Sometimes you have every intention of doing useful with your afternoon and then BAM! You're writing Selection fanfiction again! I have a problem and a LOT OF FEELINGS! Was very nice to feel truly inspired again, though. I don't usually write anything soft and fluffy but I do LOVE weddings, so there's that.

This is the twentieth chapter. When I started writing one shots mainly out of pure rage I did NOT think it would become such a thing, but here we are. On ao3 I am SO CLOSE to 500 hits 100 comments which is INSANE.

I have no intention of stopping- I'm up to 3 drafts of the "Eadlyn and Erik got married and that is not working super well" AU sequel and one of these days I'm going to finish it. Also the big Keadlyn project, which should be more fun, but somehow is less fun- do I ever make sense?

Nerves jangled in my stomach like I'd swallowed several sets of car key, but presumably, I was the only one with pre-wedding jitters. My fiancée, Her Majesty the Queen, was known for her impressive-bordering-on-sociopathic emotional control—or, alternately, she wasn't worried because she had a lot less to lose.

It still felt like a dream. Even if Eadlyn wasn't royalty, I was pretty sure she could have anyone she wanted—what was she doing with me? It wasn't enough to say she was beautiful; she was punch-you-in-the-face gorgeous with a temper to match, the type of woman that could eat a man alive. If we hadn't grown up together, she probably would've scared the hell out of me—sometimes she still did. My bride-to-be was a force of nature. I didn't know anyone else who could make things happen the way she did. Maybe it was just part of being the queen, but I suspected Eadlyn was actually made of much stronger stuff than your average citizen, and I loved her all the more for it.

Sometimes I imagined telling my teenage self about my current life. Past Kile would think I was out of my mind, peppering me with questions. Have you moved out of the castle? Have any of your designs been built yet? Are you a famous architect?

No, I would answer. But you have her.

Besides, Eadlyn insisted I could have the career and the crown simultaneously. I believed her—my fiancée had a remarkable talent for getting what she wanted—even though it didn't matter. I would give it all up if that was the price I had to pay. She would never ask that of me, but I'd give it up all the same. I'd been telling her for years, since I had to beg to keep my spot in her Selection.

And look where we ended up.

There was a knock at the door. I called "come in", assuming it was yet another stylist wanting to touch up my hair, but I was wrong—it was Ahren, Eadlyn's twin brother and my best man. "What are you doing here? Is it time to go?"

I'd been confined to the dressing room for what felt like years to avoid accidentally glimpsing the bride before the ceremony. I was more than ready to skip to the good part, already getting up, but Ahren shook his head. "Just checking up on you. Eadlyn's worried you've 'come to your senses'. Her words, not mine."

"Like I'd back out of the wedding? Not a chance."

It was remarkable. Eadlyn was the fiercest and most enchanting person I knew, and somehow she thought I was the catch.

Ahren shrug. "That's about what I expected. For what it's worth, you don't have anything to worry about either."

"I'm not worrying." Not much, anyway. When batting this far out of your league, it's impossible to quit worrying entirely, but deep down, I knew Eadlyn and I had the real thing. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Good. She's crazy about you. It's interesting, actually," Ahren said thoughtfully. "Eadlyn's rough around the edges. You know that, obviously. I always assumed, when she fell in love someday, it would change her, make her softer, somehow. But she's exactly the same, just obsessed with you."

"Trust me; she's changed," I informed him. We both had. There was no way this relationship would work or even exist if we were still the same people we'd been at eighteen.

Ahren chuckled. "I guess I've been gone too long. You're the one who knows her best now. As her twin, that's hard for me to admit, but it does make me feel a little better about this wedding."

"You were worried?" It made sense for the bride or groom to be worried, but the best man, too?

"Well, you're marrying a fashionable woman with refined taste, and I can't help but notice the tie you've picked out is disgusting."

I looked down and grinned. The pink and orange flowers were just as obnoxious as they had been three years ago, and the certainly didn't match my black suit and gray vest. "She confiscated this from me during the Selection—too ugly to be seen in, apparently. She doesn't know I stole it back."

"In that case, she'll love it." Ahren checked his watch. "We'd better go. Are you ready to get married?"

It was intimidating, walking into the royal cathedral and seeing just how many guests had crowns atop their heads, but we'd practiced so many times that I didn't hesitate. Eadlyn's mother played a spirited wedding march on the piano—the one wedding gift we asked for. Other than the pool, of course. If Eadlyn's calculations were correct, construction would be done right around the time we got back from our honeymoon in Europe.

I took my place at the end of the aisle. A steady stream of people followed—the groomsmen and bridesmaids, Osten reluctantly carrying the rings, the Legers' adopted daughter tossing flower petals—but the whole congregation was holding its breath, waiting for the bride. My heart skipped at the first glimpse of her. Her white satin dress (designed by Hale, of course) was enormous. I had no idea how I was supposed to get close enough to kiss her, much less do anything else. She was radiant. Far from the blushing bride, Eadlyn knew exactly how beautiful she was, and wielded that beauty like a sword.

Her bridal glow faltered just slightly when she recognized my admittedly-hideous tie. "How did you get that from my desk?" she hissed, taking both my hands in hers.

"I'm your maid's favorite, remember?"

"As soon as we're done with this, I'm actually going to burn that tie."

"Whatever gets you taking my clothes off, Eadlyn."