The Princess of Elfhame

Love is endless for you, honey

A/N: Hiiiii! 

Cardan 

Well I had to tell Oak. 

So now he's involved and can be on Jude's burn book list. 

I see Jude go to Rhea and take her hands and I watch the interaction between them for several minutes with bated breath, the two of them talking before their eyes glitter with unshed tears and they hug one another as Rhea laughs. 

I breathe out a breath I didn't know I'd been hiding and I smile as I watch them. 

They must've just made up and I'm assuming Jude told her that she took the immortal cure that Rhea traded her freedom for when she agreed to become engaged to Catalan for this cure.

 Catalan approaches Rhea, and Jude places her hand on his arm and she's smiling as she nods before she walks toward me and the two make their way to the center of the room. 

I kiss Jude's cheek as she approaches, and we watch several other couples join Rhea and Catalan in dancing together, and Jude shakes her head and smiles as we watch.

 Rhea's smile is electric as she looks at Catalan, and his eyes are warm as he looks at her, and when he spins her, the dress flares at her feet but her eyes are locked on him the entire time as her head snaps back around to face him.

 "They're beautiful together," Jude says as we watch them dance and I nod. 

"They certainly are. And I think Rhea's truly... in love," I say and Jude looks at me in surprise. 

I nudge her to look at them, and shake my head. 

"Look at the way she looks at him and the way he looks at her. We dreamed ever since we held her for the first time that someone in the future would look at her that way, Jude. I don't know if they've admitted their feelings for one another, but the way they look at each other... but they look like they're in love," I say and she lets out a heavy sigh. 

"Our little girl's all grown up," she declares and I chuckle as I take a sip from my wine. 

"She's been grown up for a while, darling." 

As the song ends and Catalan kisses her hand, Rhea's eyes sparkle happily. 

Rhea claps her hands together and the room quiets as everyone turns toward her. 

"I hope you all have a glass in your hand or at least near you, because Heaven forbid you haven't had something to drink tonight," Rhea says and boisterous laughter flows through the room.

 She takes a glass of wine and twines her fingers together with Catalan's. 

"And in case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, I am happily engaged to Lord Catalan of Clintendon, who I am pleased and honored to marry next week. Tonight's splendor is not about the twinkling lights or the grandeur of the halls we stand in, but because of the way our hearts beat for one another and how they beat as one. I stand not just as the princess, or the future queen of Elfhame, and definitely not as a future bride, but as someone who is infinitely blessed by the presence of my fiancé, Catalan," she says proudly and I can see her squeeze his hand as he squeezes back. 

"To him, I not only offer my hand in a dance or in marriage but in life itself. In his eyes, I find a life with him that I will get to cherish and live very happily. In the future, I see us happy, as monarchs of Elfhame and with children. I find a life where I'm happy and where I'm safe. I also see a life where he absolutely never steals the last piece of dessert," she says with a glare and he bursts into laughter with the rest of the court.