Link sighed and stretched out, wrapped in her arms. Finally, he was able to get a good sleep again.
"What are you thinking?" she asked softly, stroking his hair.
Link blinked one eye open and looked up at her, shrugging. "Nothin', right now."
"Oh come on, what are you thinking about?" Malon shifted away from him and stretched out under the bedsheets, rolling away from him and onto her side to face him, propping her head up with one arm.
Link rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm thinkin' I should go home an' get some clean clothes." Malon snorted and flopped onto her back, folding her arms. A silence settled in the creaky farmhouse. Link rubbed his stubbly jaw with one hand, and finally sat up to leave the bed. Oh sure, he'd finally been able to sleep, Malon's warm figure against his back. But it did nothing to the stony ache he felt, the pain he'd bore since Zelda walked away with her husband. He splashed cold water on his face from a large, shallow dish for that purpose, and went to pull on his clothes, discarded on the floor.
Malon sat up, watching him. "Link, are you really going?"
He paused, his tunic half-on. "Well, yeah."
She sighed and stood up, wrapping the bedsheets around her form and walking over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I can't convince you to stay?"
Link sighed and kissed her forehead affectionately. "Sorry, but no. I've gotta wander."
Malon nodded, folding her arms across her bust. "Okay." She smiled and gave his shoulder a half-hearted punch. "Come back soon, don't leave me waiting." Link nodded and gave her a quick half-smile before he turned and left.
-
Zelda peeked into the study. Bertrand was reading a heavy, leather-bound book. He looked up when she came in and sighed, looking away again and staring down at the carefully-written letters. Zelda paced over to him, wrapped in her night clothes and a robe, and sat down in one of the other chairs near him. "Bertrand." He looked at her, his dark eyes wary of what little secret she would have this time. "I'm… no apology I can ever make will suffice to make it up to what I have done to the sanctity of our marriage."
He sighed and slammed the book shut on his lap. "True."
Zelda looked down at her hands. "But, I want this to work, for us, and for the country. I wouldn't mind if you found other women to be intimate with when you needed it—
She stopped when she realized he was glaring at her. "What?"
Bertrand set the heavy book down on a nearby coffee table with a thud. "Zelda. I married you for two reasons. One of them was because I believed in a strong marriage for Hyrule and Cortiz. The other reason was because I did, and do, think you are a beautiful woman, and you're intelligent, and I could help you make this country great. If you think, for a minute, that to imply my only interest was getting off with a princess, you insult me, and our marriage as a whole." He stared at her, and Zelda looked at her hands.
They remained gridlocked in a silence for several minutes, until Zelda finally reached out one hand for Bertrand's. He studied it for a few minutes before reluctantly taking it. "When was the last time you and he…"
Zelda thought. "Six months ago."
Bertrand nodded. "And you have not seen him since the wedding?"
"No."
"You understand I will have a hard time trusting you now?"
"Yes."
He sighed. "He took your virtue."
Zelda tensed. "It was mine to give."
"What if he had impregnated you?" Bertrand gripped her hand tight.
She shook her head. "We were careful."
"That wasn't what I asked," he replied with a snap to his voice.
Zelda shook her head. She'd only worried about that when her period was a little later than expected, but it had always come. "If he had…" She didn't have a satisfactory answer, and instead, she looked away. "I don't know."
Bertrand sighed and let go of her hand. He stood up, as did Zelda, and he kissed her forehead lightly. "I will see you for dinner tonight?" Zelda nodded. He tried to smile, but it was a fleeting thing, and Bertrand look leave of the room.
-
Zelda lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling of Link's house. He lay next to her, his breathing heavy, his eyes opened wide. He turned and looked at her, and Zelda looked back. It dawned on her that they had done something very wrong, a fact she cared nothing for when he undressed her and bit her neck, but now it was hanging over her head. Link smiled and reached for her hand, squeezing it. "You look worried," he asked quietly.
Zelda nodded. "I am."
Link sat up, surprised. "Why?"
Zelda sat up too, a hand to her chest. "I shouldn't have let you… Link, I could get in serious trouble for such a thing!" She swore and struggled, kicking against the bedsheets.
Link reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Zelda, calm down. Whatever trouble you get into, I'll face it with you, the way we always have." He pulled her against his side and squeezed. Zelda closed her eyes, grateful for his warmth, both physically and emotionally. "If you didn't want this, you wouldn't have let me get very far." Zelda shook her head, embarrassed that he was right. "And I would've stopped, no matter when you asked me," he added, kissing her ear.
Zelda shivered and looked at him. "But when I get engaged… we can't partake in this sort of activity."
Link nodded. "Absolutely. When you find a… proper king, we'll stop." He leaned forward and kissed her again, on the mouth this time. Zelda wrapped her arms around him and kissed him in response, falling into it eagerly.
Of course, they hadn't stopped. Zelda went back the next day, and the next, surprising him at first with her frequent visits. And each time, no matter what they planned to do ("Let's go for a ride on the horses," "What of a picnic?" "That is a grand idea!") they inevitably fell into Link's bed together, pawing at each other's clothes with a fervor. She was addicted to the salty taste of his skin, the tickle his hair made on her skin when they kissed. She bit at his collarbone, Link gasping and crying out in surprise.
"A rough one, eh?" he asked quietly, pushing her down and holding her hostage with one hand.
"What, can't handle it?" she retorted, her eyes blazing with lust.
Link laughed a quick, short burst, pinning her against the bed and biting the end of her ear sharply. "I'll show you what I can handle," he growled savagely.
-
Link sat in his tiny kitchen once more, watching the sun rise as he drank a bittersweet tea out of Zelda's old cup.