Archive of Our Own ^beta

Summary:

Kiryl and Alena have said their vows and become husband and wife. Of course, there's more to it all than just that...

Notes:

This chapter was inspired by this piece of fan art: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=211130

The autumn wind brushed through the boughs of the tree Kiryl leaned against, letting out a sigh of fatigue; "Why must your father be so over-the-top about this, Alena?"

His bride laughed; "Because I am his only child, you know that. And because, despite what he has said, he does approve of you as my spouse."

He snorted softly; "He has a strange way of showing it. But, he did invite our friends, and he did not make a scene at the ceremony. I suppose I should take that as a bonus."

"You are never satisfied, are you?" She grinned at him.

He stuck his tongue out at her; "I am exhausted from today. I have been at many weddings, helping the bishop presiding over the ceremonies... but it is very, very different when it is a royal wedding... and it is very different when it is my own wedding!"

Alena laughed and sidled up to him. "Kiryl," she murmured, her arms sliding around his torso and her head resting gently against him, "thank you for everything. I have never thanked you for your loyalty, I am sure. But I do appreciate it, and I want you to know that I do love you."

He chuckled softly, his arms encircling her tenderly. "I should be the one to thank you, my Alena," he murmured, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this gorgeous young woman was now his wife. Pressing his cheek to her forehead, he sighed blissfully; "I will strive to be a good husband to you, my dear. I love you, Alena."

She looked up at him, and her expression was very tender, her smile genuine and affectionate. In her shimmering white gown, she was almost unbearably beautiful, like an angel. She had always been beautiful to him, but as a bride... as his bride... she defied description.

"I am confident that we will be happy together, whatever the court nobles might think." Reaching up, she cupped her hand around his ear and murmured so softly that he barely heard; "When you first suggested that I marry, I honestly thought that you were trying to figure out how to get rid of me, and I could not understand why you would. After all we had been through, I was distressed to think that you were tired of me."

"I was only doing as told by the Tsar," he replied, gathering her chin in his hand, tipping her head back and kissing her tenderly. "I did not want to see you marry anyone else. You saw the Tsar's reaction when he found out who you'd chosen. He thought I had used his orders to take advantage of you."

"Yes, I did see that, and you saw how I reacted. I told him that it was either you or no one, and I meant every word of it," she replied, tightening her embrace of him. "I know you, Kiryl, much better than Father does. We did grow up together, after all." She spoke with a smile, her eyes bright with happiness. "You're the most selfless person in the world, and I know in my heart that if you and Borya hadn't come along with me, I might have shared everyone's fate here at Zamoskva, and might never have been there to help Solo. Do not think for a moment that I was not aware of how much I owed you both. I realized this when we nearly lost you. When I thought you were going to die..." Her eyes misted and she shook her head. "I would rather not think about that. I felt so terribly helpless."

"We both owe Solo so much, do we not?"

A lazy breeze combed through her golden-red hair and ruffled his hair as well. The sounds of the celebration of their nuptials had since died off, and he realized that he should be taking her back to the palace... back to her room... No. Their room. His heartbeat doubled as he considered what was coming up very soon, a very vital -- albeit private -- part of a marriage ceremony: the consummation. It was the only time when a husband and wife were required to share a bed. He would be lying badly if he tried to say he wasn't looking forward to it. He had secretly fantasized, many times, of a moment like that.

"Should we go back, my love?" He inquired. He knew she wasn't completely ignorant of what was expected of both of them tonight. "I do not want to rush you, but..."

She looked up at the waxing moon (it would be full tomorrow, most likely, he noted abstractly), and sighed; "It just feels so nice out here. But it is getting late, I agree. I guess we should be going back." Her eyes danced mischievously. "There is still something we need to do, is there not? To make this official, at least."

"There is, er, no need to rush," he said nervously.

"Who is rushing? The day is almost over, it will be quite dark soon. Now is as good a time as any to go back and consummate our marriage." Then she laughed merrily as he turned bright red. "Kiryl, you are not so ignorant that you did not know of it, nor can you expect me to be ignorant. We are wed now, and I know what is expected of me. I will do my best to make you happy. I may not be a very good wife to you, but I will try. And you can teach me."

"Teach you?"

"There are certain ways a wife should act around her husband, correct? I do not know these things, but you can help me learn them." She tugged gently on his arm. "I do want to be a good wife to you, Kiryl."

He blinked at her; "Er, well, considering you do not listen to me very much -- you argue with me even more than you do with Borya -- I do not know how well I will be able to teach you. Not to mention I am not exactly sure what it is you wish me to teach you."

"Well," she said frankly, "you surely know more about how I should act than I do. You can at least help me to not make a fool of both of us?"

"I will try," he said as he took her arm and tucked it into his own as they made their way back to the palace. "We may both need Borya's help, hmm?"

"Hmph," she grunted. "Well I suppose we have to put up with that old bag of wind, don't we? We do kind of owe him."

"You are so hard on him, Alena," he scolded very gently.

"I always have been," she responded happily. "I could be hard on you too, but right now I am feeling too good to be too rough with you. If you would like, I can punch you a few times."

"I would rather you did not!" He laughed. "It does not make for very fun foreplay if you beat me up!" After a moment, he blushed a bit at how easily he had suggested foreplay. Still... this was his wife.

"Hmm, maybe for you it would not be fun, but..." Her eyes danced. "At least not at first. I am certain that someday I can convince you to find it interesting foreplay!"

"Do you really find the thought of pummeling me black and blue so exciting?"

She snickered as she rested her head against his shoulder while they walked; "I love to tease you, Kiryl. You take me so seriously!"

Feeling frisky, and bolder than ever before, he halted, swinging her around to face him, and then he leaned down and nibbled at her neck, letting out a playful growl as he did so. "Mmm! I'll show you who is teasing who!"

"Ooh!" She responded. "Feisty, are we? Do not tempt me! I am feeling frisky too, you know!"

"That is probably good, I think."

As they approached the palace entrance, they saw Borya standing near the doorway, as if waiting for them.

"Borya?" Alena blinked at the elderly mage. "Why are you here?"

"Just making sure you two make it back safely."

Alena snorted; "Are you serious?"

"Considering how oblivious the two of you are right now? Yes."

Alena and Kiryl both looked behind them, to see nothing but the empty courtyard and the burgeoning forest at the edge of the courtyard. "But there is no one there!" Kiryl said, exasperated.

"You still had to look, did you not?" Borya grinned. "Besides, I wanted to tell you both that I am very happy for you. It makes my old heart glad to see you both so happy together." He looked slightly embarrassed. "Do not hate me for this, Kiryl, but it was I who suggested to the Tsar that he have you be the one to pressure Alena to marry. He asked me first to do so, as I was her tutor, but I told him that it might be better to have a clergyman do the job. I was hoping for this result. I knew it was risky, but I was positive enough that things would work out."

The bombshell didn't go unnoticed. Alena looked back and forth from her old tutor to her new husband, a bit confused.

Kiryl wanted to be angry at the old man. He really did. Borya had played a dangerous game. But... he was feeling too good right now. The love of his life had become his treasured bride, and to some degree, Borya had had a hand in it. "I will be angry with you some other time, Borya. Now if you will excuse me, my wife and I are both tired and wish to withdraw to our chambers." He managed to say it with a straight face, though he saw Alena bring a hand up to her mouth to hide her grin and laugh.

"Very good, my young lord," the elderly mage said with a grin as he stepped aside. "You should carry your bride, I think. It is traditional."

"Good idea," Alena said, her voice filled with laughter as she paused and struck a pose. "I suppose it wouldn't do for me to carry you, would it, Kiryl?" She added quietly, grinning.

Kiryl grunted in good nature as he reached down and hooked his arm under her knees, scooping her up. She was heavier than he'd expected, so he staggered a bit ungracefully, but managed to keep his balance as he began the arduous task of ascending two full flights of stairs. Alena heckled him quietly, under her breath, the entire way, until he finally, laboriously, reached her... their suite. Then, once he had carried her across the threshold of the suite, he set her down and groaned; "My dearest... I hope I do not need to carry you like that again!"

"You picked me up using the wrong muscles, numbskull," she laughed gently as she closed the door and flipped the latch to lock it. There was still a draft from the hole in the wall that she had once punched out, but it was slowly being mended day by day. At least now Kiryl didn't have to fear someone peeping on them while they were, er, busy.

To his shock, she started to unlace and unbutton her dress immediately.

"A-Alena?" He stammered.

"What?" She cast a glance over her shoulder. "Look, Kiryl, I do not want to be wearing this when we consummate our marriage. And I think you should shed the clothing to. It will be easier if we are both wearing as little as possible. There is no reason why we should delay this any longer than necessary. I know you do not want to rush, but I hardly think that we are rushing."

She gave him a look that convinced him right then and there that she was not doing this out of obligation -- whatever she might have said before about not loving him as much as he did her, she seemed to have some smoldering passion flaming up now.

He crossed the room even as she let the gown slide from her body into a heap on the floor, gathering her into his arms and holding her close. "I will do my best to make this night memorable for the both of use, Alena," he murmured throatily. "As you are mine, so am I yours."

Kiryl stirred as the room slowly grew lighter. For a moment he felt a bit disconcerted; this room didn't feel familiar... and then he realized that he hadn't been dreaming. He could feel the proximity of his beloved even before he opened his eyes all the way. He could feel her presence, smell her distinctive scent, hear her breathing. His heartbeat increased as he rolled over to see her sleeping peacefully beside him, her russet curls a messy cascade of color on the pillows.

Last night had been no dream. Any lingering doubts he might have had about her intentions with him had been allayed quite handily. He would have been content (or at least would have made himself be content) with a single round of lovemaking, to fulfill their obligations as husband and wife, but Alena had had other ideas. Indeed, the fiery redhead had proven to have quite a sex drive on her! As it was, with the arrival of dawn, he felt only marginally recovered from a long night of... well, almost acrobatics. He'd never expected to get so tired from being in bed!

"Alena..." he murmured, unable to speak above a tiny whisper.

As if awaked by his words, she stirred and lazily opened her eyes. She looked up at him, and smiled as she stretched and yawned; "Good morning, Kiryl."

"G-good morning... Alena..." He could barely speak, and felt ridiculously stupid for being so tongue-tied. Would he never get over this nervousness around her? Why was he so lovestruck even now?

"Is something wrong?" She sat up, allowing the sheets to fall away from her bare chest, and he did his best to not blush even as he averted his eyes. Why was he suddenly so shy, seeing her like this?

"I am... just a little... this is a lot to get my head around," he said softly, forcing himself to sidle close to her and put an arm around her. "I have... wanted something like this for a very long time."

"You are cute when you are flustered, Kiryl," she said with a smile. Then, leaning close to him, she murmured in his ear, "I am more and more certain that I made the right choice. Not that I was necessarily in doubt, but I am more and more convinced that this was the right choice, choosing to marry you rather than remain unmarried." Then she nibbled suggestively at his ear, and he shuddered at the spike of lust that surged up his spine.

"Keep doing that," he found himself saying, "and we may have a daylight replay of last night."

"I am not opposed," she grinned licentiously. "We are wed now; we have every right to be this way with each other. And Father does want a grandchild, and there is one sure way to beget that, you know." She was being downright seductive.

If, as he suspected, her goal was to relax him, it was working. His nerves had melted away in the heat of his ardor. "Alena..." His voice was husky with desire. "You are driving me mad."

Smiling licentiously at him, she pulled away and reclined on the bed, never breaking eye contact with him even as she did so. "Then perhaps you should act on those mad desires, Kiryl? I am not opposed at all." Her voice lowered to be almost inaudible, but her words came through nonetheless; "I am yours for the taking, you know."

He rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed (even though he knew she was physically stronger than him and could very easily throw him off if she wanted to) and kissed her aggressively. "Then I shall do exactly that. You asked for it!"