Chapter Text
She stood in the wings, wrapped in a shawl that hid her light from the gaze of the partygoers. They were having a great deal of fun already, meeting the people that were trapped by the time curse. Most amusing was the human bard Dia Seum, who was dancing about with the gnomes and Halflings in attendance, enjoying something that was deceptively called tea that held not a drop of it.
She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her lower back, ready to bolt if she’d been discovered by an errant partygoer, but this hall was supposed to be vacant until well after midnight, and the clock had just rung eleven. Her heart leapt in her throat, only just calming as she caught the gentle gaze of her husband, his arms slipping about her middle to hold her gently and sway to the music that filtered up to this hidden nook.
“They’re having quite a lot of fun,” Vaughn said, letting his forehead fall to rest on her shoulder, leaning into her hand when she reached up to smooth his ebony locks. “Though I do wonder what you hope to accomplish by bringing them here...”
“Call it a hunch,” she said, wincing a little when he accidentally brushed a still-healing burn. “Besides, if you knew what I saw, you wouldn’t have left them there either...”
“I do trust your judgement,” he said, pressing a kiss to where the bandages had started to slip. “But this recklessness can’t go on... You don’t see everything, and next time, it could be far more than a fireball that you miss in your visions...”
She sighed, turning to press a kiss to Vaughn’s temple. “It’s not recklessness,” she murmured, eyes growing bright as she looked down at the group mingling in the state dinner below. “There’s always a risk for things to go wrong, my heart...”
She didn’t miss the way his arms tightened around her, knowing that this was not a pleasant topic for him. Sighing, she saw the pale-haired fey elf slip out to the garden, and her heart sank a little. Placing a hand on Vaughn’s arm, she asked gently, “How is she? The other patient, I mean...”
The brush of Vaughn’s sigh made her shiver, smiling as he said, “Don’t change the subject...”
“I’m not,” she said, kissing his temple again. “Her fiancé is worried, and I worry about them... It’s hard to be separated from the one you love, even when it’s to help them recover from a diabolical poisoning.”
Vaughn huffed again but finally said, “She’s doing better. She is responding to the treatments, and they should clear her to return to their joined quarters soon if she isn’t already. She’s a tough one, that’s for sure—I can see why your father chose her for his vessel if she’s managed to stave off Clemente’s neurotoxin for this long. That spineless jellyfish relies too much on dastardly poisons anyway...”
“Jellyfish are naturally spineless,” Divine said, rolling her eyes a little. “It’s redundant to call them spineless...”
“Don’t deflect,” Vaughn said, kissing her neck as she giggled. It was a faint sound, but it warmed his heart to hear it again, his pointed ears fluttering a little at the sound. “So are they engaged? Or are they married?” She laughed again, more heartily this time as Vaughn smiled against her skin. “I mean it, though! She stood on that railing, and for a moment, I had a flashback to a particular woman standing tall and defiant in front of a crowd of angry Fae. And what was that she bellowed as she made her stand? ‘Back away from my wife!’” he imitated with an exaggerated snarl, making her snort as she elbowed him a little. “Very romantic, that... I almost wish I could go back and do my proclamation a little differently myself...”
“Well,” she said with a growing blush, her pale face blossoming to an embarrassed red, “if I remember right, I was the one doing the proclaiming... and I simply told Malachi to unhand you, or I would put my glass slipper up his ass...”
“Ah, yes,” Vaughn said as if he didn’t have the event committed to memory, “how could I ever forget seeing you in that rippling gown, wings flexing, shoulders heaving, skirts fluttering most unladylike around your knees,” he paused, his wife laughing and playfully hitting his shoulder as he grinned. “Yes, that’s when I knew I was yours.”
“As I am yours,” she said, pressing a kiss to his brow, making him sigh contentedly.
“So... Want to explain to me why they call you Lady Divine?” he asked, making her burst into giggles.
“They aren’t anointed yet, so they can’t...” She made a gesture with her hand, wiggling her fingers as she motioned to her head. “And so they asked me what you call me.”
Suddenly it was Vaughn’s turn to look scandalized, his deathly-pale face starting to turn red as he laughed, scooping her up into his arms to pepper kisses all over her face, her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and finally claiming her lips as he murmured, “How cheeky of you...”
“Hmm,” she hummed into the kiss, letting him lift her up into his arms to carry her away from the party. “Well, it’s not like I’m going to tell them what you actually call me,” she said, running a hand through his hair. “Besides, this was... fitting, easy to remember, and best of all... It’s a new name.”
“I will never understand your need to collect names,” he said, shaking his head. “For now, love, let’s get you to bed before I escort our little troupe to the guest quarters...”