#chimera of the chapel

[reztoxy]

Chimera of the chapel by Bleakmidwinter

I cannot possibly tell you in how many ways I’ve fucked this up but!!! I had so much fun bookbinding this

Like you can tell it’s my first time. It weighs a ton cuz I bought 0.25mm card stock for the case 🤡 ; the endpapers are too thin and I don’t have a guillotine to trim the edges so they look kind of untidy… and so on and so on..

I still love it and proud of it though! and will be able to read it soon☺️

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Saw your tags saying Hannibal fanfiction is the best, I'm new to the fandom, do you have any recs? Love your blog btw!

Thank you Nonny and OOP you're in luck!

I just came across a cracking thread on Twitter t'other day where a bunch of us fannibals were recommending the fandom 'must reads!'

So here the list is so far:

Consenting to Dream (emungere) THE fic.

A Remedy for Love (emungere)

Blackbird (emungere)

Separately to a Wood (emungere)

Taken For Rubies (emungere)

Two Solitudes (emungere) S4

Faded Fantasy (phenobarbital)

Hyacinth House (bluesyturtle)

He Who Pours Out Vengeance (underground) S2 before S2

A Great and Gruesome Height (mokuyoubi) S4

The First Condition of Immortality is Death (onehandedbooks) S4

As Soft, as Wide as Air (blackknightsatellite) S4

The Shape of Me Will Always Be You (missdisoriental)

Shark Tank (xzombiexkittenx)

Bloodline (xzombiexkittenx)

Pi's Lullaby (t_pock)

Wolf And I (t_pock)

We Killed a Dragon Last Night (inameitlater) S4

A Cliff and the Wine Dark Sea (saintsavage) S4

One Way Out Of Many (hellotailor, nakamasmile)

Bright Hair About The Bone (missdisoriental)

Chimera of the Chapel (bleakmidwinter) S4

Eve of Dreams (Le Réveillon des Rêves) (inter_spem_et_metum) S4

Heart and Mouth (disenchanted)

Symbasis (tei)

Lagbrotna (cognomen)

Vorspiel (kareliasweet) S4

Omega Point (cognomen & whiskeyandspite)

Haarlem (spqr)

Heal Your Wolf(hound) Well (devotitonal_doldrums)

Falls the Shadow (littlesystem) my personal most-read fic!

The Fault in My Code (liaS0)

The Unquiet Grave (liaS0)

Flesh and Bone (pragmatichominid)

The Fisherman and the Beast From the Sea (pragmatichominid)

Attachment (pragmatichominid)

The Hole Is Still There (croik)

The Long Weekend (devereauxs_disease)

Each According to Its Kind (chaparral_crown)

Their Beaks Not Yet Turned Red (chaparral_crown)

The Lamb and His Monster (pterodactyl352)

Oddbodies (toffeecape)

This Dangerous Game (missdisoriental)

Page Six (thisbeautifuldrowning)

Bram Stoker's HANNIBAL (dbmars)

Falling Away with You (shotgun_sinner)

Two Slow Dancers, Last One’s Out (antiheroblake) MCD

Nowhere to Ascend but Down (yourminecraftboyfriend)

Overcoming (purefoysgirl)

Paragon (bloodywa2411)

Silence in Heaven (theglintoftherail)

The Mark of His Name (theglintoftherail)

The Mongoose and the Mouse (hiding now)

Between Here and There (deadratz)

Omiai (iesika)

Remember (that you are) to die (13empress) unfinished sadly

What the Water Gave Me (iesika) discontinued but so vivid it's worth reading anyway

And I would recommend looking at this twitter feed, which does nothing but recommend hannigram fics.

Bon appetit. 😈

[pickle-the-lad]

How did I almost miss intersex day!? I'm not a biologist, I'm probably not intersex, but here's some facts before the day's end!!

This is something I learned this year that I find extremely fascinating and interesting! I hope you like it💕💖

Chromo types:

X Turner syndrome

XX Female (Male = Chapelle syndrome)

XXX Triple X syndrome

XXY Klinefelter Syndrome

XXYY Syndrome

XYY Jacobs Syndrome

XY Male (Female = Swyer syndrome)

Mosaicism: From one genetic egg, But has a patchwork of different cells.

Chimera: Absorbed their twin in the womb, Leading to a patchwork of cells.

Phenotypes: At least 25 Genes play a role in sex differentiation. In each of these, Compose you to slide through the sex spectrum.

complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) – where testosterone has no effect on sex development, so the genitals are entirely female. partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) – where testosterone has some effect on sex development, so the genitals are often not as expected for boys or girls..

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) affects a child's normal growth and development. Although it can be life-threatening, most people with it can lead normal lives with proper treatment.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Howdy Mr. Dapper! Your ideas for zhuzhing up different gods are always so cool, I was wondering if you had any for Grummsh? Either keeping him as a patron of orcs but losing the evilness, or making him believably evil but not relegating him to one people?

Deity: Gruumsh, God of Grudges

The soldiers let me and my boy through the wall because they thought we’d be useful. Making leather’s foul work but someone’s got to mend their armour and boots. A few years go past and my boy gets bigger, starts looking like he might be a problem, so they start looking for excuses, and they keep finding excuses until they have him on the ground and are beating him to death with the boots I made them. 

Ruiner, they have taken my son so let me have this instead: Help me live long enough to slip my knife under their skin, Help me flay every last one of the bastards , Help me give back this pain they’ve given me. I do not want it. 

-Grimma, orcish tanner and resistance leader

As much as the kindhearted would like to deny it, there are some hatreds that are holy, some transgressions that can not be forgiven, some hurts that will not ease until they are avenged. These are the province of Gruumsh, the Ruiner, Father of the wronged. Gruumsh is a god to curse by, a god to get you through bitter times, and he lends his strength and fathomless anger to those who have been hard done by. Gruumsh is defined by his symbol of the gouged eye, a wound that will not close forced upon him by enemies yet to be brought to justice. 

That justice however does not resemble anything that could be codified in law. Gruumsh is known as the Ruiner because often the ultimate culmination of his worship is just that: the violent obliteration of both his worshipper and those that wronged them, a closed circle of bloodshed and loss that balances the scales through pain. 

Adventure Hooks

A storm has driven the party and several other travellers to take shelter in a roadhouse, delaying their days long journey to the next settlement but giving them a chance to get cozy by the fire, maybe trade some gossip with the others. Storytime is however interrupted when a deadman begins hammering at the door, demanding for someone to let him in so that he can wreak vengeance on those that murdered him. Interrogating the dead man through the door reveals that he was making his way towards the inn when set upon by masked figures who robbed him of his possessions and left him dead in a ditch with a prayer to the Ruiner on his lips. Its up to the party to piece together which of their dinner companions might’ve done the deed, or else the revnant is likely to break in, kill them all, and let Gruumsh sort it out. 

An orcish noblewoman needs the party’s help in recovering a number of important items stolen from her family’s chapel. She was on the eve of brokering a peace with a rival noble house and putting an end to generations of bloodfued when someone broke in, defaced their altar, and stole several mementos that are not only important to her family but also empowered with a dangerous magic. Most of her people blame thieves,  the rival faction, or the disfavour of Gruumsh himself, though if the party search hard enough the evidence may just point them in the direction of her hot blooded younger brother who feels as if he’s yet to prove himself in the family’s ongoing conflict. 

An enterprising land baron attempted to oust the local hermit from his land and ended up getting some divine wrath for his trouble, the old crank’s curse bringing down a celestially empowered chimera to harry the baron and rampage across his holdings. Landlords are parasites, and while the party might be tempted to let the beast despite the generous reward he offers, there is also the matter of the other people live on his various tenant farms who’ve been caught in the literal crossfire. Perhaps there’s a more equitable way to end this, especially since killing the beast ( or the hermit, as the landlord subtly entreats) may bring Gruumsh’s wrath down on them. 

As with gods like the Allhammer or the Archheart, Gruumsh can be worshipped by any but is most often depicted as an orc, with some myths claiming that the first orcs rose up in legion from the drops of blood spilled from the Ruiner when his eye was first taken. Some of his priests, known as grudgekeepers like to joke that the famed orcish resilience in the face of grievous harm  is one of Gruumsh’s favourite gifts, the chance to strike back against your murderer one last time before death comes to claim you. 

There are few temples dedicated to the Ruiner, and those do exist often serve as monuments to wrongs so great that could not be avenged. Likewise those devotees who extend their faith into public practice tend to preach to others seeking to memorialize, or to ferment public agitation against some great personal or social injustice that must be corrected. Some societies try to suppress worship of the ruiner, fearing that he incites the same pain he claims to avenge, but in these austere cultures where the mighty may do as they please Gruumsh has little need of temples: his shrines are the bloodstains that can’t be cleaned off the street, his prayers are made in defaced edifices and vulgar words shared between those who suffer.

Signs: Fresh blood remembering old violence, rage so pure it distorts reality, physical cracks in symbols of authority

Symbols: A lone bleeding eye, nails driven into a resilient surface over and over and over again.

Titles: The Ruiner, The Unblinking, He who never sleeps

Art

[dailyjsa]

Welcome to DailyJSA's JSA Member Tournament!

Sixty four enter, one takes the crown!

These are characters who were either explicitly stated to be members of the JSA, or very involved with the team to the point that they're basically a member (mainly applies to Thunderbolt). Some are in a grey area due to retcons (such as Hippolyta) or were barely involved with the team, but they still count. Batman, Wonder Woman (Diana), Superman, and Robin have been excluded from this tournament to give other less popular characters a fair chance.

These initial matchups were made with a randomizer to be as fair as possible.

Each week, a round of polls will be posted. All polls will be a week long.

Since there are so many matchups to start, Round One will be split into two parts. The matchups are below the cut for those who may have trouble reading the bracket.

Feel free to send in an ask if you have any questions.

Round One (3/20):

Darknight vs Terry Sloane (Mr. Terrific)

Jesse Chambers (Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle) vs Al Pratt (The Atom)

Jennifer Pierce (Lightning) vs Al Rothstein (Atom Smasher)

Salem Nader (Salem The Witch Girl) vs Jeffrey Graves (Mister America)

Earth 2 Helena Wayne (Huntress) vs Jay Garrick (The Flash)

Dinah Lance (Black Canary) vs Sonia Sato (Judomaster)

Hector Hall (Doctor Fate) vs Pieter Cross (Doctor Mid-Nite)

Rick Tyler (Hourman) vs Ted Grant (Wildcat)

Matthew Tyler (Hourman) vs Joan Dale (Miss America)

Tom Bronson (Wildcat) vs Grant Emerson (Damage)

Jakeem Williams (Jakeem Thunder) vs The Thunderbolt

Jim Corrigan (The Spectre) vs Hippolyta (Wonder Woman)

Khalid Nassour (Doctor Fate) vs Jack Knight (Starman)

Kent Nelson (Doctor Fate) vs Thom Kallor (Starman)

Maxine Hunkel (Cyclone) vs Markus Clay (Amazing Man)

New Golden Age Helena Wayne (Huntress) vs Roxy

Round One Continued (3/27):

Billy Batson (Captain Marvel) vs Yolanda Montez (Wildcat)

Todd Rice (Obsidian) vs Dinah Drake (Black Canary)

Anna Fortune vs Beth Chapel (Doctor Mid-Nite)

Carter Hall (Hawkman) vs Red Tornado (John Smith)

Shiera Hall (Hawkgirl) vs Sand Hawkins (Sand/Sandman)

Michael Holt (Mr. Terrific) vs Alan Scott (Green Lantern/Sentinel)

Sylvester Pemberton (Star-Spangled Kid) vs Courtney Whitmore (Star-Spangled Kid/Stargirl)

Karen Starr (Power Girl) vs Wesley Dodds (Sandman)

Sara Butters (Red Beetle) vs Nathan Heywood (Citizen Steel)

Kent V Nelson (Doctor Fate) vs King Chimera

Kendra Saunders (Hawkgirl) vs Teth-Adam (Black Adam)

Ri vs Ted Knight (Starman)

Pat Dugan (S.T.R.I.P.E.) vs Libby Lawrence (Liberty Belle)

Rex Tyler (Hourman) vs Johnny Thunder

Charles McNider (Doctor Mid-Nite) vs Jennie-Lynn Hayden (Jade)

David Reid (Magog) vs Kate Spencer (Manhunter)

[liesmyteachertoldme]

In an October 2023 lecture, David E. Martin, Ph.D., detailed how we can know that SARS-CoV-2 is a manmade bioweapon that has been in the works for 58 years

The virus called “coronavirus” was first described in 1965. Two years later, the U.S. and U.K. launched an exchange program where healthy British military personnel were infected with coronavirus pathogens from the U.S. as part of the U.S. biological weapons program

In 1992, Ralph Baric at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, took a pathogen that used to infect the gut and lungs and altered it with a chimera to make it infect the heart, causing cardiomyopathy. This research was part of the efforts to produce an HIV vaccine

In November 2000, Pfizer patented its first spike protein vaccine. Between 2000 and 2019, vaccine trials using this technology proved it was lethal, yet in the summer of 2020, the clinical trials for the SARS-CoV-2 shots went straight into human trials

mRNA spike protein was publicly described as a bioweapon 18 years ago. In 2005, at a conference hosted by DARPA and The Mitre Corporation, the mRNA spike protein was hailed as a “biological warfare-enabling technology,” i.e., a biological warfare agent

[sailorsenshishitposter]

Jonathan Joestar x Reader

Jonathan Joestar

You get mad when people complain that part 1 is boring, you despise Dio and you love your men built like brick houses with the personality of a cinnamon roll. You also love dogs.

First Date

Jonathan chooses Erina and you die of a broken heart.

Take two

You manage to get the help of some street thugs and they shank Erina Pendleton. You throw her corpse into the river, desperately hoping that her death will be blamed on Jack the ripper. You don a blonde wig that you bought off some strange Chinese man and you then disguise yourself as Erina hitman style. Everyone buys it.

You then make your way to the Joestar mansion and find Jonathan, claiming to be his long lost friend. This enrages Dio who now is kicking all the local dogs in a fit of rage. He now changes his plans and decides to poison Jonathan instead, leaving him a fragile husk. You tell jojo that things aren't working out and that you're leaving him for Dio. The shock sends him into cardiac arrest and he soon floats away to heaven to be with Danny.

Unfortunately Jonathan was never told that feeding dogs grapes is a bad idea and he fed some to his beloved dog while in heaven, causing the poor creature to die a second time. Suddenly he sees a black man flying on a magical horse. "I'm sure glad that even the almighty Lord can let the slaves into heaven." Suddenly time goes backwards and Jonathan finds himself back in the past.

He's returned to your wedding day and the groom is none other than Dio. Jojo is about to protest before you annul the marriage. It turns out that your fiancee had a strange habit of creating chimera abominations and the talking cat man was the last straw. You grab Jonathan by the hand and drag him with you outside of the chapel. You profess your eternal love for him but he rejects you, for he has already found another blonde.

Out comes a man who dubs himself "Speedwagon" and he tilts his hat to you. "Good evening love. Have you seen my me wallet? I have a mighty fine case of the rickets and-" Jonathan arrives and cuts the man off. "Darling, what did I say about speaking in a cockney accent?" The blond man gave a huff and gazed down towards the ground. "No more talking like a petty street thug..."

Jojo then kissed him on the cheek. "Good. Now let's hurry, we must fit you for my mother's wedding dress." 

[mmoosen]

Five comfort characters, Five tags

tagged by the lovely @maplefire18 💕

D20 Fantasy High - Riz Gukgak

NCIS - Ellie Bishop

Teen Wolf - Nolan Holloway (Theo is like a hair behind)

Stargirl - Beth Chapel

The Flash - Cisco Ramon

tagging five beauties: @chasing-chimeras @sequinedmonkey @rhyslahey @luckyvd and @slice-of-magenta

[hannigrarnrecs]

chimera of the chapel by bleakmidwinter

when will graham wakes up from a coma three months after the fall, jack reveals that hannibal lecter didn't survive. outside the realm of hannibal's influence, will decides to discover the full truth behind the world's sudden and seeming falsehood. everybody seems to hold their own opinion on hannibal's fate, but will knows better than anyone that trust and honesty are as elusive as death.

[skeedelvee]

ABCs of Carry On: the big list!

Comment any that I missed! A lot of these were added from your guesses!

Feel like taking the challenge next? Go for it! ❤️

Apple sheets, Agatha

Butter, Baz, Battle, Bunce, big brother

Crucible, Catacombs, cloisters, cake pockets, chosen one, chamber by chamber, chimera

Dragon, Dev

Elocution, Ebb, excalibur

Fangs, Fiona

Goats, Gran, grope fest, gampyre, goatherd

H- tie our hearts together, Humdrum

I - magical instruments, insidious humdrum, I love you

Jersey, Jamie, Jeans, Jabberwocky

Kiss, make way for the king, killer

Light a match inside your heart, on love’s light wings, Lucy, Las Vegas, Lamb

Merwolves, magic, mage, Minotaur, Mummers house, Mordelia, Manor

Normal!, numpty, Niamh, Niall, NowNext, Nicodemus, Natasha

Open sesame

Pitch, Penny, Plotting, Possibelf, polecat

Queer, Queen ( the band)

Rats, Rosebud boy, Rainbow Rowell, roommates, road trip, ren faire, Ruth, roast beef

Scones, Simon, Shepard, Salisbury, sword of Mages, spells, Snow, you were the sun

Tail, Tea, Tower, Tornado, tape recorder, Tyrannus

Unicorn Frappuccino, uniform, under a bridge, uncle Jaime

Violin, vampire

Watford, Weeping tower, White chapel, wings, worst chosen one ever to be chosen

X- Excalibur, Xmas

Yew tree, you were the sun and I was crashing into you, yearning, yeet

Zzz, quiet zone

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - March 20

Kyle Gibney's birthday; Jean-Phillipe Colbert and Angelo Espinosa's Anniversary

PHASE 2

2015: X-Men Mission: Attica! Attica! Jean talks to Scott about Clarice’s actions during the mission. Lorna complains about solar flares. Angel and Rogue decide on a vacation in Vegas for the X-Men involved in the Ryker’s Island mission; Angel emails those concerned with the invitation. Matt is less than impressed with the sudden cold snap on the first day of spring. Garrison returns to the mansion, having been suspended by the FBI for his role at Ryker’s, and he and Adrienne decide to go wander Europe for a while; Garrison and Adrienne arrive in Milan, where Vic Chalker, testing his mutant detection device, finds them and leaves a tracker in Adrienne’s purse; a purse snatcher steals the purse and leads Vic Chalker to an untimely end at the hands of the local mafia.

2016: Laurie texts Kyle telling him he needs to see Zootopia. Bobbi meets Maya while running and they have actually have a friendly talk.

2017: Angelo visits Angel with food and a suggestion for her paper. Hope A. emails Sue with a write up she did of her dad’s company. Sooraya asks for help with a college assignment. Clarice posts about certain colors not looking well. Logan texts Kyle to congratulate him with his birthday. Molly gives Kyle a gift. Kyle texts Molly to thank her. Angelo takes care of Jean-Phillipe, who's still recovering from the Avengers fight, and the conversation takes a surprising, but pleasant, turn.

2018: Maya texts Quentin about her new job at X-Factor. Amanda informs Molly she's not cursed. Tandy asks Julian to talk to her. Darcy celebrates Mr. Rogers.

2019: Jubilee posts her appreciation for the mansion's shared music server. Clea texts Stephen accusing him of setting up color bombs around the mansion. Darcy has a brief crisis about going to school blue. Amanda helps Angelo get ready for his wedding; Marie-Ange helps Jean-Phillipe and the cousins come up with a creative way to incorporate the colour bombs; Alani falls victim to one of the bombs, and Marie-Ange offers to help people coordinate with their new look, if they wish; Topaz 'fesses up to being responsible for the color bombs, wishes everyone a happy Holi, and apologizes to Jean-Phillipe and Angelo for adding extra decoration to their wedding.

2020:

2021:

2022:

2023: In District X, Match meets with Angelo to get legal advice. Reality 03: Chimera Contagion: Alani gets eXcalibur up to date before their mission; in the other universe, Meggan shares her field report of the situation, along with the realization that people are gaining powers; Clint updates the team and plans their infiltration to the lab that is causing the anomaly; Forge announces that the Chapel is on lockdown for unauthorized personnel; Illyana chimes in with her observations of the mission and shares that these Chimeras do not mind harming children; Clint calls Forge to get outside help in stalling pursuers on the mission; Namor contacts Forge to inform him that Meggan has been injured and they’d be coming in hot; Alani texts Amanda and Kurt to update them on Meggan’s situation.

[metalindex-hu]

Fémjelzés – a hét újdonságai (2024. jan. 29 – feb. 4.)

Fémjelzés – a hét újdonságai (2024. jan. 29 – feb. 4.) - https://metalindex.hu/2024/02/06/femjelzes-a-het-ujdonsagai-2024-jan-29-feb-4/ -

Százötven lemez sorakozik az alábbi listában, a múlt heti kínálatot foglalva össze vele az underground színtér minden szegletéből.

A Lucid Nightmare – Effigy (groove/thrash metal/crossover) Absent Memory – Hour of Sorrow (atmoszferikus post-black metal) Abyss – Chapel (doom metal) Ad Nihilum – An Escape for the Guilty (atmoszferikus black/doom/death metal) Aldern – Concoction of Madness (melodikus death metal/metalcore) Amimia – Amimia (atmoszferikus/post-black metal/shoegaze) Amuleto de Calamidades – Reflections in the Profound Mortality of Life (black metal) Ansia – Il tuo culo preso a calci (crossover/hardcore/thrash metal) Araduous – Hymns of a Lost Past (atmoszferikus black metal) Arcane Lich – Labyrinthia (nyers black metal) Arcane Tales – Until Where the Northern Lights Reign (power/szimfonikus metal) Archbeheth – Corruption (black metal/dark ambient) Arkhaeth – Profound Lore of the Ashen Specters (black metal) Askel – Cycles of Ruin (sludge/post-metal) Astral Fortress – In My Final Days… (atmoszferikus black metal) Astral Spectre – Ars Notoria (black/heavy metal) Atomic Bomb Blood Orgy – Beyond the Sea (groove/thrash metal/crossover) Axiomatic Dematerialization – Absolute Elimination of Existence (slam/brutális death metal) Baazlvaat – Ridiculed by the Common Soldiery (black/folk metal/hard rock) Bane of Havoc – Resistance (heavy/power metal) Bipolar Architecture – Metaphysicize (post-metal) Black Groove – Low End Scum (doom/sludge metal/hardcore) Black Tears of the Fallen – Mirroring (epikus doom/gothic metal) Blood Infection – …of Rome and Its Aberrations (death metal) Blutraum – Sic Semper Tyrannis (black metal) Breath of Wind – Journey Through the Galaxy (atmoszferikus black metal) Buer – Satanic Terror (nyers black metal) Burguul – Make a Change… Kill Yourself (depresszív black metal) Burning the Forgotten – Those with the Rotten Souls (melodikus death metal) Chimera – What Was Sundered and Undone (nyers black metal) Cinereous Rain – Chaos and Extinction (black/death metal) Count Dirtbagulous – Under a Freezing Hog (avantgárd black metal/dungeon synth) Crungus – Crungus (black/death metal) Crushing the Scepter – Inhumed (doom/black metal) Dark Haven – IV (melodikus death metal) Darkness My Desire – Irminsul (black metal) Deadyellow – What Was Left of Them (post-black metal) Deathropy – Deathropy (melodikus death metal) Demenzia Mortis – La forêt des pendus (blackened death metal) Demon Seizure – Murder Tales (stoner/groove metal) Desecrated Angel – Snuff Film (death metal) Devine Defilement – Age of Atrocities (death metal/deathcore) Diamond Falcon – Gates of Hell (heavy metal) Dinkxn – Why Doesn’t It Get Better? (depresszív black metal) Dissonanz – △ (black metal) Dom Zły – Ku pogrzebaniu serc (post-black metal/crust) Dropthehammer – Greed Misery (death metal/grindcore) Drunemeton – Tir nan Og (pogány/black metal) Dwarrowdelf – The Fallen Leaves (epikus black metal) Eagle of Woes – Revelation (melodikus death metal) Earthen – Unrelenting (heavy/doom metal) Electric Animal – Fortress of Fog (dungeon synth/black metal) Ensom – Poimandres (szimfonikus black metal) Enterprise Earth – Death: An Anthology (deathcore) Ethir Anduin – Глухомань (black/doom metal/rock) Everrime – One (szimfonikus metal) Falout – When the Past Hits Back (thrash metal/punk/hard rock) Fellbeast – Blessed by Darkness in Shadows We Dwell (black/doom metal) Fin de una Era – Evolution (szimfonikus power metal) From Frost – Songs of Darker Days (heavy/groove metal) Fullmoon Rite – Draped in the Shade of Luciferian Light (black metal) Geistwolfe – Geistwolfe (nyers black metal) Giliath – Sefiroth (black metal) GloomWitch – Exploring the Deepest Parts of the Galaxy (black metal) Goaß – Cruxifucked (black/death metal) Goddamn Gringos – Gnarled Remains of Decency (death/black metal) Golden Core – Kosmos brenner (progresszív stoner metal) Gore War – Terror Days (death metal) Gorthon – Cut to the Bone (sludge/doom metal) Graywitch – Children of Gods (heavy metal) Hadad – Digitaria (death metal) Hail Conjurer – Satanic Phenomenology (black metal) Hatskrømt – Riddergrav (black metal) Hollow Woods – Like Twisted Bones of Fallen Giants (black metal) Hutan – Forest Spirit (black metal) Hysteria – Heretic, Sadistic and Sexual Ecstasy… (melodikus blackened death metal) If It Bleeds It Dies – Astaroth (szimfonikus black/death metal/deathcore) Impostor – Jardín de cadáveres (groove/thrash metal) Incest Breath – Keeping the Bloodline Pure (death/thrash metal/punk) Into the Ashes – Consumed by the Negative Dimension (brutális/technikás death metal) Iptanarrud – My Suicide (depresszív black metal) Iskaldur – Fallen World (black metal) Jackalhead – Dreamweaver (heavy metal) Kasturn – The Torchbearer Fades (nyers black metal) KentuCH – Hail to the King (groove metal/hard rock) Khabra – Blood Necrology (death metal) Klysma – Death (slam/brutális death metal) Koersive – An Emperor’s Will (melodikus/progresszív thrash/death metal) Kolac – Kolac (black metal) Lampray – Litho-râles (progresszív black/death metal) Leyendas de Cierzo – De cierzo y Carcosa (power/szimfonikus metal) Light Outreached – Ethereal Travel (industrial szimfonikus black/death metal) Litosth – Cesariana (melodikus black/death metal) Magnertron – Amplified Assault (death/thrash metal) Massacre – Tri-pocalypse (EP) (death metal) Mastectomy – Devil Incarnates in Us (brutális death metal) Mezereum – Mezereum III (black metal) Mind Conflict – Temple of God (death metal/hardcore) Mixomatosis – Humanidad putrefacta (death metal/grindcore) Mörghuul – Domination of the Beast (blackened thrash/speed metal) Nàire – The Age of Man (atmoszferikus sludge metal/crust) Necrowretch – Swords of Dajjal (death/black metal) Niemaracz – The Tales of the Dense Forest (stoner/blackened heavy metal) Nlorgpipe – Warmen of the Stars (nyers black metal) Obsidian Shrine – Dereliction of Divinity (black metal) Paradox’ Mysticism – The Kryptic Hymns of Kosmic Labyrinths (black metal) Perveration – Putrefaction of Infinite Apogee (brutális death metal) Phobetor – Scopolamine Dreams (black metal) Planet 666 – Road Trip Through the Alien Wasteland (sludge/stoner metal) Prediction of the Witch – Sworn into the Void (heavy/groove metal) Project Arcadia – Of Sins and Other Tales (heavy/power metal) Raped by Zombies – Night of the Undead Orgy (slam/brutális death metal) Raping Christ – Spill the Blood of the Lamb (black metal) Re-Arise – Revive (heavy metal/hard rock) Redención Zero – Megalomanía (heavy metal) Reflet Crépusculaire – Vanished Scripts (nyers black metal) Sanguine Imperator – I Am Death (death metal) Seeds of Loss – Pale Sulphur (black metal) Sickening – The Death King (brutális death metal) Silent Fracture – All Life Suffers (melodikus death metal/metalcore) Silent Stream of Godless Elegy – Jiná (doom/folk metal) Sinistrum – Infernal Dawn (death/thrash metal) Sinnahti – The Virtue of Dying (black metal) Skogarmaor – Sanger av Skogarmaor (szimfonikus black/death/doom metal) Snares of Impurity – Eliterian Tyranny (nyers black metal) Solbrud – IIII (black metal) Soulmass – Principality of Mechanical Violence (death/doom metal) Stages of Decomposition – Raptures of Psychopathy (brutális death metal) Stash Hag – The Lava Levels (sludge/doom metal) Striker – Ultrapower (heavy/power metal) Taival – Journey to Beyond (black metal) Tekeli-Li – Return to Innsmouth (doom metal) Tellus Terror – Deathinitive Love Atmosfear (experimental death metal/deathcore) The Initiation – The Roar of the Abyss (black metal) The Lumbar Endeavor – The Dead Sea (doom/sludge metal) Tinja – Poluterror Emperor (brutális death metal/goregrind) Troy the Band – Cataclysm (stoner/doom metal) Unaussprechlichen Kulten – Häxan Sabaoth (death metal) Vægtløs – Afrtyk (atmsopheric post-black metal/shoegaze) Veiled Metamorphosis – Tentacled Void of Infinity (funeral doom/sludge metal) Verflucht – Damnation, Ruin, Famine (black metal) Vertebrae Fetish Totem – Alchemy (death/doom metal) Vrøde – Ostracized (black/folk metal) Wandering Oak – Resilience (progresszív heavy/black/folk metal) Weedow – Weedow (stoner/doom metal) Wolven Daughter – Gospel of the Claw (nyers black metal) Worhs – La grande poisseuse (black metal/experimental) Wytches Moon – Grimoire II: Magick (pszichedelikus doom/stoner metal/rock) Yajtay – Ayniy Kawsaypa (black metal)

[ostara-frost]

The Chapel Beast. She prays on lost souls seeking shelter. An undead amalgamation once a great crow and now a demon.

(my art! Pls don’t repost!)

[intonerofcuriosity]

@thefirstsong​

(lets pretend I’m submitting this via my One RP blog (thefirstsong) and that im not being forced to use my main cause i wanted to keep my main and One RP blog separate but in order to send RP starters thats not exactly possible. damn it Tumblr. but hey. at least i can reblog from my rp blog so yay to that)

“Finally, it’s over…”

One sighed in relief as she sat down on her throne at the top floor of the Cathedral, having just finished a meeting with a pair of bickering ministers over some issue they could have easily solved on their own without her if they hadn’t hated each other’s guts and decided to take their bickering to the leader of all of Midgard to have her decide who was right or wrong.

Guess what? Neither of them were right or wrong because to every problem there is several good solutions and every solution has it’s flaws! They were just looking to make themselves look better than the other! They cared not for the people or finding the best possible solution, they just  came up with some okay-ish ideas and started arguing over which one was better rather than calmly looking through the pros and cons of both their ideas!

One was suffice to say completely and utterly drained and exhausted. 

“…today cannot get any worse than this, surely…”

This actually could get worse to One.

Three arrived to the Cathedral City not all that long ago. Took her longer than expected because she had to convince Four to lend her one of her flying ships if she wanted to cage the Chimera to bring it over as well.

However, the Intoner was the only presence walking through the insides of the main building, guessing that it would be better if she left the caged creature behind to show her older sister later.

No one needed to be a genius to know that the one approaching the center of the Cathedral was the always lethargic sibling. Not only her stumbling or her heels made One know that she was approaching, but the click-clack of her scissors was also a factor.

And so...upon arriving to the main chapel of the place, the Intoner tried to fix her posture a little, to look at the blonde from afar.

Seems they simply let her in, and arrived without sending a letter first, for One’s displeasure.

“One...” She said in a soft tone, hopeful the sound of her voice wouldn’t bother the other too much.

Truly, for Three to leave the Land of Forests, there had to be a good reason she was here, but perhaps One had a vague idea already.

“I stay in the corner...but travel around space...what am I?...”

[platypan]

A Strategic Proposal 3/

Part One/Part Two/Part Three/Part Four/Part Five

Robin did not, in fact, return with the unicorn horn. Steve looked up from trying to saddle his anxious horse—she had caught his anxiety, and kept side-stepping just as he tried to slide straps through buckles with shaking hands—and instead of the glint of armor, there stood his queen, shivering in a tatty robe and knitted blanket. She held the unicorn horn over the stall door, and he grabbed it, taking a shuddering breath of relief.

“You shouldn’t need it,” she said, reaching in to pat his horse’s nose and hold her still. “He wasn’t to engage the chimera—”

“Why would you send him,” Steve hissed, yanking the cinch around his horse’s belly. “Why send him at all, if he—if he isn’t—” He took a deep breath instead of yelling at his queen, and tried to swallow down thoughts that Billy wasn’t a strategist, there was no reason to send him, unless. Steve took another deep breath, swallowing hard. “Why—why would…”

“It was an excuse!” she hissed back, flailing an arm so her blanket fell, and cursing as she gathered it back up. “It was near—” She cut off, and Steve waited.

“Near what,” he asked hoarsely, trying to remember the map Robin had shown him. “...it’s near his home,” he realized, feeling the tightness in his shoulders ease. “Is he—why not say he—”

“He is late,” she said, opening the stall door. “He may have encountered the chimera unintentionally, he—he may very well be in danger. I have been trying to find out—Sir Hagen is not responding—” She took a slow breath as well, rubbing the skin between her eyebrows, and he felt bouyed up to know she and Robin were helping. Steve swung up onto his horse, and she grabbed his stirrup. “Wait! Robin is assembling more knights—if he’s fighting, you’ll be little use alone—”

“She can catch up with me,” Steve said, smiling down at his queen, still regal in her favorite soft robe with the holes in the elbows. “I need to find my husband.”

He rode through the night, expecting to reach the hunting ground of the chimera just after dawn. As the sun rose in a reddish, smoky haze, it wasn’t difficult to find where the chimera had been—where the intact armor wasn’t filled with ashes alone, charred bones in melted armor lay under still-glowing craters in boulders. Steve’s eyes stung and watered from lack of sleep, the fumes, and the realization that the fallen knights were scattered, some fleeing, and armed with swords, not the spears and crossbows they’d have taken to fight a beast with fire breath. Travellers.

He resisted the urge to yell Billy’s name, tying his horse in a copse of trees and grass near the road, and trying to keep his steel boots quiet as he walked, watching for the chimera. He found claw marks, once or twice, and his heart nearly stopped at the sight of a knight skewered on the jagged stump of a burned tree, though when he ran closer, he could see the armor was too small, and the curls hanging from her crushed helmet were too gold to be Billy’s.

Steve bent to lean his hands on his knees, breathing shakily, and stuffed his handkerchief inside his helmet to wipe his eyes.

He walked by a pile of half-eaten horses and two knights, and took another few deep breaths before he stepped in close to crouch, his sight blurring, to see whether it was the armor Billy had brought with him. Steve wondered, abruptly, rubbing his eyes, whether Billy’s armor was good enough, good as the Queen’s Guard, and his lungs shuddered in his chest at the thought that Billy’s family might have pinched pennies and Steve’s husband had fought a chimera armed with some sort of—gilt tin. He leaned his face in his hands, remembering it lying around the room, and wondering why he’d never thought to take it to the castle armorer, and made sure it was the best. Steve groaned, trying to remember buckling it on, and whether it had felt oddly heavy or light, but all he could remember was buckling it wrong because Billy was smiling, and had to be kissed.

“If he’s alive, I’ll commission a figure for your chapel,” he muttered, touching the St. George inscribed on his hilt. “I’ll have Billy model. You couldn’t ask for a better model—you—he’s beautiful, he’s strong—he’s brave, he—he’ll—just keep him alive ‘til I find him, I’ll buy candles, I’ll—” he cut off as his throat closed, and he coughed. “Protect his body from harm,” Steve whispered. “Def-defend the happiness of my home from all those who may conspire to destroy it. Give me the strength of your faith and fill me with hope and with the love of God—”

He brushed the ashes and blood away, and didn’t recognize the armor. “...amen.” His whole body trembled, a bit, with relief, and he stood slowly, letting himself mumble the prayer again and again, since St. George himself seemed to be listening. His sword started to glow.

The road seemed as good a place to look as any, and Steve wished Robin would hurry and help him search, wondering how many miles of wreckage he’d have to kick through, and how long Billy had, even with the intercession of Steve’s patron saint. “I will never ask for anything again,” he whispered at the sky, as loudly as he dared.

As he crept along the road, he heard a soft cry, and found one of the Hagenton knights, her leg charred off at the thigh. “Help is coming,” Steve told her, helping her drink a few swallows of water. She nodded, weakly punching the air, and he tied his handkerchief to the tree she huddled under, in view of the road. “Have you seen...anyone else,” he asked, swallowing, and she squinted, her eyes not quite tracking his face.

“Routed,” she rasped. “We were routed.”

“Thank you,” he told her politely, his voice thick, and she squeezed his hand, trying to sit up.

“Some...ran,” she said, her breath rattling as she tried to focus on his face. “May-maybe they survived.”

Billy would not have fled, leaving the others behind to die, he wanted to say, but she was pressing his hands, the white of a rib sticking out of her crushed armor as she tried to touch his face, so he just nodded, helping her ease back against the tree. “Thank you,” he said again, and again, “Help is coming.” He hoped for her sake and his own that they made it in time.

He kept up a series of pleas to St. George, as well as some gentle chiding—it would be much easier, after all, for Billy to stay alive if Steve’s saint was any help at all in finding him, but praying with his eyes closed didn’t give Steve the urge to walk in any particular direction, and he opened them again, rather than fail everything entirely by breaking his ankle by falling into a ditch. “Protect his body from harm,” he whispered. “Defend the happiness of my home from all who may conspire to destroy it.”

His heart thudded in his chest when he saw the curled gilt of Billy’s showy armor on a shape lying crumpled in the underbrush. “Billy,” he muttered, scrambling over the crumbling stone wall at the edge of the road, and running to his husband’s limp form. He yanked the helm up, crouching to see Billy’s wide eyes, hazy and flicking around under the pale, sweaty skin of his forehead. Steam wafted from under his armor, and out of his mouth, and Steve yanked at the wrapping on the unicorn horn, hissing, “Billy.”

“Harrington,” Billy whispered.

“William Hargrove,” Steve said back, wiping his eyes, as he tried to unknot the ceremonial bindings. “Thank you, St. George,” he mumbled, hoping the sincerity made up for the lack of formality. “I’ll get you those candles—”

“I’m dying,” Billy said, oddly forthright.

“No,” Steve hissed, yanking the knots free. “No, you’re alive, I’m here to save you.”

“You can marry someone else now,” Billy laughed unsteadily, and Steve yanked at his husband’s gauntlets, trying to find somewhere he could press the horn against greyish, steaming skin. His veins were black.

“I don’t want to marry someone else,” Steve hissed, “—I want to be married to you,” he said, fighting with the buckles on Billy’s left gauntlet, and squeezing Billy’s unnaturally hot fingers around the gleaming unicorn horn. “Hold this,” he whispered, taking a shaky breath as it glowed and pulsed against Billy’s skin, and his palm turned pinkish again. “Protect him from harm,” Steve whispered again, squeezing the horn so hard against Billy’s skin that his knuckles went white.

“I’m about to turn to ash,” Billy laughed again, tears evaporating into bursts of steam as they slid from the corners of his eyes. “May I touch you?” He pushed the horn away, trying to reach for Steve’s face, and Steve scrabbled for the rolling iridescent spiral and clapped it back in Billy’s hand, sniffling, laughing and grabbing his surcoat to wipe his eyes and nose.

“You’re touching me, you are,” Steve yelped. He held Billy’s hand around the horn, reaching his other arm around to try and unbuckle his husband’s helmet. “You won’t turn to ash,” he hissed. “I won’t let you—Billy, is the chimera dead?”

Billy’s eyes widened, and he tried to push himself up. “Wounded it,” he gasped, as Steve pushed him back down.

“Do you know which way it went, m-my love?” Steve asked, feeling awkward, but Billy went still.

“Oh,” he whispered, his eyes fixed on Steve’s face.

“I love you,” Steve said again, leaning close to see Billy’s expression through the slit where his helm lifted. “Where is the chimera?”

“I died,” Billy whispered, frowning.

“Knight of my heart,” Steve hissed, “You’re not dead. I followed you—where is the beast that felled you?”

“I thought there would be more pain,” Billy mumbled, “—turning to ash,” and Steve groaned, grabbing his husband’s helmet and pressing a kiss to it.

“Shut your mouth, idiot,” he told Billy, pushing himself up to a crouch so he could still hold Billy’s hand around the horn, and watch for the chimera. “You’re alive, and I love you—of course I would love you, you—”

“I can feel your hand,” Billy mumbled some more, sounding aggrieved.

“Yes,” Steve told him, sighing and biting back a smile, “—because I’m saving you, idiot. You can’t die, I replied to all your letters.”

“...my letters?”

“I missed you sliding your hand around my cock all night,” Steve rolled his eyes, feeling his cheeks flush, “—so I read all your letters.”

“Burn them,” Billy whispered.

“They were very interesting,” Steve told him, grinning, and taking a shaky breath at the sight of the pinkish glow showing through the join at Billy’s neck. He squeezed his husband’s hand. “I brought your horse carrots. Now I know her favorite treat.”

“I hope she’s alive,” Billy sighed. “Do you think if we’re both dead, I’ll see her again?”

“You aren’t dead,” Steve growled, banging his free hand on Billy’s armor.

“I don’t mind,” Billy said. “It’s good here.”

Steve thought, biting his lips together. “...I don’t love you.”

“Ah,” Billy sighed. “And I hurt. I am alive, then.”

“Ha!” Steve grinned, leaning in to try and kiss him, again, and having to kiss his helmet. “But I do love you!”

Billy opened his mouth, and closed it again, looking both bewildered and annoyed.

“I would have told you before you rode out,” Steve told him, raising the hand he was pressing the unicorn horn to and kissing it, “—but you rode out while I slept.”

“...you love your queen,” Billy mumbled.

“I love my husband more,” Steve told him, feeling a little awkward at the thought his saint was listening, but sure a saint would understand that Billy needed to hear it. He sent up a silent apology as he reached into Billy’s helmet and pressed a finger over his mouth. “I—it isn’t only—” he bit his lips, thinking, with Billy’s eyes fixed on his face. “You aren’t only my best friend, and—and the person I—I want to show things. Tell things to, talk about—I—I miss you,” he whispered, “—I miss you when you—when you’re on the other side of the room, I…”

Steve trailed off, staring in horror at the tears trailing down Billy’s cheeks. “I love you,” he tried, and Billy made a choking noise. “I’m sorry,” Steve said, watching his husband cry, and yanking at his armor to try and see whether the unicorn horn was working, or whether he was talking like an idiot while his husband died.

“Don’t stop,” Billy told him, laughing as Steve shoved his fingers in every cranny in his husband’s armor, feeling for unnatural heat.

“Protect his body from harm,” Steve hissed around the lump in his throat, wondering whether St. George had stopped paying attention. “Defend the happiness of my home from those—”

“I am well,” Billy told him, grabbing both Steve’s hands away from their frantic prodding. “I am safe, I am well—”

“You are crying—” Steve informed him, feeling his own eyes welling up at the thought that it hadn’t worked, he’d been too late, he’d failed. He’d arrived just in time to tell the truth, and maybe that was all his saint could do, he realized, and he cleared his throat. “I love you,” he said hoarsely, “I—I’m sorry I didn’t know sooner, I—would have told you—”

“Stop,” Billy said, too loud, yanking at the ties on his helmet, and pulling Steve down against him in a clash of denting armor. “I am well, I am saved. Why are you here,” he whispered between kisses, and Steve tried to remember the living chimera wandering about somewhere.

“Had to tell you I loved you,” he panted, still trying not to bawl himself. He rubbed his thumb up and down Billy’s cheek, salt-smeared from his tears, and the sweat from the heat of the chimera’s poison. It felt warm, but nothing like the heat of before, and Steve took a shuddering breath.

“An urgent missive from the queen,” Billy whispered, smiling down at where their hands were still locked around the unicorn horn. “...is...is this a national treasure?”

“Yes you are,” said Steve, hoarsely, feeling clever, and Billy started laughing until he choked, then groaned as he rested his head against Steve’s chestplate. “You need to drink some water, I think,” Steve whispered into his husband’s curls, and Billy hummed, squirming closer. “You taste like you lived on nothing but whiskey for the last fortnight,” Steve coaxed, and Billy started laughing again, shaking in Steve’s arms. “Can you stand?” Steve asked, wiping his eyes and nose, and kissing his husband’s hair. Thank you, St. George, he prayed silently. Please help me get him home.

In the distance came the shriek of the beast.

They both listened, and Billy flushed, smiling down as Steve’s hand tightened on his wrist.

Billy sighed. “It drug people away. They might…”

Steve frowned, sliding his hand up the back of Billy’s head and pulling him into another kiss. “They might be someone’s Billy Hargrove,” he said, nodding, and Billy’s eyes widened as he turned inexplicably red. Steve checked that the unicorn horn was against his husband’s skin again, worried about the heat, but Billy smacked his hands away like Steve was being unreasonable, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“...it worked,” he whispered in Steve’s ear. “I was gray as ashes, remember? I am tired, and...” he swallowed, trailing off as Steve frowned into his face.

“Keep the horn against your skin,” Steve told him, with the narrowed eyes of one expecting to be obeyed.

“I will,” Billy said, smiling. “Only because my husband is worried.”

“Of course I’m worried,” Steve hissed. “I have to get you back to our bed. I have to—I have to commission you better armor—”

“Armor,” Billy blinked. “My armor is—”

“You were poisoned—”

“Its breath is—”

“Maybe I can convince Her Majesty I’ll fall ill if she sends you away again,” Steve mumbled over him. “It happens in ballads, lovers pining—”

Billy started laughing again and crying, and Steve grabbed his shoulders, wondering whether his actions had driven his husband mad. “...let us search,” Billy wheezed, wiping his eyes. “So you may carry me back to our bed.”

“Yes,” Steve nodded, ignoring Billy snickering again. Sorry, St. George, he thought, for talking about beds. Then it occured to him that St. George might have had a Billy as well, and he just prayed,—and thank you. Again. As they walked, he continued to update the saint with as we’re still looking for the chimera, we could use some more help, and could you look for Billy’s horse, and you probably know what we’re doing, from up there, do I need to tell you?

“Do you believe me yet?” Steve asked, and then as Billy grinned at him and stumbled over a charred tree limb, and Steve grabbed his arm, “—not about the bed. Of course I want you in bed, anyone would want you in bed—stop laughing.”

“This is a very strange day,” Billy told him, sighing, and leaning into his side. “I think I...will believe you, but…” he shrugged his shoulders, and Steve nodded, thinking.

“I woke yesterday morning, and I was glad,” Steve said, clearing his throat as they walked north, following the trail of smoking, empty armor and the ever-heavier ash filling their throats and lungs. “I don’t like waking up,” he continued.

“No one does,” Billy put in.

“But I did,” Steve told him. “I smiled before I opened my eyes. I thought I would roll over, and you’d be there, and when I put my arm around you, you’d lean against me, and I’d smell your hair.”

Billy burst out laughing so loudly Steve shushed him, feeling wrong-footed, and wishing he could speak properly and be clear, but Billy dropped into a crouch, hiding his face, and Steve forgot his frustration leaning over him.

“I’m sorry I’m doing this wrong,” Steve whispered. “I thought—I thought you should...know.”

“I love you so much,” Billy whispered back. “So much, I can’t—I can’t even—I can’t—”

“You can’t...believe me?” Steve asked, crouching to try and lean to see Billy’s face.

“I—I’ll try,” Billy said huskily, and Steve nodded, leaning to kiss his husband’s exposed ear.

“I will keep telling you,” Steve told him, “—until you’re sick of it. I told St. George it was important you knew, and if you were alive, I’d never stop telling you—”

“You don’t even go to church—” Billy sniffled, and Steve shrugged, pulling him around for a kiss.

“I think St. George would rather I kept fighting monsters and telling you I love you,” he said, licking his lips, and Billy cried in earnest while Steve kissed him for hopefully not the last time, and busied himself putting both their helmets back on.

[platypanthewriter]

Strategic Proposal 6/6

Part One/Part Two/Part Three/Part Four/Part Five/Part Six

Steven Harrington and William of Hargrove, knights of the realm, tiptoed through the halls, their bare feet warmed by thick rugs. Steve nodded as each guard saluted, tugging Billy along by the hand as he laughed harder every time a guard’s eyes assessed Steve’s woolen undergarments, and then dropped to his bony white feet, and their brows furrowed.

“Sssh,” Steve whispered, as the halls widened, and the ceilings heightened. He stumbled tiredly, but set his jaw with determination.

“Where are we going?” Billy asked, still smiling, and wiping his eyes.

“To celebrate,” Steve whispered back, rubbing his eyes, and half-wishing he was asleep in bed—but Billy kept glancing down at their joined hands, and squeezing Steve’s with a little laugh, and Steve’s determination to treat him properly firmed.

The doorway he’d been seeking was up one of the long, curving staircases at the end of the Great Hall, a massive pair of oaken doors with gilt reliefs of the royal crest—the queen mounted on a unicorn rampant—and enormous, always-lit torches.

The guards saluted, a quick bang of their fists over their hearts, and then surveyed Steve, frowning.

“What are we doing,” Billy hissed.

“Celebrating,” Steve said. “Let us in.”

“...of course, Captain,” said the one on the left, and they opened both doors.

“We would never question your orders, Captain,” said the one on the right, staring straight ahead.

“We would never stop you from barging in on the queen at three o’clock in the morning,” said the one on the left, and Steve narrowed his eyes at her. His beloved husband was laughing at him.

“We are sure you have good reason, Captain,” said the one on the right.

“We’re sure Her Majesty simply forgot to inform us you were expected,” said the left one, and Steve glared at her, then the other one.

“Do you hear anything?” he asked Billy, dragging him inside as the doors closed behind them. “I nearly think I heard voices.”

Steve squinted into the dark room, illuminated only by the fireplace, wincing as Billy’s nails dug into his arm.

“Is this the queen’s bedroom,” Billy asked, barely a whisper.

“No,” Steve told him, patting along the wall for the cupboard he sought. “Just an...antechamber...ah!” He felt around several bottles, then sat back, discouraged, to yawn hugely. “...I don’t know which one it is.”

“God’s precious heart,” Billy muttered, and then light flared next to Steve’s face, making him jump. Billy held out a candle. “...if we’re going to rob the place, let’s at least do it quickly.”

The bottle of brandy, half-empty and sealed with the Queen’s own seal—gleamed from the lowest shelf, and Steve grabbed it, and two cups.

“...cups,” Billy whispered, his eyes widening in horror. “We are in the queen’s— we should go—”

“I’m tired,” Steve huffed, meandering across the room to drop in front of the massive fireplace, and stare into the banked embers. He patted the rug next to him, and poured the brandy into both cups—and finally, Billy padded over and sank next to him, eyeing the room nervously.

Steve eyed the brandy, swirling it in the warmth in front of the fire, and sighed, feeling like an idiot. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “We should go back and sleep. I—it was—”

“...it’s very fine brandy,” Billy offered.

“Is it?” Steve asked softly, taking a sip. It was good, like sweet heat in his mouth. “Oh,” he said. “It is.”

“...why are we here?” Billy whispered, his smile lit up warm in the light of the fire.

Steve leaned over and kissed him, and Billy scooted closer, leaning against his side. “I thought…” he sighed, leaning his face in his hands. “I want to start over. I want to do better.”

“You do well enough,” Billy told him, sipping at his cup, and smiling.

“I told Saint George I’d commission a marble statue of him for his chapel,” Steve confessed, “—with you as the model.”

Billy choked on his brandy, coughing.

“It needn’t be naked,” Steve whispered urgently. “I did say it would be naked, but. Perhaps the saint doesn’t wish to be seen naked?”

The brandy nearly spilled as Billy coughed harder, hitting himself in the chest. “Why,” he gasped. “Why—why would you—”

“I was speaking...aimlessly,” Steve sighed, finishing his brandy, and pouring more. “I don’t even remember all of what I promised—”

“The Captain of the Queensguard, forgetting promises?” Billy asked, smiling over, and wiping his eyes.

“I offered anything that came to mind,” Steve laughed, squeezing the cup until the edges dug into his hands. “In hopes I would find you. I expected only your...ashes,” he whispered, his vision blurring as Billy pulled him close, kissing his hair. “Anything I could think a saint might want.”

“I believe usually people offer their own deeds,” Billy whispered, smiling, and kissing his cheek. “Beasts slain. Battles won in the name of Saint George.”

“All I could think of was you,” Steve sighed, and then wheezed as Billy’s arm tightened.

Billy buried his face in Steve’s shoulder, shaking, and Steve felt a burst of fondness before realizing his husband was laughing.

“Heartless,” he whispered, kissing Billy’s curls.

“I am grateful you didn’t offer all of me,” Billy hissed, filling his cup of brandy. “Return to human sacrifice.”

“I would never offer a human being,” Steve huffed. “What use does a dead saint have for the most beautiful…” He trailed off, clearing his throat, and Billy elbowed him.

“Do not stop there,” Billy hissed.

Steve snorted. “Most faithful and loyal of knights,” he whispered back, squeezing Billy’s shoulders. “Brave, and clever, but not too wise.”

“...particularly that last,” Billy sighed, watching his brandy swirl in the cup.

“In choice of lovers,” Steve whispered, and Billy bit his lips together. “...you chose better for me than I did for myself,” Steve told him, and Billy took a deep, shaky breath.

“I love you,” Billy hissed, and Steve laughed, nodding, and squirming closer, suppressing another yawn.

“It’s returned twice fold,” Steve whispered, and Billy’s fingers tightened painfully on his shoulder.

“No, I—I need to—tell you.” Billy took a long breath, then buried his face in Steve’s neck. “I—I came to—to—I was sent.”

“Sent?” Steve repeated, questioning muzzily in the back of his head whether alcohol had been a good idea. “What do you—sent by whom?”

“When my father received your proposal,” Billy whispered against the side of Steve’s head, “—he was pleased for a—a different reason—than I. He asked that I...send him word of the happenings here, that I—” he cut off with a strange noise in the back of his throat, and Steve sat his cup aside, listening. “He had...treasonous designs...on your queen.”

Steve waited, listening, wishing he’d drunk less, and slept more. He opened his mouth, saw his husband flinch, and closed it again, leaning to kiss Billy’s curls instead. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“He sent me to spy,” said Billy, his gaze steady on the flames. “He plotted against your beloved queen, he—he planned to lead the chimera into a city—”

“Good god,” Steve breathed, imagining it. Billy flinched, closing his eyes.

Steve pulled Billy into his arms, whispering ‘thank you’s into his hair. Billy froze against him, and Steve pulled away, rewriting the past months in his head as Billy made a soft noise deep in his throat, tugging at Steve’s sleeve. “...wait,” Steve said, running his thumb over Billy’s clenched fist. “Wait. Is—is that why you—you came here—”

“I needed help,” Billy hissed back, yanking Steve closer by the sleeve. “I thought you’d listen, I thought you loved me—”

“You never told me,” Steve whispered. “Why…” he started, narrowing his eyes at them, as Billy smiled tightly and looked away. “Is that why you came? Is that why you...married me,” he asked. His stomach felt as though he was falling from a great height, and he winced, remembering Billy’s face when Steve told him to refuse the marriage.

“You sent an offer of marriage,” Billy growled back, shoving Steve’s shoulder. “Yes! I knew his plans, I needed a reason to see you, to tell you—he read every letter—I waited for—for your invitation, for a date— but then my father ordered me to—” He stopped, swallowing.

“You were stubborn with me, to save Her Majesty,” Steve mumbled through his fingers, thinking. There was a soft, light feeling in him at the thought of Billy uprooting his life to save his queen and country, but also a weight in his throat at the idea the wedding had been fake for both of them, just when he’d started to believe it was entirely real.

“For you,” Billy said.

“What,” Steve grated out.

“I betrayed my father, I—I fought the chimera, for you,” Billy said hoarsely. “I couldn’t let him...trap you, let the chimera kill you—”

“To save the queen,” Steve nodded, and Billy laughed, his voice unsteady.

“To save your queen,” he said. “She is...the kingdom, but she is—more.” His voice cracked. “To you.”

Steve thought about Her Majesty—her quick thinking when attacked, and the memory of his knee-weakening admiration for her after she leveled the crossbow, struck her target, and reloaded, calm in the face of oncoming death. His sympathetic pain for her, when she agreed to marry a woman she only knew by letter.

How much Billy knew of him, he realized, gleaned from his letters. “She’s more than my queen,” he agreed, “—but you are...more than...that. Still.”

“I win second place at the tournament,” Billy laughed, and Steve narrowed his eyes. “I miss your heart, and take a small purse of gold to pay my expenses—”

“No,” Steve hissed. “First place, in the tournament of—of my—affections.” He ignored Billy’s snort, and pressed on. “The favor is yours. My hand and my heart, rightfully won.”

“...for saving your queen?” Billy asked, watching Steve’s hand, and Steve grabbed both of his, running his thumb over his husband’s wedding ring.

“I did not think about my queen when I rode for you,” Steve whispered, cocking his head to try and catch Billy’s eye. “I wasn’t thinking of the chimera’s path, or its cave of bones, except to try and keep you from them.”

“My father lured it from the wilds,” Billy murmured, watching Steve’s thumbs stroke across his knuckles. “Killed its young—”

“You are not your father,” Steve reminded him, and Billy made a noise in his throat like he’d been punched. “You are not him,” Steve whispered, lifting Billy’s hands to his mouth to press kisses across his husband’s knuckles, and Billy yanked his hands closer, leaning in open-mouthed for firm, brandy-flavored kisses. Steve started to talk, panting for breath, but Billy laughed and crawled closer, sliding his arms around Steve’s neck, and Steve tipped back onto the rug with a huff of breath as Billy settled on his chest.

“Good evening.” The sleepy voice of their queen wafted from less than a foot behind Steve’s ear, and his whole body jerked, slopping the brandy in his face. Billy started snickering, wide-eyed, and Her Majesty sighed. “...don’t waste it.”

“I apologize for both of us,” Billy whispered, glancing guiltily behind her. “I hope we did not wake the Royal Consort?”

“You did,” said the queen, dropping to sit next to them, and gathering her robe around her. “I have been banished from the bedroom until the noise has stopped.”

“Oh no,” Steve mumbled, through his hands.

His queen grabbed the poker, and prodded the fire. “Your husband came to us the first day,” she said. “—with letters, and maps. He asked for protection.”

“Why did you keep it secret?” Steve asked, sitting his cup aside, and Billy swallowed hard, smiling at his hands.

“You barely tolerated me, I couldn’t—” he wheezed as Steve strong-armed his husband into his lap. Billy laughed, leaning into him, and submitted to being wrapped entirely in Steve’s arms and legs.

“I told him you would forgive him,” said Steve’s queen, tossing another log into the fire, and scooting closer in an undignified squat.

“By the time I thought you would forgive me for my father,” Billy said, his voice rumbling where he was pressed to Steve’s chest, “—I had been lying for months.”

“Is the noise over?” Nancy asked, her eyebrows raised, and Steve nodded, squeezing his husband tighter until he made a squeaking noise deep in his throat. She rose, stopped, looked them over, and smiled, shaking her head.

Steve watched her go, opening his mouth to ask Billy how long she’d known that their entire courtship had been a lie, then sighed, and shut his mouth again.

“What ails you,” Billy mumbled.

“You’re more important—” Steve told him, but Billy cut him off.

“More important than what,” he asked warily, tensing in Steve’s arms, and Steve sighed.

“Are we done celebrating?” he asked, squinting at his cup in the warm glow from the fire. Billy shrugged his shoulders, and Steve nodded, clambering to his feet, swaying with brandy and exhaustion, and holding his husband close.

“What now?” Billy asked, grabbing the brandy, and Steve stopped to pull him into a kiss, open mouthed and tasting of long-ago fruit from the liquor. Billy tasted of summer, and Steve closed his eyes, warm and soft between the low heat of the fire, and his husband’s sunshine. He burrowed into Billy’s neck, sliding his arms up the thin woolens they wore to sleep on cold nights, under the thick cloak of the Queensguard.

“You smell like you dried on the line,” Steve mumbled. “In the sun. Outside.”

“...I didn’t,” Billy whispered back, holding him close, and shaking a little, like he was laughing.

“Mmm,” Steve sighed, tightening his embrace to feel the soft wool, and the heat of Billy’s muscled weight against him. “Starting over.”

“Is that what we’re doing?” Billy asked, letting himself be drawn back towards the door. He had the same tired giggles as before, and Steve kissed his temple, leaning their heads together for a moment before dragging him out the door, and down the hall.

“Follow the captain to make sure he doesn’t fall and drag his husband down the stairs,” said one of the guards at the door, crisply, and Steve raised his chin and ignored them even as the other one fell into step with them.

“Celebrating, this time,” Steve sighed, “—properly.”

“Will there be a feast?” Billy whispered, and Steve nodded, smirking at his own forethought.

“Of course. Our squires will have brought...bread,” he suggested, not wanting to promise anything better, in case it was indeed simply bread. Given Dustin’s disgust earlier, he suspected it might be full of mealworms.

When they reached their rooms, the platter before them bore fruit, fresh bread, and a roast pheasant, and Steve took a relieved breath. “Bless your sister, for my squire certainly didn’t supply that.”

“A feast in bed is better than our first feast,” Billy said, waving to the watchful guard as he held the door for Steve and the tray.

“Mmm,” Steve muttered, sitting the tray on the side-table, and sliding his fingers into Billy’s hair to kiss him again. He grabbed a drumstick—his stomach growled—and he pulled Billy over to his desk.

Billy mumbled inquisitively into Steve’s mouth as he was hauled around the room, waving a hand at the bed, but Steve handed him the box of replies to Billy’s letters.

“I also...if you...wish, read these,” Steve told him. “They’re probably not any good, but they’re real, I wrote them.”

Billy was very still, his gaze fixed on the pile, and Steve leaned in to press another kiss to his cheek.

“My handwriting probably suffered, by the end,” he whispered. “It wasn’t good to start with.”

“...you wrote me letters?” Billy asked, glancing back at the desk as Steve drug him towards the bed, unsteady with exhaustion.

“Read them later,” Steve told him, and Billy’s frown deepened. Steve couldn’t help imagining how Billy would crow over his honest attempts at love letters. “When I’m not around,” Steve hissed, his cheeks heating.

Billy shot him an alarmed glance, but his mouth quirked—likely at Steve’s hunched shoulders and blushing cheeks—and Steve sighed.

“I—did not mean to—deceive you,” he groaned, and Billy raised his eyebrows. “My queen—”

Billy rolled his eyes, stalking back towards the pile of letters, but let Steve catch him around the waist. He sighed. “I’ve heard enough about your queen—”

Steve tugged him over to the desk, and pushed him into the chair. Billy stared straight ahead, and Steve sat the inkwell next to his hand, then leaned to breathe in his ear. Billy startled, glaring at him, and Steve kissed his open mouth. “There,” he whispered. “Now, try and write a letter of warning, without me seeing. I’ll lean here, with my elbows on the desk—”

Billy snorted, his mouth twitching as he glanced around, and watched Steve bite into his drumstick. “She stood here?”

“Mmf. Or sat on the desk. I tried to write you about tournaments, I thought ‘I’ll challenge him, then I’ll see him, and explain—’”

“She was having none of it?” Billy asked, laughing, and Steve leaned in to lift his husband’s chin into a kiss. His lips were soft and still a little rough from the heat of the chimera’s poison, and warmer, Steve had noticed, the longer he held his husband’s face.

“She insisted I tell you I loved you,” Steve said, holding Billy’s head still when he tried to duck away. “I should read them to you now. Now they’d be true.”

“Would they?” Billy laughed, biting at Steve’s fingers. “The poems?”

Steve grimaced. “I am sorry about the sonnets—”

“Did you even read them?” Billy asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Yes,” Steve said stoutly. “Yes, I did. And they were the least awkward to recite, when my queen asked which I had chosen.”

“Ohhh,” Billy nodded, sighing.

“—but the love declarations,” Steve enunciated clearly, “—they’re true. Now.”

“Maybe I’d like to hear them in your words,” Billy said, “—instead of your queen’s,” and Steve frowned at him. Billy laughed. “Am I in love with you, or your queen?” he asked. “I’ve wondered, since you explained the letters. Who told me about the treaties? He’s the captain of the Queensguard, I reasoned, he might be present—but perhaps it was queen, telling the only person she could of her frustration, because who can a queen complain to? Are both of her knights in love with their queen? How courtly.”

“No!" Steve whispered, his eyes wide with horror. "No, no, it—it wasn’t—”

“Who sent me pressed flowers from the fields south of Byerston? They arrived crumpled, but I unfurled them—” Billy cut off, laughing, and pinched the bridge of his nose as his eyes reddened. “I—I researched your sketch, I found out their names, I imagined you thinking about me—”

“Billy.”

“What do I do with love letters from the queen?!” Billy shouted, flinching back from Steve’s hand. “Do I sell them? Letters penned by the queen, pretending to be in love with me?”

“Billy—” Steve said, grabbing his husband’s sleeve, and pulling him close. He'd wakened, a bit, with the way his heart was pounding. “Let me—”

“I have pressed, crumpled flowers in a book by our bed,” Billy laughed. “I imagine sometimes they’re from you.”

Steve kissed him, just a soft peck, but every time Billy opened his mouth and took a breath, he did it again. “Let me speak,” he said, once Billy’s eyes fluttered shut, and he opened his mouth to Steve’s lips.

Billy nodded, and Steve kissed him again.

“I wrote them,” he whispered, and Billy’s chin jerked up again.

“No, you said—”

“She...required I tell you...what I had told her was the truth,” Steve admitted, grimacing. “That I missed you, and loved you, and wished to wed.”

Billy took a shuddering breath, biting his lips, and Steve cupped his chin with both hands, rubbing his thumb along Billy’s lower lip.

“That is three lines, Billy,” Steve whispered. “How many letters did I write you?”

Billy shoved away. “Don’t—don’t try to make those letters about me. They were—they let you spend time with her.”

“What?” Steve squinted at him, and then grabbed for him again. “No! Billy, no, listen. I wasn’t—I wasn’t in love, but—”

Billy made a strangled noise in his throat, shaking his head, and Steve kissed his lips. “I wrote you every night while we traveled,” he whispered, and Billy nodded, wiping his eyes roughly with his sleeve.

“Y-yeah,” he nodded. “I knew when you never wrote back. Some of it was...travelling. I didn’t know where to send them.”

“I wrote whatever I was thinking at the time,” Steve told him, sighing. “Robin didn’t need to hear how I...questioned—”

“You didn’t care what I thought...of you.”

“I didn’t think you’d read them,” Steve admitted. “I...enjoyed writing you. While m—” Steve paused, awaiting a slow, half-drunken messenger from his own mind. “While the queen,” he corrected, and it felt odd in his mouth to not claim her as his very own monarch. It was worth it, though, to see Billy’s blink and slight smile. “While the queen managed treaties, or undid her royal—” he waved his hand around his head, “—diamonds and—things—behind a curtain, in the royal tent, I would write you. She would wander by, and I'd wave her off.”

Billy bit his lips together, running his fingers over the folded letters, and Steve reached down and lifted his hand to kiss it.

“Do you know the first time I ever told Her Majesty, Queen of the countries of the Wheel, to piss off?”

Billy snorted. “Never?” he asked dryly, and Steve leaned forward to whisper against his husband’s ear.

“It was while writing to you,” he breathed, and Billy shivered. “I didn’t think you’d read them,” he said again, kissing along Billy’s jaw. “I thought you’d refuse me after the first one you opened. I wasn’t trying to…” he laughed, feeling his cheeks heat. “I wrote about whatever I saw, anything I thought, anything that wasn’t a secret of state—”

“Why,” Billy whispered, shaking his head, but smiling.

“Billy of Hargrove,” Steve said, moving the box of letters aside, and dropping astride his husband’s lap, “—nobody else in the world has ever wanted to just let me talk.”

“What,” Billy laughed.

“Definitely not someone who wanted to marry me,” Steve told him, sliding his arms around Billy’s neck, and arching their bodies together as Billy took a shuddering breath, leaning his head back against the chair. “You read all that, and you… loved me,” Steve whispered. “How is that possible.”

Billy rubbed his hands up Steve’s ribs, and down to stroke his thumbs over the soft wool covering Steve’s behind. “Mmm,” he said.

“I expected more of your letters to say ‘please stop writing’,” said Steve, humming tunelessly as he ran his thumb gently along Billy’s lower lip. “None of them did. You asked about things.”

“I didn’t know what I’d finally done right,” Billy whispered, “—but I wanted to keep doing it.”

“You used your real name, for one,” Steve huffed. “How was I supposed to know? ‘Dark Knight of the Roses’ indeed.”

“I sent you roses,” Billy hissed, pinching him, and Steve swore, jerking away. Billy yelped as he was squished against the chair, and Steve started laughing. Billy shook his head, smiling.

“You didn’t tell me it was you,” Steve said, leaning back in to kiss him, lightly. “Every tournament, sending challenges…” he kissed his husband again, “—in disguises—” he laughed against Billy’s lips. “How was I to know?”

“I was in my tent! You could have come and asked,” Billy muttered, red-faced. “Robin came and laughed at me.”

“She knew!” Steve paused, blinking into the middle distance. “And—and Thomas, he knew?”

“Everyone knew,” Billy hissed. “It was not a secret!”

“I thought it was people challenging me because I’m the captain of the Queensguard,” Steve said thoughtfully, stroking his hands over Billy’s cheeks. “It never occured it was the same man, painting over his shield and picking fights with me.”

“...it wasn’t that strange,” Billy bit out, and Steve snorted a laugh.

“But it’s good you’re strange,” he said, dropping a few kisses across Billy’s freckles, and feeling them heat. “You’re so strange you wanted to listen to me.”

“Not so strange,” Billy said, and Steve kissed him until he stopped trying to talk.

“Come to bed,” Steve told him, pulling the letters away, and embracing his husband tightly. “Come and sleep.”

Billy’s eyes lingered on the letters, but he nodded and allowed himself to be drawn away and held while Steve threw the blankets back. He grabbed Steve around the waist and fell backward, yanking Steve off his feet with a startled yell.

They rolled themselves more into the center of the bed, clumsily yanking the blankets up, and Steve kissed his husband’s face in the darkness under the covers, feeling him laugh, and squirm closer.

“I liked your letters,” Billy whispered in the warm, close darkness.

“Even when I described my horse,” Steve snorted, kissing his husband’s cheek while trying to find his mouth in the dark.

“Even then,” Billy mumbled sleepily, and Steve laughed, holding him close.

There was a banging on the door, and Robin leaned in to their room, paused, and yawned, the circles under her eyes probably nearly as dark as Steve’s own. “Her Majesty requests your presence,” she said, and Steve nodded, then realized she was looking at Billy, and she had a slight grimace. “...at your leisure,” she said, when he sat up in bed with a groan, and rubbed his face.

Steve swung his legs out of bed, and she frowned at him, grimacing. “Ah,” he said, watching her, and then frowning over to see Billy’s shoulders hunch.

“Might as well get it over with,” he said, and Steve grabbed his wrist.

“What’s happening?” He glanced at Robin, then back to Billy. “What?”

Robin bit her lips, frowning at Billy, who shook his head.

“No matter,” he said, and Steve got up to walk around and squeeze his husband’s shoulders.

“Is—are you—is everything—” he tried to ask, and Robin sighed.

They stood there for a long moment, before Billy rubbed his face again, groaning. “Fine. Come along, then. Fine, you’ll— fine.”

Robin relaxed, and winked at Steve. He would have been reassured, if Billy’s hand in his wasn’t sweaty and trembling. Billy dressed in silence, glancing over, then looking away when Steve tried to catch his eye.

“I need a morning kiss,” Steve said hopefully, and Billy smiled, his shoulders loosening as he stepped closer and leaned in. It was hard to imagine, Steve thought, with his hands on his husband, and his lips on his husband’s mouth, that there had been a time he’d have hurried to his queen.

“I’m sorry,” Billy whispered, flicking a glance at Steve, then down, with a tense grin. “I’m half-wild, after all,” he laughed, and Steve cocked his head in confusion as the knock came on the door again.

“Is there anything you didn’t tell me,” he asked, cupping Billy’s face, and Billy shook his head.

“...no,” he said hesitantly.

“Then it’s fine,” Steve told him, smacking a kiss on his cheek, and dragging him out to the hall.

The queen was not in her counting house, but she was checking on her treasure, watching while the royal alchemist and bard, Byers, dipped the unicorn horn in various glassware. “...it still works,” he said. She nodded, smiling, and then saw Billy—but her expression didn’t change until she saw Steve, and he was both grateful that the frown didn’t hurt him as it once would have, and wary. Billy snorted a laugh, and Steve realized he’d stepped between his husband and everyone else.

His queen smiled, a little sadly, and led he, Billy, and Robin to a a small table, where she moved a diamond scepter aside, and dropped into a chair with a heavy sigh. She kicked off her shoes. Billy waited, tense and ready as a drawn bowstring at Steve’s side, and Steve bit his lips together, trying to resist the urge to shake everyone, and demand answers. Her Majesty steepled her fingers, regarding Billy. “You are well?”

“He’s been arrested for...inciting the chimera,” Billy said hoarsely. “—and rebellion. He’s to be...” he cleared his throat, and went on hoarsely, “--executed this morning.”

“What,” Steve whispered, squeezing his husband’s shaking, sweaty hand.

“You have done a great service to the crown,” Nancy said, and Billy snorted, setting his jaw. “...we are extremely grateful. Do you still wish to keep it between us?” She waved to Alchemist Byers, who brought over the two horns—now cleaned—on a velvet pillow.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Billy gritted out, and Steve registered that both Robin and his queen were waiting for Billy’s preference, while he curled in on himself like a porcupine.

“...your husband came to us that first day,” said Robin. “He said he had information about...a treasonous plot to…”

“I told them I had been sent to spy,” Billy said, shrugging, his smile forced. “I’ve followed their orders since.”

“We would give you public honors,” said the queen. “At a ceremony.”

Alchemist Byers grinned. “Thirteen feet tall,” he read resonantly, “—and six feet abreast—”

Steve squeezed Billy’s hand, biting back a smile at the exaggeration, but mostly at the idea of having Billy at his side, receiving honors.

Billy’s hand closed hard on his, cold and a little sweaty. “Mmn,” he said.

“I wanted to personally thank you both, and...ask,” said Her Royal Majesty, Queen of the Countries of the Wheel, but she looked a little preoccupied, Steve couldn’t help thinking. “Also, there’s...another matter.”

The Herald began again, more quietly, and Steve realized he was practicing the speech. “What is going on?” he asked, then flushed at his own familiarity. “My queen.”

“Your father has been detained for treason,” the queen told his husband, and Steve stumbled over his own tongue as he swallowed back his interruption. “His attempts at conscription have been derailed, and the ambassador is safe. Thank you for your information, and aid in this matter.”

Billy nodded, and Steve stared.

“You and yours are under our protection,” she continued, grimacing. “Particularly your squire, Max. We have arranged safe passage for her mother.”

Billy drew a shaky breath, nodding.

“She may no longer be used as ...leverage against you,” said the queen, and Billy nodded again, wiping his eyes. “You have no need of...connections made only in the name of safety,” the queen said, gently, and Steve felt like he’d swallowed more than an interruption.

“Whatever you choose to do,” Robin put in, glancing down at Steve’s outstretched hand, and biting her lips together.

“Your actions were out of desperation, and we hold no grudge,” Steve’s queen said, but she was watching him, not Billy. “—but we thought it...advisable,” she said, wincing, and exchanging a glance with Robin, “—to...ask, before celebrating the heroism of your union tonight, do you wish to—”

“Do you want to continue this marriage,” Robin interjected, and Billy started laughing, high-pitched and unsteady.

Nancy sighed, opening her mouth, and Steve grabbed Billy’s shoulder, yanking both Billy’s hands to him, and taking a deep breath.

Billy’s eyes gleamed with tears over his smirk.

“Is it a farce?” Steve asked, and Billy shrugged his shoulders, watching their clasped hands.

“Is it?” he replied hoarsely, and Steve frowned, thinking.

He clasped his fist to his heart. “In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” Steve said, thinking rapidly, and stealing liberally from his oath of knighthood, “I pledge myself, from now and forever, to this man, William of Hargrove. I declare to take freely and solemnly an oath of—of—” Steve stopped to think, as Billy stared at him, his eyes starting to shine with tears. “—an oath to love, honor, and—and trust. With this oath I state my strong and irrevocable intent to pledge my sword, my forces, my life and everything that I own to the —the love, defence, honour and further knowledge of—of this man, my husband,” he whispered, feeling Billy’s hands tighten on his.

Billy swallowed hard, setting his jaw.

“To love him and help him, his loved ones and friends with my sword, my advice, means and wealth, my credit and everything in my power, and favour him, with no exception. In freedom of mind and body I do...wish that...this man be mine,” Steve said, dispensing all the parts about spreading the word of God, and squeezing Billy’s shaking hands. “What say you, William of Hargrove?”

Billy swallowed, biting his lips together, and glanced at the throne. “...tell me what to say,” he said under his breath, his lips barely moving. “Do you want me to refuse,” he whispered, swallowing back tears.

“Say yes,” Steve hissed back, glaring, and Billy snorted a wet-sounding laugh. “If—if you want to. Only if you want to.”

“Then why didn’t you have me ask,” Billy hissed back. “You know what I want. What I’ve always wanted—”

“Then ask me!” Steve told him, loud enough that he saw Robin’s eyebrows raise out of the corner of his eye. Billy tugged at their linked hands to wipe his nose on his own wrist, and Steve waited, then stepped closer and whispered, “Ask me.”

“If you tell me no, I—I’ll—” Billy laughed again, and tears welled up in his eyes as Steve grabbed his face.

“Ask me already,” he told his husband, who was starting to giggle. “Billy,” Steve growled. “Stop laughing, and—”

“I don’t know,” Billy grinned at him, leaning in for a kiss, which Steve submitted to with bad grace, though he couldn’t help quirking his mouth at Billy’s smile. “Maybe I should make you ride for days,” Billy whispered. “...forget all about you—”

“You looked different at school,” Steve hissed, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t forget you, exactly, I had no idea you were—”

“I should make you beg for it, this time,” Billy said, and Steve sighed and dropped to one knee, which led to Billy trying to yank him back up by the hands, apologizing profusely to Steve’s queen and her guard. “I didn’t mean it! Get up,” he muttered. “Get up, stop, get up—”

“Please marry me,” Steve asked imploringly, holding Billy’s hands and belt so he couldn’t flee. “My love. My own, my—my shepherd’s pie,” he begged, as Billy tried not to lose his balance laughing. The other people in the room had stopped speaking, probably out of disbelief watching Billy try not to tip over as his husband, the honorable and renowned captain of the guard, threw both arms around his hips and sang his praises. “My, ah, my—my venison chop, my hot cross bun—”

“Stop! Stop!” Billy snickered, wiping his eyes. “Stop, stand up—”

“Not—not until you bless me with your—”

“Stop!” Billy wheezed, glancing warily at Steve’s queen, who was trying to hide a wide smile.

“Billy,” Steve said, yanking his husband’s knees so Billy yelled, and fell to kneel astride Steve’s lap, their faces almost touching. “Marry me forever. No lies.”

“No lies,” Billy repeated, leaning to try and kiss Steve’s hair.

Steve let go enough to look up. “Stay married to me? Say yes.”

“...yes,” Billy mumbled, groaning into his hand, but Steve could see his grin.

“We can have two ceremonies at once, a wedding with...medals. Honoring you for fighting the chimera,” announced the queen, smiling so brightly he loved her, for a moment, nearly as much as he loved Billy Hargrove.

Steve grappled his husband close, yanking him around enough to hear him laugh, and then kissing his hair, before stopping to clasp both hands around Billy’s jaw. “You have to say yes, at the ceremony,” he said seriously, squishing his husband's smile. “Unless you don’t want me.”

Billy nodded, leaning to breathe shakily against Steve’s shoulder. “Your proposal helped me save my sister,” he whispered, “—but that—that is not why I rode for days to see you. Before y-before I was asked to come. You were strange in the letters, I thought—I thought if I could speak to you—”

“You could find out what was happening?” Steve whispered back, embracing him to feel the tight muscles of his shoulders. He kissed the side of his husband’s neck. “...thank you for waiting,” Steve said, sighing.

“You’re slow,” Billy hissed back, his voice cracking.

“I will be faster, when next someone wishes to marry me—” Steve told him, laughing, and Billy punched him in the ribs.

“I am not allowing a harem,” he hissed, but Steve was laughing too hard to respond.

Steve awoke to the sensation of frost in his nostrils, and a chill, possibly evil wind between his toes, brushing at the hairs on his leg. “Mmph!” he whined, yanking his leg under the coverlet, whereupon Billy squawked, and shoved him back over with both feet.

“Get out of here, Jack Frost,” he hissed, and Steve huffed, yanking at the blankets.

“Let me in!” Steve growled back. “It’s freezing!”

“Stir up the fire!” Billy growled, kicking out until Steve staggered out of bed rather than land ass-first on the slate floor.

“You stir it up,” Steve muttered, stomping and shivering over to jab at the smoldering ends of the log he’d thrown in before bed. He jabbed some thinner pieces of wood into the low, glowing flames, and waited for the fire to lick around before adding another log. “Won’t even warm me up. Some husband you are.”

“Your lying letters didn’t mention you were an ice-beast of the frozen north,” Billy mumbled through the blanket, and Steve snorted, wandering around and pulling the curtains as the flames leapt up the bark of the new fuel.

“Threw me out of our marriage bed,” Steve sighed. “I love you no more.”

“Oh, yes you do,” Billy spat, then went still for a long moment, before pushing himself up on his elbows, squinting into the light as Steve forgot how cold he was, and ran to jump onto Billy’s side of the bed, crawling up over the mounds of wool and down to press kisses all over his husband’s face.

Billy rubbed his face sleepily, then narrowed his eyes.

“You know I love you,” Steve said, beaming, and Billy groaned.

“...idiot.”

“You know I am,” Steve agreed, letting himself fall forward again to kiss Billy’s cheek, and mouth, and nose, and even his eyebrows before Billy shoved him away, laughing. “I love you,” Steve whispered.

“I know,” Billy mumbled, smiling. “Come back under the covers, before you freeze.”

“Gladly, my own,” Steve said, hopping down off the bed, and crawling up under the side of the blanket, and curling around his husband as he squawked and gasped, trying to wriggle away from Steve’s shivering flesh.

“I don’t want you anymore,” he groaned, and Steve squeezed him, humming happily. Billy squirmed around in his arms to embrace him in return, sighing contentedly. “You don’t deserve me,” he whispered, shuddering without scooting away as Steve wrapped his goosebumped legs aroung Billy’s.

“That’s always been true,” Steve whispered back, and Billy laughed. “Does it change anything?” Steve asked, sliding his now-warm hand around the back of Billy’s ribs, and up his shoulder blades.

“...not if you don’t want it to,” Billy murmured, squriming closer. “Never.”

“No,” Steve shook his head, burrowing his head closer to kiss Billy’s warm mouth, and feel him grin. “I never want you to change.”

“I will,” Billy whispered. “I’m not immortal—”

Steve kissed him again, and whispered back, “I want you to always be you.”