Regina was sure that she had experienced enough surprises in the last few hours to forever prevent her surprise at any future event.

  Thus, she was not sure why her heart raced and her entire body froze when she heard the voice she had been planning to seek anyway.

  After all, that voice belonged to Artem, her dear Artem –

  Her Artem, who was even now emerging into that pale light, his lovely face tired but still alive–

  Only Regina felt her blood run cold as she saw the bruises peppered all over his body, even as Artem gingerly held his arm at an odd angle.

  "What happened to you?" Regina cried, her concern overcoming any prior fear or shock. "Are you injured? Can I do anything?!"

  Artem paused briefly, something almost like confusion passing over his face, before it was replaced by a brilliant smile.

  "You need not worry, my darling sea urchin," Artem replied gently. "I encountered some... difficulties with... assassins, but I am perfectly well. Though if you do wish to aid me –"

  "I believe," said the dry, unimpressed voice of Regina's father, "that that is our signal to leave."

  Regina started at that, realizing that just the sound of Artem’s voice had made her forget her parents entirely.

  Yet she could not bring herself to be ashamed given her relief over Artem’s return.

  Instead, she simply leaned briefly against her parents’ soft grasp on her shoulders as they passed into the darkness…

  Then she focused on Artem once more.

  "So," Artem said, sounding slightly… disconcerted. "You have reconciled with your parents."

  "Oh yes!" said Regina happily. "We had many… problems in the past but now that we have spoken, I understand why they did as they did. Even with all that has happened before, I feel as though I have a true family again–”

  Then Regina paused in horror.

  She had just spoken of family…

  Like Artem's mother.

  Like Artem's unconscious mother whose body had been left somewhere just behind her.

  "Why do you not," Regina said, almost hysterically, "tell me more about what happened to you? Why do you look so bruised?"

  Artem's eyes widened and while he was distracted, Regina discreetly glanced behind her, hoping the Queen also did not look too bruised –

  It then took everything in her for Regina to not scream.

  Fortunately for her, the Queen did not look bruised.

  Unfortunately for her, the Queen did not look bruised because the Queen’s body was missing.

  Before Regina could even contemplate the horror of what happened to the Queen, Artem answered her attempt at distraction.

  "I am injured," Artem hesitantly said, "because your cou… er… my assassins were very… uhm… determined to beat me."

  "Before they killed you?" said Regina, puzzled. “That does not seem like something professional assassins would do.”

  "The assassin I encountered," Artem dryly said, “seemed to love what she wanted to do.”

  “Then I hope you gave her just what she deserved,” Regina responded, incensed at the thought of someone trying to cause poor Artem pain.

  “Believe me,” Artem replied, wincing. “She certainly will not feel that way.”

  "Thankfully,” Regina cried, “you survived her determined efforts and are now reunited with me!”

  Artem began to smile, though it oddly faded from his face when Regina asked, “By the way, is Henrietta with you too?”

  "So I survived," said Artem, not quite meeting her eyes. "Also, in entirely unrelated news, your cousin Henrietta is currently unconscious because she accidentally brushed against a mild paralytic pin when I was defeating the… er... assassin. However, she is otherwise completely unharmed and will surely be grateful to see you again."

  Regina sagged in relief at the thought. She trusted that Artem would make sure her cousin was safe before leaving her. Thus, once Regina and Artem had finished a long overdue conversation, they would reunite with Henrietta.

  Of course, that still left the problem of what happened to the Queen… who Regina feared would wreak vengeance on Regina or her parents for rendering her unconscious.

  Even so, the Queen was not around to trouble Regina now. Instead, there was only Artem, beloved Artem… and the surge of love that rose in Regina as she looked at him was overpowering.

  So it was that Regina pressed her lips to his in a soft, searching kiss.

  Artem tasted of blood and dust, even as Regina knew she must have smelled of dirt and ashes.

  Yet when she was so thoroughly embraced by his sweetness and his calm and his gentleness and his warmth...

  None of it even mattered.

  When she finally had to pull back for air, his eyes were brighter and more tender than ever.

  "Regina," he whispered, and that was all he said before she shared what had been in her heart long before this.

  "I love you," Regina confessed. “So much that it pierces me.”

  "I know," said Artem, lightly touching her face, "but it is so very good to hear."

  "I love you," Regina repeated, pushing through everything that had held her back, had kept her from sharing the truth, "and also, the Nevilles are trying to kill us through their Buren assassins."

  Stolen story; please report.

  Artem froze mid-stroke, something much darker and less gentle passing over his face.

  "Are they?" he said and Regina had never loved him more than when he waited for her to continue.

  "The Nevilles feared a Sheridan rise to power," said Regina, continuing to watch Artem's strange expression. "They were sure their fertile southern lands could be divided to give in part to a new Sheridan duchy."

  "That was," Artem evenly replied, "very clever of them to realize."

  "When I became engaged to you…" said Regina, trailing off as she tried to find the words to explain the convoluted conspiracy they had become entangled in.

  Luckily, it turns out further words were unnecessary.

  "When we became engaged, the Nevilles feared your royal engagement would lead to your family accumulating more power and land," Artem finished. “They must have even feared your family would rise from a mere marquessate to becoming a duchy. Assassinating us was their only chance to slow the rise of Sheridan power - and they continued trying to do so even on the day of our wedding.”

  It was strange to realize how much Artem actually knew, but Regina appreciated how quickly he grasped the situation.

  Artem cupped her cheek gently once more and said, almost hesitantly, "What do you want, Regina? Do you wish for your family to be granted a duchy?"

  Perhaps Regina had spoken too soon about Artem's perceptiveness.

  "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Regina shouted before wincing at her fit of rage.

  Then, calming herself, she repeated her words.

  “I would never,” Regina quietly but firmly said, “want the elders of my family to profit from me. I love Henrietta and… and my parents, and I feel sorry for my many young cousins but as for my elders…”

  Artem’s gentle touch upon her cheek calmed her enough to keep going, even as she felt herself tremble with rage and fear.

  “I hate the elders of my family,” she said, barely holding back the simmering rage. “I would never wish for them to receive anything they hoped for, given the means they use!”

  Regina had never before had the courage to admit as much aloud. Even in her most private moments, speaking against her family’s elders almost felt like… like blasphemy. Speaking the words to Artem felt as if she was inviting retaliation from the most powerful people she knew.

  However, in the face of Artem’s gentle eyes and calm acceptance… Regina no longer wished to conceal all she knew or felt.

  “The Sheridan elders,” she confessed, “have been murdering the younger members of my family for years! They have done so to keep the secret of our family's magic, as well as to keep that magic from becoming less powerful in our bloodline."

  Regina was not sure whether to be happy or sad that Artem did not look surprised or horrified by that revelation.

  Then again, given all that she knew of the Alpin family… she could only imagine how many painful family secrets he had been hiding as well.

  Still, as she took a deep breath to calm herself, Regina realized that the hardest part was still to come.

  "The family magic that our elders have killed their children to strengthen," said Regina, her voice trembling only slightly, "is the ability to see the future. So I hid my power from them because otherwise they would murder me."

  For a moment, she stared at Artem’s face, scanning it to see –

  She was not even sure what she was expecting.

  Shock?

  Horror?

  Fascination?

  Fear?

  Yet all she saw in Artem’s steady gaze was calm.

  His complete lack of surprise even made Regina wish to revisit some of the events of the last six months.

  "You can see the future," said Artem, and it was not a question. “Yet you believe that your power is so weak, your elders might destroy you if they knew what you could do.”

  “I know my elders would destroy me,” Regina flatly replied. “My powers are… limited and they have killed other people in my family for having similar weaknesses. My own sis–”

  Regina stopped, unable to say more, even as Artem carefully began to stroke her cheek.

  Regina could only close her eyes against the memories, even as she absorbed Artem’s warmth against her body.

  “I see,” Artem said again as Regina calmed under his ministrations. “In a family like yours, even the ability to see the future may not be enough to survive.”

  Then he added, “So what did you see, Regina? Were they visions of how to succeed in life?"

  If only.

  "I saw visions," Regina responded, angry and not even quite sure why, "of the repeated assassinations of both you and I."

  Yet though she assumed that Artem would be horrified or alarmed by what she had revealed -

  To her immense shock, Artem's entire face suddenly glowed with almost blinding joy.

  Until that moment, Regina had not realized that Artem had been guarding himself against her as well. It was only when Artem began to speak that she realized just how much he had been holding back.

  "So that is why," Artem said, tears in his eyes, "you recently sought to remove me from your life! You did not suddenly stop loving me. You were only afraid to have me near you in case I was killed. You must have even blamed yourself for putting me in danger!”

  Regina’s eyes widened in shock, even as Artem pulled her into a near crushing embrace.

  “I love you so, dearest,” he whispered., “and you need not worry any longer. We are together, we love one another, and we will solve every problem to come. You do not need to run from me again in fear that I will die so easily. From now on, I promise that I will live for you.”

  Regina was both glad and somehow saddened that Artem could not see her expression.

  Even more than that, she felt a sense of strange dread mixed with relief that Artem did not realize that when she had run from him…

  It was because she was afraid of him, not for him.

  Yet what would happen if she confessed that instead of trying to save him once again, she had doubted him?

  Would it help or hurt their love and future marriage, especially since all her fears and doubts about Artem were now banished?

  Even as Regina tried to determine whether or not to stay silent, Artem continued.

  "You must have been so frightened by all of those visions of our deaths," said Artem, his words muffled by her hair. "Yet when it came to thwarting our assassins, you were always so brave and so strong."

  "It was exhausting," Regina admitted, feeling tears of her own starting once again. "I was so afraid I could not prevent our deaths, especially as I saw them for months on end."

  “Yet you did,” Artem gently said, even as tears pricked in Regina’s eyes. “For you are the bravest person I know and someone with the greatest heart as well.”

  Regina felt something well up inside of her at Artem’s sheer faith in her.

  She could only hope that she would find a way to be worthy of that faith in the years to come.

  Then, holding Regina even more closely, Artem’s mouth pressed against the shell of her ear.

  “Even a brave person has desires though,” he murmured. “So I now want to know what you would wish if you could have any wish at all.”

  Regina faltered then, unsure of what to say… before she realized exactly what she wanted if she could have anything in the world.

  "I would wish," said Regina honestly, "to never see a vision of our violent deaths again."

  "Then your wish," said Artem, his voice so strange that Regina wished she could see his face, "is my command."

  Yet before she could understand what he meant, Artem pulled out of their embrace and stared at Regina for a long moment.

  "I also have something to confess,” he said. “All this time, I have also held secrets. I wanted you to be happy with me without… without any trials or worries. Yet I fear now that in doing so, I… I misled you..”

  Artem’s eyes lowered, though not before Regina saw the raw pain they contained.

  “Regina," he said, "I too know what it is like to have powers that harm you… and why you need to hide them from a world that wants your destruction.”

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