Demimonde

"You first," he offered. He regretted it, since Selina seemed excited--maybe even giddy--about her news, and his was...not that kind of exciting. Better to have finished on a high note, but, well that was Kaius' life story, wasn't it?

"I announced our engagement." She looked at him with eyes wide, their souls long since joined for the first time, but still gazing into his soul nonetheless. She was going to wait as long as it took for his reaction.

"Well, I...I feel like I'm a bit behind."

"Say yes." There was love there, impossible as it may seem. This woman did not take life in the slow lane. They'd only just met, an incredibly brief courtship even if it wasn't from the point of view of a 136-year-old man. And his own wife dead--at her hands no less--barely a week ago. Not that there was love there, as he'd known her secret from the beginning, but still, it was...unseemly.

"I want to. I...don't dare to believe I'm worthy of love, but I still have a soul." She kissed him, and it was electric, more so than normal. She'd made his heart beat for the first time in years when they met, but she was even more vital now, positively aflame, having come into her own.

"Of course you're worthy," she said through tears. "What's to stop us? Who can object?"

"I just mean to take care--nevermind. Taking it slow is not your way, and it needn't be mine." He returned her embrace, and they held it in silence for a long moment.

She had seen into his soul. And maybe that's why she moved so fast. Etrigan had been his wife for decades, yet he'd barely known her--if not for the powers his faith afforded him, she could have easily concealed her true motive, her corrupted nature, despite it being the antithesis of everything she claimed to be. Long years spent in intimacy can grant access to the soul, if both are willing to be vulnerable, but Selina had penetrated right to the heart of it: a terribly dangerous risk to take. She behaved like someone who'd known him all his life, because at this point, it was sort of true.

"Do we have a venue?" he asked, and she laughed. "I've got a nice castle."

"Here! I'm going to build a palace, 100% Droaam, and 100% modern. Everyone's castle will look like ours in 5 years."

"Then it will be a night to remember! A gathering for the ages! The greatest royal union since..." he stuttered as he stumbled upon old wounds. And of course, she understood immediately. No living ruler remembered the time before the war, nor anything but the war. The oldest among them were born to parents who themselves were born into the war. But Kaius was there. He watched his family get ripped apart, watched a united kingdom turn against itself, brother slaying brother. Truly, this was the first step forward, after a century plummeting backward. It was tragic, but beautiful.

"We'll be married at the Cathedral I'm building," she explained, and he arched an eyebrow.

"The Silver Flame?" he was skeptical he'd even be able to set foot in such a place.

"I'm going to have a talk with it. We'll work something out." She was being serious. Not the church, "it". The Silver Flame itself. The audacity of the idea...it could have only come from her.

"The boy king and the Warchief. Then again I suppose you're about my age--"

"You should tell them. Tell the world. Why hide anymore?" Her beautiful eyes were serious and earnest, even speaking the unthinkable.

Tell the world? That he was his own grandfather? Not in a gross time travel way, but an imposter, playing the role of a child--his own blood--who died and had to be mourned in secret to keep up his ruse? And for what? The Pauper Prince had to perpetuate his lie, or his life was forfeit (even though, eventually of course, it was). A bastard might insist on his legitimacy, lest civil war erupt from those with better claim. But his disguise would seem...needless. And that was the best case, as more shrewed observers would realize the advantage he'd sought.

"I can't possibly..." he started, but realized who he was trying to argue with. She was ready to fight on this hill, and flush with recent victory, he doubted she lacked the strength to win it. "But why?"

"Because we don't need to hide anymore. No more disguises, no more lies! Be what you were born to be." Her form shifted, the magic disguising her nature fading away, as he had seen before, and few else, he imagined. Her skin was mottled with traces, a chaotic pattern a bit more like a tiger's stripes than a dragonmark, but similar to both. Between was human skin, but the patterns glowed with iridescent energy, reflecting her Vitae. Her eyes were discordant, one human, and one demonic, burning gold and slit like a cat's. Undaunted, she continued.

"You are the king, no one can take that from you. But you're so much more, and nobody knows it. I know you wanted to feign weakness to draw out your enemies--my mother did the same thing. And there will be some initial pain, I know exactly how it will feel. But...this is your life, your Truth. And it's beautiful."

Well that was as poetic as it was underhanded. Beauty, Truth, and Life were the sacred pillars of the Sacrament, his true faith. Beauty, impermanent, bringing joy even as we know it will end. Truth, everlasting, the foundation of reality, and essential to meaning. And Life, the One Gift, a single one for every soul, then no other, forever; it is a treasure, a candle in the dark, a point of hope that defies the void.

His own Faith made the argument for him.

"If that's the case, why not be completely honest? If I swear my vows to you, I swear before the Divinity Within. My body is my temple," he said, quoting more scripture she was evidently familiar with, "but we do build temples."

"The Sacrament and the Flame. Our church will be the first. The Hallow of Fire and Blood."

"That sounds...rad as hell. Can we get a Thunder in there somehow?" He laughed through tears of joy.

"Maybe Ariadne's faith can get involved. Some kind of storm channeling?" She too was laughing, with elation. Life couldn't get better than this.

And, inevitably, it didn't.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"