Prompt: Royalty AU
They danced late into the night, until Helen had finally relaxed her stiff, regal posture and laid her cheek on Nikola's shoulder, holding him tightly, her eyes closed and a look of concentration on her face, as though she were trying to commit every detail of how he felt in her arms to memory.
That same look was on her face the next morning, when he woke to her gentle caresses and smiled at her while she stroked his hair, softly kissing her good morning for the first and last time.
He dropped her off at the embassy only a few hours later, his heart aching when she turned around for one last glance, their eyes meeting across the sudden vast gulf between them; then, squaring her shoulders, she turned away, a distant queen once more, and disappeared through the doors.