Work Text:
It rained for three days after Snow White was crowned queen, and when the sun returned and the grey mists lifted, it seemed as if the land itself had been reborn. Flowers bloomed and green blanketed the countryside, and dried up streams flowed once more with fresh, clean waters. Crops began to thrive. If only the rest of the kingdom was as easily healed as the land itself seemed to be.
Ravenna was defeated and her dark power gone, but Tabor remained fractured. A few accused Snow of being an imposter, that the real princess was long dead at Ravenna's hands. Many rejoiced to see Snow White on the throne, while others still resented her father for allowing Ravenna to take power in the first place. People on all sides saw her as an untested girl, too young and too inexperienced to rule. Yes, she'd defeated Ravenna, but what did she know of ruling a kingdom? She struggled with that herself, but she would not let them see her own doubts.
Duke Hammond was the only noble who had not knelt to Ravenna. Some, she knew, had done so out of necessity, to protect their people or to save the life of a son or daughter taken hostage. Others did not care who ruled, so long as they retained power. The problem now was sorting out one from the other. She did not know whom she could trust, who might be watching her for some sign of weakness so that they could seize power and return Tabor to nightmare.
Danger came from outside the kingdom as well. Already the realms that bordered Tabor had sent emissaries to meet with the new queen. She had much to learn about politics governing the relationships between these countries. To favor one too much might invite war with another, and her kingdom needed time to heal before it could face that kind of threat. They all spoke pretty words of alliances and treaties, but which had said the same to Ravenna, not caring who sat on the throne so long as they got what they wanted.
Within the court, several nobles offered up their daughters to be ladies-in-waiting, those who had daughters who had not been claimed by Ravenna and sacrificed to her hunger for youth and beauty. Snow White harbored little doubt that her every move would be reported back to their parents. She knew she would have to take care with herself; the slightest misstep would be used against her. So she'd sent word to Anna, asking her to send three young women to attend her. That action scandalized the court, but she did not care. These women she felt she could trust, and she admired their courage to stand against Ravenna and the sacrifices they'd made to outwit the former queen. And noble blood, she well knew, did not make a noble heart. She'd dismissed from her court the first noble girl among her ladies who laughed at their scarred faces. None of the others dared mock them again after that.
She'd named Duke Hammond as the head of her council, and leaned on him heavily for advice. She spent hours with him each day, learning what had happened in the ten years she'd been imprisoned in the tower, who held power in the neighboring kingdoms, and the relationships between them. Who had defied Ravenna and who had served her willingly. She invited more scandal when she asked Muir and Anna to join her council. Both had aided her against Ravenna at great risk to themselves. The trust she sought she knew could find in them.
The marriage proposals began just a week after Tabor's liberation. Many, including perhaps William himself, assumed she would wed Duke Hammond's son, but offers came from surrounding kingdoms as well. They saw her as prey, an innocent they could control and manipulate, and swallow her kingdom into theirs. No, she would not let that happen. She dismissed every suit with a promise to consider it later, for she needed to focus on her kingdom now. Surely they could grant her a few months to settle into her reign? It seemed a reasonable enough excuse to work for now, but she knew they'd begin to press harder in time.
She kept her back stiff and her emotions from her face when she appeared in public. Privacy was a rarity, and even with someone like the Duke, she kept her fears to herself. He needed her to be strong. They all did.
The pressure became too much. One night, overwhelmed and unable to sleep, she slipped from the castle to the village beyond. She'd grown up within these walls, and she knew every hidden passageway to allow her to escape unseen. She had a specific destination in mind; she just hoped the man she was looking for would be there.
Eric had refused reward for his part in restoring her to her throne. The most he grudgingly accepted was a small home, a simple building on the outskirts of the town. He wasn't there when she arrived, but she went inside and sat down to wait.
Less than an hour later he opened the door and stepped inside, immediately sinking to one knee when he saw her. "Your highness," he said, setting aside his axe and smoothing a hand through his hair to try to tame the tangles. He must have been hunting, but if he'd found any game, he'd left it outside.
She gave him a tired smile. "Stop that," she said. "If I wanted bowing and scraping, I'd still be at the palace."
"What are you doing here, your highness?" he said, rising slowly. "Is something wrong?"
"No. Yes. Everything." She stood up and moved before him, feeling her fears bubbling to the surface, and for the first time not fighting them. She felt safe here with him, safe to be herself and to let the walls down. "Eric, I can't do this."
He hesitated a moment, as if unsure what comfort he could offer a queen, not just the woman he'd come to know, then reached out his hands, placing them on her shoulders, a gentle reassurance. "Yes, you can," he said.
She looked to the hand on her shoulder, rough and calloused, with dirt under his nails, so unlike the hands of the noblemen who sought her favor, the lifted her eyes to his face. "I can't be what they want me to be," she said. "I don't know who to trust. There's so much everyone wants me to say and do, and what if I say or do the wrong thing?"
He moved one hand to cup her cheek. "Trust your heart," he said. "Trust yourself. You were meant to be queen. You have the strength and wisdom within you."
Those were words she'd whispered to herself over and over again, but hearing someone else say them, especially Eric, helped ease her mind, a little at least. Slipping her hand over his, she said, "Come back to the castle with me. I need you."
He drew away with a snort. "I told you no once, Highness," he said. "Can you see me in silks and velvets? That is not who I am."
"What if I commanded it?" she said. She never would, but it was tempting.
He chuckled and shook his head. "That is not who you are," he said.
"I don't know who I am supposed to be anymore!" Snow said, beginning to pace in frustration. "I spent the last ten years of my life locked in a cell. I don't know anything about politics and ruling. There are already people pressuring me to marry and have a child to name as my heir."
She thought she heard a catch in his voice. "Will you marry?" he said.
"Some say I should marry William, some say the king of Adalith or his eldest son, some say the count of Sareloth. I want none of them."
"William is your friend, is he not?" Eric said, speaking his words with care. Did the thought of her marrying upset him? She couldn't help but hope that it did.
"Yes, he is, and I do love him," Snow sighed. "But I was a child when last I saw him. I am proud of him for what he's done, and I admire him for the courage it took to stand against Ravenna for all these years, but I do not know him."
"It will take time, Highness," he began to say.
"Stop calling me that," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Please, just for a few moments, I just want to be Snow."
She moved to the window, looking out to the darkness outside. In the distance she could see the lights of the castle, and she wondered if he'd chosen this house because he could see it.
The floor creaked as he stepped behind her. "Queen is what you are, Snow. There are burdens that come with it."
"I know," she said. "And if I had spent the past ten years learning what it means to be a queen, this would be easier. But I spent them alone and locked in a tower, and now I feel like I'm drowning and I need something to hold on to."
She turned around, looking up to meet his eyes. "And I want that to be you," she said softly.
He took a step back. "Highness...Snow...."
"I have missed you since you left the castle," she said. "You became such an important part of my life. And I do not want to let that go."
"I told you, Snow," he said, looking away from her. "I won't be your knight. I'm not a noble. I'm just a simple huntsman."
Stretching upward on her tiptoes, she caught his face in her hands and turned him back to look at her. "This isn't the queen talking,' she said. "This is Snow, to her huntsman. To Eric."
She tugged his head down so she could kiss him. He returned it for a moment, his lips moving tentatively over hers, then pulled away. "Highness, you...."
"Deserve better?" She laughed softly and shook her head. "No, you do not decide what I do or do not deserve. What I want is you. To not be queen with you, to just be Snow White. I don't want you to kneel or obey or tell me what you think I wish to hear. I just want you to be Eric."
"You don't know the kind of man I am," he said.
She remembered what he'd said, almost like a dream, while she'd been asleep under Ravenna's spell. A self I never cared for. "No," she said. "I've seen the kind of man you are. And that man...that man I love."
Uncertainty in his eyes, he stared at her, almost as if he couldn't believe what she'd said. He'd loved his wife -- he still did -- and he felt he'd failed her, and he feared the same with her, she knew. "You don't know what you're saying," he finally said. "This isn't a fairy tale, Snow. I'm not a prince."
"Noble blood does not make a noble heart," Snow said. She'd learned that quickly enough with her ladies-in-waiting. "I've seen your courage, and my heart aches when I think of you. I love you."
"You are queen, and I am...nothing. Your court will not approve of this," he protested.
"Shhh," she said, touching her fingers to his lips. "You are not nothing. And I have already done many things that have not met with the approval of the court."
"This is different," he said, circling his hand around her wrist. "This is not a lady-in-waiting or an advisor. This is your...." He faltered, unable to put a word to it.
"My lover? My consort?" Snow smiled. She would make him king if she could, but he would not accept it, and it might just tear the kingdom apart. She couldn't take that risk. But she could take this one. "It will be our secret. No one else need know."
She pulled his head down for another kiss. This time his arms came around her, crushing her against his chest as he lifted her from the floor. His kiss this time was anything but tentative, with just a hint of desperation. She needed him, yes, and he needed her.
She was breathless by the time he set her down again. The uncertainty in his eyes was diminished but not entirely gone, but she felt a sense of relief for the first time in days. The queen would do as the queen must, and as long as she had this, this special, secret time with Eric, she knew she would have the strength to do anything.