Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cinder stood by the window in the hallway leading to the imperial chambers, watching the palace gardens, now covered in a thick blanket of snow. A blissful smile played on her lips. Despite the closed window, she could still hear the joyful shouts of two children — eight and five years old. A boy and a girl were engaged in a fierce snowball fight. Their snowballs rarely hit their targets, but nobody seemed to mind.

After a moment, Cinder sensed someone’s presence in the corridor, and then strong arms wrapped around her from behind. A warm breath tickled her cheek.

“Should we call them in for dinner?” Kai asked, also watching the children.

“Let’s give them a little longer,” Cinder shook her head. “Let them wear themselves out. Maybe they’ll fall asleep faster.” Her husband laughed at that.

“Darling, I think Rikan and Peony could play in the snow for several more hours and still have the energy to tear down half the palace before bed.” He smiled fondly as he watched his son let his younger sister win. “They’re an unstoppable force.”

Cinder nodded and relaxed in her husband’s embrace, closing her eyes slightly. They stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying each other’s presence. Kai’s hand slid gently down to her belly and began to softly caress it. Nothing was visible yet, but he knew that would soon change, and they’d be able to share the happy news with the world.

“How are you feeling?”

“Good. Well, aside from being completely exhausted and ready to fall asleep absolutely anywhere. I nearly started snoring this morning during a meeting with Queen Camilla,” Kai chuckled.

“Hey! Don’t laugh,” she playfully smacked his arm. “This is your fault, after all.”

“You’re absolutely right, love,” he kissed her on the cheek to appease her. “When should we tell the kids?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Rikan’s been asking about more siblings for a while now. Peony keeps saying she doesn’t want to be the youngest anymore,” the Empress shook her head, amused. “I want them to be able to enjoy it too, but I think they’d be way too excited to keep it to themselves, and ten seconds later, the whole Commonwealth would know.”

They both laughed for a moment.

“How about during the holidays? Everyone’s coming here this year, and there’ll only be minimal staff in the palace.” Cinder nodded.

“All right. I think that’s a good idea.”

Outside, the children seemed to have grown bored of their game, as they finally noticed their parents. They waved enthusiastically and began racing toward the entrance. Cinder and Kai watched them, hearts full.

“You know,” the Empress began. “Sometimes I feel like this is just a dream. That there’s no way I could be this lucky. That I’ll wake up in Adri’s basement and go back to doing meaningless chores, and you’ll all just be a distant dream.”

“Listen to me, Cinder,” Kai gently took her chin and turned her toward him. His eyes were unusually serious. “This isn’t a dream. We’re here with you, and we’re not going anywhere. You deserve this happiness more than anyone. You’ve made me happy too. You have no idea how proud I am to call you my wife, the mother of our children. You brought joy into my life. Before you, it was mostly darkness and fear. Fear for my father, for my people, for being a terrible ruler, for what Levana would do. But when I met you, I started to hope. Hope that not everything was lost, that my future didn’t have to be so bleak. Hope that I’d find love and fall in love. And you know what? I did. I love you, Cinder.”

Cinder felt a tightness in her chest, and she was sure that if she could cry, nothing would’ve stopped the tears from falling.

“I love you too, Kai,” she whispered softly and nestled closer into his arms.

But the moment didn’t last long, interrupted by the loud slam of doors being flung open.

“Daddy, did you see?! I beat Rikan in the snowball fight!” the excited five-year-old shouted from the doorway. Her brother followed, smiling knowingly at their father.

“Of course I saw, sweetheart. You were amazing.”

Kai and Cinder didn’t even have time to pull away from each other before two pairs of little arms wrapped tightly around them. The children giggled happily. Their clothes were soaked through, so their mother decided it was time to end the group hug.

“All right, my darlings. Now you’re going to go with Daddy, get changed and cleaned up, and then we’ll have dinner together.”

Kai didn’t even get the chance to protest what his wife had roped him into before he was being dragged away by their daughter toward the children’s chambers. Rikan walked beside them, excitedly sharing his plans for building a giant snowman the next day and bombarding his father with questions about snow. The Emperor pretended to shoot a stern look at Cinder, but she just blew him a kiss.

Once the trio disappeared around the corner, Cinder glanced out the window again. This time, she wasn’t looking at the gardens but at the city she had arrived in many years ago, the one she now called home. She sighed quietly and rubbed her belly.

“I’m so lucky, little one, to have met your father. So incredibly lucky.”

Chapter Text

Kai stood in the doorway of his wife’s office, watching as she conducted a meeting with the director of the Imperial Foundation. He wasn’t focusing on her words, but rather on her gestures, her body language, and he couldn’t help but marvel at how much she had changed. From a frightened, withdrawn teenager, an inscrutable mechanic, she had transformed into a confident leader. First, the leader of the rebellion, then a queen, and now an empress. For years, he had dreamed of finding Princess Selene to end the conflict with Luna. He hadn’t expected, however, that in finding her, he would also find the love of his life.

Another woman now appeared in Kai’s mind—his mother—and a memory he had nearly forgotten. She was sitting at the same desk, his father opposite her, and they were speaking in hushed voices so their curious son, playing nearby on the carpet, wouldn’t hear. It didn’t work very well.

"Our intelligence reports that Levana is arming herself more and more. Apparently, she’s introduced conscription in the poorer sectors," his father said, his voice concerned.

"She can’t be foolish enough to attack us. Earth’s armies outnumber hers. Even if she inflicts losses, she won’t win this fight."

"I’m afraid she might be preparing something else. We don’t know what kind of weapons her scientists are working on. And then there’s that mysterious illness that came out of nowhere..."

"You don’t think she’s behind it?" the empress raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"No, probably not. But we can’t allow it to spread. We already have enough problems as it is." The woman nodded thoughtfully and for a moment, stared at her only son. The four-year-old was currently building a tower with blocks.

"Have you spoken to her recently?" she asked after a moment. She didn’t need to say who she meant.

"No," the emperor sighed. "Since the last official communication, we haven’t received a single message from Luna. She’s ignored all my peace proposals." He leaned an elbow on the desk and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Did she mention Princess Selene? After all, she is the rightful queen, and Levana is only the regent."

"Supposedly, yes. But Levana will still rule for many years. I get the feeling she enjoys it very much. She never mentions the princess, not even once." He glanced at his wife, finally understanding what she was getting at. "So far, only Channary once casually mentioned the idea of our children marrying. But Levana has remained silent on the matter."

"Maybe that’s for the best? Our son deserves the chance to fall in love," she said softly, smiling tenderly at her husband and taking his hand. "Then again, our own marriage wasn’t a coincidence, and it turned out rather well."

"Only rather well, darling?" a mischievous glint appeared in the emperor’s eyes.

"Oh, stop it," his wife scolded him, but a gentle smile played on her lips. "You know exactly what I mean."

They looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments, sharing a silent conversation that unfortunately had to be interrupted.

"Kai’s marriage to Selene could solve many of our problems," the emperor admitted. "It could secure a peace treaty between Earth and Luna. And we’ve long known that, like ours, Kai’s marriage should probably be arranged. But do we want that particular girl to be his wife? You know what rumors they tell about her mother. And her aunt isn’t much better..."

"Rikan, I want what’s best for him too," the empress’s voice grew even gentler. "But Selene is still a child, and I doubt she remembers her mother. I was thinking that maybe..." she paused, as if searching for the right words, "...if Levana agreed to the arrangement, we could invite the princess here. Maybe the visit would have a positive influence on her, maybe she’d like us. Maybe she’s completely different than we think. We won’t know unless we try."

"I think you’re right," the emperor replied after a short reflection. "I’ll discuss it with Torin tonight and we’ll try to draft a preliminary proposal for Levana. We’ll present it at the earliest opportunity."

That was the moment the little boy chose to end his play and approach his parents.

"Mom, I’m hungry," he announced. "Can we go eat now?"

"Yes, darling, I think lunch is ready," the woman took his small hand and led him out of the office, with his father following behind.

The memory slowly faded from Kai’s mind, but he continued staring thoughtfully at the desk. There was never another opportunity to present Levana with the marriage proposal involving Princess Selene, because two weeks later a message arrived from Artemisia about a terrible accident and the tragic death of the princess. He remembered how shaken his mother had been by the news. Not only because it had shattered the hope of a long-awaited peace.

"Kai?" his wife’s gentle voice pulled him from his reverie. He looked into her eyes, fully present again. "What are you thinking about?" He noticed the screen in front of her had already gone dark, and the desk was tidy. She must have finished the meeting a while ago.

"I just remembered how twenty years ago my parents talked in this room. They sat at this desk, thinking I wasn’t listening, just playing with my blocks on the carpet," he smiled slightly.

"You were eavesdropping on state matters?" Cinder walked up to him and gently embraced him.

"Usually not," he chuckled. "But that conversation caught my attention. It was about my marriage. Well, our marriage." The woman gave him a questioning look. "Did you know they were going to make Levana a peace offer, with our marriage as the guarantee? Apparently, they’d even discussed it with your mother before."

"You mean to say," she began slowly, "that even if my crazy aunt hadn’t tried to steal my throne and get rid of me, I still would’ve been stuck with you?"

Kai nudged her lightly in the ribs, making her giggle and shove him playfully.

"Stuck with me?" he said, pretending to be offended. "Everyone knows there couldn’t have been a better match for you than me."

The young ruler puffed up with mock pride, and Cinder couldn’t help bursting into laughter. Kai snorted at her reaction, then joined in her laughter. When Cinder started to run out of breath, she took a deep breath to calm down. She moved closer to her husband again, looked into his eyes, and placed her hand on his cheek.

"It seems the stars wanted us to be together all along," she said, and before he could reply, she sealed their lips in a tender kiss.