Summary: For Prompts in Panem, an Everlark retelling on the courtship and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

She was tired, lonely and worn thin from incessant courting and entertaining. Katniss knew that she needed to choose a husband for the well being of her country, yet she was young and idealistic and wanted a partner in life, not just a husband. The eternal conundrum of not being alone and feeling encompassing loneliness plagued her. She confided in her journal, which had quickly become her only friend and one escape from her dreary reality. The young Queen was very much an eighteen year old girl in the confines of the leather bound pages, dreaming of the day that she would meet a man and she would know and he would know and the world would know that they were meant to be. To love and be truly loved back was not such much to ask, however it seemed like a Herculean task and she feared that she would soon make a move out of convenience and not love, tying herself forever to a man that she hoped could merely be her friend.

Then suddenly he was there, across the way gorgeous and breathtaking, his radiance clearly outshining the extreme opulence of the room they were in. She recognized him and remembered meeting him two years previous, time had been kind to him and she mentally prepared journal entries testifying to the glory that were the tight cashmere trousers he wore. Peeta was there to support his brother's courting efforts, but it was not the older, darker brother who resembled herself that caught the adolescent Queen's eye. No, it was the young Prince and he too was smitten with her. Suddenly, awareness dawned as love at second sight befell them. He knew and she knew and yes, very soon the world would know what real love looked like. The odds were against them; her station was quite a bit higher than his and so for them to be together she had to propose. While nervous and shaky at the thought, the possibility of not being with Peeta was much more harrowing and within five days of their second meeting Katniss propositioned the Prince to the surprise of many, and most importantly the delight of one blue-eyed Prince.

An extravagant ball was thrown in their honor, attractive adornments and a delicious feast were offered, but the young besotted couple wanted nothing to do with the fan fare and craved time alone. When a break in the entertainment came, Katniss hurriedly pushed Peeta into a side parlor, placed guards at the door and engaged in behaviors unbecoming of a Queen. This time was not one of impropriety, Peeta merely pulled his beloved tightly to him, flush with his torso and stole impetuous kisses with the little time that they had. Her chest was blushing, his cheeks were red, and they knew that the wedding needed to occur soon if they were to maintain chastity before their nuptials.

And, what extraordinary nuptials they were, four months after their hasty engagement, Queen Katniss and Prince Peeta were wed. She was a vision and a scandal in white, the fashion of the time preferred silver for royal weddings and blue for commoners, yet there Katniss stood decked in layers of luxurious white lace promising to love and cherish no other, musing to herself that there could never be another. Peeta presented her with a ring that symbolized infinity engraved with, October 15, 1839, the date that Katniss had steeled her nerves and proposed. The wedding was one that historians would note for its significance, it was a wedding that would defy current fashion and forever change expectations of what a contented bride should wear, and most importantly it was a wedding of two individuals irrevocably in love with one another. The journal entry following their wedding was filled with Katniss' wise words; she mused that all she could wish for in life to maintain happiness would be to make him happy. The blue eyed Prince mirrored the sentiment; theirs was a love that could be sought for over the period of many lifetimes and never be recreated.

Even more interesting was the entry from Katniss' journal on their wedding night; it spoke volumes to the maturity and depth of a love they both felt so deeply. There were no timid musings of a blushing, bashful, bride, however a woman emboldened by her husband's love. He had enamored her with his sweet and gentle nature, holding her, whispering to her, kissing her and erasing the noise from the outside world. Finally, when the kisses and touches became too much and they were engulfed by the hunger, the hunger they first felt during their stolen time in the side parlor the night of the ball, they found fulfillment in one another and vowed to spend a life time engaging in the idyllic, amorous activity. In the pages of her journal, Katniss declared that the bliss and completeness she found in his arms was beyond a doubt the happiest moment of her life.

Years would pass, heirs would be born, and future rulers would come from their legendary pairing, their love never faltering and becoming stronger and stronger as time passed. Queen Katniss' reign would be one filled with invention and differentiation from the norm. Many great things would occur during this time, however, the love between her and her Prince would be most obvious. Unfortunately, the brightest candles tend to burn the fastest and their brief time together was cut short from illness before Prince Peeta reached age fifty.

Gone. Twenty years seemed so brief a time, a tragic circumstance, he was so irrefutably gone that Katniss had a hard time believing that it was not merely a dream. She had loved him since the second time she laid eyes on him, the first time they were sixteen and he merely caught her fancy, but the second time, oh that perfect second time, she gazed into his cerulean eyes and knew that if she could not marry him then her life would not ever be complete. He was in every sense of the word her better half and she felt empty and cold without him. Her sanity was questioned as she enacted foolish rules, such as no laughing in her presence and his things were to be dutifully laid out every morning as if he were to soon wake from a long sleep. Katniss yearned to join Peeta, but the odds were once again not in their favor and she lived until the ripe old age of eighty-two, carrying with her the memory of what it felt like to be unquestionably loved.

This is dedicated to my dear friend and lovely beta, liljennmartin, who was the inspiration behind this piece! Thank you so much!