By the time dawn arrived, Regina was so exhausted by hours of socializing that she was nearly dead on her feet.

After spending the first one-and-twenty years of her life speaking only to a select group of family members and servants, and as often in monosyllables as she could manage, Regina had had enough social interactions to last her the next one-and-twenty years.

What’s more, the thought of going through her actual engagement party with even more sneering nobles that same day almost made Regina collapse and wish an assassin had found her after all.

As it was, she found herself curled up in a balcony corner, watching the sun rise as she tried to recover from hours spent raving about how amazing the bond between Artem and her family happened to be.

(Even if she could not prevent her own death, she wanted to make sure poor Artem was not blamed for it. Given how eagerly he was participating in all her schemes, that was the least she could do for him!)

Yet as Regina watched the sun rise with weary, red-rimmed eyes, she felt both pity and sadness for poor Artem.

“He just wanted to sing to me,” she said, maybe a little wistfully.

Though Artem’s lyric-sheet was still in need of editing, Regina realized now she actually did wish she could have heard his song. After all, it was not as if she had ever had anyone else want to sing for her.

It would have been… nice to feel special enough to have earned a song, even if everyone else seemed to think her singer was a sentimental fool.

Regina now winced as she thought of the number of thinly veiled insults that she and Artem had faced tonight when they greeted every noble at their impromptu party. Each and every single one had made Regina want to spit venom, though she had had to pretend not to understand their insinuations…

Even as sweet Artem had truly seemed to not understand how the nobles felt about him, based on how he had smiled widely each time the nobles had called him “compassionate” and “understanding” for going along with his “wife-to-be’s whimsical whims.”

“Artem really does deserve better than me,” Regina softly admitted to herself. “I spent all night pulling him from one group of nosy cruel nobles to another just so that he could be insulted in slightly varying words. I then forced him to greet and socialize with those awful people… only to have him praise me to every person who spoke to him. I am a terrible bride-to-be!”

“No one,” said a soft voice behind her, “insults my amazing fiancée… not even you, my dearest darling.”

Regina almost leaped into the air and off the balcony before a pair of surprisingly sturdy arms embraced her and she turned her face to look at Artem, who now looked worried.

Trying to cover up her foolishness with a jest, she replied, “No one startles like your fiancée either. Take care not to scare me, my prince… or when we are married, I may put a bell on you to know when you are coming and going.”

Regina was even more startled by the strangely wide smile that spread across Artem’s face before it turned into something much milder and more familiar.

“Would you mind then,” he said shyly, eyelashes lowered most attractively, “if I sing to you? You seemed to… know that I wished to sing… and you did not seem to mind?”

Artem looked up through his eyelashes then, so hopeful and bright, that Regina privately thought that he outshone the rising sun.

Nodding almost as if she was hypnotized, she was rewarded by a smile that was somehow even brighter than his previous hopeful expression.

Then Artem opened his mouth, staring at her in a way that felt intense and comforting and exciting all at once…

When his song finally reached her ears and carried her to a place that felt so far away but familiar all at once, Regina felt her eyes begin to sting.

Nobody had ever looked at her like Artem was looking at her.

She had never thought anyone could look at her like Artem was looking at her.

Regina did not even want anyone else to try.

As she tried to refocus her strangely blurry vision as Artem’s song came to an end, Regina suddenly realized that Artem had moved closer, even as he had taken her hand in his.

“You have been working so hard by yourself,” he said softly, his smile replaced with a somber expression. “I can see how much you have had to bear, all alone.”

Regina felt as if it would have been less surprising if he had suddenly stabbed her – which was the only excuse she had for the bitter words that she then spoke.

“Nobody sees me,” she said – confessed, knowing she was ruining a sweet moment but strangely incapable of lying.

Artem was suddenly so close that Regina could feel his breath against hers and wondered if he could hear the heartbeat that was so loud in her ears.

Even as her eyes went wide, Artem leaned closer to her face, his gaze never leaving hers for a single second.

He was so close that Regina wondered if somehow they were going to melt together when his mouth opened and –

“I see you,” said Artem.

– and Regina forgot how to breathe.

All she could do was stand still as Artem gently cupped her face in his hands and moved closer, his eyes as blue as the autumn skies…

…before she jerked away, almost flinging herself out of his arms as her desires collided with the reality that she had no idea how to properly kiss him and that if Artem realized how inept she was –

It was one thing to dream of receiving a passionate embrace from her beautiful and caring husband-to-be.

It was another thing to be confronted with an embrace in reality… and to realize she might fail to live up to his dreams.

Yet Regina could not confess her fears any more than she could confess the real reason she wanted to marry Artem so badly.

So instead, staring at a forlorn-looking Artem, Regina sputtered the first words that tripped over her tongue.

“You make the most beautiful jewelry I can imagine,” Regina babbled. “In fact, I – I wear the beautiful gifts you send me day and night! After we wed, will you make more for me?”

She immediately winced, knowing she had made herself look like a ridiculously greedy woman who wanted to use Artem – which truth be told, she was, but only because Artem was her only hope of surviving calamity.

Yet to her surprise, instead of looking disgusted with her avarice, Artem just smiled even more brightly.

“You are,” he said, his voice almost as sparkling as his smile, “the perfect woman.”

Before Regina could determine what part of making him miserable, denying him any pleasure, and then telling him she wanted him to service her made her “perfect,” Artem suddenly drew his hands together –

And conjured up the bouquet of golden roses that Regina had seen him create for her in her last vision.

Even as her mouth gaped open at Artem’s casual use of his metallurgic magic – how could he dismiss and then conjure metal that well? – he gently moved to weave the golden roses into a graceful crown for her hair and continued speaking.

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“I have so many things I want to share with you!” he said brightly, almost hopefully, as he stared up at Regina through his eyelashes.

Touching her new rose garland with wide eyes, Regina asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Artem continued, obviously warming to the subject, “ that I wish to give you what is your due, my princess. In fact, I can do more than share what I can craft myself. All the treasures of the Alpins will be yours once we are wed!”

That, Regina thought skeptically, seemed to be a promise that was hopefully more the exaggeration of love than actual fact.

After all, Regina had no intention of letting Artem draw the wrath of his Alpin relatives by stealing priceless treasures for her.

To Regina’s surprise, Artem obviously noticed something wrong due to the way her eyebrow was trying to take residence in her hairline. He quickly added, “I will get you whatever you desire because I intend to make you the happiest bride possible… as I am already the happiest groom.”

Though Regina’s eyebrows now threatened to take up permanent residence near her hairline, Regina had to smile.

“Then our mutual happiness,” she replied, “is enough for me. If we could be safe and content and far from assasi – er – assumptions that others make about us, I will be most pleased!”

“You need not settle for so little,” said Artem softly, for a second his gaze strangely intense before sparkling once more. “I do not only speak metaphorically here… As an Alpin, I also speak metallurgically!”

Before Regina could process the horror of that piece of wordplay, Artem said brightly, “As a prince of Carcosa, I have access to the guarded and secured treasure room of the reigning monarchs. The Gold Room is filled with all kinds of amazing treasures, including the jewel of our collection… a necklace made from stones given as a tribute by the Kuzey family.”

Considering the size of the golden crowns, scepters, and probably undergarments wielded by the various Alpins that Regina had met, Regina wondered how a necklace could possibly be the most valuable treasure of the Alpins.

“What kind of stones could be in such a necklace?” said Regina, more thinking out loud than actually intending to ask a question. “Diamonds? Rubies?”

None of those seemed valuable enough to overcome the public treasures the Alpins shared at every event she had seen.

“Far more precious than that,” said Artem, jolting Regina back to his intense, glittering gaze. “It is a stone you will have never seen since only the Kuzeys and the Alpins have access to it.”

The idea that the Alpins had a stone that only they and the Kuzeys could use, did seem of a kind of rarity that Regina could acknowledge.

She wondered how lovely it must be to be so hidden from the rest of the world –

“Of course it is even more rare,” said Artem cheerfully, “because it is set within the giant eye of a golden feet fish that wraps around your entire face.”

“Uhm,” Regina said, her gasted now thoroughly flabbered. “Excuse me?”

“Around your entire face,” said Artem helpfully making a gesture that did, indeed, imply his entire face. “That is where the feet fish rests when you wear this piece of jewelry.”

“What-” Regina repeated as her mind vanished into some distant land.

“--Color is it?” finished Artem, sparkling even more in his enthusiasm. “The necklace almost looks like the true creature since it is formed in the finest pink-gold and has over a dozen feet that wrap gently around your face, as though it is cradling you like a baby.”

“How,” said Regina, ignoring what kind of childhood Artem must have had to be cradled by a dozen feet smothering his face, “is that a necklace?”

“The tail splits to embrace your neck as well,” said Artem enthusiastically. “It is a very gentle choking sensation!”

“I can see,” said Regina numbly, “why this necklace is residing in a treasure room.”

‘-and not being worn in public,’ Regina thought but did not say.

“Oh,” said Artem, obviously sensing some of her… hesitation. “But the necklace is very wearable! In fact, it has many health benefits as well. In between fighting for breath, the stone eye of the feet fish shines with a light that infuses your body with strength!”

As Regina’s mind bounded between disbelief and horror, Artem paused for a second as his brow furrowed.

“Granted,” he added, “even most of my family do not enjoy this… process and will not do it. However, I believe it really is rejuvenating! I am so glad Cousin Reginald introduced me to it… even though he seemed strangely startled I was still breathing afterwards. I cannot wait to share it with you once we are married!”

Regina could only blink for several breaths before she managed a wan smile and said, “That is so very… thoughtful of you. Only Artem…”

Calming her nerves, Regina stepped forward to take Artem’s hands in her own, giving them a gentle squeeze.

“I do not need fish with glowing stone eyeballs or golden feet that apparently cradle my skull until I might lose consciousness to make me happy.”

Looking into Artem’s beautiful blue eyes, Regina murmured, “I only need you, right beside me.”

…Especially, she silently added, if you stay free long enough for me to use my visions to maneuver us into a nice countryside estate with no lurking assassins.

At her words, Artem perked up like a dandelion in the sun, his entire face shining with some emotion far beyond Regina’s experience.

“Are you…” he said gently, running his fingers over Regina’s own, “sure there is nothing else I can do for you?”

Regina felt that strange bubbling warmth at his unconditional generosity before he spoke again and broke her heart in another unfamiliar way.

“I have never been chosen by anyone before,” he softly admitted, “and I want you to… not regret choosing me over… over a much more powerful and brilliant prince.”

Regina felt a fierce and sudden anger that someone as bright and lovely and kind as Artem had never been anyone’s choice before he had stumbled into her dreams.

It made sense that someone like her had spent her life being overlooked. After all, being a particularly bland shade of beige was her primary survival strategy. However, Regina could not understand why no one had recognized the value of the shiny, lovely man before her.

Even if he was not particularly intelligent or ambitious or had any real goals besides frolicking and making his future wife happy –

“I will never regret it,” Regina said, knowing she valued Artem’s warmth well above his wits. “I know who you are, I know what you like to do, and I know we will be happy!”

‘As long as we survive,’ she had to admit, even as her mood turned grim. ‘Yet surely I can leverage my visions of your future to ensure my happiness… and use those same visions to grant you a better life.’

Artem looked at her for a long, strange moment where Regina felt as if he was trying to see into her soul…

Before he smiled such a beautiful, lovely, and hopeful smile that Regina too felt as light as a dandelion.

“Are you a magician?” Artem said softly, and Regina’s heart nearly stopped in fear that he had figured out her secret.

Yet before she could panic and throw herself off the balcony in hopes of finding safety, Artem continued speaking.

“Because,” said Artem, looking up at her from under those unfairly long eyelashes, “whenever I look at you, the world disappears.”

Regina’s heart started beating once more and she wondered why her eyes were pricking once again.

It was such a silly, ridiculous thing to say and yet…

“Even if you cannot believe me yet,” said Artem softly, as he very gently, delicately wiped the corner of her eyes with the tip of his fingers, “know that nothing I have is of any value compared to you.”

“Does that include,” said Regina, half-laughing so that she does not sob, “your giant face-hugging golden feet fish necklace?”

Artem winked and snapped his fingers. “I will destroy it the moment you wish to see it gone.”

Regina raised an eyebrow, getting into the game by boldly poking a particular prominent brooch on his chest. “What about your ever-present brooch?”

Artem did not look away from her for a single second, as he reached down and crumpled the brooch in his grasp.

“You did not-” said Regina, startled and suddenly uncomfortably warm, with an odd buzzing beneath her skin.

Artem leaned forward, his eyes strangely dark as Regina swayed towards him, wondering if they would finally –

–And then, to her intense disappointment, Artem suddenly pulled back with a soft, secretive smile.

“Nothing is more valuable than you,” he said cheerfully. “So you will just have to decide what you want… and take it.”

Flushed, Regina stared at him before she shyly asked, “What if what I want can only come after we are married?”

‘After all, I just want a peaceful life spent with the two of us tucked away in a remote estate – both of us happy and free…’

“What if,” she added, feeling her heart surge at the thought even as she wondered whether such a future was possible, “what I want is beyond my grasp?”

Artem once again took her hand in his and extended both their arms towards the sunrise.

“Then let me,” Artem softly said, “extend your reach.”

Regina leaned towards him, felt him shift to wrap an arm around her as if they were already wed, and could not bring herself to care.

So long as she could use the magical gift she had been granted to keep them both out of danger, she could hope for a future she would never have previously imagined.

Even as her gaze started to blur and her head grew heavy, Regina felt Artem’s comforting weight beside her and hoped that she would see a future where she could return that comfort and support.

The only problem was that once Regina finally fell asleep against Artem’s broad shoulder, she had a vision of a future filled with betrayal, murder…

…and feet fish.