"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person."

-"Invisible Monsters", Chuck Palahniuk

"Have I done something to offend you?"

Zelda gently set down her fork and knife, looking at her husband. She'd been about to take a bite of her meal, lost in her thoughts. "No…" she replied quietly, tilting her head. Bertrand had barely touched his own food. They'd been married for a few months by this point.

He folded his hands in his lap and looked at his wife with worried sincerity. "My lady, we've—no. I feel there is a distance between us. You are always tied to your thoughts." Indeed, over the past few months, he found that living with Zelda in the castle had become similar to living on his own, or with a doll. Her eyes were cloudy with a reverie while eating, in her study with a book, or lying awake at night. And they had not coupled since their wedding night. And she rarely engaged him in talk unless a problem arose that she could not figure out on her own. She was surprisingly intelligent, and Bertrand felt intimidated by her.

Zelda looked down at her plate, chewing her lower lip. "I'm sorry, dear husband. I've just… been waiting for a child." She smiled wanly. Faker, the soft, masculine voice always in her head replied.

Bertrand laughed uneasily. "Well, a second time could be a charm, couldn't it?" Zelda nodded reluctantly. Bertrand went back to eating his dinner, as did the queen. But she could not help but linger over her personal thoughts, retreating inside herself yet again.

"Rupee for your thoughts?"

Zelda was lying on her back, Link's cheek pressed against her chest. He was listening to her heartbeat, his skin slick with sweat. She curled her fingers through his hair, stroking down his spine. But now she looked at him, half-lifting her head. "Hm?"

Link shifted so that he could actually look up at her, scooting up and kissing her neck. "Are you off communin' with the goddesses or somethin'?"

She shook her head and smiled. "I'm just thinking of how nice this is." Link nodded, kissing Zelda's inner arm where she embraced his shoulders.

"I'll keep you," he whispered to her skin.

Zelda laughed, shaking her head. "I'm the royalty here, shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Link shrugged, a devilish grin in his eyes as he moved his lips from her arms to her stomach. "True… I guess," he mumbled as he kissed a path down to her navel and beyond. Zelda shuddered, closing her eyes with pleasure.

When she opened them again, she was still laying in bed. Bertrand half-heartedly cuddled up to her afterwards, nuzzling her shoulder. "Bertrand?" she asked the air softly. From him, she got a grunt of affirmation. Zelda took a deep breath, biting her lower lip. "Do you remember the young man you met at our wedding?"

Bertrand woke up a little more, and he looked at her in confusion. "Which… there were many."

"I was on the balcony, and he was out there with me. I came in crying because of a sad story."

Bertrand straightened, waking up more with each second. Something cold settled in his stomach. "Yes?"

Zelda looked over at him. Tell him, her conscience hissed. "Do you want to hear the story?"

Bertrand touched her cheek with tenderness. "Only if you don't cry."

Zelda looked away again. "I can't promise that."

He shrugged and sat up, hugging her close. "Go on, then."

Zelda could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "There once was a girl, who met a young boy through a set of mysterious circumstances. As she got older, she fell in love with him, sneaking away from her home every night to see him. But… class differences meant that they could never be together. She was engaged to another man-" she glanced at Bertrand, who looked as if he was piecing it together faster than she wanted, "and while she appreciated him, she could not love him the way that she loved this young man-" her tears were falling now, and she wiped them away herself, "and she kept seeing the young man every night, for months, fighting with him in the hopes that he would hate her and tell her to leave—

She choked out a sob. Bertrand kept a comforting hand on her shoulder, but leaned back and tried to get a good look at her. "You… were seeing another man?" Zelda nodded, unable to speak from crying. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Bertrand asked quietly. Zelda shook her head, curling up with her head on her knees. "Is that why you're so distant? Why you won't lie with me?" Zelda nodded. Bertrand pulled away and looked away, covering his mouth with his hand. "Oh." They sat like that in silence as Zelda tried to calm herself down, shuddering. "So why did you marry me?" he asked.

Zelda wiped at her tears again, sniffling. "Because it's what was good for Hyrule." She looked at Bertrand. "Have you ever loved anyone so much that you thought your heart would break?"

Bertrand nodded, touching her cheek. "It was you."

Zelda gasped in horror and burst into fresh tears. Bertrand climbed out of their bed, putting on a robe and walking out of the room, leaving her to cry alone.