Act II
Scene II

The wedding was a funeral; at least, it was for Tino's heart.

The hall was vast, full of guests, with Tino a mere speck at the very back, and there was a faint chill in the air – the Finn had to cross his trembling hands behind his back to keep his composure.

There was no missing the richly-dressed bride and groom. Yekaterina wore a long, flowing white dress, embroidered with in a myriad of colours, while her hair was braided around her head and adorned with bright flowers. But it was Berwald who was the sight to behold: his suit perfectly cut, every inch of it tailored to his beautiful body, the accents the very colour of his hair while the blues of it seemed to have been dyed from his eyes themselves.

Tino wanted to leave, or he wanted to kiss Berwald senseless, neither of which he could do. He had a duty as a valet to stay, and duty as a lover to do what he knew was right for his love.

The couple were linked by a hand, a simple clasp of the fingers, as a foreign dignitary shakes the hand of his host. Berwald's young brother, the reddish-haired boy, not yet thirteen years old and who Tino hadn't met properly, held the ring (scowling at it as he was wont to do) while Yekaterina's half-sister Natalya stood at her side.

Everything was still, silent but for the halting speech of the priest. To Tino it seemed like a performance – a wedding was the ultimate symbol of the love between two people, but here it was twisted.

Berwald didn't love his bride but instead loved another.
Yekaterina was only marrying her groom because an unwritten rule dictated that she only mattered if she was married.

Where was the sanctity in that?

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

Tino was jerked from his mournful musings by those fateful words that he had dreaded for the last so many months. Seven words to shatter his world, when spoken to his Berwald.

Man and wife.

He couldn't even think the words without bile rising in his throat. And when Berwaldn leant to kiss Yekaterina, sealing the vows, Tino had to look away, lest he start to weep.

Lukas caught him just as the ceremony ended.

"Come with me," was all he said, managing to sound commanding without raising his voice. "Have a drink with me."

That was how Tino ended up in a small, dimly-lit drawing room, no fire to warm it. Lukas had given him brandy – such fine alcohol he had never tasted properly! – and sat back with a notebook and pencil, looking both utterly busy and yet calm at the same time.

"This can't be proper, sir," Tino managed to say after the burn of the brandy had faded from his throat. "Surely you must been needed at the festivities – "

"I'll show my face at dinner," Lukas interrupted, "but I'm not going to float around like a lonely cloud for so long before that." He watched Tino, heartbroken little Tino, and his icy features softened minutely.

"I know exactly how you feel. I experienced this myself." He didn't know whether Berwald had told his lover, so he said no more and hoped Tino understood. "My advice is to brace yourself, because it only gets worse."

"Worse?" Tino mumbled into his glass.

"He will have to appear in public with his wife. He will be expected to act the model couple with her, and of course, there must be no gossip that he is unfaithful to her – though of course there'll be those who expect he has at least one mistress."

Tino didn't answer, preferring alcohol to facing the truth.

"Leave if you can," Lukas said firmly. But that what when Tino had to all but slam the glass down.

"I can't leave him! I won't! He needs me! Have you forgotten that he loves me, as well as I him?" The fact that he was a valet while Lukas was a nobleman was irrelevant here; all that mattered now was that someone was challenging his love for Berwald.

"Love cannot overcome the system," Lukas snapped in retaliation, his own painful thoughts dredged up with Tino's anger. "You will be left in despair if you think you can carry on like this."

"Your system is flawed!"

"It is your system too. You are just as much a part of this as I, and you have been since you came into employment in this castle. And you will be part of this system, like it or not, as long as you associate yourself with Berwald."

Drained, Tino slumped, resting his head on the cold tabletop.

Berwald and his new wife had a honeymoon of no less than three weeks. When Berwald returned, Tino was waiting, forever a loyal valet.

Berwald had instructed him to make up a bed in the dressing room, for he would not, if he could help it, share a bed with Yekaterina. After all, he had spent the last twenty two nights exactly in her bed.

"Did you have a good break, sir?" Tino asked, his smile as wooden as the comb he handed to Berwald as he helped the Swedish lord out of his shirt. "I'm sure you travelled somewhere lovely. By the sea, was it?"

His only response was a grunt.

"I'm sure you are tired. I should leave you be to have an early night," Tino mumbled, almost fearful that Berwald had fallen out of love with him – a notion that shook the Finn to his very core.

"You're thinner."

Berwald always though over his words long and hard, and he knew that Tino's own words were senseless at that point – nervous chatter to blot out the tension between them. Now, his eyes locked onto Tino's via his dressing table mirror, and he repeated his words, "You're thinner, Tino."

"You could say I've not had such an appetite recently…"

"Eat properly now." Berwald turned, and carefully wrapped his arms around Tino, holding him close but tenderly, not wanting to crush Tino with the force of his love. "I worried about you."

All Tino could do was bury his face in Berwald's chest. This couldn't work, but at the same time… all he could do was obey the love that bound them tight than any vow or wedding band.

A/N: Berwald's younger brother in this is Ladonia, for those wondering! And yes, I know, it's heartbreaking and tragic... but things will get better for them, I promise! Oh, and for this, Ukraine has long hair, but braided up and around her head, still giving it the appearance of being short - it suits the time period more, and she'll cut it later!