Arthur hit the berry shrub face-first.
The teleport spat him into the thicket and he went through it like a thrown sack, thorns raking his tunic, vines snatching at his hair. "Damn it. 'Ow!'" He clawed upright, picked leaves off his shoulders, and let out a long breath.
Lizzy disliked teleportation. The tearing in space made her sick. So every time he came home, Arthur dropped the spell a safe distance out and walked the rest.
A quarter mile away, the cabin sat in its clearing, one lamp burning in the window.
Lizzy sat alone on the porch steps. Her red hair hung heavy around her shoulders, the spikes lying flat the way they only did when she was low. Bare feet in the damp dirt. One finger traced shapes into it, and she wasn't looking at them.
Then her head lifted. Her crimson eyes swept the dark canopy, as if the wind had shifted somewhere out there. A long moment passed. She sighed, stood, and went inside. The door clicked shut.
Minutes later, Arthur reached the edge of the clearing.
The King of the realm crept across his own front lawn like a thief.
Lizzy had always been understanding. She'd been a Dragon Princess. She knew what ruling costs. But the deal was simple: one week a month, at least, home with her and Dan. For months now, he'd broken it, again and again.
Any other dragon would have burned the capital down by now. Dragons took oaths seriously. Lizzy was calm, patient, almost impossible to anger.
'Almost.' Even a saint has a limit, and a dragon's limit is not something you want to find.
He climbed the steps, held his breath, and reached for the brass knob.
The door swung open before he touched it.
"It's your own house, Arthur." Lizzy stood in the doorway, arms crossed, her bare foot tapping the boards. Slow. Patient. "Do you really have to sneak?"
He nearly went off the porch backward.
"Liz! Hey." His smile was wildly guilty. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you look in the moonlight?"
"Oh?" Her voice dropped into silk.
She was suddenly in front of him, close enough that he felt her breath on his chest. "That's news to me. Do you think cheap flattery gets you out of—"
She stopped.
He stood a full head taller than her, and he looked hollowed out. Her eyes moved over his face. Gray skin. Dark crescents under his golden eyes. Shoulders that hung like he'd been carrying the whole kingdom on them, which he had. He looked like a ghost dragging a chain.
"Arthur." The edge went out of her voice. "Are you sleeping at all over there?"
Before he could lie, her palm settled against his temple, her thumb on his cheekbone.
"Look at you," she whispered. The anger drained out of her like water through sand. "I can't even stay mad."
His throat worked. "I'm sorry, Liz."
She brushed a lock of black hair behind his ear and smiled. "It's fine."
She pulled him down into her arms, and he folded into her, face in her neck, breathing woodsmoke and berry blossom. The smell of home.
"Welcome back, honey."
–---
"So. Tell me about your day."
Lizzy set a steaming cup of tea in front of him and dropped into the chair across the table, chin on her hands.
Arthur took a sip and felt it spread through his chest. The woman couldn't cook anything edible to save her life, but her tea was a minor miracle. He'd never once complained about her cooking. He valued his life.
"What's there to say? You've been there. You know how it is."
Lizzy shuddered. She'd visited the capital a handful of times to do queenly duties, and each visit ended in disaster. Flynn and the council had nearly lost their minds. She was still banned from the royal archives after almost burning the realm's history to ash while chasing a mouse that kept eating files.
"Yeah," she said. "It's grim over there."
Arthur stared into his cup. Guilt knotted in his stomach.
"I'm fine, really." She read him like a book. "You don't have to look like you're hiding a secret second wife. I'm not going to get clingy over your job. Stop looking like a guilty little pup."
A breath of a laugh escaped him. "Is Dan asleep?"
"Out cold. Cards on the porch, then dice. I checked his seal, and he fell asleep mid-game, so I carried him up." She laughed. "Honestly, he was crushing me. Lucky for me he crashed."
"You've always been terrible at games."
"I am not!"
"You gambled away our entire party's travel funds. And our gear."
"T-They told me it was a human tradition to double your savings!" Her face went crimson. "And you're one to talk. You botched that spatial spell and swapped our bodies for three days!"
"We gave Flynn a miserable time back then." Arthur grinned, warm with memory. "He was babysitting two disasters."
They stared at each other across the table. The cabin settled around them, years of history thick in the air, and then they both burst out laughing, loud enough to shake the beams.
Hours slipped past. Eventually Lizzy reached across the table, took his cup, and drank from the spot where his lips had been.
"When do you go back?"
"A week." His eyes followed her mouth on the porcelain.
"Well." Her voice dropped, almost shy. "I was thinking of bringing Dan to the capital when you go."
Something flickered across her face, there and gone. Arthur missed it. He was too busy sitting up straight. "Wait, but—"
"What? You don't want us there?" She gasped and pressed a hand to her heart, tears welling up on cue. "Or is your rustic wife an embarrassment now that all the noble ladies are after you?"
"You're really fixated on the other-women thing tonight."
"Obviously!" She leaned across the table like a stage actress. "You're absurdly tall. Dangerously handsome. Silky long hair, warrior's body, pure gold personality, rich, and you run a kingdom. You're a living sculpture. Every woman at court wants a piece of you!"
He coughed, the tips of his ears turning pink. "I'm not interested."
"I wouldn't even mind." A small, uncomfortable shift moved through her shoulders. "It's common in my tribe."
"Don't tempt me, Liz." His voice softened into something that held her in place. "You ruined my taste in women forever. Nobody in this realm can compete with you. Even now I can't believe my luck."
Lizzy froze. The red spread from her neck to her ears and she dragged her hair over her face. "Stop. You're embarrassing me."
"You started it."
She peeked at him through her bangs, smiling in spite of herself. "At least I know I've got you all to myself."
"Married to the strongest creature in the world? Cheating was never an option."
"I hate that title," she groaned. "And I wouldn't go on a world-ending rampage over a cheating husband."
"Humble as ever." He pushed back his chair and walked around the table. "I've got a reward for you."
Her heart skipped. He leaned in and she closed her eyes, tilting her face up.
Nothing came.
"Look at that." Arthur held up a dry twig. "Stuck in your hair. Were you expecting something else?"
Her hand shot out. She grabbed the front of his tunic, hauled him down, and kissed him.
Months of loneliness poured into it. It was slow, and it was hungry. When she finally let go, he stumbled back half a step, red-faced and breathless. Lizzy's eyes had gone dark, and all the way up her scalp, her red spikes were slowly lifting.
"You know what?" She smoothed her nightgown, voice dropping to a purr. "You're filthy from the forest. So am I. Bath, then bed."
His brain stopped working. She caught his wrist and pulled him toward the back of the cabin.
"Wait. Hold on. What are you—"
"We're happily married, Your Highness. I see no problem." She grinned over her shoulder, sharp teeth glinting. "And you know your wife's a pervert. Or am I not attractive anymore?"
Something ignited in his golden eyes.
"You're going to eat those words." He scooped her off her feet.
"Make me." She locked her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
He carried her into the steaming bathhouse, and the door swung shut behind them.