"Hans!" Jenny gasped, her face coloring as Hans chuckled deep in his chest. She smacked his neck, right where she knew it would sting.

"Sorry, my love." He sounded properly chastised, but Jenny knew better.

“Dear, what did I tell you about public displays of affection?” she asked, wrapping her arms about his neck to be more balanced. Or, at least, that's what she told herself.

Hans, the rascal, had picked her up and insinuated quite a lot in front of the two kids, two who would be hitched before the Year’s Naming if she had anything to say about it.

Right after she scared the daylights out of the prince and made certain he was prepared to treat Aria with the respect and gentleness she deserved. There was no way on any of the worlds Jenny would let any rapscallion anywhere close to her niece if she thought they would purposely hurt her. Aria deserved only the best this world had to offer. And by all that was good, she was going to get better than the best. Jenny would ensure it.

She batted off her scoundrel of a husband when he came down for a second kiss up the hall.

“Dear, you scared the poor dears.”

Hans laughed. “Only minx. The prince was quite content with his eyes on the prize.”

Jenny smacked his shoulder, but couldn’t help her lips curling in a smile. “He is quite smitten, is he not?”

Hans set her down outside their bedroom, his eyes flashing with mischief. “Light of my life, that man is a goner.”

Jenny shook her head, biting a lip to keep from laughing.

She walked into their room, taking pins from her hair. She sighed when the tight bun released her head from a vice of torture called ‘fashion’.

“Is she truly who you think?” she asked, her voice both soft yet firm. Weighty yet hopeful.

Hans looked up from where he was unloading three knives from his boot.

Jenny smirked. Aria was rubbing off on the old warrior.

Hans paused, then pulled out two more needle-like blades that were filled with poison. A gift from Aria. The poison was said to make someone sleep in moments.

“I do. She’s too much like him.”

Jenny sighed. “But how do we still not know what happened to him after you left?”

“That’s something I have tried and failed to learn for years. Father excommunicated him for reasons he took to the grave. Alas, it seems the man went off and found him a wife.”

“Not even the king has given you any further information?”

“The king doesn’t know. The Dragon Knight disappeared into thin air, and only by luck did we find his daughter.” Hans jerked at the strings on his boots, and when they snagged, he tugged harder until he could feel them digging into his boot and the skin beneath.

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He jerked one last time, giving himself a burning rash along his fingers before he sighed, letting his shoulders droop.

Jenny set a hand on his shoulder, easing down to her knees, her dress pooling beneath her as she gently picked at the knot until it unraveled.

“Finding the correct information involves knowing how to pluck the right strings at the right time, dear. We wait. We learn. And we take care of our own until the time is right.”

Hans rubbed his beard, his eyes far off into the distance. “You are wise, as always, dearest. It’s why I married you.”

Jenny smiled, working on his other boot. You’d think an old man would learn how to tie his shoes. “You married me because we were betrothed by your father and my mother. Then you liked me because you were enamored with my looks—“

“But I love you because of your courageous heart, spirit of fire, and mind of steel.”

Jenny couldn’t help but melt when he said such things, though she tried to hide it. But they had been together for far too long, and Hans' grin turned smug.

He tugged her up, pulling her into his lap. She splayed her hands on his chest.

Hans stuck his nose in her freed hair, breathing deeply and pushing a strand behind her ear, gaining comfort from her presence.

“If he still lives—“

“Darling, you know how unlikely this could be,” Jenny interrupted, pushing his face back to meet his eyes that were filled with an odd mixture of hope and bereft sorrow. Her heart went out to him.

“I do. But they never found the body. From what I can tell—he went there by his own violation. What if he still lives?”

Jenny laid her forehead against his, breathing in a scent she’d both loved and hated during their marriage. The scent of man after a long day.

“If he lives, we will find him. But Aria doesn’t need the hope, not so soon. It could break her if she was given such, only for it to be taken away. She has yet been through too much." Jenny's voice cracked in sorrow, admiring all the girl had been through and how she had pushed through to find her silver lining. But Jenny feared the peace of the present wouldn't last, and she wouldn't give anything further to burden the child until she could be certain of the truth.

Hans closed his eyes, putting his hand on the back of her neck and drawing her nearer. “Then we will wait until we have more information. Thank you, dearest. I treasure the day our families forced us into betrothal.”

Jenny huffed out a laugh, letting the smile brighten her face and tug at the corner of her eyes.

“You were lucky that day, dear.”

Hans snorts. “I didn’t know it then.”

Jenny laughs outright, the sound bursting from her lips in a snort that Hans secretly adored, even though he knew she tried to hide it. Perhaps he loved it so because she didn't hide it from him.

That day was one the courts would speak of for years to come. Some of the older men still chastised the younger to not be a William Hans while courting a lady for a betrothal.

Jenny remembered how the young man had thought himself the catch of court... only to be repudiated by his betrothed.

The fight became a thing of legend, both believing they were right, but both being wrong.

Hans chuckled, remembering that day and the absolute fool he'd made of himself. He'd hated his family for forcing him into a betrothal, even if it was with his long-time childhood friend. Perhaps especially so. He'd seen her as a pesky cousin. Most definitely not marriage material. She was too outspoken and hot-headed for his tastes.

But, little did he know then, that she would become his second half and the one he would trust with all of himself: the noble, the man, and the spy.

She was a rock when he was drifting, a wise word when life turned on its head, as it so often did.

He couldn’t help himself then and covered her lips with a gentle pressure, asking.

She drew him nearer, answering his unspoken question.

They both knew what may come would change the worlds as they knew it—but until then, they would enjoy each other and the life they’d been given.

For, to a couple betrothed in a hasty ceremony, they found they loved each other quite too much to be considered proper in court. And that was just the way they liked it.