked down at her dress, still the expensive, once-beautiful garment that Daltus had wasted few rupees on for her first appearance to Auru. Now, it was covered in blood—most of it Link's—and torn in places she didn't even notice until just then as she looked over herself. Her hair was a wild mess, though some of that had to do with how she's slept, and she was almost positive that all her makeup was smeared.

Nodding, she let Seres pull her to her feet. "What about Daltus?" she asked, looking at the body across the table from her.

To her surprise, he'd stayed with her all night, pouring over every piece of paper with Viscen, reading every piece of evidence, hearing every story. He looked horrible, drained of all the pompous energy she'd come to know and crushed by the horrible realizations from the night before.

He'd been used.

While he thought he'd been manipulating Zelda, it had been Daltus himself who'd been puppeted. Niko had been using him for power, playing on Daltus' emotions and vulnerabilities. He'd been the one whispering in Daltus' ear under the guise of casual advice, playing up his feelings for the Prince until he'd thought Niko's suggestions were theirs. Decisions that would lead to their happily ever after.

Because unlike Zelda and Link, Niko and Daltus had a chance to find that ending, so Daltus had never lost that hopeful future. But it hadn't been enough for Niko. He wanted more, and he knew how to get more. Like Auru, greed had been Niko's downfall.

It had taken a few hours of repetition and hard facts for Daltus to believe that someone could do such a thing, let alone that Niko could.

Zelda understood. If someone had told her that Link was using her, she wouldn't believe it. It would take a lot of proof, because she not only loved him, but she trusted him. And Daltus felt that for Niko. And despite everything he'd done in their time together, she found herself feeling empathetic towards Daltus. With every new piece of treachery they uncovered, Daltus lost more life in his eyes.

So, Viscen spent a good deal of his own time just dealing with that one problem and showing Daltus the letters he'd gotten from Auru, and that he'd found in his searche. The letters to and from Ganondorf were easy to track. Auru had been conspiring with the Demon King, hoping to further expand his kingdom, and he was willing to take Hyrule as a loss to achieve Ganondorf's support.

Reese had also kept many of his instructions from the Demon King, and plans were detailed in them, names of those to look for were listed, numbers of troops shared. The more they read, the clearer it became that Reese was the go-between for Auru and Ganondorf. And it also became evident that the entire alliance between the two had been at Reeses' suggestion.

Niko's part came into play when he had sent Reese layout descriptions of his home, and far more detailed descriptions of the people staying there. Both he and Reese talked about Zelda, and both illuminated Auru of her naïveté and inexperience. Both talked about Link's near constant presence, and his skill—which Reese had seen defending Saria, and Niko had witnessed in the training yard. Niko wrote a description of the guards she was with most often, like Finn, Bardo, and Leon, to name a few: the ones who would need to be killed first. The amount of evidence against the two of them alone was damning, though Reese had already paid the price.

Though Link had gone to Shad's clinic, recovering, Zelda stopped by in the middle of the night to check on him.

When she'd gone inside, Shad was still cleaning out some of Link's deeper wounds. He was taking it as well as he could, but he looked deathly pale and near passing out. Her hands found purchase on her finest medical skill: a needle. She went to help stitch up Link's wounds, but Shad had stopped her.

"I told you before: you don't treat family or loved ones, not with a serious injury."

She could feel herself start to protest that Link was neither of thise, but immediately stopped, realizing it wasn't even worth denying. Everyone, it seemed, could see through them. She was, however, about to defy his demand that she not help at all when she realized that her hands had begun to shake the longer she looked at Link. She set the needle back down and went to sit beside him on the small bed instead. She noticed an empty potion bottle on the table and listened to his ragged breathing and sharp noises as Shad resumed working on one of Link's wounds.

Link looked over at her through hooded eyes that occasionally snapped shut as he suppressed a groan. Sweat had been pouring off every part of him as he strained to fight the pain he felt with Shad literally poking and prodding at tender pieces of his internal body where swords and knives had pierced his skin. Shad tugged a needle through something inside of Link that Zelda could see—had it not been for whatever medicine or paralytic in the potion—would have sent Link arching upwards in pain. He panted heavily, eyes bloodshot from whatever Shad had given him, and Zelda let Link lean into her for support as Shad stitched inside his wounds with delicate precision.

She'd been relieved when Link had finally passed out, though she wasn't sure if it had been from the pain or a potion.

They'd gone back a few hours later after letting him have some rest to hear the details he'd learned while in the camp. He hadn't looked much better, though most of him had been wrapped in red blood-stained bandages. He was at least able to form sentences again.

"Prince Daltus?" Seres whispered, shaking him awake from his arm.

He was slow to wake, far less surprised than Zelda had been, and his eyes were bloodshot from tiredness and tears from the night before.

"Daltus," Zelda said, moving beside him. "It's morning."

"Right," he muttered, looking around as if he didn't know where he was for a moment. "I have my things done."

"You need to change."

Daltus could barely keep his eyes focused as he looked down again, seeing that he still wore his clothes from the night before. "Yes, yes I'll change."

Seres led Zelda away towards a normal sitting room with the curtains drawn and the door locked. A new dress was already laid out, and a tub of water was in the center of the room.

"Your room will be done later. They've pulled all the rugs out from the hall and your room, and anything that managed to get blood on it has been cleaned. Except for you."

Though Daltus was like a ReDead, barely processing the world around him but moving to follow where others were, Zelda was in an almost shocked state, acting on instinct rather than her own rational thoughts. She bathed because it was smart, not because she wanted to get the blood off of her. In fact, if the choice was hers, she would still be pouring over documents and preparing because that was more worth her time.

She let Seres do most of the work, despite usually being uncomfortable with that. But her mind was in several places all at once. The documents, the announcement, and Link.

"Has the—" Zelda started, her thoughts derailing as another thought took over, much as it had been doing all night.

But Seres had been with Zelda all night, and she could sense exactly where her thoughts were. "Yes, and I gave them to Viscen. We paid the woman well for her timely service."

"Okay…" Zelda breathed. "But have you heard from—"

"No, not this morning. I'm sure he'll be waking up soon though. I hear Shad has a particularly potent potion for him that will be ready later."

Zelda found herself smiling. "Well, have the guards been—"

"Princess," Seres said, stopping her. "Everything is in place. Breathe."

"I'm just anxious," she said, more to calm herself than to reassure Seres. "It's all fine."

There was a knock on the door as Zelda was getting out of the tub, making sure that all the blood was off her. Seres went up to it and cracked it open to see who it was, holding a hushed conversation before closing it again.

Zelda had gotten the first layer of her dress on when she turned, a look of fear in her eyes. But Seres waved her hands dismissively. "Don't worry. It was just Finn. He's just confirmed that everything is set and he's on guard."

They finished getting Zelda into a flowing, regal gown that offered her a lot of movement and space to breathe, which she really felt she needed most. The sleeves billowed as she moved, and the light brush of air up her arm was just the distracting triviality that she needed.

She added some light makeup, unlike what she had the day before for her meeting Auru. Though it wasn't a serious consideration, she almost wished she was able to look like a warrior queen of old: armor, sword, and bloodied patterns across her face made by her own kills. That's what she felt like, going to face Auru: like she was going to war. Though, her weapons would have to be some fragile pieces of paper and well-placed words.

Staring at her circlet, she wanted a crown. She wanted to show Auru that she wasn't just some princess, but that she was his equal, and she was as willing as he was to do what it took for her kingdom.

With a steadying breath, she opened the door to make the trek to Auru.

"Link?" Zelda asked, opening the door and seeing his battered form leaning against the wall beside Finn.

At the sound of his name, he grinned, and she was relieved to see that had been undamaged.

Before she could stop herself, she threw herself at him. When she'd seen him the night before, he'd looked horrible. His entire body was purple and blue with fresh, massive bruises, red with splotches of blood or hanging skin, swollen in large lumps. He'd barely been able to breathe when he'd finally settled down in the clinic, clinging to his ribs and coughing each time he tried to inhale.

Now, well, he looked much the same, but as if it had been days since the attack rather than little more than half a day. There were stitches covering the worst of his wounds, and the most notable difference was the swelling, especially around his eye, had gone down significantly, though it was still obvious and present. She was more than thankful for Shad's immense skill with potions.

Yet, she found herself wrapped in Link's arms, breathing silent prayers to the gods and goddesses, thanking them for letting him live and bringing him back from his mission to Auru's camp, no matter if he'd come back with broken bones, fractured ribs, slices on his head and neck, wounds to his leg… he was back alive.

Viscen had filled her in on what Link had been doing at Auru's camp, since she really had no time with Link herself since his arrival.

The thought was enough for her to focus entirely on him, and then to realize that she wasn't moving with the rise and fall of his chest, rather that he was completely still and unbreathing. True realization hit her and she stepped away from him, guilt on her face as she watched him let out his breath.

"I'm so sorry."

He made a dismissive face as his hand covered his ribs and he took several more needed breaths to focus through the pain. In the meantime, he looked her over. "You look beautiful."

It warmed her to hear the simple words. But as he spoke, she could still see that they were a compliment hidden behind a courtesy. After she'd announced to Auru that they'd sign their marriage contract today, she'd seen all his hope for them plummet, despite trusting her.

So, she focused on something else about him. Zelda didn't want to admit it, but he looked horrible still. "Why are you here? You need rest."

With a snort that seemed to pain him, he gave her a look, like the answer was obvious. "I have to see whatever you've been planning all night."

"I was going to visit you later," she said, moving down the hall. She'd completely forgotten Finn and Seres behind them, and those who awaited her. It was just her and Link, even if only for a few seconds.

"You still can," he tried to laugh, though it ended in him wincing. "I'm not going to be staying with you all day today, in case you didn't figure that out."

"No, of course. You shouldn't even be up."

"I hate to admit it," he jested, "but I missed you a little bit. I figured this was worth some pain. Even if I don't know what you're doing. No one will fill me in." He was looking at her with his glinting eyes, a look he often gave her when he flirted, though she was pretty sure he didn't realize he was doing it.

She didn't want to tell him what she was going to do, just in case something went terribly wrong.

"You'll see," she said instead.

Pushing open the door, open to the room she'd meet Auru in, she could already hear the murmur of the crowd just outside the balcony doors. It would either be a great thing to have such a loud, numerous crowd, or a horrible thing.

King Auru was already inside, wearing a far superior ensemble than Zelda was. He had the fine silk and the real gold embroidery, where she had the best that they could find in Damel. His crown was large, but it was tucked under his arm. When he saw her, he placed it on his head and greeted her without even the pretense of a smile.

She could see Daltus off to the side, stiff and uncomfortable beside Niko, his face tense, and his expression empty. Niko seemed distraught, either the guise of a good actor, or someone who was genuinely upset, like his favorite golden vase had been broken.

Her entourage, which included Viscen, who'd been with Daltus when she entered, stayed against the wall to witness everything from a detached distance.

Auru's eyes trailed over Zelda in an uncomfortably slow, dragging gaze before settling on her eyes. He crossed the distance between them and gave her his typical greeting, two cheek kisses and an uncomfortable one on the lips. This time, he lingered longer than his usual second, and Zelda pulled away, pulling her arms behind her back so she could fiddle with her fingers anxiously in peace and without his notice.

Auru grabbed the quill off the table and began to mutter to himself, including: "Okay, let's get this over with."

Zelda glanced nervously at Daltus, but saw the nearly imperceptible nod of his head. She let her eyes close for one second, and then forced herself to watch Auru sign his name to the bottom of about twenty pages of their marriage contract that she'd had drawn up by a local villager with legal document authority last night. She'd done two copies, and sent one to Auru for him to see. Since he'd said nothing, it seemed he had been happy with it. And since he was signing this copy, she was more than sure.

When he'd finished, he turned to her expectantly and held out the quill. Her hand shook as she took it from him and dipped it into the ink, her hand hovering momentarily over the page before she began signing her name to every page. She stopped only for a moment when, perhaps on the twelfth page or so, she saw the words 'troops' before she continued on, letting the pages fall back into place as she replaced the quill.

"Well, that's done," Auru said with a small grin. "And the wedding is in the morning, the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes, that's when it would be."

He nodded and held out his hand to her as he prepared to step towards the balcony.

She lightly took it in her hand and took one step before pulling his hand back to stop him. "King Auru, wait."

"What?" he snapped.

Taking several steps so she was in front of him, blocking his path to the balcony, she nervously pushed a piece of hair from her face before meeting his eyes. The look in his was disgusting to her. There was a mix of victory and—though she couldn't place how she knew—a bit of evil as well. Worse that all that, she could see a hint of lust.

"I think we should tell the people something else," she said, all nerves lost when she looked at him again. He gave her an impatient look, but let her continue. "I think perhaps we could tell the people about your plot to kill me last night?"

Though there was a brief hint of surprise through his eyes, he remained mostly impassive. "Did I? I wasn't aware. Please, enlighten me."

She eyed Viscen, and he grabbed a stack of paper. Auru turned around and Zelda hurried to Viscen's side, mostly for the safety she felt being closer to the people she trusted. "I knew you underestimated me, but I didn't know you were that stupid. You must remember writing these letters? Or holding meetings with several fanatical zealots who were willing to risk their lives and sacrifice themselves for you? Oh, or maybe you forgot about the inquisition you were going to hold so you could 'conveniently' find all participants and execute them, making yourself look like the hero. Did you forget all that?"

Auru's eyes darted to his own guards on his side of the room, and Zelda noticed them stiffen as they became more alert. She didn't have the luxury of turning to see her guards, not only Link and Finn, but the two additional guards for Daltus that were by the door, but she knew they'd noticed Auru's guards shift in temperament.

"Sounds like a finely woven story by a frightened young girl who doesn't want to marry me. If that's all, you should have said something before we signed the contract. I would have just gone home with my troops."

"I don't use empty threats or fabricated stories when I threaten people."

"It's a threat, then?" Auru laughed.

"It is. You'll give me your support and your troops to retake Hyrule, and we can part this as neutral parties, all attempts on my life forgotten. I'll even reestablish trade with your kingdom. If you don't, every one of my people out there, soldiers and citizens, will know that you and your people tried to kill me. And I know that my soldiers will want to retaliate, especially if I ask them to."

"So it's a feeble attempt at blackmail? I did underestimate you, but it seems you are far less than I thought you were."

Zelda shrugged. "I'd go lower still for my kingdom. I have more proof of your treacherous crimes. So much so that I could order you taken prisoner right here, right now."

"And then my troops would retaliate. Sound plan, Princess."

It was one of the many possible outcomes Zelda and Viscen had already planned for, so she managed to keep her expression impassive. "Mine are ready for a threat, though. They're on alert. Yours aren't. My commander has only to hear a single word for her to call them to attack your troops. I think surprise is a great advantage."

Auru's teeth ground together. "I have a knife, and I could kill you now, if I wanted to."

Zelda took a deliberate step towards him, despite hearing the steps behind her, likely Link or Finn… or both. "Do it then. Daltus gets Hyrule, as you wanted, but you'd be dead before you can even pull your knife from me, and you'll be unable to pull Daltus' strings for Ganondorf."

His eyes flickered from her, to every one of her guards. "Fine then; show me some of this alleged proof you claim you have."

She turned to let him move to the table. "Before you try to destroy it, know that we've already shown them to the right people. Destroying them is inconvenient, but not an end to all this." She strode up to Link and looked at his chest, the place where he had Auru's mark. He nodded in silent understanding, and she stepped back to Auru's side as he poured through the papers. And he stopped on one letter, looking up.

Zelda turned to Daltus, and he closed his eyes to make himself focus. This was one role he'd requested he be allowed to play. "Guards, please take… Master Niko into custody. Throw him in the cell."

Auru narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles against the table as he watched Niko's mortified and confused expression as the guards held him.

"Daltus? What's happening?"

This time, Zelda stepped forward, lightly grabbing Daltus' hand as she passed. "Niko, you're being taken on charges of high treason, and attempted murder, as well as collaboration and conspiracy with an enemy of Hyrule. Your letters alone are enough that you face the possibility of a public execution. You are stripped of your title, your lands, your property, and now, your freedom. Your home belongs to the crown, and you are imprisoned at my will. Don't look at Daltus. He knows what you've done."

She turned back to Auru, ignoring Niko's cries as he was dragged out of the room.

"You're a Princess," Auru spat. "You have no right."

"I am the uncrowned Queen of Hyrule, Niko is my subject, and I have every right. I could do the same to you and have you imprisoned for the same crimes, save for treason. My own soldier infiltrated your camp and was witness to you personally instructing your people on plans for my murder."

Link stepped forward and pulled his loose collar down to reveal his wound in the shape of Auru's seal, already scabbing over.

"You met Link, and you don't even remember. A shame. If you'd paid more attention to your people, you would have recognized the man Niko described in his letters as my guard."

Auru grunted out a half-laugh, though nothing about his expression was amused. "So, Princess, you want what from me exactly?"

"Your troops and your support during this war. After, you may go. I don't need you for anything else."

He bared his teeth in a wicked smile. "You need me to make heirs to your precious Hyrule, don't you? You signed that contract, and it's already been announced to most of the people."

"I need your troops. You can either do as I ask and worry about Ganondorf's retribution—though if we beat him with your added troops, you won't have to worry about that—or you can say no and I will take your troops from you by force, though there will be more casualties. I will recall as many of the troops you sold to Ganondorf, imprison you, and whether I win or lose, you'll be left in a cell to rot. Either you'll be useless and forgotten about by the Demon King, or safely kept locked away by me, and I'm prepared to fight another war to keep you away from your kingdom long enough to negotiate with whomever takes your place. What's your answer? What do I walk out there and tell the people? Are we allies, or enemies?"

Auru scoffed and backed away from her. She grabbed the marriage contract off the table and handed a page from the front and several from the back to Viscen before tightly holding it to her chest, waiting.

Auru gestured to the stack at her chest. "Why did you even sign that, if you were going to try to take my troops from me by force?"

Zelda shrugged. "I'll tell you once you answer me."

"Fine," he spat. "You have my troops on your word that you maintain all trade routes and negotiations put into place by your family and myself."

"Pending my approval of those agreements, yes. If my parents made some deal with you that we'd be wed, that would be something I'd take back off the table. However, you'll try and recall the soldiers you sold as well. Call on their loyalty to you. I'm sure we can get a few back."

"I won't provoke the Demon King. No. That's non-negotiable."

Zelda's lips twitched and she handed the stack of papers over to Auru.

He snatched them from her grip and looked them over, his eyes widening as he read. Flipping to each page, his scowl deepened, and he looked up at her. "You bitch."

Shrugging once again, Zelda took a step backwards, closer to Finn when she saw the anger in Auru's eyes. "I told you I'd go lower than simple blackmail." She turned to Viscen. "Go distribute those to the crowd and burn the first page with the marriage contract on it."

Auru went to stop Viscen, but every guard moved like a perfect machine. Link took Finn's place beside Zelda, Finn blocked Auru, and the guard at the door turned to Auru's guards. Viscen walked through the doors without incident.

"Let's make that paper official," she said, moving back toward the balcony, "Or I can expose your attempt on my life. It's your call."

"Just because I signed my name to this prattle about your control of my troops doesn't make it legal."

"It does actually," Zelda said with a smile. "I didn't have time to learn much from my parents, but I was always taught to read every single page before signing my name, even if an advisor has read it previously. You'd have known we switched out the pages. Even without that paper, I had your troops, but it is a bit too satisfying to be proved right when you didn't even look."

"So, I receive no marriage, no place in the succession of your line, your control of my troops… what do I get out of this?"

"Not Hyrule," she laughed. "Not me. Honestly, King Auru, if you didn't try to kill me to get Hyrule into Daltus' hands for Ganondorf, I would have married you for the troops. You would have succeeded in taking Hyrule for yourself and then you could have given it to Ganondorf and taken a lesser reward, or kept it for yourself… whatever it is that you wanted. If my people didn't find it strange that half your army had mysteriously disappeared, they might not have looked much closer at you. Maybe next time, don't underestimate me or my people. I'm young, and this is new to me, but I've endured Ganondorf and the massacre of my friends and family. You don't frighten me.

"So, we have a large crowd waiting to hear the good news of your unconditional support, or the horrible news of your imprisonment and attempted murder. And believe me, I'm going to make it very clear what your expectations are and what it means if you leave them unfulfilled. You'll be a coward as well as a traitor. So, which is it going to be?"