"No man’s all good." "I always knew what I was taking on." "You love who you love." "Maybe that’s what made me love you all along." "True love’s something you don’t choose." "I can’t take any more of this." "Death would be a welcome friend." "Why not raise a little hell?"
"No man’s all good."
Geoffrey frowned. “Well, I am,” he told her. Etiny could have had a million different arguments to prove him wrong, like the fact that he had cheated on his first fiancee with her own handmaiden, or that he’d catapulted his kingdom into war, that he disobeyed his parents, lied to his friends, and even now was lying to the woman he loved, not telling her that he was going away soon.
She seemed to say it all with a single cocked eyebrow. Geoffrey sighed, rolling his eyes, quiet settling over them as he shifted to lay on his back in the meadow that they called theirs. The prince stared up at the blue skies. “You’ve never loved me for being perfect anyways,” he finally said, not meeting her eyes, “And perfect or not, someday you will have to let me in all the way, Etiny.”
"I always knew what I was taking on."
"That doesn’t mean you should have to grin and bear through it," Geoffrey told her, looking at Etiny softly. He could see the storm behind her eyes, the anger and sadness. She had been queen for almost a year and still people did not trust her. Rumors flew from courtesan to courtesan, whispered in every hall just as Etiny or Geoffrey turned their backs.
Rumors like having been Johanna’s father’s whore, that she was completely barren, or that she was a witch practicing magic and hypnotizing the prince. They were all ridiculous, but every time someone muttered “whore,” “witch,” or “seductress” at her, it took a toll not just on Etiny, but Geoffrey too.
The next day, Geoffrey went to his guards. “The next time you so much as hear the queen being insulted, I want you to bring me the wrongdoers,” Geoff said, his voice cold and commanding, “What they’re doing is treason, and they will be beheaded and hung as traitors if we catch them again.”
"You love who you love."
"Yes, and I love a stubborn farmer’s daughter who is a pain in my arse and apparently likes to watch me worry," Geoffrey muttered, crossing his arms. He felt less tense having Etiny around the camps now, to have someone to confide in, but he knew what they would say. The prince’s mistress and future wife was here, and no doubt she’d be whispering pretty thoughts and ideas into his head.
It wasn’t what it was really like or what it would ever be, but that was what they’d say. Geoffrey already had to deal with his enemies, he didn’t want to deal with his friends and comrades too.
"Maybe that’s what made me love you all along."
Geoffrey grinned at Etiny’s teasing. “Then I suppose my parents were right about you,” he said, shifting the golden crown on his head. “I’d always thought it was my looks, but… I suppose you really are just after my crown.”
Etiny seemed to always squirm away from the lavish and expensive or even the sheer idea of her being royalty. But that didn’t stop him. “Let’s see how it looks on you,” Geoffrey smiled, taking off his crown and placing it on hers. He pressed his lips together, pretending to really think. “Quite regal, if I do say so myself.”
"True love’s something you don’t choose."
"It’s destiny!” their daughter finished, being well-versed in romantic tales thanks to her grandmother. The young girl seemed to be hanging on every word, though it was clear her twin brother was not quite so interested, asking periodically when the fighting would begin.
Geoffrey watched from the doorway as Etiny told the story, their story. Of a prince who was betrothed to an ice princess and fell in love with her maid instead. How the prince had fought a war for their love, the maid fighting just as hard despite the prince wanting her to stay in a castle and wait for him to return home.
And as the children lay asleep in their beds, Etiny giving him a look that she’d caught him, Geoffrey found himself agreeing with her. True love isn’t something you choose, but even if it was, Geoffrey would have chosen this.
"I can’t take anymore of this."
"Then leave!" Geoffrey shouted, throwing his hands up in the air, "If you want to go, then go!”
The sensible part of him knew that Etiny did love him, but Geoffrey was too angry to think sensibly. So, all he remembered were the other times. When she insulted the rich and their way of life, when Etiny straight out refused some things like getting handmaidens, and even the things that Geoffrey had seen before but never had the courage to dwell on. That look on her face whenever he spoke about the wedding or their coronation or children. How her eyes widened with something close to fear. Whenever he saw that look, Geoffrey imagined a bird trapped in a cage surrounded by its predators.
"You never wanted this anyways," he muttered before stalking away. He would not beg or grovel, And he never wanted to watch Etiny walk away from him, so he did it first. Geoffrey was a prince, and he would keep his pride.
"Death would be a welcome friend."
"Don’t you dare say that, do you hear me?” Geoffrey replied instantly, but Etiny didn’t answer him. Tears stung his eyes as his grip on her hand tightened. The prince that had first fallen in love with Etiny would never have imagined that he’d find himself in this position. He watched as Etiny laid in bed, her head turning away from him to look out the window. The moon shone through, the only light in the bedchamber.
She hadn’t gotten out of bed since the baby died, the little prince that had stolen his parents’ hearts upon his first breath. But those breaths were limited, and after only an hour, the child proved too weak and sickly to survive. Since then, Etiny had not spoken to anyone except Geoffrey and her mother, and even then it was very few words.
"Etiny, please…" Geoffrey begged, quiet desperation flooding his tone. The Etiny he had known had had fire in her eyes. This one’s were cold and empty. There was no fight left in her. "Please, we can… We can try again." He was met with more silence, and soon Geoffrey could feel his chest shaking with sobs. "Please! Just get out of bed! You can’t leave me!”
But she already had. The Etiny that Geoffrey knew died when their baby did.
"Why not raise a little hell?"
Perhaps because my parents explicitly told us to behave. Or else, Geoffrey wanted to say, but he didn’t. It’d just end up with Etiny rolling her eyes and then they’d be right back here.
"Fine," he sighed, shaking his head, "But I don’t think this is going to make your family like me any better." And he’d always wanted brothers. The fact that Etiny had so many seemed perfect, providing Geoffrey with more company, though a couple of them were still afraid that they weren’t addressing him properly or that any displeasing thing they did to the prince would result in their heads being chopped off.
Geoffrey followed Etiny’s gaze to Peter. He was never quite good at pranks, but he had a feeling Etiny was an expert.
