I had the most terrible urge to give this story a proper ending. I love the characters too much to leave them hanging on the edge of happiness forever.
I may get another urge at some point in the future to write their wedding night - or at least the beginning of it.
I really hope you enjoyed it. It's fresh from my brain and my heart. And it's dedicated to the rugged Scottish man who I still dream about meeting and marrying.

Epilogue

Now I know it's true, my every road leads to you
And in the hour of darkness your light gets me through
You run like the river, shine like the sun
You fly like an eagle, oh, you are the one
I've seen every sunset, and with all that I've learned
It's to you I will always, always return.

Greta clutched at my hand, positively shivering, though with excitement or dread I couldn't tell. A marriage and an announcement of impending warfare all in one day. It was more than she could take.

It was more than I would have been able to withstand if Erik hadn't been there, directly before me, utterly ignoring the Bishop who recited rites at him by heart. Stare fixed always on me. It kept me still, rooted to the ground, upright in the air. It kept my heart from freezing inside me, kept the very blood beating.

I gazed back, holding to him with my eyes. So breathtaking in his High Constable's uniform. No time to change dress, not even for me. No flowers, no maids but Greta and her girls. Somehow it was all just perfect as it was. The great hall of my father yawned over us with such splendour, his throne directly behind the bishop as though quietly watching, encouraging. The gathered people beyond the dais like a sea of life, also observing intently, observing the unbroken connection between myself and Erik. There it was, plain for all to see.

Even plain to William, who stood in the corner of my eye like a lone figure of great history, a soldier, betrayed and undermined but still undefeated. Still his whole self. Still full of the life he would live in this castle or in Hammond's, and the wife he would choose and the children he would rear, and the noble position I would ensure he was given.

William. My childhood. My past. Still my friend.

"At this day of binding," the Bishop warbled, "if any man do alleged and declare any impediment why they may not be coupled together in Matrimony, by God's Law, or the Laws of the Realm; and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties; or else put in a Caution to prove his allegation; then the solemnization must be deferred, until such time as the truth be tried."

William's mouth moved with the rest as though without effort. He concealed the pain well enough.
"It is all well with us, let them marry."

A twinkling triumph came into Erik's blue stare. The corner of his lips curved upward, and I knew his relief, the absolute purity of the relief of this moment. I was going to be his. Finally, after everything, we would be able at last to simply love. The welling love between us like cold clear water, refreshing, life-giving, we could drink of over and over and never tire, always giving back what we took from it in this everlasting cycle of communion, or mutual and shimmering love. It would never end. The ecstasy of our union would never end. The truth of true love.

It hushed every other thing in the world, even the war. Nothing but this for now. Nothing but the ending of a torture I thought would never cease. What pure relief it was, to look at him and know that I had all of him, unlimited and whole forever. I would never quite get enough. The fresh clear water would always leave me wanting that much more, its cyclical motions pulling me always back to the beginning, back to the wanting, and then once again to fulfilment.

"I will," he said, in his pure lilting rumbling accent. The breath rushed clean out of me.

Surely I was not standing on stone slabs. Surely we had ascended to some other unearthly realm, where the gods romped and the very daylight was a pleasure so intense and pure. I felt as though I had returned to the Sanctuary, that the White Hart was even now looking down at me with his all-knowing, all-giving gaze of fullness and beauty.

"Highness, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honour and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?"
"I will," I barely managed.

Was it time yet? Was it time to fall into his hands? My legs were weakening every second.

"Who giveth this Woman to be married to this Man?"
"I do."

Hammond's broad fingers instead took my own, and it was support enough. His acceptance, his faith alone was enough to keep me steady. I glanced at him gratefully; he gave me to the Bishop, who in turn gave me to Erik. Masculine warmth flooded through me at the touch. I felt vivid and alive again, no longer in the Sanctuary. His grasp was sanctuary for a lifetime. I watched the movements of his mouth after the Bishop's, watched the life flow in him that passed through every muscle, that vibrated in him as something beyond existence, glorious and all-consuming. He said the words it took to bind us for eternity.

"I, Man, take thee Woman to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereunto I grant thee my troth."

I repeated in no more than a murmur, only to him, while the rest of the hall held its breath to hear me. I listened to the blessing of the rings with impatience and to Erik's next words with winded suspense as he proceeded to fit the golden band around my finger. My mother's wedding band.

"With this Ring I thee wed, and with my body I thee honour, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

It fit. It fit. And so did my father's on Erik's hand. A miniature of the crown he would soon bear too.

"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder." The Bishop turned to the mass of inquisitive, thrilled and apprehensive faces. "For as much as Man and Woman have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth each to the other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce therefore that they be Man and Wife together, in the Name of the God, our Bishop, and our King who is the protector of the Holy Spirit and our people. Amen."

To us – not me, or Erik, but us, as a whole – he said, "May God bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully show his favour whilst looking upon you; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen."

And with that he spun us to face the crowd, and I was whirled into Erik's arms at last.
His mouth met mine half open, like a memory, and I was lost to giddiness for wonderful moments. His sudden whisper at my ear as I clung to him like a child, the northern huskiness brushing through my hair. "This isn't how Rumplestiltskin traditionally ends, as I recall."

The old warm Huntsman I had loved from that first charming moment in the bathtub. I laughed aloud, and whispered back. "I can still cancel the coronation. I don't think you're solemn enough yet for a king."

"Oh, you're all mine now, Highness. I'd like to see you try and stop me."