She heaved a small sigh, trying as hard as she could to keep calm.

She was a soldier. Not even a soldier, she was a Warden. People had rallied behind her and she had led them to victory, she was trained to be on the battlefield, defending the concepts of honor and peace. Because of that, those that followed her saw it fit to grant her the position of Queen of the Legions, succeeding to the late Apollyon, Goddess of War.

She had accomplished a lot in her young life. But not even storming the castle of her predecessor could compare to the sheer anxiety she was feeling at that moment.

She stood in front of his tent. She hadn't seen him in more than two years… from the day she left the Blackstone Legion all the way until he and the Emperor's Champion stopped the total conflict from reigniting. He stood so tall, shouting just one word…

Stop.

And everyone did. Ayu, the current Empress, listened to him. Dagur, the Jarl of the Warborn, didn't hesitate in lowering his weapon. And so had she.

Just one healer was enough to stall the situation, allowing for the first bits of peace talk to finally start. Nothing set in stone yet, they were all waiting for the next solstice to actually sit down and discuss. But for the first time in thousands of years… everything was quiet.

She blinked, coming back to reality. No time to waste on daydreaming, this whole situation was simple. She just had to go in, catch up with him a bit, explain her current predicament and ask a question. Nothing more, nothing less.

… her stomach was twisting itself into an unrecognizable knot.

She breathed again… and finally knocked on the post.

"Come in!"

His voice sounded… different. They had a lot of things to tell each other, it would seem…

She entered the apothecary, finding him doing the exact same thing as the first time she met him, fixing some of the beds towards the center. He had grown a bit, now standing just a hair above her own height. His blonde hair was longer, gathered in a wolf tail, instead of short and military cut. He had some facial hair, not so much that it would get in the way or not be sanitary, but enough to give him a bit of a… grizzled look.

He turned his head towards her… and smiled.

"There you are. I was just starting to wonder how long you were planning on standing in front of my tent. Head in the clouds?"

She heard him talk. She didn't catch a single word. She was too busy staring.

Smiling. He was… smiling. Sure, a tiny one… but it was an honest one. He was glad to see her again. He was smiling indeed… and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight.

Skye, the Queen of all Legions… gulped, suddenly finding herself without the same courage that had carried her thus far.

Ah, right, he was probably expecting an answer, wasn't he?

"Corvo! It is… good, to see you again! How have you been?"

She shouted towards the end, didn't she?

Corvo raised an eyebrow, his smile still present. Even his eyes were different… carrying all the experience of someone who had seen a lot more than one could think.

"Rather well, all things considered. I am simply glad that the Senate accepted to give mother a proper funeral, after all the trouble she caused…"

Yeah… the funeral for Apollyon. The one that she insisted upon because she knew it was important to him. Not that he ever had to know that particular detail…

"Thank you, by the way, for making it possible. It couldn't have been easy to convince them…"

… or he knew already. He was always way too smart for his own good…

"It… wasn't so bad. Sure, I had to work a bit for it, but I definitely dealt with worse!"

"What did they ask in exchange?"

He asked matter of factly. She blinked once more.

"Okay, how the fuck do you know?"

It wasn't proper royal decorum to swear, but she couldn't care less at the moment.

"Holden and Mercy told me. Or, more like, they said that you made a deal with the Senate. A funeral for the warmongering Apollyon, in exchange for something else. They didn't tell me what exactly, though".

Oh good, at least he didn't know THAT. She would need to have a word with those two, sooner rather than later. But he knew… so, no point in delaying, she supposed.

"The Senate is deadly afraid of another Apollyon situation, is the truth. They think that she managed to do whatever she wanted for so long was also due to the fact that she… ruled on her own. Nobody else could stand up to her, because she had all the power. The only people that she surrounded herself with were like minded individuals. It created a cycle that could not be broken…"

Corvo nodded, listening to her intently. Staring right at her. She suddenly felt naked without her armor. She wondered if he was judging her, with her purple royal gown. She despised the thing, but she had to wear it, for appearance sake. Everyone had their issues no matter their position, huh?

"S-So, the deal was that I would go out and… find a spouse by the end of the year, to share my power with. Someone that they knew would keep me grounded and rule fairly alongside me. Queen or king, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm not alone, they would be fine".

The healer hummed, looking like he didn't know if to laugh or be concerned. Smiling, showing his emotions, generally looking a lot more… relaxed and friendly than he used to be.

It was still Corvo, the best healer of the Legion, the smart and kind young man that had patched her up more times than she could count. The same one that beared her teasing with a sigh and an eye roll, but never told to go away, or that she was bothering him. The same one that, deep down, enjoyed her presence just as much as she enjoyed his. He had simply grown into a better version of himself.

She had to look away for a moment, lest he saw the redness of her face. The most difficult thing she ever had to do indeed…

"That so? Is that why you've been hanging around the main plaza so often? Were you looking for a suitable candidate?"

In truth, she had been pacing for almost a week to try and find the nerve to talk to him about it. But sure, if that was what he thought, she'll gladly take the excuse.

"Found anyone yet? I know a lot of people that more than satisfy the requirements…"

"N-NO! T-There's no need! I uhhhh… I already have someone in mind…"

Fuck, she panicked for a second. She was showing all her worst sides, damn it all! Why did he had to be so… him?!

"Right… are they someone you actually like? That's the most important bit, you know?"

"I know! Of course I like him! I've… liked him for a while, now…"

She… just said "him", didn't she?

"Him? Now that's a surprise. I was sure it would have been a woman. You… kind of don't really interact much with guys, as far as I remember…"

She didn't. Which meant that the pool of candidates was painfully small.

"... it's not Stone, isn't it?"

She shot him a dry look.

"Figured. Holden is way too old, doubt that you would be interested…"

He started muttering to himself, trying to understand who she was referring to… and she got tired pretty quick.

"Corvo? Hey, listen to me!"

Nope. He kept on blabbering. She growled under her breath, before she finally lost her patience.

Her family's story in the relationship department was… unusual, one could say. Both of her parents were soldiers, who fought and bled together for their Legion. They had met during an expedition in Valkenheim against some Vikings that were pushing their borders.

Her father was a Lawbringer. Big and strong, but with a soft heart and even softer demeanor. Her mother was a Warden, just like her. She was the one that taught her everything that she knew, in fact, when she had been invested. She was brash and uncouth, living life to the fullest and never apologizing for it. They were opposites, but their friendship struck true fairly quick.

It did not evolve until after that raid, when her father sacrificed one of his legs to save her mother. When he tried to wave it off, citing "Not that big of a deal" her answer had been to take responsibility. She proposed to him when he was about to be honorably discharged, following him into retirement. She had seen a chance at happiness with the man she loved and took it, with no hesitation.

When she was a teenager, starting to notice how… attractive, for lack of better words, her peers were, her mother had taken her aside to impart a lesson.

"Remember Skye… we live in an age where everything could go wrong, at any moment. If you like somebody, guy or girl, and they like you back… go for it. Do not wait for them to make the first move. You could end up regretting it, if you do not".

She had taken those words to heart, followed them like a religion for most of her life from that day… except when it mattered. When she had left without telling him how she felt.

The regret that her mother spoke of hit her quick. What if he didn't make it? What if some… honorless monster sneaked up on him and stabbed him in the back?

Only Mercy was able to keep her calm through it all, her faith in her surrogate younger brother absolute.

"Corvo is too smart to be killed like that. Mark my words, commander… the two of you WILL see each other again. I promise".

But, at the end of the day, not telling him had been a mistake on her part. One that she was not going to repeat.

"You! I'm talking about you, you clueless fool!"

"M-me?!"

He looked so surprised… she found a bit of courage from that.

"Yes. You".

She sighed quietly. Now for the actual hard part… talking feelings.

"If… if I wanted to be purely pragmatic about it, there are a lot of people that would serve the role of royal spouse better than me. A lot of people that were born on the simple chance that maybe, just maybe, they would find themselves with a crown on their head. Just among the royal court, there is no shortage of those that could lead our faction to greatness… but you said it yourself, didn't you? Smart, wise, well liked… all things that matter. But the most important and critical one, is that I have romantic feelings for this person. In order for it to work, this needs not to be a marriage of political interest…"

She cradled one of his cheeks with her gloved hand, quietly enjoying the slight roughness of his recently allowed to grow beard.

"It needs to be born out of love, first and foremost… in order for it to last. And there is only one person among all the Legions that fit all these criteria… included that last one. So, Corvo of the Iron Legion, son of Apollyon, my question to you is as follows: would you marry me?"

His mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.

Flabbergasted. That was what his face told her. He likely expected everything except for this to happen that day.

Was it really that surprising that she would end up feeling like this? Even before he became... this, he had shown sides of himself that nobody else except his family had ever seen. She saw his first smile since Caelum, listened to his rants about his mother... man, she could not believe when he told her who it was, by the way.

In exchange, he inspired her. His desire for peace led to her eventually starting to ask questions to their Queen, to doubt and eventually rebel to her authority. Holden once told her that they had influenced each other, that it was because of her that he had started to act more... human. That she was the one who irreparably cracked his mask. When looked from this perspective...

It felt like it couldn't end in any other way.

It took him a full minute until he managed to gather his thoughts, while she patiently waited and stroked his face. He could take all the time he needed, she definitely was not going to get bored anytime soon.

"I… Skye, I… I don't know what to say…"

She smiled in adoration. The same old Corvo indeed… the same man she had fallen in love with two years prior. He could pretend to be emotionless all he wanted... but this slight dorkiness could never be hidden. Not from her.

"I don't expect a full speech from you. Pluto, it's already more than weird enough that I did it, to be honest… I just want a simple answer. Yes or no. Take your time…"

She was prepared for every possible outcome. If he said yes, she would be the happiest woman alive. If he said no, she'll understand and leave him alone, heartbroken, but at least there would be no regrets. If he needed time, she would give it, no questions asked, as much as he requested and more.

He did none of those things. He stopped talking all together.

But his answer became crystal clear when his lips touched hers.

She could probably assume that he agreed, she reckoned.

During their talk, she had neglected to mention one small detail... the Senate had expressively forbidden a relationship with him. Anyone but the the son of the tyrant, they said.

She'll be damned before she allowed a bunch of old geezers to get in the way of what she wanted.

Never again.

Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.

Welcome, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of AHO, the show where the romance tag finally has a reason to exist within this story's genres.

Yup, the relationship that I had been hinting and foreshadowing from pretty much the first chapter, finally happened. This was a long time coming and I'm glad that I finally got to write it.

Special chapters are over for now. From the next one, we go back to our regularly scheduled healing sessions, only that this time, Corvo will be a married man.

Next time on A Healer's Oath: Octavius, The Centurion.

That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!