After she was done, the king, an old and burly man who had a head full of grey hairs, stood up with his full majestic image. It was so imposing that Astrid and Emilie almost immediately made reverence, lowering their heads. The king ordered them to stand up with one gesture.

"My daughter told me of your deeds," he said with a loud voice. "Also about what you wish as a reward. I must admit it"s a little unconventional. But I"m a man of my word and I"m willing to listen to your requests."

"Thanks, your majesty," Astrid said. Behind her, Emilie just let out a bitter smile.

"A marriage between two women and a woman being knighted are things never heard before in this kingdom. I"m willing to make an exception for you, as you brought back the most important a.s.set this kingdom have, my daughter," at that word, Sonia too let out a bitter smile. " Concerning Sir Gray, his body will be retrieved and he"ll have his funeral among his men. For you, brave woman, we"ll prepare a ceremony tomorrow, where all that you wish will be granted. However…"

The king paused. Astrid was clearly nervous by that situation she never experienced before. Before meeting the king, she and Emilie were taken to a bath and wore clothes better than she ever wore before. Emilie looked used to it.

"It seems you really want to make my daughter your wife. I must say, as the most important a.s.set for this kingdom right now, I"m reluctant in letting her go so easily in a way that won"t bring fruits for this kingdom. So, and that"s her own suggestion, I want you to consider if that"s really what you want. Your life will change if you would marry my daughter. You should be available for the kingdom"s good as a member of the royal family, after all. Since this is a very serious decision, I want to confirm that"s really what you want."

Astrid stood in silence for some time. She stared at Sonia and, seeing the smile on the princess" face and the way she nodded, she understood that what she was about to say was expected.

"Your majesty," Astrid said with caution. "Your daughter is a wonderful woman and it"s true I loved her since I was a young girl. I ask you not to take offense on it, but I must refuse to make her my wife."

"What?!" Emilie said surprised, jumping to Astrid"s side. "Why are you giving up? Is the pressure too much, after all? Or…"

"That"s not it," Astrid let out an affable smile to her partner. She turned back to the King. "Your Majesty. I"m still willing to accept your offer, but the one I wish to marry isn"t your daughter. It"s this woman beside me," Astrid turned to Emilie. "If she accepts it, of course."

Emilie took her hand to her mouth, unable to control her reaction. Tears started to well up in her eyes and fell through her cheek. She nodded first, in silence. Then she threw herself in Astrid"s arms and was hugged by her.

"Of course I do," she said with a crying voice. "I do! I...I love you!"

"I love you, too," Astrid said while caressing her partner"s hair.

Sonia looked at them with a satisfied smile. She then looked at her father, who had a relieved expression on his face.

Before the two lovers were taken to their room, Sonia called Emilie to the side, taking her to a corner in the Royal Court while Astrid was taken away.

"Sorry for taking your girl," Emilie said, although she couldn"t control her happy grim.

"She was never mine," the princess took Emilie"s left hand on her right hand and covered it with her own left hand. "You two are just too dumb to realize it."

"So, are you relieved you won"t need to marry a woman now?"

"Oh, not really. I never had an issue with that. Although, the one I would choose personally isn"t her," saying that, Sonia gave a soft kiss on Emilie"s cheek. Emilie looked at her surprised. She saw a sad expression on the princess" face. "But that"s not my choice either. Be happy in my place."

***

Astrid looked nervous when Emilie entered their room. They had just one big bed to share, which they did several times before, but now her heart was beating strong. She avoided facing her partner"s face directly.

"W-Well," Astrid said, sitting on the side of the bed. "Tomorrow will be a big day, so I guess we should sleep for today, right?"

"Do you really want to sleep right now? After asking me to be your woman?" Emilie approached the bed with a serious face. Her stare into Astrid"s eyes was intense.

"I mean, that"s the kind of thing we should do after getting married, so…"

"No way. I waited way too much already."

Emilie kissed Astrid and pushed her to the bed. She took the time to contemplate her partner"s red face. It seemed like a joke that the woman who killed a dragon was acting so shy. She couldn"t hold a laugh.

"Let me show you," she said, unb.u.t.toning Astrid"s top." A challenge you never faced before…"

***

The two women lied naked on the luxurious bed. Astrid had a satisfied expression on her face as she turned to face her lover. But seeing the serious and complex face Emilie was doing, her expression changed.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"No, no," Emilie touched her hand and smiled. "It was great."

"So why do you look so worried?"

Emilie paused. She stared at the roof for some minutes. She turned again to Astrid and kissed her lips.

"I don"t think I want to marry you tomorrow."

"W-What?" Astrid"s body jumped surprised. "Did I do something after all?"

"No. Calm down. I love you, okay?" Emilie said and gave her another kiss. "But hear me out for now. Can I ask you something crazy and irresponsible?"

***

Astrid walked through the castle"s corridors. It was late at night and most people were sleeping, except for some guards making patrols. They all gave her a curious look as she crossed with them but since she was a guest everyone knew about, no one stopped her.

She walked to the door she knew would take outside to the garden. Walking through it, she was greeted by the cold wind of the night. She kept doing her walk, watching the flowers and the night insects crying around her. Circling the garden, she arrived at the front of the castle. The big gate leading outside was, of course, closed. When she approached, a royal guard stopped her.

"You"re," he said, examining the woman in front of him. "That woman knight, right? The one who rescued the princess and killed Sir Gray."

"Yes, I am," Astrid said with a sympathetic smile. "I"m not used to being confined inside a castle, so I"m taking some air. Shouldn"t I be here?"

"Oh, that"s fine," the guard said with a smile. He was looking at her with curiosity. "It"s just, what you did was amazing. Killing a dragon and defeating Sir Gray. I lost a friend who tried to rescue the princess."

"I"m sorry for your loss."

"Thanks, but he was a knight. I"m sure he never regretted it. But you"re not even a knight, and you"re a woman. No offense, but… How did you do it?"

Astrid realized what was glinting in the man"s eyes was respect and admiration. She followed his conversation and distracted him enough that the man didn"t realize two shadows cross discreetly behind him.

After finishing their talk, the guard returned to his surveillance and Astrid back to her walk. She waited until he disappeared to follow the same way the two figures went. A small gate leading outside. Usually, it was locked up, but now it had a key on its keyhole. Astrid turned it and the gate opened for her, allowing her to walk through it.

She walked until she met two figures ahead of her, below a tree. One of them, holding a bag, was very familiar to her. Her partner for years and now her lover, Emilie. The other one had her face hidden by a hood.

"So you did," Astrid said.

"That was easy," Emilie said with a confident smile. "Such a peaceful kingdom had lax security, even after their princess was kidnapped once."

"Are you two sure of that?" The hooded figure said. She took her hood off, revealing the pretty face of princess Sonia. "What you"re doing won"t be considered less than kidnapping."

"I feel like I did it before," Astrid said, looking at Emilie.

"No, it"s different," Sonia said with a severe tone. "I"m the princess. They won"t ever stop looking for me. We"ll need to live our entire lives running away. If you"re caught, all that"ll wait for you is death."

"We just need to avoid getting caught," Emilie said.

"What about the ceremony? What about you becoming a knight? Your marriage?"
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"I never wanted to be a knight, to begin with," Astrid said. "Ken ran away from that and I"m sure I would end up doing the same. Now, about our marriage," she stared at Emilie.

"I ran from home because I didn"t want to marry, to begin with," Emilie said with a grim. She raised her left hand. "I don"t even have a place to put a ring."

"But…"

"We love each other," Emilie approached Astrid and hugged her arm. "We don"t need a ceremony to prove that."

"What about you, princess?" Astrid asked. "Are you serious about it? You already saw the dangers we face in our travels. You"ll become a fugitive with us. Maybe you"ll need to sleep on a cave again and run away from goblins…"

"Maybe you"ll lose your finger," Emilie added.

"And you won"t ever see your father again."

"I…" Sonia stopped. She gave a long look at the castle"s direction and nodded with determination. "Yeah, I"m serious about it, if you"ll take me. Living there, I know for sure I"ll have an unhappy life."

Astrid and Emilie smiled at each other, but it was Emilie who walked to Sonia and grabbed her hand.

"So let"s go, princess. Let"s ride the horses and get the farthest away we can before they realize you"re gone."

Epilogue

Astrid was sitting at the bar. There was a gla.s.s of wine in front of her, but she wasn"t touching it. She was looking at the people talking and arguing to each other around her. That was just their meeting place, after all. And she had something else in her mind.

"Where did that girl go?" The bar owner shouted, irritated.

Astrid took a sip of the wine, pretending she didn"t know what he was talking about.

Emilie entered through the door. She sighted Astrid and walked to her. She squeezed her lover"s hand and whispered in her ears.

"The royal guards will be in the city soon. We should leave as fast as we can."

Astrid nodded but didn"t move.

"Yeah, about that. We have a problem."

Looking around the place, Emilie made a worried face. She faced her lover again.

"Where is her?"

"She, huh," Astrid sipped the rest of wine in her gla.s.s. She whispered so that only Emilie could hear. "Grabbed the bar"s owner daughter and walked outside."

"You don"t mean…" Emilie let out a sigh. She turned back and walked outside the bar. Astrid followed her.

The two women walked with fast steps on the small city and directed themselves to an Inn. They entered inside and climbed the stairs to the second floor. Emilie took her key and unlocked the room number 201. She opened the door without any warning.

Inside there was a young woman lying on a bed, wearing a skirt and with her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her top lying on the floor. Sonia was on top of her. She stared at Emilie as she walked inside.

"You could knock," the princess said.

"Sorry, Sonia. I didn"t want to interrupt your," she looked at the young woman, who looked embarra.s.sed but had a smile on her face. "Your fun. They"re here, we need to go."

"Really? That"s unfortunate," Sonia took the young woman"s face in her hands and kissed her lips. "I"m sorry, darling, I need to go now. Next time I"m around, I"ll look up for you again."

The young woman sulked. She sat on the bed and hugged Sonia as she was wearing her boots.

"It"s a promise, right?" The woman said. "You won"t forget me, right, princess?"

"I won"t," Sonia said and kissed the woman again before getting up the bed.

Emilie took her bags and walked to the door. Realizing Astrid was looking at the half-naked woman, she pulled her harshly, but Astrid just let out a laugh.

The three women walked to the open carriage at the front of the Inn. Emilie threw the bag inside and jumped on the front to guide the horses. Astrid sat on her side and Sonia got inside the back.

As Emilie made the horses move and they started to drive, she scolded Sonia.

"Do you really need to seduce a girl in every city we pa.s.s?"

"Easy for you to talk," Sonia said with a sulk. "You have your lover at your side all the time. Unless you want to share?" She stared at Astrid, who avoided to answer but got a strong grip of Emilie"s arm. "And besides, I didn"t seduce her. She approached me. Right, Astrid?"

"She"s right," Astrid said in a timid tone. "The girl approached her asking if she was the kidnapped princess. Because she looked with her portrait."

"I see," Emilie said. The carriage was leaving the city. "And what did you say?"

"I said I am, of course," Sonia said without any perturbation.

"What?!"

"Well, she was so enthusiastic about meeting a real princess. What should I say? Her reaction was cute."

"Ahhh, that"s so crazy and irresponsible!"

Ignoring Emilie"s complaints, Sonia energetically leaned her body forward.

"So, so. What did you find? Where are we going next?"

"First, we"re going to the opposite way of your father"s guards. Then, I found some clues about the missing children. I think a witch might be involved."

"So we"re sleeping in the forest again."

"Yes. I did tell you to enjoy your time in the Inn."

"That"s what I was about to do," Sonia sulked.

After some minutes driving in silence, Emilie looked behind her to see Sonia deep in slumber. When she was sleeping, she looked just like a kid.

"She looks happy, at least," Astrid said.

"Yes. But why does it look like we have a daughter instead of a hostage?" Emilie said, but then let a smile on her face.

"She"s hardly a hostage either. She"s our own kidnapped princess."

Astrid leaned her body against Emilie, who let her lover rest against her. The carriage moved through the trees as the three girls continued their endless journey.