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rohad93 · 4 years

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A Knight Affair: Redux - Shadowed

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Rosaline asked for maybe the seventh or eighth time as she and Greggory stood outside the carriage with Azurine and Aurelia by her side. She looked down at her four year old son, held securely in Azurine's arms. She hadn't been parted from little Steven for more than a few hours since he had been born.

"They watch him all the time," Greggory tried to soothe, laying a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Rose." He patted her shoulder. Rosaline frowned, worrying her scarred hands together.

"Everything will be fine," the queen assured, hefting the boy higher up in her arms. "Go" she shooed the princess away with a wave of her hand.

Pink stepped forward and pressed a kiss to one of the boys pudgy cheeks.

"Momma will be back in a few days," she said to the boy, who smiled.

She hugged Blue before she finally allowed her husband to help her into the carriage, climbing in beside her. Once the door closed the driver jerked the reigns, and the carriage slowly pulled out of the courtyard and out the gates.

Yellow nodded at the two guards on horseback as they followed behind.

"Bye momma!" Steven waved a little hand at the disappearing carriage.

"She will be back before you know it, my sweet." Blue pressed a kiss to her nephews dark head before turning around and going back inside the palace with Yellow following behind her as they stopped in the grand entrance way.

"I have cleared the rest of my day, what shall we do, my little prince?" Blue looked at the curly haired toddler.

"The garden!" he immediately answered with a wide smile making the queen laugh.

“He does seem to love all manner of plants and flowers.” Yellow observed, a smile tugging at one corner of her lips.

“Shall we retire to the garden then, captain?” Cerulean eyes settled on her questioningly.

“If her majesty and his highness so desire.” She tilted her head at them with a smile.

Steven began to squirm in her arms until Blue was forced to set him on the floor. The moment his feet touched the plush red rug laid down over the palace’s stone floor, he was running in the direction of the garden, past several servants and guards who looked fondly at the prince as he passed.

“It seems he’s not going to wait for us,” Yellow chuckled, folding her arms behind her back as they started after him at a much more sedate pace, knowing where he was going to end up.

“So it would seem,” Blue agreed, covering her bright smile with a hand.

“When do you think he’ll realize Rosaline and Greggory aren’t going to be back in just a few hours?” Yellow asked idly as they followed the young prince’s trail down the halls to his mother’s private garden.

"What do you mean?" She glanced at the knight curiously.

"He's never been away from them for very long. He's not going to be as calm once he realizes they aren't going to be back in just a few hours," she explained.

"Oh, you’re an expert on small children now?” Blue asked with a small grin; she nudged the now frowning knight.

“No, I saw it happen a lot in the orphanage when people left their children there,” she explained with a grunt. “It was usually that night or the next day they realized their parents weren’t coming back.”

“Greggory and Rosaline are coming back.” Blue rolled her eyes at the dour forty year old knight.

“It’s the same principal,” she mumbled as they stepped out into the private garden, no servants were around, but they could hear the rustling of foliage from somewhere among the rows of brightly colored flowers and vibrant green bushes.

“Steven?” Blue called. A small giggle was their only answer.

Blue only grinned, sharing a look with the now smirking knight as they separated.

Yellow walked quietly through the rows of plants, careful not to make a sound. A feat that would have been impossible had she been wearing her armor; as it was, her leather boots made no sound as she walked softly through the paths between the rows of plants.

“Steven…,” Blue called in a sing song voice as she walked down a row of plants, the long, pale blue gossamer skirts of her dress rustling the grass. Another giggle sounded a few feet farther back and Blue looked up at Yellow, who nodded and walked silently down the row toward the source of the noise.

They both stopped next to a hydrangea bush filled with lage, violet flowers; Yellow held yup her hands, poised to strike.

Amber and cerulean flickered to each other briefly

“Oh Steven…,” Blue called once more.

The leaves rustled and Yellow thrust her hands into the foliage, a delighted squeal followed by loud giggles filled the garden as she pulled the boy out of the bush. Blue laughed as Yellow held him aloft, some leaves and twigs stuck in his hair

“We found you.” Yellow smirked.

“You found me,” he giggled, wrapping his arms around the knight’s neck, pulling her into a hug.

Her grin turned into a soft smile as she wrapped one arm around his tiny frame and pressed her cheek to the top of his curly head.

Blue watched the two and couldn’t help but smile adoringly at them, a warmth spread through her chest as she watched the prince and knight interact.

Yellow set him down after a brief moment.

"Come on!" He beckoned them as he ran toward the gardens center.

Before Yellow could turn to follow she caught the saccharine look Blue was giving her.

"What?" she asked, cheeks flushing at the look.

"Nothing, darling." She smiled knowingly and followed Steven to the garden’s center, where the carved marble benches sat, encircling the pool that had been built in the center. The smooth stone that made up it’s lip was etched with vines and roses.

They sat next to each other on one of the benches, enjoying the warm early summer sun and watching as the boy busied himself with picking flowers from several different plants. A few roses, lilies and a handful of irises helped make up the pile of greenery in his arms.

Once he seemed satisfied with the flowers in hand he wandered back to them and sat at their feet, his little fingers fiddling with the stems.

“What are you doing, my sweet?” Blue folded her hands in her lap and bent at the waist to try and get a better look at what the little boy was doing, but he turned to shield his hands with his body.

“Not yet! I’m not done!” He looked at them over his shoulder.

“We’ll wait,” Blue promised with a smile, leaning back. The knight just snorted, thinking how much he sounded just like his mother when she was a child.

Blue gave her a light, admonishing slap to the leg, taking one of her gloved hands as they waited for him to finish.

A leather covered thumb rubbed absentmindedly over the back of her hand as they sat side by side, listening to the light breeze rustling through all the plants, creating a sweet smelling wind, with the occasional petal or leaf blowing by them as Steven worked at their feet.

Blue looked up from the boy and was surprised to find Yellow, with her eyes closed, enjoying the warm sunlight splashing across her face and through her already sunlight colored locks. If she looked close enough she could see, flashing in the light, the thin bands of silver that had begun to lace themselves between the gold.

Azurine couldn't help herself. With her free hand she reached up and threaded her fingers through the dual colored hairs.

"I know what you're doing," Yellow grumbled, but didn't open her eyes. The deep lines beneath her eyes seemed lighter in the bright sunlight.

Blue smiled and hummed questioningly.

"Playing with my gray hair," she grunted.

"It's not gray, it's silver," Blue corrected, still running her hands through them. "...and I think it's very becoming."

"On you, perhaps. Your hair has always been like spun moonlight, mine is simply a reminder of my ever advancing age." She huffed.

"It's distinguishing and I'm rather fond of it," Blue argued, tugging gently at some silvery strands.

"Flatterer," she sniffed, but her lips quirked upwards.

Before Blue could say anything else Steven jumped up.

"Finished!"

They looked down to find him holding up a carefully weaved crown of flowers in his hands.

"Is that for me?" Blue pointed to herself with an ever widening smile pulling at the faint lines around her eyes and mouth.

"Yeah!" Steven grinned at her.

Reaching up, Blue carefully pulled the gemstone studded silver crown from her head, setting it in her lap as she leaned down, allowing him to place the homemade wreath atop her head.

The bright red roses, yellow daffodils and pink azaleas stood out in bright contrast to her silvery white hair.

"Thank you, Steven." She smiled, reaching out to caress one of his rotund cheeks, making him grin.

He reached down and picked up a second wreath made of violets, deep blue Irises and white calla lilies, holding it up to Yellow, who blinked owlishly at the weaved flowers.

When she didn't immediately lean down to accept the offering, his smile faded into a wounded, watery eyed expression that instantly reminded Yellow of Rosaline, so long ago.

Without a word she ducked her head down and he instantly cheered as he nestled the flowers into the blonde locks.

"Thank you, Steven." She nodded, leaning back up, careful not to look at Blue, whose eyes she could feel on her.

Seemingly satisfied, he ran over the pool and began playing in the water.

Yellow finally risked a glance at the queen who was looking at her with a soft look and a knowing smile.

"Don't" she crossed her arms over her chest, a pink flush stretched across her nose and both cheeks.

"Those are quite becoming in your hair as well, love." She grinned. Yellow only glowered harder at nothing in the distance, making the queen chuckle.

“I only allowed it to make him happy,” she grouched.

“I know,” Blue hummed, leaning into the pouting knight captain. “It’s one of the reasons I love you so much, and for nearly twenty summers now,” she mumbled to her.

If anything the pink on the knight’s face darkened into a burning crimson. She only hummed in response, but Blue knew well enough and smiled.

She leaned back to put some space between them, least someone unexpectedly come looking for her and find them in the unexplainable position, despite the many, and often true, rumors and whispers about their association that had persisted for years among the servants and even the empire’s nobility’s

Every once in a blue moon there was an occasional proposal of marriage, but they had mostly dried up around the queen’s thirty-third year and were always flatly refused regardless.

At balls, most the young male nobles had turned to Rosaline, despite her marriage and much to Greggory’s annoyance and Yellow’s amusement.

A splash, followed by a stream of laughter made her look over at the pool, where Steven was playing, splashing his hands in the cool water. Watching him, stary thought came to her mind.

“I wish mother could have been a part of this,” she said quietly, a rush of air as Yellow whipped to look at her told her the knight had heard her.

The two of them hardly ever discussed her predecessor, despite having made peace with the fact that Winea had been a victim of her madness no less than the rest of them had, and the suffering she had inflicted on them, both mental and physical was long forgiven.

The sudden thought still surprised the knight captain.

Blue turned to look back at her, the puzzlement apparent in those amber eyes.

That was expected.

Yellow had never even known her mother, and as fervently as she cared, she could never truly understand the gravity of her and Rosaline’s loss.

“She would have adored him,” she said simply, the best way she knew to answer her consorts unasked question.

Several replies all raced to the tip of Yellow’s tongue but she swallowed all of them and instead said:

“Yes, she would have,” she agreed.

They lapsed into a long stretch of quiet, enjoying the weather before the queen finally spoke gain.

“I think it’s about time we got him something to eat.” She glanced at Yellow, who nodded as she stood from the bench, offering a hand to Blue, who smiled gratefully, holding her crown in her other hand.

“Steven!”

The boy immediately looked up from what he was doing to give the knight his undivided attention.

“It's time to go inside, It’s time to eat.”

“Coming, Yellow!” He hopped off the pools lip and trotted over to them as they started inside.

~ ~ ~

Blue woke with a start, jolting up, her heart beating so loudly in her ears she could scarcely hear anything else. Her breath came out in shallow, shaky gasps, cerulean eyes darting around rapidly in the darkness.

Their bedroom. She was in their bedroom, in their bed. She kicked off the bankets, they felt to restrictive, like she was being weighed down. The room was warm, too warm.

She touched her face with a shaky hand. Still here, she was still here. She ignored the sweat that had dripped down her forehead.

Reaching out slowly, she found the warm lump that was Yellow under the blankets beside her and exhaled another relieved sigh. The soft rise and fall of the blankets as Yellow slept on was a relief, but the dread that had settled over Blue just wouldn’t leave her.

The warm darkness of their bedroom felt suffocating, she had to move.

Carefully without waking her slumbering partner, she slid out of bed, sliding on her slippers and throwing a robe over her sheer, summer night dress and padding quietly to the door.

She hesitated a moment, tiptoeing quietly over to the cot they had set at the foot of their bed and knelt down, finding the toddler’s curly head, even in the dark with the tips of her fingers. His small body rose and fell in slow, even breaths that further calmed the thundering pace of her heart. Careful not to wake him, she stepped away and slipped quietly out of their room.

The halls were devoid of servants, so it must have been quite late or rather, early, indeed if no one was moving about the halls.

The few lanterns still burning in the halls were just enough light for her to make her way to her study. Her footsteps and the quiet flickering of the flames inside their glass and iron housing as they popped and crackled were the only noises in the cavernous halls.

She slipped quietly into her study, shutting the door behind her.

She sat in the high back chair with a sigh, reaching out with a still shaky hand, she lit the single candle sitting on the corner of her desk, it’s flickering red and orange light illuminating the papers sitting on her desk.

She leaned back in the chair, still trying to bring herself back under control. A looming sense of dread still hung over her like a cloud she couldn’t shake.

With a shaky breath she looked over at the far wall where a large painting in a brass frame hung.

Three figures, depicted on aging canvas.

An eight year old Rosaline, in a poofy pink and white dress, stood in the forefront, the somber expression on her otherwise normally jubilant face looked grossly out of place. Standing just behind the youngest princess’, to her left was an eighteen year old version of herself, staring back just as solemn as Rosaline in an elegant, sapphire and cream colored gown.

The third figure stood behind them, a hand on either of their shoulders. The flickering candle light didn’t quite reach the far wall, leaving the top half of the painting, including the third figures face, in shadows.

Blue could practically feel those gray painted eyes on her now. She pursed her lips, turning away from the old royal portrait. Normally it didn’t cause her such dread to look upon it, but tonight? Tonight it caused something chilling and unpleasant to crawl up her spine and clutch its cold hand around her heart.

She gave herself a shake, she needed to calm her nerves.

She reached down and pulled open one of her desk drawers, even in the low light she knew just where the bottle was.

She set the dark green bottle on her desk, it’s contents sloshing around as she pulled the flagon out and shut the drawer.

She pulled the cork out with a satisfying pop and poured the clear liquid into her cup.

It might be mistaken for water if not for the acrid smell wafting into her nose.

Corking the bottle, she wasted no time taking a deep drink.

It burned like fire all the way from her tongue to her belly, the warmth already helping numb her jangled nerves. This was not something she usually indulged in, but tonight seemed to call for it.

She was just about to take another swallow when the study door opened and Yellow stepped inside, still half asleep by the looks of it.

The loose white tunic she slept in hung off her shoulders, displaying the sunny colored diamond pendant Blue had given her so long ago, hanging from her neck.

Her normally carefully brushed blonde hair was a wild mass, sticking out in every direction except the the right side, pushed flat from sleeping on it. Something Blue usually found quite amusing, but not tonight.

"I’m sorry if I woke you," she mumbled quietly, eyes darting to the cup in her grasp. Yellow ignored the apology.

"What's wrong?" Her voice was thick with sleep as she padded over to the desk, her feet still bare, not bothering with her boots, who would stop or question her, especially at this time of night?

There was no sense trying to say she was fine, she didn't normally get up in the dead of night to drink in her study.

"I had a nightmare," she mumbled.

"What about?" the groggy knight asked gruffly.

Blue took another drink from the cup, emptying it. Yellow looked at the bottle knowingly, her already narrowed eyes squinted further.

"My mother," She breathed, face twisting as the alcohol slid down her throat.

"What about her?" The gruffness in her voice had softened.

Blue didn't answer for several long moments, long enough that Yellow eventually walked around the desk and laid a scarred and calloused hand on her shoulder.

"Blue…"

"What if it happens to me?" she finally spoke, a tremor in her voice as she stood from her chair and moved to pace along the wall.

"What if what happens to you?" Yellow's face scrunched up in confusion at what she was talking about.

"Madness!" Blue shouted, whipping around to face her. "What if I go mad like my mother did?" She threw out her arms.

"What? Where is this coming from?" If she hadn't been fully awake before, she was now

"I had a nightmare about my mother and what happened to her and then... it happened to me…I went mad and..." she pressed a shaky hand to her face.

"Your not going to go mad." Yellow quickly crossed the room and laid her hands on the queens shoulders.

"But what if I do, Aurelia?! My mother wasn't always as mad as she was in the end." She backed away, letting Yellow's hands fall. "It was slow for her too… we didn't even notice until she was ready to kill us all…" she wrapped her arms around herself, turning away from the knight.

Yellow didn't know what to say to Blue’s confession.

“She was kind and loving when she was younger… then slowly, before our eyes, she was… warped... into a monster… What if that happens to me? It’s so slow… what if I never even notice, disappear and never realize?" She clutched the sleeves of her robe. "What would stop me from hurting Rosaline and Greggory? You? Steven?" She choked, shoulders shaking.

In two long strides Yellow was behind her, wrapping her arms around the queen who tried to break loose but the knight only held tighter as she struggled. Soon the fight left her and her knees buckled. Yellow gently lowered them to the floor.

"That's not going to happen, Azurine" Yellows gruff voice was right in her ear as she held her flush to her chest.

"How do you know?" she choked as sobs wracked her body.

"I won't let it…" She squeezed Blue even closer, trying to quell the queens shaking sobs. “I’ll remind you, everyday if I have to,” She spoke just loud enough to be heard over Azurine’s crying. “I’ll remind you who you are, and who we are.” She promised.

They sat there on the floor for sometime, Yellow, running her fingers through the long silvery locks before Blue’s cries finally quieted into sniffles.

"Are you alright?" Yellow asked quietly. Blue nodded soundlessly, turning to face the knight.

Carefully, Yellow reached up and brushed the hair from her face, allowing her to better see the queen's puffy eyes and tear-stained face. With a thumb, Yellow gently wiped away the last of the tears.

"I'm terrified it will happen to me, Yellow…" her voice was raspy and low.

“Has anyone else in your family ever suffered from madness?” Yellow asked.

Blue sniffed, looking thoughtful. “Not that I can recall,” she admitted, trying to run her many predecessors through her mind.

“Then it probably isn’t something you’re going to inherit through your blood.” The knight reasoned. “Maybe she regularly ate something that slowly poisoned her over time, maybe she fell and hit her head, we’ll never know for certain, Azurine. You shouldn’t worry about something that will more likely than not will never affect you.” Yellow cupped one damp cheek in her palm. Blue looked up at her from beneath damp lashes.

“I know… I just don’t want to be the reason everyone I love suffers…” She leaned into the warm touch, eyes closing as she soaked up the warmth that always seemed to radiate from the knight.

“I need you to make me a promise…,” she said suddenly. Yellow looked at her expectantly. Blue bit her lip.

“If it ever happens, I want you to promise me that you won’t let me languish in madness.”

The meaning was clear.

Yellow’s jaw clenched so hard Blue was afraid her teeth might crack. The vein in her neck stuck out sharply.

“No” was the resolute answer, growled out between clenched teeth as her lover glared at her.

“Aurelia…,” Blue started.

“No!” the knight snarled violently, her yell startling the queen. “You may ask many things of me Azurine, even for my life, and I’d give them all to you; but never that!” her voice cracked. She leaned forward, their foreheads pressed together. The knight’s eyes slid closed.

“You can’t do that to me…,” she ground out, voice wavering “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She admitted, voice barely a whisper.

Blue’s heart clenched at the quiet admission. She reached up, taking hold of the knight’s face between her hand; her thumbs brushing along her cheeks. She could feel the tremors running through her.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Aurelia,” she soothed quietly, till the tremors had stopped and her breathing had evened out.

After a while, shiny amber eyes slid open to regard her.

“Forgive me?” She let her hands fell from Yellow’s face as she hummed in quiet agreement.

“Will you make me this promise instead…?” She breathed, as though they weren't the only two people in the room. Yellow eyed her warily. “Promise me that you’ll protect our family, no matter what.”

“I always have…” Yellow bit out, trying to push the thickness out of her voice.

“I know.” Blue smiled, leaning further into her, Yellow’s arms wrapping around her was automatic and Blue buried her face in her neck. For now at least, the weight that had settled on her chest since she’d woken up had lifted.

Nothing else was said for a while, till the knight gently separated herself and stood, offering her hand to the kneeling queen.

“Can we return to bed now?” She asked, tiredly, face sagging with exhaustion. Blue felt just as tired as her lover looked and nodded, taking the offered hand and allowed Yellow to help her stand. She returned the bottle to its place in her bottom desk drawer and snuffed out the candle.

The halls were still empty as they left the study, headed back to their bedroom.

As soon as they opened the door the wailing hit them.

“Oh, Steven!” Blue hurried over in the dark to the boy sitting in his cot, crying.

Yellow moved to light the candle sitting by their bed, casting a flickering glow over the room, illuminating the teary eyed toddler, sitting up in his bed with the blanket pulled tight around him.

“Aunt Blue” He blubbered, jumping up and running to her, wrapping his tiny arms around her legs. Blue hauled him up into her arms and he buried his face into her hair.

“What’s wrong, my sweet?” Blue rubbed his back soothingly.

“I-I woke up and couldn’t find momma or daddy,” he hiccuped.

“They aren’t here, remember, Steven? They’ll be back in a couple of days.” She rocked the boy back and forth. He nodded but didn’t pull his face out of her neck.

Yellow plopped herself onto the bed and watched the two, stifling a yawn as Blue cradled him in her arms, murmuring soothing words into his ear.

“Would you like to sleep with us?” She asked, running her fingers through his hair, he nodded.

“Lets go to sleep then.” She walked over and set him on the bed, he wasted no time crawling over to Yellow and snuggling into her side. The knight grunted, but Blue knew very well just how pleased she was that he went to her.

Blue slipped off her robe and climbed into the bed, pulling the blankets over them as Yellow leaned over and blew out the candle, casting the room in darkness. He wiggled around for several minutes before seemingly getting comfortable.

Within a few minutes, Blue could tell by his stillness that he was asleep, snuggled between the two of them.

Carefully Blue reached out and found the scarred and calloused hands she would recognize blindfolded, and wrapped her fingers around them. Yellow squeezed back and any lingering tension ebbed away as she drifted back to sleep.

~ ~ ~

“I missed you so much.” Pink pressed kiss after kiss to her son’s giggling face as they sat on the carved marble benches. “The meeting’s were so dull,” she lamented. “How were things here?”

“We had a wonderful time together.” Blue told her, watching the two.

“I’m glad.” Pink replied, looking up at her sister. She glanced over at the small wooden table set up not far away where Yellow and Greggory sat playing chess; both looking much to serious for a game. “I don’t understand why they play. Yellow always wins.” She shook her head. Blue chuckled.

“I think that’s why.” She smiled. “Yellow likes to win and Greggory knows the only way to get better is to play against someone better.” She shrugged.

“Checkmate.” Yellow leaned back, crossing her arms.

“Ugh” the former bard groaned, sagging.

“Next time, perhaps” The knight smirked, but the message was clear. ‘Not likely’

Pink rolled her eyes.

“Ah, while I’m thinking about it, when you and Greggory are properly rested I’d like all of us to sit for a new painting of the whole family. I think it’s time to replace the one in my study…” She looked at Pink who knew exactly which painting she was speaking of.

"I think that's a great idea. Steven might have a problem sitting that long, but we’ll try," Pink said, running her hand through her son's hair.

"Yellow won't like it either, we'll just have the painter paint them first." She smiled.

"You're going to include Yellow?” Pink looked at her wide-eyed.

“I am.” The queen nodded, folding her hands in her lap. “Surely you don’t protest?” Blue looked at her.

“No! Of course not, I think it’s great! It’s just... I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of all the rumors constantly being flung around about the two of you. Having Yellow..., no matter how many years she’s been with us, sit for a portrait of the royal family would all but be admitting that the rumors about your love affair have always been true.” Pink warned.

“So long as no one admits anything, they can think and speculate all they want, they have for years now, they always will... and they will always be true.” Blue smiled.

“I suppose so,” Pink chuckled. “Have you told her that yet? You know how she gets about anything that might give too much away.”

“You’re right, It may take some convincing…” Blue agreed, looking at the two of them. Pink caught on quickly.

“Say no more.” She grinned and leaned down to whisper in her son’s ear.

“Steven, wouldn’t you like for Yellow to be in the family painting with us?” She asked as he looked up at her with wide eyes. “Do you think someone should go ask her?”

A wide smile broke out across his face and he began to squirming in his mother’s grip. With a giggle, Pink set him down and he took off running toward his father and the knight.

“Yellow!”

#AKA #AKA:R #bellow diamond #knightAU #blue diamond #yellow diamond #pink diamond #steven universe #greg demayo

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rohad93 · 4 years

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A Knight Affair: Redux -Chapter 6

It was early morning within the borders of the Drysor empire. The first rays of sunlight just now starting to peek over the horizon and across the lush green forests and farmlands, their tenders already hard at work collecting the fall harvest before winter could sweep in and destroy an entire season of hard labor.

Even with the warmth of the coming sun, the chill of early autumn still hung in the air. Despite this, the birds still began their songs once the light had begun to stream over the horizon.

Their pitched chirping fluttering in through the open windows of the royal palace, adding a cheery step to the servants hustling about up and down the great stone halls.

Yellow groaned from her place laying face down in her and Blue’s shared bed as the light and sound began to filter into the once quiet and dark bedroom. She grunted and shuffled deeper under the thick woolen blankets.

Once upon a time, the renowned knight would be up just as the first tinges of pink began to color the sky, but she was much younger then. All she wanted to do now was sleep as the sun rose over the distant horizon.

Lazily she reached up to scratch at her head. Fingers dragging through the cropped silver hair that held only the faintest hints of its once golden color.

The sunlight splashed across the bed through the large open doors that lead to the balcony. Yellow grunted as it pierced the blanket and her closed eyes.

With a last resigned sigh, she pulled herself up, squinting angrily against the morning that had brought itself into her bedroom uninvited. Blinking blearily she took note that Blue was gone. Though that was not unusual as of late. Years of fighting were finally catching up to Yellow. She was often tired and her joints ached, while her lover had lived a relative life of ease. Blue let her sleep more often than not as her duties had gradually lessened over the years.

Until only a scant two months ago when she, under the pressure of Blue and the rest of the family, had stepped down from her post, retiring.

She had fully expected at least one outwardly dissenting voice at her continued proximity to the royal family, or her bedroom that was just next door to Blue’s on the third floor, the royal wing of the palace. At the party thrown in her honor for her years of service, there were none, just a few knowing glances from the nobility when Blue and Pink confirmed that the fifty-two year old knight would finish out her life in the comfort of the palace, a just due reward for thirty-two years of loyal and unparalleled service to the crown.

It was an all but confirmed fact that she and Blue were lovers, especially after she’d been painted into the family portrait, despite her initial protests. She could only assume that given that she and Blue were both in the twilight of their lives and the throne was secured for two more generations, it didn’t matter. Perhaps three decades ago it would have, but that was then.

With a jaw cracking yawn she flipped back the wool blankets, grunting as her bare feet touched the cold stone floor. She wasted no time getting dressed and straightening her wayward hair before wandering out into the palace, not even bothering to conceal what room she was exiting from and nodding to servants as they passed, none of them ever looked surprised.

She had always suspected they knew, they always knew what was going on in the palace, no matter how well the secret was kept.

With a grunt, she made her way down the winding staircase to the bottom floor and made her way to the dining room.

“Morning, Yellow.” Greg was the first to notice the old knight enter the room, and Steven echoed the greeting as she walked up to the table

"Good morning." She nodded, sitting at her place to the left of the head of the table, tousling a hand through the 16-year-old prince's dark curls as she walked by.

He just grinned, pushing the hair back out of his face.

"Where's Blue and Pink?" she asked, noticing the queen and princess strangely absent.

Greg just shrugged.

"Mom said she and aunt Blue had 'important matters' to discuss this morning," Steven said with a shrug as well.

Yellow hummed at that, while she was no longer the knight captain or the queen's personal guard, she was still the queen's consort and she was still usually privy to anything important going on in the palace.

She hadn't heard any news and Blue hadn't mentioned anything to her, then again, it had been Pink who said it was 'important' and if Yellow knew anything it was that Pink had a vastly different idea of what important meant at times.

If it was truly important Blue would tell her later.

She spent the morning meal chatting with Greggory and Steven before the prince had to attend his lessons and she excused herself not long after, making her way to Blue’s office.

Servants nodded to her as she passed, hurrying down the halls as they carried about with their chores.

When she found herself standing outside the queen's office door she reached up to knock just as the door swung open and she found herself standing face to face with Pink.

"Oh, good morning, Yellow!" She smiled.

From her desk inside the office room, Blue perked up at the name.

"Yellow, come in," she called.

She nodded to Pink as she walked around her through the open door, closing it behind her, Pink left.

"Good morning, love." Blue met her in the center of the room, wrapping her arms around the former knight captain's chest and laying a chaste kiss on her lips. "I'm glad you're here, I have something to discuss with you." She released the knight and went quickly back to her desk, sitting in the plush leather chair.

"Oh? Is it the same things you were discussing with Pink?" she asked, sitting on the fainting couch perpendicular to Blue's desk, and leaning back, casually regarding Blue.

If the queen wondered how Yellow knew that she had been discussing important matters with Pink she didn't let it show. She'd long ago accepted that the knight, curiously, often knew all sorts of things, even without her telling her.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. For the last fortnight or so, Rosaline and I have been discussing her ascension to the throne and my stepping down," she informed.

That caused Yellow to sit back up like a shot.

"What?" Amber eyes were wide and Blue laughed.

"I think twenty-seven years is long enough and Rosaline is more than fit to take my place." She moved around the desk sitting next to Yellow on the fainting couch.

"I didn't even realize you were considering stepping down," she admitted.

"Well, truthfully I hadn't been until very recently…, but I miss you," The queen said after a moment.

The knight couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I didn't realize I had gone anywhere," she chuckled and Blue smirked, taking hold of one of the knight's rough, calloused hands.

"In a sense you have. When you were the captain of the guard, you were with me more often than not. I don't see you near as much now as I did, and while your hand-chosen successor is more than competent, he's not you. I didn't realize how much I would miss the daily commentary or even your snide remarks after my meetings with nobles."

Yellow couldn't help what she was sure was a sappy smile as the queen spoke.

"I could always come back…" she knew that wouldn't work even before she said it and especially after as the queen leveled her with a glare.

"Absolutely not. I meant it when I said the last time you were injured would be the last time. Let your body finally rest, Aurelia. I would like to enjoy as many of our final years together as possible." She squeezed the hand in hers. Yellow just hummed and nodded. As much as she didn’t like it, she was past her prime and the last time she had been injured had almost, in a literal sense, been the last. It had taken her months to recover and no sooner then she had, the entire family was begging her to step down.

So reluctantly, she had.

“I think it was time Rosaline finally took her place and then I can take mine again.”

“And where is your place?” Yellow cocked her head.

“With you, of course. For as long as is possible.” She leaned forward, her forehead pressed to the knights. They stayed like that for several long moments in companionable silence before Yellow couldn’t help herself.

“It's horribly boring…,” she drawled, making Blue jerk back, bursting into laughter. Yellow just grinned, watching the tears well up in Blue’s eyes as she laughed.

“Maybe I can liven it up then.” She grinned when she had regained control of herself, wiping at the tears in the corners of her eyes.

"If you can't I doubt anything can," Yellow agreed with a smirk.

~ ~ ~

Four days before Rosaline's coronation the palace was a madhouse. The servants were in a mad rush to make sure everything was as it needed to be on top of their usual chores.

“Is it always like this?” Steven asked quietly as he followed Yellow out into the courtyard for their sparring session, passing by two servants practically sprinting through the halls.

“I can only speak from the experience of your aunt’s coronation, but yes, generally.” She nodded. Even with all the rushing they were quick to move out of the knight and prince's way.

“It’s going to be different, isn’t it? Mom being queen.” He looked up at the woman who in all but name was, like his aunt, another parent to him. If for some reason he didn’t feel like he could talk to his parents or aunt, Yellow was always there for him. He could always count on her to tell him the truth, though more bluntly then his mom and aunt liked her too.

His mom said that he was lucky, and she had mellowed out as she got older, though that famous temperament did sometimes rear its head. He had seen it only a handful of times in his life, though, never directed at him.

“It will be,” she confirmed, looking at him over her shoulder. “She will be busy most days, with meetings and court and everything that goes along with it. It's a great responsibility, Steven. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Steven frowned as they stepped outside into the cool, early fall air and made their way to the open area of the field near the stables where they usually practiced.

“Something else on your mind?” Yellow cocked a brow as she looked at the frowning boy, seemingly deep in thought.

“I always knew it was going to happen someday, but I guess I just wasn’t prepared… now that mom is going to be queen, that makes me next in line…,” he trailed off.

“Yes” Yellow nodded. “Someday, you will be Drysor’s king, but you shouldn’t worry about that today. That is a long way off yet, and hopefully you’ll be just as prepared as your mother. Your aunt was not nearly as prepared as she would have liked to have been, but there was no choice…,” she trailed off.

“Right, because grandmother was assassinated by Aarde rebels…” the way he said it made amber eyes narrow and Steven in turn was looking at her with a strange expression.

“Yes…,” She drawled, looking at the boy carefully. “Is there something you want to talk about Steven?”

The teenager hesitated for a few long moments before looking up at her, black starring hard into amber.

“Is that really what happened?” he finally asked and Yellow felt herself stiffen against her will.

“What do you mean?” she managed to keep her voice level and disinterested.

“I mean, whenever it happens to come up, mom acts… strange, and aunt Blue never wants to talk about it, she always changes the subject. I know that something is going on. The few times mom has talked about it, her story is always a little different...” he explained.

Yellow pursed her lips, grip tightening around the hilt of her sword and mentally cursed Pink for not being able to keep a straight face to save her life.

“I’m not naive, I know sometimes rulers are killed for all sorts of political or personal reasons… I just… want to know the truth, who really killed my grandmother?”

“Steven…,” she started slowly, trying to decide what she wanted to say. She couldn’t very well tell him that his mother had killed her own mother. Steven was a soft hearted soul, and that knowledge could destroy their relationship.

“Aarde rebels did kill your grandmother…,” she finally said. “...Because I let them,” she blurted out.

The prince jolted, looking stunned as he looked up at the knight as though he had never seen her before.

“What?” he breathed. Yellow’s mind was running as she came up with a story to fill the gap.

“I let them, allowed them to sneak into the palace. Your grandmother was going mad and refused to stop the war, men were dying every day, being taken captive and tortured to death because that was how she insisted we treat their prisoners. If your grandmother hadn’t died that day many more people would have, including your mother, aunt, and myself. I did what was necessary for the empire and our family.”

“No… No! You killed a member of MY family!” He slapped his hand against his chest and his voice cracked. Luckily they were alone in the field and no one heard the prince’s accusation. “Does mom know? Does aunt Blue? Do they know that you betrayed them? No… if they did you’d never be a part of our family…they trusted you…!”

Those words cut Yellow deeper than any wound she had ever received in all her years in service to the crown, but despite the ache in her chest she held strong. Better for him to hate her then his mother.

“I did what I had to,” she drove home her confession for a crime she had never committed.

The prince’s face scrunched up and with glazed eyes turned around and ran off.

Yellow clenched her teeth.

She had to find Blue.

She didn’t run nearly as fast as she used to, and her knees hurt with the effort but she made it to Blue’s office quickly, luckily the queen didn’t seem too busy.

“Azurine…” Yellow started, quickly closing the door behind her.

“Good afternoon, love…” She looked up and frowned upon seeing the look on her paramour’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Steven came asking me about your mother’s death,” she said without preamble. Cobalt eyes widened at that.

“What?”

"Apparently he asked his mother about it and she acted as she always does when the subject is brought up…which made him suspicious."

Blue winced. On the very rare occasion that what had happened to their mother came up, Rosaline had a tendency to act… skittish, at best. She'd long ago accepted that what was done, while an accident, was necessary. Though it was still in everyone's best interest that no one found out the truth.

"He knew that something about the story wasn't right." Yellow sat on the fainting couch and rubbed her forehead tiredly.

"What did you tell him?" Blue finally asked, but the long drawn-out pause from her consort did not bring her any comfort.

"Aurelia…?" She pushed.

"I told him I did it…," she finally said.

"What!?" Blue jumped out of her seat.

"I told him that I let the rebels into the palace so they could assassinate Winea!" She threw up her hands.

"Why, why would you say that?" Blue hurried around the desk to stand in front of the knight.

"Because he knew something didn't add up with the way you two act whenever it's brought up I had to say something!" she scowled, standing to look down at the queen. "I didn't want him to blame or hate Rosaline for what happened!"

"What did he say?"

Yellow sighed and told the queen exactly how the conversation had gone. When she was done Blue was frowning mightily, but there was a sadness in her eyes.

"You didn't want him to hate Rosaline, but he hates you now though… doesn't he?" She frowned. After so many years together she could just see the pain the knight was trying to hide behind false anger. Aurelia had always been like that, hiding vulnerable emotions behind anger and stoicism.

But, Steven?

He had been the knight's greatest weakness ever since he had been born.

Yellow jerked, as though she had been smacked, before scowling.

"… If I had done my duty correctly none of us would have ever been put in that situation!" she barked, her face scrunching up as soon as the words had left your mouth. "If he or anyone else should hate someone for this, it should be me…"

Blue blinked at her in shock as the nearly 30-year-old confession spilled out of her mouth. Had she really blamed herself all this time for that?

"Aurelia…" the queen started, setting her hands on the knight's tightly drawn face forcing those amber eyes up to look at her.

"You have always been an incredibly skilled, brave, and valiant warrior… but you're just one person… nothing you did or said back then would have changed the outcome of the war nor my mother's deteriorating state of mind. Nothing that happened back then is your fault…" she said this firmly, looking, unblinkingly into amber eyes.

"If I had only…," she started but was quickly cut off.

"No!" The queen's voice cut through the tense air and made Yellow freeze.

"There was nothing… you could have done, Aurelia. You have to let that go, my love." Blue soothed, smoothing her fingers gently over the deep creases of Yellow's face.

Amber eyes closed tight, fighting back the stinging sensation in them, but she gave a curt nod.

"Good…" she pulled the knight closer, letting the emotionally drained knight drape herself over her.

It wasn't very often Yellow let all her emotional baggage out, or revealed that she had any at all, though Blue knew better, so when she did it was better to just let the knight go through it, no matter how long it took.

She could feel the slight quaking in Yellow's body as she kept her face buried in the queen’s neck.

She ran her fingers gently through the short hair that was now nearly the same shade as her own.

She needed to go and speak to Pink.

Yellow’s grip around her waist tightened, pulling her in closer.

...but not now.

~ ~ ~

Rosealine chewed on her lip as she sat in front of her vanity.

She was only two hours away from her coronation as queen but she was currently worried about anything but.

Her family was on the verge of being fragmented beyond repair.

Her sister had come to find her two nights ago to tell her about what had transpired between her son and Yellow.

“What do you want me to do? If I tell him the truth…,” she trailed off. Greg sat quietly in the corner, watching the sisters. Rosaline had told him long ago about what had really happened with her mother after some nights of waking up in near hysterics from the nightmares it once caused.

He knew this was not a matter he needed to be involved in.

“Maybe he’ll be upset at you for a time,” Blue agreed, reluctantly. “But will you really let him spend the rest of his life hating Yellow, letting him believe that the person he’s known and trusted all his life betrayed us and let his grandmother be murdered?” Blue flung out her hands as she paced around Pink and Greg’s room. She was far from pleased about this whole thing but she knew Yellow well enough to know how heartbroken she was that Steven, who once followed her around everywhere she went since he could walk, now wouldn’t even look at her.

“Why did she have to go and tell him that it was her!”

“Because she would do anything for myself, you, or Steven!” The queen was shouting now, beyond frustrated with Pink. “She has felt guilty about what you had to do for twenty-seven years, Rosaline!”

“She had nothing to do with that…” Pink frowned, turning away.

“She has always felt that if she was better, stronger, if she had done something different, it never would have happened… in a way, she really believes it was her fault, but we both know that’s not true. What happened was an unfortunate accident and there was no choice… but Steven doesn’t…,” she trailed off.

“Why haven’t you told him then….?” She clenched her fists.

“Because Yellow made me swear I wouldn’t… and it isn’t my place to tell him what you did…”

“So it would be better for him to hate me instead of her?” She mumbled. Blue jerked back at that.

“Rose…” Greg said the name in disbelief and she glanced at him before immediately looking elsewhere, she couldn’t stand the look on his face, like he didn’t even know who she was.

Suddenly her sister was only an inch away with the most furious look she had ever seen.

“Yellow has loved and protected you for nearly all your life, been our shield, and saved our lives.”

She snatched up her sister’s scarred hands, holding them up at eye level. “Fought and killed and taken lashes for us!” her grip on Pink’s writs was tight to the point of pain.

“Azurine…” Pink started but Blue was far from done.

“She has loved and protected your son just the same. Steven has been like our own son, and Yellow loves him dearly, and it kills her inside that he won’t even look at her now because she’s once again being your shield because she’s always felt guilty about what you had to do like she failed you back then and believes that your relationship with him should be worth so much more than hers.” Blue’s voice only got quieter as she spoke, yet the intensity only seemed to grow.

Pink’s eyes stung.

She loved Yellow of course and she knew her son did as well and she could only imagine how hurt he must feel, thinking Yellow had done something like that, someone he had known since he was born.

But…

“I don’t want him to hate me…,” she choked. Blue released her hands and stepped back.

“If you can live with this then so be it…” was all she said before quickly leaving the room. The door didn’t slam, but it was shut much harder than necessary.

Now she was two hours out from becoming the queen of the empire and she’d never felt less worthy in all her life.

She could tell Greg was disappointed in her, but he tried to be supportive. Steven had been melancholy and withdrawn, though he tried to hide it.

Blue wasn’t talking to her unless it was necessary and while Yellow was, she couldn’t bring herself to even look at the former knight captain without guilt and shame clawing up her throat.

She looked at herself in the vanity mirror before burying her face in her hands.

She was tired, she was again being plagued by nightmares about what had happened that day.

The day she had stabbed her mother through the heart with that dagger.

She had thought that long ago day was well and good put behind her, but now here she was, facing the fallout yet again.

She pulled her face out of her hands and looked at the blotchy pink scars that still stood out brightly on her skin.

She would have died that day if not for Yellow. There were a few times, if she were being honest with herself, that she would be dead if not for the knight.

If she had never taught her to use a dagger, her own mother would have killed her all those years ago.

Now here she was again, hiding behind the valorous knight.

She sighed to herself.

A knock on the door made her look up.

“Come in” She turned around in her seat to face the door.

A head of curly black hair popped into view through the cracked open door.

“Hey mom,” Steven said.

Pink smiled at the sight of her son.

“Come in, honey.” She stood and met him halfway.

“Are you excited for the coronation?” she asked him.

“Oh… yeah, actually I wanted to talk to you about that…,” he started, looking uncertain.

“What about?”

“I was just thinking… Yellow isn’t the knight captain anymore… do you really think she needs to sit with the rest of us...I mean, she isn’t really family…,” he said this while looking off to the side, like he couldn’t make eye contact with her.

Pinks hands clenched tightly into the fabric of her dress as she looked at Steven.

All she could see was her son and Yellow playing together when he was young. How she would pick him up when he cried and the next thing they knew he was giggling like nothing had ever happened. A lifetime of memories and trust, destroyed because she was being selfish.

She bit her lip so hard she thought she might have tasted blood.

“Mom?” Steven broke her out of her thoughts.

“Sit down, Steven. We need to talk.”

~ ~ ~

Blue sat in front of her vanity, running a brush through her long silver hair and watching Yellow out of the corner of her eye as she fussed with the ties and claps of her long-waisted tunic.

“I miss my armor…” Yellow frowned at herself in the mirror as she finally got the last of the clasps closed on the much to opulent shirt.

“You don’t need the armor, love,” Blue said, coming up behind her and straightening the collar of the gold tunic. “and honestly, this has far fewer ties and hooks than your armor,” she laughed.

“Azurine… it’s fine.” She tried to shoo the soon-to-be-former queen’s hands away but Blue just made a face and pushed away her hands.

Yellow grunted, her arms dropping to her sides as she submitted herself to Blue’s fussing. Once she was happy she smiled and released the fabric.

“Satisfied?” Yellow asked, cocking an agitated brow at her.

“For now, but I expect to not be later, hopefully, you’ll still be around then.” She smirked at her in the mirror and was pleased when the knight grinned back at her.

She had been so dour the last two days, it was good to know she still could smile.

“I’ll see what I can’t do.” She turned around and wrapped her arms around Blue’s waist, pressing a kiss to the queen’s temple making her laugh.

A knock on their door made Yellow roll her eyes as she was forced to release Blue and stalk over to the door.

Servants had been coming and going all morning, doing last minute check-ins with Blue about everything that needed to be done.

Everyone had been given explicit instructions to go and talk to the advisor in the ballroom if they had questions.

She wrenched open the door and her mouth opened, ready to berate whoever it was that could not follow the simplest of instructions, but stopped cold upon seeing Steven standing in the doorway, looking up at her, face red and fat tears dripping down his cheeks.

“Yellow…,” he suddenly bawled, flinging himself into the knight, his face buried in her chest.

“Steven…!” She took a step back, pulling him inside. Blue hurried over and closed the bedroom door.

“What…,” she started only for him to cut her off.

“I’m sorry!” he wailed into the gold fabric, his hands fisted into the material at her back. “Mom… Mom told me everything that happened, I’m so sorry…,” he sobbed, voice muffled and shaking.

He felt an arm wrap tightly around his shoulders and a hand carded gently through his hair.

"It's all right." The knight's gravely voice was low in his ear. He pulled back just enough to look up into amber eyes.

"How can you just say it's all right after all the awful things I said to you?" he demanded, though it held none of the qualities of a demand, especially with his voice quivering and tears dripping down his face. "You should be angry…," he sniffled.

"I'm not,” Yellow assured him, looking into his tear stained face. He buried his face back into the damp tunic, unable to hold the knight’s gaze any longer.

“I’m sorry…,” he repeated like a mantra while Yellow just ran her hand through his hair, trying to soothe the hysterics.

Blue watched them quietly, relieved.

Finally he seemed to run out of energy and Yellow gently pushed him out to arms length. His face was red and he sniffed, trying to compose himself.

“Rosaline told you what happened?” she finally asked and he nodded.

“Yeah… about the rebellion, the riots, Ft.Luna...the whippings… and the dagger…,” he trailed off quietly and Yellow sighed as Blue walked up to stand beside them. The couple shared a look before Blue looked at her nephew.

“What do you think about all of that?” she asked him carefully.

“I understand,” he sniffed again. “No one ever talked much about anything that happened during the rebellion, so I didn’t know all the… horrible things she did…”

“She did… but your grandmother was gone long before those things happened… the person we knew at the end was… someone else…,” she trailed off, glancing at Yellow. “No one could have prevented the things that transpired back then.” The pointed comment seemed to hit it’s intended target as amber eyes slid to regard her before turning back to Steven.

“I’m sorry I lied to you, Steven...”

“It’s okay.” He smiled. “Mom explained everything… but I still feel awful about everything I said....” He frowned, looking at the floor. A hand on his back brought him back against the knight’s chest.

“It’s alright, Steven.” She patted his back. He glanced up at her before squeezing her tightly.

“I love you, Yellow.”

The knight froze for a long moment before squeezing him back.

“I love you too.”

~ ~ ~

It had been some time since the ballroom had been done up to this extent, probably Azurine’s coronation, in fact. It certainly felt the same, many of the faces were different, hell, even her face would be nearly unrecognizable to a younger her, yet there was a distinct sense of familiarity in the scene.

The party was in full swing when she looked around and noticed something missing, or rather someone. Blue had vanished from the main ballroom.

Yellow didn’t allow herself to panic as she might once have, Blue was more than capable, as she had proven over the years. She took a long swig out of her goblet of wine.

Blue often preferred solitary moments or just the company of herself or the rest of their family. These parties were a necessary part of court life, but the now again princess had never been fond of them.

She'd probably taken this unprecedented time to slip away unnoticed. After all, most of everyone’s attention was on the new queen.

She looked over to where Rosaline and Greg were, surrounded by all the delightful, boot-licking nobles. She chuckled to herself as she moved through the crowd, most people moving out of the renowned knight's way. Even without her armor or sword, Yellow had earned her sterling reputation and was still known to be very close to the royal family.

Her famous temper and willingness to cross blades also made people move out of her way.

She had a pretty good idea of where Blue was.

No one paid her any mind though as she moved out onto the balcony, sure enough, Blue was leaning against the railing, looking out over the courtyard.

“I had a distinct feeling I’d find you here,” she said and Blue glanced over her shoulder at her and smiled.

“I just needed a moment to myself.” She scooted over, allowing Yellow to lean down over the railing beside her, wine in one hand

“Of course, Princess.” Yellow grinned to herself as Blue chuckled.

“It may take me a while to get used to that again,” she admitted, leaning into her.

“Well, you’re not alone. I’m sure it will take some time for Rosaline to respond to her new title as well.”

“Perhaps…,” Blue hummed, reaching over and taking the goblet of blood-red liquid out of Yellow’s hands and taking a drink.

“How does it feel?” she asked, and Blue looked at her quizzically over the rim of the cup. “Not being queen anymore, knowing that when you wake up tomorrow, you don’t have to make decisions that affect an entire empire?” she clarified.

“I don’t know yet, everything has only just happened, I don’t know how to feel yet,” she admitted with a frown, swirling the liquid around.

“That’s alright… we have all the rest of our lives to figure out what to do next.” Yellow wrapped an arm around Blue’s waist.

“Actually, I do know for certain something I would like to do now…” Blue twisted in the knight’s grip to look up at her. “Something with you.”

“Oh?”

“I want us to be married.”

Amber eyes blew wide as she looked down at her.

“What?” was all she managed to say after a long moment of looking at Blue as though she had never seen her before.

“I want us to be married,” she said again, slowly, lips quirking up at the shocked look on Yellow’s face.

“Married? We… we can’t…” she started, but Blue was quick to cut her off.

“Why not? I’m not the queen, you’re not the knight captain. Our responsibilities to the empire are through, our only duties are to each other now… and I want to be yours and you mine, truly.”

Yellow reached out and took the cup of wine from her, setting it on the ledge before taking both of Blue’s hands in hers.

“I have always been yours, Azurine.” She squeezed the other woman's hands in hers and held her closer and Blue smiled. “We don’t need to be married for that to be true.”

“I know, but… I've always wanted too," she quietly admitted.

"You've never said anything…"

"It was never a possibility before. We had duties, responsibilities, and the eyes of the court on us always…," she listed off. "Not to mention the backlash it would have caused if anyone had found out…" She frowned.

"That, unfortunately, is still a very real possibility," Yellow reminded her gently with a frown.

"Yes… but I don't care anymore, about any of them or what they think about us. We wouldn't go around telling everyone of course… it would be for us, not to make some statement to the people of the empire." She pulled at the hands laced with hers. “Have you never thought about it?” she cocked her head. When she was much younger she had thought about it often, but as the years had flown by it had become more of a faraway fantasy she sometimes liked to think of.

“Perhaps once or twice…,” she admitted with a shrug. “I just never thought of it that way. Marriage has always been a sort of political arrangement, a way of securing inheritances, alliances, and heirs. I’ve never associated it with love; especially love like ours.”

“The kind people think is wrong…,” Blue mumbled and Yellow chuckled, making her look up at the knight with a frown.

“No, Azurine. The true and sincere kind.” She smiled, her normally sharp amber eyes had a soft look to them and Blue couldn’t help but return the smile. “I will be the first to admit, with all the secrecy and hiding, especially when we were younger, that our relationship has never been easy, but you and I have stayed together all this time because we wanted too, because it was worth doing, not because we were bound by a contract of marriage.”

“Perhaps that’s true… but I… I want that, Aurelia.” She looked down at the ground. Everything Yellow said was true, but she’d held this fantasy close, for so long, now that there was a possibility of it coming true she wanted it now more than ever. She had always held the idea close to her heart, but in a distant way that she had always regarded things she had viewed as impossible.

Now the opportunity was sitting closer than ever.

But she had never considered that Yellow may explicitly not want to.

“If that’s what you want…” her head snapped up, cobalt locking onto amber.

“Truly?” she asked. Yellow couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“When have I ever denied you anything?” She smirked, a single brow hiked up as though she were expecting an answer.

“Oh, Yellow!” She jerked her hands free, only to wrap them around the taller woman’s neck. “I love you.” She squeezed and all Yellow could do was wrap her arms around the princess’s back and smile.

“We need to speak to Rosaline,” Blue said when she finally released her. “Though I doubt that will be possible tonight…” She looked around Yellow, back toward the ballroom where uproarious applause was suddenly filling the air.

“No, but we can at the very least let her know we need to speak with her, besides that, we still have to make our goodnight’s to her before we retire.”

“You’ve grown tired of the festivities already?” She smirked knowingly, to which Yellow snorted.

“As though you haven’t,” she countered.

“True… let’s go find her.”

They walked back into the ballroom nearly unnoticed. A few servants and nobles caught sight of them and graciously bowed or nodded to the two as they moved through the crowd toward the small mob of people crowded around Greg and Pink. They easily parted for the pair, moving a small distance away from the royals, and Pink looked more than delighted to see them, at least for all of five seconds.

“Your Majesty.” Blue curtsied and Yellow dipped into a bow, both trying their best to keep straight faces.

“Both of you stop that,” Pink huffed with a frown. “I’ve had all the groveling I can stomach for one evening,” she mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for the three to hear.

“Best save yourself up, tomorrow will be full of scrapping and groveling.” Yellow couldn’t help but grin at the annoyed look on the younger woman’s face.

“Of that, I have no doubt…”

“We simply came over to inform you that we were retiring for the evening and that we wished to speak to you about something at your earliest convenience tomorrow,” Blue informed her, which did grab the new queen’s attention.

“Oh, what is it?” she asked and Greg looked equally curious.

“Well…” She pushed a stray strand of silver hair behind her ear and glanced up at Yellow out of the corner of her eye before turning her gaze back onto her sister.

“Yellow and I wish to be married…” she said quietly.

“What!?”

~ ~ ~

“You’re certain this clergyman you’ve brought in is trustworthy?” Yellow crossed her arms, eyes narrowed as she regarded Pink from her place on the chaise across the room, sitting next to Blue. Greg sat in a chair across from them, quietly strumming his lute.

“I’m certain, he’s a friend of Steven’s and I’ve heard a number of complaints about him from the higher rankings in the church for being too ‘liberal’ or so they say. I’d say he’s exactly what we need.” She seemed sure, but Yellow was going to reserve her judgment for now.

“Let’s speak to him before you decide anything, darling.” Blue rested a hand on the knight’s forearm, trying to soothe some of the nervous agitation she could just see, sizzling like lightning under her lover’s skin.

“Are you two certain this is what you want? Just us in my office? I know that nothing else is possible, but It’s not exactly a grand celebration…,” Pink trailed off.

“We don’t need it to be.” Blue smiled at her sister's concern. Pink and Greg had had a large, lavish wedding, not simply because they could but it was what Pink had wanted.

She and Yellow, more so than that they couldn’t, didn’t want it. All they needed was each other.

There was a brief knock on the door before Rosaline called for them to come in. Steven quickly stepped inside with another young man, though a bit older than him. He was tall and thin, gangly looking really, with small, black eyes. He was dressed much like any other member of the empire’s major religion, the black and gold robes a dead giveaway.

He looked more than a little jittery as he walked inside.

“I brought Rorick, Mom.” Steven grinned at his mother.

“Your Majesty!” the young man bowed deeply, going nearly vertical. It looked painful.

“Thank you for coming, Brother Rorick, I’ve asked you here because we are in need of your services.” Pink stood from her chair and walked around her desk.

“Anything you require, Your Majesty.” He nodded enthusiastically

“Excellent. I need you to officiate a marriage. However, this will not be just any marriage. You will be sworn to secrecy and if you ever tell a soul what happened here, I will have you beheaded.”

Rorick visibly paled

“Mom!” Steven blanched.

The three women and Greg said nothing as the two young men looked at them in tense silence before Rorick nodded slowly.

“Of course, my Queen,” he finally found his voice after several long moments.

“Good. If you’re prepared…?” Pink trailed off and the man nodded, pulling the worn, leather-bound book off the ties at his waist.

“Um, if I may ask, who shall I be joining?”

“Us” Yellow stood from her seat, taking Blue’s hand and helping her stand from the seat.

Rorick’s eyes widened as he looked at the former Queen and Knight Captain.

“The rumors were true…,” he mumbled, but everyone heard him.

“Rumors?” Steven blinked at his friend.

“Oh...uh, well…,” he stammered.

“Yes, tell us about these rumors.” Yellow insisted. Blue poked her in the ribs, but she too was curious.

The… cardinals have whispered for years that her royal highness, Princess Azurine’s refusal to marry during her reign was because she had been… turned away from the right path for… unnatural perversions by knight captain Aurelia Stone…” He glanced around nervously.

Yellow snorted at that. Very clearly remembering that it had been Blue who had kissed her for the first time. Seeming to pick up on her train of thought, Blue poked her again.

“I don’t think I’d call it that… but yes, Aurelia and I have been together for a very long time, and we wish for you to marry us if you would, Brother Rorick.”

“Ah, of course, your Highness.” He nodded. “It would be my pleasure.” He smiled brightly, the shock wearing off.

“I will admit, that is not the response we were expecting.” Yellow couldn’t hold her tongue.

“Ah… yes, I suppose it probably wasn’t. I am not of the same mind as that of my brothers… I joined the church to help spread messages of love and hope… but there is...far less of that in the parish then I had thought. My views make me… unpopular among my superiors,” he admitted.

“Your views are precisely what we require, Brother Rorick, so, if we might?” Pink looked at them and Yellow nodded.

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Rorick nodded and held up the book, looking at Blue and Yellow expectantly.

Turning to face each other, Yellow held out her upturned hands. Blue smiled at her as she slid her own hands into the knights, soft, smooth skin sliding against the scarred and calloused skin beneath.

Steven held his hands up to his mouth, trying not to make too many happy noises as he watched the tender look that passed between Yellow and his aunt.

Rorick cleared his throat and opened the book.

~ ~ ~

The night was still and quiet, only the faintest of breezes were blowing, through the leaves of the trees in the courtyard below.

From her spot on high, on the balcony of her and Blue's shared bedroom yellow watched the guards as they walked the routes she had designed.

It was late, the sliver of the waning moon sitting directly overhead. She was waiting for Blue to come back from a last minute meeting with Pink about who knew what.

Yellow thumbed the silver band now sitting on the third finger of her right hand, feeling the smooth, warm metal on her skin.

Other than the ring and her secret change in surname, no one would ever know that anything had changed at all.

But that had been the point hadn't it?

This wasn't for anyone else, it was for them.

So long as Azurine was happy, so was she.

she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she never heard their bedroom door open, nor the quiet footfalls approaching her from behind.

"You look like you're thinking too hard, love."

Yellow jerked as Blue laughed, moving to the former knight captain's right side.

"I was just lost in thought." She looked back down at the courtyard below.

"So I noticed…" She leaned against Yellow's side, long silver hair falling over her shoulder. “Anything important?” She glanced up and Yellow shook her head, reaching her right hand up to run through the long strands, her ring almost invisible among all the silver.

“What did Rosaline want?” she asked distractedly.

“She’d like us to do some work for her, she’d like us to travel to the embassy’s and make sure everything is running as it should be, it’s overdue, but there are things that she is needed here for; It’s only if we wish too,” she quickly added on before Yellow could protest.

She made a rumbling sound in her throat that Blue knew to be reluctant acceptance. Some traveling outside the palace might be just what the knight needed.

They stood there, huddled together, swaddled in the quiet darkness, content as Yellow ran her fingers through her wife’s hair and Blue was more than happy to allow the gentle ministrations.

“Did you think it would feel different?” Blue finally broke the quiet. Yellow made a questioning humming sound. “Finally getting married. Did you think it would feel different?” she clarified, turning her head just enough to look up at Yellow.

“I never had any expectations.” She shrugged. “I had never considered it a possibility before.”

“I thought about it quite often when we were younger,” she admitted, but Yellow didn’t really seem surprised by that.

“I suppose I was always more prone to flights of fancy then you…,” she trailed off with a frown.

“Everyone is more prone to flights of fancy than I am.” She moved to wrap her free arm around Blue’s waist and pulled her in closer. “I was content with every day we simply could continue being together.” She pressed her temple against Blue’s and the frown that had found its way to the princess’ face quickly melted away.

“Did you think it would feel different?” she asked in turn.

“I’m not sure what I expected, truth be told.” she held up her hand, looking at the smooth gold band standing out in stark contrast against her skin.

“Are you happy?” Yellow tried instead, reaching out to hold the princess’s hand, running her fingers over the shining gold band wrapped around Blue’s finger. The hand in hers turned over, lacing their fingers together, the rings clinked together quietly as Blue turned to press her face against the side of the knight’s neck.

“Immeasurably.”

#bellow diamond #A knight Affair #AKA:R #Yellow diamond #Blue diamond #Steven Universe #AU

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