Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Down in the meadows, surrounded by fields of blooming flowers and bountiful crops as far as the eye could see, a lone figure on horseback cantered along.

He wove expertly through the rough and small roads and walkways, moving behind farmhouses and grain storage buildings, trying to stay out of sight of the gleaming white castle behind him.

The mid afternoon sun glared down from above, but not as stifling as it had been earlier on in the day. The sweet fragrance of thousands upon thousands of flowers wafted through the air from the Rainbow Sea, mixed up with the gentle rustling of the tree branches and the babbling of the river.

The figure had to duck down low toward his horse's neck to avoid taking a branch to the face as they came upon the riverbed, his gray palfrey barely being led, confident in her route.

Slipping expertly from his saddle, Crown Prince Steven Harrington glanced behind him, knowing well he couldn’t be seen from the castle in his hidden little refuge, but still, he checked every time.

It was a small little curve along the shore of the River Vita, blocked in by trees and shrubbery with enough grass and space for Bimmer to entertain herself while Steve stole however many hours he could, hiding away here.

The river itself wasn’t a terribly fast moving one but it was deceptively deep, a danger to anyone who didn’t know what they were doing. Luckily for Steve he’d been swimming in this river for as long as he had been able.

It might not have been the smartest thing in the world, sneaking out here alone to work off the stress of the day, stealing a moment alone, but he couldn’t help it. It was one of his most favored spots throughout the kingdom and it always helped him to relax his racing mind.

Steve was a strong swimmer, at least that’s how he justified it to himself. He was trained and careful and able.

Not that Robin or Hopper ever saw it that way. But he’d managed to slip away without either of them noticing and he would take the opportunity to swim whenever it was presented to him, though he didn’t think it would be long before his absence was realized.

Being the Crown Prince was full of benefits, but the downside was that he always seemed to be constantly needed, though that was mostly due to his own unique situation, rather than something the first born of other kingdoms had to deal with.

Steve’s father, King Robert wasn’t a cruel or uncaring man, but he was extremely uninterested in ruling.

He preferred the hedonistic and enjoyable parts of being a king. Celebrating, hunting, whoring, drinking.

However, dealing with the day to day? Meeting the people to hear their concerns, acting as an intermediary between warring guilds, overlooking the treasury, directing their surplus crop, trading the flowers, making sure their people were happy, provided for and treated well, organizing the guard...

King Robert didn’t have any time for it, and as such, his one and only child Steve had been shadow ruling the kingdom for as long as he could remember. Almost as soon as the king came to the realization that Steve could , he had set him to it.

It was all Steve had ever really known.

And he loved it. He really did.

This was his home, his kingdom, his responsibility. He wanted his people to be happy, he wanted to maintain the beauty of the Rainbow Sea, he wanted to carry on the Harrington legacy, he wanted to be good .

But sometimes… sometimes it was a lot.

It was a lot all the time, if he was being honest with himself, but he was comfortable with it.

This was what he had been raised for after all and in his short twenty four years, he’d become almost expert at it.

Steve didn’t think there was anything he wouldn’t do for the good of his kingdom.

Bimmer shook her head with a frustrated snort, bringing him back to the present where he had been standing, staring out over the River Vita with her reins in his hand.

“Sorry, girl.” He muttered, patting her muzzle and draping the reins over her neck. “Go on.”

She bumped his hand once and then wandered off to graze.

She was an expertly trained horse, strong and tall with a gleaming light grey coat, almost white in color to go with her bright mane and tail. She was beautiful and one of the many loves of his life.

He rarely needed to tie her off to stop her from wandering, she liked to keep watch over him while he swam.

Steve stripped himself bare, taking care to hang his carefully embroidered doublet and undershirt from a tree branch to keep them as clean as possible.

He didn’t want to give the staff in the laundry more work than necessary.

Most of his clothes had been expertly decorated with delicate flowers and climbing vines, occasionally even with some of the kingdom’s sweetest fruits. His clothes were beautiful and he took great care with them, not wanting the hours of work put into them to go to waste.

The cool breeze brushed against his skin and Steve sighed, feeling the stress of the day get washed away in the current of the river as he submerged himself completely, the shock of the cold enough to inject some energy back into him.

Steve took off, up and down the bank, swimming with and then against the gentle current until his muscles began to ache and tire and the sun had dipped a little lower, slowly bathing the clouds in soft pinks and oranges.

He was catching his breath, sculling along on his back, eyes closed, head tipped to the sun when he heard a throat clearing above him.

Steve was intimately familiar with that gruff and perpetually irked sound and he continued to float for a moment before peeking an eye open to look up at the figure towering above.

Captain Hopper glared down, his arms crossed over his leather clad chest, a deep frown on his face.

He raised an eyebrow at Steve’s complete shameless nudity and huffed, much in the same way Bimmer did when she wasn’t getting her way.

“You’re giving me gray hairs, kid.”

Steve grinned to himself, allowing his eye to slip closed again.

“You’ve been saying that for years, Hop.”

“You’ve been giving them to me for years, Harrington. The hell are you doing out here alone?”

Steve shrugged, the water sloshing around him.

“I’m fine.”

“But you might not have been.”

“I’m a strong swimmer.”

“Not stronger than mother nature. If your royal ass was to drown out here, then where would we be?”

Steve scoffed.

“I wasn’t going to drown , Hop. Don’t be so dramatic. And anyway, haven’t I taught you what to do in that kind of situation? Press on the chest, breathe into the mouth-”

“Steve.” Hopper sighed, closing his eyes as if praying for patience and Steve had to give in.

He knew Hopper was right, knew that it wasn’t exactly the safest thing to be doing, going outside the castle walls alone , to swim in a force of nature alone .

But… it was fine.

It wasn’t like anything exciting ever happened in his life. Things were calm, normalized. Day in, day out, Steve always knew what was coming and he was happy with it that way. He was happy with where he was right now.

“Get your clothes back on, kid. C’mon.”

Steve knew he had to, knew that he couldn’t hide away here forever, but he was feeling a little petulant. He shot Hopper the biggest pout he could muster.

“Five more minutes?”

“No.” Hopper growled at him. “You better be out of that water in the next ten seconds or I’ll take Bimmer back with me and make you walk.”

Steve straightened up in the water, with a performative squawk, shaking droplets from his lashes. He was still deep enough that the water flowed across his stomach, taking some power away from the effect of putting his hands on his hips.

“On my own two royal legs?” He exclaimed in mock outrage. “Hop, how could you? I demand my litter!” He slapped a hand against the water.

“I’ll litter you in a minute.” Hopper scowled. “I’ll bring you back in your very own casket if you keep pushing. Out. Now.”

Steve crossed his arms with a scowl of his own, really hamming it up with a comically furrowed brow but Hopper didn’t waver. Didn’t even crack a smile. So Steve sighed and waded back to the shore, stepping out without an inch of shame in his nakedness.

Hopper wasn’t phased in the least.

“Your nudity doesn’t scare me, Harrington.” Hopper said, leaning against a tree while Steve pulled his britches on over his legs. “Or have you forgotten that I was the one who had to try and catch you as a three year old when you decided you hated clothes and went on a run around the castle? Do you have any idea how irritating a naked, angry three year old is?”

Steve scrunched up his nose but still tried to not let too much of his embarrassment show.

Tugging his undershirt back on over his head, he scraped his wet hair back from his forehead and shrugged his doublet back on, not bothering to lace either of them up.

“Did you happen to notice my absence or did someone send for me?” He asked, tucking his shirt away into his pants.

“I fear Your Royal Highness has had a duty of today slip his mind.” Hopper answered, not cryptic at all , with a little glimmer in his eye.

Steve paused in his movements, trying to remember what he could have forgotten he had to do today.

He’d met with Merill and Eugene about their land dispute. He’d met with one of the Coin Keepers, Ted Wheeler about potentially taking on Erica Sinclair as an apprentice. He’d read the letters and memos sent to him from the various guilds. They’d finally figured out how to streamline their flower trade route through the River Road, what else could he possibly be forgetting-

It hit him all at once.

He let his head drop back with a loud groan.

“Yep.” Hopper sounded way too happy about it. Steve supposed this was some kind of justice for escaping away to swim today.

“Fuck.” Steve whispered.

“Steve you promised!” Dustin’s shrill voice echoed off the stone walls of the kitchens, cutting through the low din of the cooks and servers finishing up their work for the day and beginning to prep what they needed to for tomorrow.

By the time Steve had gotten back to the castle, evening had set in and Dustin was glaring up at him from a wooden table in the corner, his arms crossed and his foot tapping against the flagstone floor like an angry parent.

“I know, Dustin.” Steve sat down at the table as well but almost immediately had to lean out of the way as a kitchen maid was forced to reach across him to get to a stack of bowls piled up and needing to be washed.

Steve handed them over to her with a warm smile and she grinned back at him with a small, “Thank you, Steven.”

“I’m sorry.” He turned his attention back to Dustin. “Things started piling up today and I forgot.”

Dustin scoffed, sticking his nose in the air. “How can you expect to be a good king if you forget your people . Your promises ?”

“Dusty!” Claudia exclaimed, hovering like she almost always was, in front of the large suspended cast iron pot, hanging over the constant burning hearth, stirring.

The rest of the kitchen staff reacted to Dustin with varying levels of shocked laughter or badly hidden snorts.

Joyce poked her head out of the walk-in pantry, just to swat Dustin lightly over the head with a rag. “Show some respect!”

“Yeah, Dusty.” Steve gave his shin a gentle kick. “Show some respect.”

Dustin grumbled to himself, something that sounded distinctly like show you some respect before slamming both hands down on the table. “Lucas gets to ride all the time!”

“Lucas is Captain Hopper’s squire. It’s pretty much his job description. It’s different.”

“And he’s learned how to hunt and shoot and bow and he’s not even using a training sword anymore! Hopper’s got him practicing with a blunt metal one now!” Dustin threw his hands into the air, nearly swatting a kitchen boy a year or two older than him in the arm, but the boy seemed so used to it, he just expertly weaved around the flying gesticulations with barely a glance. “I could be a squire.”

“It all sounds very fanciful, Dusty.” Steve leaned his elbow on the table. “But are you forgetting all the other things Lucas had to do to get to where he is? Yes, he gets to ride all the time, but he’s also up at dawn, shovelling shit from the stables. Yes, he’s learned his way around a sword and bow but don’t you remember all the cuts and bruises he was walking around with? Or this time last year when he couldn’t train for two months after he broke his collarbone on his good side after getting thrown from his horse?”

“I wouldn’t have that issue! I don’t even have collarbones!”

“And,” Steve pressed forward, “Lucas doesn’t have time for much else besides those things. He doesn’t get to harass the librarian for hours on end with constant questions.”

Dustin glared at him from across the table. “I’m not harassing Mr. Clarke. He loves my questions.”

“If you were to be in Lucas’ position, you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t study the natural sciences and alchemy like you love to. In addition to that, Lucas has been in training since he was six years old. You’d have a lot of catching up to do.”

Dustin slumped back in his chair, arms crossed again and a frown on his face. He looked disappointed if not a little upset and it just about broke Steve’s heart.

Fuck, he was too soft with these kids.

“I promise, Dusty. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll take you out riding, okay?”

He’d have to shift his schedule around a little. He usually went through his correspondence with the further villages and towns of the kingdom in the mornings, but he could put them off for an hour or two.

“Can I ride Bimmer?” Dustin asked, almost immediately perking up.

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. But if she’s okay with it, then I am.”

“She’s a horse, Steve.”

“So? Doesn’t mean she has to put up with a little shit-head with no collarbones if she doesn’t want to.”

“But- okay. If she does let me, then I can? I can ride your horse?” There was such a hopeful glint in Dustin’s eye. Steve was powerless to deny him.

He heaved a put upon sigh and hands on his hips, “Yes, okay. But only around the perimeter!” He shouted the last part after Dustin who had shot up from his seat with a whoop and burst out of the room.

“Mike! He’s gonna let me ride Bimmer!”

Mike had only just come in from the gardens, arms full of herbs which were dropped to the floor with an angry squawk, beginning an argument because Steve never let him ride Bimmer.

Claudia giggled to herself as Steve slumped back in his chair.

“You give in too easily, dear.” She said over her shoulder to him.

He leaned his cheek into his fist. “You know what he’s like.”

Claudia smiled again, tuning back to the pot.

Steve was just about to open his mouth to offer some help when there was a great clatter on the stone steps leading up from the kitchen.

Robin nearly ran into the wall, her face was flushed from exertion, one pant leg was untucked from a boot which was coming unlaced and her undershirt was half hanging out of her still beautiful but not quite as lavishly embroidered waistcoat.

She’d caught herself against the archway, her wild eyes scanning the room before Steve felt them land on him.

“Oh shit.” He breathed, springing from his chair in the next second and making a break for it through the kitchen.

“You!” Robin screeched, footsteps pounding after him while the staff scampered,  like they were jumping out of the road to escape a wayward horse and cart. “Get your fucking ass back here, Harrington!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Steve burst through the door leading out into the herb garden, Robin hot on his heels. He didn’t know why he’d chosen the damn herb garden to escape to, it was enclosed.

He literally had nowhere to run.

“You call trying to drown yourself in the river not doing anything?” She shouted, swinging a gardening glove she’d picked up at him as she slowly stalked closer while Steve was backed up against an impenetrable stone wall.

“I wasn’t going to drown , Buckley.” He snapped back, trying to catch the glove in his own hand as she swatted at whatever part of him she could reach. “I’m a strong swimmer!”

“Stronger than the river, Steven?” She was able to pop him over the head and he finally managed to catch her wrist and wrench the glove from her grip, swatting her back.

“Get off my ass, adviser . I’m fine aren’t I? Forgive me for needing a moment to myself.”

Robin was trying and failing to bat his hands away.

“You can have as many moments to yourself as you’d like, Your Highness , but not on a dangerous river when no one knows where you are!”

Steve whapped her on the arm and in retaliation she levelled several slaps against his chest.

“The river’s not that dangerous!”

“You wouldn’t even be the first monarch to drown in that river!”

“I didn’t fucking drown!”

“Yet!”

“Is that a threat?”

“You’re damn right it is! I will drown you myself next time, I swear on your stupid hair-”

“Hey! Don’t call my hair stupid, your face is stupid.”

“Ugh!” The sound came out of Robin like some kind of cross in between a scream and a groan. “I can’t believe this is the thanks I get for my years of service!”

“Service, my left nut. You’re a pain in my ass, Buckley.”

Steve still had the glove clasped in his hand, though it was down at his side now and Robin had stuck her hands on her hips, the two of them glaring.

“You’d perish without me.” She sniffed, looking down her nose at him.

“Whatever.”

Robin pursed her lips, tapping one finger against her hip.

“Did you enjoy yourself, at least?”

Steve grinned, swatting her lightly one last time over the shoulder.

“Yeah.”

“You said first thing tomorrow morning, Steve!”

Steve stuffed his goose feather pillow over his head, trying to block out the pinks of the early morning sky invading his room.

The light was barely there, the sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but it was still reflected around the room. The brightness of Steve’s lime-washed and plastered walls seeming intent on keeping him awake, the delicate paintwork of climbing vines and florals doing nothing to dull the glare since Dustin had thrown open the curtains.

“I didn’t mean the ass-crack of dawn, shit-head!”

“You’re up now aren’t you?”

Turning his head a little, Steve peeked an eye open to glare at him.

“I shouldn’t be.”

“Not all of us are royalty who get to sleep in.” Dustin snarked back with his arms crossed.

“Sucks for you because I am royalty who gets to sleep in. Now if you don’t fuck off and come back at a more reasonable hour, I’m telling your mother what happened to her good copper pot.”

Dusting scowled back just as hard before turning on his heel and stomping out.

“Fine, asshole!”

“And close my curtains!” Steve shouted after him, but Dustin had already slammed his bedroom door closed again.

He was still yawning and grumbling to himself as Dustin dragged him by the arm down to the stables. What he wouldn’t give for some kind of injection of energy, some way to wake himself up. He prayed for the day something like that was discovered. Maybe he could talk to the castle herbalist about it. Argyle always had something strange cooking.

Steve squinted against the glaring sunlight, slumping when Dustin finally let go of his arm to shoot off into the stables on his own, shouting at Steve to keep up.

Fuck, how did the kid have so much damn energy?

When Steve finally made his way inside, his senses assaulted with the smell of wood, leather, hay and horse, Dustin was standing in front of Bimmer’s stall, blinking up at her with wide nervous eyes.

“She’s bigger than I thought she was.” He muttered. “I’ve only ever seen her at a distance.”

Steve placed a hand down on Dustin’s head, using the other to pet over Bimmer’s muzzle.

“She’s very gentle. But you don’t have to ride her if you don’t want to. I could take you out on a smaller-”

“No.” Dustin turned to look up at him. “I said I would, so. I will.”

It took a little bit, getting Bimmer to respond positively to Dustin after she had reflected his nervousness initially, but soon enough he was comfortably in the saddle, practically vibrating with excitement. Steve stuck close by, astride Thunder, a jet black stallion prone to wandering but easy enough to pull back.

Dustin’s smile only grew wider as they went on a slow trot around the curtain walls and before long he was in top form, spewing about the latest things he’d learned whenever they passed something that caught his interest.

“Hey Steve, did you know that Mothers Bounty used to spit liquid fire and ash?” Dustin said, pointing over at the lone flat topped extinct volcano that always loomed in the background. “It’s where our pumice stone comes from and the reason we can grow so much here.”

“Yes, Dustin, I did know that.”

“Hey Steve, did you know that Queen Vita drowned in the River Vita,” The river itself babbled up at them. “Isn’t that crazy?”

“That’s a rumour.”

“Hey Steve, did you know that the people of the Abyssal Forest use needles and ink to mark their skin?”

Steve blinked rapidly over in Dustin’s direction while a soft breeze blew through the trees next to them.

“They do what?” He asked, trying not to think too hard about sticking needles into his skin. Willingly .

“Yeah!” Dustin turned to him with the brightest smile. “They have to get the needle in quite deep for the ink to stick, but if they do, their designs can stay there forever! Isn’t that so cool?”

Steve had to repress a shudder. “Yeah, man. Sounds… so cool.”

They continued to ride on in silence for another moment and Steve would have found it peaceful if he didn’t think that Dustin suddenly falling silent after spitting out endless facts was very strange. He was fidgeting ever so slightly with Bimmer’s reigns, like he was trying to build up to something.

“So. El and I have been talking.”

Well, that was never a good start.

Steve just hummed in agreement, waiting for Dustin to continue, reaching up to pluck a leaf from an overhanging branch as they slowly made their way back to the stables.

“She’s hit a blockade on her studies of the Rainbow Sea. You know how she’s been trying to figure out how to grow the Nightbloom?”

“Absolutely not.” Steve didn’t quite snap, but it was a close thing.

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“You’re gonna ask me to take you and El on an expedition to the Abyssal Forest so El can talk to the people who live there about her flower and so you can harass them about their inked skin-”

“But, Steve! The Nightbloom doesn’t grow anywhere else and no one else I have read about inks their skin-!”

“Over my dead body, Dusty-Buns. There’s a reason their community is so closed off. That forest is dangerous to those who don’t know how to traverse it. Most who try end up lost forever. You think I’m gonna lead both you and El to certain death just for a flower and some ink?”

“Steve-!”

“Dustin.” Steve pulled Thunder a round to a stop in front of Bimmer. “I’ve said no . You’re just going to have to find some more books about it. It’s not happening.” He stared him dead in the eye. “Have I made myself clear?”

Dustin scowled at him, and the rest of the ride back to the stables was frosty but Steve wouldn’t budge.

Dustin could sulk and complain and be as upset as he liked, but Steve was not going to lose him or El in a dark and endless forest just because he wanted to meet some inky people and find out how to grow a flower.

In his haste to get off Bimmer once the stable hand had taken her reins, Dustin’s foot slipped from her stirrup and he fell hard onto one knee.

Steve threw himself from his own horse, swinging down in less than a second but Dustin had already sprang back up, brushing past him with a muttered “ I’m fine .”

Steve stared after him, not knowing whether he should feel hurt or indignant. He only wanted what was best for the kids and he understood Dustin’s disappointment at not getting to go on some kind of stupidly dangerous mission but at the same time, did he really expect Steve to put all their lives at risk for no reason?

“Shit, what happened?”

Steve turned to find Robin walking through the stable doors, coming from the direction Dustin had just left in.

“We had a disagreement.” Steve sighed, hands on his hips. “He wanted me to take him and El into the Abyssal Forest.”

Robin’s eyes widened. “What the hell for? Is he trying to get you all killed? And no offense to the kid, but your death might not be the best thing for the future of this kingdom.”

He snorted, a little deprecatingly. “I know, right? Someone should have told my parents to have another kid. Would help to take the pressure off.”

Robin gave a little nod, sucking her lips into her teeth. “Speaking of pressure…”

“I know, I know.” Steve shook his head, giving Bimmer a pat and nodding at the stable hand who was corralling the two horses back into their stalls. “I’m going up to my study now to start on my correspondence so there’s no need to bully me.”

He grinned at her but it slipped from his face almost immediately when she didn’t follow suit, just continued to bite her lip.

“What is it?”

Robin took a deep breath in, like she was bolstering herself.

“Your parents have requested an audience with you.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

“What for?”

“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me.” She shrugged, trying to hide the worry in her eyes, but she was never able to fully hide from him.

The fact that they hadn’t shared what they wanted to talk to him about was not a good sign.

“Well.” Steve put his hands back on his hips. “Fuck.”

Robin nodded.

Chapter Text

Steve tried to dry off his sweaty palms against his pants, staring up at the large solid oak and iron double doors separating the Foyer from the Great Hall where his parents were awaiting him. His mouth was dry, his throat was tight and he could feel his heart thudding through his chest, like it was trying to break free and run away in the same way Steve would love to.

He wasn’t scared of his parents. They had a cordial relationship, more business than family but they liked him well enough. No, he was scared of whatever news was awaiting him on the other side of those doors.

He couldn’t think of what it could possibly be, but whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be pleasant .

Had their stores failed? Was there a blight on one of the crops? Or a sickness tearing through the kingdom? Was war coming for them?

Robin rubbed a hand down his back, hovering just behind him, the same energy of sick worry and nerves radiating from her, despite the comfort she tried to give him.

As her hand crested back up to his shoulder, he raised his own, squeezing her fingers for a moment.

The doors towered, almost loomed above them, intimidating in their solidity.

Steve had very rarely seen the doors closed and both times were never good news.

Closed meant privacy. Closed meant solemnity. Closed meant they weren’t to be disturbed. And it was rare, really fucking rare to see those doors closed.

It felt wrong.

His kingdom, his home was open and welcoming to all. It had been for as long as he’d been alive. People of all walks were welcome, always welcome. The Harringtons didn’t really consider themselves above their subjects. It had been one of the core beliefs Steve’s ancestor, Queen Virgina Harrington had founded the kingdom upon, not wanting to repeat the mistakes of her father.

Steve sucked his lips into his mouth, taking a deep breath in through his nose and letting it out through his mouth, rolling his shoulders back and letting go of Robin’s fingers.

He nodded to the guards at either side of the door and held his head high as they pushed them open, fighting back the sudden and unnecessary impulse to adjust his crown, a golden circlet with delicate metal work curving throughout, representing blooming flowers and lush vines. He wouldn’t usually be wearing it, preferring to keep himself as casual as possible whenever he could, but an audience with his parents required some kind of representation of his station.

The hinges on the doors creaked loud like the crack of a whip, protesting their use after sitting open for so long. The sound seemed to make everyone present tense up. Steve could feel it in himself, could sense it in Robin behind him and saw the shoulders of the guards jolt every so slightly as they pushed at the great weight, like they hadn’t been expecting it.

The Great Hall beyond was a wide and cavernous room, feeling empty and intimidating with the blanket of apprehension hanging over it. The usual colored light that spilled through the intricate stained glass windows and bounced off the bright stone walls, a marvel to see even on a cloudy day, did nothing to offset the somehow simultaneous empty and claustrophobic feeling.

Steve and Robin’s footsteps echoed around them as they slowly, but with dignity, walked over the beautifully mosaicked stone floor, made to look like a field of flowers with a river running through.

Up ahead, on the dais and seated comfortably on their thrones were King Robert and Queen Josephine Harrington, two beautiful people with the best of intentions, even if they sometimes weren’t sure how to properly execute them.

King Robert was a joyful man, growing round in the belly as his lifestyle steadily became more sedentary and his drinking became a commonality rather than a celebration. But though joyful he may be, he was also careless. Allowing Steve to take over the running of the kingdom from such a young age without a conscious worry or conscious care of how it may have affected his son's life, as long as he got to have his fun in the end.

Steve didn’t think there had been anything malicious in it, just carelessness.

Queen Josephine by comparison was a slight and delicate looking woman hiding a steely determination that she brought to everything she did. She was ambitious and driven, but it was always very directed. Steve had always known her goal had been to ascend as a ruler and as the second daughter to a smaller kingdom, she had achieved it when she’d married his father. Her place had only been solidified more once she had born Steve. After that, the thrill of being on the top seemed to have lost its glow and her want for success had turned elsewhere.

She was one of the most accomplished women Steve had ever known. A master musician, craftswoman, artist, linguist and mathematician. Her passion was solely focused on self improvement, on mastering anything she set her heart to. And unfortunately for Steve, neither he, nor the kingdom had ever really been within those particular sights.

Same as his father, he thought there was nothing malicious in it, he supposed she just didn’t find him an interesting subject to study. 

His mother sat up straighter as Steve approached and he could feel the weight of her gaze on him, keeping the steel rod firmly in place through his spine and his chin parallel to the floor.

His father, by contrast, stayed slouched in his seat, his ever present goblet clutched in his right hand and his cheeks already rosy.

If nothing else leading up to the meeting had informed Steve of how serious this was going to be, then the absence of his fathers cup-bearer was like a giant warning flag, a standard-bearer for incoming difficulties.

“Steven.” His father greeted with a poorly concealed belch and a nod in his direction. “Ms. Buckley.” He addressed Robin in the same courteous tone and she tilted at the waist, a small bow, her hands clasped behind her back in response.

Once she had directed a bow at the Queen as well, she took a step back, no longer hovering over Steve’s shoulder but still present.

Josephine glanced over at her husband, watching as he took a large gulp of his wine. Robert scrubbed his hand over the back of his mouth and with a large groaning exhale, like the action of drinking itself had been an exertion, set his eyes on Steve. His mouth was a thin line, the goblet being twisted in his fingers and he was hesitating.

So.

Neither of them wanted to be the one to deliver the news, then.

Standard-bearer for incoming difficulties.

After another few seconds of silence, the queen finally opened her mouth. “We have received a request, an offer, to be more precise.” There was a firm set to her jaw. “From Stoirmeach, the Cunningham Kingdom.”

Steve blinked at her, unable to stop the confusion showing on his face.

He wasn’t entirely sure what Stoirmeach could be offering.

Their kingdom wasn’t exactly a rich one. Not as abundant in resources like they were here.

They were a harsh and practical people. Militaristic in their laws and fierce on the sea. But they weren’t wealthy. So what could have possibly been such a prize for them to offer? What had his parents even considering it? And what had they asked for in return?

“An offer?” He prodded politely as there seemed to be no desire on his mothers part to continue.

“Yes.” She nodded, looking down at her hands, examining her nails. If Steve didn’t know any better, he would assume she was being almost indifferent about the conversation. Like it was below her. But Queen Josephine Harrington wasn’t one to shy away from something she thought was below her. She’d face it head on.

No.

His mother was nervous.

And that was terrifying.

With a tensing of her fingers, Queen Josephine Harrington brought her eyes up to meet his. “Of marriage.”

Steve blinked at her again.

Robin sucked in a sharp breath behind him.

He could feel his brow furrow, his eyes narrow in further confusion.

He didn’t understand.

An offer of marriage for whom? From whom?

It couldn’t be for his parents, both alive and well and still ruling, in theory if not in practice.

The king and queen of Stoirmeach were both still alive and well as far as he knew. He would have known if one of them had died, surely? They’d be invited to attend the funeral as a sign of allyship.

So what…?

Oh.

The realization had his stomach dropping through the floor and straight down into the undercroft below.

“F- for me?” He asked, haltingly, hoping he’d gotten it wrong and knowing he hadn’t. “An offer of marriage for… for me?”

His father nodded, a solemn downturn to his mouth. “We know it’s not what you want for yourself Steven and we have not accepted the offer on your behalf. We wouldn’t dream of it.”

Steve swallowed involuntarily, feeling his heart thud again against his chest, trying to escape like it had before.

He could say nothing apart from “Oh?”

Steve’s mother tensed her fingers again, like she wanted to grip something tight. “We weren’t going to make the decision for you, Steven. And you need to be presented with all of the facts.”

All the facts. The reason the offer had been made in the first place and probably the reason for his parents hesitation in telling him.

Because even though they may have put their royal duties on his shoulders at too young an age, even though they didn’t take much interest in him as a person, they weren’t cruel. They weren’t unfeeling.

And they knew how he felt about his hopes for the future King or Queen who would sit at his side. They knew he was a romantic at heart, the whole kingdom did. He never hid it, hadn’t seen a reason to.

But even more than that they knew how dedicated he was to said kingdom. They knew he’d do anything to keep it prosperous, out of danger, happy.

So they must have known before even he did, that he would probably accept.

And he was about to find out why he would probably accept.

Steve took a large breath in, loosened his shoulders and stood up straight.

“Go on.”

His father looked at him somewhat apprehensive but spoke clearly despite his tipsy state.

“Creel’s forces are amassing to the north, as you know. But what you might not know is that Brenner to the south has also begun to increase his number. And we are right in the middle. There is no guarantee that they will attack and there is a chance we could hold them off were they to. But Stoirmeach’s military is formidable. They have the strongest naval force that we know of and the River Vita is deep enough to allow them passage. With their loyalty, we would not be so… vulnerable .”

Steve nodded. So war was a possibility.

It didn’t mean it would come to pass but if this marriage meant allying with a strong military, then he would do it to keep his people safe.

“And in return?”

“Food.” His mother answered. “They want a steady supply from our stocks, especially in the winter when their scant farmlands are hardened by the frost and it’s too difficult to effectively fish in the winter storms.”

Steve had his hands on his hips, slowly nodding along, eyes somewhere in the distance cataloging everything.

Okay, they could manage that, they could afford to lose some of their extensive food surplus. They always ended up with far more than they needed come harvest season and they had a number of years stored up already.

There was no reason why a steady supply of it to Stoirmeach would impact them too greatly, if at all.

There was just…

“And your royal seat would be here, of course.”

That hit him square in the chest, like a physical blow.

He took a step back, not in horror or fear, not in shock or devastation, but in relief.

He wouldn’t be taken away. Fuck, it hadn’t even entered his mind as a possibility yet, that he’d be ripped away from everything he’d ever known, ever loved, to rule over some foreign land but now that he knew it wasn’t happening, it nearly sent him into a panic with the mere thought that it could have happened.

But he wouldn’t be forced to leave behind Dustin or Bimmer or, god forbid, Robin. He would have never survived it.

It made sense. He was the sole heir to the throne here. Of course he would be staying.

“Would I be correct in assuming this marriage is being proposed between myself and Christine?”

She was the eldest daughter, after all. It made the most sense. There was a small chance he could find out he was being betrothed to her younger brother who was… fuck, maybe Dustin’s age? The thought made him shudder.

But he needn’t have worried.

“Yes, Christine.” His mother confirmed. “She’s young, maybe a year or two younger than you. Healthy, educated, flowered.”

Steve scrunched up his nose and he could see Robin gagging in his mind's eye, if she’d been more free to express such an emotion she’d have been doing it right now behind his back.

So it was poor Princess Christine who was to be shipped off to a foreign kingdom, away from everything she’d ever known.

The thought wasn’t a pleasant one and it left a sick pit in Steve’s stomach just thinking about the fact that he would be responsible for it.

He would just have to make life here as comfortable as possible for her. Let her bring whatever and whoever she wanted. Her friends, her staff, her horses, her… whatever she wanted. It was the least he could do.

Because of course he would say yes. Of course he would accept the offer.

It was what was best for his kingdom and his people. It was his duty to look after them.

He had just hoped he might have been given the opportunity to fall in love first before he was made to marry, but that was always a bit of an unrealistic goal.

Marriage was a business transaction, it always had been. That was how he had been raised to see it.

So it might not have been what he desired and he might have hoped he would have had more time to find love but…

This outcome was expected.

Unfortunately.

Besides, it wasn’t his worst fear ever made manifest.

Robin wasn’t being taken away.

He wasn’t dying cold and alone on the battlefield.

It was… he would make it work.

And besides, maybe he and Christine could be… friends.

He could feel Robin at his back, practically vibrating and he knew that once she was given the chance to open her mouth, she’d be nearly impossible to stop.

“I accept.”

He could feel three pairs of eyes snap over to him immediately, burning into his skin. Startled, incredulous and wide.

Queen Josephine opened her mouth, almost too alarmed to speak.

Almost.

“But… Steven.” It was almost like she was pleading. “We had planned to allow you plenty of time to consider-”

“I have considered. I want to keep our people safe. It’s what I was born to do and this marriage will allow me to do that. I accept.”

There was a small squeak behind him, like the sound spilled out of Robin before she could hold it back.

King Robert glanced back at her, apparently weighing the pros and cons of inviting her into the conversation where she would inevitably explode.

Steve sighed, taking the decision away from his father.

“You might as well speak, Rob. I know you’re dying t-”

“You can’t throw away your life like this Steve!” Robin almost shouted, not giving a care in the world that her king and queen were in the room.

It wasn’t like they were unused to her spirit after all. They had known her for as long as Steve had. They had watched her grow up alongside him.

“It’s- you don’t even know her! She- you- you can’t just decide to spend the rest of your life with someone you don’t even know!”

“Never did us any harm.” King Robert muttered, throwing back the last of his goblet.

No one there was unaware of the fact that it was how his parents ended up together. Steve’s father, the heir to the Harrington Kingdom at the time, was married to his mother, the second daughter of the Cairn’s, the mountain kingdom to the east.

And they grew to love each other eventually.

In their own way.

But Steve didn’t want that. He wasn’t sure if anyone would have wanted that, but what choice did he have? His people needed him to make this decision for them and he was going to do right by them.

Romance be damned.

This was his duty.

Robin’s face turned pale. “I- I’m sorry, Your Highness. I meant no disrespect-”

Steve’s father waved a hand at her, not quite dismissive but not quite placating either, trying to shake the last dregs of his drink out, his attention almost fully consumed by his empty goblet.

“Ms. Buckley,” his mother inhaled, sympathetic, ready to speak on all of their behalf. Her hands were folded calmly in her lap and she was trying her best to appear motherly but… it had never been something she’d quite mastered, despite all her other skills. “You have to understand. People in our position… we sometimes have to look at things like this from a… business perspective. It’s not as desirable as a love match but… we make do.”

Steve was a little bewildered at Robin’s reaction. She’d been raised right beside him. They’d shared the same nursery. They’d been inseparable since they were toddlers.

She knew all this.

She knew this had always been a possibility, in the same way that Steve had.

Why was she so surprised it had come to this?

“And if you’re lucky,” his mother turned her eyes back to Steve, searching desperately for a silver lining, “you two might even find yourself growing into love.”

Steve nodded. It was the best he could hope for, really.

Yes, he had had dreams of meeting his person .

Dreams of seeing them across the room at a ball, just knowing, love at first sight.

Or maybe encountering them in some other romantic and heart fluttering way that they would recount to the grandchildren or wards who might act as their heirs in the future as they grew old together.

A story for the ages, something poets and playwrights and bards had been telling tales of for as long as humans had been falling in love.

Something epic and desirable, enough to encourage others to go out and find their own great love story.

But that wasn’t what he was going to get.

And it was fine.

Steve would be fine with it.

It was for the good of the kingdom.

It was fine.

Steve was not hiding.

Yes, he was bunkered down in the courtyard flower garden, obfuscated by climbing vines of roses and wisteria, star jasmine and sweet peas.

But he wasn’t hiding.

Robin would be able to find him eventually. There were only a few spots around the castle that Steve would go whenever he wanted to get away and this was one of them.

But still, he refused to call it hiding .

There was a rustle in the grass, someone delicately picking their way through until it stopped.

Just peeking around the corner of the fuchsia bushes, Steve could see Will, setting up an easel and paints, looking over the flowers with a critical eye, trying to decide the best angle to start from.

Steve gripped the bush in front of him, giving it a slight shake, making his presence known and trying his best to do it as gently as he could.

Will had always been a little skittish since he’d come to the kingdom with his mother and brother. Apparently his father had done a number on them all, but Will had always seemed to be the most sensitive of the bunch and so Steve did his best to not startle him.

The boy still jumped a little, whirling around, tense and wide eyed until he caught sight of the source of the noise.

Steve sent him a small little finger wave and a bashful smile.

Will’s shoulders dropped from around his ears peeking around at the small stone bench Steve was perched on in his small not hiding corner.

“What are you doing?” Will asked after a moment of just watching him.

Steve shrugged.

“Thinking.”

“Oh.” He looked back down, fidgeting with his paint brushes. “About your marriage?”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up and Will glanced quickly away, color rising to his cheeks. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. I guess… news travels fast around here.” He scratched at the back of his neck before bringing the hand around to rub at his face. “But yeah. Thinking about my marriage.”

Will nodded, biting at his lip, eyes darting around the garden.

“I can go-”

“No,” Steve waved his hand, “no, it’s okay Will. You can stay, it’s just… would you mind if I stayed too? I don’t know if I’d be a very good conversationalist right now but-”

“That’s okay.” Will looked back up, finally placing his brushes down and adjusting his easel. “We don’t have to talk, we can just… be?”

“Yeah.” Steve grinned, settling back on his bench while Will blushed a little harder.

And so it was.

They both existed together in silence, Steve staring off into space, occasionally plucking the petals off the flowers around him, rolling them up or slowly shredding them while the sound of birdsong, the buzz of bees and the scratch of Will's sketching pencil surrounded him.

But it couldn't last.

Steve heard the familiar sound of Robin's boots across the courtyard stone walkways.

Will glanced up at her with a small smile as she got closer and closer.

“Have you seen Steve around, Baby Byers?”

While Steve held his breath, shrinking back into the shadows a little further, Will gave no indication that he was hiding where he was, just shrugging vaguely in Robin’s direction.

And as much as Steve appreciated Will's attempt to keep him hidden and alone as he so clearly wanted to be, the fact that he didn't outright deny seeing him was as good a sign as any that he was here.

Robin's head poked around the bushes to his small enclosure and she exhaled, long and contemplative out of her nose, her eyes down-turned and sad.

With a little slump to her shoulders, she pushed her way around the bush into his little corner. Steve held his arm out to her and pulled her into his side.

Robin laid her head on his shoulder, pulling her knees up and cuddled close.

They didn’t speak for a little while, watching as Will went on finishing his sketch and starting to mix his paints, paying them no mind.

“I don’t want to see you miserable for the rest of your life.” She muttered to him after a while.

“There’s no guarantee I’d be miserable.” He said back, quiet, like they were children again, hiding under the bedsheets of the nursery and swapping made up stories to avoid falling asleep just because they could.

“But there’s no guarantee you wouldn’t be and that’s not good enough for me.”

Steve smiled to himself, placing a kiss down on top of her head.

“And what if she’s…” Robin waved her hand around. “I don’t know, what if she doesn’t like how close we are, or the kids or… the fucking… flowers or something? I just don't want you… tamped down by someone.”

“You’d never let that happen.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn’t.”

It took a few weeks, getting everything organized to make the marriage happen.

They sent an express courier back to Stoirmeach that same day with the news, despite everyone trying to convince Steve to at least sleep on it, but he wouldn’t be moved.

It took eight days for their courier to return with an official invitation to visit Stoirmeach for an extended period of time.

It was standard courting fair, to visit the soon to be allied kingdom. To spend time amidst the culture and the people of whichever royal would be leaving, to recognize and respect the customs and dignity of that country which the ‘home’ royal would soon be married into.

The usual visit could last anywhere from a couple of weeks to nearly a year, depending on how much respect was between the two families and how enjoyable the stay was.

Steve and his retinue had been invited for a month.

A respectable amount of time but nothing too long.

Steve could take it as a slight if he decided to, but deep down in his belly he was relieved that the stay would be so short.

While he enjoyed traveling and seeing new places, Stoirmeach was well known to be a harsh and unforgiving land. Geographically speaking.

There had always been talk of the people being the same but Steve didn’t like to judge before seeing them for himself.

But that didn’t stop the apprehension building in him, still.

He loved his home, he loved his land and he knew he was luckier than most. They were wealthy, they were abundant in resources, they had extensive artisan guilds and a near constant floral fragrance over the wind and while rain was a regular occurrence, they weren’t strangers to blue skies and bright sunlight either.

They hosted festivals and feasts, balls and parties and competitions.

Stoirmeach, by comparison, was constantly battered by salt winds and storms. It was cold, it was cloudy, it was gray and blustery. Their celebrations seemed to be few and far between, and even then they were nothing like the decadent and communal festivity Steve was used to, and reserved only for nobility.

When the kids found out Steve would be leaving for a month, longer if the fortnights travel to and from the other kingdom was counted, they were alight with questions and demands.

What would Steve’s new wife be like? Did he know anything about her? How many of her retinue was she planning to bring to live in the kingdom with her and would there be any other kids their age in that number? What was he going to do while he was there and how many souvenirs could he bring back with him?

He tried to placate them as best he could, reminding them that this was essentially a political visit, not one of leisure and if anyone was going to be getting gifts from him, it would be Christine.

The entire time Steve kept a close eye on Dustin. He was uncharacteristically quiet through Steve’s grilling and it was only when the other children had drifted off into their own conversations that Steve was able to talk to him.

“You’re leaving.” Dustin looked up at him with big wide eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

Steve opened his mouth to try to reassure him, but he was cut off before he could start.

He didn’t know why he expected anything different from this kid.

“I know you don’t really have a choice in the matter, about whether you leave or not… I know like… politically you have to but… that doesn’t change the fact that you are leaving. You and Robin and Lucas.”

Steve sighed, took Dustin up in his arms and cradled him close, one hand on the back of his neck, pressing his face into his chest.

Dustin still had his arms crossed, refusing to budge them, but melting more and more into Steve’s embrace, rubbing his nose against Steve’s expensive doublet and he couldn’t even be mad about it.

As his adviser, Robin would be traveling with Steve, attached at his hip just the way she wanted it. He would be taking some household guards, hand picked by Hopper, and the Captain of the Guard himself would be accompanying them. Lucas, as Hopper’s squire, was also on the list of people who’d be traveling with him and he was buzzing both with anticipation and apprehension, having never been away from his family for so long.

Steve made a mental note to keep a close eye on him, though he was feeling much the same.

He and Robin kissed and hugged as many of their friends and family as they could while the royal carriage waited behind them, the top of a long train of wagons and wheelhouses fit to bursting with supplies for their week long journey to the border of the two kingdoms where he would meet his new bride for the first time.

After that, it would be another week before they finally arrived Stoirmeach and Steve would have an entire month of trying to charm the pants off Christine and her parents, to assure them she’d be well taken care of with as much gentleness and grace as he had in his body.

She was being taken away from everything she knew, the least he could do would be to make her as comfortable as possible for the rest of her life, right?

“I’m gonna miss you.” Dustin grumbled, reluctant to even say it, mouth still turned down in a frown but no longer holding himself as stiffly as he had when he’d first heard the news.

“I’ll miss you too, kid.” Steve grinned down at him, plopping a hand down on his head and ruffling his hair. “Dunno what I’m gonna do without a little shit-head snapping at my ankles every day.”

Dustin scowled, shoving him in the stomach but almost immediately dragging him back in, arms wrapped around his waist and squeezing so tight Steve felt his ribs bend.

When he pulled away, he looked over the crowd of heads that had come to see him off. Dustin was the last to speak to him but amongst the crowd were their strange but loving and ever growing family who had fussed over himself and Robin with pinched and kissed cheeks, cloaks brushed smooth over their shoulders and tight hugs.

Steve hadn’t expected it to hurt as much as it did, after he had stepped into the carriage with Robin, the door closed behind him by a footman, Hopper riding on one side and Lucas on the other, watching his family slowly get further and further away through the back window.

He turned back to Robin, his eyes a little watery, sending her a shaky smile, one which was reflected in her own face and he settled himself back, trying to get as comfortable as he could for the long journey ahead and the future he was slowly being pulled towards.

Chapter Text

“You could make a break for it?”

Steve looked up from his papers, glasses perched on the end of his nose, his writing desk balancing on his lap as they bounced along the forest floor in the Harrington carriage.

They’d been travelling for nearly a week and they were due to reach the border between the kingdoms tomorrow. Hopper had let them know that they were on the last stretch and as such, there would be no town or village able to accommodate them in between the one they had just left and when they hit the border, so they would be camping out tonight.

Steve didn’t mind much. It reminded him of his nights spent with Robin ‘camping out’ in the royal gardens inside the castle walls as a child.

And just like it had been when he was a child, Hopper would be there watching over them.

He wasn’t worried about bandits or wild animals. Steve had his personal household guard with him, along with Hopper and the sheer number of people travelling, it meant that a bandit party hoping to take them would need to be the size of a small army. 

An extremely unlikely circumstance.

Even more unlikely was Steve’s escape as proposed by Robin.

“Oh yes.” Steve huffed, turning his eyes back down to his papers, matters of state and finance that still needed to be answered, “I’ll just run off on my own into the woods, after creeping past Hopper who has eyes in the back of his head and then go… where?” He dipped his quill back into his inkwell. “Do you expect me to return home on foot, safe and sound and welcomed after running from an arranged marriage I agreed to?”

He finally looked back up at her, but Robin’s expression hadn’t changed.

“You wouldn’t be alone.” She said simply, as if that solved all of the issues he had laid out.

“So you’d be riding into battle with me when we inevitably go to war with Stoirmeach over this slight?”

She scoffed. “Obviously.”

“Robbie.” Steve sighed, pulling his glasses off. “It’s happening. I don’t know what else you want me to do.”

“But you could’ve asked for more time. Gone out to find your true love like in all the stories.”

“What time, Robin? We both know my fathers excess is going to put him into an early grave. The physicians told him to stop drinking and going to the brothel years ago. And he hasn’t. He’s either going to keel over on top of some poor woman at The Garden or he’s gonna topple off his horse and spear himself with his own sword because he still goes out on hunts steaming drunk like he has the constitution of an eighteen year old. And that's if he doesn't catch the Lovers Rot first. There’s no time for me to go on adventures to find my one true love .” Steve groused, his quill scratching on the paper. “Trying at this stage would put the kingdom in jeopardy and I won’t do that. It’s all I have to show for my life.”

“Not all. ”

“Oh really?” Steve underlined a section hard . Probably harder than he needed to. “What else do I have?”

“You have me.” She replied, blinking across at him with those big eyes of hers. “You have the kids. You have your own self worth?”

Steve just scoffed and muttered, self worth.

“I’ll still have self worth married, Robin.”

“Or you could have refused.”

“No, I couldn’t have. You know that. I’m not jumping out of the carriage, or disguising myself as a barmaid or sneaking past Hopper in the dead of night or whatever else you’ve suggested to me in the past week. I’m marrying Christine and I need you with me in this.” He dropped his quill and reached over to take her hand in his, squeezing. “I need you. Okay?”

Her mouth was still set in a frown but she nodded, squeezing back.

“Okay.”

The carriage creaked to a stop in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by trees on all sides, blocking out the horizon.

Steve looked out of the window, spying soldiers in Stoirmeach colours, red capes over dark silvery armour, black tunics underneath. They nearly blended into the background of the large and imposing tent, carefully placed, straddling the border between their two kingdoms, draped in the Cunningham colours of black and red.

It was clear the design of their armour was intended to be intimidating and while Steve had the protections of being a crowned prince hanging over his head along with his own combat training and Hopper to back him up… the intimidation was working.

He was intimidated.

Etiquette would dictate a mix of the two colours. The Cunningham’s black and red and the Harrington’s green and white.

The lack of the Harrington colours was a message, a subtle dig and it left a bit of a sour taste in Steve’s mouth. 

Not off to the best start, if the Cunninghams didn’t even consider them worthy of equal representation.

But still, they were providing Steve and his company with all the amenities they could want while out in the middle of nowhere, so complaining would make him seem awfully petty.

And petty probably wasn’t a great way to start off their marriage.

The Stoirmeach soldiers and staff were already starting to subtly crane to look into the carriage, anticipation crackling through the atmosphere, everyone no doubt eager to see what this Torthúil Prince would look like.

Steve pushed himself back, hiding away from the window.

“It’s muddy out there.” He muttered.

“So?” Robin looked at him, bewildered. 

“So I’m going to get my boots muddy.”

“Oh, like you weren’t out making mud pies with Holly a few days before we left—”

“No, Rob.” Steve floundered, shaking his leg. “These were embroidered by the Hollands! They took a lot of time and effort—”

“You’re stalling.”

He swallowed, raising his eyes up from the intricate and colourful stitching along the top edge of his raised boot.

“Okay, yes. I’m stalling but I’m not wrong. ”

“You’re not wrong but you can’t hide in here forever.” Robin jabbed him in the shoulder, messing up his perfectly seated embroidered doublet over his neatly placed and intricately designed crisp white blouse.

“You didn’t even want this!” Steve snapped back, adjusting himself and the gold circlet around his head.

Robin just cocked an eyebrow at him and all of his fussing.

“Okay, fine.” He huffed. “But I'm cleaning them afterwards!”

Robin just patted him on the head then turned to look out of the carriage window herself.

Steve could see her eyeing up the hosting tent. There were various smaller ones scattered around making it clear the Cunningham retinue had been here for a while already, getting things set up.

But the hosting tent, the one straddling the border, was the biggest. About as big as his bedroom back home and where he would meet his future queen for the first time. 

Robin’s face had pulled down into a small frown before she looked back to him and gave him a nod.

Whether he could be petty or not about the colour choices, it didn’t matter.

She’d handle the petty for him. 

She always did whenever he was chained down by expectations of politeness and etiquette.

“You ready?” She asked, adjusting the strap of her cape around her shoulders and watching with wary eyes as the Stoirmeach house guard began to mingle with the Torthúil soldiers in their bright polished silver armour, green capes and white tunics. 

The contrast between the two kingdoms was stark and Steve just hoped that wasn’t reflected between himself and Christine. 

The interactions were all polite but with an undercurrent of tension.

The future of two kingdoms was riding on this marriage after all.

Steve buttoned his own cape on, attached at the shoulders. This was a very important political meeting for all intents and purposes. They needed to look their best.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He smoothed the hair around his circlet ensuring it fell just right, squared his shoulders and swung the carriage door open.

A short hush fell over the clearing as he stepped out into the mud, feeling it squelch up around his boot with an internal grimace, but he didn’t let it show on his face.

His whole body wanted to stiffen up, to curl back in on himself under the gaze of so many unfamiliar eyes. The entrance of the host tent seemed to stare at him too, opened wide, held back by decorative corded red rope.

Steve kept his back straight as some whispers started up around him.

Appraising him. 

He wasn’t blind to the looks of surprise and appreciation he received. These kinds of marriage arrangements usually took place between soon to be monarchs or nobility that either didn’t have other options or were a bit too old to be sought out at court, after all.

Meaning it was usually crotchety old men who were constantly either scowling or staring a little too intensely at young women.

Steve was an outlier.

He was a best case scenario.

He was young, he was handsome, he was fit and skilled and strong and he believed he was kind.

At least Christine was close in age to him.

The idea of being betrothed to anyone too young made his skin crawl.

The Stoirmeach retinue gestured him forward with polite smiles and sweeping hands. Towards the looming main tent, intimidating and life changing.

Steve found himself wishing for the bright forests, colourful Rainbow Sea and rolling hills of the Harrington kingdom all of a sudden, their colours chosen to represent the beautiful nature they boasted. 

Green hills and fluffy white clouds.

He wasn’t sure what the symbolism was behind the black and red but he suspected it was aggressive. 

Metal and blood, something in the back of his mind told him.

His father had always scoffed at their green and white.

He thought the choices made by the first of the Harrington monarchs, Virginia Harrington and her Queen Vita, were always too poetic .

But Steve liked them.

They felt… genuine.

He could feel Robin at his back as he squelched towards the tent, puffed up like a guard dog, ready to defend his honour at the quickest slight.

The darkness swallowed them, but as the stain of sunlight left his eyes he realised that there was light in here. Small lamps dotted on plinths and a large lantern hanging from a draped velvety ceiling.

It was all far more… opulent than Steve had been expecting for the middle of the forest.

He hoped Christine wasn’t as severe as her kingdom's colours suggested. He didn’t know how he would handle a marriage to someone like that. 

Someone serious and brooding and aggressive and… and… frowny.

The opened entrance to the tent was mirrored on the other side, revealing the Stoirmeach land, looking almost identical to the Torthúil side, the forest not caring about which kingdom it was growing on, just growing regardless.

There were sectioned off chambers to Steve’s right, what he had to assume were going to be their sleeping quarters for the night and to his left—

Oh.

In amongst sumptuous velvet couches and the rich dark wooden tables piled high with the Cunningham's local fruit and vegetables as well as a platter of the most meticulously preserved and presented seafood, was a bright spot shining in all the dark

His mouth nearly dropped open in surprise.

A petite, blonde, pretty thing with a bright but crooked smile that didn’t quite hide her nerves.

Steve was immediately endeared. 

Robin was behind him, supporting him, bolstering him, Hopper and Lucas were outside the tent, no doubt keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might be wrong, his kids were at home, waiting for him to return, his kingdom was depending on him.

He could do this.

Steve turned towards Christine, her hands folded delicately in front of her and he flashed her a smile, not quite his full, most charming smile, but instead something softer. A little gentler.

Christine responded in kind as he stepped closer, her own smile a touch more nervous but no less soft. 

He held a hand out to her, grasping gently when she delicately slipped her fingers to his palm.

“Lovely to meet you, Christine.” Steve said, bowing his head, placing a kiss across her knuckles.

“Chrissy, please.” She replied, her voice a light tinkle. “Lovely to meet you too, Steven.”

Her accent was light but lilting, soft and swooping around the vowels.

“Steve.” He replied in kind, straightening up, her hand still held softly in his.

Maybe this wouldn’t be such a lost cause.

“And I’m Eddie.” A deep voice rumbled from behind Chrissy’s shoulder, shrouded in the shadows, almost invisible.

Steve jumped back as a man leaned forward, face illuminated by the lanterns like a spectre, plump lips pulled wide over a sharp grin, dark curls spilling around his face and eyes so brown they were almost black, glittering with mirth, obviously enjoying Steve’s surprise.

Chrissy’s mouth turned down into a small frown and she whipped a hand back to smack him on the leg,a small movement that he had probably thought would be mostly hidden, but Steve caught it.

Eddie’s manic grin didn’t drop, he didn’t move from his lean, he didn’t take his eyes off Steve.

He didn’t react at all, barely paying her any attention.

He practically just ignored the eldest in the Cunningham line. Princess Christine. Chrissy. Who had smacked him across the leg. 

And Eddie ignored her. 

Eddie held his own hand out in much the same way Chrissy had, expectant, with a challenging glitter in his eyes. Chrissy grimaced next to him, glancing up apologetically at Steve, like she was waiting for him to snap about it.

“My advisor.” She muttered.

Was this guy trying to make Steve uncomfortable?

Was he assuming Steve would grab his hand for a firm shake or recoil at the idea of even touching someone who wasn’t nobility?

Well, the joke was on him.

Steve was an equal opportunist.

And he never backed down from a challenge like that.

Steve grasped Eddie’s black gloved hand in his and ducked to press his lips softly against his knuckles. He blinked up at him under his lashes before straightening up again.

“Steve.” He grinned, dropping Eddie’s hand and his grin widened when Eddie’s mouth dropped open ever so slightly in surprise.

“And this,” Steve gestured behind him, “is Robin. My-”

“Lovely colour scheme you’ve got here.” Robin cut over him. “Could use some green though.” She was glaring around at the blacks and the reds draped around them, a scowl painted over her face.

“My advisor.” Steve sighed out, letting his hand drop to his hip while he tried to shoot her a disapproving glare.

Robin didn’t even deign to look at him, paid him no attention at all, just kept glaring at Eddie.

“Well, speaking advisor to advisor,” Eddie tilted himself around Chrissy until he had stepped in front of Robin, matching her crossed arms and her scowl, “there’s nothing wrong with a little national pride.”

His accent was harsher, but more melodic, rhotic and rolling his r’s.  

“There’s nothing wrong with a little common courtesy either. A little etiquette maybe?” She snapped back, baring her teeth, ready to bite.

Eddie sighed at her, cocking a hip out, condescending. “We figured seeing as Chrissy is soon to be swept away from her homeland forever, as much familiarity as she could get wouldn’t kill you to accommodate.”

“ Eddie .” Chrissy hissed at him, shooting wide panicked eyes between him and Steve.

“What are we? Barbarians?” Robin nearly screeched, throwing her arms out. “We’re not gonna ban her from seeing her family colours ever again! We’re not gonna lock her up in a tower until she’s needed for baby making purposes-”

“Robin, oh my god.” Steve hid his red face in his hands, peeking through his fingers to see Chrissy looking equally as embarrassed and he knew, he knew that Robin was on a roll now and nothing would be able to stop her any time soon.

And if his suspicions were correct, Eddie seemed like he would rival her energy.

He glanced back down at Chrissy who looked like she wanted to sink into a hole in the ground.

RIght. It seemed like they already had something in common.

Being lovingly defended by two extremely strong willed and extremely dedicated advisors.

Lowering his hands from his face, he waited for her to glance his way again and held his elbow out to her.

“I think we’d be better off leaving them to it. Do you want to take a walk with me, Chrissy?” He asked, nodding over to the opposite end of the tent, which was open out to the Stoirmeach forest. Guards from both sides would be there, so they wouldn’t be alone but they’d be away from the two hot heads, still arguing.

The look of relief that came over her face when she realised he wasn’t going to take Robin and Eddie’s attitudes out on her was almost enough to break his heart.

She curled her hand around his elbow and they both snuck away, sharing little secret smiles and a light giggle between them as both Robin and Eddie stayed completely wrapped up in each other, neither of them aware of their escape.

They didn’t speak for a few moments, strolling easily around the barrier of trees, Chrissy’s arm nestled comfortably in his, under the watchful eyes of guards from both sides. They glanced across at the tent when a particularly shrill cry rang out and then back at each other, sharing another short laugh and a smile.

“Is he going to be okay in there? With your… Robin?” Chrissy grinned up at him.

“Oh yeah,” Steve nodded, “He seems to be able to hold his own. I’d say she’s evenly matched. It’s not often she gets to argue with someone who gives as good as she does.”

Chrissy nodded, looking back to the forest ground with a smile.

“Eddie’s the same. People back home don’t really know how to handle him. He prefers to freak people out. Says you can see who people really are when you’ve taken them by surprise. With all of the politeness and etiquette stripped away, there’s only them left.”

“Robin’s similar.” Steve agreed. “Though she prefers to dig. She likes to force her way past politeness and etiquette until she gets to their centre.”

“She sounds like a good friend to have.”

“She is. The best friend I could have possibly asked for.”

“That’s nice.” Chrissy blushed. “I look forward to getting to know her better.”

Steve snorted, loud and brash and indelicate. Chrissy baulked in surprise momentarily but that surprise quickly melted away and she giggled along with him.

“Only if she and Eddie don’t bite each other's heads off. We might have to keep them at opposite sides of the castle back home.”

Steve’s arm was pulled back as Chrissy came to a sudden stop.

He looked down at her, a little worried that he’d said something wrong.

Her eyes were wide and disbelieving, stunned, even.

“What?”

Steve felt his brows pull together in confusion.

“When we’re married?” He hesitated. “When… you come back to live with me at my castle-”

“No, no,” despite her words, she nodded along, “no, I know that but I mean… he- he can come with me?”

Steve’s eyebrows flew up until he was sure they were hidden in his hair, his mouth opening a little in surprise.

“Of course he can come with you?” He replied, bewildered. “You can bring whoever you want. Chrissy, you’re being made to leave your home, I’m not going to make you leave your people behind too. Didn’t… didn’t they tell you that?”

Chrissy shook her head, blinking rapidly down at the ground again and oh god was she going to cry? 

Steve didn’t know how to handle people crying, he didn’t know how to handle it when he cried, how was he supposed to handle someone else?

“Hey, Chrissy I’m- I'm sorry.” He stuttered out, letting her grip slip from the crook of his elbow and fluttering his hands around, unsure if he was permitted to touch her. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I-”

“You didn’t.” She sniffled, shaking her head again. “You didn’t. This is- this is the best news I’ve heard all month.” She said, finally looking up at him with bright eyes and a blinding smile.

Steve opened his mouth to reassure her when an angry shout and stomping footsteps came from behind him.

“Hey!”

He turned to see Eddie storming towards them, Robin chasing after him, looking like she was ready to drag him back by the hair.

“What did you do?!” Eddie all but shouted at him.

He planted a hand on Steve’s chest and shoved , causing him to stumble back a step, only bolstered by Robin’s hand on his back.

Steve should be affronted, was affronted, really. People didn’t shove him.

But at the same time, it was clear to him that Eddie had a great affection for Chrissy. It was the softest he had seen him be in their short time together. Gentle touches and a concerned brow, softly cupping Chrissy’s face in his hands, brushing a tear away from her eye.

“What happened, Chris?” Eddie almost whispered to her amongst the sound of clanging armour coming closer. “What did he say to you?”

“No he-” she tried to shake her head again in his hands. “He said- Eddie, you can come with me. You can come with me and maybe we can take Max too and I won’t- Eddie, I won’t be alone!”

Eddie, who’s face had started to break into a disbelieving smile, dropped his hands, throwing his arms out as if he were about to catch her up in a great hug, but he was knocked off balance.

A hand clad in dark intimidating metal clamped around his forearm and dragged him violently away, twisting it forcefully and painfully behind Eddie’s back.

“My sincerest apologies, your highness.” The helmed Stoirmeach Captain inclined his head towards Steve. “Please don’t take this tree dwellers actions as representation of our people.”

He bent low, twisting Eddie’s arm again so he was forced to bow as well. 

Chrissy was standing just off to the side, hands clasped in horror over her mouth, forgotten and ignored as the Captain seemed more focused on Steve than his own royalty, hissing, “Show some respect, Outsider .”

Eddie turned his head up, hair spilling over his face and glared with such a fire it was a wonder the Captain’s helm didn’t start to melt.

“Why should I? I don't know him. He hasn't earned it. Why should I give him respect just because of who he was born—”

Eddie cried out again as his arm was wrenched further and Steve had enough. He would have loved to have jumped in and ripped the guard away but he had to be polite. Had to be respectable about it and had to try not to make things worse for everyone involved.

“I don’t think this manhandling is necessary–”

“Can’t let a weed grow too wild, Your Highness.”

“I am asking you to unhand him!” Steve snapped, his patience wearing thin.

The Captain raised his head and from what Steve could see through his helm, the surprise on his face was clear. Whether that was from Steve’s raised voice or from his defence of someone who so clearly had so little respect amongst them, he didn’t know.

The Captain took a quick glance around at the same time Steve did, noticing all the eyes upon them. The various Stoirmeach retinue, more interested in Steve’s reaction than what was happening in front of them, as though they’d seen it before, as well as Hopper and Lucas who had appeared at Steve’s back, Hopper’s hand inching towards his sword, the both of them stone-faced and serious, Robin looking thunderous by Steve’s side. 

Eddie’s arm was released and he stumbled forward, wincing as he brought his arm back around, clutching it to his chest.

He straightened up, his head held high and his shoulders rolled back, glaring at Steve like he expected more words to be spat at him.

When nothing came, he turned on his heel and stomped his way back to the hosting tent, everyone’s eyes still on him.

Chrissy had rivers of tears running down her face and she looked heartbroken, taking a step in Eddie’s direction before halting herself, looking back towards Steve as though asking him if she could go. 

Steve could not imagine a world where Robin or Erica or Claudia or his mother or any woman he knew waited for his permission to do something so simple as follow a friend in distress.

So it was with a feeling of being completely out of his depth he nodded to her and there was a distinct feeling of discomfort crawling up his back when she exhaled in relief, like he would have ever even thought of denying her and she turned, following Eddie at as fast a pace as she felt acceptable.

Steve’s eyes turned back to the Stoirmeach Captain.

“I apologise for the scene, Your Highness.” 

For the scene. Not for the brutality or the wanton cruelty they’d all born witness to.

“He’s too wild. But I suppose what else is to be expected from a man of his kind. I promise to keep a closer eye on him, so nothing of the sort will happen in your presence again.”

Steve pulled himself up to his full height, chin parallel with the floor.

“I’m not sure it’s him that needs keeping a closer eye, but thank you for your concern.”

The Captain seemed momentarily confused but took his dismissal for what it was, bowing again with a short nod and turning to shuffle the onlookers away.

Steve exhaled to himself, turning to Hopper, Lucas and Robin, all of whom looked just as uneasy as he was.

“What the hell was that all about?” Robin asked, her eyes on the tent Chrissy and Eddie had disappeared into.

“I don’t know.” Hopper answered, his mouth in a tense line. “But I don’t think it’s the last we’ll be seeing of it.”

Chapter Text

“Opinions?” Steve asked, feeling the familiar presence of his own Captain of the Guard at his back. A presence who'd never put his hands unnecessarily and so cruelly on someone just because they shoved someone else.

Hopper might be a gruff and cranky old fart but he wasn't a malicious man.

The ease at which the Stoirmeach Captain resorted to such violence after what could arguably be called a small slight, the nonchalance and hate he had shown towards Eddie, who was supposed to be Chrissy’s closest confidant, her best friend, her advisor, all of which should have given him a level of protection against what had happened… Steve could tell it set Hopper’s teeth on edge. 

And Steve figured he wouldn’t be letting that edge go any time soon.

Probably not until they were safe and sound back in their own kingdom.

Even if someone back in Torthúil had shoved Steve in anger or hate, the most they would have received would have been a cuff around the back of the head.

Hell, if Hopper went after anyone who'd ever shoved Steve, Robin, Dustin, Mike and Erica would have had permanent residences in Torthúil’s dungeons.

The very thought sent a shiver through him.

They didn't really use their dungeons.

Unless Steve was to count holding wine and ale and cheese captive.

Which he didn't.

Because he and Robin had pilfered freely of the first two in his youth which then led to a pilfering of the third with Argyle, the herbalist and Jonathan, the apprentice painter.

“That Sullivan fella’s got one hell of a stick up his ass.” Hopper grumbled back as Steve took count again of all of the gifts they had brought from home to present to Stoirmeach’s court. “And that Munson character is not very popular.”

Robin snorted humorlessly from her position inside the wagon. “Yeah, no shit.”

Hopper just continued to scowl. “Apparently the princess has never demanded anything as ferociously as she had demanded that Eddie be allowed to stay in the kingdom as her advisor. It was a very unpopular move but she refused to budge on it. Some think he seduced or blackmailed her into it. Others rather… uncharitably think she’s keeping him around as a… a bedmate.”

Despite the sheer ridiculousness of the statement, Steve couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder at Hopper, watching him turn his red face away, trying to keep his words as respectable as possible. 

“Did you find anything out about why they were so aggressive? Had he done something else to piss them off?” Steve asked. “And what did they call him? Outsider? Tree dweller?”

“What the hell even is a tree dweller?” Robin muttered back.

“Someone who dwells in trees?” Steve shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Sinclair was talking to a few of the grunts on Stoirmeach’s side and according to them he’s just an all around troublemaker.” Hopper had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “Just does things to be a nuisance. Which sounds a whole lot like—”

“Bullshit.” Steve pushed in with raised eyebrows.

“You think so?” Robin was attempting to crawl her way out of the covered wagon and Steve offered her a hand down.

Steve shrugged. “All I’ve seen him do so far is look out for Chrissy. He might be going about it in a bit of an unorthodox manner, but his heart seems to be in the right place.” He squeezed his fingers around Robins. “Would you not do the same for me?”

She immediately opened her mouth to deny it, but she stopped, slowly sealing her lips back together with a frown.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like his attitude.” She grumbled after a few moments of silence. 

“You don’t, but it also doesn’t mean you’d attack him for it.”

Robin just shrugged. She probably didn’t have many qualms about attacking Eddie but unlike the soldiers, her attacking would have just amounted to hair-pulling and rib-jabbing. 

Steve turned back to the inventory in the wagon with a little smirk, silently delighted he’d been able to catch her out.

He wanted to make a good impression. He wanted to make sure their kingdom knew that their princess Chrissy would be well looked after.

But based on what they all just witnessed, he wasn’t so sure anymore whether they’d give a fuck whether Chrissy was taken care of or not, or if they just wanted her married off.

Either way, the gifts were here now and if they helped ingratiate him into the kingdom, maybe he could try to make everyone’s life there easier. 

Himself, Robin, Chrissy… even Eddie.

There was apprehension crawling around him, thinking about what might be awaiting them all once they got there.

Was he going to be forced to witness more brutality?

God, he hoped not.

He was only a week out on his journey. He had over a month left. And he already wanted to go home.

He sighed, pulling himself back out of the wagon and leaned himself against it, casting his eyes around.

He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Chrissy or Eddie since the incident had happened and based on the shouts of laughter and boisterous storytelling coming from the Stoirmeach guard, bragging to his staff, no one else had seen the two either. 

Things were still a little tense. Steve’s side of the camp had been shaken by the brutality and were no longer sure about how to act around Chrissy’s side who had taken it all in stride.

But hopefully, with time, things would become easier. And hopefully Steve could prevent an incident like that happening again.

Either way, it was up to him to make things better, to make this marriage work. Being a crown prince certainly had its advantages, but there was an awful lot of responsibility on his shoulders at all times too.

And he did feel responsible for what had happened. He knew Robin would tell him that it wasn’t his fault but still.

 Pushing himself back to standing, he took the short few muddy steps towards the tent Eddie and Chrissy had disappeared behind.

Now that he was standing in front of the closed tent flap, he found himself wishing for a closed door instead. 

At least with a closed door he could knock. 

What was he supposed to do here?

Rolling his shoulders back and holding his head high, Steve attempted to punch out a strong and authoritative clearing of his throat.

Instead what he got was a very awkward clearing of his throat, left shuffling foot to foot as the sounds from inside died down the second he had made his presence known.

The black flap acting as a door was pulled back and Eddie’s expression quickly morphed from waryness to surprise when he saw who it was and then straight down to irritation. 

It appeared to just be him. No Chrissy in sight.

“What do you want?”

He was holding the arm that had been grabbed and twisted a little awkwardly at his side, held in close and gingerly, his body angling it away, while the other arm held the tent flap open slightly above him. There was an intoxicating smell gently drifting over the air, something spicy and warm and a little peppery. It was a scent he had never smelled before.

Steve was left kinda just… staring.

It was the first time he’d gotten a good look at Eddie when he wasn’t shrouded in darkness, snapping at him or getting manhandled for the capital offence of looking after his best friend. 

He was all darkness and light. Dark brown curls spilling around his shoulders, one half pulled back in a braid tight against the side of his head showing off a delicate curling vine of green leaves inked into his skin, crawling up from under the collar of his leather doublet, stopping just behind his ear. An ear that was pierced through with various silver studs and rings.

His eyes were deep and dark, enormous and even though they were squinted with suspicion, Steve thought he could lose a sizable amount of time staring into them, trying to catalogue every shifting colour. 

His skin was so pale, Steve might have thought he was unwell but something about it told him that that was just Eddie. It allowed his curls, his eyes, the ink on his skin and the dusty pink of his lips to stand out even more, sucking Steve’s gaze in, enthralling him. 

The dark, almost black colour of his leathers stood out as well and Steve could just about make out some embroidered forest designs along the hems, dark green in colour again and a little shakily applied.

Eddie had his skinny, bony, long fingers adorned with silver rings, there were chains hanging around his neck and from his belts, a small black handkerchief of some kind tucked into the belt around his waist at the back.

Eddie was…

Eddie was kinda really pretty.

Steve felt almost overdressed in his laced hems, brightly coloured embroidery and billowing sleeves.  He’d removed his cape and crown for the evening, but even so, he felt like he was posturing.

“Has your mouth ceased to function, Your Highness? ”

Steve snapped his eyes back from where they had settled again on those long, skinny fingers, pressed into the fabric of the tent.

Eddie had an eyebrow cocked at him, almost challenging him to bite back, to get offended at the snark or snap in anger. 

Steve decided then and there he was going to do everything within his power to assure Eddie that he wasn’t the kind of royalty he seemed to think he was.

“Lord Munson-”

“Well that’s a first.” Eddie snorted, his lip curling in a sneer and he leaned forward a little, trying to punch his next words into Steve as much as possible. “I am untitled.”

Steve blinked.

Well… it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard of such a thing before. True that most people in the household of royalty would be titled themselves or a close relation to the royal member in question. Lucas wouldn’t have had such an easy journey entering into Hopper's service if his father wasn’t a Lord and friends with Hopper. But Torthúil didn’t have such things as a rule.

Robin wasn’t titled either.

“Okay. Mr. Munson-”

Eddie’s eyes had widened slightly but he still opened his mouth and Steve, remembering how he had introduced himself earlier, quickly corrected himself. 

“Forgive me. Eddie. ” He took a steadying breath in. “I just wanted to come check on you. To see if you were doing okay after…” He waved his hand around, a little awkwardly. “Everything. And I wanted to apologise as well.”

“Ap- apologise?” Eddie’s remaining snark had now melted away to complete bewilderment.

“Yeah. I’m sorry you were subjected to that, I didn’t know your guards would be so…”

“Eager?” Eddie removed his hand from the tent flap, instead leaning his body against the supporting pole. He raised his arms as though he was going to cross them but his mouth tightened when he moved the arm that had been grabbed, so he seemed to just settle on letting that arm hang while he rested the other against his hip.

Steve grimaced to himself. Eager was certainly a word for it. 

“Listen, Highness— ”

“Steve.”

Eddie’s mouth hung open, frozen from where it had been when he was interrupted and he just stared for a moment.

“Steve.” He said, rolling the sound around on his tongue, seeing if he liked how it tasted.

Steve felt the corner of his lip tilt up, satisfied.

“Steve.” Eddie looked at him with determination. “Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t know whether I like you or not, but you didn’t put your hands on me, did you?”

“Well no but—”

“Then what are you apologising for?”

“I… I’m still sorry that it happened because of me. It shouldn’t have.”

“No, it shouldn’t have.” Eddie agreed, but still raised his good arm to wave Steve off. “But it’s nothing I’m not used to. Don’t worry your pretty little princely head about it.”

“You shouldn’t have to be used to it.”

He was met with an eyeroll and a few muttered words that sounded distinctly like just like Chris.  

“Sun’s setting, Stevie. Best get back to your people before they start whispering about me casting spells on you.”

Steve looked over his shoulder to find both sides quickly averting their eyes, doing a very bad job of hiding the fact that everyone was watching their interaction. The only person who continued to look on unashamed was Robin.

When he looked back, Eddie had already dropped the curtain, separating the two of them again and effectively ending their conversation.

Steve was stuck ruminating on the whole interaction for the rest of the evening, into the night as he and Robin got settled into their compartments.

They had originally been roomed separately but that simply would do. They had insisted on it and wouldn’t budge until Robin's bed was brought into Steve’s room.

While their side took it in stride and accepted it as standard because it was standard, Chrissy’s side initially looked appalled, as though Steve had just planted a kiss on Hopper in front of all of them.

But Steve and Robin got their way eventually, while Chrissy looked on, slightly amazed, like she hadn’t even known it was an option.  

Steve and Robin pushed their provided luxurious beds closer together so they could gossip at a lower volume, wary of being overheard with nothing but fabric, Hopper and his soldiers standing between them the wilds, and the Stoirmeach retinue.

“Does it strike you as odd that the Stoirmeach side just seems to… ignore Chrissy?” Steve whispered to her. “Or at least they don’t really pay her much mind.”

“It is very strange.” Robin muttered back, tucking her hands up underneath her pillow. “But things are different for women.”

Steve mirrored her position. “Not different enough to ignore their crown princess, surely.”

“No, not that different.”

“What do you think of her?”

Robin sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, chewing on it for a moment before letting it free.

“I’m not really sure. I haven’t seen much of her. Does it sound terrible to say she’s a little like a flower not getting enough sun?”

Steve frowned before shaking his head as much as he could from his position. “We’ll give her all the sunshine she needs back home.”

Robin hummed, hesitating for a moment.

Steve let her, waiting to hear what else she had to say.

“She’s very pretty.”

Steve raised his eyebrows a little. Yeah, Chrissy was pretty. She was tiny with big blue eyes and long flowing blonde hair pulled away from her face with two braids ending with a bow at the back of her head. Her blue gown wasn’t as intricately decorated as Steve’s, Robin’s or even Eddie’s clothes but it fit her well, adding to her delicacy.

Steve was surprised to find himself thinking of Eddie again. When he thought of pretty , he thought of him.

He shoved the thought far out of his head, instead choosing to focus on Robin and how her cheeks were pinking up ever so slightly, bringing out her freckles the way her blush always did. 

She was always weak for any pretty girl.

“Hopefully,” Robin sighed, breaking Steve away from his thoughts. “Hopefully what happened with Eddie today is just a one off. The excitement of the whole thing.” It was clear to Steve she was trying to find some kind of positive, but she wasn’t quite buying her own words. “Maybe things will be better once we get to Stoirmeach.”

Steve only nodded.

He had a lot of other hopes aside from never having to see Eddie get treated so brutally again. 

Top of his list was that even if he and Chrissy never ended up on the romantic side of love, maybe they could be good partners, good rulers together. Good friends.

It was the best he could hope for, really. 

The journey back to Stoirmeach was simultaneously too long a trek and too short.

Steve was desperate to sleep in a real bed again, to be surrounded by actual walls and an actual roof, to stand in front of a fireplace and to be able to wash in more privacy than a tent provided.

But he also felt he was going to miss the mealtimes with Chrissy, more intimate than a standard dining room fair by virtue of them being out in the woods.

As heavily observed as they were and as public all of their conversations were, sitting around a small table with her, only able to squeeze in four chairs maximum—a much a tighter fit than the sprawling and opulent dining tables and banquet tables Steve had to compare to—it reminded Steve of his evenings down in the kitchens with the kids, Claudia and Joyce.

They never ate alone together, Robin was always seated to his right and Eddie was always seated to Chrissy’s right.

Which, of course, meant that Eddie was always next to him too, Chrissy directly across from him and conversation flowed surprisingly easy between the four of them.

They didn’t speak about anything personal, anything private or risky. They steered clear of discussing the incident that had happened when Steve and Robin first arrived, preferring instead to stick to safer topics such as their favourite colours or their favourite time of day.

Nothing so bad as that incident had happened again and Steve wasn’t sure if the Stoirmeach guards just hadn’t been in a foul enough mood to lash out or if they were holding themselves back based on his own less than favourable response to it.

Still, he, Robin, Hopper and surprisingly enough, Lucas kept a very close eye on the guards whenever Eddie was around, just in case Steve needed to step in again and use his status to keep Eddie’s head from being ripped off.

It became clearer as the days went on that the Stoirmeach guards didn’t just dislike Eddie, they hated him.

For what reason, Steve had no idea but when Eddie smiled at Chrissy or reached a hand out to reassure her, Steve couldn’t fathom a single thing Eddie could have done to receive so much ire. 

Lucas had taken a bit of a shine to him as well, though as their travels went on, Steve found himself less and less surprised by it.

Eddie had initially been wary of him. Anyone dressed in armour of any kind seemed to have his hackles raised and Steve had been ready to jump in the middle if Eddie so much as looked at Lucas wrong.

But he needn’t have worried. 

Once Eddie had come to realise that Lucas was not going to attack out of nowhere and instead was gushing questions about Eddie’s inked skin and how curious his friend back home, Dustin, was to learn about it and how it worked, the door had been opened and Steve didn’t think it would ever close.

Steve was a little worried that Lucas was going to arrive back in Torthúil after the month was over with his skin covered with inked in designs but at the same time, he wasn’t Lady Sinclaire, he wasn’t Captain Hopper. He couldn’t tell Lucas what he could and couldn’t do. 

He could just look on disapprovingly with his arms crossed if it came down to it.

Though he didn’t seem to be the only one in the camp with disapproving thoughts on his mind. 

Though he had… smoothed over things with Eddie as much as he could where the incident was concerned, Chrissy’s advisor seemed to be a prickly guy.

Steve thought that he’d probably never be considered good enough for Chrissy’s hand in Eddie’s eyes but he couldn’t exactly say he didn’t understand it.

If some foreign royal had come to snatch up Robin into an arranged marriage, he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to find them worthy, even if they were the softest person in existence.

But Eddie seemed to find things to glare at Steve about.

When Steve methodically cleaned mud and dirt from his boots, he got a glare.

When Steve sat with Lucas and Robin, smiling along with them over whatever shenanigans they had decided to reminisce over, Eddie studied him like he was trying to read his mind with a critical eye.

When Steve donned his crown and cape again as the shape of a castle appeared on the horizon far off in the distance, signalling their imminent arrival, Eddie shot him a dirty look.

The guy clearly had some hangups and some preconceived notions that he was refusing to let go of, but Steve didn’t let himself get too bothered by it.

Eddie could think what he wanted about him. He wasn’t going to beg for his approval but also wasn’t going to treat him like shit just because he didn’t bow and scrape at the sight of him.

He actually liked that about Eddie.

Bowing and scraping wasn’t something he was used to. 

The royals back in Torthúil just… didn’t engender that kind of higher-than-their-fellow-man type of feeling. 

And he liked it that way. 

But Steve was left to wonder as the castle loomed ever closer and the town walls rose up to meet it, whether that would be the same here.

He knew the chances were slim.

He wasn’t ignorant to how the rest of the world worked but they weren’t the only kingdom with such a system.

The carriage window was slightly cracked and through the crack he could smell the sea air, hear the sounds of angry crashing waves against the high cliff the castle–his home for the next month–sat on.

There were grey clouds hanging low above and the first smattering of rain against the window glass.

Mingled up in the sea air was the smell of fish and sheep shit, the quick and cutting wind carrying it easily from the beaches down below and the craggy mountain fields.

He reached blindly for Robin’s hand, not taking his eyes away from the window.

She gave his fingers a little squeeze and not for the first time Steve was unimaginably grateful that he had her there with him.

As they passed through the large, slightly rotted wood and metal gate at the entrance to the town, the rain began to fall harder.

Steve had expected to see people going about their business, despite the weather. Things needed to be done, rain or shine after all. But as they bounced down the narrow grey cobblestoned streets towards the looming castle, high up on its cliff, Steve could see… almost nobody.

In fact, the only people he did see were soldiers standing at street entrances and alleyways, clad in dark steel, black and red, watching the caravan pass by silently.

Every so often one of the guards would look behind them, glaring down the alley and Steve had the uncomfortable realisation that they were keeping the townsfolk back there, out of the way of the carriages and wagons and while it did mean that their journey was much quicker, it felt… wrong.

He really, really didn’t like the idea that Stoirmeach’s people were being pushed out of the way for him. Some foreign prince. 

Steve tore his eyes away from the window to send a glance Robin’s way and found her doing the same, the two of them sharing a silent what the fuck communication before they turned back to their respective windows.

He would have loved to see Chrissy or Eddie at that point. He would have loved to see how they reacted to all of this, or if they had any reaction at all. Maybe this was all normal to them.

But they weren’t travelling in a carriage like Steve and Robin, they were in a great wooden wheelhouse, generously outfitted but with tiny windows near the top, almost like prisoner transportation.

They found Steve’s carriage strange and he found their wheelhouse strange.

He supposed it wouldn’t be the last strange difference between them.

The town was at an incline, the castle sitting above the streets below and Steve got the impression everything in the town would be visible from the battlements or even from the windows.

Wide stone steps curved down from the entrance, flaring out on either side and lined up in formation along the edges seemed to be every member of staff that the Cunninghams employed in the castle, all standing stock still, hands folded in front or behind them, watching them.

He thought it was supposed to be intended as some kind of greeting or maybe even a display of wealth but Steve just felt uncomfortable all over again looking at all of these people forced to stand out in the rain.

Steve and Robin’s carriage came to a halt in front of the steps and with only a moment's hesitation—he couldn’t make the staff stand outside for any longer than they needed to—he pushed the door open and stepped out.

He cast an eye around at the staff and immediately took notice of two people very conspicuously missing.

The king and queen were nowhere in sight.

Steve watched as the rest of the caravan gradually ascended the incline after him and he felt himself wanting to fuss over the gifts he had brought, wanting to make sure they were all presentable and had made it here in one piece but his attention was diverted as Chrissy’s wheelhouse came to a stop behind their carriage and both she and Eddie stepped out.

They stared up at the imposing grey, weathered castle like they were heading to the gallows. It was like a weight had settled back on their shoulders and they were bowing under the pressure. 

Behind him, his people started to get his gifts organised to present to the king and queen and Steve was left with nothing to do but to wonder if he was going to have to find his own way to the Great Hall to be received by them.

Chrissy and Eddie appeared at his side, unusually silent and stony faced. 

Chrissy took his arm with a strained smile and for all the animosity that Robin and Eddie had shown each other, he stood on her side, almost as if to bolster her for the trek into the castle.

With a slight tug, she began to lead Steve up the steps and into the castle and Steve supposed there was no use hesitating. He was in this now and he needed to see it through to the end.

His kingdom was relying on him. He needed this to be a success. He wanted to get Chrissy out, he didn’t like the weight hanging over her and Eddie, it felt like they were being slowly suffocated.

He wanted to bring the two of them home. He just had to get through this month and all would be well.

With Chrissy on his arm, Robin by his side and Eddie next to her, Steve took the first step up the stone stairs.

Chapter Text

There was music spilling out towards him, the high stone walls of the castle echoing and distorting the sound before it hit his ears.

The halls he walked with Chrissy were towering tall. Steve couldn’t tell how far up the ceiling went, extending so high the darkness swallowed the light, making them seem endless.

It was dark, though the lanterns hanging off thick iron chains along the walls tried their best to chase it away, he got the exact same feeling he’d had before when approaching his own parents in the great hall back home, the darkness making it somehow cavernous and claustrophobic at the same time. 

But the feeling was amplified here and it made him feel incredibly uneasy.

Every so often, over the sound of the music, there was a high pitched whistling, the wind whipping against the castle walls, almost like the wailing of a distraught woman.

It was cold in here, colder than it was outside and there was the slightest smell of damp coming off the stones.

He wasn’t sure if that was a result of the sea being so close or the stormy weather but either way, the lanterns and braziers seemed to be doing very little to chase it away.

Steve would have expected to find thick rugs or rushes along the floor, tapestries and draperies hung on the walls to keep the heat in, but there was no such thing in sight. 

It was all bare and quite… severe.

His arm tightened ever so slightly around Chrissy’s fingers, resting in the crook of his elbow and she looked up at him with a sympathetic smile, giving him a little squeeze.

Behind him, he could hear his staff following, weighed down by the gifts he had brought and to his other side, Robin and Eddie walked in step with them.

Robin was taking everything in around her, almost as if she could look through the walls and see all of their secrets.

Eddie was staring straight ahead, his body one big rod of tension and defensiveness and Steve had the wild thought to reach out and touch his shoulder, offer him some level of comfort but he held back. They didn’t know each other like that and there was no way Eddie would accept such a gesture. 

Steve had hoped for a pair of closed double doors before he walked into the Great Hall. He’d hoped for a moment to collect himself, but he had no such luck.

There was warm light spilling out from the entrance ahead of them, the sounds of music and revelry getting closer. A banquet of some kind.

While he knew that he was probably the reason such a celebration was being thrown, he didn’t love the idea of walking in while it was already in full swing.

But he had no choice. He couldn’t very well hang out just outside the room until the early hours of the morning when things inevitably calmed down. 

It was times like these where Steve really didn’t like being stuck with the title of Crown Prince. He had to be responsible and confident and competent when all he wanted to do was hide down in the kitchens with Dustin and the rest of the kids.

But he wasn’t at home, these wouldn’t be his kitchens and he was going to be living here for the next month so he had to just… get over it.

Power through.

There was a hand at his back.

Robin gave him a gentle rub, a moment of encouragement and Steve used it to bolster himself; shoulders back, head high.

He stepped into the light of the room and kept his want to cringe away locked deep inside when the music screeched to a halt and all eyes fell on him.

The crowd seemed to part for them as they stepped forward, revealing a couple sitting enthroned on high backed chairs atop a dais and facing out into the revelry.

There were whispers following him the closer they got and Steve could see the eyes of the King and Queen taking his figure in slowly, appraising him. 

Steve came to a stop in front of them, waiting.

This was their home, their kingdom, their right to speak first.

He had to hold himself back from shifting anxiously from foot to foot as the silence went on around them and Chrissy’s parents' faces betrayed nothing about how they felt about him.

The crowd watched on, the banners above them fluttered, the fires crackled in the fireplaces dotted along the walls and still, not a word was spoken.

Steve nearly collapsed in relief when Queen Laura’s face split into a small grin and she turned to look at her husband.

“Prince Steven.” King Phillip proclaimed, his arms spread wide. “Welcome to our home, we are most delighted to have you here.”

“And I am delighted to be here. Thank you for receiving me so well.”

“Of course, of course.” Queen Laura answered, King Phillip slumping back into his seat. “I hope that your time here is fulfilling and that our darling Christine matches up to your standards.”

It was all said with a wide pleasant smile, like she hadn’t just speared her daughter for the entire court to hear, but it did not garner the reaction that Steve was expecting, which was to say, there was no reaction apart from Chrissy tightening her fingers momentarily.

Steve tried to let the awkwardness wash off of him without it showing on his face but it was a struggle.

“I have the utmost confidence that she will make me a very happy man. I can already foresee a great friendship between us.” He glanced down at her with a little smile that she nervously returned.

The Queen raised her eyebrows.

“Indeed?”

Steve cleared his throat. 

“I hope that you will accept these gifts as a thank you for welcoming me into your home and a reassurance that I will do everything within my power to make your daughter happy.”

With a wave of his hand, his staff started to flood into the room, carrying with them all of the wares Steve had brought from home, some gifts specially made and some from Steve’s personal collection.

As his staff stood there with them, the queen and then the king slowly rose from their seats to take them all in. The fine textiles, the tapestries, the rich aged wines, the cheeses, a selection of their bountiful crops and pumice stone.

While Steve wasn’t conceited enough to think that his gifts needed to be fawned over, he knew that what he had brought was of very high quality, made with skilled and dedicated hands. So while he didn’t expect the court to immediately gush over his gifts, he had expected at least a little bit of appreciation.

As it was, the court, the king and queen only gave the fabrics and stone and tapestries a passing glance but the wine immediately garnered attention. 

Steve tried not to feel a certain way about how they weren’t exactly appraising the best stock of wine Torthúil had to offer, more just sniffing it to see if it was drinkable but regardless, when he saw one of his staff hand a wooden box to Robin, he turned to Chrissy.

“I have something to gift you personally, Chrissy. If you’ll have it.”

Chrissy blinked up at him with wide startled eyes and she just nodded as Steve took the box from Robin.

“I know it’s probably a little presumptuous,” he muttered, “but I hope you’ll accept it all the same.”

He opened the box to her and inside sat a delicately worked silver circlet, small flower vines winding around to create the circular shape and a bright blue topaz set in the centre. 

It was very different from the simple band of silver she wore around her head now. 

“Oh.” She breathed, eyes somehow even wider as she looked down at it. She reached out but stopped, hovering, hesitating like she thought she might not be allowed. 

She looked back at her mother for a second, almost for approval but Steve caught her attention again.

“It’s okay. It’s for you. ”

Chrissy glanced over at Eddie, asking something without asking and he shot her a small smile, one of his softer ones.

With delicate hands, Eddie gently pulled Chrissy’s old circlet from her head and Steve plucked the one he had made specifically for her from its velvet lining and set it delicately atop her blonde curls.

Chrissy blinked up at him again, her eyes shining and, same as before, Steve wasn’t unsure he’d be able to handle it if she began to cry.

“Charming.” 

Steve nearly jumped. 

The queen had appeared at his side almost silently. She had a smile on her face but her eyes were sharp upon the gemstone at the centre of Chrissy’s forehead and if Steve didn’t know any better he’d think she was planning how to pry it out of the metal with her bare fingers. 

She turned back to the musicians, not quite managing to hide the curl of her lip as she waved at the band to pick up again.

The surrounding court got the message immediately, chatter starting up around them and the wines that Steve agonised over choosing for days plucked out of their casks without a passing glance at their vintage or type.

The queen snuck her own hand under Steve’s arm, nearly bumping Chrissy out of the way as she leaned into him conspiratorially, turning away from the crowd and taking a few steps away.

“I figured we would be able to speak much more privately without the entire court listening in.”

As Steve was being led away, he could feel Robin following, wanting to keep him in her sights and speak up if he needed her to. A welcome presence.

But the queen didn’t seem to feel the same way.

“Can we help you?” She sniped, turning back to Robin with her nose in the air and disgust on her face.

Steve stared open mouthed for a moment at the sheer and immediate vitriol coming out of her mouth.

“Your Majesty, this is my Royal Advisor,” he made sure to put emphasis on those two words, Royal Advisor, “Robin Buckley.”

Queen Laura’s expression didn’t change. “ Miss Robin Buckley, is it? No title?”

“No, Your Majesty.” Robin rested her hands behind her back, chest puffed and met the queen’s eye. “Just Robin.”

“Hm.” The queen sniffed, with a little wave of her hand. “Well go find something else to do if you don’t mind. I am trying to have a conversation with your superior. ”

Steve felt his mouth going thin. “Robin is not only my advisor but she is also my best friend and I would appreciate it if you would address her with the respect she’s deserving of. I am not her superior.”

The queen's face remained impassive, only the quirk of an eyebrow giving her away.

“You must do things quite differently in your kingdom.”

“We do.”

“Well, you’re in our home now, so you’ll forgive us the mannerisms we fall back on. I’m sure you know I meant no offence but your time here won’t be easy if you insist on correcting everyone who treats a person of a particular… station as though they are of that station.”

“I don’t think a person's station should dictate how they are treated.”

The queen was looking at him like she was ready to snap her jaws around his throat. “Don’t you indeed?”

Steve smiled and tried to distract himself from any reply that would be too snappish by tuning his ear back into the conversations of the crowd around him.

He wasn’t quite sure if the court didn’t know or didn’t care if they could be heard by him, heads bent and gossiping.

They were talking about him of course, as was to be expected. The new prince in their lands, primped and pretty and dressed up in his frills and lace and embroidery like a painted mummer. 

They didn’t appear to appreciate his golden circlet or fastidiously maintained and embroidered cloak and doublet, his hair or even how clean his nails were.

But they were also gossiping about his staff, how they were dressed, how fancy and over the top the Crown Prince had apparently felt he had needed to make them to give an impression of his wealth.

Steve wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that because his staff were just wearing what they always wore.

They thought him soft and fanciful and overly luxurious. Too delicate for much else aside from drinking and probably visiting the brothels like his father. Ostentatious and over the top. 

He heard someone behind him give some kind of mumbled effeminate imitation of him, followed by a scoff.

Steve ran his tongue over his teeth and had to remind himself that starting a war with Stoirmeach wasn’t worth it.

He looked back around him, trying to spot Chrissy in the crowd. Surely if he caught sight of her, he’d be more firmly reminded why a war was a bad idea.

Robin was standing on the edge of the crowd, eyes locked on Steve, ready to jump in at a moment's notice if he needed her.

Around her people were boisterously enjoying themselves, paying the royals in the room no mind.

Back at the edge of the room Chrissy and Eddie stood by one of the fireplaces, watching the people around them pass them by but without much care. They seemed to be happier in their own company.

Every so often he’d see one of the court members catch sight of Eddie and he would hear a grumble of disgust, more words like outsider and tree-dweller , bedwarmer and beggar thrown around.

How dare he stand so close?

Doesn’t he realise who he’s in the same room with? Disgusting.

Should be down in the latrines where he belongs, scrubbing the floor with his tongue.

Do you think if I present him with a lump of iron he’ll get on his knees for me like he does for the princess?

He couldn’t start a war. He couldn’t start a war. He couldn’t start a fucking war.

Steve took a deep breath trying to calm himself.

He was so thrown by just how different everything was here. 

Back home, while his parents might have been more interested in their own pursuits, at least they liked him. 

His people would be happy to enjoy themselves in his presence but wouldn’t outright ignore him or have the audacity to gossip so crudely.

He had respect for those of a lower station than him and he believed his people did too.

But now looking around the room, looking at the dynamics that were here, it was all royals, nobles, lords and ladies. If there was any staff in the great hall, they were serving or playing music. They weren’t participating, they weren’t invited.

Torthúil would never dream of throwing a banquet where the people who all made sure that it actually happened and provided everything for it wouldn’t be invited. It was common decency. It was common sense .

Eddie seemed to be the only person in the room who was paying attention to their Crown Princess, the only person who… seemed to actually give a fuck about her.

Steve had originally thought that Eddie was acting as an overprotective guard dog, yes because he cared about Chrissy and wanted her to be safe but it seemed from what Steve had seen, Eddie was the only person who seemed to care whether Chrissy would be looked after in this marriage.

The queen directed him, leading him around the room to meet everyone and with the king now on his other side, he felt like a breeding show horse being presented for judgement.

Muttered appraisals of I told you he’d be very pleasant to look at and well, you know his people are always so concerned about their appearance and yes, he’ll do quite nicely, don’t you think?

It made him want to run and hide or just plain run. Run all the way fucking home where he’d be safe and not looked upon like a prize that had been won.

He had insisted on keeping Robin by him again.

He couldn’t go through all of this without her.

There were people approaching him, looking to meet him and the same as the queen, none of them even bothered to look in Robin’s direction, but that didn’t stop him from introducing her.

She got a few scathing looks in response, some smiled at her with some polite but bewildered interest as though they were confused as to why Steve was even bothering to introduce his advisor.

His frustration had apparently been visible across the room because Chrissy appeared at his side with a sympathetic look, Eddie trailing behind her like a scowling shadow.

She had just opened her mouth to speak to him when she caught sight of someone over Steve’s shoulder.

Her eyes went wide and she snapped her head back in Eddie’s direction, frantically waving him away.

Before Steve could figure out what was going on, Eddie had ducked through the crowd and had disappeared from sight, the furthest that he had gone from Chrissy since they arrived.

Almost at the same time, he felt two figures approach and when he turned he was faced with a man about his own age with blonde curly hair and a swagger in his step, scraping his eyes up and down Steve’s body.

“Well you are certainly something to look at.” He said, flashing a wide cocky smile. “Certainly better than the expected craggy and ancient unmarried princes we’ve learned to expect.”

Steve’s eyebrows flew up into his hair.

Was he supposed to be charmed by this?

While everyone else around him in the court were dressed well, they weren't extravagant in their garments. They were lightly decorated and made from slightly rougher fabrics, there were less pleats and gathers, less fabric overall used in comparison to Steve or Robin or his staff and he supposed that was to be expected. 

Torthúil had much more access to rich fabrics by the ton and their artisan guilds were unmatched.

But these two, the ‘charming’ blonde one and the man standing by his side were decked out, swamped in fabric and bedecked in jewels in a way that even Steve would have felt a little overzealous wearing.

It stank of new money .

And then Steve immediately felt like shit for thinking such a thing. He always tried his damndest to keep any prejudices at bay and tried very hard to keep his opinions of people equal to their actions rather than their status or how soon they had come into their wealth.

So he shot the two men back a smile, choosing not to engage with either of their previous comments and just held a hand out to shake.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

The younger blonde one snatched his hand up and with heavy lidded eyes, placed a kiss down on Steve’s knuckles.

“The pleasure is all mine, Prince Steven.”

“Steve.” He corrected gently, fighting not to whip his hand away.

Chrissy, in contrast to how she had been the entire time Steve had known her; gentle and demure and light, was now like a storm brewing.

Her face was hard, her grip on Steve’s elbow was harder and she had squared her shoulders in such a way as though to block this man from seeing behind her despite the fact that both he and Steve stood nearly a head above her.

“Sir Billy Hargrove.” The man introduced himself. “And this is my father.” He gestured back at the man standing behind him. “Sir Neal.”

Steve nodded as politely as he could, trying to figure out what suddenly had Chrissy so defensive and why exactly he was still feeling so uncomfortable around these two men.

Maybe the nerves of the day were finally hitting him and his brain was taking it out on the newcomers.

He glanced around, trying to catch sight of Eddie and find out what his discerning eye made of these two but when he couldn’t spot him, he remembered Eddie suddenly being waved into the crowd by Chrissy and while he tried not to immediately jump to conclusions, it definitely seemed to have something to do with these two.

Chrissy was all but glaring at Billy, trying to shift herself around to take a step in front of Steve, almost trying to put herself into the line of fire and keep a distance between them and it immediately warmed Steve’s heart but he didn’t need her putting herself out for him.

He nodded politely as the two spoke of their enjoyment in Stoirmeach and was about to open his mouth to try and pull Chrissy into some modicum of friendly conversation when he was cut off.

“Have you seen much of the castle yet, Your Highness?” Billy asked, leaning in close.

Steve was left momentarily speechless, tilting backwards in response. 

Yes, he was very used to being interrupted. There was no world where he was surrounded by Robin and the kids where he wouldn’t have been interrupted constantly but he was rarely interrupted by an adult he didn’t know, let alone an adult who seemed to be wanting to make an impression on him.

“Oh… No, I haven’t had the pleasure—” He again turned towards Chrissy, trying to give her an opening but again he was interrupted.

“Oh, well please let me give you a grand tour tomorrow. It would be the highest honour.”

Chrissy’s grip on his arm somehow got even tighter and this time Steve knew exactly why.

Receiving a tour of the castle and grounds was something that would traditionally be left to the betrothed. It would give them an opportunity to show off the things they were most proud of and maybe a small opportunity to get to know each other better.

It was also just a question of politeness. Even if the two due to be married didn’t really like each other, it was expected they at least pretend to. 

This Sir Billy character had now put Steve in an unwinnable position by making the offer first. Steve couldn’t slight him after just arriving in the kingdom and he couldn’t redirect the question to Chrissy, he couldn’t say he already had a guide, he was stuck.

The smile Steve returned was tight and just barely passed for polite.

“Of course.” 

Across the room, behind Billy and Neal’s back, he finally caught sight of Eddie, just a passing glance as he muttered something to a girl with fiery red hair tied into two braids who was glaring with nothing less than hatred in Billy’s direction.

She nodded at Eddie’s words without taking her eyes off him.

“Wonderful.” Billy preened. “Shall I come and meet you at your rooms tomorrow morning?”

What the actual fuck?

Where did this guy get off being so familiar out of nowhere?  

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Robin piped up from his other side, as always ready to jump in whenever he needed her to.

Billy’s face immediately soured and the glare he sent her way was nothing short of violent.

“The courtyard would do quite nicely.” Chrissy said, snuffing out what was to be sure a vitriolic response from Billy, worse than had come from the queen.

If Steve hadn’t already decided that he did not like this man, purely based on the overt familiarity and pushing himself into a position that should have been reserved for Chrissy, the one he was due to marry , then the bare faced hateful look he had sent Robin’s way just for the crime of speaking to him had solidly put him on Steve’s shit-list.

“Yes.” Steve agreed, sending a thankful smile Chrissy’s way. “I think the courtyard will be lovely.”

While Billy flashed Steve a smile again, there was something in his eyes and the tilt of his brow that spoke of a pot ready to boil over and Steve was lamenting the fact that he had decided not to wear a sword tonight.

He had kept his scabbard empty as a symbolic showing of trust, that there would be no violence or no hatred between the two kingdoms tonight, but now he felt like he’d need to have something concealed on his person whenever Billy was around.

He just gave Steve the impression of the kind of guy who could explode out of nowhere.

He wasn’t exactly sure what kind of game Billy was playing but he could guess. 

As the nature of royal marriage was business, it wasn't unheard of for both sides to keep bedmates who they preferred the company of, though they would always be of rank and title.

They’d all heard the stories of the King of a foreign land who had kept a commoner as a bedmate, resulting in his Queen's kingdom and her brothers personally waging war on him, his bedmate and his people, regardless of how well liked he had been before.

Steve had taken that story to heart.

So he could guess that was what Billy was aiming for. 

To become Steve’s bedmate.

It was almost laughable.

Steve would be damned if he ever let Billy anywhere near his quarters let alone his bed.

After some increasingly tense and awkward small talk between the five of them, in which Billy continued to glare daggers at Robin whenever she spoke—another reason Steve would never consider Billy in any capacity, Robin was his other half, they came as a pair and if the person in question did not like her or she did not like them, then it just flat out wasn’t going to happen—eventually, thankfully they all finally spoke their stilted goodbyes and the three of them let out a sigh of relief once Billy and Neal had disappeared back into the crowd.

“Sorry about him.” Chrissy apologised, biting at her lip, glancing between Steve and Robin.

“Don’t apologise.” Steve replied as gently as he could.

Robin crossed her arms, still scowling in the direction they had left in. “Not your fault some asshole decided to show up and try to get into Steve’s pants.”

Chrissy’s lip dropped from her mouth in shock. Steve suspected she had only ever been used to hearing such crassness from Eddie and hadn’t expected it from a woman.

Steve had to bite his own lip to hide his smile while a shadow appeared at Chrissy’s shoulder. 

Eddie slipped his hand into her free elbow, like he was in need of support himself and his posture was the most subdued and closed off Steve had ever seen since he’d met him.

He wanted to question, he wanted to know why Chrissy had felt the need to hide Eddie away as soon as she had caught sight of Billy and Neal approaching but now wasn’t the time and it really wasn’t any of his business.

Eddie would probably tell him to shove it up his ass and he had every right to.

Chrissy raised her arm and patted Eddie gently on the hand.

“Max is going to hide out for the rest of the night.” He muttered to her.

“Was that the red haired girl?” Steve asked, keeping his voice a little low.

Eddie just nodded. 

Steve wasn’t exactly thrilled about how worried that made him. He didn’t like Eddie being subdued. He didn’t like that his light became somewhat dimmed.

“Yeah, that’s Max.” Chrissy smiled up at them, a little sadly.

“The same Max you want to bring back with you?”

Steve didn’t think Chrissy would have brought it up, she probably would have felt it rude even though he’d told her she was free to bring whomever she wanted. 

There was still a little disbelieving resistance from her. 

Like she didn’t want to allow hope in, just in case it was ripped away.

Well, Steve was determined to convince her he wouldn’t rip anything away from her.

“Yes.” She agreed. “She’s Billy’s stepsister.”

Steve couldn’t keep the surprise off of his face. 

“They treat her like a fucking dog.” Eddie rumbled, his accent coming through thick and fast like rocks tumbling down a mountainside, that fire slowly lighting up his eyes again. “Worse than a dog, actually. Neal married her mother before he bribed and stole his way into his commission and knighthood. But now the two of them act like her mother was some money hungry slut, sleeping her way to the top.” He scoffed. “All because she was untitled and now they are titled.” He shrugged. “Suppose everyone needs a villain.”

“We’ll take her back with us, no problem.” Steve affirmed, already determined to whisk the child away to safety with as much fervour as he had for Chrissy. She seemed to be the same age as the kids back home.

Of course he wouldn’t force her to come along with them, but he felt like if she did concede to moving countries for some crown Prince she barely knew, he would do all he could to make life better for her.

Steve continued to think on it throughout the rest of the night and even still as he was led through the dark and draughty corridors to his rooms, he thought that maybe his ideas that he could save these people from a live he deemed to be less than favourable perhaps said something a little ungenerous about him, but he hoped he wasn’t being ignorant.

It did certainly seem that the people he’d become determined to whisk away were unhappy, but he would have to just make sure that wasn’t his own prejudices taking hold.

Steve finally let his shoulders drop as he took in the bedroom that was to be his own for the next month.

It was bare enough, though that was to be expected. 

Grey stone walls, grey stone floors with a large and heavy rough rug covering the majority of the floor, an impressively large fireplace set into one wall of the room, already lit, beating back the chill coming from the large lozenge windows, heavily draped on either side by thick curtains.

Steve tried not to let the melancholy overtake him as he looked out into the darkness of the night, almost pitch black and screaming at him, the stormy winds whipping against the castle walls and whistling through the gaps and he longed for the gentle breeze rustling the grass, leaves and petals of home along with the warm and comforting sun.

Chapter Text

In the light of a new day, Steve was beginning to feel a little more positive about things.

It helped that he seemed to have awoken before most others in the castle and with the morning sun fighting off the darkness, he saw something out the window that he had missed the night before.

His room overlooked the back of the castle, over the clifftop and out to sea. He could see as far as the horizon could reach, miles and miles of grey choppy water and low hanging clouds visible from edge to edge.

It was like he was floating on a lone island out at sea, but that wasn’t what had really caught his attention.

Down below, directly underneath his bedroom window there was what looked to be a small, disused, but private beach.

There was no sand, just grey stone pebbles and a weathered dock that had probably seen better days extending out into the water.

It looked like it would only be able to moor a fishing boat, it definitely wasn’t a dock for all of the warships he knew this kingdom boasted.

The beach was small, maybe only fifty yards across but it was definitely a part of the castle grounds. There was a long set of stone steps leading from the castle down, looking as ancient as the rest of the stonework here.

Steve figured that maybe a refreshing morning swim would be enough to get his mind back in the right place again. It’s what he always did to relax back home. 

It would probably be a lot colder than he was used to, maybe slightly rougher and a lot saltier but he reasoned with himself that he was a strong swimmer, and he was a little desperate to work out his anxious energy.

Robin and Hopper would probably tear his head off when they found out he went swimming alone again , but he wasn’t worried.

He would be fine.

There was only a single moment when Steve first stepped onto the slippy pebbles down below that he wondered if he had perhaps been a little too cocky about his swimming ability.

The early morning air was damp and crisp and the sun would occasionally break through the clouds in bright little patches but even then, it didn’t bring much warmth.

But this was water and Steve understood water. He’d spent his whole life swimming so he pushed the thoughts out of his head.

He would look back on that moment and curse his stupidity later on. 

He did have the presence of mind to start slow, though.

He knew the water was going to be freezing compared to home and if he didn’t properly prepare himself he could easily seize up once the cold hit him and that could put him in a lot more danger than he needed to be in. 

So he slowly waded in, allowing himself to become submerged up to his knees and he already felt fucking numb.

If he were home he would have just stripped nude and dove right in, but he didn’t exactly want to flash any nearby fisherman who had gotten blown into the dock at the back of the castle or give anyone looking down from the windows above an eyeful .

So he’d kept his braies on and tucked his undertunic in tight. Though he knew once the water made contact with the white linen, they would be practically see through, anyway.

So he had attempted to combat this by keeping a change of clothes nearby as well as the thickly woven linen sheet he used to dry himself off after bathing. 

Steve kept wading forward, almost making it a challenge to himself to push through the cold. 

Once he got moving he’d warm up. Once he got in and started to swim he would barely be able to feel it anymore. 

He crouched down until he was covered up to the neck in bolstering sea water that would have been hip height had he been standing and once he had allowed himself a few breaths to push through the chill, feeling the movement of the water tilt him around in a way that could almost be called relaxing if it had been warmer, he ducked.

The shock of the cold and the salt and the movement of the water all still hit him, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it would have been had he just jumped in with no preparation. 

Steve took off at a stiff and hard pace, being sure to keep himself parallel to the shore for his own safety and only managed to get a couple of laps in up and down the short length of the beach, getting tossed around by the waves before he started to wish for warmth again.

He turned, pushing his way back towards the shore, arm over arm and legs kicking behind him but as he kept swimming, he found he was moving nowhere .

Almost like he was stuck in a nightmare, no matter how hard he pushed against the cold grey waves around him, the shore refused to get any closer.

Fear was beginning to take over his mind now and the cold had crept into the very bones of him, his body was beginning to tire the harder he pushed against the waves and still the shore refused to get any nearer. 

With a quick glance around, trying not to panic too much, he looked for anything that might be available to him.

Why had he come out swimming alone?

What was going to happen if he drowned here?

What were Robin and Hopper and Chrissy and Eddie and Max going to do if the crown prince suddenly disappeared while at the royal seat of another kingdom?

It wouldn’t be good.

It would not be good at all.

What would the kids at home think?

What would happen to his people?

He had no siblings. No one to take up the mantle for him if he were to disappear below the waves.

In a last ditch effort to survive Steve began to swim parallel again, aiming for that broken down dock and he nearly shouted in relief when it came closer and closer as it should have done. 

He grabbed onto the pole extending down into the water, wrapping his arms and legs around it for a few moments before he gathered the courage to let go with one arm and reach up to use the half rotten slats where one would usually walk, to lead himself back to shore.

The feeling of the stones beneath his feet was salvation.

He crawled out of the choppy waves on hands and knees, almost kissing the ground beneath him, his lungs burning, his muscles heavy and tired and panic only truly managing to set in now.

His blood must have still been high, pumping through his veins because as he sat there, back on his haunches, shivering in the cold air, he pushed the panic away from him and remembered he had to get warm. He wasn’t going to freeze to death out here after just escaping the water.

Barely five minutes later he was as dried as he could be, dressed and hobbling his way back up the steps, determined to get back into his room and camp out in front of the roaring fire until someone came to get him for his dreaded meet-up with Billy.

He didn’t look back at the water. 

Maybe he would leave swimming as an activity he only did in Torthúil from now on.

Steve let out a heavy exhale and swore to himself he would never let Robin or Hopper find out about this.

“WHAT IN THE HELLS WERE YOU THINKING, STEVEN?!” Robin screamed at him. “GOING OUT THERE ALONE?!”

She had zero care for anyone overhearing her and the scandalised looks she was getting from the household staff passing in the halls told Steve all he needed to know about how often they saw someone of his status getting screamed at by their advisor.

Not often it seemed. 

They were all looking on warily, eyes darting between the two of them like a fistfight was about to break out, which wouldn’t be the most unbelievable thing to happen.

She had burst into his room without a care in the world, something she hadn’t done in years. 

Not since the time when she had slammed open his bedroom door only to find him on his hands and knees on the bed, enjoying himself in a way he had never, ever wanted to discuss with her again.

But he supposed she felt safer here, felt like he wouldn’t be slamming himself back onto a specifically blown and shaped glass item he’d attached to his headboard. 

At least not on his first night . 

So Robin hadn’t found him in a position like that this morning, but she had found him dry and dressed and primped to perfection but with the guilty evidence of his wet clothes and drying linen on the rack by the fire.

She’d only needed to take one look outside the window to the beach down below and then another at his guilty face before she’d started screaming the whole castle down.

Two of his household guards, Callahan and Powell, standing sentry by his door hadn’t reacted, one of them had yawned as she had screamed that she was going to pluck the guard's sword from his hip and cut all of Steve’s hair off.

They did become more alert, however, when two Stoirmeach guards had been drawn down the corridor by the shouting and had stood more firm in the entryway, jovially but with finality telling the guards that there was nothing to get so fired up about. 

It was just a sibling spat.

Steve hadn’t heard what had been grumbled in response, but judging by how Powell’s back had gone ramrod straight and Callahan’s hand twitched at his side, it wasn’t pleasant. 

“Thank you for your concern, but we can handle our own affairs.” Powell had growled back. “As we said. It is a sibling spat.”

Robin hadn’t cared about what had happened outside the door and she hadn’t cared that they were garnering a lot of attention from the staff and the Stoirmeach guards who looked at them like they were committing some kind of crime.

Or more specifically, looked at Robin like she was committing some sort of crime.

Steve had to grab her by both shoulders and turn her to look him in the eye, begging her to calm down and remember that they were not at home and that they needed to be more careful.

“He’s right, kid.” Hopper’s gruff voice came from behind her, speaking to Robin but with his eyes open around the courtyard they were just beyond the bounds of, keeping a watchful eye out. “This kingdom doesn’t seem to share our… egalitarianism.”

He leaned a little closer to the two of them, lowering his voice.

“We are in what could very easily become enemy territory if something were to go wrong.”

“You don’t think it’s as serious as that , do you, Hop?” Steve asked, a little scandalised.

“Yes I do.” He replied, his face awash with seriousness. “We have only been here a day but the entire castle already knows you two do not put much stock behind the way they do things here. Regardless of our feelings on how they run this kingdom and their people, this is their culture and their way of life and it is not… becoming to scoff and disregard it so easily.”

“You can’t be asking Steve to start treating me like… like dirt?” Robin asked, bewildered.

Steve would never entertain the thought, regardless of whether Hopper was asking him to do so or not, but Hopper just shook his head.

“No I am not. But I am at least asking you to have some more respect and maybe think about how your actions might affect those around you.” He turned to face Steve again. “You are here as Princess Christine’s guest and therefore, she is responsible for you—”

“Hop, I am the only one responsible for my actions.”

“At home, maybe. But here, they will blame anyone else instead of the ones in power to save their own skin. Whether that be the princess, Eddie or any of the other staff. You are not at home. ”

Steve's mouth straightened out into a thin line.

He knew Hopper was right, as much as he didn’t like the thought of it, he was amongst a different culture and a different peoples and it was not his place to look down upon how they did things here, no matter his personal feelings.

Across the courtyard, the figure of Billy appeared, walking in long confident strides towards them.

Steve had hoped that he would have been able to have Chrissy at his side for this tour, at least as a buffer between the two, but he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her this morning.

“Could one of you go and locate the princess, see if she’s okay?” Steve tilted his head back to Hopper and Robin, keeping his eyes on Billy. “Send my condolences that she’s been usurped in this way. Maybe see if you can happen to run into us on this tour while the other stays with us for propriety’s sake?”

And so Billy doesn’t try to shove his hands down my pants in some dark corner , Steve thought to himself.

He immediately looked to Hopper as the most suitable candidate to find Chrissy but he was surprised when Robin volunteered herself almost before he had finished speaking.

He eyed her suspiciously while she fidgeted under his gaze, her cheeks slowly getting pinker and pinker.

But in the end he couldn’t really see an issue with it. Billy would inevitably be far more deterred with Hopper following a few paces behind in his gleaming armour and with his sword on his hip, rather than Robin with her willowy figure, ornate waistcoat embroidered with musical notes and nothing aside from her barbed words to throw.

“Prince Steven.” Billy’s oily greeting washed over him as Robin hurriedly excused herself and Steve was sure it was so rushed so she didn’t give herself a chance to snap at him.

Steve’s smile was strained as he turned to face him.

“Steve, please.”

“Oh?” Billy grinned at him, extending himself into a shallow bow. “So familiar already?”

He straightened up, holding an elbow out to him.

Behind him, Steve could feel the heat of Hoppers glare directed both at that elbow and from the lack of acknowledgment

Steve took his elbow with light fingers, trying to keep the touch as minimal as possible but Billy immediately pulled that elbow in tight to his side.

“Not familiarity, necessarily.” Steve had to fight to keep the words from lashing out as Billy began to lead them. “Just a preference.”

“Seems a little improper to have everyone address you in such a manner.” Billy leaned a little closer, still with that smile, obviously angling for some kind of confirmed favour.

Steve knew his returned smile was cold.

“As I said,” he turned his head, being sure to catch Billy’s eye to drive his point home. “Just a preference.”

Billy, to his credit, didn’t let the sour mood surrounding them dull his hosting skills, pressing on as though Steve had been nothing but receptive towards him, slowly taking him on a stroll through the castle.

In the daylight, without the harsh storm of the night before, the corridors and hallways were a little brighter, but not by much. Braziers and lanterns still fought to chase away the dark and the chill, fireplaces, large and imposing flared with light in every room.

Their windows were undecorated, their walls held a scant amount of art and the rugs they had keeping the cold at bay were plain and functional.

Steve had rarely seen the seat of a royal family kept only to practicalities.

“The castle appears to be quite… conservative in its decoration.” He said, after Billy had shown him through yet another reception room that looked as plain as the others.

“We don’t do pomp and circumstance here.” Billy replied. “There’s no need for braggadocious smuggery. We’re a kingdom of substance, so we don’t see the need to pretend to have more by showing off. ”

Steve raised his eyebrows.

“Wonder what the king and queen would think of my kingdom, then.” His tone was light but pointed at the same time but it didn’t seem to properly register with his tour guide as they stepped outside and into the castle grounds.

“I couldn’t say.” Billy shrugged then leaned in again, conspiratorially. “What do you think I would think of your kingdom, Your Highness? I would love to see it sometime.”

I’m sure you would.

Steve grinned back. “Perhaps too braggadocious for your tastes.”

Billy hummed at him, as if they were in the middle of some coy tête-à-tête.

“I suppose you’ll just have to invite me to find out.”

Steve couldn’t even find the words to respond. The audacity.

Billy glanced back at Hopper, who had remained silent the entire time apart from the sounds his armour made as he followed close behind.

“I had hoped we could have taken this tour alone.” He said, his tone light and probing.

“I don’t think that would be quite proper.” Steve’s answer was firm. “I am betrothed, after all. Don’t you agree?”

“If you are missing your kingdom, however,” Billy pushed on as if Steve hadn’t said anything, grinning at him as the clack clack of wood on wood started to reach them, “my home is quite a sight to see. More decorated than the castle by far. Perhaps you would enjoy seeing it?”

“Perhaps not.” Steve almost snapped back, coming swiftly to the end of his patience.

But again, the corner of Billy’s mouth turned up in a smirk, like Steve was a child throwing a tantrum or simply playing hard to get.

“Deflect!” A familiar voice shouted, drawing Steve’s attention over to a small sparring circle enclosed with a rough wooden fence. “Good! Again!”

Eddie lunged forward with power, swinging his wooden sword down towards the determined freckled face of a red haired girl who deflected his blow with a shout.

Lucas was leaning his elbows against the fence, looking completely enraptured at the sight in front of him and as Steve got closer he could see that Lucas’ eyes only followed the girl that Steve recognised as Max.

If he was a betting man, he’d bet that a wistful, lovesick sigh wasn’t too far off.

The loud crack of another hit echoed across the grounds. Neither Eddie, Lucas nor Max had noticed their presence.

Max’s deflection faltered, leaving her open for a quick twist and a killing blow from Eddie, though he didn’t take it. Steve wasn’t sure if Eddie even knew the opening was there or if he was just going easy on her.

“C’mon, Red. More power!”

“You’ve got this, Max! Take him down!” Lucas shouted at her from the sidelines. Eddie didn’t turn to look at him but Steve could see the small grin on his face.

“Stalker.” Max shot back but she also couldn’t stop the small tilt at the corner of her mouth.

They readied themselves again and Steve found himself leaning forward, eager to watch.

Eddie pushed himself forward, lunging with force and swung.

“Plant your feet, Maxine!” Billy shouted out of nowhere, startling everyone in attendance.

Eddie’s sparring sword cracked down hard on Max’s shoulder as her deflection lost power in her surprise.

Wood thunked to the ground as Eddie dropped his sparring weapon, his expression hidden by his hair but his back and shoulders tense, fists clenched at his side.

Max glared at her stepbrother, her opposite hand cradling her injured shoulder and she took a few bold steps forward.

It almost seemed like she was putting herself in between Billy and Eddie on purpose.

Lucas looked like he was ready to jump the fence and run to her side but his movements were halted when Hopper’s voice boomed out.

“Sinclair! Don’t you have duties to attend to?”

Lucas jumped to attention, his eyes swinging between Hopper and Max, but Hopper wasn’t even looking at him, he was glaring at Billy who seemed to be staring back at Lucas with just as much vitriol.

Lucas, one of the most observant of all of the kids Steve knew, quickly realised that it was less that he was in trouble and more that he was being told to get away. So with a shaky nod and a bow in their direction, he scampered.

“I don’t like my squire to be caught dilly dallying.” Hopper said, mostly for Billy’s benefit, letting him know exactly what rank Lucas had.

“That boy is your squire? ” Billy scoffed with cruelty in his tone.

“That boy,” Hopper growled back, barely containing his irritation, “is the firstborn son of Lord and Lady Sinclair of Sycamore, so yes. That boy is my squire.”

Steve could see something in Billy begin to boil and if his suspicions had been correct before about him being the type of man to have a temper, he didn’t want any of them to have to suffer the fallout.

He turned back to the two in the ring with what he hoped was a friendly smile on his face. 

“You were sparring very well, Maxine.”

“Max, Your Highness. ” She sneered right back, still cradling her shoulder. Eddie still had his back to them, fists clenched at his side.

Steve held his hands up in surrender, well used to teenagers at this point in his life.

“Max.” He smiled at her again, moving up to the edge of the fence and leaning his arms against it. “Eddie seems to be teaching you well.”

There was a light scoff next to him, Billy coming to settle right at his side, their shoulders pressed together and Steve had enough of the subtle hints. 

He shifted his body away, putting a gap between them again, so they were no longer touching.

“Surely you’d be better off sparring with someone actually trained , Maxine.” Billy grinned.

“What? Like you ?” She spat back. “The last time you made me train with you, you broke my fingers.”

Steve felt his own fingers tense against the wood. The message underneath that statement was profoundly uncomfortable. It was clear that Max wasn’t suggesting it had been an accident .

“That’s because you don’t plant your feet.” Billy leaned a little further forward. “How about a sparring match then? A little one to one between me and your pretty boy Outsider?”

The look on Billy’s face was downright lascivious, all of his attention now firmly on the length and curves of Eddie’s body and Steve could almost sense his desire to get up close and personal.

He wanted to jump in, almost physically and put another barrier between Billy and Eddie but he had no right to, it wasn’t his place and nothing had been outright stated or enacted upon in front of him, so he would also have to deal with the fallout of Billy probably claiming innocence while everyone here could feel that that was not the case. 

A light shudder ran through Eddie’s body when he heard the words pretty boy, and Steve could see his throat bob with a swallow before he turned.

Eddie’s usually warm brown eyes were now cold and sharp as flint, hardened and wild like a cornered animal.

“No.”

“Hey now.” Billy smiled again, the same way he had at Steve, like everyone was playing hard to get. “That’s no way to talk to a knighted superior is it? What would the queen have to say of such things?”

“ You are not knighted. Your father is .” Eddie growled back, his mouth twisted into a snarl. “And it was bought. ”

“Oh.” Billy simpered. “Well maybe it was just that certain others didn’t have what it takes to be given such a title.”

“Okay.” Steve held his hands out again, trying to figure out how to bring this boiling situation down a notch, but Eddie turned his cold eyes onto him and seemed to lump him into the same category as Billy.

“You want to ‘spar’ too?” He asked, using air quotes around the word spar like Steve had some kind of ulterior motive. 

Steve looked at him, the way he was gripping his wooden sword, the way he had lunged and attacked Max with so much control over his swings, so confident in his body and where he was putting his sword.

Eddie was skilled, no matter where he was born or the lack of title he’d been born under. 

Steve himself was skilled as well, he had years of training from the swordmasters of Torthúil but he didn’t want to get involved in whatever one sided harassment Billy had going on towards Eddie.

“Maybe another time, I think Max is more deserving of your skills at the moment.” He gestured back over to her. She was still glaring at Billy and looked like she was a few seconds away from swinging at him with her own wooden weapon.

Steve wanted to get Billy away, he didn’t want to bear witness to him throwing his status around anymore, trying to use it to get his way, something Steve was sure he had done numerous times before and he didn’t like the idea of Eddie or Max having to face the consequences of it.

He outranked Billy and while he was only a visiting prince he was still a prince .

“I believe we still have a tour to complete?” Steve asked, angling his body back out towards the rest of the grounds.

Billy turned his smile back on him, offering Steve his arm again.

Steve took it and while they were walking away, he glanced back over his shoulder and found Eddie still staring at him, watching him retreat with something unreadable on his face. 

Steve, thankfully, wasn’t forced to deal with Billy on his own for much longer. Even with Hopper behind him, there wasn’t much he could do to intervene but the sight of Robin and Chrissy rounding the corner in front of them, arm in arm in a much more familiar way than Billy and Steve were, was a relief to him.

Billy had just finished lamenting to Steve about how heartbreaking it was that Eddie had such an attachment to him, an attraction that he was clearly fighting, trying to push Billy away to deal with his feelings and Steve had to bite his tongue hard not to bitch Billy out because in what world was that the truth.

From what he had seen, Eddie was nothing but disdainful and defensive around him.

Billy’s mouth turned down into a frown when he saw Robin and Chrissy approach, their heads bent low together and Chrissy seemed to be glowing.

Robin had a sweet almost lovestruck smile on her face looking down on the princess that wavered slightly, her eyes almost looking guilty as Steve took his excuse to get out of Billy’s grip and offer his own arm to his betrothed.

Steve kept trying to catch Robin’s eye, tried to figure out what was going on inside her head as the five of them continued on through the castle, Billy sulking behind Steve and in front of Hopper, Chrissy on Steve’s arm and Robin on her other side, but she wouldn’t look up at him.

He would have to find out from her later what was bothering her.

Chapter Text

Robin wasn’t avoiding him exactly but Steve was having a hard time getting her to talk to him.

The only other time he could remember her closing off in this way was when the visiting Thompson noble family had come.

Steve had been forced to endure the young Tammy’s warbling over her dulcimer while Robin had looked like she was hearing the songbirds themselves calling to her. 

She hadn’t really known how to handle how strong her affections had been and she had hidden herself away from Steve in one of their many childhood hiding places until he came and found her.

Robin had admitted to him, with her forehead resting on his shoulder that she thought she might be in love. She had never told him outright in what direction her affections had lay, the same way that Steve had never told her in words that what a person kept in their pants didn’t matter to him, but they both knew either way. 

They knew each other better than they might have even known themselves. 

So when Robin felt the need to tell him outright that it was women and just women for her, and maybe even just one woman, Tammy Thompson, Steve had pulled her into his side and told her it was okay.

It had been love of a kind, but not a very long lasting one.

Robin hadn’t held a candle for Tammy for too long and Steve was just happy that he wouldn’t have to put up with her as a sister-in-law if it came down to it. 

This situation felt… uncannily similar to the Tammy situation. 

Except now, they were in a foreign land, in a foreign castle and they had none of their usual hiding spots Steve could search for her in.

Chrissy’s own demeanour had dimmed somewhat as well in the week they had been here.

Steve had caught her staring wistfully in Robin’s direction more than once and Robin had been doing the same.

If they were trying to hide any budding feelings they may have had for one another, they were doing a terrible job of it.

Steve didn’t really mind the idea of Robin being taken in as Chrissy’s bedmate. Robin was untitled, yes, but that didn’t matter one inch to him. It didn’t seem to matter much to Chrissy either. 

But they had to be sure about things. 

If they started something and it ended badly, Steve’s marriage could get very awkward, very fast, torn between his wife and his best friend.

But he would support them if it was something they both wanted. 

Who was he to stand in their way?

He never really thought he and Chrissy would extend past friendship into anything romantic and if Robin made her happy and Chrissy made Robin happy, how could he be unhappy with that?

Steve had found himself wandering the castle and the castle grounds trying to find wherever Robin might have been hidden and in doing so, got a far clearer view of the place than he had on the bullshit tour Billy had taken him on.

He had almost gone down to visit the kitchens, to see how the staff were treated or what their facilities looked like, but based on the way the staff seemed terrified by the mere sight of him, he thought it would be best not to stress them out.

He knew that Eddie had shown Robin Stoirmeach’s extensive library and while Steve had wandered the shelves looking for her, spotting a small secluded desk in the back that he thought would be perfect for working through his own paperwork, he still couldn’t find her.

He huffed to himself, hands on his hips, standing in the middle of the castle grounds, wondering if he needed to get Hopper to gather a damn search party just to find her when a sound caught his attention.

Grunts and shouts, the sound of metal hitting wood and Steve realised he was right around the corner from that familiar sparring circle he had met Max at a week ago.

Across the grounds Steve spotted Hopper chatting with his guards by the weapons hut, Max was inside cataloguing and pursuing the available weapons, her hands constantly being drawn back to a lance that was definitely too big for her to properly wield yet, but if the determination on her face told Steve anything, it was that she would eventually have herself trained up on it.

Then there was Eddie, in the sparring circle on his own, going to town on a wooden dummy with a blunted metal sparring sword, anger and frustration lighting up his features, his hair flying and jewellery glinting in the sparse patterns of sun breaking through the clouds.

Steve found his legs leading him over to the fence before he could stop himself, watching as wood chips flew, scattering across the hay and sand on the ground, used to stop the mud below from soaking through.

With a last shout Eddie landed a fierce blow and turned with the momentum, finally catching sight of Steve and stopping in his tracks.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Steve tilting his head a little in curiosity while Eddie’s eyes burned into him, his chest heaving and his hand still clenched tight around his sparring weapon.

“Come to see the Outsider lose his mind over a piece of metal?” Eddie spat at him and Steve’s head continued to tilt, his confusion clearly apparent now.

“What?”

Eddie paused for a second, his posture still defensive, but his eyes searching.

There was a few seconds of silence, only broken by the seagulls cawing overhead.

Eddie was examining him, almost like he was waiting for Steve to drop some act.

With a shake of his head, Eddie let his shoulders relax and he asked, almost defeated, “What do you want?”

“Have you seen Robin?”

Eddie lifted his sword and pointed out across the grounds towards a nearby stone staircase leading up to the curtain walls surrounding the castle.

Sitting about halfway up the steps was Robin, her shoulders and knees turned towards Chrissy who was next to her, both of their heads bent towards each other.

Even from a distance Steve could see the small twin smiles on their faces.

He had come out here to find her, to talk to her, to find out what was wrong and reassure her that nothing she could do would turn him against her, but looking at the two of them now, he couldn’t bear to separate them.

He turned back to Eddie, to find him approaching, leaning himself against the fence next to Steve, sword resting to the side. 

The familiar scent followed him, spicy and woody and warm. 

Steve had to try very hard not to lean closer and inhale.

“Are you going to disturb them?” Eddie asked, eyes trained on the two figures in the distance and the question felt loaded, more loaded than just asking if he was going to interrupt the conversation.

Steve shook his head.

“No. They seem happy.”

Eddie’s head was turned towards him now, his eyes boring in, roving all over Steve’s face.

Steve almost had an urge to duck his gaze, to avoid the extremely intense examination going on. Eddie’s eyes were so focused Steve could practically see his own reflection in them. 

A blush was starting to crest over his neck and he tried hard to push it back down.

“You like to keep her in your sights, don’t you?” Steve asked and immediately cringed when it came out a little more accusatory than he’d meant it.

Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “I do.” He confirmed. “And she likes to keep me in hers. Is that going to be a problem, Your Highness? ”

“Steve.” He automatically replied before shaking his head again. “No, that’s not a problem.”

“Good. Because it’s not going to change.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to.”

He tried to speak lightly and easily, tried to reassure with just his voice that he meant it and while Eddie continued to watch him, Steve kept his back to the girls, trying to say with more than words that whatever was going on between Chrissy and Robin was something he was okay with.

After a moment,when Eddie appeared to relax again, Steve looked down and poked the sword resting between them.

“How’s your training going?”

“Training?” Eddie asked, looking down at the sparring sword then back up. “I’m not training.”

“Oh, really?” Steve asked, a cheeky smile spreading across his face, making it clear he was poking fun. “You think your education is complete?”

“Why?” Eddie shot back with a small tilt to the corner of his mouth. “You wanna teach me a lesson, Stevie?”

He immediately seemed to catch up with what he said and took a step back, the smile dropping from his face and his posture becoming defensive again.

Steve just shrugged, poking at the sword again still resting against the fence.

“I don’t know. Are you willing to learn?”

Eddie considered him again and once he realised that Steve wasn’t going to approach without being given permission or take advantage of the flirtation Eddie had just shot his way, or have him beheaded for it, he lolled his head to the side, hair spilling over his shoulder.

Eddie sucked his bottom lip into his mouth for a moment and Steve almost missed what he said next, too busy watching the wet pink flesh being released to pay attention to Eddie’s words.

“Wouldn’t want to bruise your petals, Stevie. Don’t much fancy another few days down in the dungeons for my troubles.”

That caused Steve to stop short. 

The dungeons?

What the fuck?

Was he being sarcastic?

It didn’t look like he was being sarcastic, he looked almost teasing about what he had said but Steve’s expression was clearly not what Eddie had expected to see because he just finished the thought off with an awkward shrug and a mutter of, “Don’t worry about it.”

How was Steve supposed to not worry about it? Of course he was going to worry about it!

Eddie snatched up a second training sword and held it out.

“You gonna give me that lesson?” He asked, with a blinding, distracting smile. “Or are you all talk?”

Okay, well… he was still thinking about it but Eddie clearly wanted to move on so Steve wasn’t going to press the issue and make him uncomfortable.

Steve took the sword and smoothly vaulted himself one handed over the fence.

“You seem to be the talker between the two of us.” He grinned but still felt like he needed to assure Eddie he wouldn’t be taking any of the flirting or Eddie’s outbursts out on him in the ring. 

In fact… Steve had an idea to assure Eddie he’d be safe with him.

“Hold on.”

He turned towards the weapons hut and raised a hand to his mouth. 

“Hopper! Max! You’re needed!”

When he looked back at Eddie, Eddie was just looking at him completely perplexed.

“Witnesses.” He explained. “One from your side and one from mine to make sure I’m a good sport.”

Hopper made his way over easily while Max looked like she wanted to tear Steve’s hair out being bossed around by him.

She relaxed slightly once he made it clear why he had called them over but only slightly.

Steve plucked the circlet from his head and handed it to Hopper for safekeeping. Eddie himself seemed ready to fight as he was, rings, chains and necklaces galore.

Hopper took the circlet, letting it dangle around his wrist as he crossed his arms.

“Just be sure you injure him within reason, Munson. That’s all I ask. Maybe you can deflate that big hair.”

Steve whipped back around. “Hop!” He screeched, playing up the betrayal.

“What?” Hopper shrugged. “Just don’t kill him. Or cut his balls off.” He paused after that, pursing his lips. “Don’t cut any bits of him off actually and you’ll be fine. Best of three?” He looked down at Max who scowled back up at him, completely unintimidated and she nodded.

Steve turned back to Eddie, getting himself into position as Eddie did the same.

They slowly began to circle each other, tips of their respective swords in the middle.

The two of them had opted without discussing it for the blunted metal sparring swords, rather than the wooden ones Eddie had been training Max in with. 

“If you think he can survive that long.” Eddie grinned back, speaking to Hopper but staring Steve dead in the eye.

“Take him down, Eddie!” Max shouted from the sidelines and the corner of Hopper's mouth tilted up.

Steve could feel something almost like electricity crackling through him in anticipation, waiting.

He didn’t have to wait long. 

Eddie lunged at him, quick and light footed. It became apparent that he had correctly assessed Steve as a slower moving but more powerful target and so, he dodged around him and kept his attacks airy and fleeting, fast and difficult to recover from before the next one landed.

Steve was immediately pushed back into a defensive stance, completely taken off guard by Eddie’s fearlessness and tenacity.

He could hear Hopper shouting at him over the rush in his ears and the clang of the blades as he brought his sword up to block a strike that had barely landed before Eddie was dancing back again out of reach.

“I taught you better than that, Harrington!”

Steve huffed to himself, gripping his blade tighter and watched as Eddie moved forward again, trying to pay attention to any tells he could find, how he moved, stretching his long body out and striking while keeping his distance.

There was the sound of fabric ripping and Eddie stepped back with a satisfied and smug smile on his face, having landed the first hit.

Steve looked down at the sleeve of his sword arm, the fabric slashed, green vines and colourful flower petals cut in half as the tatters of one of his lavishly embroidered shirts hanging off of his wrist and shoulder, leaving parts of his arm bare.

His eyes cut back up to Eddie who was standing there, casually, with his sword resting over his shoulder, still grinning at him and he raised his eyebrows, almost in a taunt.

His smile grew wider as Steve adjusted his hold on the grip of his sword and stared him down, eyes alight with a fire he had not felt in a while.

“That’s one, Stevie.” Eddie practically crooned at him, setting himself up in the same stance he had before.

Steve didn’t give him a chance to strike first this time, he swung forward with all of the power he had, Eddie just barely managed to dodge and deflect, dancing out of the way in much the same way he had but Steve was ready this time, wrenching his sword around to tap Eddie on the arm with the flat of the blade in the same spot Eddie had torn his sleeve.

He leaned in with what he knew must be an infuriating smirk on his face and rumbled low in his throat, “One.”

Eddie blinked at him for a moment, colour high on his face from exertion, pink mouth open slightly in an exhale before he pulled those lips back together again in a sharp grin.

They had barely gotten back to their starting position before they were swinging for round two.

They were much closer now, the two of them attacking and deflecting with speed, practically throwing themselves into each other.

Steve had just let one of Eddie’s blows slide off of his sword, arms up, almost chest to chest with him when Eddie moved quick as a flash and brought his blade down as if he was going to slice Steve clean in half.

He stopped short of making contact and turned his grip, smacking Steve against the hip with the flat of his blade.

“Two.” He panted, his hair cascading around him, falling over his face and slowly fluttering back and forth from his exhales.

Steve would almost call his smile cheeky and unlike before, they didn’t immediately move away from each other, Steve slowly lowering his raised arms back to his sides, the two of them still staring intensely into each other's eyes.

There was a thought rolling around in his head to grab Eddie by the collar and haul him in, kiss the snark out of him and leave him panting for a wholly different reason, but he was nothing if not a gentleman, so he just ran his tongue over his bottom lip and tried not to crow in joy when Eddie’s eye was immediately drawn down to it.

There were shouts coming from the sidelines, like the gathered crowd were cheering on a ball game. 

With a glance over, he saw Hopper and Max both leaning over the railing to holler at each of them. Robin and Chrissy had been drawn over as well and Robin had a hand up to her mouth, shouting something in his direction. Chrissy and Lucas both had hands on the fence and were leaning forward but were quiet. 

There were a few guards from both sides, cheering and taunting a little further behind but Steve didn’t pay them much mind, didn’t pay much mind to what anyone was shouting. 

His attention was solely on Eddie. 

There were both huffing and puffing, Steve could feel his hair sticking down to his forehead and Eddie had a few tendrils stuck to his neck but they were both still grinning at each other, something alight between them, competitive and eager.

They had both barely stepped a foot back into their starting positions before they swung forward again, almost nose to nose before springing back, the clang of metal along with the shouts from the crown ringing in their ears. 

Steve saw his opening and pivoted bringing the flat of his blade down and smacked it across the swell of Eddie’s ass, hard enough to sting through his layers of leathers and clothing but not hard enough to actually hurt.

The pink flush that was painted over Eddie’s cheeks started to extend up his neck as well and his breath nearly stuttered out of his body in a way that Steve was sure had nothing to do with the swordplay currently happening. 

Though there was a part of his brain screaming, trying to remind him that he was here because he was betrothed , he was due to marry Eddie’s best friend and if he were to make any kind of move on him it would practically be a declaration of war , disrespecting the kingdom’s princess and publicly taking on a commoner in her place, he couldn’t help himself.

There was something about Eddie that was just so enticing .

That part of his brain was quickly winning the common sense battle. 

They stepped back from each other, back to their starting positions and the crowd around them were screaming, hollering, waving their arms but everything in Steve’s brain had narrowed down to Eddie, how his fingers twitched around the grip of his sword, covered in his usual rings, the flutter of the pulse in his neck, highlighted by the vine inked in, crawling up the side of his throat, the heaving of his chest, his necklaces catching the daylight. 

He was wild and enchanting and unpredictable. 

Steve wanted to know what he tasted like.

They stayed stock still, staring at each other for another moment, their breaths huffing out in twin exertion, both aware this last blow would be the one that won the match but that didn’t seem to be what either of them were concentrating on at the moment.

Steve pushed forward at the same time that Eddie did, their blades meeting in the middle and sliding off of one another with a harsh twang.

Eddie struck and Steve dodged, Steve swung and Eddie pivoted, the two of them dancing around each other like this was all they had ever learned to do.

Steve pulled back and then pushed forwards, lunging towards Eddie hard intending to bring his sword down next to his leg where he was wide open, but as he went forward, his foot slipped out from under him.

Eddie’s eyes grew wide as Steve kept flying forwards, dragging his sword out of the way at the last second.

Steve would have landed across it if he hadn’t but the movement had left him open and off balance.

He collided with Eddie hard, bowling into him and the two of them tumbled down to the ground, the wind knocked out of them and swords dropped from their hands at opposite sides. 

The breath completely left his body but the impact had nothing to do with it.

Eddie was below him, chest heaving, curls splayed in the hay around him like a dark halo, plump pink lips parted in surprise, his face flushed and wide endless brown eyes staring up at him.

Steve lifted his hand and for a moment, it was only the two of them in the whole world.

He brushed a lock of hair from Eddie’s face, letting his fingers linger there for a second too long.

Eddie’s breath softly caught in his chest and his eyes fluttered for a moment before they snapped open wide again in shock.

With a forceful shove to his shoulder, Steve was pushed to the side, rolling onto his back in the hay while Eddie stumbled to his feet, his back to him.

“Give the Outsider a lump of iron for a prize, Your Highness!” One of the Stoirmeach guards shouted to him, his companions laughing with him. “He’ll worship you for it!”

Steve, flat on his bum on the ground, looked from the guard up to Eddie.

He still had his back to him, but his shoulders were rigid and his fists were clenched at his side.

Eddie rolled his head along his shoulders, almost as if it had detached from his head.

Before Steve could even open his mouth, Eddie was stomping his way over to the guards, a manic smile on his face.

“Oh, are you going to pay me for my services? Drop me iron filings again because you’re so easily led by stories?” He almost crowed, the guards apparently taken by surprise at the vitriol being spat back at them and not being brushed off.

Steve stood, dusting himself off from the sand and hay.

He needed to get over there and try to diffuse the situation, get everyone calmed down before Eddie got the daylights punched out of him or thrown down in the dungeons… again?

But he had only taken a step in Eddie’s direction when the Stoirmeach guard scattered, one of them spitting in Eddie’s direction while the others cursed him as a dirty fucking tree dweller.

Eddie himself shouted back “Twats!” before storming away without a backwards glance.

Steve had just made it to the fence and wanted to call to him, but he knew that would probably cause more of a scene than had already been made.

He sighed and sagged against the post.

When he lifted his eyes, his gaze met Robin’s and he gave her the most pitiful puppy dog look he could muster up.

“I need to talk to you.”

After a thorough examination of the library around them, making sure they were alone and wouldn’t be overheard, both Steve and Robin slunk back to the desk at the far corner that Steve had noticed, sitting down at the table there.

Now that he was actually sitting here, Steve was definitely going to come back and use this area to get all of his paperwork complete.

It was quiet, it was backed up against the wall, in a corner and hidden. 

He would be mostly unnoticed but would be able to see anyone approaching and could peek out through some of the stacks.

To be honest he was very surprised that Stoirmeach, a kingdom that seemed to live under severe circumstances and ways of life, had such an extensive library.

“Chrissy’s grandfather was an avid reader.” Robin said, running her fingers along one of the shelves. “This library was his passion project.”

Steve looked up at her from his position behind the table as she kept her back to him, eyes apparently fixed on the books in front of her.

“Speaking of Chrissy-”

Robin leaned forward, resting her head against the shelves in front of her.

“Nothing happened. I wouldn’t betray you like that.”

Okay, so she already knew that he knew.

She probably knew he saw it the second she herself had seen it, but betrayal?

Steve stood from his position at the table and moved until he was next to Robin, mirroring her position, placing his head against the shelves too and turning to look at her.

“You could never betray me. Following your heart wouldn’t be betrayal.”

Robin’s head tilted to the side, her eyes meeting his.

“She’s about to become your wife? Your future Queen? It’s like… wrong?”

“Do you think I have any romantic feelings for Chrissy?”

“No, but-”

“I think she and I will be great friends and I want to see her happy. I want to see you happy. And if being with her as her bedmate -” he jabbed her in the side with a little grin, “-makes you happy then I’m happy.”

Robin scowled at him when he poked her but her face melted back into worry soon after. 

“But I’m untitled.”

“And?”

“I’m beneath her. I can’t drag her down.”

“Robin.” Steve stood up straight and grasped her by the shoulder, turning her to face him. “You are beneath no one.”

“So you’re telling me you don’t have any reservations about this?”

“No, of course I have reservations. What if it ends badly between you two and I have my two girls unable to look at each other while I’m sitting on my throne trying to deal with it. Of course I have reservations, I have all the standard reservations. But this is not my choice. I do not get to dictate whatever you and Chrissy want to do, no matter what her mother thinks.”

“Ironic really, considering she seems to be the one in charge in her own marriage.”

“I know, right? She goes on about how Chrissy needs to be a demure woman but she’s perfectly happy being in charge. Why can’t her daughter have the same?” Steve shook his head, running his hands up and down Robin’s arms. “But seriously, I want to see you happy. If being with Chrissy makes you happy then go for it.”

“What about you?”

He blinked at her, confused. “What about me?”

“What about the way you were looking at Eddie when you were swordfighting?” 

The way she said the word swordfighting suggested she wasn’t just talking about their sparring match. 

Steve pursed his lips, weighing the pros and cons of whether to admit everything.

But he could never keep it from Robin, she already knew. She always knew.

“I like him, I guess.”

“You guess? ” Robin snarked back. “Evie, you’re halfway in love with him already.”

“That is not true.”

Robin scoffed.

“It’s not!”

Steve pouted.

He was lying. They both knew he was lying.

Robin levelled him with a critical eye. 

“Okay, maybe it’s a little more than like but it’s not as if I can do anything about-”

“Why not?” Robin asked. “You’re encouraging me to go for Chrissy, why can’t I encourage you to go for Eddie?”

“Because the situation is different. There’s… like… a power imbalance. I’m about to take him and his best friend back to my home, to a foreign country and house them and feed them and marry said best friend. You had reservations because you’re not titled. Well I am not only titled, I am a crown prince. I don’t want him to feel like he’s obligated or has no choice. I don’t want him to feel like he has to in order to keep Chrissy safe.”

“Steve, we both know you’d never hold something like that over Chrissy’s head.”

“Yes, but he doesn’t. And why should he believe me or you if we were to tell him so?”

“So what, then? You’re just going to stare at him longingly from across the great hall at home?”

Steve shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I think I could be happy just to have him near, you know?”

Robin sighed, patting him on the shoulder.

“You’re your own worst enemy, Prince Steven.”

Steve shoved her.

Now that Steve had found Robin and she was no longer hiding from him, or hiding her affections for Chrissy when it was just the three of them around, that hiding seemed to have translated to Eddie.

Steve hadn’t seen him since that swordfight a few days ago and knew instinctively that he was being avoided.

While he was happy that Eddie had deemed Robin (and Steve, to an extent) safe enough to be around his best friend without his supervision, that meant that he had all but disappeared from their line of sight.

It took a few days for Steve to build the confidence to bring it up to Chrissy but when he did, looking at the complicated expressions that came over her face, he knew that she was at war with herself.

If he had to guess, Eddie had asked her not to give him away, but she also seemed to think that telling Steve where Eddie was hiding out was the best thing for him.

Eventually, with Robin pressed close to her shoulder, seeming to give her the confidence she needed to hold her head up high, she told Steve with a slight tilt to her head that he might enjoy a walk by the north walls of the kingdom today.

So Steve took a walk by the north walls.

There were a few trees there, a few plants, a few flowers. 

Maybe Eddie felt a little more at home here.

He was proven correct where there was a dark spot amongst the green, curled up against the trunk of a large willow tree, comfortable and at ease.

His knees were up, a book balancing against them and Eddie looked completely absorbed, a loose tendril of hair being slowly wound and unwound around his finger.

Steve tried to approach gently, not wanting to startle him but Eddie heard him regardless, his eyes snapping up.

Steve shuffled a little in place, feeling a little awkward and eventually settled on, “Mind if I sit with you?”

He gestured to the ground around Eddie, still under the willow branches and a little across from him.

Eddie just shrugged in response, waving his hand in front of him as if to say ‘go ahead’, pretending to turn back to his book, but his eyes didn’t move across the page.

The silence settled around them, awkward and heavy.

Steve didn’t really know where to start off a conversation and Eddie seemed content to just ignore him or at least pretend to.

The wind brushed gently against the leaves and the grass, bringing along the smell of sea air to go with it and Steve looked down at his lap, absentmindedly running his hand through the grass at the side.

He was starting to wonder if he needed to make some kind of escape when his attention was swiftly diverted.

His hand brushed over a plant behind him and a sharp sting cut into his fingers. He yanked his hand back to the front with a hiss and looked down. 

He wasn’t cut, or poked, but the stinging was still there, the side of his hand going red and small white bumps slowly starting to rise up where he’d made contact.

“You okay?” Eddie asked, putting his book to the side.

“Yeah, I…” Steve shook his hand out, trying to alleviate the sharp pain that was starting to turn into more of a burn now, shuffling away from the stinging spot behind him, “I’m fine, I think I just touched something.”

Eddie got to his feet, peering around Steve to get a look at whatever had stung him.

“Nettles.” He said, continuing to cast his eyes around, looking for something else. “Stay there.” 

Without explanation, Eddie walked away, a little further into the trees while Steve pouted a little to himself, cradling his burning hand to his chest.

It felt hot to the touch and overly sensitive.

“Give me your hand.” 

Steve looked up to find Eddie crouched in front of him, with a large leaf folded in his hands, rubbing it against itself.

He held his hand out a little gingerly and nearly sighed in relief when Eddie’s touch was gentle and careful.

The second their skin touched, Steve felt it throughout his whole body, like a zap of lightning.

Eddie kept his eyes down, paying attention to Steve’s hand and the leaf he had rubbed together, gently placing it over the injured part of Steve’s hand and holding it down.

The leaf was cold and while the sensation immediately had him tensing, it slowly mellowed out into something easier.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a dock leaf. They tend to grow near nettles.”

“And it’s gonna help?”

“Well I’m not doing this just for the fun of it, you know?” Eddie smiled, looking up at him.

They were so close. 

Steve would only need to lean in a little more and he could…

Eddie swallowed and snapped his eyes back down.

“I’ll collect you a few more. It should help keep the irritation at bay until your body starts to heal it itself.”

Steve just nodded, looking down at Eddie’s long fingers wrapped around his own and he wondered if it would sound too crazy to ask him to keep them there forever.

Instead he went with; “You seem to know your way around plants.”

Eddie nodded. “I like plants, I like nature.”

“Feels like home?” He hedged.

“Yeah.” Eddie grinned up at him again, his eyes barely meeting his before dropping back down to his lips.

They lingered there for a moment, before Eddie abruptly let go of Steve’s hand and sat himself back down on his bum, a little closer than he had been sitting before but still further away than just a few seconds ago.

“Keep the pressure on and you should be okay.”

“Thanks.” Steve answered quietly, hating the idea that the silence was probably going to settle down around them again. 

“Can I ask you a question?”

Eddie lay down, flat on his back, shifting a little to get comfortable and tucked his hands up behind his head. “Not like I can really stop you, Stevie.”

Steve kept his eyes on the ground, knowing that if he looked up at Eddie’s stretched out figure, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

“What’s with all the iron comments?”

Eddie snorted, but there was very little humour behind it.

“Just some bullshit story about my people some explorer came back with a few generations ago.”

“Oh?”

“Apparently the first soldiers who discovered my people sold us a hunk of iron in exchange for our most valuable plants. And we were so uneducated and naive and uncultured that we were amazed and now we worship that lump of iron like some kind of god because wow, ” Eddie widened his eyes for emphasis, “it’s so amazing, a useless hunk of metal.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah, sounds fucking ridiculous, right? Because it is. It’s all nonsense. They didn’t trade shit. They stole our Nightbloom, but they didn’t know how to maintain it so it died pretty quickly.” Eddie shrugged again. “We’ve been pretty closed off since that happened.”

Steve hummed, finally giving into the temptation to look at the long line of Eddie’s body spread out in front of him. He was stretched and extended by his current position, his leathers being pulled tight over his stomach and thighs, his flyaway curls gently fluttering around his face in the breeze. 

He was beautiful.

“So what brought you here?”

“Make no mistake, Stevie, I am not here by choice. I have dear old dad to thank for my lot in life. Fucker had the whole family excommunicated. Uncle Wayne is the only reason I’m not six feet under right now.”

Steve tilted his head, his brow furrowed. “So where is he?”

“He’s here too. He was able to work his way up in the army here and he’s good at what he does so they want to keep him around. He’s the only reason I haven’t been thrown into the ocean yet.” Eddie said with a little shudder.

“I thought Chrissy was the one keeping you here?”

“She is. But she’s not the only one. They don’t like to mention a military man has made demands and had them met, otherwise the others might think they can do the same.” Eddie’s mouth pulled down in a frown. “He should have been made a knight by now, after everything he has done for this place but apparently money speaks louder than actions.”

Steve would have asked who’s money it was, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that and he didn’t want to mention what was clearly a sore topic with Eddie or sour the mood by bringing Billy up, so he moved back to a topic he thought might be more well received.

“Is Wayne coming with us back to Torthúil?”

Eddie’s head turned, looking up at him almost surprised, mouth opening and closing around words that didn’t seem to want to come. 

“He… We didn’t think you’d want an enemy soldier in your home.”

Steve looked down at him, straight into Eddie’s eyes. 

“Do you think he would be my enemy?”

Eddie watched him for a moment before shaking his head and replying with earnestness in his voice. “No. If he thinks Torthúil is a better place for me than here and he has the opportunity to go, he’ll grab it with both hands.”

“Well then,” Steve grinned, pain in his hand almost forgotten from just the conversation and being in Eddie’s presence, “you’ll have to bring him with you. I’d be happy to meet him.”

Chapter Text

The tours around the kingdom continued, though thankfully not by Billy this time, even if he tried his luck.

But that didn’t mean they were entirely pleasant affairs. More often than not, the queen insisted on joining them, quite clearly hinting that she didn’t think Chrissy would effectively be able to show off all of the joys of their home country.

Which meant that whenever Steve was taken out into the city below, it was done in a litter, closed off from the citizens and with guards surrounding them, scaring the people into moving out of their way with glaring eyes and hands firmly on their swords.

The market stalls were no better. Steve was being treated to the finest seafood and wares the people had traded for, but they all seemed terrified of him and even more terrified of the queen.

A single frown from her in their direction had them apologising profusely and almost begging her for the opportunity to make it right.

Even if it was something as small as an imperfectly presented platter of food.

More than once Steve had tried to jump in and assure them that everything was okay, but Chrissy’s hand on his arm and the small shake of her head was enough to keep his mouth shut and not rock the boat despite everything screaming at him to do just that.

He suspected that it was more for his sake than for hers. As the days went on the queen’s smile seemed to slowly become more and more strained around Steve.

He got the distinct impression her dissatisfaction with him and how gentle he seemed to be in all things was wearing away at any previous politeness she might have had. 

Robin and Eddie were with them almost always, not carried in their litters but following along behind on foot.

Steve would be more uncomfortable with it if they both hadn’t seemed to take the opportunity to bend their heads close together and conspire with each other.

Or gossip.

Steve wasn’t entirely sure what they would talk about, but he could take a guess based on the frequent glances in his and Chrissy’s direction.

No doubt Eddie had heard of the shared affections between Robin and his best friend and he seemed to be just as supportive as Steve had been.

If he were in Eddie’s position, he would have been talking up his best friend as much as he could, as it was he didn’t actually get too much of a chance to do so.

He and Chrissy were far more heavily watched than their two advisors and even when they did have a moment alone, all Chrissy seemed to want to do was talk about Eddie.

His passions, his tastes, his musical ability, how well read he was, how kind his heart was.

If Steve didn’t know any better he’d think that Chrissy was trying to talk Eddie up to him in the same way he had thought about doing for Robin.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate Chrissy’s efforts, but they were essentially unnecessary.

Steve had fully admitted to himself that it was more than just friendly affection or a simple infatuation and attraction he had for Eddie.

His heart was full every time he looked at him, every time Eddie smiled at him or blinked those big eyes at him, Steve was enchanted.

He was funny, he was catty, he was rude and unrestrained and energetic. He was captivating.

And Steve was drawn to it, like a moth to the flame.

It didn’t hurt that Eddie also seemed to at the very least find him attractive as well, as much as that pulled his plush and lovely mouth down into a frown sometimes.

He seemed conflicted. Almost mad at himself for developing an attraction but he was also slowly becoming less and less ashamed of himself.

Steve had caught him watching his ass a number of times. Or his hands. Or his mouth.

Not that he could really say he hadn’t been doing the exact same thing.

But he understood he was putting Eddie in a bit of an awkward position, having to approach a crowned prince for a chance at romance. But if anything was to progress… it was the best way for things to start.

If Steve approached him… he worried Eddie would feel trapped. 

Like he had to comply for Chrissy’s safety and Steve would never want to put him in that position.

He wanted to pout about it and kick rocks, making them skitter along the cobblestones streets as he was brought down to the docks, but again, he was confined to this ridiculous litter.

He was to be presented with Stoirmeach’s extensive collection of warships, the naval force that was the primary draw for marrying into this kingdom and it wasn’t like he didn’t want to know about something that could aid his people if it came down to it, but he would have appreciated maybe a moment to himself.

Something he felt like he hadn’t gotten in days and days.

Steve sighed to himself as his litter came to a stop and there was a knock on the door, telling him they had arrived. He’d request a few days off once they got back, just time enough to catch his breath and center himself.

They were well into their second week here at this stage and he felt like he hadn’t stopped moving even once.

And it appeared that that was not due to change any time soon. 

The local carpenters and tradesmen were already beginning to construct the arena for a day full of jousting and feasting and revelry that was soon coming.

The celebration would take place a day or two before they were all due to leave to head back to Torthúil in under two weeks, to give everyone a chance to recover from the merriment and Steve thought that those two weeks couldn’t pass quick enough.

He was looking forward to the jousting though.

There had been several raised eyebrows when he had expressed his eagerness to compete, but he got his way.

It had been too long since he sat astride a horse.

Steve stepped out of his litter and stared up at the intimidatingly huge ships in front of him, creaking and swaying with the waves, sails fluttering, the smell of fish and salt in the air.

He expected Chrissy to appear at his side, same as she had done on every other tour, taking his arm and smiling demurely, if not a little strained whenever her mother was around but always genuine when she looked at him.

Instead his arm remained empty and when he looked across at the other litter he found Chrissy leaning close to Eddie’s side, muttering to him. 

Eddie himself barely seemed to be able to hear her, his wide eyes fixed on the gargantuan ship above as though he expected it to topple over on top of them.

Chrissy moved slightly and as Steve approached he could see Eddie’s hand white knuckling her long sleeve, hidden between their two bodies.

Robin was by his side as they stepped lightly towards them, coming into their line of sight before they were on top of them so as not to frighten Eddie who was clearly very spooked.

“Steve, do you mind if I stay by Eddie’s side for this tour?”

Steve looked over at him, Eddie still had his hand fisted in Chrissy’s sleeve and his face was a few shades greener than Steve was used to seeing it, eyes no longer fixed on the ship but instead now fixed on the water, only a few feet away.

Steve wanted to reach out and brush a hand over his cheek, press his palm into his back, curl him into his side.

Instead he had to content himself with asking, “Are you feeling okay?”

“Fine.” Eddie muttered through gritted teeth. “Let’s just get this over with.”

He seemed to be one loud noise away from turning and running.

And based on the amused looks the Stoirmeach guard were sending their way, that would just make things worse for him in the end.

Steve nodded at Chrissy, sending her a small smile when she let out a sigh of relief and prised Eddie’s fingers from her sleeve, instead curling his hand around her elbow.

Steve fell back in line with Robin as the ship's Captain came down the gangway to greet them, keeping one eye on Eddie as the Captain bowed to him and began explaining their military tactics, leading them with a sweeping arm back up the ship.

As they were led around the deck and shown the various provisions, equipment and weapons on board, Steve noticed that Chrissy always oriented herself so she was on the outside, closest to the water, keeping Eddie further into the deck.

As the tour went on, Eddie went nearly white as a sheet when they were led below decks to inspect the canons and he didn’t much improve as they went topside again.

He looked like he was about to pass out.

He kept rhythmically swallowing and there was the slightest tremble to his hand not curled around Chrissy’s elbow, fear and apprehension painted plain all over his expressive face.

Was he seasick? Did he not like ships?

There was the sound of sniggering behind him and Steve heard “oops” before a Stoirmeach soldier pantomimed slipping on the deck, throwing his hand out and shoving Eddie towards the edge.

His hand slipped from Chrissy’s elbow and he flew back, white hot panic burning bright in his eyes.

The railing was quite high and so the chances of Eddie going overboard were relatively slim but Steve had moved before he’d even registered it. Even if he had allowed himself to think about it, he wouldn’t have wanted to take that chance anyway.

He lunged forward, catching Eddie tight around the waist and pulling him in close and safe to his side before either of them had a chance to hit wood.

Eddie clung to him like a drowning man, like he was trying to stay afloat, no matter how much it might damage his pride later, almost unable to hold his own weight up with the shock. He was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind, all colour gone from his face and on the verge of passing out completely.

Steve kept him upright, kept him tucked in tight and turned his head to glare at the soldier, promising a world of pain with his gaze alone as the soldier seemed taken aback for a moment at the level of hate that was sent towards him before quickly averting his eyes and mumbling out that he had slipped.

Steve gave Eddie a little squeeze, quiet and unseen, just a small dose of encouragement, though he wanted to do much more before he gently tilted Eddie into Chrissy again, never once taking his eyes off that soldier.

Once Eddie was safely passed over, clutching tight onto Chrissy in the same way, Steve turned his whole body, taking a step to the side to block them from sight.

“What is your name?”

The soldier in front of him opened and closed his mouth silently. 

The entire ship was dead quiet apart from the sounds of Eddie’s shaky breathing behind him, even the wind and sails had ceased to blow.

“An-Andy Johnson, Your Highness.”

“Well, Andy Johnson, I suggest you watch your footing better in future.” He practically growled. “Wouldn’t want any unfortunate accidents to befall you.”

Andy blanched, nervously swallowing before giving Steve an apprehensive bow, like he was scared to take his eyes off of him.

“I think we’ll conclude this tour for today.” Steve said, turning his charming smile back on the Captain who was also glaring at the soldier, most likely for ruining his chance to brag to a visiting prince. “Perhaps we can continue another time?”

“Very well, Your Highness.” The Captain bowed to him, leading them back down the gangway and towards their litters.

“I hope you won’t let the action of one rogue soldier colour your whole experience here.”

One rogue soldier? Steve thought. All of the soldiers seem to thrive off of cruelty.

Steve shot back a strained smile and nodded, waiting until Chrissy and Eddie were bundled away before he stepped back inside his own litter.

He  was able to last barely a half an hour before temptation won.

He was standing in front of Eddie’s bedroom door with his fist raised to knock, but he halted at the last second, biting at his lip.

Eddie probably didn’t want to see anyone right now, he had been so shaken up, on the verge of fainting.

Both he and Chrissy had disappeared before Steve’s litter even stopped in front of the castle doors.

But Steve was so worried .

He couldn’t get the look on Eddie’s face out of his head. The raw panic and fear in his expression as he went careening towards the edge of the ship and towards the water.

Steve had never seen Eddie as vulnerable as he just had and on top of it, being practically assaulted by that guard filled Steve with so much anger on top of an almost terrifying wave of protectiveness.

“I can hear you shuffling around outside.” Eddie’s muffled voice came from behind the door. “Just say what you came here to say and fuck off, I’m not in the moo-“

The door swung open and Eddie blinked at Steve in surprise and blinked at his hand, still raised ready to knock.

“Stevie?” Eddie baulked, clearly not who he had been expecting to be standing behind his door. “What are you doing here?”

He had the colour back in his cheeks and his eyes were bright and alive again. His outer leathers and boots had been shed, leaving him in just a soft billowing dark undershirt and his leather pants. He still wore his jewellery and he had taken the braids out of his hair. He was dressed for comfort and he looked so soft.

It felt almost indecent to see him in such a state. 

“I…” Steve swallowed, finally lowering his hand. “I just wanted to check on you. See if you were okay after… everything.”

“Oh, a personal visit from royalty?” Eddie smirked, raising his eyebrows, completely comfortable in his state of undress. “Why not save yourself the trouble and send your advisor instead?”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m not here, officially. This isn’t like… a political visit.” His eyes drifted downward, unfortunately settling on the curves and creases along Eddie’s undershirt, hiding what Steve knew to be a trim waist inside bunches of fabric. “I was just worried about you.”

“Well, aren't you very sweet?”

The corner of Steve’s mouth tilted up a little and he halfheartedly shrugged one shoulder.

He’d done it, he’d confirmed Eddie was okay. Eddie was fine.

So why was he still hovering?

“I suppose the polite thing to do would be to invite you inside,” Eddie said, tilting himself out of the way, “though I don’t think I have anything particularly royal to offer you by way of food or drinks.”

“I don’t mind.” Steve said, stepping into Eddie’s room, completely ignoring any part of his brain telling him this was a bad idea or just outright unseemly.

He was met with an explosion of green. Fluffy or shiny or cascading plants hanging from the ceiling or sitting on shelves or dotted around the floor and nearly every surface. There was a roaring fire against one wall, giving the room a warm orange glow against the approaching evening darkness.

It smelled like Steve had walked into a forest, the green scent of leaves and dirt and wood surrounded him but underneath it all, there was that familiar spicy, warm smell that always followed Eddie around.

Steve was left shuffling as he closed the heavy wooden door behind him. “So… how are you?” He asked while Eddie padded back over to his bed, perching on the edge and crossing his legs underneath him.

“I’m fine.” Eddie shrugged.  “It’s nothing I’m not used to anyway.”

Steve frowned.

“You know every time you say something like that it breaks my fucking heart.”

Eddie’s face slackened in surprise before he hid it, closing himself off again.

“Then I’ll try to stop saying it to you from now on.”

“No.” Steve took a step forward. “No that’s not what I mean I just… I don’t like the shit you have to deal with. It’s obscene.”

Eddie scoffed. “I’ve been dealing with it all my life, it’s no skin off my back, Stevie. I’m the weird Outsider freak. I mean, are you honestly going to tell me things will be much different back in your own kingdom?”

“Yes.” He answered with as much conviction as he could.

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Of course you’d say that. Maybe it won’t happen in front of you, but it’s the same wherever I go.”

“It is not the same back in Torthúil. No one will treat you that way.”

“Because I’ll be part of the future queen’s household,” Eddie waved his hand, “yeah, yeah.”

“Eddie.” Steve stepped forward again and caught the waving hand in his own. “People won’t treat you like dirt back home. We’re not like that. And if anyone does-“

“They’ll have you to answer to?” Eddie snarked, disbelieving, eyes focused in on their clasped hands.

“No. They’ll have Dustin to answer to.”

Eddie tore his eyes away from their hands to look up at him from his still seated position. “Who’s Dustin?”

“He’s a little shit is who he is.” Steve’s eyes were still down on their hands and he couldn’t bring himself to break the touch. “The son of the Mistress of the Royal Kitchens and very, very self assured about what he feels is right. He didn’t stand for people initially having reservations about Will and El when they first came into the household and he won’t stand for any kind of hate towards you.” He brushed his fingers over Eddie’s rings, giving one a gentle turn around before he started inching his touch down Eddie’s thumb.

He hadn’t allowed himself to think of the kids much while he was here, he knew it would just send a stabbing pain of longing through his heart but he allowed himself to feel it now. 

“Before I came here, the kid gave me a run down of what he had read about your people, about your Nightbloom flower,” Steve's fingers caressed the edge of a green leaf inked into that thumb, “and your markings. He’s fascinated by them. You’re probably going to be bombarded with questions as soon as you arrive.”

Eddie was watching the path Steve’s fingers were making with attentive eyes, but he too didn’t pull away.

“How old is this kid?” He asked, his voice low and soft, like he didn’t want to disturb the moment, the quiet between them only punctuated by the crackling of the fire and the gentle whistling of the wind outside the now dark window. 

“About Max’s age.” Steve muttered back. “Thirteen or so.”

Steve continued to press his fingers along Eddie’s thumb, slowly following the vine down and into the loose cuff of his sleeve, brushing a light touch against Eddie’s pulse point, wondering just how it would taste if he was to press a kiss to that pulse-

It was the tiny little inhale of breath coming from Eddie’s plush lips that snapped Steve back to himself and he dropped Eddie’s hand like he’d been burned, stumbling back a step.

“I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what… I’m sorry.”

Eddie’s hand dropped back to his lap, his fist slowly tensing and releasing like he was trying to get the feeling back but a small little hopeful part of Steve thought that maybe it was to help keep the feeling of Steve’s fingers on his skin.

Eddie cleared his throat. “Well, you gotta let little Dustin know that I won’t be selling out the Nightbloom secrets just so it can be commercialised and added to your Rainbow Sea. That flower, it’s important to my people and I won’t have it turned into another trading opportunity that will only benefit your kingdom, with no love or care taken for its cultivation.”

Steve tilted his head to the side.

“So you do know how to grow it?”

Eddie’s shoulders tensed and his mouth pulled down into a frown. He uncrossed his legs, allowing them to come down and hang over the edge of his bed, like he was positioning himself in case he needed to fight.

Steve held his hands up. “Listen, you don’t have to tell the kid anything you don’t want to-“

“You’re telling me that you yourself don’t want a rare flower in your collection?”

Steve had an almost wild thought of blurting out that he would love to have a rare dark flower in his collection, but he wasn’t talking about the Nightbloom. 

He almost shook his head at the ridiculousness of it. 

What was this? 

Some epic romantic legend? 

“If you don’t want us to know how to grow your culture's valued flower, then you don’t have to tell us. Dustin and El might pester you a little but you’re not required to tell them anything you don’t want to.”

Eddie still had a distrustful frown on his face but his body relaxed a little more, leaning back on his hands and knees falling open a little more.

The movement pulled the leather pants tight, the fabric straining against his thighs and his crotch, almost highlighting them and Steve was a weak man, completely powerless to resist the draw.

“Does His Highness see something he wants?”

Steve snapped his eyes back up, face flushing with the realisation he’d been caught staring.

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, an apology .” Eddie pouted, a little mean, spreading his legs a little further. “Come on, Highness. We both know you’re going to have me at your beck and call once you get me back to your kingdom. Are you going to tell me now that you’re not going to take advantage of that?”

Steve opened and closed his mouth in shock, trying to speak but there wasn’t anything coming out. 

Something sour was twisting in his gut. 

He hated what Eddie was insinuating. He hated it.

“No.” He vehemently shook his head. “Never. Not like that.”

“No?” Eddie pushed himself to his feet and stalked towards him.

He grabbed Steve by the hips and walked them back until Steve hit the bedroom door. He leaned in close, pressing his nose into the delicate skin of Steve’s neck.

“I could provide such good service.” He rumbled. 

“Eddie what-” Steve brought his hands up, placing them on Eddie’s shoulders. “What the hell has come over you?”

He was reeling. 

The shift in Eddie’s behaviour had come so fast and so sudden he didn’t know what to do with it and it made him feel almost lecherous the way his heart was hammering out of his chest, having Eddie pressed up tight against him, chest to chest.

“I see how you look at me,” Eddie whispered to him, breath tickling his ear. “I just want to know what is to be expected of me once we leave here.” He slowly nosed his way back down over Steve’s jaw. “You want to fuck me, is that it?”

Eddie ducked his head and Steve’s body betrayed himself, letting out a shaky exhale at the feeling of lips against his neck.

“Or does His Highness want to get fucked?”

What on earth was happening? Steve’s brain was whirring, attempting to maintain control and not be lost to the haze of lust that was overcoming him despite how wrong everything felt.

He prefers to freak people out. Says you can see who people really are when you’ve taken them by surprise. With all of the politeness and etiquette stripped away, there’s only them left.

Steve, hands still on Eddie’s shoulders, pushed him back, keeping him at arm's length.

“Stop.”

Eddie’s eyebrows were pinched, not in confusion or hurt, but in irritation almost. His cheeks were bright and his breath was ragged, his shoulders were tense.

Steve’s gaze darted between Eddie’s trying to find a reason for what had just happened.

When he found nothing but guarded emotions, his shoulders slumped and a heavy sigh escaped his mouth.

“Do you…” he shook his head, taking a bolstering inhale. “Do you actually want something like this or are you just testing me?”

Steve was pretty sure he knew what the answer was, probably a little bit of yes to both, but at this stage he was at a loss of how to assure Eddie of his safety that didn’t sound performative or an empty promise anymore. 

He didn’t know how to help Eddie trust him.

Eddie seemed determined to doubt him and while Steve understood why, it didn’t mean he wasn’t still hurt by it.

“What would you do if I said I didn’t want this?” Eddie snapped back, crossing his arms, but staying within Steve’s grip. “That I was just testing you?”

“Then…” Steve dropped his hands from Eddie’s shoulders in defeat.  “I’m sorry to have put you in such an awkward position.”

“And I’m not going to end up in your dungeons or-“

“No!” Steve nearly cried out. “Gods, Eddie!” He side-stepped to get some more space between them, retreating further into the bedroom and away from the intoxicating smell of Eddie. “Listen, I understand you’ve been through the shit and you’ve dealt with assholes for your entire life but when have I ever shown you that I am one of them? Do you really think I’d lock you up in our dungeons if you rejected my advances or that I’d chain you to my bed and make you comply? Have I given you such a disgusting impression? Do you really think so lowly of me?”

Eddie’s face had gone slack with shock at Steve’s outburst but now he seemed to be ready to match Steve’s level, turning and pointing at him. 

“I don’t know what to think about you! You confuse the shit out of me! You haven’t been able to take your eyes off me since we first met and even after you encouraged your best friend to pursue your future wife, you still didn't try to get me into your bed? It doesn’t make any sense! People in your position always try to take what they want regardless of what anyone else says.”

“When have I ever done that?!” Steve almost growled in frustration. “Yes, I like you, I’m attracted to you. Yes , I’d love to bed you but I didn’t want you to feel pressured! The idea that you might have felt like you had to reciprocate to keep yourself or Chrissy safe fucking terrifies me. Nothing scares me more than the idea we might have started something, only for me to find out at some point in the future you never felt that way? That the person I was with never really wanted it, never really cared for me the same way? It scares the shit out of me, Eddie. I am past the point in my life when I just want someone in my bed and that’s it.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I don’t want someone who’ll bend over for me whenever I ask them to, I want something reciprocal. Equitable. I want someone who isn’t scared to tell me ‘no’ when they want to, or tell me when I’m making a stupid decision or argue with me if I’m being unreasonable. I want a relationship , not just a bedwarmer!”

Eddie was looking at the ground, his face unreadable, arms crossed and mouth in a tight line.

“Is that what you want from me?”

“Yes. But not if it is something that you do not want too.”

Steve released his hand from his heart, bringing it up to run through his hair, the fire crackling merrily beside him and the wind whining outside.

“Listen… I… I’m gonna just go, okay? I’m sorry about what happened to you today and I hope you’re feeling better, and I’m sorry for any… confusion I’ve caused.”

He straightened out his doublet, smoothing his hands down the front and rolled his shoulders back. 

Eddie still had not moved from his position, he hadn’t looked up, he was still staring at the floor and continued to stare down as Steve stepped back around him.

He had a hand on the door handle and had only managed to pull it open an inch or two before it was slammed closed again, a ringed and inked hand flat on the wood next to Steve’s head.

When Steve let go of the door handle, slowly, Eddie too lowered his hand and took a small step back.

He didn’t turn around, didn’t glance back to look at him, just waited for an explanation, an answer, something.

“I…” Eddie started, then stopped. “There… it’s happened before.”

Steve finally turned, leaning his body back up against the door.

“What’s happened before?”

“People have… made demands of me.” Eddie was staring now at the wood just over Steve’s shoulder, his arms crossed again, a hand clasped at each elbow. “They thought I’d cower or simper or give in and I never did. So I learned… to keep my guard up and be careful, so… I just had to be sure.”

Steve felt his own mouth pull down into a frown now.

“Who?”

He was pretty sure he knew exactly who and he’d rip the blonde curls from his head if it was the last thing-

“Doesn’t matter.” Eddie finally looked up at him and shrugged. “I’ll be out of here soon enough, right?”

Steve’s frown didn’t budge. “Right.”

“So you…” Eddie’s eyes were exploring his own, much the same as they had many times before. “You want… a relationship with me.”

Steve closed his eyes and tipped his head back, feeling it thunk against the door.

“Yes. But not-”

“Not if I don’t want it too.”

“Yeah.”

“I do.” Eddie said. “Want it too. If I could have it.”

Steve opened his eyes and tilted his head back down, to find Eddie standing much closer than he had been before.

There was something that felt terribly like hope blooming in his chest.

“Can I…” Eddie chewed on his lip for a moment, before finally setting it free. “Can I kiss you?”

Steve studied Eddie’s face, waiting for any kind of hesitation or regret, and kind of uncertainty but he didn’t find any.

“Okay.”

Eddie stepped forward slowly, gently taking Steve’s face in between his hands and leaned in.

His lips were warm and plump and soft, just like Steve knew they would be, they pressed against his own like they belonged there. 

They fit. 

Steve’s hands had a mind of their own, worming around Eddie’s waist, pulling him tight, flush against his chest, leaning both of their weights back against the wood of the door.

It didn’t take long for the swipe of a tongue and a soft almost whimpering exhale to sound in Steve’s throat, but he stayed where he was. Despite his want to shove Eddie back on his bed and ravish him until he was a trembling mess, he didn’t allow himself that luxury. He wanted Eddie to be assured of his safety, so Steve wouldn’t do anything unless Eddie wanted it.

But apparently Eddie did want it.

He pulled Steve away from the door and turned them, mouths still attached until he pushed and Steve went crashing down onto the mattress.

He wasn’t alone for long because a second later, Eddie scrambled onto his lap and laid his body flat against him, sealing their mouths back together like he was a starving man.

It was only when his attention moved onto Steve’s jaw and neck that Steve was above to uncloud his mind enough to speak.

“How far-“ Steve huffed out, getting cut off when a set of teeth latched onto his throat. “How far?”

“Whatever you’ll give me. I’ll take it.” Eddie muttered against his skin.

Steve chuckled a little.

“You’ll take it, will you?” He punctuated his words with a little roll upwards of his hips, both in an attempt to drive Eddie a little wilder, which worked, and to feed the animalistic urge in his blood to rut up against him.

He could feel Eddie’s lips stretch into a grin.

“Seems only polite. You’re a guest in my room, after all. It’s fitting I should be a good host. ” He ground his hips down over the last two words. The two of them were hard and panting, their faces flushed and Steve could see the minor bump, bump, bump of Eddie’s pulse in his neck.

“You sure?” Steve breathed out. “You want everything? Because we can-“

“Oh yeah, sweetheart.” Eddie sat upright, putting all of his weight down on Steve’s hard dick. “Give me everything. ” He rolled his hips around, punching the wind straight out of Steve’s chest.

“Alright, shit.” Steve breathed. “Okay. I can do that.”

“But I’m staying up here. I want to see everything .”

“That’s…” Steve exhaled as Eddie started working at the buttons and straps on his doublet. “Good, yeah. Yeah, that’s good.”

He didn’t know how Eddie managed it, but he was being manhandled up into a sitting position before he could even get his mind around what was happening and in the next few seconds he had his doublet and undershirt stripped off.

Eddie was still in his lap but he froze when he finally took in the sight before him, staring down at his chest, his eyes blown black and his mouth hanging open ever so slightly.

“What-“

Steve was shoved back onto the mattress hard and Eddie splayed his fingers out wide, grabbing a fistful of Steve’s chest hair.

“Oh, fuck me.” Eddie muttered.

Steve winced at the sting a little but it was still on the good side of pain.

“Soon.” He smirked back, rolling his hips up and his heart kicked around wildly in his chest as Eddie’s eyes fluttered closed.

“You’re fucking perfect.” Eddie gave his chest hair one last tug and shakily stood back up on his own two legs, hands flying to the strings holding Steve’s pants closed.

Steve sat up, hands snapping to Eddie’s ass still surrounded by leather. He squeezed those little cheeks tighter and pulled him closer.

Eddie’s fingers didn’t halt their movements but he sighed softly as Steve pressed his face to Eddie’s chest, nosing through the thin undershirt material he was still wearing, opening his mouth and laying his wet tongue flat over the raised point of one of Eddie’s nipples.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” Steve muttered, allowing his lips and teeth to drag over the pert and sensitive nub of flesh.

“In a minute.” Eddie breathed, gritting his teeth, trying to keep his focus. His hands were beginning to shake and couldn’t help but grin against his chest, squeezing his fingers tight once more.

He continued to suck and flick at the nipple in his mouth, feeling a spark of pride and arousal course through him whenever Eddie stuttered in his movements.

Steve slowly worked his hands up, slipping his fingers under Eddie’s shirt where it was messily untucked at the back, feeling that soft smooth skin underneath explode in goosebumps at the smallest brush.

“Okay, fine, fine. I’m getting undressed.” Eddie pouted, giving Steve’s shoulder a weak shove, trying to push him away but Steve stayed right where he was, holding on tight.

“I’m rather enjoying myself here.”

“Stevie.” Eddie whined out, almost begging and Steve had to bite down on his nipple at that, he had to, he had no other choice, the sound was just so delicious.

The sound that came out of Eddie’s throat was enough to drive him completely wild.

Steve unlatched his mouth and shot to his feet, pulling Eddie’s undershirt over his head as he did it.

Steve knew that Eddie had ink in his skin, he’d seen small peeks of it over his collar and disappearing under the sleeves on his hand but he had no idea Eddie was as covered in ink as he was.

The green and blue vines dotted with leaves ran up the entirety of his right arm, starting at his hand and  ending at his neck. They extended the whole way down his side as well, skating around his shoulder and across his ribs before disappearing into the waist of his tight leather pants.

Steve held his ravishing off for just a few moments more, trailing over them with a light finger, following their path while Eddie stood and watched him, his breathing ragged.

“Did you do these yourself?”

Eddie just nodded, eyes never leaving Steve’s face.

“They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

The sound of a dry throat swallowing brought Steve’s gaze back up. 

He tilted his head a little questioningly and Eddie glanced away.

“It’s just not… something I hear every day.” He shrugged, trying to pass it off as nonchalant but Steve took his chin with gentle fingers, bringing their eyes back together.

“Then it’s something I’ll have to say to you every day from now on, won’t I?”

Eddie’s face lit up red again, the beautiful blush on his cheeks radiating down his neck and spilling into his chest and he brought his hands up to cover his face, letting out an almost hysterical giggle.

“Fuck.” He muttered, peeking his eyes out in between his fingers. “How are you real?”

Steve didn’t answer him, just pulled his hands away from his face by the wrists and brought him in for a kiss as sweet as honey.

Eddie’s knees went weak and he stumbled a little, Steve catching him fast around the waist again with one arm to hold him up right, while the other started working at the laces of his leather pants. 

“Stevie,” Eddie muttered against his mouth, “Stevie, please. I need-”

“What do you need, my love?” Steve whispered back, slowly peeling Eddie’s pants down his hips.

Eddie’s knees did go out from under him at that, the two of them falling backwards onto the bed in a heap, much the same way they had been only a few moments before.

“I need you. Please, Stevie.”

“You have me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Their kisses became heated again and it didn’t take much longer after that for Steve to hurriedly get his pants only half way down his thighs, kissing down every inch of available skin he could get his mouth on while Eddie stood, trying to kick his way out of his own leathers, fingers digging into Steve’s shoulders for balance.

“Do you have something,” Steve asked, kissing his way back up Eddie’s chest, “to ease my way in?”

“Yeah, it’s-” Eddie tore himself away from Steve’s grip with a great amount of effort and stumbled on shaky legs over to his desk, rummaging around in one of the draws before practically pouncing back onto Steve’s lap, a corked bottle of oil in his hand.

Eddie yanked the cork out of the bottle with his teeth, spitting it somewhere across the room and tipped it over, liberally coating his fingers.

Steve had expected him to reach behind himself, begin to open himself up, but instead, he took Steve’s cock in hand, getting him wet, giving him a few pumps for good measure that zapped through Steve’s body like lightning, his eyes slowly slipping shut at the ecstasy.

The hand on him disappeared and Steve opened his eyes at the sound of a breathy moan, Eddie’s oiled up hand had disappeared behind himself and he was slowly rocking his hips back and forth, hovering up on his knees.

Steve relaxed back flat on the bed, bringing his hands up to rest behind his head and he settled in to watch the vision above him.

Eddie sent him a cheeky little smile, peeking down at him through his bangs and Steve had to try not to flinch as a hand grasped him hard again.

“Are you ready?” Eddie asked, that mischievous grin lighting up his face.

“Are you?” Steve shot back, gripping his hands tight at Eddie’s hips.

Eddie didn’t answer, just placed one hand down flat on Steve’s chest for balance and sank himself down, almost painfully slowly, that pink blush spilling over his chest as his mouth hung open.

When he finally bottomed out, small little breathy whines crawling up his throat as he adjusted, Steve had to use all of his self control to stop himself from grabbing him and fucking him through the stone wall across from them.

Eddie folded himself down, bringing their mouths back together and with a stuttering exhale against Steve’s lips, he began to move.

Time was lost to him, Steve didn’t know how long Eddie bounced on top of him, riding him down into the mattress below. It was like all intelligent thought left his head and all he knew was Eddie on top of him, surrounding him, warm and wet and letting out the most delicious sounds, rolling his hips in such a way that Steve didn’t think he’d ever be able to recover. 

His hair was sticking to his forehead, the heat and smell of the two of them becoming almost overwhelming, that familiar spicy scent cutting through every time Eddie bounced down particularly hard.

When his breath started to come hard and fast and his face was twisting up in pleasure, Steve surged up, crashing their mouths back together, digging his hands into Eddie’s hair and he drove himself upwards, in as deep as he could reach, swallowing down Eddie’s cries with an almost feral hunger as he came untouched in Steve’s lap.

Steve followed not long after, holding Eddie tight to him as he whimpered into his mouth, unwilling to let him go for anything or anyone.

Chapter Text

Crown Prince Steve Harrington was not used to being woken up suddenly.

Generally he was able to wake up on his own or he'd be stirred from his rest by the curtains being slowly drawn open.

What he was less than used to was waking up by being bodily shoved by the arms he had just been nestled in, naked and cosy-warm from a bed that was not his own.

One second he was lost in dreams, comfortably snoozing, cuddled in warmth atop a slow breathing chest and the next he was on the cold, hard stone floor, arm crushed underneath him and a sizable lump beginning to form on the back of his head.

Everything happened so quickly, in almost half a second.

He was in bed, he was on the floor at the side of the bed and then the door was thrown open.

Eddie started shouting and whoever had slammed the door open had begun shouting back, moving inside on heavy boots.

Steve had just managed to shimmy himself underneath the bed, his throat closed up in a panic, thoughts of what would happen to Eddie if he was found racing through his head.

The smell under here was strong.

A strong scent of something warm and woody and spicy and in the darkness, with angry arguments filling his ears, Steve could see small velvety black petaled flowers poking out from the wood structure of Eddie’s bed.

His attention was swiftly drawn away from what had to be the elusive Nightbloom flower when the voice of Andy Johnson cried out, high strung and angry ;

“No fucking Tree Dweller is going to show me up in front of royalty!”

There was a grunt of effort and the next second the bed was drenched, ice cold seawater splashing out onto the floor, seeping down through the mattress and soaking nearly every piece of furniture in the room.

The Nightbloom petals drooped and wilted under the weight and Steve only barely managed to hold in his gasp of shock as the coldness hit him.

“Go beg for your iron, Outsider!” 

There was the tink, tink of small shards of metal falling around them and with a growling yell the bed shifted, Eddie’s legs appearing next to him and chasing what appeared to be two Stoirmeach guards from his room, slamming the door after them.

A latch clicked shut and Eddie spun, despite his nakedness and the iron shavings scattered along the floor, he dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed, his wide and wild eyes appearing along with a inked hand reaching out to him. 

“Stevie, are you okay?” He whispered, flattening himself along the cold floor, his body soaking drenched and cold to the touch and his face panicked.

Steve stared back at him, open mouthed. 

“Eddie what the fuck just happened?”

He took Eddie’s offered hand, sliding his body out through the damp stone floor, wincing slightly at the scrapes and nicks he could feel being cut into his skin as he was forced to shimmy through the small and sharp iron filings and shavings that now littered around them.

He sat up, using the now sodden mattress to help push himself to his feet and watched in bewilderment as Eddie didn’t follow, instead flattening himself to the ground again with almost reckless abandon, shuffling underneath the bed.

With a few grunts and a bit of a struggle he emerged again, starting to shiver with the cold but carefully cradling the small back flowers in his hands, roots and all.

It looked like he had picked the roots right out of his wooden bedframe.

He barely spared Steve a glance, stumbling back to his feet and throwing open his wardrobe door.

With his free hand he grabbed a fistfull of clothes and blankets, tossing some carelessly down to the wet ground and the others over the stiff wooden chair by the still blazing fire, some landing down on the thick sheepskin rug that was resisting soaking up the remaining damp water.

Eddie gently nestled the flowers into a dark back corner, apparently the darkest corner he could find, nudging the roots into any cracks in the wood.

It was only then that he turned back to Steve, holding his hands out and guiding him to stand on his now wet clothes to avoid the iron on the ground, leading him towards the fire and apparently not caring about the pinpricks of red beginning to blossom over his own pale skin where he had allowed himself to be recklessly cut.

He didn’t speak as he sat Steve’s cold, wet and naked ass down onto the small wooden chair.

Eddie himself dropped onto the rug below and pulled Steve’s legs towards him, 

“Did you get cut anywhere?”

Steve frowned down at him, pulling his legs out of Eddie’s lap and had to swallow down an array of warring emotions as Eddie’s whole body tensed, his head ducked down.

Steve dropped down to his knees in front of him, gently taking Eddie’s face in his hands and tilted his head up.

“Eddie. Love. Are you okay?”

Eddie just shrugged, averting his eyes.

Steve let out a soft sigh through his nose and allowed his hands to slip down until he’d taken Eddie wrists in his grip. He guided Eddie up until their positions were reversed, sitting Eddie on the chair and pulling his inked and bleeding legs into his lap, slowly picking out any sharp bits of iron he could find.

The silence settled heavily around them, Eddie’s hair creating a curtain around his face, blocking him out despite the occasional hiss of pain as Steve had to dig for anything buried particularly deep.

“Did you hear them coming?” Steve asked after a while, feeling the heat of the fire at his back, warming him into his bones. “Is that why you pushed me?”

Eddie didn’t say anything, but did nod after a few seconds.

“It’s a familiar sound.” He muttered after a few more moments of quiet.

Steve’s hands faltered. “People bursting into your room to assault you is a familiar sound? ”

Eddie stayed silent again, the silence answering the question better than anything he could have said.

Steve wanted to push and push hard. He wanted to grab Eddie by the shoulders and shake him, get him to tell him exactly who and when and what had happened the previous times but he knew that wouldn’t help anything, so he turned back to the task at hand, trying to get the bits of iron out of Eddie's skin.

“What does Chrissy know of this?” He asked, once a bit more time had passed. The warmth of the fire behind him had dried his hair into what was undoubtedly some kind of clumpy wild mess but at least he was now dry.

“Enough.”

Eddie’s own hair had increased in volume, fluffing around his head like a soft cloud.

“But not all?”

Eddie scoffed dismissively. “Not much she could do about it anyway.”

Steve turned his glare back down onto Eddie’s legs, not wanting to direct the anger at him. He wasn't angry at Eddie, he wasn’t . He was angry at this whole fucked up situation.

The wet stone floor was beginning to dry up with the heat from the fire too and Steve would need to remind himself to ask for some fresh rushes to be brought to the room.

He didn’t know how long it would take for the mattress to be able to be slept in again. He might just be better off getting a new one sewn all together. 

Maybe Steve would even be able to commission a feather mattress to go atop the woollen one Eddie had, though there probably wouldn’t be enough time and it would be an exorbitant expense for a mattress that would only be slept in by him for such a short amount of time.

Once they got back to Torthúil, Steve was going to order him a straw mattress, a woollen one to go atop, and then two or three feather mattresses to go atop that, all wrapped in the softest textiles he could get his hands on. 

Eddie deserved to sleep in the highest luxury.

“Are you not going to ask me about the flowers?” Eddie asked, his flexing fingers telling Steve he had grown uncomfortable in the surrounding silence with nothing but the crackling fire and the wind outside to cut through.

Steve tilted his head, concentrating on wedging a particularly large shard out of Eddie’s heel. 

“Are they your Nightbloom?”

Eddie gave him a short nod, his brow furrowed and his mouth open as if to snap, but he slowly closed it again, his shoulders slumping.

“They help me feel more at home.” He muttered.

Steve smiled to himself. “You really like plants.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Why under your bed?” He gave Eddie’s calf a little squeeze, turning his smile up to him. 

“They need to be kept in the dark. They grow best out of live wood but I’m not letting anyone around here know that. My wooden furniture isn’t the best environment for them but it’s better than losing my last connection to home.”

Steve turned his eyes back down, heart crumbling a little for how far away Eddie seemed to feel from his own people, slowly and gently picking the remainder of the iron from Eddie’s skin.

He was beginning to have to remind himself over and over again that he shouldn’t start a war.

He definitely shouldn’t start a war by booting that Stoirmeach guard Andy Johnson out of the tallest window in this castle.

He’d probably be able to get away with it, would probably be able to hide behind his title but he knew he never actually would.

But still, it was a fun hypothetical.

He curled his fingers around Eddie’s delicate bony ankle. “Are you going to ask me to sit back and do nothing about what just happened?”

Eddie looked down at him from his position above, head tilting slightly, a contemplative look on his face. 

“I don’t think there’s much you can do for me here, but you can be as much of a guard dog as you want back in your own kingdom, right?”

“I won’t need to be a guard dog back in my kingdom but if you want me to shout from the rooftops that no one is allowed to touch you but me, I’ll do it.”

Eddie snorted. 

“I don’t think we need to go that far, but as long as I don’t get water dumped over my head in bed then I’ll be happy.”

If I put you in my bed that’ll never happen.

“Promise. No water unless you want it.”

“Yeah, like that’ll ever happen. I don’t fuck with water and as long as water doesn’t fuck with me, I’ll live a long and happy life.”

Steve furrowed his brow, a little bewildered, done with plucking the metal from Eddie’s skin and just now gently running his fingers through his leg hair.

“So you don’t like water.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love a good hot soak and the rain can be nice sometimes too. But when it comes to water that has a mind of its own? Count me the fuck out. If it’s flowing or deep or has waves or whatever, no thank you. I’ll pass.”

“So you don’t like the sea then.” Steve grinned.

“I just think if humans were meant to be in the water we’d have gills. It’s just too… unpredictable. That and I can’t swim, so y’know. If I end up in the water I’m fucked.”

“I could teach you if you like.”

Eddie’s face brightened, the previous weight sitting on his shoulders all but dissolved. He grinned down, relaxing back in his wooden chair while Steve sat cross legged below him.

“You just want an excuse to get me out of my clothes.”

“You’re literally naked in front of me right now.”

“I dunno, I’m still feeling a little chilly. Maybe a bit of exercise will help me get warmer?” Eddie said, opening his knees a little. 

Steve just raised his eyebrows.

“Your bed is drenched. The floor is drenched. Exactly where do you expect us to ‘exercise’?”

“I’ve got this lovely wooden chair here.” Eddie said, patting it on the side. “And that’s a fine rug you’ve got your plump ass sitting on. That ought to do, don’t you think?”

There was a small voice in the back of Steve’s brain, telling him he had been holed up in this room all night and it was morning now, people were probably beginning to notice he was missing, Robin or Hopper might already be looking for him.

But there was a larger voice in Steve’s brain that was doing nothing aside from staring at Eddie’s half hard cock hanging as he spread his legs wider. 

It was many hours later by the time Steve had managed to put his clothes back on and quietly slip out of Eddie’s room.

He thought he had made a clean escape, he thought he hadn’t been spotted by anyone, but when a hand shot out from a small room and dragged him inside, it was only the familiar shot bob of hair that stopped his heart from dropping straight through the floor.

“Are you fucking your future queens advisor?” Robin hissed, a mix in between irritated and incredulous.

Steve shook her hands off and pompously straightened his doublet, smoothing it down before looking her in the eye.

“Are you fucking my future queen?”

Robin pursed her lips at him, hands on hips in his own signature move. 

“Fair.”

Steve grinned at her, shaking his head a little at the complete and utter tangle of a situation they both had managed to get themselves into. 

Robin reached up and smoothed down his hair where it was still probably sitting a little wilder than usual.

He watched her with soft eyes, his heart aching, almost hurting with how full it felt.

“Are you happy?” He asked, whisper quiet.

Robin’s eyes darted down to his own before refocusing on the task at hand. 

“Mostly. I’ll be happier once we’re home and she’s out of this poisonous castle.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

The excitement of sneaking around with Eddie had done wonders to help Steve enjoy his continued time here.

While he, Chrissy, Robin and Eddie all still ate together and spent much of the day together, getting to know each other, they more often than not ended up splitting off into two groups, Steve with Eddie and Robin with Chrissy.

As the days went on, Chrissy seemed to begin glowing brighter and brighter, her smile becoming wider and her whole posture getting lighter, like she was floating on air, the weight of the world removed from her shoulders.

Steve himself was feeling much the same, his vision for the future ahead looking unmistakably positive. 

His best friend would be at his side as his advisor. A good friend and great business partner who knew how to play her role well, as well as he did, would be on his arm as his queen, the two of them making each other as happy as could be.

And Eddie, safe and comfortable and away from harm, always near his own best friend, able to be himself and live his life as freely as possible.

Steve would be content as long as Eddie was happy.

And he would do everything in his power to make that dream a reality.

They just had to get the fuck out of here first.

Steve had comfortably settled himself down in his little hidden nook of the library, papers spread out around him and quill in hand. The library wasn’t completely silent, there was the occasional sound of wind whipping around the castle and the scratch of his quill, but he was alone here.

It had been a couple of hours of peace he was given, to answer letters from home and get some work done on his kingdom finances.

He pressed his fingers to his eyes underneath his glasses, trying to force himself to pay attention to what he needed to be writing and stop staring off into space, thinking of Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.

But fate had apparently heard his thoughts and sent the object of his distraction right his way.

There was the noise of someone shuffling around the shelves and he stayed as quiet as he could, attempting to remain hidden.

His shoulders immediately relaxed and he leaned quietly back in his chair as he caught a little peek at Eddie through the stacks, browsing through what was there, his face soft and relaxed with just a small bit of curiosity in the tilt of his eyes.

The fireplace and weak sunlight coming through the window gently lit up his face, catching the colour of his eyes, highlighting his hair, his jewellery, the ink in his skin. 

Through the silence, even as far away as Steve was, he could hear him softly humming to himself as he lifted a hand and brushed a long ringed finger over the spine of a book. 

He should have probably felt a little creepy watching him in the way that he was but he couldn't help it, he was just so pretty to look at. 

Steve sighed to himself quietly, looking back down on his own paperwork as Eddie moved out of sight, a book in hand.

He sat there with his cheek in his hand, completely unable to force himself to focus.

He tried his best, he really did, but it was like his brain was reaching out, looking to latch back onto Eddie.

So when the quiet sounds of hissed words reached his ears only a few moments later, he was more sensitive to it than he would have otherwise been.

He stood and crept his way forward, the sound getting louder and poked his head around the bookcase. 

He was met with the sight of Eddie, back flush against the stacks, fists clenched at his sides, his book discarded on a table across the way and Billy looming over him, hands clenched into the shelves at either side of Eddie’s head and pressing in close with that infuriating smirk on his face, mouth hovering barely an inch from Eddie’s.

“I don’t really think you’re in a position to refuse someone of my station, pretty boy. You’ve been dancing out of my grip for far too long and I’ve grown weary of your games. If you’re going to continue to play this angle… what’s to stop me from taking it anyway? No one will believe you-”

It seemed like Eddie’s patience had snapped, almost the same moment that Steve stepped around the bookshelf, Eddie brought his knee up, striking Billy painfully in the crotch and he shoved him hard.

Billy went stumbling back, cracking hard into the shelves behind him, losing his balance and catching his knee hard on the stone floor.

“You’re going to regret that, you little fucker.” Billy snarled, still picking himself up from the ground as Steve took a few powerful strides forward. He placed a hand flat over Eddie’s belly and pushed him behind him, covering him completely, stance wide and arms crossed.

“We’ll see how you feel about my offer after you spend another few days in the dungeons you fucking tree- Your Highness!”

Billy had finally straightened up, catching sight of him and the anger and violence painting his face immediately melted away to a smug charm.

He immediately brought a hand up to run through his hair, blinking at him with sharp blue eyes.

“I apologise that you had to witness such violence, Your Highness.” Billy almost pouted. “Some just can’t act civilised.”

Steve’s own eyes were hard and unfeeling, his crossed arms gripping tighter to himself.  “I agree.” He sneered.

“Unfortunately I don’t think this kind of behaviour will be looked upon very kindly by the court.” Billy raised his eyebrows as if to say what can you do?  

Steve very nearly took a step forward but was stopped by the curling of a fist in the back of his doublet.

He halted in his steps, but tilted forward a little anyway, glaring across at him.

“I think you’re absolutely right. They won’t. But we seem to be disagreeing on who will be at fault here.” He snapped back.

Billy’s mouth opened momentarily in surprise, forming around a what? But Steve cut him off before he could continue, knowing already that he was going to push it a little too far but failing to find it within him to care.

“Unfortunately, seeing as I have no power here to have you thrown down into those dungeons you so freely threaten with, I will simply tell you one thing.”

Billy’s incredulity was beginning to morph into a slow bubbling anger that Steve was almost deliriously hopeful would boil over.

After all, if Billy came at him, then he would be forced to defend himself, right?

Steve’s lip curled and he rumbled low in his throat. “If you ever touch him again, the dungeons will be the least of your worries.”

Billy stayed silent for a moment before that slow creeping and infuriating smile began to break over his face again.

“Well…” He sighed out, condescending. “I certainly didn't expect to find a backbone amongst all those florals and pretty lace, Your Highness.”

“Then that is your mistake.”

Billy hummed in mock contemplation. “I don't know how well the queen is going to react to this kind of slight against me.”

Steve ran his tongue over his teeth. “Are you telling me I should be scared of her?”

“If you were smart you would be. Maybe you should start treating me with a bit more respect. I'm very close to her ear.”

“I'm sure you are.” Eddie sniped from Steve’s shoulder, hand still in the back of his doublet.

“Watch your mouth, Outsider.” Billy snapped, taking a step forward.

“Enough.” Steve threw his hand out, blocking Eddie and stopping Billy in his tracks. “You listen to me loud and clear, Hargrove. Eddie is under my personal protection and the protection of my kingdom. Same as Chrissy. Same as the rest of my party. If anything happens to any of them, I will hear about it.”

Steve brought his hand back and grasped at Eddie’s wrist, tugging him away and back in the direction of his hidden little working nook, wanting to secure his documents before anyone got the chance to snoop.

Billy gave him a condescending nod, that infuriatingly cocky smile still on his face.

“Sure thing, Steve.”

Steve stopped, not even bothering to turn back to him.

“You would do well to address me by my title.”

He threw it over his shoulder like a barb, disappearing himself and Eddie into the stacks again a second later, not wanting to give him a chance to respond.

It wasn’t until they were back at his table, all of his things exactly where he had left them, that he turned to Eddie, taking his face gently in his hands.

“Are you okay?”

Eddie smirked at him, but even that was soft and adoring.

“I’m alright Stevie. Though to be honest, I thought I’d hate you standing up for me like that but it kind of left me swooning.”

“I’ll do it for you as many times as you want.” Steve grinned back before turning to gather up all of his papers.

It was messy and there was no organisation as he rolled them back up but he didn’t care, he just stuffed them under one arm and took Eddie’s hand again with the other, grumbling a little petulantly;

“I can’t wait to get you all out of here.”

Eddie smirked at him again.

“Only a week left.”

That week seemed to be dragging. Day in day out, Steve was left staring down at the light towards the end of the tunnel, slowly coming closer and closer.

But even as it steadily approached, even as time passed, unable to be stopped by man or god, even as it was something Steve desperately wanted to arrive faster, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something looming. 

There was some anxiety hanging around his neck 

Something was approaching and it wasn’t just the day they could finally leave this place, the day Steve could finally whisk everyone away back to his home and try and give them the best life he could.

Chrissy, Eddie, Max, Wayne, everyone. He wanted to give them everything.

But still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was approaching.

The feeling only got that more cloying, clawing at his throat like a sickness when he sat down one evening for dinner with Chrissy and her parents.

Robin and Eddie had been relegated to eat elsewhere, it seemed the king and queen didn’t much care where they ate as long as it wasn’t around them , disrupting their sensibilities in their dining hall, fireplaces ablaze as usual, candles and lanterns and braziers trying to bring life to the dark and dim interior.

The dining table was a fine hardwood but was clearly old and it looked from the discoloration of the varnish and the chips and burns along the surface that it had once been a very beautiful table expertly crafted but had not been well maintained.

Conversation was stilted between the four as it always was.

Though Steve could hardly call it a four way conversation.

Chrissy only spoke when spoken to and even then her answers were short and demure and the picture of a perfect silent wife, just like her mother had no doubt berated her for most of her life into becoming.

In addition, her father, the king, rarely spoke as well. He seemed perfectly happy to sit back and suffer through this dinner with as much enthusiasm as Steve felt.

It was mostly Steve and the queen speaking to each other and though it was like pulling teeth to respond with a smile and politeness, he managed it. He was a gracious guest after all and he knew exactly how to keep a fake smile on his face.

That was, until Eddie was brought up.

It started with Wayne. The queen was unhappy with the idea of a skilled soldier leaving her service and tried to push back on Steve, almost attempting to override him with her willpower, the same way she had done countless times with Chrissy and her husband but Steve would not be moved.

“I will buy out his commission.” He said, twirling his goblet of wine in his hand. “With the money you could take on a younger and stronger man, train him up.”

The queen bristled slightly, as if the mention of Torthúil money was starting to grate. She looked like she wanted to push back again, insist that they did not need his money but they both knew that they did.

The queen took a breath in, raising her head again and shooting him a smile.

“What is your fascination with this one soldier? Surely as you said, a younger man would be a more tempting mark for you to steal away from us.” She said it lightly, like she was joking but Steve knew that her words were seething with truth underneath them.

“He wants to stay close to Eddie, he’s his uncle. I don’t want to split a family any more than I have to.”

The queen hummed, relaxing back in her own seat and swirling her own goblet of wine around.

“Well that hardly makes any sense at all. I think this has all been more complicated than it needs to be. After all, bringing that soldier with you would achieve the opposite of your goal considering the boy is to stay here.”

She watched him over the rim of her goblet as she said it, waiting like a shark hiding in the waters.

Steve just gave her his charming smile back though it was a little harder to keep up and his words came out slightly clenched through his teeth. 

“As Chrissy’s advisor, he would be accompanying her with us back to my kingdom. It was one of the first promises I made to her when we met and I cannot break it.”

“It’s unfortunate then that you have made such a promise. I believe it will have to be broken.” She sighed, almost sadly though her eyes were alight with entertainment. Especially as Chrissy had all but frozen at his side, fork clenched hard in a white knuckled fist, eyes on her food in front of her but not seeing it at all.

“I would think,” the queen continued, her lips pulling back to bare her teeth, “they’d have informed you by now but I supposed no one is at fault for a lack of communication amongst your household. But the boy is staying here. His continued presence was requested by a member of our court and I’m sure you can understand why we do everything we can to accommodate our friends.”

Steve had to stop himself from grinding his teeth together, his own fist tightening against the knife in his hand.

“And which friend of the court was this, might I ask?”

The queen’s smile grew infinitesimally wider, her eyes almost gleaming.

“Sir Hargrove. The younger.”

Steve tilted his head. He wasn’t exactly sure why she was so gleeful about this, why she seemed so sure she had won.

Steve was not one to back down when challenged, especially when it came to people he cared about. 

He would sooner burn this castle to the ground then leave Eddie here to be prey to Billy fucking Hargrove. 

Chrissy was nearly shaking at his side and Steve was going to have this sorted now.

“I’m afraid that just won’t be possible.” He just barely stopped himself from growling. “I made a promise to my future queen and Eddie himself that I would not separate them, that they would be coming with me.”

“As I said,” the queen sighed, “it is unfortunate that you made such a promise without having the power to do so-”

“The power?” Steve cut in and the entire room seemed to frost over. The wind stopped whistling, the fire nearly stopped crackling, the sudden icy coldness settling over everyone at Steve’s words.

Everyone here knew that even though this was their kingdom, and they were the royalty here, Steve was royalty in his own right and in addition to that, he was wealthier, he had a larger kingdom, he had more influence, he was more powerful than the king and queen sitting in front of him and he was done pretending to be a kind and pleasant young prince wreathed in delicate florals who could be pushed around and who was being done a favour here.

“I believe I have the power to make whatever promises I see fit. And I promised your daughter , the woman who is to sit at my side as my queen in my kingdom that I would not rip someone she cared about away from her. In addition to that, I made the promise to Eddie himself. And while he is no royalty and holds no title, the promise is just as important.” 

His voice was loud and steady, his chest was puffed up and his head was held firm. 

He would not, under any circumstances, waver on this.

“Eddie will be coming with us. Wayne will be coming with us. Anyone else that is requested to or has made a request to join us will be accompanying us home. Perhaps I am not the one who should be more careful about making promises they do not have the power to keep.”

Just as the room around them had chilled, the queen’s smile had gone frosty too.

She stared him dead in the eye, taking a sip from her wine glass and swallowed it down, taking her sweet time.

“Well then. I suppose we wouldn’t want anything souring the relationship between us, right?”

Steve watched her back, giving her a short sharp nod and wondering if he had just agreed to something completely different. 

Chapter Text

They were nearly there. They had nearly made it. Only a couple more days to go and they would be on the road back to Torthúil. All they needed to do was keep their heads down and exist for the next forty-eight hours and everything would be fine.

Some of their things were already starting to be packed, aside from what they would need for the next two days were being sent away ahead of time.

Chrissy’s rooms were slowly being emptied along with Eddie’s. 

Chrissy had made the decision to send some of her more valuable things ahead, not trusting that if they were still here when she left with them, to be sent off behind them, that they would ever make it to the other kingdom. 

She had also quietly tucked some of Max’s belongings away in her own trunks.

While they weren’t stealing Max from the kingdom, they were not exactly going to be shouting about it either.

Steve got the impression that if Billy knew that Max was planning to leave with them, that he would put a stop to it just to be a petulant shit.

He was no longer attempting to win Steve’s favour. 

Far from it.

Billy’s attitude had shifted after the library confrontation, barely paying Steve any attention, almost in a condescending way, like he was just waiting for Steve to slink over and beg to be looked upon again.

Steve nearly snorted at the thought.

He’d be waiting a long time.

But now, ever since Steve had all but demanded that Eddie would be coming with them, no matter what the Hargroves or even the queen herself had said, Billy’s attitude had turned completely sour.

He glared and snarled whenever he could, his eyes burned into the back of Steve’s head from the end of hallways and across courtyards, he’d made snide comments about how close Steve and Eddie had gotten, attempting to insinuate to everyone that they were sleeping together.

Attempting to insinuate that Steve had taken a lowly commoner into his bed.

Which wasn’t untrue . They were fucking. But Steve wouldn’t have used such cruel words. 

And luckily for them all, the entire court was still convinced that Eddie and Chrissy were warming each other’s bed at night so no one really took Billy seriously.

That would have been a comfort if it didn’t appear to piss him off even more.

Steve just shrugged it off.

He didn’t care what Billy fucking Hargrove thought.

He should have been more concerned.

The air around the stands was electric.

Steve had not realised how much he had missed the horses and the crowds and the energy around an event.

While he wasn’t even in the arena yet, he could feel it buzzing through his bones and even the whispers that had surrounded him as he made his way down to the fair grounds did nothing to dampen his mood.

People were talking about the Flower Prince.  

The soft, delicate, pretty-boy prince who wore florals and lace and always kept his circlet perfectly placed atop his carefully maintained hair thought that he was going to take part in the joust.

They thought it was laughable.

Even Billy himself had snidely wished him luck as he crossed around to the opposite end of the arena, calling him a Flower Prince and looking at Steve’s armour almost with amusement. 

True, his armour wasn’t the standard regular armour but he was also not a standard regular man.

The steel was polished to a shine, gleaming and pristine, delicate metalwork bolted in in the shape of flowers and vines, tree branches and filigree, all with a luxurious green cape settled comfortably over his shoulders. 

His circlet was missing. It would never fit under his helm.

He’d been hovering behind the stands, watching the jousters through the legs of the people sitting above him, not wanting to enter the arena himself before it was his time to go. 

He’d even managed to find a small area he could slip in, unseen and hide underneath, watching almost as if he was amongst the stands himself.

He couldn’t see Robin or Eddie or Chrissy from where he was but he knew they were somewhere nearby, somewhere above where he was currently peeking out through wood and fabric to watch the two Stoirmeach knights on their third round, astride their horses line up at opposite sides of the list, their lances pointed towards the sky.

Once the flag was raised, they kicked off, riding hard towards each other, both bringing their lances down to point forward.

With a twang of steel and the splintering of wood, one of the riders' lances broke off, striking hard against his opponent's arm. 

They continued to ride until they got to their respective sides of the tilt rail and the winner was proclaimed.

Steve could feel anticipation swirling in his gut as the new set of challengers were announced, slipping out from underneath the stands and only getting a passing glance at Billy as he paraded around the arena on his horse, waving out to the crowd, giving a bashful head tilt to the queen, bringing his hand to his chest.

Steve rolled his eyes, pushing himself up onto his own horse and giving him a gentle nudge forward with his heels as his name was announced.

He still had his helm off and he knew he wasn’t the most well loved guy jousting today, but he still received hearty cheers as he made his rounds, spotting Chrissy sitting up in the royal box with Eddie and Robin in the stands just to the side of her.

Even if the royal box hadn’t drawn his attention, Steve didn’t think he could have missed all three of them no matter what.

Chrissy’s bright blonde hair, Eddie’s dark leathers, Robin’s loud clothes. 

They all stuck out.

Steve shot them his most charming smile, slowly pulling his horse around and heading towards them, coming to a stop just in front.

The air smelled of the sea and grass, the sky was grey, the sun was hidden, the crowd was cheering and Eddie was beautiful, looking down on him from his slightly higher vantage point with a light blush over his cheeks.

Steve would have been confused if not for Chrissy, leaning down over the railing to hand him her favour, something that he would wear as he jousted for luck and as a sign of devotion.

But as he raised a gauntleted hand to take it, Chrissy gently passed over a flower, black as night with dark velvety petals, the unusual smell of warm woody spices coming from its pollen.

Eddie’s ears went pink as Steve took it with a grin, bringing it up to his nose to inhale its strange and alluring scent that he was addicted to now, not breaking eye contact with him.

Chrissy glanced back and when she saw the embarrassed state of Eddie’s face, she tried and failed to hide a snort.

From the vantage point of everyone else, it would look like Chrissy had just gifted him her luck and he had taken it with love but those who knew, knew.

Steve brushed the petals along his neck, almost coyly, with a small grin on his face before tucking it safely and securely inside his breastplate, over his heart.

Eddie seemed to be fighting with himself to keep his grin from exploding across his face but it was a losing battle.

Though he could have stayed there all day, watching Eddie get slowly more and more bashful, he had a job to do, a joust to win.

There would be plenty of time to paint a blush over his cheeks later.

They had the rest of their lives for it, after all.

Turning his horse about again, Steve rode back to his own side of the lists, taking his helm from Lucas and cramming it over his head, watching through the slits as Billy got ready on his own side.

The world seemed to slow around him and all that was going through Steve’s mind was Billy’s hands on Eddie, pressing him into the bookshelves, hovering his mouth close with a smile that told them that Eddie wasn’t in a position to say no.

Even aside from that, all of the instances of Billy dismissing Chrissy or Robin or even the insidious hints of cruelty towards Max swirled around him, getting his blood pumping.

Steve wanted to throttle him.

He had four passes to beat him and Steve would beat him. He would have loved to have taken part in the full tournament but no one wanted to take the risk of badly injuring, potentially fatally injuring a prince, if something went catastrophically wrong. 

No one apart from Billy.

The arrogant prick.

With the sound of a trumpet blasting through the air, Steve spurred his horse forward.

Taking off at a gallop, he sped forward, bringing the lance down to point directly at Billy’s shield.

He would have loved to strike him in the head, knock that cocky smile off of his face that Steve could practically feel as they got closer and closer, but that would have been very bad sportsmanship.

He felt the impact before he registered it.

His arm was forced back as his lance shattered against Billy's breastplate and his shoulder was left throbbing at the blow of Billy’s own lance against it, which now lay shattered on the ground. 

It was clear that Billy had no such qualms about aiming for his head. 

But thankfully he had missed and hit him in the shoulder.

They rounded back to their starting points, still with three tilts to go. 

At least Steve was in the lead.

While Billy had only struck his arm, he had struck Billy’s chest and both of their lances had broken, so they were both still in the race.

If a lance remained unbroken, they didn’t land a hit or a rider remained unhorsed, then it was an automatic loss.

Apart from that, they gained points based on where they hit.

Steve was ahead and he would stay ahead if it killed him . He was not going to let Billy win.

While it was nerve wracking and aggravating to go up against him, all of that didn’t tamp down the thrill of competing, the thrill of competing in front of Eddie.

He had to stop himself from getting distracted numerous times, stop himself from glancing over to see through the visor of his helm what Eddie was making of all of this.

He had to stay focused.  

After two more passes, the two of them were evenly drawn and it was Steve’s last chance to win, otherwise they would end in a draw.

They set off again, things moving in slow motion as Steve brought his lance down to point directly at Billy. 

He felt the impact again through his chest where Billy had struck him, but also through his arm as he caught Billy in the stomach.

Billy’s rear left his saddle and as his horse continued to gallop forward, he tipped, falling to the ground with a painful sounding crunch of metal.

Steve couldn’t help the whoop that burst out of him, raising his broken lance up into their air in celebration.

He’d unseated Billy, he’d won.

The crowds around him were cheering, some brave souls were booing, but he didn’t care. As he turned his horse back, he could happily ignore the death glare and almost physical feeling of violence coming from Billy’s eyes, staring him down like he wanted to rip him limb from limb and instead, focus on Robin, Eddie and Chrissy, who had all jumped to their feet and were cheering and waving along with most of the rest of the crowd.

The king and queen had remained seated, the king looking like he was barely even aware of what was going on in front of him, lost in his own world, and the queen, glaring out at Steve in much the same way Billy had been, her mouth turned down almost into a snarl.

Billy was arguing with the judges, shouting and waving his arms around, occasionally pointing over at Steve.

But Steve didn’t care.

They would be out of here soon enough and he just could not find any more fucks to give about what she thought about him.

He’d whisk these people away and they would never ever have to come back and experience this misery ever again if he had anything to say about it.

Steve handed his lance off to Lucas who staggered a little under the weight, but was able to right himself easily.

He handed his helm and the reins off to Hopper and swung himself down from his horse.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to pull himself away from the throng of Torthúil guards surrounding him, clapping him on the back and congratulating him on his win but by the time he had, Eddie had disappeared from the stands.

Chrissy and Robin were still up there, having sat back down, Chrissy watching the ongoing tilt with so much enthusiasm Steve wondered if she had a desire to sit astride a horse herself with a lance in her hand.

He managed to extract himself, still armoured and caped from the throng that had gathered around him, able to direct them to watch the fierce competition going on in front of them, the hoofbeats and clang of wood on metal tempting enough to distract them, allowing him to slip away unseen.

He rounded the back of the stands, intending to tramp up and down over and over again if he had to, to find Eddie but he needn’t have worried.

Eddie had apparently broken away just to wait for him, hovering behind the stands, his face breaking into a wide delighted smile when Steve came into sight.

He looked like he wanted to jump at him, almost stuttering in his movements like he was about to throw his arms around him and it was with a slight bittersweet disappointment that they both held themselves back.

Even back here and even with most people watching the joust in the arena, there would still be too many eyes watching and Steve didn’t want to make things more difficult for Eddie than they needed to be if they got caught in an intimate embrace between a ‘commoner’ and the crown prince of a foreign kingdom.

Still, as Steve took his last few steps forward, he had to get his hands on Eddie, he had to, and he refused to wait until they were home free back in Torthúil. 

He, at the very least, needed to touch him, just once more.

The smell from the nightbloom flower was drifting up from where he had it stashed inside his breastplate, a scent that he had come to associate with Eddie and everything he loved about him and it was almost acting like an intoxicant, fulling Steve’s need to get his mouth on him yesterday.

With an almost impulsive lack of care of those surrounding them, he grabbed at Eddie’s wrist and started to drag him back, towards that gap in the stands that he had discovered earlier on that day.

Eddie made a surprised noise in his throat as Steve all but shoved him against one of the wooden beams and descended on him, adrenaline still high in his blood.

Eddie met him with an equal hunger, grabbing at Steve’s hair and nipping at his lips with sharp teeth, the cacophonous sound of the joust and the crowd above them fading into the background as Steve tried to pour as much of his love and affection and downright horniness into Eddie’s open mouth through his exploring tongue as humanly possible.

“Fuck,” Eddie sighed as Steve moved his attentions down to his neck, using those inked in vines and leaves as a guide for his mouth, something that was quickly becoming his favourite map to follow. “You were so fucking hot down there. I was ready to jump your bones.”

Steve hummed against Eddie’s throat, wondering just how far he could justify going, hidden away as they were.

“I did it for you.”

Eddie blinked at him, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly. “For me?” He asked, confused.

“Mhm.” Steve grinned against his skin. “No one gets to treat you the way he did and get away with it. Not while I’m standing.”

“Oh,” Eddie scoffed a little, almost disbelieving. “All of this for little old me?”

“All of it for you, my love.” Steve rumbled, pulling his head back to look Eddie in the eye. He brought his hand up to cup the side of his face, gently brushing his thumb along his cheekbone as Eddie’s arms migrated down to hold him tight around the waist.

Eddie’s cheek grew warmer underneath Steve’s thumb.

“I would do anything for you.”

Eddie leaned into Steve’s hand, turning to kiss his palm.

“You actually mean that, don’t you?” He muttered, lips brushing against Steve’s skin.

“I do.”

Eddie let out a little high pitched giggle and seemed surprised at himself for doing so, like he hadn’t expected to make a sound like that. It was the cutest thing Steve had ever seen.

“How are you even real?” Eddie whispered to him, leaning forward.

“You keep asking me that.” Steve whispered back, bringing his thumb down to brush at Eddie’s plump bottom lip.

“Because you keep being stupidly perfect.”

“Well,” Steve grinned, moving his hand around to the back of Eddie’s head, burying it into the curls there. “I’ll just have to continue doing that.”

Before Eddie could respond, Steve brought their mouths back together, almost unable to kiss due to the matching deliriously happy smiles they had on their faces.

They were so wrapped up in each other that they were ignorant to the world around them, the sounds of cheering, the smell of sea salt in the air and the pair of piercing blue eyes glaring at them through the slats of the stands.

Steve woke up unusually early the next morning, his body aching from the joust the day before and the side of his bed mournfully but expectedly empty.

Ever since that night that Steve had slept in Eddie’s arms, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. 

They’d been unable to repeat the experience, mainly because of how it had ended. 

It just wasn’t safe. 

It had been an accident that it had happened in the first place, but Steve kept his hopes up thinking that once they were out of here and back in Torthúil, he would be able to set Eddie up in a room on his corridor. 

Maybe he could even have Eddie move into Robin’s room right next to his. Surely Robin would be more than happy to move into the room next to Chrissy’s but he wouldn’t do anything without talking to her first.

His room was almost empty, most of his stuff being packed away already, only leaving him with the bare necessities he’d need. 

They were due to leave tomorrow and Steve couldn’t wait.

He thought to himself that he might as well spend an extra long time in bed today, after all, he felt like he deserved it.

But there was something brewing in his blood, some kind of anticipation or restlessness, forcing him up and leaving him buzzing as he dressed himself.

Storm clouds were brewing outside, dark, low hanging clouds blocking out the early morning sun and rumbling occasionally far off in the distance.

Steve pouted to himself, leaning against the windowsill and wondering if it was somehow poetic that he’d experience one last storm before he left.

There was movement on the stony beach below, movement that immediately caught his eye and set his teeth on edge because for the last month, that beach had stayed empty. 

As far as he had known, he was the only person who had ever gone down there, it seemed all but forgotten by everyone in the castle.

No one had noticed that he had been down there alone that morning, no one would have probably come looking for him there for a long long time. 

It was practically invisible.

But now there were people down there.

Two people to be exact.

They weren’t walking, they weren’t running.

It looked like some kind of fight.

Did two people really go down to an abandoned part of the castle just to swing fists?

But as Steve looked on, panic began to crest over him as he recognised that it wasn’t just a fight.

One of them was trying to fight the other off.

Someone with dark brown curls and dark leathers was desperately trying to fight off a man with blonde curls and glinting jewellery who was slowly dragging him down the beach towards the rickety dock that had once saved Steve’s life. 

Steve took off like a shot before he could even think, his whole body a shaking mess of adrenaline and panic.

He slammed his bedroom door open and tore down the hallway, nearly sending both himself and Robin into a crashing heap when she appeared around the corner.

He managed to pivot at the last second, only sideswiping her shoulder and his wild panic must have been evident because instead of the anger that should have probably been directed his way, there was just his own panic reflected back at him.

“Wha-”

“Go get Hopper! Now!” He practically screamed at her, not hesitating a second longer than he needed to, tearing down the narrow staircase leading to the beach before he had even fully gotten the words out.

He could hear her shouting his name but he didn’t turn back to explain, he didn’t have time.

He nearly slipped more than once on the hard stone steps but when he finally jumped the last few feet down onto the stony beach, barely giving himself a chance to find his balance before he took off again.

He could hear the shouting between Eddie and Billy, could see Billy’s hand fisted in the collar of Eddie’s shirt, Eddie’s ring free hands scrabbling at his wrist, clinging on tight as he was tilted backwards, balancing on the balls of his feet over the edge of the dock.

Eddie’s eyes were wide and full of fear as the grey cold water sloshed below.

Steve was running, racing his way across the beach.

He had just taken his first step onto the slimy wooden dock, Eddie taking his eyes off of Billy’s face, finally noticing Steve over his shoulder when there was a push.

Billy sent Eddie flying backwards, all at once letting go of his shirt and ripping his hand out of Eddie’s grip.

Eddie was there one second and gone the next, not even able to scream before he hit the water.

And not once did Steve stop running.

His legs carried him as fast as they could towards where Eddie disappeared.

Billy turned at the sound of his footfalls and only had a moment for his eyes to widen in surprise before Steve shoved him out of the way, his momentum and all encompassing panic doing the work for him, sending Billy toppling back into the water at the side of the dock and Steve dove.

The icy cold waves hit him like a smack to the face, his whole body seizing up in shock but he refused to let it win, all he kept thinking about was Eddie, Eddie, Eddie as he forced his arms and legs to kick against the current, pushing himself downwards. 

He squinted his eyes open, surprised that the saltwater wasn’t stinging like he thought it would and tried to look around in the darkness for any sign of him.

But he couldn’t see anything.

His dark hair, his dark leathers must have been camouflaging him.

Steve was running out of breath but he’d be damned if he gave up that easily.

His heart was pounding in his chest, his lungs were starting to scream at him to breathe again, but he couldn’t stop.

Something milky white floated a little bit further below and Steve dove for it, ignoring everything in his body telling him to surface.

Eddie’s pale lily white hand floated towards him, familiar green and blue vines inked into the skin telling him that it was him.

Steve grabbed at him, taking Eddie’s wrist in such a tight iron grip he’d be amazed if he didn’t break a bone but a broken wrist was better than death by drowning, death by one of Eddie’s biggest fears.

Eddie wasn’t kicking or struggling or panicking, trying to use Steve as a climbing pole to get back to the surface like someone in a panic would have been expected to do.

He was limp dead weight, floating aimlessly as Steve gripped him tight around the middle.

Steve’s lungs were spasming as he kicked as hard as he could to get them both back up to the surface, his head pounding and black spots starting to appear behind his eyes, in his brain, making his fingers go numb.

He broke the surface and was only able to take a short inhale of breath before a wave crashed over him, sending him below again.

But a breath was a breath and he pushed himself and Eddie to the surface again, making sure to drag Eddie up so his head was above water too.

They were closer to the shore than Steve thought they would be and he didn’t stop to think of anything else as he kicked out, the muscles in his legs, his arms, his entire being on fire as he relentlessly pushed the two of them back to shore.

Just like it had a few weeks ago, the feeling of stones under his feet filled him with relief but with the extra weight of the water and Eddie’s still limp body in his arms, Steve had only managed to take a step out of the water before he collapsed to the ground, his muscles finally giving out.

He was able to hold himself up on shaking arms as Eddie landed on his back underneath him, face tipped to the side, hair plastered over his cheek, eyes closed and chest still and unmoving.

“Eddie.” Steve coughed out, still feeling like he couldn’t get a full breath in, tilting Eddie’s face towards him with gentle fingers. “Eddie. Love. Wake up. Please, my darling, come on.”

Steve ducked his head down, using one hand to tip Eddie’s chin up, the other clamped down over Eddie’s nose and he sealed their mouths together, breathing into him, watching as Eddie’s chest rose and fell with it.

He repeated the motions, desperation clawing at him, wondering if he would even have the strength to pump at Eddie’s chest and probably snap his ribs. His arms were already burning and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, but he refused to let Eddie go so easily.

Everything in his body unwound when there was a cough and a splutter beneath him and Steve immediately shoved Eddie onto his side as his body convulsed, spasming as he threw up a truly horrifying amount of sea water, gasping in desperate gulps of breath in between and his entire body shaking.

He was alive .

And that was the only thing Steve cared about at that moment. 

“Eddie.” Steve wrapped Eddie up in his arms as much as he could, pulling him into his lap and almost falling back with the effort, managing to stay sitting on his heels. 

Eddie looked up at him, weary and exhausted but alive.

His mouth formed around the word ‘Stevie’ but no sound came out, his throat and chest probably too worn to do anything apart from breathe.

There was the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps and a cry of his name that he barely heard, unable to tear his attention away from Eddie until someone dropped heavily to their knees next to them and another set of hands threw his elaborately embroidered cloak around his shoulders.

“Steve, what the fuck happened?”

He looked up to find Hopper kneeling in front of him, felt the familiar presence of Robin at his side, her hands on his shoulders, Chrissy, with her skirts fisted in her hands up around her knees as she ran towards them and what must have been almost half of the Torthúil household guard surrounding them.

Steve’s brain was whirring, trying to figure out what to focus on first but as Eddie continued to shake in his arms and let out another series of convulsing coughs, spitting up a little bit more water with it, he made his decision.

With one hand, he pulled his cloak from around his shoulders and wrapped it tight around Eddie, bundling him up as much as he could before looking up at Hopper again.

“Two of your most trusted soldiers. Now.”

“Powell, Callahan.” Hopper called over his shoulder and the two of them stepped forward.

Steve was finally able to drag his eyes away from Eddie, curled into a tight ball and shivering in his lap, up to the two soldiers.

“Eddie is not to leave your sight until you make it past the border into Torthúil, and even then maybe until you get back to the castle.” Steve tried to push himself to his feet, but the weight of everything and the exhaustion in his legs kept him kneeling.

Powell and Callahan stepped forward regardless and between the three of them, they were able to get Steve standing again. Eddie was upright, but barely under his own power, being bolstered by Steve and Powell on either side of him, head tipped, exhausted into Steve’s neck.

“Take him back to my bedroom, get him warm, get him clothed. Then you’re going to take four of our horses and leave here as soon as possible.” Steve commanded. “I want Eddie over the border and back into our kingdom as soon as you can get him there. Before anyone even knows he’s gone.” Steve looked up into the eyes of the two guards, trying to impart to them just how serious he was. “Do you understand what I am saying?”

Chrissy had come to a stop at the edge of the circle, her wide blue eyes wet and terrified, eyes only on Eddie, taking his hand in hers, clutching on tight like she could tether him to the earth forever with her grip alone.

With a nod in their direction, Steve tipped Eddie over to Powell and Callahan’s arms, giving him one last squeeze before sending them off, Chrissy immediately turning to follow, not bothering to look back and see if Steve would have granted her permission to go, like she had the first time they had met, only focused on her best friend, as it should have been.

Robin had pulled her own cloak from her back and threw it over Steve’s shoulders, running her hand up and down his back.

“You think it’s as serious as that?” She muttered to him.

“Billy just tried to kill him, yes I think it’s as serious as that.”

“Billy?!”

Hopper was watching all of this transpire with a stony face, no doubt planning six steps ahead and thinking of every possible outcome of this and how to avoid the worst ones.

But the only thing he said in response to it all was;

“Four horses? Steve, if you leave with them, our whole retinue will need to leave at the same time and that will take hours to organise.”

“I understand that. I won’t be travelling with them, I’ll leave at the scheduled time tomorrow.”

“Then who else are you planning on going with them?”

Steve bit his lip and turned his eyes over to Robin.

She blinked at him. “Me?”

“He’ll need someone he knows and trusts to be there with him. It’ll take you a couple of days to get past the border. I can’t leave before I’m scheduled to and neither can Chrissy.”

“But will you be okay here on your own?”

Steve had honestly expected some more pushback from her than that, about how she didn’t want to leave Chrissy or didn’t want to ride hard and fast for upwards of twelve hours a day for the next couple of days to make it past the border.

But that wasn’t her concern and Steve loved her so much for it.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll have Chrissy. I’ll take care of her.”

“You better. And she’ll take care of you.”

Steve grinned at her, wanting to pull her into a hug but knowing time was of the essence.

She seemed to sense it as well and with a short brush of her thumb over his cheek she turned and shot off in the direction of the stairs.

“What the hell have you gotten yourself into, kid?” Hopper muttered to him, rubbing his hands up and down Steve’s arms, trying to work some warmth back in. “And where’s that Billy asshole gone?”

For the first time since all of this went down, Steve remembered that he had shoved Billy out of the way before he dove into the water and that there was a splash.

Shit.

Had he left Billy to drown in the water?

Looking back over at the dock, Steve saw puddles of water sitting on the wood, leading back towards the stairs.

So no, it seemed like he had not left Billy to drown.

But Billy had certainly left them to drown.

Hopper followed his gaze and though without the context he probably couldn’t figure out exactly what Steve was seeing, he was able to figure out enough. 

“Okay, come on kid. Let’s get you warm.”

Chapter Text

By the time Steve made it back to his room, Eddie, Robin and the guards were gone. His wardrobe had been raided, no doubt under Robin’s supervision and the only person left was Chrissy.

She didn’t seem to register them coming in, staring out of Steve’s bedroom window in much the same way he had only a few hours previously. 

He had to call her name three times before she came back to herself, jumping with surprise and whipping around, eyes red and puffy and face pale.

Steve worried for a moment, as she stared at him, like she was staring right through him, that she was about to start screaming at him, angry that he had sent Eddie away without having the authority to do so, all but kidnapping someone from the castle and sending them over the border but that was not the case.

As bundled up as he was in Robin’s cape, he was still freezing cold and dripping wet, but that didn’t seem to matter much to Chrissy who shot forward and wrapped him up in a crushing hug, squeezing him as tight as she could.

Steve had to wrestle against the bindings of the cloak to get his arms out but when he did, he held Chrissy just as close in return.

“Thank you.” She muttered into his chest. “I’ve wanted to get him out of here for so long and I was never able to, he refused to leave me and now… just thank you for getting him out.”

“I’m going to get the both of you out.” Steve muttered back through chattering teeth.

“Oh!” The sound came soft from her mouth but concerned all the same. “I’m sorry, here.” She took him by the elbow and led him towards the fire.

“I’ll wait outside while you change into something warm and dry.” She said, shooting him a weak smile before disappearing out of the door.

With shaking and almost numb hands, Steve took the clothes Hopper offered him and they were both silent as he helped Steve get dressed again, feeling the warmth surrounding him doing a little to lift the heavy weight that had settled over his heart. 

When Hopper let Chrissy back into the room, Steve holding out a hand to her, he faced the two of them with a sombre look in his eye.

Chrissy took Steve’s hand in both of her and stood at his side. Her skin felt burning hot against his own, still seated and chilly as he was next to the roaring fire of his room and he squeezed her fingers. 

Until they got back to Torthúil, they were all each other had. They’d both lost their best friends and their romantic interests in one fell swoop and Steve knew he’d do what he could to at least try to keep her sane, keep her company until they were all reunited.

“As long as they got out of the castle without being seen, no one would know that Eddie survived.” Hopper’s entire being was grim and resigned, even the gleam of his armour seemed to have been dulled. “I think it’s best if we keep it that way.”

“What?” Chrissy’s voice was high and reedy, her hand starting to squeeze a little too tight around Steve’s.

“Unless we find out that they know he survived, we keep up the charade that he drowned. For his safety as well as our own. At least until we’re out of this fucking hell hole-” Hopper caught himself, clearing his throat. “Apologies, Your Highness.”

Chrissy had opened her mouth, the tiniest amused tilt to the corner of her mouth when Steve’s bedroom door burst open.

The three of them stood there staring in shock. 

It was one thing for soldiers to force their way into Eddie’s room, but Steve was the crowned prince of another kingdom and with that came a certain sense of security and decorum.

But apparently not any more.

The soldier stood there looking at the three of them, panting and with a wild glint in his eye.

Hopper’s hand snapped to his sword but Chrissy had flown across the room before he could even unsheath it.

“Wayne!”

Ah, so this is Eddie’s uncle. 

“Chis- Your Highness,” Wayne corrected himself mid-word, eyes darting up to take in Steve and Hopper as well. “Your Highnesses. They told me my boy ran away in the middle of the night. But he wouldn’t do something like that, Your Highness,” he turned back to Chrissy, “you know he wouldn’t. Something’s happened to him, we need to find him.”

Steve pushed himself to his feet, waving Hopper off who moved to help him.

“Close the door, please.”

Even though he had just been told to pretend like Eddie had died, drowned in the sea behind them, therefore go along with what Wayne had been told, that Eddie had run away in the middle of the night, it wasn’t right.

Wayne was Eddie’s family and he clearly cared about his nephew, so it was with his shoulders pushed back and his shaking hands clasped behind his back that Steve told Wayne all of what had happened to his nephew, including kidnapping him and sending him into the woods with his soldiers and advisor.

Wayne approached him, with an unreadable look on his face, Hopper taking a step to the side, almost to block Steve off before Steve stopped him.

Wayne came to a stop just in front of him and stood stock still for a few seconds, eyes darting between Steve’s as though examining him.

Without warning his arms shot out and Steve found himself crushed to a plate armour chest, squeezed tight with a rough pat on his back and a gruff “Thank you, Your Highness.” before Wayne let him go like he’d been burned, taking a step back and standing firmly to attention again, almost waiting to be chastised for touching royalty.

Steve smiled at him. “Call me Steve. And you’re more than welcome. I’ll do anything in my power to keep Eddie safe.”

Wayne only looked at him, giving him a sharp nod before something was communicated silently between himself and Hopper, almost like two wolves sizing each other up.

Their staring contest was broken when there was another knock at Steve’s door and with a sigh, Steve stepped across the room to open it.

Apparently his bedroom had now become their war room for the upcoming day ahead until they could leave tomorrow.

He was surprised but relieved to see Lucas on the other side, looking a little breathless but there was no panic on his face so whatever he had to say was hopefully not going to shatter Steve’s whole world.

Once he’d been waved in and the door had been closed behind him, Lucas gave Wayne a wary up and down, only conceding once Hopper told him he was an ally.

“They got out okay.” Lucas breathed, a wave of relief rippling throughout the room. “They weren’t spotted by anyone apart from Max who pretty much demanded to go with them.”

A small bittersweet smile spread over Lucas’ face, like he was smitten with her tenacity but sad to see her go at the same time.

“She refused to be left behind. Said that they couldn’t stop her from following, even if they said she couldn’t come.”

“So Max has gotten out too?” Chrissy asked, her arms pulled in tight to her body, nestling herself in between Wayne and Steve.

“Yes.” Lucas nodded, his smile getting a little brighter.

Now with the confirmation that Eddie had gotten out safely if not still a little exhausted and panicked, at least he knew he had Robin and Max with him and hopefully that would be enough to keep him sane until they were all reunited again. 

“Wayne.” Steve said, looking up from where he had been staring at the flagstone floor as they spoke around him. “Can I ask you a favour?”

Steve kept his eyes peeled as the two of them moved swiftly and quietly down the hallway. He had a small wooden box clutched in his hand, one that Wayne had watched with wide eyes as Steve had ripped the luxurious velvet lining from, leaving only the bare untreated wood on the inside.

The hallway was empty and Steve could only hope it would remain that way for the next five or so minutes it would take for them to get in and out.

Steve gave the door in front of them a gentle push open and found Eddie’s room beyond.

He was sure there were many things here he would have loved to take with him, but they were on a time limit and if they were spotted it was going to be very difficult to explain stealing from the castle they were due to leave the next day.

Steve stopped just inside the threshold, taking a big breath in through his nose, smelling the lingering scent of Eddie and his flower, hoping it wouldn’t be too long before he’d be able to smell it again.

The room was a little unseated, Eddie’s jewellery and regular clothes strewn about and there were a few plants toppled over and broken on the floor as if there had been a struggle in here and Steve had to push down the rage bubbling inside of him, thinking of it.

Despite what he had just thought to himself, he couldn’t help himself from snatching up Eddie’s rings, his earrings and necklaces, the chains that he usually hung from his belts while Wayne watched him with narrowed eyes.

Steve silently held his hand open, offering them to him.

“I think he’d like to have them with him. You can give them to him when we meet again back home.”

Wayne’s mouth was still a hard line, but he took the jewellery with delicate hands and stowed them away carefully in a pouch on his belt.

“You didn’t come here just for a few trinkets, did you?”

Steve shook his head and waved Wayne over to the wardrobe in the corner.

“I don’t know much about plants or flowers, I’m hoping you know more than I do.” He said, pulling the door open slightly, trying not to let too much light in. “I’ve seen Eddie move these before,” he pushed some clothes to the side, revealing the Nightbloom flower nestled in at the back and Wayne sucked in a breath behind him, “but I just want to be sure I don’t damage them. Could you help me?”

Steve turned back to Wayne and nearly jumped at the look in his eye, his gaze harder and more critical than Steve had ever seen it.

“What’s your relationship with my boy?” Wayne almost growled out and Steve had no doubt, despite their differences in station, that Wayne would do anything to protect Eddie in that moment, no matter who Steve was.

“Ed wouldn’t have shown that flower to just anyone. You tell me now and you tell me true, are you playing with my boy?”

“No!” Steve squeaked out. “Wayne, Sir, I… I love him. I would never do anything to hurt him, I swear.”

The frown stayed on Wayne’s face for a few moments more and Steve didn’t know if he needed to say something else, anything else to convince Eddie’s family that he meant him no harm but Wayne just gave him a short nod and nudged Steve out of the way.

He reached into the back of the wardrobe himself and gently pulled the flower from the wood, depositing it with careful fingers into the box Steve was holding open, feeding the roots into the grooves of the wood.

Once all of the flower was out and safely tucked away in the box that used to contain Steve’s circlet, he closed the lid and held it out to Wayne for him to take.

It looked like it almost pained him to refuse but Wayne said “I won’t be able to justify carrying a wooden box around the barracks without it being examined. Swear to me you will keep it safe.”

“With my life.” Steve responded, trying to put as much conviction as he could behind the words, hugging the box to his chest. 

Things were starting to look a little more hopeful for him now that the Nightbloom was safely tucked away in a satchel over Steve’s shoulder. He knew Eddie would have wanted it kept safe and away from the people here. No doubt if they had found it nestled in the back of the wardrobe they would have probably been able to surmise that it needed darkness and wood to grow and Steve wouldn’t let that happen, not when Eddie had worked so hard to keep it hidden from them.

He should have known that that hopefulness wouldn’t last.

Or at least that it would have been soured a little.

Hopper was waiting for them at his bedroom door, rather than inside, almost half in half out. His shoulders were tight and his moustache was twitching with irritation and Steve faltered in his steps wondering just what the fuck was it this time. 

Hopper held a hand out, stopping Wayne from following Steve inside and something must have passed between the two of them to tell him to listen because Wayne took a step back, not visible from inside the room.

Steve clenched his jaw and stepped in to see both the Queen and Billy had arrived in his absence, making themselves comfortable in his room, on his chairs in front of the fire while Chrissy hovered near the door, like she was ready to run at any second. 

“What an unexpected surprise.” He said to the room at large, unable to keep all of the coldness out of his voice and just barely stopping himself from lunging across the room to break Billy’s neck while Billy watched him like a hawk.

The queen shot him a wide smile, apparently delighted with herself and unable to keep it at bay.

“It’s unfortunately something unexpected that brings us here. We thought it would be best to deliver the news ourselves.” She sighed, as if the weight of her words was too heavy but her smile persisted. “It appears the Outsider has up and absconded in the middle of the night.”

“Indeed?” Steve asked, his teeth clenched.

“I know you two were terribly fond of him, but I suppose people like that just can’t be trusted.”

Steve couldn’t even dignify that with an answer. 

“And you?” He asked, his eyes turned to Billy. “You were quite fond of him too, weren’t you?”

The queen’s face immediately fell into something sour and, dare Steve even think it, jealous?

Billy opened his mouth to respond, no doubt something snide and smug but the queen cut over him.

“A passing curiosity, really. It is unfortunate that we will have to part ways on such a sour note of a member of our castle stealing off in the middle of the night but I hope that it will not change your perception of your welcomed time here.”

So the queen thought Eddie had disappeared in the middle of the night did she? Steve had no doubts that it was under her command that Billy had set out to assassinate Eddie. But apparently Billy was too much of a coward to tell her that Steve had been there. That he’d seen it happen and he knew that she was talking out of her ass. 

He didn’t seem happy that he wasn’t given a chance to speak, no doubt wanted to spread his oily words to try and convince Steve to keep his mouth shut but Steve was going to do that anyway.

After all, they had all agreed to pretend that Eddie was dead.

And Steve wasn’t going to give the queen a chance to send out a hunting party after the group he had sent off only a couple of hours ago.

Regardless, she would find out eventually that Eddie had survived. The king and queen would be travelling to Torthúil in a few weeks time for the wedding but by then Chrissy, Eddie, Wayne and Max would be safe and under the unwavering protection of Steve’s entire kingdom, so he could wait to rub it in her face. 

“Not at all.” He smiled.

Watching the Stoirmeach castle get smaller and smaller in the distance behind them had Steve feeling like he could breathe again for the first time in a month.

The king and queen had barely shown any interest in coming out to see their eldest child off for what would probably be the rest of her life and Chrissy herself didn’t seem surprised by it. She looked almost unbothered at the way they carelessly waved her off.

But now that they were finally on the way home, Steve felt his shoulders drop in relief and tried not to think about anything too hard.

It would have been proper for he and Chrissy to ride together in a carriage by themselves but luckily for them, they had plenty of people around to pay chaperone for what was going to be an entirely platonic marriage. 

Eddie, Robin and Max were probably only hitting the border now while Steve, Chrissy and the rest of their party were still a couple of weeks away.

He just hoped that Robin would be able to introduce him gently to the whirlwind that was his home life because no doubt, all of the kids and especially Dustin were going to attach themselves like leeches to both Eddie and Max.

Time seemed to drag, day in day out travelling through the woods went so much slower than they had a month previous.

Back then Robin and Steve had been nervous and not exactly looking forward to their month away from home. After they had met up with Chirssy and Eddie at the border, then their travels were a bit easier but still uneasy, made more hopeful by new company.

Now, however, Steve and Chrissy were without their best friends and desperate to see them again, spending most of their week travelling with each other, talking quietly and sharing embarrassing stories to lighten the mood.

When they made it to the border between their two kingdoms, Steve wasn’t sure what he was keeping an eye out for, like there was going to be a carving on the wood somewhere to let him know they had safely made it across.

But there was no such message carved into the wood because of course there wasn’t.

Hopper rode ahead of them, stopping in at the border village that they passed by and he came galloping back within a half an hour, a letter clutched in his fist.

Steve nearly ripped it from his hand and he and Chrissy huddled together, reading over Robin’s signature chaotic but somehow streamlined scrawl.

They had made it across the border. They were safe. They weren’t followed.

She’d left that letter with an innkeeper over a week ago.

They would have been back in Torthúil for a few days now.

Steve nearly cried with relief and he tucked Chrissy into his side with a squeeze when she did begin to weep.

All that was left for them now was to make it home. Steve brushed his hand over the satchel on his hip, the same one containing the little box with the Nightbloom, the one he had not let out of his sight since he’d first tucked it away safely.

The first hint of colour pushing in through the windows of their carriage, rows and rows of the Rainbow Sea cresting over the hill backed by a bright blue sky almost had Chrissy pressing her nose up against the window in awe.

Almost as far as they eye could see, out into the horizon the Rainbow Sea stretched, a wash of bright hues and strong floral smells nearly brought a tear to Steve’s eye, this more than anything telling him that he had finally arrived home.

Poking up just beyond the horizon were the tall gleaming white towers of his home, barely cutting into view against the blue sky when a shadow of horses began to ride towards them from the distance.

Chrissy’s body went rigid beside him, fear and anticipation coming off of her in waves but Steve could feel nothing aside from excitement.

Because there would only be one group of meddling little shits who had no doubt been keeping watch over the horizon for their arrival and had probably snatched whatever horses they could get away with from under the stablehand’s nose.

With a wide smile he turned to her, holding his hand out.

“Come on, they won’t bite, I promise.”

Chrissy blinked her big blue eyes up at him only for a moment before she slipped her small hand into his own.

Their caravan had come to a slow halt at the sight of the party riding out towards them so Chrissy and Steve were free to step out of their carriage along with Lucas who had been chaperoning them under Hopper’s strict instructions.

Though Steve thought it was less Hopper’s instruction and more that Hopper knew Steve wouldn’t get up to any ‘canoodling’ when one of the kids was around.

As Steve, Chrissy and Lucas stood, watching the horses and their riders get closer Steve’s heart leapt up into his throat at the sight of dark curls and leathers astride the black horse, Thunder.

Eddie looked as light as Steve had ever seen him, riding with a power to him that Steve didn’t know he’d possessed. He was followed closely by Robin on Bimmer and Steve could make out all of his kids on horses behind, some doubled up, some like Max on her own.

Steve nearly took off in a sprint towards them but for Chrissy’s hand in his, reminding him that he was her only tether here between what lay behind her and in front of her.

But he needn’t have worried.

No sooner had she caught sight of Eddie than she was racing towards him, Eddie barely managing to pull his horse to a stop before he flung himself down to the ground and into her arms.

Steve would have felt almost bereft if it wasn’t for the wave of people that were coming right for him, Robin and Dustin at the front of that pile, already down from their own horses.

Robin reached him first, throwing her arms around his shoulders and it was when Dustin joined the fray, bowling into him, sending all three of them toppling down to the ground.

Lucas received the same treatment from the rest of the kids, Will, El, Mike and Max all piling on top of him talking a mile a minute, same as what was happening all around Steve, Dustin speaking at such a pitch and volume he thought his eardrums might burst, Robin babbling alongside him.

From then it was almost like pass the parcel. Dustin abandoned Steve to tackle Lucas back down to the ground, El disappeared from the pile of kids to hug Hopper tight around the middle, Robin and Chrissy shared their own soft and long lasting hug in which Steve was sure they were whispering to each other.

Eddie himself had looked down at Steve for a moment but his gaze had been drawn upwards when someone else stepped out from in between the carriages and wheelhouses stacked behind them.

Eddie’s eyes went wide and before Steve could even turn to look he’d been off like a shot, running into the open arms of his uncle Wayne and clutching on just as tight as El had to Hopper.

Steve smiled to himself and let his head fall back into the grass, the blue sky above him, the smell of flowers around him, happy to let the celebrations and reunions swirl around him, comfortable and familiar.

He would have loved his own sweeping reunion with Eddie but he’d never pull him away from his uncle and from Chrissy.

He must have been sick with worry the entire time, it was no wonder that-

“You gonna stay down there all day, Stevie?”

Eddie’s head popped into view above him. His cheeks were rosy, his eyes were bright and alive, he was dressed in not the same dark leathers that Steve had been used to seeing him in but mismatched pieces from both Steve and Robin’s wardrobe made up of the darkest items they had.

It suited him.

Steve grinned up at him as he held a hand out and he let Eddie pull him to his feet, landing upright in Eddie’s space and not allowing himself another moment away from him, he took him into his arms, wrapping him up in a tight and far too intimate hug but he could not find it within himself to care at that moment. 

“I’m so happy you’re okay.” Steve whispered to him, his voice getting a little choked up as he felt that same fear that had surrounded him for the last week take hold of his heart again.

“I am,” Eddie muttered back, running a soothing hand up and down his spine. “I am okay, thanks to you. You got me out, it’s okay. I’m here. I’m alright.”

Steve could only hold him tighter.

“I want to kiss you really bad.” Eddie half laughed to him, still keeping his voice low.

“Soon.” Steve breathed, enjoying the shudder that he got in return.

“Robin’s put me up in her room. So I can come and sneak into your bed as often as I like.”

Steve clutched on a little tighter, his mind going to all manner of places, none of which were appropriate in the middle of a field of flowers.

It was like Robin had read his mind. He hadn’t even spoken to her about it.

He’d have to thank her for it later.

Steve couldn’t resist, with a turn of his head he brushed his lips against the shell of Eddie’s ear, keeping the motion out of sight of everyone else.

“Can’t wait.”

The ride back to the castle was slower than the way the group of them had raced out to meet Chrissy and Steve.

Robin had jumped immediately at the chance to offer Chrissy to ride with her on Bimmer and it only took a glance for Steve and Eddie to swing onto Thunder, Steve using the excuse of holding onto the reins to press up tight against his back as they, along with the whole of the retinue made the last leg of the journey towards Steve’s home.

All of their homes.

Lucas and Max were packed onto the same horse as well, away in their own world, Lucas looking like he was on cloud nine able to hold Max close to himself and Max unable to keep the irritated scowl on her face, transforming into a bashful smile. 

Dustin was yapping away, full of enough words for all of them, talking about the things that had transpired in the castle over the last month, how Robin, Eddie, Max, Callahan and Powell had arrived at the castle in the dead of night, exhausted and grim.

How Eddie and Max had appeared unusually apprehensive of everything around them despite Robin’s attempts to assure them they were safe.

And just as Steve had predicted, Dustin had attached himself to Eddie’s hip. Though he explained it like they were just a pair of study buddies, the little laughs Eddie let out whenever Dustin mentioned ‘ quizzing ’ him on his homeland and the ink in his skin and the Nightbloom flower, Steve could tell it had probably been more of an interrogation, though Eddie seemed to have taken it in good humour.

“That reminds me,” Steve rumbled into Eddie’s ear, low in his chest, holding onto the reins one handed to pull the satchel around to the front. “I have something for you.”

With a steady hand, he pulled the box out and handed it to Eddie who looked down on it, confused.

“What’s this?” He asked, only barely opening the lid, enough to catch sight of what was inside and snapping it closed again, keeping the sunlight out.

“Oh. Stevie.” Eddie almost whimpered, leaning back into his chest, hugging the box close to him. “Thank you.”

Steve took the risk, placing a small and fleeting kiss into Eddie’s curls.

The stairs leading up to the front doors of the Torthúil castle were full of people, in much the same way they had been when they arrived at Stoirmeach, but this time it was not only the staff in the castle but a few of the townspeople as well as Steve’s mother and father, waiting for them to arrive.

People had already begun to break away, running to greet their family and friends who had travelled with them as part of their household staff to Stoirmeach, reuniting with kisses and hugs and cheers of celebration.

Steve’s own parents along with Claudia and Joyce raced down the steps to meet them, sweeping Steve up into their own crushing hugs as soon as he alighted from his horse and he was so incandescently happy to be home.

When they all pulled back, Joyce removing herself from the fray early to dart off in Hopper’s direction, Steve turned back to find Chrissy standing close to Robin, almost tucked under her arm, unable to hide the wide apprehensive gleam in her eye.

Steve smiled back at her and held his hand out, squeezing her fingers tight in support as she took a step forward and he introduced her to his parents, who, for all their faults, were not even half as bad as her parents had been.

“You’re most welcome here, Christine.” His mother smiled down at her.

“Yes,” his father agreed with his own smile. “We hope you’ll be most comfortable here.”

“Tell me, dear,” Claudia piped up from the side, “are you hungry at all?”

Chrissy stared wide eyed between the three of them, squeezing Steve’s fingers back before answering back with a nervous smile. “Please call me Chrissy. And I am alright, for the moment, thank you.”

“Well then, Chrissy, you must tell me all of your favourite foods so I can be sure to have them on hand.”

Chrissy gave Claudia a bashful smile and a little nod of the head.

“Come, come now.” Queen Josephine puffed out her chest. “We don’t want to overwhelm the poor child. Robin and Eddie dears, would you help our darling Chirssy to get settled in her rooms?”

Chrissy nearly jumped as Eddie slung an arm over her shoulder and Steve was just able to catch him muttering to her, “weird, right? Took me a while to get used to it too.”

King Robert let out a little snort, clearly also having heart what Eddie muttered but he just clapped a hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“Those are some odd ones you’ve brought back.”

Steve grinned and nodded back. “They are but they’re good people.”

“Oh, we don’t doubt it.” His mother said, turning to lead them back up the steps. “Chrissy seems very nervous, poor dear. Were things very different back in her home kingdom?”

Steve grimaced to himself. “You have no idea.”

Having Eddie, Chrissy, Max and Wayne in Steve’s home was like filling a hole that he didn’t even know was there.

Max had become fast friends with El and both she and Lucas seemed to immensely enjoy the game of cat and mouse they had going on with each other. 

Wayne had apparently expected to start out in the Torthúil barracks as a common footsoldier, same as he had been back in Stoirmeach, but once Hopper had become aware of the depth of experience he had both in battle and his knowledge of other more secretive lands, he quickly rose up to be something of an envoy between them and the people of the Abyssal Forest who were slowly warming up to… maybe not any kind of trade agreements but at the very least conversation.

Chrissy was brighter than Steve had ever seen her. 

She took to the freedom Torthúil offered her like a duck to water, almost jumping at the chance to regularly ride horseback with Robin and take part in more strenuous activities she hadn’t been allowed back in her home. Archery, jousting, ball games she wanted to try all of it and Steve was more than happy to join her whenever he could.

Robin and Chrissy’s rooms were right next to each other and more than once in the last few weeks he had gone looking for one of them, only to find their respective bedroom empty. He often waited a couple of hours after that to go looking for them again, lest he come upon something he could never unsee. 

And then there was Eddie.

What could Steve really say about Eddie that could possibly encompass all that he was?

He was the most alive that Steve had ever seen.

He hadn’t known Eddie was interested in music but as soon as it had become apparent that he wasn’t going to be scolded for going near the instruments they kept in the music room, he tried them all.

And he was quite good at a great number of them, though he seemed to harbour a particular love for the violin. 

Much in the same way Robin and Chrissy did, Eddie rarely spent his nights in his own room.

Many of his days were also spent with Steve in his room too, if they could get away with it.

Days like today where Steve was glaring into the mirror, trying to get his hair to sit properly, artfully draped over his circlet.

It was going to be a long day. And not only because it was his wedding day but because it would also be the first time he would have to face Chrissy’s parents again after everything they had all been through.

“It’s gonna be okay, Stevie.”

Steve turned back to his bed, wanting to keep the scowl on his face but as always, he was completely powerless by the sight before him.

Eddie was comfortably sprawled back in his plush mattress, dappled in early morning sunlight, catching in his curls and eyes, propped up by an obscene amount of pillows, almost melting back into them, a book propped up in front of him and naked as the day he was born save for a thin sheet that was doing very little to hide his tall and lithe figure. 

Steve had to fight himself off from jumping back into bed to join him. He had only just gotten his hair looking right again, after all.

“You’re very calm for someone who’s about to come face to face with a monarch who tried to have you killed.”

Eddie shrugged with a mischievous little grin sprouting in the corner of his mouth. “I’m not calm at all, I can’t wait to see her face.”

He glanced up at what must have surely been a pout on Steve’s face and with the grin spreading, slipped out of bed, letting the sheet fall away and approached.

He raised his hands up, giving the circlet on Steve’s head a minor adjustment while Steve’s hands were magnetically drawn to Eddie’s hips, fingers digging into the soft pale flesh.

“You can’t do this to me the morning of my wedding, it’s unfair.”

Eddie just grinned at him, pressing his body flush against him.

“We’ve got your whole wedding night to celebrate. I’m sure Chrissy and Robin will be doing the same.”

The only saving grace Steve got was a knock at the door, Robin’s signature beat and with a little mocking pout Eddie pulled back, turning and disappearing through the door adjoining their two rooms. 

Steve huffed, trying to get himself back under control.

“Come in!”

Robin poked her head in through the door, sprigs of flowers woven through her hair, ready for the festivities. 

“They’re here.”

Steve groaned out to the ceiling. 

“Fine.” He grumbled. Let’s go see these assholes.”

If there was nothing else he could be glad for, then he’d be glad that Chrissy wouldn’t have to face them on her own. She was hidden away until she’d be walking down the aisle toward him and she wouldn’t have to face her parents unless she wanted to.

The great hall was decked out for the event, swaths of delicately woven and fine fabrics hung from the ceiling and windows in bright colours, complimenting the flowers that had exploded around the room, all matching up with the intricately stained glass windows and mosaiced floors all combined together to look like something out of romantic legend. 

And in the centre of it all were Chrissy’s parents, her father looking around with a vague but distant amount of interest while her mother’s lip curled at all of it, her head held high and her nose pointed in the air, as if she were above all this pomp and circumstance.

It appeared that Steve had gotten at least one of his wishes. Billy wasn’t here. He’d been left rotting back in Stoirmeach where he could stay forever in his own conniving misery as long as Steve was concerned.

One of the hall boys, carrying a bouquet of flowers nearly as tall as he was nearly collided with her, Queen Laura pulling back with a snarl, almost spitting at him in her vitriol, telling him to watch where he was going and to know his place.

Steve couldn’t get down there fast enough.

“Excuse me!” His voice almost boomed out across the hall. The boy’s wide and scared eyes looked up at him and he started babbling his apologies, the flowers shaking along with him.

“It’s alright, Jack, it’s okay.” Steve said to him, patting him on the shoulder. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Steve cut his eyes back up to Queen Laura and was almost gleeful that he didn’t have to pretend to be pleasant to her anymore.

“We do things differently in this kingdom, Your Majesty. I would thank you to have more respect than that.”

The queen almost growled at him, opening her mouth to snarl something back but Steve just grinned at the figure that had appeared behind her.

“Stevie.” Eddie said, smug smile firmly in place to go along with his beautifully braided hair, dark leathers and a few flowers tucked into his curls. “We’re ready to begin.”

The queen turned, her face pale and shocked and Eddie’s smile only got wider, prractically leering down at her, begging her to say something else.

But she had been shocked into silence, only able to stare at him with an open mouth as Steve pushed his way past and followed Eddie up to the front of the great hall, Robin waving the king and queen away to take their seats with just as much care and respect as they had shown her previously.

Both Steve and Chrissy were endlessly thankful that the ceremony went quickly, not really wanting to stand at the top of a packed great hall for hours but they were in luck, the feast approaching quickly, everyone stuffing themselves to bursting before starting to properly enjoy themselves amongst the music and the mead.

It was a testament to how happy Chrissy was that she barely even glanced in her parents direction that night as she shared dances with Steve, Robin, Eddie, Max and El, her face bright and delighted.

The night only began to wind down as Steve and Chrissy were sent off to their ‘marriage bed’, as was tradition and Steve had managed to stash another bottle of mead up with them, so while they waited for the crowd to disperse and forget about them, they sat on Steve’s bed, drinking and giggling together, taking bets on who would be the first to burst through the doors once it was safe, Robin or Eddie.

The both lost when Robin and Eddie came in together, looking like they had been hovering outside the door for a while before they had the opportunity to come in, Robin taking Chrissy’s hand in hers and stealing the last of the bottle of mead from Steve’s hand before disappearing out of the door. 

Eddie took a leaping jump, landing in a pile on top of Steve’s bed, grinning up at him with rosy cheeks.

“Did you enjoy your wedding day, Stevie?”

“I did.” Steve grinned back, brushing a curl from Eddie’s face. 

“You want to enjoy your wedding night too?”

Steve leaned down, nuzzling his nose into Eddie’s neck, tracing those patterns of leaves and vines with his lips.

“Absolutely.”