Eve jumped off the desk promptly and turned to look at Dimitri who was staring at the spot where Felix had been standing. His face was a mixture of disappointment, confusion, and sadness and it broke Eve's heart to see.
Without a second thought, she beelined for the door and wrenched it open. To her surprise, the movement startled Felix who was standing just outside the door leaning against the stone wall.
"I didn't think you'd be out so fast." He admitted sheepishly though she didn't ask why he was still there.
"Go and talk to him." She said firmly.
"What?" He grimaced.
"Go back in there and talk to Dimitri." She said.
"I have nothing to say to the Boar." Felix sneered and turned his nose up.
"I know you have plenty to say." She shook her head. "I will not be the one to ruin your friendship."
"He does a fine job of ruining it on his own." Felix replied.
"If you want anything to do with me in the future, you will have to put up with Dimitri as well." Eve sighed. "And I will not stand to see it hurt either of you. So you go back in there now and you talk to him."
"Or what?" Felix challenged.
"Don't." Eve frowned at him. "Don't make me give you an ultimatum."
And with that, without waiting for a response, Eve pivoted and walked away towards the Archbishop's audience chamber. She couldn't bear the look that Dimitri had had when Felix walked away. She had decided that she was going to heal Dimitri, save him in the way she hadn't been able to save anyone else. And if she could repair the relationship between him and Felix, she felt that was a step in the right direction.
Besides that, she wasn't going to stand for her existence hurting the both of them. Regardless of their friendship, Felix was set to inherit a noble house of Faerghus. There would absolutely be times in their futures where the three of them would have to interact—in private and public. And she could not allow for any tension to lead to doubts about Dimitri's ability to rule or her devotion to her King.
"Thank you for joining me, my dear child." Rhea offered a melancholic smile when Eve stepped into the chamber. "You may close the door behind you."
Eve obliged and stepped further into the room, glancing about to notice the only other person present was Seteth which could only mean this was a conversation meant for a very specific set of beings.
"Seteth, Rhea." Eve nodded to each of them in greeting.
"That's Lady Rh-!" Seteth began but cut himself short when Rhea raised a hand to stop him.
"Dear child, I know your heart must be hurting at present." Rhea stepped forward, offering a soft smile.
"I think we are all in mourning at the moment." Eve replied, cautious of the Archbishop's motives.
"I know that Captain Jeralt was a dear friend of yours long ago, one of very few that you trusted with the truth of what you are." Rhea continued.
"When I returned to the monastery last time, he was the only person I didn't have to be afraid of outliving. So, naturally I shared with him some semblance of the truth." Eve nodded.
"I am sure you are aware that the Knights of Seiros are working tirelessly to locate those who have taken our dear Captain Jeralt from us." Rhea said, her smile dropping. "And, of course, the Blue Lion's class will be the one sent on the mission to dispel of them once they are located."
"Naturally." Eve responded, wondering where Rhea was going with this.
"I called you here to tell you that you will be forbidden from joining your classmates on this mission." The Archbishop said firmly.
"Forbidden?" Eve's incredulous cry echoed about the chamber. "Rhea, that's ridiculous."
"I cannot risk it." Rhea shook her head.
"They killed Jeralt and you expect me to stand back and do nothing?" Eve stepped forward, acutely aware of Seteth's cautious eye on her.
"That is exactly what I expect of you." Rhea lifted her chin, looking down her nose at Eve.
"You cannot ask that of me." Eve shook her head.
"I am not asking, I am ordering." Rhea replied.
"You're being absurd, Rhea." Eve frowned.
"I have already lost one person I consider family; I cannot lose you as well." Rhea shook her head.
"You are so intent on holding me close that you smother me." Eve took another step forward. "Can you not see this is exactly why I seek to distance myself from you?"
"I have lost everything." Rhea's voice took on a harsh tone as she spoke, staring Eve down intently. "As someone who has also lost everything, can you not understand my motives? You mourn the family you have lost yet push away what remaining family you do have that stands before you."
"Rhea, you made it very clear that our familial bond was simply transactional to you." Eve shook her head. "You would not hesitate to sacrifice me if it meant you could reach your goals. I am only family to you for as long as I am useful."
"You wound me, child." Rhea sighed.
"But I am not incorrect." Eve shot back.
"Your arguments do not change anything, though." Rhea frowned slightly. "You will not be permitted to join the mission."
"They killed Jeralt!" Eve motioned emphatically.
"And I will not let them kill you as well." Rhea answered.
"But you would risk them killing the Professor?" Eve asked.
"What?" The Archbishop balked.
"They killed Jeralt—the Captain of the Knights of Seiros. And the Professor was unable to stop it." Eve shook her head. "The captain of your knights and your most formidable staff member were unable to stop this tragedy. Were it not for the fact that Yuri had fallen in battle earlier, I would have been able to save Jeralt."
"So, you are suggesting what exactly?" Rhea asked.
"Send me on the mission and I will ensure there are no more tragedies." Eve said. "I know you cannot risk the Professor dying and I will see to it that she does not."
"I will not send both of you into battle and risk losing you both." Rhea's brow furrowed.
"Then Dimitri does not go on the mission." Eve offered her rebuttal, folding her arms over her chest.
"No." The Archbishop replied curtly.
"You will not risk losing your family and I will not risk losing mine." Eve said. "If I am not to go on this mission and be there to protect my husband, then he will not go as well."
"The Prince is a formidable asset on the field, I will not have him sit this mission out." Rhea shook her head.
"I am also a formidable opponent on the field." Eve raised a challenging eyebrow. "And you would have me side-lined? You forget how many years of experience on the battlefield I have."
"I forget nothing, child." Rhea responded.
"And you and I both know that it will take more to cut me down than any of the other students." Eve gave her a knowing look. "I am even harder to kill than the Captain."
"But it is not impossible to kill you." Rhea argued.
"It has never been impossible to kill me." Eve offered. "And yet never before have you hesitated to send me into the heat of battle."
"If I may, Lady Rhea." Seteth interjected before the Archbishop could reply. "She has a point. It would provide a great comfort knowing that if the Professor were to fall, Eve would be there to revive her."
"You're agreeing with her?" Rhea frowned at her attendant.
"If Byleth falls, so do the rest of the Blue Lions." Seteth said. "We could risk losing every last one of them if Eve is not there."
Rhea paused for a long moment, her eyes flitting between Eve and some point on the floor as she thought. Eve could tell she was mulling over her options. Seteth was right and it appeared that the Archbishop did not quite want to admit it.
"I will allow it." She said finally. "On one condition."
"Yes?" Eve raised her eyebrows.
"All of you come home unscathed."
Dimitri struggled to keep his emotions in check as Eve bolted out of the room. She had made her promises, yes, but he was foolish to think she could toss aside her love for Felix so immediately. Of course she would run after him. He imagined Eve catching up to him, saying some passionate words to convince him everything was okay. She always had her words, always had some way to justify herself. But as Dimitri tried to swallow his pride, the door wrenched open one more time to reveal Felix.
"Was there something you needed?" Dimitri tried to sound casual.
"She wants me to talk to you." Felix grimaced as he approached the prince.
"Eve does?" Dimitri couldn't hide his astonishment.
Had she seen him in such a brief glance and known exactly what was in his heart? Dimitri found himself once again amazed at his wife's ability to read others. In just one quick moment she had discerned that he desired to fix his friendship with Felix.
"I told her I have nothing to say to you." Felix spat, crossing his arms.
"And yet you still came back." Dimitri offered a small smile.
"I did it because Eve asked, not for you, Boar." Felix's voice was dripping with malice, but Dimitri relished that he was at least speaking to him.
"Felix, what happened?" Dimitri asked genuinely. "I know you were always closer to Ingrid and Sylvain, but were we not friends as children?"
"We aren't children anymore." Felix replied. "I grew up and realised what you are."
"What I am?" Dimitri frowned.
"A bloodthirsty beast with no hold on himself." Felix turned to look at Dimitri with fire in his eyes as he spoke. "And you can't act like that was just one time. I saw how you were in Remire. The Boar Prince is who you are no matter how much you try to hide it. And one day Eve will recognise that."
"What does this have to do with Eve?" Dimitri asked.
"What doesn't it have to do with Eve?" Felix threw his hands up in exasperation. "You only want to fix our friendship because you know it makes her sad. And I only came in here to talk to you so that she doesn't hate me."
"Felix, I want to fix our friendship because I miss being your friend." Dimitri shook his head lightly.
"You didn't miss being my friend when Eve was sneaking away to spend time with me." Felix shot back.
"That may be true." The prince sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But all of that is over now. Eve has made a promise to me."
"I know all about her promise." Felix grimaced. "And she can say what she wants with her words, but you and I both know her heart still yearns for me. Why else would she want to mend our friendship but to keep me in her life?"
"I have every faith in my wife." Dimitri lifted his chin, though his heart wavered.
"Your wife is a liar by nature." Felix retorted.
"But she has never backed down from a promise." Dimitri replied. "And she has promised to learn to love me. There will come a day when her love for me will eclipse the love she had for you."
"No matter how much she loves you, she'll never love you more than she loved my brother." Felix said rather cruelly.
"What?" Dimitri balked much to Felix's delight.
The Boar Prince didn't know about Glenn. Eve had concealed this truth from him just the way she had concealed it from Felix for so long. And judging by the prince's response, Felix would wager that he hadn't even known Eve and Glenn were so much as friendly.
"She didn't tell you?" Felix frowned, feigning confusion as if the boar should have known.
"Didn't tell me what?" Dimitri urged.
"She doesn't mourn for what happened in Duscur because she failed me or my father or even you by not being there." Felix shook his head. "She mourns it because she lost the man she was going to marry."
"Marry?" Dimitri swallowed in shock.
"She really didn't tell you?" Felix sneered, gloating in the shock and sadness in the boar's face. Sure, Felix himself had only found out this information days prior, but he didn't need to know that.
"I had no idea…" Dimitri trailed off, feeling defeated.
"You call her your wife as if to convince the rest of us that you are a united front." Felix spat. "But I see through you. You still know next to nothing about her."
"I know her heart." Dimitri argued. "You said it yourself, Eve lies. I don't need her words because I can see what's in her heart."
"Either way." Felix shook his head. "See how quickly she would abandon her promise to you in favour of her promise to my house."
With that, Felix turned and walked away. He may have lost Eve to Dimitri in the public sense, but he was still certain she was more his than the boar's. She had given him that dagger, told him the truth about Glenn, in an effort to break his heart and make the end of their affair easier. But he saw through it. And he knew that at the end of the day she would still do anything for him because he was a Fraldarius. Though it wasn't the way he wanted her to be devoted to him, he still gloated at the fact that it meant she would always be more so to him than the boar prince.
Dimitri, for his part, was left still rooted to the spot where he had been when Eve left the room. He knew Eve did not go back on promises, of that he was sure. But he had a sinking feeling that Felix was right. At the end of the day, her devotion to House Fraldarius—and therefore Felix—would always be stronger than her devotion to him. That promise was a much longer standing one; it was one with much more history than he feared he would ever know or understand.
"You have not moved an inch since I left." Eve's gentle voice shook the prince from his thoughts. She stood with the door just slightly ajar, peeking her head in.
"Oh, you're back already." Dimitri tried to smile.
"I was looking for you so we could get dinner together." Eve opened the door slightly wider, stepping in meekly. She seemed tired to the prince. As if speaking with the Archbishop had drained her.
"Yes, dinner sounds excellent." Dimitri nodded, though there was a pit of anxiety in his stomach.
He couldn't shake what Felix had said about his brother and Eve. Dimitri had thought that he and Eve were starting to be more candid with each other. But this was a revelation of immense size. It was one thing if she had simply been romantically involved with Glenn, but for them to be meant to wed? Had Rodrigue known this when he had the two of them engaged?
"I'm guessing nothing constructive came out of your conversation with Felix?" Eve tilted her head as the two of them sat with their food. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I thought I could help fix things."
"No, you did nothing wrong." Dimitri shook his head. "I know you were just trying to help. It's just that Felix is…well, Felix. And despite our best efforts I do not think there is any mending my relationship with him until he is ready."
"I suppose you're right." Eve nodded. "I shouldn't have tried to force it. I know just as well as anyone how stubborn Felix can be."
"I appreciate the thought, though." Dimitri offered, his mind still distracted.
"Something else is bothering you." Eve leaned back in her seat, assessing the prince with those curiously emerald eyes of hers.
"It's nothing." Dimitri shook his head again. "I'm sure it's just something Felix said to be cruel."
"What did he say?" Eve frowned, brow furrowed.
"Some nonsense about you and his brother." Dimitri said softly, hoping he would be met by confusion; hoping that somehow Felix had lied.
"What nonsense?" Eve's jaw set and she blinked rapidly as if keeping tears back.
"Judging by your response it may not have been nonsense." Dimitri swallowed. "And it is certainly not a conversation for such an open space."
"Well, I suddenly have no appetite." Eve said. "So perhaps we should take this conversation to your quarters."
"I agree." Dimitri nodded and stood.
He grabbed their dishes and dropped them off where the other dirty dishes were kept. Wordlessly, the two of them made their way to his quarters. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as his anxiety threatened to suffocate him. Felix had not lied. And judging by Eve's reaction, he wondered if he had been correct in his assumption that Eve would never love Dimitri as much as she had loved his brother.
"So what exactly did he say to you?" Eve asked once they were safely behind closed doors.
"T-that you had meant to marry Glenn." Dimitri stuttered, watching Eve's reaction closely.
She sighed, running a hand through her hair and seeming to shrink in on herself. But when she looked back up at the prince, her jaw was set and her eyes were hard.
"He was not at liberty to tell you that." She seemed angry but like she was trying not to direct her anger at him.
"So it's true?" Dimitri's heart sank.
"Yes." Eve nodded woefully. "Glenn and I were betrothed to one another."
"Does Rodrigue know?" Dimitri asked.
"No!" She reacted violently to this suggestion, fear filling her features briefly. "Rodrigue cannot know. And the only reason Felix knows is because I had to return that dagger."
"Dagger?" Dimitri frowned.
"Every Fraldarius gets a dagger when they come of age." Eve explained. "It's meant to show intent to marry. Glenn gave me his before he left for Duscur."
"I see." Dimitri muttered.
"But I gave it back because I'm your wife now." Eve took a step forward. "It was unfair of me to hold onto a love past after promising you that I would learn to love you."
"Is that the only reason?" Dimitri didn't want to give himself too much hope. He had known Eve long enough now to know that she would say what she needed to fix a situation.
"I can't say it was." Eve looked down. "I also did it for House Fraldarius. I could not hold onto an heirloom of the house when I have now taken on the Blayddid name."
"Do you still love him?" Dimitri asked despite his better judgement.
"Does it matter?" Eve's brows furrowed, sadness in her eyes.
"Please." Was all he could muster in response.
"Yes." She nodded, voice strained with emotion. "I know it was nearly five years ago at this point, but I loved Glenn in a way that I have perhaps never loved another being in my life. That doesn't go away easily."
"Do you…" Dimitri trailed off, swallowing the lump in his throat. He knew he should not continue with his question, but he had to know. "Do you think you will always love him more than me?"
The moment the words left his mouth he felt foolish. Even to himself, he sounded like a little child. He hated how it was the only thing plaguing his mind.
"Dimitri, I made you a promise." Eve stepped towards him, reaching out to grab his hand in both of hers. "I have every intention of making good on that promise. It doesn't matter how much I do or don't love Glenn—he's gone. I am married to you; you who is alive and in front of me."
"That's not an answer." Dimitri was shocked by his own challenge.
"Because I don't have an answer for you." Eve shook her head. "I can't look into the future. But this is what I know now. Is that not enough?"
"No, you're right." Dimitri nodded. "I'm sorry for pushing you."
"One day I will tell you more of the truth." Eve squeezed his hand her hers. "It's just too early. But someday I hope I can stop blindsiding you and hurting you with the truth."
"I hope so too." Dimitri murmured in agreement, looking down at their hands and the rings that adorned them. How much they felt like costumes to him. And all he could hope was that one day their rings would feel less like shackles in a loveless marriage.