Almost two weeks passed before Zelda had any kind of reprieve from the suitors, and whatever time she did have, she took to going to the library to research bonds and whatever details Link hadn't had the time to tell her.

To say he covered the overall gist was an understatement; the more she read, the more she realised he knew more about them than the books did. All she was reading was just the same meaning and information phrased differently.

An utter waste of time, really.

But there was one thing she couldn't complain about and that was Link.

Whenever he had some spare time between training, papers, security, and, surprisingly enough, dance etiquette lessons, he came to join her with a plate of food—she usually ate most of it.

Locating him in the large castle became child's play in no time as she slowly learned how to use her end of the bond. She found that if she focused enough, she could grasp a flash of a location for a few seconds as if looking through his eyes and it was simply getting to him before he left that was the harder part.

The bond offered her a plethora of new experiences, particularly that of feeling his feelings alongside her own.

And boy did he feel a lot of things in a day.

If she had to narrow it down to one particular emotion, it was likely to be exasperation if she was being honest.

She found that every half hour or so, that very heavy inner sighing appeared, and by focusing, she could see just what was the cause of such emotion.

This morning, he'd caught two of his guards— Dame Caya and Sir Balar— stuck in a tree, arguing.

Then it was finding out one of the King's Guard had no idea how to hold a bow, let alone how to shoot one. Link was confused on that one, considering every guard had evaluations every six months on physical ability and skills in weaponry and archery was a prominent category.

When she had asked Link about that when he showed up for lunch, he'd told her that the man had told Captain Arn he wasn't feeling well every time archery evaluations came around for nearly eight years and the Captain hadn't remembered to follow up the next day.

Sixteen times. The guard had done it sixteen times without being noticed.

The rest of his morning had gone pretty smoothly from what she knew; nothing eventful happened for either of them and relaxing in the library gave them that relaxing time together.

Except, Link was anything but relaxed at the moment and Zelda wasn't quite sure what to do.

"I don't know who's messing with my schedule but look at this!" He showed her his planner that covered the next two weeks.

Up until about three months ago, in his two week work schedule, there was two or three days he would have dedicated to the duties that came with being Captain with the remainder of the days escorting her everywhere,

Now, it seemed to have flipped.

In this fortnight, he had one day dedicated to escorting her, the rest were labelled royal guard duties with the stray 'etiquette lesson' littering on some of the days.

"I'm going to have to talk to the commander about this," he groaned as he put the planner back into his pocket.

Zelda sent him an uncertain smile before giving him an awkward pat on the back. "It'll be alright, it'll sort itself out." She knew it wasn't going to sort itself out that easily.

There was little she could do to change the situation, her father had made it clear a long time ago that she had no hand in his schedule as a guard unless she wished to have an additional one, but controlling him was not for her to choose.

Now that he wasn't seeing her as much, Zelda realised very quickly that they had very few opportunities to be together, and being alone together was even harder.

She swore that the guards at her bedchamber were unusually more perceptive than before. At least before, she could have safely snuck out around midnight without fear of being caught, now it seemed like they all had a surplus of energy and she couldn't do anything about it.

Which meant no privacy with Link, and they couldn't safely discuss their decision regarding the bond without fear of being overheard. When Link had reported back his conversation with his friend regarding the secrecy he was ordered to keep surrounding the connection, she had been quite confused.

There was nothing odd about a bond. Her maids were not ordered to hide theirs, ladies of the court proudly displayed theirs, some even brought more attention to it, and even some of the lords weren't shy in showing it off.

Why Link of all people should hide it was confusing her.

He explained that he was told it was some jump in social standing that he was apparently not ready for and it only added to her confusion.

She knew being the partner of a Lord or Lady could affect social status, but she had never heard of it being so big someone should hide it. She didn't bear a mark -they had checked thoroughly- so for one to assume she had given it would be a terrible statement to make, accusing them of impropriety that could easily be dismissed.

It was easy to lie and say it was given by a lover who didn't reside in the castle, it wasn't impossible to believe; most of the castle staff had spouses in Castletown, Mabe Village and further out into the countryside, so why would it be any different for Link who originated from a village that was located at least a full day's ride from them?

She could only assume it would have been to protect his potential partner but even then, it made no sense due to the suggested jump in standing.

And so she looked. She scoured all of the books she could think of regarding the matter and found very little note-worthy information.

Zelda found what confirmed her suspicions; it did raise the social rank if the Bonded was of lower class, but it didn't do it drastically nor did they receive a title. The relationship seemed more akin to that of a courtesan to the one making the bond unless it was reciprocated.

In the case of reciprocation of the bond, they were seen as a legal partner, similar to a wedded spouse.

But she couldn't find any information of what would happen if said-bond belonged with a member of the royal family, which was odd.

She knew there was a strong record of her family members presenting as Alphas with a few Omegas mixed into the bunch, so why she couldn't find such information was baffling to her.

She thought of going to her father about her inquiries, but quickly scratched that idea, knowing he would find it suspicious and would likely question both her and Link and he would make the connection in no time.

She thought of going straight to the captain who had talked to Link regarding the subject, but the idea was deterred by Link, saying that it was unlikely he would talk.

No matter what angle she looked at the lack of information from, she couldn't understand why it was nowhere in writing.

"I don't understand," She closed yet another book and shook her head. "You would think if something like this had the potential to cause contested claims to the throne, it would be written down to sort the matter officially.."

"Claim to the throne? What are you talking about?" Link looked up from the book he had picked off the shelf.

"Listen to this," She picked up her notes. " ' A reciprocated bond between bonder and bonded is held in similar regard to that of a wedded pair.' I found this in one of the law books yesterday, but it seems to stop when it comes to the Royal Family. It doesn't help that they made the distinction between the two relations: Legally, if you can prove your income was high enough, you could have both a spouse and a bonded partner. Additionally, it was specified to be a maximum of three one-sided bonds or a single reciprocated bond with the addition of a wedded spouse."

"Does it not apply the same way to the royal family?"

"It doesn't." Zelda sighed. "I found a chart listing the amount legally allowed for the classes and titles, and they all ended at the Dukes and Duchesses." She pulled one of the numerous books from the pile on the table and flipped it to a bookmarked page. "For a Baron, the number is three, a Viscount and above, stopping at Duke, it ends at four."

Link frowned and took the book into his hands, flicking between the index at the start and returning to the page.

"Zelda, this is page 46, why is the next page numbered 49?"

She practically ripped the book out of his hands at the very mention. He was right. The left page said 46, the right page said 49.

"Someone ripped a page out." She squinted and took a closer look between the pages where she could see the faintest of rip marks.

"So it's not that it's not written down-"Link started.

"It was deliberately taken out."

She placed her bookmark back in place and placed the book back into the pile. Someone had ripped out the page pertaining to royal bonds and partner eligibility to titles.

"Zelda?"

"What is it?"

"Where would someone keep a back up of a book if one was to attempt to purge the information?"

She turned her head slowly and looked at Link with suspicion in her eyes. What kind of question was that? A Purge of information?

"The archives… My father might have a copy in his study… You might even have a copy as Captain of the Princess Guard." She could think of a few other places, but it seemed like Link was weighing out those options, meaning her guess that he might have one was out of the question.

"Would Captain Arn of the King's Guard maybe have a spare?" His head perked her way as if the idea popped into his mind.

"He likely would."

That's all it took for Link to bolt out of his chair, dashing out of the library at an acceptable speed as the librarian glared at him.

Zelda stared at where he'd been sitting for a moment, wondering why he'd left so quickly. She tried to get a feel for his emotions, but they were too jumbled to make any sense of. She hastily placed the books into her bag for future uses before following after him. She found the bag weighed her down significantly, so she didn't catch up to Link for another fifteen minutes, and by the time he came back into sight, he was standing in the middle of the hall, the captain of her father's guard watching him and asking question after question despite Link not answering them as he flicked through the pages in a rush she didn't usually see from him.

"Gone." He pursed his lips and shook his head before snapping it shut and placing it back into the confused captain's hands.

"Was there something specific you were looking for?" The captain droned on, looking over his tome. "I might have something else that might be of better help, perhaps?"

"No, it's fine."

As Link was about to leave again, Zelda stepped forward, making herself known to the other captain.

"Good afternoon, Captain Arn," She waved curtly to the older man. "I'm so terribly sorry about this disruption, do forgive us."

"It's never a disruption, Princess." He bowed respectfully. "Was there something I could assist with? Anything I can give information?"

She smiled sweetly. "Unless you have an older copy or an unaltered copy of this book? Or if you could give us a lead on where we might find one?"

Arn shared a look with Link for a moment as if he was trying to piece what was going on. "I'm sure His Majesty, The King, has a personal copy of this book. I'm sure he would be happy to lend it to you, Link."

Link's eye roll was subtle enough to be missed by his colleague but obvious enough for her to see as clear as day. He was not going to be asking the King for that book and that much was obvious to Zelda


The King was seething in the throne room. Not only did he barely understand what the advisors were telling him, but even the suitors that had previously expressed interest in Zelda had pulled out.

In the past, he'd heard a number of excuses used when one didn't wish to see a Lady further; unkept, unclean, her virtue was rumoured to be tarnished, she played too many games, her face was too drawn. The most ridiculous thing he heard before today was about a woman's hair colour not being the right shade of brown.

No, today marked the day that record was rewritten.

He didn't quite understand the sentence "The Princess smells too much like her knight."

Rhoam didn't understand that. Why were the suitors he'd invited to meet his daughter standing so close to her that they could smell her? And why could they associate such a thing to the Hero? That was bizarre.

His advisors had told him numerous times that one's scent could undergo temporary change depending on how much time they spent in the proximity of another, and that each was unique.

Sir Link and his Zelda were together most days, were they not? Wouldn't that be a direct result of that? Why did that cause such a problem with the suitors?

After the first two or three complaints, Lord Bram's son having been quite vocal about it to his servants, or so rumours had recounted.

Following the first three complaints, he took his first action. He asked Commander Cassian to Sir Link's schedule in hopes that perhaps it was his presence that was maddening. The Commander had obeyed and Sir Link was to focus on his Royal Guard duties.

It should have worked. It should have stopped the complaints. Rhoam had put out time and energy to track down the eligible male members of court that might suit Zelda, he had even gone out of his way to specify that they should be of Alpha Class, first suggested by Chief Urbosa of the Gerudo. An idiotic preference , he thought. Disgusting really. Where did people get the audacity to tell him to find his daughter a marriage candidate with a larger-than-average bit?

He eventually caved to the absurd request but now he was faced with a new issue. Why did they have to smell his daughter?

"Your Grace, If an alpha smells another so strongly on a potential partner, their first instinct is to go elsewhere. In other words, if Her Highness' suitors smell her personal guard on her so strongly, it is a deterrent to any courtship." a council member tried to explain.

Again with the smelling? Why are you all so obsessed with smelling? The King inhaled loudly through his nose, anger boiling inside. He attempted to calm himself before an outburst exploded.

Why did they have to stand so closely that they could smell her? He didn't have any issue ignoring the smell of breakfast in the morning, or ignoring one's cologne if it was sprayed too generously, why was this a problem?

"Tell them to ignore it. Sir Link has been busy with his own tasks, his scent shouldn't be so strong anymore, what exactly is the problem?" He didn't know how to feel with the words he said. It made no sense to him.

But according to the council's numerous statements, it was how it worked… whatever that meant.

"Sir, it's instinctual… You can't simply ignore it , as you put it."

"Why not?" His anger began seeping through his voice. "Why can't they just… not smell her?!"

The advisors visibly flinched at the snap. "Sir, this is a biological issue. You're essentially telling the suitors to stop breathing in Her Highness' presence."

Were they still seeing each other? Was the knight starting to wear fragrances so strong they rubbed off on people in close proximity? No, that couldn't be it, everything he'd heard about the knight's hygiene habits suggested he tended to stray away from such things.

Rhoam considered the issue with Sir Link's schedule. He set it up so that the two wouldn't see each other very much, barely at all on some days, so why was this still an issue? He could only imagine it could be if they were still seeing each other outside of the schedule. He knew they saw each other during his lunch and the small bits of free time that coincided together, but he didn't think it would be enough to do such a thing. There was only one other time he could think of.

After curfew, that is.

"Alright, what do you suggest we do to fix this… issue? "

"I propose we separate the Princess from her knight indefinitely to allow for this presence to fade."

"I cannot remove them from their each other completely, Princess Zelda must still be protected at all times." He had already separated them to the best of his ability over the last two weeks. What more did they want? He couldn't just compromise his daughter's safety for the sake of the opinion of a few men.

"Your Grace… How else will we fade his presence e ffectively?"

Your methods should have already been doing that, Rhoam lamented in his seat. It was further proof to him that the council was simply bullshitting him on all this biology stuff.

"It should fade overtime, we can continue this method until it starts working." He glanced at each council member, most of which belonged to the same biology class as the knight, and a few were similar to himself in the way they didn't have any of the cumbersome hormonal issues the others faced.

They were each sharing perplexing glances to each other, none speaking out their thoughts. With every second of silence that passed, he felt his frustrations grow,

"One of you speak up, this matter is not yet settled."

It was one council member who stood up hesitantly, paper crumpling in his hand as he fiddled endlessly with the edges. "Your Majesty, this method should have started working from the first day we implemented it. There must be something we do not know."

"What do you suggest then, Councilman Stura? Any suggestions to this issue, seeing as none of your comrades have any?"

"We… We separate them indefinitely, Your Grace. We do not allow for any personal contact to occur for the next few days."

"I've already dismissed this idea, councilman."

"Only for a few days, Your Majesty. Perhaps, send him away for a vacation of sorts until we can manage a different solution that does not put Her highness' safety in jeopardy."

"A vacation you say?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. According to the mailroom, Link has been requested to be sent home temporarily by his younger sister. Perhaps we can insist he follow through." He hesitated at the end."

It was a good idea. Sending him away for a few days in order to think of a new solution.

"Thank you, Councilman Stura. I shall give this idea some thought." He stood up from his throne and made his way to the door. "Please see me in my study once this meeting is adjourned."

"Of course, Your Majesty." The councilman bowed as the guards opened the door for Rhoam. He needed to go take care of business.


"It wasn't easy getting around the guards outside," Link spoke very softly through his mask as he climbed through the Princess' window in the darkness. "I don't know what they're feeding the night shift, but I want some. They've been very alert the last few nights…"

Zelda bit the inside of her cheek. Link had worn his skin-tight Sheikah armour.

"Why are you complaining? Isn't that their job to stay awake?" She approached Link and pulled out the two sticks that held his hair up, causing the meticulously made bun to fall in waves around his shoulders. She pulled down the mask that covered most of his face and pecked his lips affectionately. The gesture made his heart flutter in her chest in a delightful way, one which she wished he knew was reciprocated.

She let her eyes rake him up and down, admiring the skin tight qualities of the fabric. Despite being covered from neck to toe, the suit left very little to the imagination, and Zelda deeply enjoyed the view. She could see the faintest of flex in his muscles, especially along his neck and shoulders, not to mention the ever growing desire to just run her hands down the front of the suit to see if the feel was the same.

She made no effort to hide the eyes she was giving Link, and it became very clear to Link what Zelda was doing for he turned red very quickly, but did Zelda notice the blush? Not at all, her eyes were so far south, she might as well have been ignoring his entire upper half. Still, she had an idea that he knew, both from his emotions and a certain other blood-flow reaction.

She resisted the urge to touch even though the clear outline of his thighs were calling, and Great Goddesses , the pièce de résistance was none other than the bulge that she knew wasn't erect yet. She wanted to touch, her fingers wanted to move on their own but she held back the need.

That and his ass, sculpted by the goddess Farore herself. Sure he wasn't showing it to her right now, but a slight lean to either side granted her an eyeful, even a squish if she could find the courage to just extend her hand out.

Control yourself woman. She scolded herself. Sure she'd been having some vivid, surprisingly sensual dreams of her lover, but instead of a dream, he was standing in front of her, looking even better. She internally slapped herself for looking at Link like he was a piece of heavenly meat. What kind of princess oversexualised their knights like this? Speaking of heaven…

She forced her eye back up to meet Link's, who stared back at her with confusion. "You alright?"

"I'm perfect," without turning away, she shut the window and locked it securely, pulling the curtains closed for privacy.

"I'll complain about it today, they're making it unusually difficult to come see you," she wasn't expecting to see him pull the scarf from his neck in one fluid motion. Before she could figure out what he was doing, the garment was thrown around her waist and she was promptly pulled flush against him, and in that moment, her only thought was that it was as if the fabric wasn't there at all. Though she could feel the smooth, thin fabric, it did nothing to limit the ripples beneath it. He pulled his mask down to his neck and gazed at her with nothing but warmth.

"Link?"

"I'm sorry if it seems like I've been neglecting you, Zel," one hand snaked around into her hair and pulled her into a kiss. "I'm all yours now." He kisses her with a gentle fervour, one that made it clear to her that he missed her dearly. She wasted no time in throwing her arms around him to deepen the kiss, letting her own desires be obvious to him.

The zipper of his tight shirt becomes a thing of the past as Zelda makes quick work of it, wasting not a second more in almost ripping it off him, and Link finds himself doing the same to her, loosening the strings in the front and hiking up her nightgown until she was completely bared to him in all her glory.

"We have to be quiet, don't want my guards to hear, do we?" He whispers to her and he pulls the nightgown over her head and throws it to an unknown corner of the room.

"I seem to recall you were the noisier of the two of us," Zelda smirks into their kiss as she palms the growing bulge that's making itself apparent against her thigh. "Excited?"

"Me? You were the one undressing me with your eyes not ten seconds after I came in." She did do that, didn't she. She felt no shame in admiring what was hers and she was glad it hadn't flown over his head.

They were in no way quiet as Link hastily picked her up and carried her back to her bed, dropping her onto the thick sheets before climbing on top and recapturing her lips.

Feeling the control slowly slip from her grasp, she relented to Link, allowing her body to turn to mush as his hands roamed greedily wherever he could grab some skin. Her own hands roamed his back, muscular but not overwhelmingly so, it was perfect beneath her nails.

She completely forgets about their mutual agreement to be quiet when he starts nipping and billing his way down her bare chest and collarbone, leaving wet, hot trails along the way. He paid special attention to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, languid kisses filled with hot breath attacked the spot where she would have bared a similar mark to his. He attacked it relentlessly with his tongue, giving her nothing but pleasurable shock waves of warmth through her nervous system, ending in her lower navel.

"Link, please," she struggled to remember not to be too loud, it's too tempting to cry his name out when she can barely hold her thoughts together.

"Patience, Princess ." Being called princess in bed was a whole different experience. Even in private he used her name, but calling her by her title did something else to her. It felt oddly special coming from him.

"More," she silently pleaded.

He hums, moving his hands up to cup her breasts, squeezing firmly with a slow pace. It was evident to her that he was going to be drawing this out as much as he could, yet she had no problem with this.

She didn't care if the guards outside the door heard anymore.

She can't help suppressing the moan that escapes when both hands start playing with her sensitive nipples, tapping, flicking and rolling them softly. They were far more effective at getting her riled up than usual and he caught on quickly.

A mischievous glint in his eyes told her everything she needed to know before he went and captured one of the pink buds into his mouth and sucked.

She writhed at the stimuli overwhelming her. Heat pooled quickly like a faucet within her, everything between her legs throbbed, clenching on nothing.

He hadn't spent more than two minutes on her and she was a begging mess.

With one hand on her left breast, his mouth and tongue working the right, she barely registered Link's freehand moving south until she jolted at the foreign feeling of his fingers touching her arousal, the sparks and the shiver a welcome surprise. She can tell by the way they effortlessly glide around that she's a soaked mess as well, much to her embarrassment.

When he finally released her breasts and moved himself further down, it was then that she realised just how hot she was, just how much of a sauna her room felt.

Catching one glimpse at her knight's face so close to her, she can't help but burn further at the thought of him anywhere near there, despite him having gone numerous times in their week together.

Her breath hitches quietly as one finger breaches her opening slowly as his blue eyes watch her with a focus she rarely sees.

"Just relax, Zel."

She releases the breaths she's been holding back and allows herself to relax back onto her mattress as Link shifts her nightgown up to her hips with his free hand, though she doesn't notice it. She's too focused on his finger pumping achingly slowly in and out of her, then adds another to the mix.

The first curls of his fingers inside of her ignites a small flame in her belly, warm and comforting, as his fingers continue their slow pace. His hot breath on the inside of her thigh and his fingers create a torturous pattern of shivers and gasps, but she has no complaints. His free hand is smoothing over her thigh, occasionally squeezing the supple yet muscular flesh, and it only adds to his equation.

"Please," She sighs quietly, still aware that the guards may hear her if she speaks at her regular volume.

"As you wish, Princess." She hasn't heard that deep, smooth tone in forever and she finds herself craving more of it. It drips with a confidence that resonates deeper within her and sends a pulse of warmth through her body.

She can barely bite back a loud gasp when breath turns to contact against her inner thigh, tracing its way in an agonising way to her core. "Link," she looks down at him as his mouth makes contact "wait. Wait."

He stops immediately and looks up with curious eyes. "Are you alright?"

She gets an idea when she catches a glimpse of the dark mask sitting next to her bed on the floor.

Without another work, she shifts her body to grab the stretchy fabric, connected on both ends, and pulls her lover closer.

"Do it without looking?" She doesn't wait for his answer before slipping the fabric over his head until it covers his eyes. She notices his ears twitch a bit before they finally still, Link getting used to the navy fabric covering his vision.

"How will I see you?" He fixed the blindfold properly over his eyes. He didn't seem averse to the idea by the way he repositioned his hands, methodically smoothing over and grasping small bits of her flesh between his fingers. He seemed to be enjoying the feel of her flesh.

"In due time, but until then, take good care of me," She mumbles sweetly to his ear, making sure to make it as breathy as possible. She knows she's succeeded in making him needy by the way his tongue smooths over his lower lip in anticipation.

His hands are more methodical than without the blindfold, moving slowly and carefully when he parts her lower lips, right before diving in enthusiastically.

She wasn't sure if it was the blindfold or the fact he hadn't had a taste in over six weeks, but she hadn't expected him to lick and suck as if he hadn't had food in six months, but she loved it. He was attentive to everything; his tongue gave devotion to every fold, lapping at anything he may have missed.

Trying to focus was impossible, Zelda realised. Link's unholy combination of fingers, tongue, and sucking was quickly proving to be too much, the fluttering in her stomach was turning into a melting pool of magma, and her muscles twitched hard.

"Link, please~" at the very sound of her plea in the air, he ripped the blindfold off and tossed it away, seemingly done with it. Green met blue and it was as if he decided at that moment he was going to be switching things up.

Before she could ask for him to continue, he hooked his hand beneath her thighs and pulled her to the edge in one fell swoop, bringing her to where he now stood at the edge of the bed.

A knock at the door had the both of them freeze as if they'd been dunked in a vat of cold water. The shared look of horror as they glanced at the door.

"It's locked," she whispered, barely audible.

"Doesn't matter, keys exist." he whispered even quieter.

If that door opened, there would be no explaining why he was there, and she doubted either of them would be able to explain why she was naked over her sheets and covered in sweat while his clothing was discarded on the floor. She doubted he would be able to come up with a reason to explain the scratches and the faint lines doting his back.

Zelda slowly got out of bed and picked up her nightgown as quietly as she could as another knock resounded, heavy handed on the door.

Link was faster in picking up his shirt, scarf, and mask from the floor, but he didn't have the luxury of dressing himself quietly, the zipper would be too loud.

Another knock resounded before a voice echoed through the door. "Zelda, are you decent?"

The panicked look they shared was identical. She could feel a metaphorical stone drop in her stomach and her heart picking up.

The King was knocking on the door.

"Give me a moment!" Zelda shouted back, as she struggled to untangle the gown in her hands.

The most she could do was shove Link into a closet with his clothes as she threw on her nightgown over her head and grabbed a silk robe from her chair, pulling the sides together and tying it hastily and tightly to cover the small pink marks he had left on her collarbone.

Never had she prayed harder in her life at that moment.