Forbidden Flame (Chapter II): A Zelink story

Chapter 9

It had been a year.

Daphne was two years old, and could finally voice her little opinions. And Geez, did she have a lot.

"Papa, your hair looks messy!", "Mama, you can not sing, stop trying." and, my personal favourite, "Dada, you aren't funny!"

Oh yes, she voiced that one multiple times a day.

Her hair was getting longer, too; her skills better, her teeth bigger. She was growing up.

Me and Link had done a lot of talking, and came to the realization that it's okay to take things slow for a while, to not rush the process of rebuilding Hyrule and to put our daughter before our work from now on. Things weren't perfect, but they were okay. Better than before, at the very least.

Sometimes I still thought about that day, and the days that followed. Watching the black casket being carried away on the carriage, giving speech after speech about the whole experience, being rewarded for our bravery and receiving death threats for our manslaughter.

We did end up without charges for the death of Lucius, as Darius was not the only person he killed. Turns out, this man was not Lucius at all, but a wanted mass murderer and criminal who had snuck into the castle and manipulated us for money.

How did we know this? Well, the real King Lucius had shown up at our castle a few days later apologizing for his late arrival. After that, the puzzle pieces just clicked into place.

We kept in touch with Isabella, Darius' mother, over letter. We talked all things money and paid for the funeral, her coronation and more for the inconvenience. We sent her all of Darius' belongings that we could find and even had a painting of him made and put up in our castle, as well as a plaque in the guest quarters he stayed in and in the garden of grief, a place to remember all those who died within the castle for whatever reason.

Even after the loss of her son, Isabella still remained positive, kind and civil. She did not press charges or even blame us for the death; she was the strongest woman I've ever known. If I ever lost Daphne, I know that everyone around me would be at the receiving end of hatred and anger, no matter their place in her death.

Link got back into swordfighting after the conflict between him and Lucius, so as to protect us from any danger in the future and make sure we lose as little lives as possible. He said so himself that his skills were rusty, and he could use the challenge of being as good as seventeen-year-old Link, who pretty much ate, slept and breathed swordfighting.

And finally, me and Link's relationship felt strengthened in every way possible. Like the first few months of our marriage, it felt as though we had teleported to the honeymoon stage all over again. We were more playful, more childish with one another. I loved it. I had my Link back, finally.

And so, life moved on, as it always seemed to do. Until one sunny evening.

Link was sat with Daphne, his arms around her tummy and his legs around her as he hugged her as tight as possible from the back. She was playing with her toys, as she always did, giggling and shouting as the story told itself in her mind.

Just then, Link uttered, "I want another one."

My head snapped up from my book. "What?"

He looked up at me. "I want another one."

"Another baby?"

"Yes."

I was stunned. "Well- I mean- It's a huge decision, Link! That hurt, for God's sake!"

"But it's worth it, right?" 

"I know it is! But, I mean- I can't just make up my mind right now!"

Link pouted, looking back down at Daphne. "Why not?"

"Because! Having a baby, I mean, it's a huge deal!"

"But we can do it."

"I-" I sighed. "I don't know. You'll have to give me time, you can't just expect me to make up my mind right this moment."

"Okay." 

I went back to my book before I was interrupted once more.

"How about now?"