Work Text:
In the depths of the night, the Brigidian royal palace is all but silent, save for a single voice. A voice which rings out, even as quiet as it is, beautiful and full of solace.
It’s a voice that draws Petra closer, away from where the palace breaks at the shoreline, towards the richly decorated interior. Stepping carefully between the vines of the plants which curl around the pillars and tiles, that provide a sweet beauty no precious metal can imitate, she shakes the water from her hair, feels the cold air and the moonlight chill her sand-bathed skin, she heads towards its source, nestled as it is deep within the walls. Her approach is fast; but at the same time quiet, considerate of those also asleep within the belly of the grand building, the only one fit to host the Queen of Brigid. Or, for that matter, the queen’s consort.
Stopping behind the stone-carved cream arch of her bedroom entrance, Petra pauses to look into the darkness inside. Squinting, adjusting to the sole light of the moon filtering in through the ornate windows, it doesn’t take her long to identify what she’s looking for- long tresses of sunkissed ginger hair, laying gently across the soft pillows of the master bed, and the flash of the tanned body which bears them. Soundless, she takes calm strides forward, moves towards where the sleeping form of Ferdinand von Aegir lies, bathed in dreams. Takes her place by his side, and spies tufted little curls of dark magenta poking out from underneath the sheets. In the beauty of the sight, she doesn’t notice Ferdinand’s eyes slip open from their closed state, not until the hand she has lying on her thigh suddenly feels much warmer, suddenly feels much more enclosed.
“My queen,” Ferdinand mumbles, still heady with sleep. “I hope you will forgive me for taking my rest early tonight.” He yawns, and rubs the hand that’s not on Petra’s thigh over his right eye, before moving it to rest on the head of the young child sleeping soundly next to him. “The lullaby you provided for me to sing tonight might have been rather too effective, and not solely on Kanae.” Petra can’t help but giggle at that. The idea of her husband, a knight thoroughly tried and tested by the ravages of time, felled by the same old Brigidian song which was used to quell unruly children.
“It is of no bother.” Mimicking Ferdinand’s hand on Kanae, Petra moves her own to run through the golden sea spread out underneath him, brushes it against one of the intricate braids he’d taken great pleasure in learning to craft for himself. “Though it would be nice if your queen could come to sleep beside you.”
Ferdinand shuffles himself a little, and sits up, observing the way his cavalry-toned legs splay out over almost the entirety of a bed. With a blush, he shifts over, but not before scooping Kanae gingerly into his hands, the fine green silk of his small nightclothes shimmering as the moon hits them. Petra thinks it might dazzle her, if she wasn’t always feeling his radiance regardless. As Ferdinand positions himself to the right side of the bed, Petra takes her place on his left, slipping underneath the pristine construction of the intricately patterned sheets. As soon as she settles, without a word, Ferdinand moves his hand to brush the mark under Petra’s eye, caressing it with a reverent tenderness.
“So beautiful.” he murmurs. “So very beautiful.”
Petra begins to feel their warmth mingling underneath the blankets. The way it feels like a ray of sunshine, never piercing, but illuminating and tender. Without needing to say anything, she moves her arm too, up to where a silvery scar disrupts the heat-blushed freckling of where Ferdinand’s shoulder meets his neck. Runs her finger along it, feeling the way it tapers at its end, its smooth and alien nature. It reminds her of the moon, how it comes to obscure the sun, but never for long.
She remembers the origin of that scar. With the way Ferdinand gasps underneath her touch, she guesses he does too. While flanking for Claude, they’d been routed together by a group of Empire bowmen, all taking aim at her. It had looked hopeless- had been hopeless- but before she could do anything to dissuade him of the notion entirely, Ferdie had stepped in to take the brunt of it.
They’ve rarely discussed it, not since then. But the scar reminds Petra of that time- the time when Ferdinand, upon awakening, had only wanted to see her. Had only the words “ I love you ” on his tongue before the pain sent him into a still and clinging state once more.
Petra is glad that those weren’t the last things he said to her. That years afterwards, there’s still enough life left in Ferdinand von Aegir- well, it was Ferdinand Macneary now- for him to sing a lullaby in the shining voice she’d adored for so long.
“You may be tired of it.” Petra whispers, “But would you continue to sing for me?”
Though it’s too dark to make anything too notable out, Petra knows Ferdie is starting to smile.
“How could I ever deny you anything, my hummingbird?” he whispers back.
“I am not sure you could, my honeybee.” Petra acknowledges coyly. “That’s what I love about you.”
As Ferdinand’s voice picks up, and his chest starts to rise in peaceful rhythm, Petra knows that’s far from the only reason she loves him so abundantly. As if to remind her further, Kanae shifts again in his sleep, tiny hands balled against the new post-war softness of Ferdinand’s stomach, head resting on the strong curve of his pectorals.
“ You shall be as dear to me,
As rising suns and endless seas,
And I shall hold you tight tonight,
Until we see the morning light
For you are my precious one,
With love never to be lost or gone…”