Agatha is grateful for the low light in the banquet hall for several reasons.
One is that, of the many people turned towards her from the lower tables below their raised one, most probably can't see her as clearly as they'd like. Second, she's tired, and the adrenaline rush of the ceremony is starting to catch up with her- hopefully the dark will conceal how weary she looks.
Thirdly, she has to listen to Vanessa's speech before she can have dessert, and she's fairly sure she's doing a bad job of looking happy about it.
So she's hunched in her chair next to Tedros, staring at her plate and trying not to make eye contact with anyone. She's been obliged to hold Tedros's hand, and she tries to focus on how damn cold his fingers are, rather than her mother making a stupid, twittering speech beside her. She's examining the weird blue tinge to Tedros's nails, but it's hard not to hear, since Vanessa keeps looking at her for a reaction. Grinding her teeth, she tunes back in;
"-it has been an honour and a privilege to watch Agatha grow up, and I'm so proud of the woman she's become today. It feels like only yesterday when I was carrying her home after she fell in a stream, or teaching her where Camelot was on the map..."
Agatha jerks as she recognises the anecdotes.
People laugh and aww politely, but she doesn't even bother to try.
She's too busy balling her free hand into her skirt to conceal how they've started to glow.
How dare she-
She glances over to where Callis is sitting, just visible behind Vanessa, picking at the cracks in the table silently. She looks drained.
Well, Agatha can be furious for the both of them. She knows Callis had been forced to report to Vanessa every day whilst she was raising Agatha, but she'd had no idea that Vanessa had even listened, let alone would remember specifics to steal in her wedding speech…
Searching desperately for a distraction, she looks around-
Tedros is sitting next to her, staring up at Vanessa with such blatant disdain it's almost breathtaking. Agatha stares at him for a minute, startled. She doesn't exactly want to tell him to stop, but she does think he's going to raise some awkward questions if he continues to look like that...
She pinches his hand, and his gaze shoots back to her, softening immediately. Frowning, Agatha mutters to him;
"Stop glaring at her. People will ask questions."
Tedros's eyebrows come down.
"But-"
Then applause has erupted around them and Vanessa is sitting back down, smiling brightly.
Agatha turns to her, and Vanessa looks back at her-
And Agatha knows that she'd heard every word of what Agatha said to Callis this morning.
For a second, they both freeze; Agatha glaring, Vanessa's expression closing off…
Then they both turn away.
"None of that was true, was it." mutters Tedros, from next to her.
"Oh, it was true. She just didn't do any of it, Callis did." snaps Agatha, loud enough for Vanessa to hear, snatching a drink offered to her and spilling some on the table. "Can we have dessert now?"
"Yeah, it's coming-" Tedros peers around her, to look at Vanessa, and Agatha pushes him back.
"Stop, leave it alone."
"She's making herself more despicable by the second." mumbles Tedros, accepting his drink from Weatherford, who has been waiting for him to take it, looking rather long-suffering. He takes a bad-tempered swig and stares out at the swathes of people at the other tables as the desserts are set on the table before them. Agatha peers at the plate hopefully. The food has been the best bit about today- just as elaborate and delicious as all of the other dinners she's been to.
"It's some kind of bavarois." says Tedros. Agatha looks blankly at him and he raises his eyebrows. "It's like a cream thing? It's chocolate and passionfruit-"
Agatha is already scrabbling for her fork. Tedros snorts, but he pushes her wrist away before she can stab it.
"Have mine, it's got more chocolate on it."
Thinking this is probably an attempt at making her feel better, Agatha mutters a thank you and accepts the swap. Various trays of sweet pastries are also being set at intervals on the tables, and people are being offered coffee. If this was a less stressful situation, she'd probably be quite content. But since she's sat in her wedding dress, next to her hateful mother, with her face fully exposed to hundreds of people... it's hard to feel anything but rigidly on guard.
Agatha sets her fork back on her empty plate and considers the pastries, fully aware she's only eating because she's unhappy, not because she's really that hungry.
Tedros nudges her elbow, and she looks over to find him offering her half of whatever he's chosen.
"Do you want the other half?"
Agatha looks at him for a second, wondering why it felt so familiar-
"Oh, ha ha."
Tedros grins and puts it into her hand. She thinks he looks rather pleased with himself.
Soon after, they're ushered from the banquet hall, through the palace and into the ballroom where the rest of the night will be spent. There's no real procession or order, so Agatha finds herself separated from Tedros and with the Princess of Shazabah.
And her girlfriend.
"Why didn't you tell me?" hisses Agatha.
"It didn't come up." says Beatrix sweetly.
"It did! You spent ten minutes telling us about the Shazabah royal family!"
"How do you think I knew so much, genius?" grins Beatrix. "Did you not make the connection between my Reena and Princess Reena of Shazabah?"
"I think you'll find I've been worrying about a couple of other things for the last few months, so… no." mutters Agatha, ducking her head as a few pageboys going the opposite way try and get a look at her.
"She did it on purpose." says Reena calmly as they start down the steps to the already bustling ballroom. "She wanted to see how long it took you."
"At least you're honest." sighs Agatha, but she can't help but grin. Reena is one of the only dignitaries she's met this evening who's looked her in the face, and made no comment, which she's glad for. Also, she's a lot nicer than her womanising, balding father. Agatha was immensely relieved when Reena told her she was usually the one sent to do the negotiating.
They reach the bottom of the stairs and Reena and Beatrix disappear off to dance, with a brief goodbye. Agatha casts around for Tedros, vaguely accepting congratulations-
She turns and is met with the red-faced, goose-feather endowed Empress of Putsi.
"So!" says the Empress, in the self-satisfied manner of someone who's just been proven very right. "The veil finally comes off, eh?"
Agatha looks around for an escape, but she can't think of one.
"Er-"
But the Empress is jabbering away again;
"You know, I said to my son Peeta- come here, Peeta, come and have a look- I said, I bet she's hiding something. Everyone else in my court thought maybe you were just like your mother, so beautiful it was unreal, but I knew different. And I was right, wasn't I? A pity you look nothing like your mother. Oh, dear, look at you…" she tuts, tilting her chin this way and that. Her gormless son gawks over her shoulder.
"What happened?" demands the Empress, dropping her hand abruptly and piercing her with an expectant gaze.
"I…" Agatha wrings her skirt in her hands. "Um, it was… I don't really want to… say..."
"Well, naturally you don't want to talk about it, else you wouldn't have worn the veil, but now it's off, everyone will want to know. You might as well just start telling people before rumours start abounding, you know? There'll be speculation in the papers as early as tomorrow morning…"
Agatha stares at her, any response she might have had stuck in her throat. She feels rather numb, and she can tell everyone around them is listening, too. The Empress is looking expectantly at her, and Agatha stares back wordlessly, feeling exposed and frightened-
Then she spots Vanessa swooping through the crowd towards them, clearly wanting to know what Agatha is saying to them.
The lump in Agatha's throat subsides just enough for her to be able to talk. She smooths her skirts with shaking hands, and looks the Empress dead in the eye.
"A cradle collapsed on me as a child, whilst my mother was with me. I'm sure she can tell you more." She curtsies and gestures to the approaching Vanessa. "Excuse me, your highness. I must find my husband."
She brushes past them and hurries away, fully aware they're all staring at her, and trying to walk as briskly as she can without looking like she's running away. She keeps walking, weaving randomly through the crowd until she reaches the edge of the ballroom, where there's a number of curtained alcoves.
It's her wedding. She shouldn't be hiding. But…
She casts a glance behind her. Vanessa is talking to the Empress of Putsi, who looks shocked, and is talking very emphatically.
Good.
Agatha didn't even tell her the worst of it, and Vanessa will know that.
She ducks behind the curtain and crumples onto the window seat, trembling. She's never said it out loud before, and the flash of fury that had let her blurt it out has left her completely, leaving her dazed-
"I know you don't like parties that much, but you don't need to hide- hey, what's wrong?"
Agatha looks tiredly up at Tedros standing over her.
"How did you find me so fast?"
Tedros puts a hand out and flicks her crown.
"Easy marker. I was already looking for you, anyway. Don't you want to dance?"
Agatha opens her mouth to say no, she's not in the mood, but catches sight of how hopeful he looks and kills it before she can.
"In a bit." she says, unconvincingly.
Tedros frowns, clearly noticing that the dancing is not the issue.
"Did the Empress say something to you? She's so insensitive, she asked me about my mother at my coronation… what?"
"Why haven't you asked?" asks Agatha glumly.
"Asked what?"
"What happened to my face."
"That's what she asked-"
Tedros turns abruptly and Agatha grabs the back of his doublet.
"No. Do not go over there. I spun it so it looked bad on my mother, turn back around."
Tedros turns back to her, albeit reluctantly.
"But-"
"Why haven't you asked?" repeats Agatha.
"Because I guessed." says Tedros simply.
Agatha looks at him for a second. So, what she'd assumed in the carriage had been right.
"When?"
She might be imagining it, but she thinks Tedros's eyes have taken on a new shade, so light blue it's pushing white.
"I looked past you when I was crowning you, and made eye contact with Callis. I realised that between you, you'd told me everything."
It's true; they had. Callis had told him how she'd pulled Agatha out of a burning crade, and Agatha had been far too obvious when he'd started talking about collapsing cradles and being cut by them.
Agatha puts her head down and lets out a breath. Then, with a considerable effort, she looks back up. She doesn't have the energy to continue the conversation.
"Let's go dance."
Tedros's face brightens.
By the time they get there, there are enough people to mean they're not very noticeable.
"How did you spin it so it looked bad on Vanessa?" asks Tedros, halfway through the waltz. Agatha smiles grimly.
"Well, after her lovely little speech, I figured everyone would assume she'd been responsible for my entire upbringing, so it can hardly look like it was Callis's fault, since Callis apparently had very little to do with me."
Tedros raises his eyebrows.
"And you think it'll work?"
"I hope so." Agatha resolves to tell him of her plan concerning the veil, later. She looks over at Callis, who she can see talking to Reena and the Princess of Avalon Towers. "I called Callis Mom by accident, the other week." she mumbles. "Didn't even realise, until she brought it up to me this morning."
"That makes Vanessa's speech even worse." mutters Tedros.
"It's because I said I wished Callis was my mother in front of her." sighs Agatha.
Tedros pulls a face.
"She can't have it both ways."
"Oh, of course. She's only my mother when it's convenient." agrees Agatha, glancing at Vanessa stood with Sophie by one of the windows. They appear to be arguing.
Good.
"I think Chaddick wants to steal you." says Tedros suddenly.
Agatha, surprised, looks over his shoulder to see Chaddick waving at her from the fringe of the ballroom.
"Why?"
"Who knows." sighs Tedros, steering them towards him. "Probably wants to embarrass me."
"Absolutely right." says Chaddick, barging in between them and grabbing Agatha's hands. "Variety and all that. Go and find a Duchess to dance with or something. Bye."
He yanks a smirking Agatha back onto the dancefloor and grins at her.
"This is nice."
"What do you want?" sighs Agatha. She's glad he's looking her in the eye, and there's no suggestion he's bothered by the state of her face.
Chaddick still smiles, but his gaze becomes slightly more serious.
"To tell you that your mother has been making friends with some of the palace guards."
Agatha stares.
"What?"
"She's got a group of about twelve on rotation, and some of them have started to make comments which suggest they don't find her as repulsive as the rest of us. The younger ones, the ones who aren't as loyal to Tedros and haven't been here as long."
Agatha looks over at Vanessa, still arguing with Sophie.
"What do you think she's doing?"
"I don't know." says Chaddick grimly. "But don't say anything in front of guards you don't want getting back to her. I'm their Captain, but I only have so much influence. I promise you that myself, Yara, Nicholas, Bastain and Tarquin are still loyal to you, as is Hester, obviously, but… be careful."
"Right." murmurs Agatha. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me." says Chaddick. Then his face becomes bright with mirth again, and Agatha braces for something embarrassing-
"Also I need to warn you that Tedros's chest is really pale. Yeah his magic makes it that way, blah blah, but like. Not even kidding. Blinding, truly."
Agatha bursts out laughing for the first time that day.
It's a few hours later when Agatha realises someone's staring at her.
The back of her neck prickles, and she turns to see a young man around her age leaning against the wall, watching her with red eyes. Unnerved, she looks over at Tedros, wondering if they know one another.
"Who's that?" she asks him.
"Who's who?" Tedros looks around from talking to Chaddick-
His face tenses.
The other man doesn't look remotely flustered. He raises his glass to them and shoots Tedros a significant look, before turning and disappearing back into the crowd.
Tedros watches him go, mouth tense.
"Who is he?" presses Agatha. "Do you not like him?"
"He doesn't like me." murmurs Tedros. He glances around- at this point, almost everyone is drunk, and no one is paying attention. "Perhaps we should retire. You don't want to stay, do you?"
Agatha looks closely at him, suspecting he wants to tell her something out of earshot of everyone else.
"No, I don't. Alright-"
She turns and is met with Chaddick's grinning face.
"Remember what I told you, yeah?"
"Oh, shut up." groans Agatha, marching after Tedros, who is stoutly ignoring his knight. Chaddick doesn't follow her, but his laughter does.
The second they're out into the cool corridors of the castle, Tedros checks no one's nearby, turns to her-
"He was my assassin."
It takes Agatha a few seconds to compute, stuck in between Chaddick's ribbing and this new revelation-
Then it sinks in.
"HE WAS WHAT?" barks Agatha.
"Shhh! Shush! Let me explain!"
"Explain what? Why did you just let him-"
"No no, listen! He's my ex-seneschal."
"Ex because he tried to kill you?"
"No. Ex because… um…"
Tedros sighs. He takes his crown off and looks at it, for a minute.
"It's a long story. At my coronation, just before I went out before all the people… I'd just started taking the ivy. I didn't think it was a good idea, and I argued with my advisors, they insulted me, and I got angry and… shot some ice at the wall. Nearly hit Hort."
"Hort." says Agatha, unimpressed and unable to see where this is going.
"He was just a pageboy then. We promoted him for his troubles, and to keep his mouth shut. Anyway, he kind of had a thing with Ravan- the guy you just saw- and that made Ravan realise that I was kind of… really dangerous. He quit my court and started to try and convince everyone else I was this massive danger to Camelot, which, back then, might not have been too far from the truth. Beatrix and Dot refused to believe him, though. I panicked and thought he was right and kept taking the ivy, even though we know now that was bad for me. Ravan turned back up a few times to try and convince me to abdicate. I refused, because there was no one who could take my place. No one good, anyway."
He pauses, opening a side door for Agatha.
"And then he disappeared… until he turned back up before my birthday and tried to kill me."
"And you grabbed the knife." says Agatha.
"Grabbed and broke it." agrees Tedros. "Convinced him to make a deal with me- I'd stop taking the ivy and find a teacher, if he left me alone and distracted the court from me training, which he has. Had to get a few hits in before he left, obviously, to make it look realistic, but he's left me unbothered since. I imagine he came here tonight to check, and once he saw we weren't wearing gloves, he was satisfied I had it under control."
Agatha stares doubtfully at him.
"And you think he's just… going to leave you alone?"
Tedros shrugs.
"He knows I've got more control over my magic than I used to, and now I'm with you all the time, I don't think he'll risk it. He'll know by now that you're my teacher, he'll have found out from someone, and he'll know that means you're more competent than me. Won't risk getting his head taken off."
Not completely convinced, Agatha looks at him worriedly for a minute. She still doesn't think it was a good idea to let him go unchecked, but if they'd made a deal…
"You'd better be right." she mutters, falling into step beside him. Tedros shrugs.
"We used to be friends. I don't think he really wants to kill me..."
But he sounds somewhat unsure, and trails off at the end. Agatha raises her eyebrows, but decides to shelf the issue for now- until tomorrow, at least. He's right in that anyone who has a go at attacking her in her sleep is going to have another thing coming.
Presently, it occurs to her that she's following Tedros to his rooms, not hers.
She tenses.
Of course. They're married now. It's how it works.
But she's barely even thought about the fact that they have to share a living space for the rest of their lives, let alone a bed-
She shoots Tedros a nervous glance, but he's sauntering along unbothered, whistling one of the waltzes and swinging the tassel on his doublet. Of course he is.
Agatha hasn't thought about this at all. Or anything beyond her unveiling, really.
It occurs to her that she might have actually started to believe Sophie's vicious little comment. She'd not thought about a thing after the wedding... because she hadn't thought she'd get past the wedding. Anything after it had been a blank. So, now…
"Slow down, I can't keep up-"
Agatha realises she's started striding in her agitation, and slows to let Tedros catch up, crushing the fabric of one of her sleeves in her hand. She doesn't know what to do, and she finds that it's becoming increasingly difficult to look him in the eye. She doesn't know how she's been doing it all night, what was she thinking, now everyone knew, everyone had seen-
She puts her hand over her mouth, suddenly panicked, but notices Tedros looking and quickly tries to pass it off as a yawn. She's gone through the rest of the wedding in a stupor. From the moment she left the chapel, she's been dazed, operating largely on autopilot. Now she's taken a step back from it, everything has come back to her.
They walk the rest of the way in silence, until Agatha starts to recognise the wing they're in, and Tedros points her through his sitting room (dark and cold, almost identical to hers)- and shoulders his bedroom door open.
"They offered to move us to my father's old rooms, but I said no, because… you know. Weird. Bad memories."
"It's fine." mutters Agatha vaguely, casting an eye around the room. She's never been here before, obviously. It's impressively large. Not that any of the rooms in this whole palace are small, but it's much bigger than the room she's been in. It's an immense, elaborate space. A chandelier drips diamonds from the huge, detailed mural of mythology and history and plush, expensive blue and gold furniture is spaced out around the room. Great wide windows dominate one side of the room, looking towards the city rather than the grounds, and on the other side, there's a vast, ornate mirror, taking up almost one entire wall. Agatha turns away from it immediately, teeth clenched.
However, despite the splendour, it's oddly… sparse. It lacks personal items. There's a few distinctly un-read books on one of the windowsills, a messy box of cosmetics on the vanity, and a lot of clothes in one of the open wardrobes, but those are more or less the only indications that someone actually lives here.
"They brought your stuff up." says Tedros, pushing the door shut. "Your clothes are in that left-hand closet, and I put your books and papers and stuff on that shelf. Umm…"
He suddenly looks sheepish.
"I kicked your cat out, because he bit me when I was trying to do my eyebrows. His basket's in the sitting room. I don't think he likes me much."
"Reaper doesn't like anyone, but I think he'll object to how cold you are." says Agatha, trying to sound amused and not like she just wants to ignore him for the rest of the night. "He's bald. So."
Tedros frowns.
"Reaper?"
"It was a joke name that stuck after he kept bringing us dead birds."
"...oh." Tedros blinks. "Will he carry on doing that?"
"Probably." says Agatha.
"Ah. Right."
Tedros stands there for a minute, clearly unsure what to do. Agatha looks back at him, equally at a loss. She feels achy and unsettled, and really doesn't want to have to carry this entire interaction-
Tedros seems to suddenly come to life.
"I need to wash my makeup off, or I'll break out." he declares, suddenly making a beeline for the adjoining door that Agatha assumes leads to the bathroom. "You can move your stuff if you're not happy with where I put it, it's fine, I'm not precious. Be right back-"
He ducks through the other door and it snaps shut.
Agatha stands alone in the centre of the huge, over-elaborate bedroom, suspecting he's left her alone on purpose. She's probably done a poor job of hiding her apprehension. There's no veil left to hide behind, anymore.
Tentatively, she sits down on the very edge of Tedros's bed, wringing her hands…
She looks up and is met with her own marred face staring back at her in the huge, shiny mirror. She doesn't look like a Princess, let alone the new Queen of Camelot. She just looks sad and ugly.
She snatches the crown off her head and hurls it onto the nearby sofa, glaring at her reflection. Her reflection glares back, not looking any less like an imposter, even without the crown.
She's not meant for this.
Any of it.
Why couldn't Vanessa have just sent Sophie instead, like she'd wanted to? It'd be so much easier that way. Vanessa wouldn't have had to make up happy memories for her speech, Agatha wouldn't have nearly fainted from fear at the altar, everyone could have enjoyed the day without the huge, obvious, problem with the bride...
Hands shaking, she fumbles for her shoes and yanks them off, flinging them to the floor. She's so tense. So tired. So miserable.
Tears sneak up on her so fast she doesn't even have the opportunity to try and stop them. Suddenly, she's just slipped off the edge of the bed and into a sobbing, shaking heap on the floor, hunched over her skirts, her fists balled into the fabric. The tears evaporate almost as soon as they come, but it doesn't matter either way- all of the tension and anxiety and downright fear that she's felt today have finally caught up with her.
Heaving for breath, she wipes her face with her hands-
Before realising that someone very cold has sat down next to her.
She freezes, staring at her knees. She hadn't thought Tedros would be that fast, and she really doesn't want him to see her cry.
But he doesn't say anything beyond;
"Here."
He presses a black handkerchief into her hands. Agatha hurriedly wipes her eyes- there's not much point, but it might make the places where her makeup has run less apparent.
They sit in silence for a minute. Agatha wants to cry again, but she clamps her mouth shut and swallows hard, trying to crush the urge, and praying that Tedros won't-
"You were so white when I took your veil off."
...say something.
It was too much to hope, clearly.
"Were you really that scared?" asks Tedros sadly.
Agatha doesn't know how to deny it, so she just shrugs and remains silent. Tedros waits for her to answer, but she doesn't, so he barrels on;
"Callis told me not to ask, so I won't, but I think Vanessa's an old hag and if I'm right-"
"If you think that the burning cradle collapsed on me and cut my face whilst my mother stood and did nothing, you're right, yes." snaps Agatha. "What are you going to do, dump more snow on her?"
"No." says Tedros, not reacting to the jab. "I just think she's been hideous to you and I despise her, so I've been spreading rumours about her within my court."
Agatha nearly tears the handkerchief in her surprise.
"You've been what? Tedros-"
"You don't even look that bad, and she's convinced you that everyone you come into contact with is going to hate you." says Tedros loudly. "So I've been telling everyone she killed her husband and forces you to wear the veil."
Agatha finally looks up at him.
"You… wow, your lips really do go blue."
Tedros blinks back at her, frostbitten face finally exposed. His eyelids, lips and cheeks are all stained with purplish-blue blotches, and his eyes really are very intensely icy blue. She can see white hairs in his eyebrows, probably where the dye has started to come out.
"I thought if you were forced to show me your face, I had to show you mine." frowns Tedros. "I can put foundation back on if it's scary."
"Oh, it's not scary." Agatha shoots him another interested glance- it really is fascinating- and turns away again. "It's not as bad as mine, it doesn't matter."
"Yours doesn't even look that bad, like I just said-"
Agatha cuts across him.
"How did you even know she killed Stefan?"
Tedros blinks.
"I didn't, but Dot told me that Hester told her about it. Is it true?"
"I don't know." admits Agatha. "Probably. Callis believes it. Oh-" Abruptly, she turns back to him. "Tedros, that'll come back and bite you. You can't do that."
"Too late." says Tedros coolly. "Besides, what can she do? She's got no authority over me. Or you, now."
Agatha thinks doubtfully of what Chaddick had told her, but it's too late to get into that tonight. She looks tiredly back at her hands-
"This is my handkerchief." she notices, spotting the initials AA stitched into the corner. "Where did you- is this the one from the tournament?"
"...yes." says Tedros weakly. "I mean, you gave it to me, and I didn't really know what to do with it, so I just… kept it..."
He trails off, biting his cheek.
Sophie's words a few week ago suddenly come back to Agatha;
Despite your churlish attitude and complete lack of fashion sense, I think he does have a little crush on you, yes.
"Right. Well, I'll be keeping it." she says.
"That's fine." mumbles Tedros.
They sit in awkward silence for a moment.
"I've got an idea." Tedros blurts, suddenly. Agatha gets the impression he's been waiting to say it for a few minutes.
"What is it?" she mutters, hoping it's not something that requires too much effort on her part.
Tedros shifts uncomfortably.
"Look, I know this isn't really… ideal… and it's kind of awkward."
"Very awkward." agrees Agatha.
"Right. So, um, I thought we could kind of make it like… a sleepover?"
At her confused lack of response, Tedros's shoulders come up, and she gets the impression that if he could blush- which he clearly can't- he would be doing it.
"It sounds stupid. But I can get some of the wedding cake from the kitchens, and I need to redo my nails anyway, and I can do yours, and Beatrix tells me all sorts of gossip… and… and… I just thought it would be fun."
He looks horribly flustered.
Agatha is fighting the urge to grab his face and squish it, like one would do to a particularly gormless puppy. She knows he has a crush on her, and he's just managed to marry her, but he's offering wedding cake and manicures instead of trying to kiss her.
She smiles at Tedros and watches his face relax in relief.
"Alright, let's do that." she says, hoping she looks as sincere as she feels. "That sounds good."
She's not very good at schooling her expressions, since she's never needed to do it before, but he looks happy as he springs to his feet, so she must have done something right. She accepts his hand up off the floor and smooths her skirts.
"I need to take this stupid thing off, it's getting itchy." she mutters.
"I think it's nice." mumbles Tedros. "You look pretty."
Agatha looks blankly at him, unsure how to respond. Tedros bites his lip.
"Um, but that's fine. You can get changed whilst I go and get the stuff-"
"Wait, I'll need your help with the laces." says Agatha vaguely, twisting her arm experimentally around her side.
Then she realises what she's said.
Spooked, she looks up at him, and he stares back, equally skittish-
Tedros seems to come to himself.
"Yeah, sure, sure-"
Agatha looks quickly away as he moves to stand with her, and starts making quick work of the laces on her left hand side. His hands are still noticeably cold, even through the layers of fabric, and he smells strongly of that mint oil he seems to use as perfume. The whole room smells of it, but it's strongest on him. He leans over to loosen the other side, and Agatha can feel his heart thudding, almost as hard as hers. His breath is cold on the back of her neck. The low thrum of magic she's always been able to sense off of him is as present as ever, but slightly subdued, as if he's making an effort to keep it in check-
Then it spikes, suddenly leaping before it's snatched back into submission. Confused, Agatha looks down-
"Sorry." Tedros mutters, scratching frost off of the laces currently in his hands. "Been hard to control it without gloves."
"It's fine." murmurs Agatha, as he finishes loosening the sides. She pulls the oversleeves off, mostly for something to do.
She doesn't know what compels her to do it, but suddenly, she finds herself turning to look him in the face. She's been avoiding doing it all night, but now…
Of course, he doesn't look away. He looks evenly back at her, and they're still close enough to mean that she can feel his heart pounding.
"I meant it." says Tedros.
He puts his hand out and presses his fingers to the scar next to her mouth.
Agatha knows what he's talking about.
Quietly, she puts her hand up and pulls his away, but doesn't let go of it immediately, squeezing his fingers in silent gratitude. She's not sure she knows what to say, let alone if she'll ever be able to say it, but hopefully he'll understand, anyway…
There is a ring of white around his pupil. Agatha has never noticed that before. She's close enough to see it. Close enough to kiss him...
Agatha thinks about kissing him.
But, in the end, all she says is;
"Don't you need to go to the kitchens?"
Tedros blinks.
"Oh, you're right, yeah, they'll be mad if I'm any later-"
He immediately makes for the door, spell broken, and Agatha flops onto the bed again, exhausted-
And notices the door and the mirror are at such an angle to mean that she can see a little way down the corridor.
So, when Tedros stops halfway down and does a little victory jump, it's probably not as secret as he'd have liked it to be.
"Does it hurt?" asks Tedros into the darkness, much later that night. They've technically been sleeping for at least half an hour, but Agatha has been subtly eating more of the wedding cake off of her bedside table, and she can see Tedros flicking little bits of snow into the air from the light of the small flame she's summoned.
"No." murmurs Agatha, cramming the last of the cake into her mouth and shaking her hand to put the flame out. "Not really. Aches a little, sometimes."
"I'm sorry."
"Nothing to do with you." Agatha drops back against the pillows."It's fine."
They're at very opposing sides of the bed- it's big enough for there to be a very respectable gap between them. Still, Agatha's left side is much colder than her right.
They lie in silence for a while. Agatha burrows further under the covers and listens to Tedros's breathing slowing, and eventually levelling out. The faint sounds of the last few wedding stragglers heading to bed are just about audible, and it's started to rain outside- a welcome departure from all the snow of the last few months.
Agatha turns over. Her magic affords her a little better night vision than the average person, but it's always more practical to have a light. Still, it means she can see Tedros, sprawled out on his side of the bed in one of his stupid barely-laced shirts. He looks very peaceful, which is unusual- usually, he's over-expressive. To see him with no real emotion is odd, and it reminds her of the first time she met him, and how artificial he'd looked.
That hadn't lasted long. Tonight, she'd seen the last of it disappear.
She looks at him for a minute.
"I'm glad it's you." she whispers, barely audible.
She doesn't expect him to hear it. It's enough for her that she's said it in his presence.
So whether or not she dreamed the press of his hand against her cheek, a few minutes later, is not really relevant.
Not really.