In all of Santana's life there were few moments she could recall that had her feeling as anxious as she was that morning standing outside the queen's door. All she had to do was open it and go inside, in fact, in a short time she would have no choice as there was an assemblage of other slaves who would soon arrive to tend to her other needs. However, Santana was painfully aware that whatever awaited her on the other side would change everything in her life and she wasn't sure which option frightened her more - the idea of Brittany regretting everything from the previous night or her still wanting her morning kiss.

Worse yet, Santana was feeling unsure if she still wanted any of it. Sure, she still felt the same about Brittany as she had before, but now, in the light of day, the dangers of what she had proposed seemed all the more real. She wanted to kiss Brittany very badly, but she also wanted to protect her from what Archibald would do if he found out, in fact it was possible that it was already impossible to keep what had happened hidden.

Knowing she couldn't stand in the royal's hall forever, she braced herself and pushed the door open to find Brittany already awake and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Good morning," the queen said with a smile.

"Good morning, how long have you been up?" Santana asked before moving to straighten the bed sheets.

"I didn't really sleep much."

With a sigh Santana tried to think of what to say next that wouldn't lead them into a conversation about the previous night that she wasn't ready for, when suddenly she was pulled into a firm embrace and kissed quite soundly.

She groaned inwardly at how easily she fell into the arms around her and how eager she was to deepen the kiss. It seemed to last forever and not long enough and when they parted again Santana felt her head swim as she took a shaky step back.

"Wha-" she stuttered, still unable to think clearly.

"You said I could kiss you again in the morning," she said looking a little worried at Santana's reaction, "Was I supposed to ask first?"

"No, you… I- We shouldn't-" Santana growled in frustration, because all the excellent arguments she had come up with in the night were not coming back to her, but looking at the woman in front of her she decided to stop. To stop trying to run from her, because no matter how fast she fled it seemed that Brittany would always be in her heart and mind. There was nowhere to flee and now, with the beauty in front of her willing to accept the advances it had been almost killing her not to make, she decided she was done trying to stop this. Brittany knew full well what they were risking and she had still waited up all night, eagerly awaiting her kiss.

Leaning closer, she held Brittany's cheek in her hand, looking deep into her eyes to be sure the other woman understood, "Are you sure this is what you want?" she asked quietly.

"Are you?" the queen replied with equal seriousness and Santana understood that the question held just as much weight for her.

"I am."

Brittany smiled and leaned forward slowly, closing the distance between them, "Then so am I."

With that their lips met again, but this time it was slower and much more tender, making Santana's heart beat in an odd, fluttery pattern. She was still aware that there were others who were to enter at some point and she was very afraid of being found out, but when Brittany lay back and pulled her on top of her nothing seemed to matter.

Until there was a sharp knock at the door and Santana almost fell over herself trying to back away. For her part, Brittany seemed unconcerned by the knock, but completely flushed from the kiss. She sat up and looked at Santana as if she were considering not answering the door at all and resuming their previous actions.

Licking her lips slowly, she took a deep breath before calling out, "Enter."

Soon the rest of the queen's servants filed in and began to work on her hair and pick out her clothes since nothing had been laid out yet, not one of them concerning themselves with her rapid breathing or heavy stares to Santana.

While the others worked, Santana did her part every now and then in silence, hoping beyond hope once they made it out into the hall that Brittany would have learned discretion with the stares she gave. Once the queen was dressed, they exited into the main hallway and waited for Archibald who came right on time as usual with his entourage in tow.

Brittany fell right in line with her normal routine, doing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. They walked into the dining hall and parted ways with the king so she could take her place at the opposite end and Santana followed.

Once the food had been placed in front of her, the queen ate quietly, though she did play with her bread a little making Santana unwillingly smile. The king finished first and then swept from the hall with all the self-importance he could exude, leaving the two of them alone together.

At first the hall was merely silent, but soon enough the queen finished her food and stood to leave in a much more calm fashion than her husband. Santana followed once more, feeling a little confused; she had expected that once they were alone she would have been ravished if the looks the queen sent her before were to be believed. But the woman had finished her entire meal as though Santana wasn't even in the room, and then the reason occurred to her… or more like the reason came flooding into the room as they left.

The kitchen staff was always watching and waiting silently to begin to clean, and this was true for most places in the castle where the royals spent any considerable amount of time. Santana was a little surprised at herself for forgetting that fact and was even more surprised that Brittany had remembered.

Usually Archibald went for a ride with Brittany on mornings like this, but ever since he had become king they hadn't. So in the cool, clear light of day they went to the gardens, the queen's arms wrapped around hers as was usual when they were alone. The blonde hadn't lost her love of closeness in lieu of their new arrangement.

Once they arrived, the queen politely asked for her blanket, which she used to take long naps in the sun or to sit on when her dress was in danger of being ruined by grass. Santana fetched it, but was a little confused since it hadn't rained recently, her dress was a dark blue so not in danger of damage, and she had just woken, so a nap seemed unnecessary. In addition to that oddness, she wanted to sleep on the far side of the large tree that grew there, however, that side was directly exposed to sunlight.

Santana did as she was asked, thinking maybe she was cold since the air had been getting much cooler as winter approached and since she had gotten little sleep her morning meal may have made her lethargic. She thought all this while spreading the sheet out and thinking nervously of all the windows in the castle that looked out over the area they were in now. The dining hall had made her more wary than ever, so when Brittany finally lay out on the blanket and bid Santana to join her, the smaller woman only stood there.

Brittany smiled up at her, "Come here, please?" she asked, her arms open.

After a little debate Santana came to the conclusion that it wasn't out of the ordinary for Brittany to hold her, and quite frankly she wanted to be held. Besides that the other woman had recently shown that she knew the danger they were in and the meaning of discretion.

A small nod preceded Santana lowering herself to Brittany's side, and when she lay down she was completely shocked to feel those soft lips meeting her own. Swiftly she pushed the blonde away, feeling white hot terror rush through her has she looked around franticly for an audience that wasn't there.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, almost panting with fear.

Brittany gave a small frown, "Kissing you."

"We could be seen!" Santana whispered fiercely.

"Not here, there are no windows that overlook this spot and I would hear anyone approach."

"Yes, there a-" but she stopped, realizing for the first time that from the opposite side of the large tree she could see no windows, only tall stone walls meant to shield the castle from the cold ocean winds. The closest she knew to separate them from the stables and the other side of the one on the far left was rocks and little else, the wall before them gave way to a sheer drop and was purposefully impossible to scale.

To make sure, Santana scrambled up and looked around the tree to note that only when she moved from behind it could she see the three windows that overlooked the gardens. Satisfied, she returned to her previous position and happily returned the kiss she had been given, making Brittany giggle at her enthusiasm.

Santana kissed her for all she was worth and did it again and again until her head got that familiar floating feeling, only stopping when she absolutely had to have air. It was a difficult task to kiss the queen so soundly and keep her hands from wandering, though she wanted to touch every part of her Santana felt lucky that she were allowed to be even that intimate and didn't want to scare her by going too far too soon.

Those were her rules and she focused on them wholeheartedly, fighting the war within over the desire not to ruin everything and the throbbing need to put her lips over every inch of Brittany. Her rules stayed in the front of her mind, meaning she was at a loss when Brittany broke them. A slim hand pushed in-between the buttons of her shirt making Santana gasp and shudder in pleasure, her disappointment when the hand was swiftly removed was immense.

"I didn't mean to," Brittany said, looking very worried and apologetic, "Sorry, my hand just moved on its own." She sat up quickly, folding her arms and tucking her hands in.

"Don't be," Santana said, letting out a long breath to slow her heart, "I didn't mind."

Brittany smiled shyly, "Your lips make me forget myself."

And as they were supposed to at the very least be listening for others approaching, Santana decided that a break was in order. Sitting up as well she guided one of Brittany's hands into her own, holding it gently to let her know her touch was not unwanted.

"And yours have a very similar effect on me," Santana said lightly.

A light laugh escaped her, "Maybe, but I think you may be at an advantage, the last person who gave me a kiss of any meaning was my mother before she left me here, and of course that wasn't the same."

Santana was taken aback by that; Brittany had just shared something very private with ease, or it had been by her own personal standards. For Santana, talking of past hurts wasn't something she would do so easily and Brittany's parents leaving her with Archibald, that had to be one.

There was silence as Brittany coaxed Santana into lying down with her again, this time keeping her close so she could lie on her back and hold Santana's hand between her own, tracking the patterns in her palm as the sun shone down.

Looking over, Santana saw the soft smile on her face as her fingers danced over the lines, tracing every one as if memorizing it.

"How do you do that?" Santana asked, unable to keep the question in any longer.

Brittany turned to her, smiling, "Do what?"

"That," she said, giving the blonde a meaningful look, "how do you keep smiling when things here are…"

"Oh," Brittany said, her smile dampening a little, "It's not easy, but as a knight it is something I must do."

Santana tried not to frown, but it happened anyway, "You're a knight?" she asked; maybe in her homeland children were made knights.

"Not officially, but I'm my own knight. I have to be, because no one else will save me. And that's what knights do, they protect people and save damsels in need of rescue. For a long time I was really sad, because no one would come for me, and then I realized that if no one would, I would have to do it myself."

"What does it mean? For you to be a knight?"

"I have to make myself happy and stay that way, even if I'm really sad. And I have to laugh at least once a day, not a fake laugh either, a real one."

"How did you come up with that?" Santana asked, genuinely wanting to know. She had lived through tragic circumstances, but all she could think to do was to forget everything and hate everyone.

"When I was first left here I was really sad all the time, I missed my family and Artie wasn't as mean as he is now, but he wasn't exactly nice either. I had already sent word to my parents, but my mother only sent back letters telling me about how things were at home, it was like she didn't care. I tried to tell the king and queen, but as kind as they were they didn't send me home and they wouldn't discipline Artie. I would cry a lot, whenever I was lonely or when Artie teased me, but when it was my wedding day I realized that those feelings weren't going to go away. It was the start of the rest of my life and it looked miserable. So I decided on then and there that if everyone was going to ignore me then I would just become a knight and make sure I was happy."

Santana felt a sense of awe for the woman at her side, it was no small feat to keep a smile on through everything that happened to her.

"That is an admirable thing to do."

Brittany gave a small shrug, "It has its failings. Like sometimes I forget that I don't really live in a place where people want me around and offer my opinion where it isn't wanted, or sometimes I greet servants too politely and it gets me strange looks. Not just from Artie, but from everyone. It also means that sometimes I forget how cruel this place is," she said sadly, looking to Santana, "it makes me forget that people are beaten for no reason at all."

The brunette suddenly realized Brittany was referring to when she had discovered that Santana had been receiving brutal lashings for her mistakes, "Don't worry yourself over that," Santana said quietly, but Brittany shook her head.

"I should have known, Matthew and Tina swore you were fine, but why would anything to do with him end well for a servant? I just forgot, because Jean had been with me for so many years and Artie always thought she was too damaged in the head to understand pain. She wasn't, but it was best to let him think that."

"I haven't had a lashing in ages, so everything's fine. Besides, it's really wonderful that you found a way to stay happy."

Her smile dimmed a little more, "That's another failing, it doesn't always work. Sometimes I get really sad or lonely… but you know that," she said quietly.

"Sometimes it's good to feel those things, pretending nothing hurts can be just as bad letting everything upset you. I would know, I pretended nothing hurt, I let things happen to me and acted as if it didn't matter, but it did. Disregarding my own feelings made me throw away a lot of myself," Santana said sadly, unwilling to go into the specifics of her past.

Brittany clasped her hand and brought it to her chest, "I think there's lots left to admire."

"Maybe, but I miss who I used to be and feel a great sense of loss for who I could have become," she admitted for the first time to anyone, including herself.

"If you could be anything what would you be?" Brittany asked suddenly and Santana was taken aback by the question.

"Free?"

She waved a hand, "Given, so you're free, what would you be?"

"A healer."

The blonde gave her an inquisitive glance, "Why?"

"My parents were," she answered simply, feeling a little tense that the conversation was moving so close to how her life was before.

However, the other woman pried no further, "Okay, where would you be a healer?"

Santana snorted, "Does it matter?"

"Does it to you?"

Giving the queen an exasperated look, she sighed, "In the Far South, maybe it's my heritage, but I prefer the warm weather and it's far from this kingdom."

"Where would you have your hospice?"

"In a large town," she answered, having given up trying to understand the line of questioning.

"Would you help anyone or only the people in town."

"Everyone."

"Even servants?"

"Of course," Santana answered incredulously.

"Just asking," she said soothingly before planting a kiss on Santana's temple, calming the glower that was on her face. "Would… would you marry?" her voice dropped to the timid octave she used when unsure.

"I don't know much about the Far South, but if they wed women to each other then I might."

Brittany grinned, "Really, women only?"

She shook her head, fixing her eyes on their entwined hands, "What I feel for men doesn't compare."

"So what kind of woman do you marry?"

"I-" she paused, suddenly feeling uncomfortable answering, "I don't know, whoever will have me I suppose."

Brittany frowned, "That won't do. You're free in a new land with healer's training and a new hospice, your wife can't be 'whoever will have you'."

"I guess someone like Sam, a boy I used to know in the vineyard where I was raised," she answered evasively. They had only been intimate one day and she just wasn't ready to confess to wanting to wed the woman, even though the moment Brittany had asked the question the queen had been the only person she pictured.

"So a woman that's like a boy?"

"No, a woman that's like a woman, but acts like Sam. He was nice."

"It seems to me as though you are finding another way of saying whoever will have you," she said, eyeing Santana suspiciously, making the smaller woman squirm.

"So what if I am, I haven't thought about this kind of thing much," she bristled, but then Brittany kissed her again and her calm returned.

"So this other Santana who has all these things you don't, how is she better than you?"

She had to fight not to laugh aloud, "In every way, she has everything I don't."

"No, I mean how is she a better person. What is she that you're not," she said before pointing to Santana's heart, "on the inside."

The smaller woman stared disbelievingly at how perceptive this seemingly simple woman was, but being who she was Santana was unwilling to concede that easily. "She would still have her dignity, because she wasn't passed around like a rag as a child, and she would have her parents and a trade she was good at. She would remember the language of her ancestors, because she would have had no call to forget and she would remember-" Santana stopped, because her words bordered on too much honesty, there were things even she didn't want to face.

"It sounds like she's had an easier life, but you haven't told me how she's a better person," Brittany said softly. When Santana averted her gaze the other woman held their hands up again, interlocked they made a pattern of caramel brown and pale white that seemed to interest the queen.

"I would be a toy maker. I would travel like Kurt and give my toys to any who wanted them. I wouldn't charge, so I'd have to live off the land, but I don't like to kill animals so I'd have to be good at cooking the plants I find in my travels. I don't think I would marry unless it was someone who I loved very much, but even then they'd have to want it. I don't think marriage is necessary; I can happily just be with them without it. That Brittany would always be happy, she wouldn't need a knight, and she'd remember her parents' faces and the language of her people, too. And no one would ever hit her, because who hits a toymaker who gives away toys?" she laughed.

Archibald. Santana thought bitterly before another thought hit her, "You spoke a different tongue before you came here?"

She nodded, "I don't recall it at all now, Artie would scream at me every time he couldn't understand my words."

"How did you ever learn to speak?"

"Matthew."

Santana frowned, "I don't understand him, how can he be so kind yet protect that… man," she spat, not at all agreeing with her own word choice.

"He's always treated Matthew with more kindness than anyone else, it's because they have grown into adulthood together or because Artie knows Matthew is where his true strength lies."

"His respect has a limit, if the other day proved anything."

"It does, yet for all his threats to have him beaten or sent away he never has. Artie cares for Matthew as much as someone with that much anger in them can," she said with a sigh, turning their hands over.

"And what has made him so angry?"

"Me, in great part. His parents always allowed him everything, but suddenly he was forced to be my husband, though he detested me, and was furthermore made to make haste in creating an heir. And when it failed and he began to strike me they made him stop several times, but he would always start again. When he kept his markings where no one could see them his parents were content to ignore it." Turning their hands over again she sighed sadly, "He is a spoiled child and I am the thing keeping him from having the freedom he wants."

Santana had a hard time thinking of Archibald's desire as true freedom, what he wanted was to be a tyrant. And with his parents gone it seemed like there wasn't truly anything keeping him from what he wanted. Unfortunately, he was slowly starting to realize that.

After their talk, Santana stayed hidden in that magical space behind the large tree, kissing Brittany for quite some time, and would have been content to live out her days under its branches. But once the sun was high above them it was time to take her to court to sit with the king.

During the reprieve, Tina left to find Michael as she usually did and Santana left to go to the stream and stick her head in the water, because spending all morning with her lips on Brittany's had made her whole body hot in a way that had nothing to do with the sun.

As she wiped the water out of her eyes she sat back at the bank of the river. She still wasn't completely sure of what Brittany felt for her, but she found she was able to identify more clearly what she felt for the blonde. It was like love, but not. Love didn't seem to be a strong enough word for how the woman could make her want to risk everything to be with her. Sam was someone she could easily say she loved, but it wasn't even close to the same thing. She had always considered herself fairly well learned, having been so studious as a child and on account of Sam showing her things and explaining words, but now she felt the fool, because she couldn't think of the right name for what was stirring within her.

However, she didn't let it worry her; as far as she knew there wasn't even a name for her attraction to Brittany, let alone any developing thoughts from that.

There, sitting in the sun, for the first time in a very long time, she did not think of how dire her situation was or of how to escape her current predicament. She didn't think of soft lips or panic because she was; there was no turmoil within her as she stared at the rushing water.

The only thing she thought of as she observed the reflective surface was a healer helping a beautiful, blonde woman who made toys.

A/N: So real talk time I guess.

The common question is: Why is Artie such an asshole? Well Brittany explained the bulk of it, but what must be remembered is this story takes place in a time period where as king you could pretty much to whatever to whomever. Granted the history is fictional but for the most part I'm working off how things were in ye olden days. Now why specifically have Artie be this way? Here is my reasoning. (please keep in mind Glee writing is such that all characters nature is subject to debate. This is just how I see it)

Canon Artie is a bit of a jerk, and I don't just mean him calling Brittany stupid, I mean his entire attitude towards women going back as far as Tina and even his flippant-supposed-to-be-funny hint that he could still perform sexually. He tends to be very sensitive to things that concern him and his handicap, but can be surprisingly insensitive about others issues. He seems to prefer telling others to care rather than do it himself (Becky is an obvious example).

That said I take into account these actions paired with the fact that he is in a wheelchair. The experience seems to have humbled him a bit and opened his eyes to things that he otherwise wouldn't have had to face, however through all that he can still be so very callous. Now I'm not saying that is unrealistic at all, but what I took from that was, if removed from his handicap, placed under two doting parents who gave him no restrictions in a time period that was mostly patriarchal in nature, this man would be a possible result.

Not saying it's fact, merely an interpretation and a look into why I picked him as opposed to say Finn or Puck, who if given the same background could become something similar. However it would be a stretch, to me, to have them reach the same extreme since at their core they are very different people. For instance I think Finn would be quite chauvinistic and overbearing to his queen, but easily swayed by Matthew which would hold him back from reaching Archibald's level. And Puck would be all over the place, more like an uncontrollable party animal and playboy, if he didn't like Brittany then he wouldn't deal with her at all. Neither would be as reckless with war negotiations, I think both would know to leave it to Matthew to tell them how to proceed and take his advice far more easily.

But that's just how I see it.