Prompt: Regal


Sometimes, it didn't matter that they knew the night would end, because the way it filled them with temporary ecstacy was enough to numb the realization.

Tonight was such a night. Yue sat in the rocking chair that looked onto the window. The sky was black velvet, and the breeze was perfect, and her baby crooned softly in her arms.

"I love that sound."

Yue quirked a brow; while Lu Ten was as unafraid to talk sweetly as he was to be witty, she rarely heard such heartfelt emotion in his voice. But that was the benefit of the night, she thought. Her hand smoothed the soft, downy hair atop their child's head. "Amaya, you mean?"

"Yeah." He was sitting on the floor in front of her, legs crossed, his head resting atop her knee. She felt his throat move as he spoke. "It's so innocent. So natural."

"It is." Yue's hand moved the short distance from her daughter's head to her husbands. She ran her fingers through his hair, still slightly damp from his bath.

"Do you ever think that if we weren't who we were, things would be different?"

Yue understood the implications. It was a matter they'd exhausted. A prince, a soldier, a princess, a spirit. But she didn't want to disturb the stillness she'd found in this night, with him. "Things wouldn't be that different."

"Yes they would," Lu Ten said. "We could be like this, together, always."

Her fingers moved lower, smoothed the creases in his brow. "We are, aren't we?"

They fell silent. Eventually, Lu Ten spoke up. "You're right."

"How so?"

"I think, that even if we weren't who we are now, I would still suspect it." Lu Ten paused. "I'd always know you were different."

"You too. I'd know that you were a prince…" Yue swallowed the lump in her throat. "You always look regal when you're bending."

He kissed her, then, knowing that she'd always taste the same, no matter what skin she wore. Their baby spooned between them, Yue leaned forward and returned the kiss, and this soft expression did not disturb the nocturnal stillness.