Luxe Aeterna

No matter how many times she visited this place, Musa still got chills.

This was the lake town that her mother used to love, the one that she took Musa to all the years she was alive. The one where the water was so clear that Musa could see the little fish swimming in the shallows, technicolor scales sparkling in the sunlight. On the shores, Musa would perch on her mother's knees as they skipped rocks, her father looking out at them from his perch on the hill. There was a palace on that hill, one that they were allowed to stay in thanks to her friendship with Galatea's family.

Or at least, there used to be.

Now it burned, domes and spires collapsing, turning into ash as magic-ridden bombs broke down the mortar and sent it crumbling into the water. The debris choked the fish, made the lake run dry. There were people screaming, all the ones that tended to that now-ruined palace and the ones who lived in the village just on the other side of the hill. They were all running, trying to escape the horrors to come - the bombs that carried something far worse than explosives.

They never made it.

They all clawed at her legs, dug into her flesh hard enough to gouge fingernail-shaped chunks out. Men, women, and children alike all crawled over top of one another, wailing, screaming.

Help us! Save us!

Try as she may, Musa could never save them, could never reach far enough, could never pull fast enough, could never work hard enough to stop the blood that poured out of ever single orifice -

Musa shot upright in bed, her legs tangled in slightly-damp sheets. She had soaked through the thin material of her camisole, sweat covering her body in a sticky sheen.

"Fuck," she hissed, lowering her head into her hands as she tried to steady herself.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out, she repeated on loop, using that mantra to calm her racing heart. It felt like someone had punched a hole right to her heart, taken the organ in their fist, and squeezed. Completely unpleasant, but not unfamiliar. Nightmares this bad hadn't plagued her in a while. Leave it to two unlikely suitors to stress her to the point of completely throwing off her carefully laid plans and mental health.

Beside her, Riven snored on, completely still and peaceful. The arm that had snaked around her bare waist earlier that night was now limp beside them. His touch did nothing to soothe her. Instead, it made her feel even more stifled.

It's too damned hot in here, she cursed as she got up, walking over to her vanity to grab the kimono resting over the chair. She pulled the silk ties tight, so tight that she felt the material biting into her ribcage. That was fine. The pain kept her grounded in reality. All her memories seemed to run together these days, and it was getting harder and harder to pick the past from the present.

The war is over. You can rest now.

Rest was a lie Musa kept telling herself over and over again. Even as she stood on the balcony of her suite in the imperial palace, basking in the wealth her position afforded her, Musa knew there would never be time to rest, not when half the planet still wallowed away in squalor, the air too toxic to breathe and the water too polluted with ash, metal, and blood to drink. She could slit her wrists and pour all the pixie dust in her veins into this planet and it still wouldn't be enough. Musa kept pleading with Galatea to allow for the creation of more Guardian Fairies, but the queen refused, always saying there weren't enough powerful fairies to spare.

What made Musa's life so much more expendable than the others - the diplomats and nobles that sat in the council and argued all day while she risked her life in the dregs of despair? Some days, she just wanted to take off and leave this place behind. Other days, she wanted to throw herself off this ridiculously gaudy balcony and conveniently forget to open her wings before her body hit the ground.

She was just beginning to entertain the latter fantasy when something - someone else drew her attention.

From across the courtyard, Nabu stood on the opposite balcony, his pose mimicking hers. Though it was dark, Musa used the moonlight to make out the ridges of muscle pulled taut through his bare arms, to study the way the shadows danced across his handsome yet drawn face. From where she stood, he looked just as weary as she did.

Does it still haunt you? she thought, asking in her mind what she was too afraid to voice aloud. Do you dream about war and darkness and death? Do you miss it?

Their eyes met, and for a moment, Musa's heart stopped.

Down below, Melody kept turning. The lanterns were lit. Music from the lingering ball still floated in the air. What unlucky lovers were to wend their way through these wayward hedges in search of love? Which unfaithful bastards were going to do the very same dance Musa found herself doing just a few weeks ago?

A trill of feminine laughter, and then it hit her. Anyone could see them. All they would have to do is look up, and they would see -

The laughter stopped.

Musa exhaled a breath she did not even know she was holding.

Nabu turned around and walked inside.

Sleep didn't come easy after that.

Musa spent the rest of her night in a half-sleep, always too close to the surface for it to be satisfying but deep enough so that the nightmares could still sink their claws into her brain. Eventually she got tired of seeing the same bloodied faces over and over and over again, and gave up on sleep completely. It looked like it was going to be another heavy foundation day. Her maid was going to give her hell for the dark circles, but so long as the woman was in and out before Riven woke, she didn't care.

Riven, come to find out, slept like a log. As much as she tossed and turned, the man did not budge. Even when she got out of bed, he remained firmly in place, his body not even registering that she was gone. Like she was never there to begin with. As the maid powdered her nose in the first rays of light, Musa wondered if that was an independent thing - that he had been on his own for so long that he wasn't used to sharing a space with another person.

That was fine, Musa decided that very moment. Better to be unattached and easily moved than have him firmly plant his roots into her life. She looked at his prone form, chest rising and falling steadily, enviously devoid of terrors, and was glad he had grown used to being a vagabond. It meant that he could up and leave her again. She quite wished that he would.

"Good morning," Musa greeted, trying to sound as casual and unattached as she could. It was hard to do when her voice was scratchy from shouting.

"You're up early," Riven noted, leaning over to place a kiss to her forehead before taking the chair across from her at the table.

Immediately, two servants rushed over to fill his mug with coffee and another with water. Plates of foods were pushed in his direction, all artfully arranged in the most appetizing manner. Riven denied none of them, smiling tightly at the servants before waving them away. Musa frowned. For someone who was used to having nothing, he sure was getting overly comfortable with the staff.

"Queen Galatea asked about you the other day," Musa said, trying to make conversation. Riven hummed and quirked an eyebrow, interested but not enough to tear his attention from whatever he was reading on the holo-pad. "She said she wanted me to bring you around so that you may be introduced formally to the court. It's considered an honor."

"Then I am honored," Riven replied evenly, still reading the holo-pad without ever looking up.

"There's a dinner tomorrow night to celebrate the restoration expansion into western territories. I thought that might be a good time. Would you mind going with me?"

"Of course."

This is so wrong. It had been Musa's dream for so long to just get Riven to cooperate, but now that he was more than accommodating to her whims, it just felt off. Riven wasn't supposed to be so...agreeable. Musa wasn't used to getting her way so easily. What happened to their spark of conflict, to their differing opinions that led to the sort of bickering that made Musa weak in the knees whenever Riven got that flash of defiance in his eyes? The new Riven was practically domestic, and it freaked Musa out.

Thinking about the wrongness of New-Riven made her think about all the reasons the ring on her finger made her want to cut it off and throw it into the lake. Thinking about the wrongness of the engagement made her think about that night, and how moments before she said yes to Riven she was out on a balcony with Nabu - much like the balconies they both stood on last night. And thinking about being on the balcony with Nabu made her think about kissing Nabu, which turned into thinking about the way his hands burned into her skin, the way his lips latched onto her neck, the way his cock filled every last inch of her aching body, the way it felt so right when his hips snapped up and he hit that sweet spot over and over and over -

"I think we should push up the wedding," Musa announced without preamble, without really thinking it through. Or, more accurately, overthinking other things that could jeopardize her chances of following this marriage through. Not that Riven needed to know that. Ever.

"Really? Why?" Riven asked, genuinely confused. It was the first time a genuine emotion crossed his face all morning. "Has something happened?"

"No, it's just..." Musa trailed off, biting her lip as she scrambled to cover her ass. "We don't really need all the bells and whistles, do we? We've never been that couple who cares about the little things. I think just a small, simple ceremony will suffice."

Riven frowned, deeply, and exhaled a long, slow breath.

"Musa, I know what's going on."

Immediately she went on high alert.

"You do?"

There was no way. There was absolutely no way he could possibly know that -

"You're nervous. We've been down this road before - thought it would last forever only for one of us to walk away. I get it. I'm pretty nervous myself," Riven said in his best soothing voice. Musa wanted to scream. He didn't get what she was going through at all. Since when was Riven this oblivious? Her sweaty palms weren't from wedding jitters and her racing heart wasn't because the sight of him took her breath away. "What happened in the past doesn't define who we are now, and I want to give you the wedding you deserve."

The wedding you deserve, Musa thought grimly, now even more trapped than she was before. Dragon, why do you do these things to yourself! Now you're going to be the centerpiece in the biggest spectacle Melody has ever seen!

She did not voice these complaints either. No, she did not say a word. All she did was smile and nod. That was what Riven wanted her to do, satisfied with her reaction when he hummed approvingly and pulled away. He refocused on his holo-pad and she spent the rest of the meal picking at her fruit, thinking woefully about her impending death via caterers, florists, and wedding planners.