A few days after Regina realized the potential to weaponize Henrietta’s vase-based foresign, she arranged meetings with several famous artisans who she had previously saved from assassins and duck-based incidents.

Thankfully, those artisans were all clamoring to meet her. After all, even if they were not awash in gratitude for her previous rescue, Regina knew they would want to ingratiate themselves with a potential queen. Meanwhile, Regina was happy to take advantage of their gratitude and/or greed and commission them all to create what she needed to use Henrietta’s powers.

That is – the ugliest vases that Carcosa had ever seen.

Of course, all of these details had been relayed to said artisans through letters. Since Regina was afraid that their talent might lead to vases too aesthetically pleasing for Henrietta to use, she had secured a meeting with them to make sure their vases would be hideous.

Strangely enough, Henrietta had chosen not to accompany Regina to this meeting. When Regina had asked, Henrietta had just waved her away and said, “I am meeting with Paloma instead. She and I have been bonding over the fish-based vases her family makes. She needs me to go over to the Poisson estate once again and give her my… opinion.”

Regina could only blink before asking, “Did you not already see how the Poissons created hideous vases the last time we were at their estate? Do you really need to tell Lady Paloma how hideous they are once again?”

“Oh yes,” Henrietta had said with a rather odd smile on her face. “Of course I need to see Lady Paloma as often as possible. What use is a vase if it does not fill itself with a pretty flower?”

With that cryptic remark, Henrietta left the townhouse with a flourish, leaving a befuddled Regina in her wake.

Fortunately, Artem was less willing to abandon Regina with a cryptic remark. Thus, he ended up accompanying Regina to the artisan workshop that the meeting would take place in.

Unfortunately, all of Regina’s hopes of having a quick meeting that would end before a duck was lobbed at her head were dashed when Artem interrupted Regina.

“My fierce falcon,” Artem warmly said, even as he took Regina’s hand in her own. “I know that you need to be at this meeting soon – but before you do, will you let me share a surprise with you?”

Regina haplessly turned to him and wondered what to do.

On the one hand, she wanted badly just to get this meeting finished. After all, the faster she commissioned an army of artisans to create a legion of ugly vases, the faster she could disseminate those vases across Carcosa and take advantage of Henrietta’s magic to stay safe.

After all, Regina grimly acknowledged, I may be spending far more time in the Capital than I ever hoped for.

Yet on the other hand…

On the other hand, when she looked at Artem’s pleading eyes, Regina could feel her resolve to spy on nobles through the ugliest vases that Carcosa had ever seen waver.

‘I doubt,’ Regina quietly admitted to herself, ‘that Artem would like to spend the rest of his life in the Capital any more than I would. Yet, because of my acts and assassination attempts, he might have to. I owe him whatever happiness I can afford in turn, even if it costs me some time in this meeting.’

Therefore, with a resigned smile, Regina took Artem’s hand and allowed him to lead her wherever he wished.

“Lead on, my sweet dove,” she wryly said. “I cannot wait to see what you have prepared.”

“It will be,” Artem promised in turn as he took her far from her destination, “a performance like none other.”

Unfortunately, Artem had been correct when he had promised that.

~♦♥♦~

Lady Regina Sheridan stared blankly at the very pretty and very shiny blond man frolicking in front of her.

He was wearing seven brooches today. She knew that he was wearing seven brooches because she had counted them, even as she wondered how he managed to keep the one attached to his belt from falling off.

"My dearest heart," he cried, bouncing in excitement. "Are you not excited to see the surprise that I prepared?"

With a movement born of long practice, Regina stepped forward and casually pulled him out of the way of the large falling rock, noting the shadowy figure disappearing on the roof line above them, as the blond man continued to gaze tenderly at her.

It would have been too much, she realized grimly, for her prince to realize that a large rock had landed behind him when he was more interested in her answer to his question.

"Yes, my sweet dove," she finally replied with infinite weariness. "I am... excited to see your performance."

In truth, Regina was not excited to see his performance.

Regina was also not excited to foil the next three murder attempts that would inevitably happen when her sweet dove sang three folk songs while doing a strange dance from his mother's homeland.

Regina's only excitement in life came from trying to keep this goldfish of a fiancé, and thus herself, alive.

Yet as Regina watched her prince dance his self-described “mating ritual" in front of her, Regina wondered if maybe she would have been better off being executed as a villainess.

However, she had responsibilities now to both Artem and Henrietta and death needed to wait until she could ensure they were safe as well. With the hope of a woman who knew her future was rapidly spiraling out of control, Regina mentally went through her plans once again. She needed to find a way to embed ugly vases everywhere she could and hope that she and Artem could exit as rapidly as possible.

It was only one more week.

‘I can do this,’ Regina grimly thought, ‘because if I do not, I am dead.’

Chilled by that reminder, Regina turned her brightest smile on Artem.

“Dearest,” she sweetly said, “I absolutely loved your, er, dance. But perhaps –”

Before she could gently nudge Artem along, he interrupted with a brighter and more sincere smile of his own.

“Perhaps you want to see the rest of it?” he happily cried. “After all, that is just the first part of a mating dance from my mother’s land! This first part simply shows my joy in your company. In the next part, I will save you –”

Unfortunately, Artem’s ability to save her was undercut by the fact that Regina had to interrupt his words by shoving herself at him and out of the way of yet another stray boulder – this one topped by a very annoyed duck.

“Perhaps,” Regina wearily said as she stared at Artem’s sweet, silly face, “you could save me after we meet the artisans? After all…”

Smiling in a way she actually meant, Regina pressed Artem against the recesses of the wall conveniently next to them and out of the range of boulder-crushing distance.

“I could reward you,” Regina huskily suggested, “after every performance you give. So if we attend to the artisans now, you will get two rewards for two different dances. What do you think of this proposal, my prince?”

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It turned out Artem thought very highly of this. When they finally arrived at the artisans fashionably late, Artem was a delightful shade of pink and Regina was firmly convinced that she was a genius.

~♦♥♦~

Regina’s belief in her own brilliance persisted throughout the meeting with the artisans, which went very well indeed. She simply had to issue a command and no matter how nonsensical it was – and ‘create a small army of the ugliest, fish-stamped vases your mind can conceive of’ was nonsensical indeed – the artisans hurried to obey.

‘I could almost get used to this treatment,’ she wryly thought to herself as the artisans scurried about like mice to do her bidding. ‘Pity it is only happening because everyone believes I will be the next queen. Of course it is not all positive. That belief is also leading some to try to murder me.’

Even so, after a lifetime of staying quiet and humble on the edges of her own family, there was something almost… exhilarating about knowing that her every word was meaningful and important and would be obeyed instantly.

For once, Regina could understand why people would fight and kill and even court death for the chance to wield this power… however treacherous it might be.

‘Even so,’ she reminded herself as the artisans all but genuflected in front of her, ‘I would still rather live a quiet life in the country with nothing but ducks attempting to destroy me. If I need to fear the dagger in my back all my life, it will be a short one. No amount of power can compensate me if I am dead.’

Only years of practice kept Regina from remembering her sis– her reason for wanting a quiet and peaceful life.

She did not need to revisit further memories.

‘Besides,’ she forcefully told herself, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely. Who would I become if I even became the Queen? Would I become like the Sheridan elders? Would I harm others for my benefit? Would I become like the Alpin rulers? Would I pit my children against one another for the sake of power? Or would I become like the other nobles in this country? Would I all-but-enslave commoners because commoners do not have magic to protect themselves?’

‘Everyone who wields great power in Carcosa,’ Regina grimly realized, ‘is a monster. If I become queen, will I not become one as well?’

Regina had always thought she would do whatever was necessary to survive.

Yet there were some depths she was not sure she could descend to, even to save herself.

‘Maybe,’ she wryly thought, ‘my first vision of being branded a villainess was incorrect. I may prove too soft-hearted and incompetent yet.’

She could only hope that those newfound weaknesses would not destroy her in the end.

~♦♥♦~

The visit to the artisans was emotionally if not logistically taxing. Regina realized she was not quite as clever as she had thought herself when she realized all she had done was force herself to endure another round of Artem’s dancing after exhausting herself. Still, she allowed Artem to lead her to the town square to show her the next part of his gift from his mother’s homeland.

As Artem took her hand, almost pulling her in his eagerness, Regina felt something entirely unfamiliar building inside her.

While she knew she should be watching for further visions of assassins or just murder attempts in general, Regina found herself glancing at the people around them as she and Artem wove through the crowd on the street.

There was something strange about the commoners who surrounded them, selling their wares, going about their lives, glancing over at Artem and Regina with smiles on their faces –

Oh.

None of them knew who Regina or Artem were.

As Artem looked back towards her and drew her hand towards his lips, his face glowing in the light, Regina realized something.

All the people looking towards her and Artem, smiling knowingly, just saw them as a… young pair.

They had no guards, their clothes were as modest as Regina had been able to manage to try to keep from drawing attention and they just looked like-

“You are so utterly perfect,” said Artem softly, as he pressed his cheek against her hand.

-like a normal young couple in love.

Regina felt as if she had been stabbed.

“Darling?” said Artem, drawing closer and reaching his hand towards her.

For once, Regina closed her eyes, leaned into the comfort being offered, as she realized the truth she had been denying.

It was not that she had not known that she… cared for Artem but-

“It would not have mattered if you were not a prince, you know?” she said, trying to fight against the sudden pricking of her eyes that she wanted to hide. “I… I would have wanted to be with you no matter what your status was.”

“I know,” said Artem softly. “Oh, my dear heart, I know.”

She felt his finger, as gentle as a butterfly against her skin, as he softly wiped the inconvenient tears from beneath her eyes.

“Look,” he said, equally softly, and Regina felt her eyes open almost against her will.

“Let me show you what I know,” said Artem and he released her, leaving Regina feeling strangely bereft.

They were, she realized, in a far corner of the town square that was strangely empty for as bustling as the merchant street had been. Regina uneasily wondered if this would make it even more likely that an assassin would take advantage of the situation.

Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember if any of the morning’s visions had included this scene.

It seemed far more likely to be the site of an assassination than the previous attempts, yet Regina could not recall a single vision in this location.

Rather than feeling safer, Regina felt even more uneasy, and resolved to pay even more attention than normal if for some reason her foresight had a limit of how many murders a day it could predict.

“My precious sea urchin,” said Artem in his most musical, charming tone of voice. “Eyes on me.”

Regina’s gaze snapped towards Artem…

…and never left.

At first, Regina expected an even more ridiculous version of the prancing dances she had seen earlier in the day.

She expected that she would brave the frolicking of her beloved with a smile, smother him with kisses, and thwart whatever assassins came their way.

Then Artem actually began to dance.

He stood still, his eyes closed, hands stretched to the skies and when he opened them-

It took every piece of strength Regina had ever possessed not to take a step backwards.

Then Artem moved.

He started with some extraordinarily graceful kicks his upper body as still as if he was not moving at all, every movement precise, clean almost-

‘-militaristic’, thought Regina, her mind churning. ‘He feels like a… soldier.’

Then he left the ground.

With the same easy grace as the kicks, as if the sky itself was as stable as the ground, Artem leapt into the air, his kicks as precise and clean as if they were timed to the beating of Regina’s heart. Even as he spread his legs, caught his feet with his hands, landed back to ground with that same easy grace-

‘Who are you?’ thought Regina, her heart beating as fast as the speed of Artem’s feet, of his hands, of the cold sharp grace that froze the air around him.

He was coming towards her, that sharp smile, that grace and Regina did not know whether to run, whether to stay-

-and then the assassins landed behind him.

It had never been a decision.

Regina was moving, opening her mouth, going to pull her goldfish, no matter how strange he might seem, out of the way –

They were dead.

They were on the ground, dead.

Artem had moved.

He had moved so fast Regina had not seen what he had done.

The three assassins were lying in pools of blood unmoving and she had not even seen what had happened.

‘Metal,’ Regina realized numbly. ‘It would not take a large piece of metal to kill someone… if you shoved it directly into the heart.’

Artem looked down at the three bodies and he smiled.

‘Why,’ Regina thought, as so many things in her mind came together, ‘did I not realize that the one thing present at all my murders… was Artem?”

“Darling,” said Artem, turning towards her with a joyous smile as sharp as a jagged piece of metal.

They were getting married in less than a week.