Their life has taken on a quiet, peaceful rhythm.
If she has concerns about the political tensions outside of Tephra, or the information she has gathered through Heartfire, or the potential for all of this to come crumbling down around them, she doesn’t let it show. She doesn’t show her concerns or let it rise to the surface. She lets her magic compartmentalize for her, building walls around her fear and giving her the peace of mind to move forward with her life.
It gives her these moments.
These moments where she walks out next to Vulgaris as he is moving toward the volcano, her side brushing against his easily. She says nothing but leans against him, her cheek to his neck as they walk, the rest of Tephra muting around them as it boils down to just the two of them and the love that they share.
The rest fades away and it, like it should be, is just them.
She says nothing as they walk, her wings folding atop her back, the path opening up to give them easy access. Without thinking, she lets her magic flow out of her, seeping into the ground and healing it as they walk. Most of Tephra is now restored, but she cannot stop the desire to continue tending to it. To continue protecting it and imbuing it with the only kind of gift she really has: the gift of growth, of restoration.
When they reach the spring, she dips her head down to drink her fill. Her stomach is now swollen with the coming life, but she is so used to such a thing now that it hardly phases her. It helps that she now has magic to make the process easier and she has no shame in protecting her child with it—in easing it.
But that’s not what is on her mind today.
She comes back to his side and presses a gentle kiss at the corner of his mouth, to the place where the skin is like velvet. She lingers there, smiling, knowing that he will not love what she is about to ask.
“Vul, I was never made to be Queen,” she is quiet as she tells him this.
“But you were made to be King.”
Her eyes are soft and confident as she studies him.
“Please.”
She knows he will understand.
it's only you and me there until the darkness calls
let's face the dawn together; we'll brave whatever comes