[ Mako hadn't slept the entire night, curled alone in Raleigh's massive, satin bed. It's an unfamiliar, unwelcome feeling, to be on her own with only the stone walls for company, to know that in the other wing, tens of rooms away, her lover is consummating his marriage to a woman he doesn't love, but has to marry because of political reasons. Mako, much to her chagrin, had been the one to encourage him to fulfill his duties to his new queen, because more than them both, the kingdom and its people mattered -- fighting the kaiju mattered.
With the two kingdoms aligned, they would be a formidable enemy to the monsters, and Mako knows this -- of course she knows; but knowing is different from feeling, and no matter how hard she tries, the thought of Raleigh with another woman makes her ill to her stomach, it makes her sick with jealousy and heartache.
But see, she should know better; she was the one who asked him to do it in the first place -- after all, the woman is his Queen, and for the sake of both countries, she should not be shamed on her wedding night. Still, Mako can't sleep, especially not when her head is on his pillow and she's breathing in his scent, longing to have him with her but knowing it's impossible; she'd endured a week's worth of activities, of the declaration of the king and queen and thousands of wishes for their happy union. She endured the knowledge that this is something she could never have with Raleigh, that she would be his mistress, the lover in the shadows, always.
She doesn't mind it so much -- it allows her to protect him better; but sometimes... sometimes, it stings.
Morning comes, and she hears the not so distant sound of bells, of the triumphant proof that the king and queen were now truly husband and wife. Blood on the sheets, she thinks. He's taken her maidenhead as a lawfully wedded husband, and Mako's not sure what to feel at that. Would he waver, she wonders? Will Raleigh prefer his wife now?
But she rises, and she dresses. Today is another day, and she has to do her duty. ]
more medieval AU
[ Mako hadn't slept the entire night, curled alone in Raleigh's massive, satin bed. It's an unfamiliar, unwelcome feeling, to be on her own with only the stone walls for company, to know that in the other wing, tens of rooms away, her lover is consummating his marriage to a woman he doesn't love, but has to marry because of political reasons. Mako, much to her chagrin, had been the one to encourage him to fulfill his duties to his new queen, because more than them both, the kingdom and its people mattered -- fighting the kaiju mattered.
With the two kingdoms aligned, they would be a formidable enemy to the monsters, and Mako knows this -- of course she knows; but knowing is different from feeling, and no matter how hard she tries, the thought of Raleigh with another woman makes her ill to her stomach, it makes her sick with jealousy and heartache.
But see, she should know better; she was the one who asked him to do it in the first place -- after all, the woman is his Queen, and for the sake of both countries, she should not be shamed on her wedding night. Still, Mako can't sleep, especially not when her head is on his pillow and she's breathing in his scent, longing to have him with her but knowing it's impossible; she'd endured a week's worth of activities, of the declaration of the king and queen and thousands of wishes for their happy union. She endured the knowledge that this is something she could never have with Raleigh, that she would be his mistress, the lover in the shadows, always.
She doesn't mind it so much -- it allows her to protect him better; but sometimes... sometimes, it stings.
Morning comes, and she hears the not so distant sound of bells, of the triumphant proof that the king and queen were now truly husband and wife. Blood on the sheets, she thinks. He's taken her maidenhead as a lawfully wedded husband, and Mako's not sure what to feel at that. Would he waver, she wonders? Will Raleigh prefer his wife now?
But she rises, and she dresses. Today is another day, and she has to do her duty. ]