"Are you ready, nightingale?"
"Hold on a moment... where's Adrien?"
"Darling, I'm right here. Are you crying?"
The words were sweet and she could not help but weep even more. She was not prone to such outbursts, but today was more emotional than she anticipated. The veil she wore was made of a heavy material, a dense and lush fabric that Adrien had chosen himself, but she had never felt lighter.
"Look at you," tutted Lucian. His eyes, usually sharp with perception, were softened with a small smile on his lips as he held his handkerchief close to the corner of her lashes and just managed to catch another teardrop. "Bella, please, you must know by now how much we despise your tears."
"Are you truly this happy to marry such a handsome man?" Adrien teased gently, but there was a kindness to his tone as he reached up and brushed his finger against her cheek. She could not help herself as she turned her chin and kissed the palm of his hand, and she shuddered at the smell of his familiar, warm scent. "Sweet, beautiful Bella. Ah, look, now I've started as well."
When she looked up, sure enough, there were small beads of water prickling just at the edges of his eyes. They clung to his white lashes like crystalline diamonds, and she reveled in his beauty as she reached up and tried to rub one away with her thumb.
He laughed and Lucian sighed as he always did whenever they did this, but the look on his face was flushed and pleased, his own hand reaching out to grasp at hers so he could kiss the inside of her wrist.
Her skin tingled where his soft lips met her veins, and for a moment, time stood still for them all.
She wondered over the years that they had spent together, the hardships they had to endure, the pain they all had to bear and the grief they all had to witness.
It was, in the end, worth every second.
"Come," Lucian finally said, pulling away slightly. In the soft light of the room, she maybe even saw a single tear cling to the top of his cheek. "It is time we introduce you to the empire."
"Yes, it is." Adrien smiled.
They both held their hands up, their gloves as pristine and white as her dress, and she only trembled once as she pressed her fingertips into each respective palm.
"May everyone bow before you, my Empress."
"And may they all love you as much as we, my Queen."