"Your Majesty!" Count Gloucester's face was white with rage. "You must speak with that artist of yours about his coronation gift."
Byleth barely resisted rubbing her temples and leaned back in her throne. She would never grow used to all the pomp that her position required. Nemesis had been destroyed over a month ago, and she had been de facto queen for even longer than that, but the nobles still required a formal coronation so they could curry favor and show off their clothes yet again. Retinues from all corners of Fódlan had been arriving at the monastery for days now, and the tide showed no signs of slowing. She told herself it was important to celebrate and take the opportunity to forge a sense of unity for her fledgling nation.
Leave it to Gloucester to be infuriated about a blasted painting. "Ignatz hasn't even let me see it yet. How did you manage?"
He had the good grace look a bit sheepish. "One of my men may have visited his studio when he wasn't there. Only for the briefest of moments, you understand." The anger returned. "He dared to put that woman alongside you and Prince Claude as if you were equals. As if she were a hero."
Byleth didn't need to ask who he would referring to. "Lady Edelgard saved the lives of every man, woman, and child on the continent and shall bear the scars from it for the rest of her life. I'd say that qualifies as heroism."
"But after all she's done…"
"Did she murder the uncle of one of my dear students and the parents of two more?" She lowered her voice barely above a whisper. "I haven't made a full investigation of those deaths because getting rid of you is more trouble than it's worth. I suggest that you do nothing to alter that calculation."
He flinched as if she had waived the Sword of the Creator in his face. "Of course, Your Majesty. With your permission, I'll take my leave."
He left, and Byleth exhaled. The sooner this coronation was over, the sooner she could get back to the parts of ruling that were actually important. Reconstruction in Goneril and in Enbarr was proceeding apace, but there were still thousands of refugees who she needed to find new homes for. Lorenz had proposed a hundred amendments and extensions to her reforms that she needed to review. There were rumors of an entire underground village beneath the monastery and...
"Byleth?"
Edelgard's voice snapped Byleth from her reverie. Edelgard stood before the throne as if she had materialized from the air. Sometimes, Byleth wondered if she was in fact an unearthly creature tethered to this world by Byleth's own desperate desire. Her time as Hegemon had left its mark on her. Her skin was white like milk, and the growths on her cheeks and veins around her eyes showed no signs of fading. The woman who had cheated death and was transformed into a walking corpse, said campfire gossip. Byleth put a hand to her chest. Because of Edelgard, her own heart beat.
She stood and offered a hand to Edelgard. Edelgard came to her and let Byleth enfold her in a hug. Men like Gloucester knew nothing. They didn't care how warm Edelgard was or the way her eyes glittered when Byleth practiced telling jokes. They knew nothing of finding peace after so much bloodshed. "How much did you overhear?" she murmured against the crown of Edelgard's head.
"Enough." She pulled back so they could look at each other. "He lived in terror of me for five years, and nothing I do will erase that. We should probably be more discreet than we are before people complain about more than Ignatz's paintings."
"To the flames with discretion." She traced the largest of the growths on Edelgard's face, following the line of her cheekbone across the rough and jagged husk. "You've earned the right to stand by my side openly and I won't treat you like some dirty secret. Gautier and Gloucester should be glad that I don't make them get on their knees to you for all you've done."
Edelgard glanced down. She would have been blushing if she had been able. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's still so much more to be done."
"Indeed." It would be the work of a decade or more to rebuild Fódlan and train up the first nobles of merit. For half of each year, Edelgard would be with Ashe and Lysithea while Byleth made circuits of the kingdom. She dreaded that time of absence with all the fear her newly-wakened heart could muster. "But on the very day that work is done..."
She kissed Edelgard. Her mouth was misshapen, but still warm and soft. Byleth was slow, thorough, pulling little gasps from Edelgard with each brush of her lips. Edelgard pulled her close and held her as if she would never let her go.
They stood like that and until Byleth's arms were sore and her lungs desperate for breath. When at last they pulled back, Edelgard's hair was mussed and they were both breathing hard. Both smiling. "When our work is done, I'll come to you and I won't leave again unless you ask me."
"Are you telling me a decade in advance that you plan to propose? How very forward of you, my darling." Edelgard stood on tiptoe to smooth Byleth's hair. Light danced in her eyes. "Lucky for you that I doubt my answer will change between now and then."
Heat spread across Byleth's cheeks. "Should I do it now? I'm not really sure of the etiquette on this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her mother's ring. The gemstones caught the light of the audience chamber and glistened as if they were stars. "Dad told me to give it to the person I wanted to spend my life with. That's you. It always has been and always will be."
Edelgard stared at the ring, her mouth half-open. "N-no. I didn't mean you should propose. The Queen of Fódlan can't marry the Flame Emperor. There would be a civil war before the words left your mouth." Her voice was pained.
"Can Byleth Eisner marry Edelgard von Hresvelg?" She closed her eyes. They would have to be careful while the crown rested her on her head, but they had also endured so much since Byleth had pulled her to her feet in the throne room. It was foolish to speak of what they deserved, but she would take all the happiness she could.
Byleth opened her eyes once more. "I meant what I said. You've earned the right to stand by my side openly. I won't make them bow to you as my consort, but you are the woman I love and I will marry you on the very day I abdicate if you'll allow it." She knelt and held out the ring. "Will you take this as a promise of that day, El, and let me share my life with you in whatever way that I can?"
Edelgard's right hand covered her mouth as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She nodded once, so small that Byleth almost thought she had imagined it, and extended her left hand. Byleth's own hands trembled as she slipped the ring onto her finger.
Edelgard pulled Byleth to her feet and they were both crying, even though Byleth didn't know why. Edelgard wiped her eyes and wrapped her arms around Byleth. "Proposed to in the middle of the afternoon in the audience chamber. I never could have imagined it."
"I can do it over. Dinner by candelight, a walk in the woods, a visit to the Goddess Tower.."
"No, my darling." She pecked Byleth on the lips. "I mean that even in my schoolgirl fantasies, it was all passionate declarations and sweeping gestures. I never imagined having a future, let alone building a life with you."
"Oh." Byleth hadn't imagined this either. They were supposed to be mortal enemies, the chosen of the Goddess and the heretical emperor. They should have died in the throne room at Enbarr. But they had defied destiny and legacy to become two not-so-very-ordinary women. They were free, and it was a greater miracle than anything Byleth had managed when she wielded Sothis' power. "I think it'll be a pretty nice life." She gave Edelgard a last squeeze. "I have been meaning to get to, but tonight I should romance you properly. All the wine and the things I'm supposed to do now."
"When have either of us done what we were supposed to?" Edelgard threaded their fingers together, but didn't meet Byleth's eyes. "I…if we are truly engaged... that is perhaps you would care to join me in my quarters when you're ready to retire?"
Byleth swallowed. A lifetime of ribald stories from the Blade Breakers and a year of minding and treating amorous teenagers hadn't prepared her for the thought of being with Edelgard. Truly being with her. "I'm afraid I'll disappoint you but if it's truly what you want, yes. Oh yes."
"I don't think you can disappoint me." Her smile made her look softer and younger, almost shy. "We should leave before prying eyes wonder what happened to their queen. May I walk with you?"
"Always."
Edelgard moved to remove the ring, but Byleth put a hand over hers. "Anyone who knows what that ring means already knows about us. And even if they didn't, I won't hide you away."
They walked together in silence. The guards and monks Seteth had set the task of helping him rebuild the church nodded or gave perfunctory bows as they passed. Some glared at Edelgard, but if they recognized the significance of the ring on her left hand, they gave no sign. Even though guests were pouring in from as far away as Dagda and Almyra, the upper floors of the monastery were quiet, as if the whole building was morning the woman who had created it and all the rest who had died to put an end to the darkness. The public funeral of Archbishop Rhea had been attended by thousands. Only a dozen had watched Byleth inter her beside her siblings and place the inert Sword of the Creator on the throne where it belonged. She still didn't know how she felt about the woman she had wanted so badly to be her surrogate mother. Maybe she never would.
One door had been left open, and Byleth caught a flash of red out of the corner of her eye and stopped. This room was normally used for storage of artifacts and old documents, but for now it was dominated by an easel with a painting on it. This must be the coronation gift that had had Gloucester almost apoplectic. She ducked inside.
Edelgard crossed her arms. "You can wait a few more days, can't you? If Ignatz had wanted you to see it before the coronation, he would have shown you."
"You're curious too. Admit it."
"I'm marrying the most impulsive and curious woman in Fódlan." Edelgard smiled as she said it and joined Byleth.
The painting was done in the same style as the murals depicting the seasons that dotted the monastery. It was a group portrait. Of them. Byleth, Claude, Edelgard, everyone who had fought in this war from the day she had awoken to the final battle in Enbarr. She saw the orange of Ferdinand's hair and the blue of Caspar's eyes, and a lump formed in her throat. Byleth wore the eagle crown Edelgard had bestowed on her and the furred cloaks of the rulers of Faerghus and held a staff topped with a golden stag. Edelgard was as she was now, pale and in her familiar black and red, looking as regal as ever.
It was only when she looked closer that she saw the titles. Ignatz had woven golden letters around each figure. King of Unification. Noble of the Red Rose. Stalwart Knight. She almost feared to look for her own. She had been the Ashen Demon, the murderer who deserved none of the good things she had received. And then she had been the Enlightened One, Sothis come again, except that it was all a lie. Who was she now?
It was Edelgard who saw it first. "Dawn Queen. It suits you. You managed to lead Fódlan into its new dawn. And you've given me a reason to look forward to the dawn instead of fearing that each new day would be the one where I lost everything."
Byleth didn't trust herself to reply to that directly so she forced down the burning in her throat. "Do you want me to find yours?"
Edelgard shrugged. "I don't see how it could be anything but Flame Emperor, but then again you're the one crowned, not me. I'm curious."
It didn't take Byleth long to find what she sought. "Breaker of Fate." She looked at Edelgard, her lips parted in surprise and pleasure. Her love. Her fiancée. The woman who had taken the stony heart of a demon and given her a heart of flesh. "I can't think of anything that suits you more."