Corrin – A Man Who Brings Peace

Authors Note/Warning: Before you go any further, this chapter will contain heavy adult themes, most especially sex. If you don't like lemons, sex or anything of that nature, then I can't recommend this story to you.

For those of you who already know my other story, this may come as a surprise. But, right as I was sitting down to start work on the latest chapter of Change of Tactics Fates came out, which sucked away a huge amount of my time and left me with an absolute tonne of ideas! I honestly haven't felt this inspired since Awakening! So, I wanted to at least get one chapter out, the idea at the moment is to complete Tactics before working on this.

In terms of broader concepts. Unlike Tactics this will take place during the story and follow it along. What this means is, that while it will be Corrin/All Females just the same, due to the nature of the story NTR aspects will be minimal or absent (the women aren't generally going to hook up with guys and then get with him shortly after), aside of course from Corrin cheating on the women he's with (with varying levels of approval). Child characters will be present (some may be aged up a tad), but will likely be Father+Village Maiden.

Also, Fate's story annoyed me in parts by being melodramatic. So, this is gonna be a happy story! This new path Corrin walks down will change the world. Thus:

Everyone gets a happy ending.

No-one dies.

It took me some time to get the story from Felicia, how this all began, what ultimately it was that set our Lord Corrin off on the path he did. I wonder now, even knowing the story, if hundreds of years from now scholars will still debate what the genesis of this all was? Was it the vision? A mother's desperate hope? The message in a bottle?

Ultimately, there's only one truth I've found- the knowledge that even the grandest of fates can be brought about at times, by the simplest of things.

Two women stood in silent vigil on the riverside, both watching with painful anxiousness as a small black and white bottle drifted slowly downstream, bobbing gently with the current.

"After so long, and so far apart." Orochi spoke first, her melodic voice breaking the oppressive silence. "Will such a tiny thing truly reach him?"

It was very rare for her to doubt her liege; not when she had proven an ideal ruler in almost all senses. Were they not in private she would never have said anything at all, but, she, more than most, knew just how difficult it could be to distinguish a prophetic vision from a simple wish. And, impossibly more so when those wishes were borne from the aching heart of a mother missing her son.

"That is the way of the world sometimes." Mikoto's words came slowly, her tone weaker than usual and her eyes never once leaving the horizon. "Have we not seen this ourselves, time and again? That even the smallest things can sometimes play the largest roles in the weaving of fate?"

Despite her reservations, Orochi nodded dutifully. "Then, why not send some men after it, after him? Surely our fine ninja can track a simple bottle?"

She regretted the words the moment she'd spoken them. Her Queen was no fool and she could never believe she would go at something like this half-heartedly, her own curiosity was no excuse to pry. "Forgi-"

"If we were to do that." The Queen's words continued indulgently, "If I sent someone to track it, then, it would no longer be such a simple bottle, would it?"

Wincing, Orochi fell silent, turning her head to the heavens and offering a further silent prayer, before stepping a few paces back from where her elder friend was maintaining stoic watch on the fast disappearing dot.

"Then…" Biting her lip, the words came as if they had lead weights on them. "Is it, are you truly okay to write only to her? Do you not, do you have nothing to say to him? Your son?"

Mikoto finally turned to her.

Stumbling back a step in shock, only now did Orochi see the thick trail of tears running thick down the aggrieved mother's face.

"I couldn't" The queen whispered, speaking again before she had a chance to take back her words. "If a retainer received a strange letter, one addressed to themselves, they may read it. They may even believe it. But… If they were to instead discover a letter from a stranger, addressed to a hidden and protected prince? It would never reach him. Any loving retainer would take it directly to their masters, all would search it for signs of a trap."

"I-"

"And…" Again Mikoto turned away from her, as if unable to stand looking from the tiny dot of a bottle for any longer. "And, I couldn't… Even if that were not the case. After so long, after so much distance between us, I've long lost the ability to put into words everything I wish to say to him."

"M-My lady!" She cried, collapsing to her knees in supplication and almost biting her tongue from her mouth in regret. "Forgive my words, please."

Guilty and humbled, only now did she finally gain a sliver of insight into her friend's pain, into the weight of a mother's loss- a hurt so deep and a need so painful, that words alone could never do it justice.

"Of course." Mikoto's words came easily, brushing off all offence without a thought, just as she ever had.

Silence fell between them once more, interrupted only by the gentle lapping of the water against the shore. Each keeping an unbreaking vigil, neither woman could bring themselves to leave the riverside, not till the bottle was long lost to sight.

And so, whether by chance or fate, a mother's hope was swept slowly from through the river, to a sea, past a current, into and underground mountain stream and then, somehow…a long, long distance away.

A Long Time Later

"Oooooh! Could this day just get any worse?" Felicia moaned, fighting back tears and she trudged miserably down the seemingly bottomless staircase to the northern fort's major well.

It had all started so well too! She'd gotten Lord Corrin up without problems (Flora had helped), it'd been her turn to prepare his clothes for the day and then she'd even had time to stick around and watch his practice with Lord Xander! And then…from there, everything else had been a disaster.

"Urgh."

She didn't want to think about it.

She didn't want to think about the dropped plates.

She didn't want to think about the burned shirts.

And she especially didn't want to think about how apparently trying to secretly wash a few burned shirts could somehow clog the entire kitchen's water-work's system.

That last one was a little hard not to think about, since that was why she was here right now, finally at the bottom of what was just way, way too many steps and slowly cranking a lever, pulling water from a well the painfully old-fashioned way.

"Well, at least they agreed not to tell Lord Corrin." She consoled herself, although that agreement was contingent on her bringing back enough water to get the kitchen back up and running.

She shouldn't hide things from him, she knew a maid wasn't meant to keep things from her lord. She knew that…but, but he already saw her messing up so often! She just couldn't stand it, being so useless around him.

"Huaa." She sighed, her heart clenching a little at that thought. The situation wasn't helped at all by the fact that she was very fond of Lord Corrin, far fonder than any maid ever had a right to be…

"Ah! AWAghaa!" Lost in daydreams for a moment, her flood slid on the slick ground, sending her tumbling over, unable to do anything but watch as the bucket she'd been raising crashed loudly against the walls of the well, all the way back down. "O-Ouch…"

She wanted to cry.

"H-Huaaaah." Squeezing her eyes shut, Felicia sucked in a shaky breath, forcefully regathering her resolve as she pushed herself back onto her feet. No! This was nothing! She'd messed up way worse than this before! This was, this was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Still her chest constricted, that thought wasn't really all that comforting. That just meant she was perennially useless.

Well, then, at least Lord Corrin didn't see her?

Peeking over her shoulder and making sure that was true, she nodded to herself, letting out a small sigh as the frustration eased. It wasn't much of a silver lining, but it was true, messing up in private wasn't quite so bad…even when it was just another in a long line of mishaps she'd been making all morning and even when there was no way she could possibly pretend those sheets hadn't bee-

"No, no!" Felicia scolded herself, slapping her cheeks and glaring back at the well ahead. "Focus." She was here to get water, to fix things in the kitchen and sweep this whole morning under the rug, right where she kept all those other terrible mornings (and a few shattered plates).

Exhaling slowly, she turned back to the task at hand, keeping all her concentration just on her duty this time. And, a few minutes later, she'd raised another bucketful of water back up.

Except…

"Huh?"

…Except this time, she'd pulled up a little more than just water. "A bottle?"

"How strange." The fort's water came from an underground river, one that ran directly from the mountains, far from anywhere she would expect to find someone casting rubbish into and even further from anywhere she would expect the rubbish to actually make it all the way down to her.

Normally she'd just throw it away, she had far more important things to worry about than someone's trash, only, "Hehe, it's kind'a cute." Lifting it out of the water and turning it over in her hands, she didn't even notice the bucket falling haphazardly back down the well, again.

Coated black with thin rims of white running around it, it was like nothing she'd seen before. "It's like it's all dressed up." She giggled, it almost looked like a maid! Maybe it was meant to be cute little bottle maid! Or, her eyes widened with amusement, maybe it was a bottle for a maid! A cursory shake proved there was something inside and that was more than enough to pique her interest- the cork, even as embedded as it was, proved no match for her sudden curiosity.

"Oh!" Shaking it out, a rolled up piece of parchment soon fell into her hands. "A letter in a bottle? It's like something out of a story."

Unfurling the note with a grin, the first thing she noticed was the surprisingly high quality of the message. The paper itself was beautiful, a faded cream colour like something from a noble's draw and nothing at all like what she had expected to find in an odd little bottle. But, even more than that, it was the long, delicate strokes of the author's handwriting that truly caught her eye. Slender and graceful, if not for the dried splotches of water dotted across the parchment she would almost have thought she was holding a missive from a Queen.

The sight of those drips gave her a moments pause though, the bottle had been sealed tight when she'd found it and the paper remained in pristine condition, the damage was clearly not from its journey to her… Her breath hitched a moment, there was no doubt what she was seeing, it was something any woman would recognise.

Swallowing guiltily at holding what must be something intensely private, still, she couldn't help but turn the tear-stained message in her hands and begin reading.

Greetings It read.

I don't know your name, nor even what you look like. But, if my dearest hopes are true, if what I've foreseen has truly come to pass, then you are the beloved retainer of Prince Corrin.

Reeling back in shock, her feet slipped again on the uneven ground and once more, Felicia was sent crashing heavily to the floor. This time however, barely even noticing her fall, not once did her eyes turn from the message in her hand. Mouth open wide and convinced she must be seeing things, she read the line again, then again after that…still, the words never changed.

"It's…it's addressed to me?" Suddenly the design of the bottle didn't seem like just some cute oddity anymore.

Prince Corrin. The letter repeated, the ink pressed deeper into the page with a visibly heavy imprint. My son.

For a moment, her heart stopped cold. "H-H-His mother!?" She squeaked, stumbling backward and almost dropping the letter a sudden terrified, excited, curious, shocked panic slammed into her.

Lord Corrin's mother had written to her!? "How, how is that even possible?" She'd never even met her, she hadn't even known his mother was still alive! And…and why would she send such a strange message? Why wouldn't she have simply passed it by his father, by King Garon?

I fear I can offer only scant proof of this claim, little beyond an assurance of my everlasting love for him and the desperate pain his absence fills me with. I can tell you he wears a small scar above his left elbow from where he jumped down some stairs as a child. Even despite the shock gripping tight to her, Felicia couldn't help but smile at that image, despite how mature he was now, she could vividly remember how much of a handful Lord Corrin had been back when she'd first met him. I can tell you also that he always had a particular love of Daikon, especially as a stew, there was never a surer way to calm his tears than the smell of it. Blinking, she puzzled herself over that line. "Daikon stew?" Had she read that right? The words were slightly obscured by water damage. "What's a daikon?" The letter didn't give any further indication, so she read on.

I've dreamed of meeting him again, of holding him again, so many times I can no longer tell if they're visions, or simply wishes. But, I believe I shall see him again, I must. Here the letters were almost indistinct between the droplets of dried water on the paper, even just reading the words, her heart couldn't help but ache for the estranged mother.

That's why I'm writing to you now, because of the singular vision I can still have confidence in, a surety that when I do see him again, it will be time for my beloved son to face his destiny. "His Destiny?" She repeated the words aloud, wrapping her mind around the ostentatious phrase as a worried pit formed in her stomach. Prince Corrin was a wonderful man, of course, but he was far from the throne, both by lineage and location. What destiny could the 3rd Prince possibly have? Did his mother hope to have him act against Lord Xander? Against any of his siblings? She could hardly even imagine it! He would never do that!

This land is wrapped in peril, in a time of constant suffering between the people of Hoshido, Nohr and everyone else caught within, it's a strife that has stretched back ages past and quelled only now by a tentative truce that I fear will not last much longer. Both nations have committed many great wrongs and both nations have done much to fuel this animosity, but, with the lives of millions and more at stake... The time has long come for this strife to end. We cannot continue to live on so divided.

Felicia blinked, this was surprisingly philosophical stuff for a letter from a mother.

The act of bringing peace to any country is a momentous one. To bring peace, true peace, to two such belligerent and warlike states is almost unthinkable. A man who can calm the raging souls of both nations would need to be a man like no other before him.

I believe, and I have seen, that Prince Corrin, is to be that man. It is this thought alone that comforts me, the idea that somehow everything that's happened to him is some cruel blessing, that it may give him a perspective others would find impossible.

I have seen these moments to come in my visions, small pieces of the man he shall become and I know that the strength in his blood is great. However, it is my hope, my dearest wish, that the warmth in his heart is greater still. I know that you, who are closest to him, must have seen this for yourself.

"I have?" Felicia wondered aloud, looking up from the missive as she considered the surprisingly weighty words. She'd known Lord Corrin for almost her entire life, she'd seen him at his greatest and his weakest. Was he truly to become a man who could unite two nations? It was hard to even imagine him in such a role, he was so kind and gentle, nothing at all like King Garon. And yet, even with her doubts, she couldn't deny his mother's words. However tenuous it may be, there was no doubt he had a line to the throne and…and she knew well just how caring he was.

Somehow, the more she thought about it, the harder it was to shake the idea from her mind. Someone able to bridge the seemingly bottomless divide between Hoshido and Nohr, someone who could understand and forgive the wrongs of both countries, who would unite them together without grudge or anger.

Shaking her head with a sigh, she couldn't help but smile. She had seen that. "If anyone was to do it, it would be him."

And that, is why I need your help.

"E-Eh!?" She squeaked, panic suddenly rising again. Lord Corrin's mother needed her help? For this!?

A man who can bring true peace needs to stand greater than any other, he must become a lodestar that all can turn to, an arbiter of unquestioned authority- a duality of both strength and compassion.

To know the respects of all men, he must become a warrior without peer, one who can defeat any other on the battlefield and to whom all men would be proud to bend their knee. He's been trained for this and I know him to become, in time, a peerless fighter.

But, neither our countries nor our battlefields are filled only with men.

To fulfil his destiny, to unite both nations, he must hold dominion over both sexes. He must be able to conquer any woman as thoroughly as he can disarm any man, to be able to claim them, to bind them to him. Someone able to open his heart to all.

He must become a man whose love encompasses both nations and all their people entire.

"W-W-Whaaaa?" She gaped, reading and re-reading the passage to make sure she wasn't overthinking it. "C-Conquer? He has to…to conquer…any woman?" It sounded almost suggestive… No, scratch that, it sounded downright scandalous! Lord Corrin's mother wrote this!?

Still- 'A man whose love encompasses both nations and all their people.' That part didn't sound too bad, it even sounded a little romantic…and, given her own feelings, it was actually a little nice, the thought that even despite her station, his heart could hold her asw-

"Gah!" Shaking her head furiously, Felicia angrily pushed those thoughts from her head, just as she had banished them so many times before. Looking for a distraction as much as an explanation, she continued reading.

That's why I'm writing to you. Why I need your help. Because I fear that this side of his training has been underdeveloped, I'm beseeching you because I fear that my son will know how to fight, but not know how to love.

"Definitely not true!" Felicia giggled, Lord Corrin was one of the most loving people she knew!

That he will not know how to take a woman to his bedchambers and defeat her utterly- to break down all her defences, love her completely and make her truly his.

"O-Oh." No, breath hitching in her throat as her face burned bright crimson at the very thought of it, Felicia was certain he didn't know how to do any of that! She'd never even dreamed that was something he was meant to know! And…and, she'd tried very hard (not always successfully) not to imagine Lord Corrin like that at all!

But then, from what his mother was saying, maybe she shouldn't have? Biting her lip and ignoring her pounding heart, she read on.

This is my greatest fear, that my son will endeavour to bring peace but that he will know only warfare. If that is so, rather than taking all into his heart, battles and strife will only close it. This cannot be.

Swallowing her suddenly dry throat, Felicia was starting to get a very good idea why this letter was addressed to her.

I know how close you are to him, how you care for him and he for you. You must be the one to ensure his heart stays open, that all will stand at his side when the time comes. So, I ask of you, his beloved retainer- you must be the one to take up this neglected training. You must give him the will to share his love with any and all women.

You must help him bring about a better world for us all.

"W-W-Woaah…" She whispered, her voice trailing off quietly as the full extent of the words settles slowly into her. She was meant to teach Lord Corrin how to be a lover? More than that…she was meant to train him to conquer other women? To…to conquer her? To bind her to him?

Clutching the letter tight against her chest as her head spun wildly, Felicia walked numbly back to the fort, not even paying the bucket a second glance as she headed slowly back to her room.

'But, I'm… I'm already bound to him anyway, aren't I?'

"Here you are!"

"W-Wha!?" All but gone from the world, Felicia jolted backwards with a start as she felt a warm hand land on her shoulder. "Ahhaa!"

Losing her balance and falling over gracelessly onto her back, she found herself blinking back to reality, looking up at the guilty face of her liege. "Lord Corrin?"

"Er, sorry about that." He winced, offering her a hand and pulling her gently back to her feet. "I was worried about you. I heard what happened and, well, I had a hunch you'd be here…huddled in your corner."

Gesturing to where she'd been sitting, he offered her a warm smile. Squirming in reply, Felicia knew he was only trying to lighten the mood, but right now, it was difficult to even look at the man! Grimacing as she dropped her gaze to the floor, the only thing she could even think of was the words she'd read earlier, the words that had been echoing around her head ever since. With her heart racing and a heavy blush threatening to overcome her face, she couldn't think of a single thing to say.

'Stay, stay calm Felicia. Stay calm.' She repeated internally.

"Come now…" He sighed with a shake of his head. "It wasn't that bad. Sure, the kitchens were out for a few hours, but they're all back and running now. No-one's mad at you, not really."

"Oh." She answered weakly. The kitchens…they'd told him. Of course they had, she'd completely forgotten about the water she was meant to deliver. Wincing as a quick panic suddenly flushed through her, she realised she didn't have a clue how long she'd been here, she'd been completely out of it! Oh no, Jakob was going to kill her!

"Really, it's no big deal!" He assured her, waving his hands as he saw her face drop. "Hey, everyone makes mistakes. I even dropped a few plates myself, trying to help out."

That gave her pause, "Y-You did?"

"Yeah! A few at least, it- well, it turns out wet dishes are a little more slippery than I expected."

Yes! They totally were! Oh how good it felt to have someone finally agree with her for a change! Just that already made her fee- "W-Wait!" She gasped, the conversation suddenly catching up with her. "W-Why were you washing dishes?"

"Ah, well…" Now it was his turn to look sheepish. "Everyone just looked so stressed, I wanted to lend a hand. I thought I could at help a little at least."

Oh no… Oh no… "Lord Corrin." She whimpered, her eyes dropping ashamedly to the floor once again. As if she needed to be anymore embarrassed! Her actions had caused her master to wind up in the kitchen! She could just picture it now, him up to his elbows in soapy water, messing up his clothes, getting his hands covered in grime…

"Ah, well, it didn't last long." He admitted. "I got shooed out as soon as Jakob came in, he had that look in his eye, you know?"

She did know. She knew that look very well and she had a feeling she would see it again very soon.

'Gods!'

This wasn't good! This was very, very not good! Between the strange letter and everything else going wrong, this day was just getting more and more out of control! Frustrated and confused, she just wanted to run away and hide, to just go find a hole to bury herself in! If it had been anyone but Corrin she would have…but, but she couldn't run away from him…

He would worry about her.

"L-Lord Corrin." She stammered, fighting back tears as she desperately tried to change the topic of conversation, looking for anything else they could talk about… Without thinking or planning, the suddenly blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Do you have a scar above your left elbow?"

"H-Huh?" He blinked, boggling at the strange question. "Er? What?"

Just about ready to die from mortification, she couldn't possibly answer.

"Ah, well, umm… I don't think so? I don't remember getting a scar there?" He offered, pausing for a moment at the sight of her clear discomfort. "Well, hey, let's see." Rolling up his sleeve he jostled his arm around, trying to find a good view to check.

"Mi…Milord…" She breathed, her hands reaching out before she even realised what she was doing, catching his arm and holding it in place, her mouth pursed into a ring as her finger traced along a thin white scar running an inch above his elbow. "Milord…Corrin."

"Er, ah… hah, Felicia?" He stammered, his cheeks dusting pink at the surprisingly warm feeling of the ice tribe woman's fingers against his bare skin.

"And, and…" She couldn't stop now, she was in far too deep to stop. "Do you, do you like daikon stew?"

"Daikon?" He balked, pulling away and rolling his sleeve down as he tried to make sense of her unexpected line of questions. "I, well, I don't believe I've ever heard of daikon stew? I can't remember eating anything like that."

Stepping back a cautious step, she was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw the pensive look on her face.

"Although…now, now that you mention it. I, I don't know, somehow it does seem a little familiar? Huh, how strange. I can't even remember having heard the word before. Daikon? Daikon." Pausing, he tested the name, rolling it around his tongue as if remembering some distant taste. Well, it does sound tasty at least. Why? Is it a meal from your village?"

She barely heard his question over the sound of her heart hammering in her chest. This was too much! Far too much! It couldn't just be a co-incidence! …Could it?

"Do…" Still, her words came as little more than a whisper, "Do you remember your mother?"

"My, my mother?" He repeated, voice growing a little firmer as he pinned her in place with a frown. "What's going on here? What are you asking for?"

"I just, I er…" Screwing her eyes shut, Felicia reached frantically for an excuse. "Just, in all the time we've been together, I've never seen her, and, and you haven't mentioned her…"

Folding his arms and staring at her, his words came with an unusually wary tone. "If it were anyone else that was asking… No, Felicia. I must have been very young when she died, I know only what father has told me."

When she died!? But, but she was still alive! She had to be! And…and she was missing her son. There was no doubt of the longing she'd seen in the letter! And, he thought she was dead?

It was sad. It was too sad. She couldn't take it!

"I think, I think she would be a very kind woman." Again the words came without thought, falling from her lips even as her head spun with all that she was trying to process. "To have a child like you, she would be a wonderful Queen."

"Felicia…" He swallowed, turning away. "Thank you."

"L-Lord Corrin." Again, she knew she shouldn't say anything, that she was talking well out of her place and miles above her station…but again, she couldn't stop herself. "Do, do you want peace? If you could, would you create peace?"

Spinning back to her with a surprised look, again his eyes pinned her in place as he regarded her sharply.

Nohr did not preach peace. Nohr cared for victory, pride and conquest. Peace was for the defeated, it was the cry on the lips of their martyrs as they were crushed underheel. She knew that. As an Ice Tribe member she knew that down to her bones. But…but Lord Corrin wasn't like the men that had subjugated her clan, Lord Corrin was, he was… She didn't know. He was a Prince! A Prince of Nohr! But, he was so gentle, so kind!

"Between us and, and Hoshido?" She clarified unnecessarily, there was only one war, only one true fight any Nohrian cared for.

A thick silence lay between them for several long moments before his gaze finally eased.

"Of course I do." Corrin answered finally, his tone turning serious and all his usual carefree nature dropped away. "To end this conflict, all this bloodshed? If I could do that… I'd want that more than anything."

Stepping away from her, he turned back towards the doorway, peering out for any sign of eavesdroppers. "I know it sounds cowardly, to want to stop fighting. I can't even imagine what Xander would even say if he heard me. But, if we had peace, a true peace… I could leave this Fort, we could go anywhere. I could go with Camilla to see all those sights she tells me about, I could take Elise to all the places she wants to visit. We could, we could do anything." The yearning in his voice was unmistakable.

"Milord…"

"This conversation took a strange turn didn't it?" He answered, shaking his head with a small laugh and schooling his features back to the same gentle smile she loved so much. "What's gotten into you today Felicia? What's with all these questions?"

"I-Ah…Oh, er!" Caught off guard and letting out a small squeak, she reeled back, panic rising again as she searched for an answer. She couldn't just lie! Not to him! B-But…she, couldn't just, how would she even explain? Where would she even start? "N-Nothing! Er, nothing's gotten into me h-haha, I was just curious!"

"Hmm." Raising an eyebrow, somehow he didn't look very convinced. "Is it something to do with that letter you're holding?"

"L-L-Letter!? This letter? Er, ah! N-No! No, of course not. That's, that's just ridiculous!" All things considered, it wasn't the best answer she could have given.

"Come now." He breathed, stepping carefully closer, clearly taking pains not to startle her. "I can't possibly believe that, you're completely out of sorts. What's wrong? What does it say?"

Still looking at her with that same kind smile, he reached his hand out…and she could only stare in wide eyed fair.

If he, if he read it! Then, he'd see, he'd see his mother asked her to- "Ahah!" She gasped, clutching the paper tight in both hands and staggering away from him, a terrified panic growing by the moment. "Ai-ahaa!"

"Felicia…?"

Time seemed to slow down around her as her thoughts raced frantically around her head- faster with each step he took toward her, hotter with each guilty shudder her heart made from the confusion on his face and yet, cooler as the air around them suddenly began to dive in temperature, a small frost already forming as her emotions whirled uncontrollably.

I know how close you are to him. The words from the paper seemed to burn into her soul as her breathing became shallow and ragged. You must be the one to take up his neglected training.

He was even closer than ever, barely a half metre away. Her face was flushing so deeply red, she could hear the blood pulsing between her ears.

He must be able to conquer any woman.

His mouth moved, but his words were muffled, as if they were coming to her from a great distance.

You must be the one to take up this neglected training.

"Ah-AHHH!" She couldn't deal with this! She couldn't let him just see that! What would she say? What would he think of her!? She needed to get away! She needed to cal-

*TRRRCHHK*

Time ground to a halt and Felicia's world stopped cold, her breath dying in her throat as she stared in numb horror down at her hands…

…At where each hand now held half the letter, the paper split right down the middle.

'N-No…'

Not just a letter. A letter from Lord Corrin's mother.

She'd just ripped a letter from Lord Corrin's mother.

In all the years they'd spent together, in the entire time she'd known him, she'd never once known his own mother. And now…now, she'd just destroyed the first, the only contact they'd ever had!

'Gods, Gods, no.'

The beautiful parchment. The graceful calligraphy. The tear splattered yearnings of a woman aching to meet her son. She'd ruined it all in one moment of selfish worry!

'No!' No matter what it had said, no matter how embarrassing it may have been, it was a letter from his mother! The mother he must have always wanted!

Screwing her eyes closed as her heart clenched agonisingly tight, Felicia couldn't stop the tears this time, nor did she even want to. In all her time as a maid, she'd made so many mistakes, broken countless things and messed up more times than she could even count. But this, all her past failings combined didn't add up to this.

All she'd ever wanted was to serve Lord Corrin, to be cherished by him. But, even he could never, should never, forgive her this time!

She'd destroyed a letter from Lord Corrin's mother!

"Ah-Gh-haaa!"

Choking out a sob, Felicia fled, running as fast as she could, as desperately as her feet would take her. She wasn't thinking, wasn't even looking, simply navigating the fort on pure instinct- clutching both halves of the letter to her chest and sprinting recklessly as far from anyone as she could find, toward the unused sections of the castle, until she was surrounded only by a thick solitary darkness.

It was several hours before Felicia finally managed to settle down, but in that time, forged from her tears and guilt, a new resolve was formed, one stronger than any she'd felt before. As strong as the obligation she felt toward her kind Lord.

'I'll do as she asked.'

There was no denying that she'd felt an improper happiness when she'd processed the letter, even aside from the incredible embarrassment it had caused her, just reading about a possibility to be with Corrin even despite the difference of their stations had filled her heart with joy. But, it had been a happiness smothered by worry and doubt.

She'd intended to gather the courage to show the letter to Gunter or at least to Flora. His training regime was decided by King Garon and Lord Xander themselves, the thought of her interfering with it, even at his mother's behest, had been downright terrifying.

But not now. Not anymore.

Not after her clumsiness had taken something so precious from Corrin and from his mother. Now, there wasn't space in her heart to worry about any punishment she could face, all she could concern herself with was him, with making sure that when he did finally see his mother that he would make her as proud as possible. That she would see him to be every bit the great man Felicia knew him to be, the man she'd fallen in love with so many years ago.

It was still scary, even with the room now blanketed in a comfortable layer of ice, she couldn't stop her body from trembling, as much from excitement as nervousness. Yet, even despite her fears, her resolve didn't waver- He'd given her so much, he'd looked after her more than she'd ever been able to look after him. Helping him fulfil his mother's wishes was the absolute least she could do.

'I-I'll help you. Of course I will, that's all I've ever wanted. I'll help you become a man who can bring peace!'

"Aha, a-huh?"

Slowly blinking himself awake, a warm throb of pleasure running through him was the first thing Corrin noticed. "Hu-huaa!" He gasped, shivering reflexively as another small jolt of delight sparked through his core.

Rational thought came slowly, as if forming through a foggy haze- his mind dulled both from both sleep and an unfamiliar warmth seeping into him.

"G-Gods." He panted, finally waking up fully when his body suddenly jolted an inch off the mattress, his mouth falling open in a low moan as a gentle warmth enveloped him. "W-What?"

He'd never felt anything like this before, and with his breath coming faster and faster, a strange, powerful need was beginning to slowly rise within him. It took almost another whole minute for him to regain enough focus to track the source of pleasure down between his legs. "H-Haa, ahaang." Gritting his teeth against the wonderful sensation, he forced his mind clear enough to recognise the feeling of something wrapped warm and wet around the head of his cock- of a gentle suction sliding down a portion of his shaft and gentle fingers holding secure to the base.

'Wa-wait?' Fingers? And, and, something warm? 'What!?'

Mouth hanging open in shock, the Prince's mind was finally kicked into action. Pushing himself upright, he stared in disbelief, even with only the pale moonlight to see by, he couldn't possibly miss the lump in the covers between legs! Someone had snuck into his bed!?

"What in the hells!?" He screamed, his mind reeling enough to override even the warm pleasures continuously running through his core, even as he tore the bedsheets off. "WHAT ARE YO-"

His outrage lasted barely a single moment, all breath dropping from his mouth in astonishment the second he saw her, the instant he saw Felicia. His dearest companion. His maid…lying between his legs, her icy blue eyes turned warmly back up at him and her lips pursed lovingly halfway down his length.

"…Fe-Felicia?" He whispered, his hands moving automatically to cup her head, threading his fingers carefully through her silken peach locks as another series of intense shudders pulsed through him at the sight.

It was impossible! It was crazy! His pants had seemingly been discarded somewhere and the woman he'd always been to cowardly to admit his feelings for was staring so lustily up at him…

In his bed.

With his cock held warm in her mouth.

'Gods!' It was like something out of a dream! Another gasp from his lips dispelled that thought. This was too real! It was more than he'd ever imagined, but somehow, this was really happening. He definitely hadn't expected this.

"Felicia?" He repeated, voice rasping from his suddenly dry throat. "W-What are you doing?"

Time seemed to resume at his words, and, staring up at him with her expression changing to one akin to a deer caught in the lamplights, Felicia didn't move or answer. Instead, an awkward silence built up between them, their eyes locked in place and her lips warm around his shaft, as her face slowly began to turn redder and redder…

"A-AHH!" He yelped, suddenly jerking backward out of her surprisingly tender grip. "C-C-Cold!"

"O-OH!" She shrieked in response, her face blazing a bright crimson as she screwed her eyes shut and yanked the blankets around her- finally jolted back to action as she huddled away from him in a tiny ball of shame. "S-Sorry! Lord Corrin! I, I didn't mean to! I just, when-"

"Yeah." He winced, cutting her off as his hands reached down, hurriedly rubbing some warmth back into the base of his shaft. "When you get overwhelmed by emotion you lose control of your powers." It was something that had delighted him to watch as a child, but now she usually had far better control.

"Yes, tha-"

"No." He answered firmly, pulling the blankets off her and forcing her to look back at him. "No distractions. You've acted strange all day, and now this? You sneak into my bed? What's going on?"

Chewing on her lip and squirming in place, she remained silent for a long time- but he didn't miss the way her eyes darted periodically toward his erection, with nothing to hide it, it remained pointing uncomfortably hard toward her.

"It's…" She answered finally. "It's my, it's my duty t-"

"What!?" His anger was entirely unforced. Corrin had spent most of his life secluded from the rest of the world, but even he knew about the realities of some masters towards their servants, even now he remembered Camilla's words on the subject, that some masters abused their power, that some masters took advantage of their servants. But, he wasn't that kind of man! He would never do that!

Her duty!? His mind recoiled in a disgusted fury at the very thought of it.

This was Felicia! His a friend he'd known for most of his life, the woman he'd adored for years now. The thought of her coming to him as nothing but an obligation…it was sickening.

"No." Keeping his voice steady now of all times, was almost agonisingly difficult. "I don't know who put you up to this, or why you thought you had to-"

"N-No!" She shrieked, finally looking up directly at him once more, her face blazing in mortification even as her eyes shone with unquestionable determination. "No-one put me up to anything! I just, I just wanted to! It wa-was my own decision, to make sure that you…to make sure you learned about men and women."

"Felicia…" Dizzy with bewilderment his words came as less than a whisper. "What? I don't, I don't understand."

"B-Because, because you said, th-that you wanted to become a man who could create peace! Who could stop the fighting and, and that you wanted to be able to go anywhere and, do anything." Clenching her eyes tightly shut, Felicia's whole body trembled as she finally forced an explanation out. "So, so, you need to, to be able to…" Unable to finish her sentence, her words trailed off to nothing.

"I need to be able to?" He repeated weakly, judging by her earlier actions the last part of that sentence wasn't hard to guess. Biting his lip, he forcefully supressed an answering surge of desire. No. This wasn't right. This wasn't how he wanted it. "No, that's- Look, what I said earlier, it's true, I do want help create a peaceful world, I'd love that. I want that more than anything." Not just for himself and his freedom, he wanted it for his sisters, for his brothers and for all of Nohr. No matter how often his father talked about crushing Hoshido, always he'd found his heart uneasy at the thought of it.

Looking back now, to where Felicia was shivering nervously less than a metre from him it was impossible not to notice the small trail of saliva running from her lips. 'Gods.' The desire pulsed once more, she really had been, she really had taken him in her mouth like that. Even now, sitting here with her like this, he could scarcely believe it!

But why? None of what she'd said even made any sense. 'What does peace have to do with her being in my bed?' It was too harebrained, even for her!

"Felicia. Listen, I- I do want peace, and freedom, but, but more than that- I want to protect you. You're precious to me."

Speaking so plainly, it was the most difficult admission he'd ever made. He knew his face was burning up and he could clearly feel the temperature dropping even lower in response to his words. Even so, he refused to back down, refused to look anywhere but at where the woman he cared for was staring in shock back at him- her entire body locked up in surprise and mouth hanging wide in a silent gasp.

"So, so you don't have to do anything like that for me. That's not part of being a maid, or serving me, or, or anything. It's… It's something for married couples. For a man and wife."

A small silence passed between again, but somehow, after everything he'd said, Corrin couldn't feel any of the earlier unease. Instead he could only watch, with a nervous grin plaster unerringly on his face, as the fear passed from her eyes and Felicia slowly turned a gentle smile towards him instead.

"No, milord." She breathed finally, reaching out and laying her hands cold against his bare hips, eyes shining even as he shuddered under her touch. "Not only for married couples… Also, it's, it's also for someone who cares deeply for another."

Swallowing a dry throat. His world stopped.

'Do-Does she mean to say, th-that she…?' There couldn't possibly be a mistake. She was in his bed!

Her fingers stroked gently across his thighs and another blast of desire rocketed through him, harder than ever before, leaving his cock pulsing and eyes wide. Panting out a shallow gasp, his words went almost unheard. "Y-You, you mea-"

No!

Pulling himself upright, he desperately fought whatever scraps of his dignity still remained, choking back his words before he could say them. Even as bewildered as he was and no matter how…unusual…this situation was, he was still a man, a prince. She was the woman he loved, he wouldn't make her confess. Camilla had taught him better than that!

He'd come this far. He'd said so much already. This was nothing.

"Felicia." Reaching down to take her hands into his, somehow his voice didn't shake even as his heart raced out of his chest. "I love you."

Lying half naked in bed, with an erection barely inches from her face, this wasn't anything like how he'd planned to tell her, nothing like any of the fantasies he'd had of this moment.

"M-M-Milord…"

But, with his blood pumping furiously through his body, watching in awe as her entire face lit up into the very picture of shocked elation, he couldn't possibly have cared less.

"I, I have, for the longest time now. Since, I don't even remember when. When you first came here, you saved my life and you've always looked after me ever since. Even when it doesn't work out, you always try your best, y-you always make me happy and, I don't ever want that to change. I always want to be with you."

"C…Corrin…" She sniffed, staring red faced at him as freezing tears ran thick down her cheeks. "H-Huaaaah!"

"Felicia, please…don't, don't cry. I jus-"

"I, I love you too!" She cried, cutting his words off. "Th-huaaah-that's why I'm always trying, I-I just want to look after you! Eve-even though I'm just a maid, I want to be with you! I wa-"

His hands pulled gently on hers and she couldn't possibly resist, her words silenced to nothing as she fell heedlessly into his embrace- his arms wrapping warm around her back, and hers cold around his neck as they finally came together, unleashing years of shared yearning, in a passionate kiss.

The room was below freezing and even her flushed skin was cold to his touch. 'Gods!' But her mouth, her lips, both remained hot and from them, the heat inside her flowed into him, instantly sparking a desire within his soul like nothing he'd ever imagined.

They broke away for a moment, gazes locked and sharing a small, almost hesitant laugh.

"I've never, th-that was, that was my first."

"M-Mine too…"

And with the words shared, so too was a bright smile and a single unspoken thought. 'I'm glad it was you.' Neither needed any further cues, coming together once more and letting all heat, desire and pleasure rise slowly between them as their bodies became entwined.

With her every touch, with each light pant she breathed into his mouth, he could feel it- a fire inside him being ignited, blazing hotted and hotter by the moment, rising into an unstoppable inferno, until all he could think of was her, until his whole world was made of her.

"C-Corrin…"

And yet, lying cold against him, her body calmed even that raging heat. The chill of her skin easing his desires and cooling his instincts, until he was full of nothing but love and nervousness.

"F-Felicia."

The room was well below freezing, a thick frost already setting in across all the windows, but with her in his arms like this, smiling like this…he'd never felt warmer in his life.

Time stretched out between them, passing slowly in a musky haze. Lost in each other, the rest of the world, all their worries, responsibilities and duties, slowly faded into the distance.

Holding her tight against him, between her freezing hands and smouldering lips, Corrin could think of nothing else.

Grinding instinctively into him, gasping at the heat of his body pulsing against her, hot enough that she wondered if she would melt, Felicia had never wanted anything more.

Lost in her joy and acting almost purely on impulse, it was only the forged resolve that finally broke the spell some unknowable time later- her hands dragging them both back to reality as they slid from his cheeks down to his chest, fumbling awkwardly at the buttons to his nightshirt.

"F-Felicia." Corrin gulped, swallowing heavily as he felt her gently push his shirt off his shoulders. "W-Wait."

"Huh?"

"We should, we-uaah." With his cock pressed hard between them and his mind clouded with desire, the urge to just relax into her touch was almost irresistible.

Gritting his teeth, Corrin slowly forced his control back. Part of it was a strange need for control, a whisper of power coming from deep within his soul, a hum of domination he'd never felt before…but the rest, nearly all of it, nearly his entire being, held back from love and from the unmissable nervousness shining in her eyes. Even as she pulled his smallclothes from his legs, her hands shook visibly, he'd never seen such fear in her before.

"Felicia." His words came clearer now, his self-presence somehow stronger as his desire rose. "Stop."

Smiling warmly at her confusion, he took her hands into his once more, stilling her movements and pulling her up against him- very carefully ignore that he was now lying fully naked beneath the woman he loved.

"You don't need to force yourself, there's no rush. We should wait." Regardless of any resolve, he was still a man, and had no chance at all of keeping his cheeks from burning at that, nor at supressing the silly grin on his face. "U-Until our wedding night."

Again her eyes shot wide and again the temperature of the room suddenly plummeted in response. If not for the warmth in her gaze, Corrin feared he'd be frozen alive.

"C-C-C-Corrin!" She gasped, "Us? M-Married? Me and you!?"

Truthfully, Felicia didn't hear his next response. Her world had already faded into pure bliss and she couldn't possibly concentrate on anything but the warmth now pulsing through her entire body, a heat that threatened to melt everything that made her an ice maiden, a passion that she somehow knew would instead leave her as simply his. His maid, his lover, his property, his woman.

'His wife?'

To nod, to agree and simply accept it was the strongest temptation she'd ever felt. It was everything she'd ever wanted and now she was being offered it freely with the depths of Lord Corrin's kindness. It was every one of her wildest dreams come true.

A million images spread out before her- the joy of walking with him hand in hand, the feeling of a pristine white wedding dress around her, the sight of his face as she approached him down the aisle, the love they would share raising their children… Hundreds of sights they would share, thousands of sounds, millions of feelings.

Breathing deeply, she took a moment to savour those wishes, the fantasies she'd wished for, for so long. And then, exhaling, she took one further moment to mourn them, slowly releasing them, letting them all fade away, one by one.

Stronger even than her desire was her love, the same resolve that had brought her here, the decision that had finally let her hear those sweet words she'd always yearned for, even if she couldn't accept, she was happy.

"Corrin." She breathed, her beaming smile entirely unforced. "There's not going to be a wedding, I cannot marry you."

"Wh-"

"I'm your servant. Even just to be your woman is…it's more than I've ever dreamed of, it's more than enough. To be your wife, my love, a Prince cannot marry his maid. King Garon would never allow it. If we even asked, we would be split up and sent apart."

She pressed her lips against his, cutting off his reply and savouring his indelible warmth for another moment. Gods. Even now, she wanted so badly to just be selfish, to just accept his love, to keep him all to herself…

"Anyway, I don't want that. I'd get lonely, being the only woman in your heart." She lied with a smile, reaching up and tenderly stroking his cheek, following the lie with truth. "You need more than me, as many women as possible, until your heart can encompass two nations."

His mouth dropped open and eyes stared in confusion, but no sounds came out.

"I'm not rejecting you." She whispered, grabbing his hand and falling backwards onto the bed, pulling him atop her. "I love you, I want, I wish to be at your side forever. S-So, please. Let me help you. Let me help you become a man who can bring peace."

"Bring peace?" He whispered breathlessly, again she spoke those words, again she linked her presence in his bedroom to some greatest destiny. Still it made no sense.

Biting her lip as she nodded, Felicia slid his hands lower down her body, sighing out a joyous moan as she pulled them under her skirt, holding them in place against her panties.

"I want to be yours." She replied, releasing his hands and leaning back into the mattress, spreading her arms wide and surrendering herself utterly to him, ensuring without a doubt that he could see her words were true, in all senses. Her body, her love, her chastity, all lay before him, all were his to claim.

"Corrin… I want to belong to you." She always had, she always would. Even if he were to give her away, those words would remain true. Recalling his mother's letter, the words came easily now, even if she still didn't truly know what they meant. "Conquer me. Hold me down and make me yours, make sure I can never look at another man."

"I-Felicia, wh-what?" He stuttered, his words coming hesitantly as his hands stroked warm over her hips, his fingers curling around the strings of her underwear. "I don't, I don't want to conquer you. I want to love you." Nothing about this made sense, and it was making less sense by the moment.

"This is your destiny." She breathed, her voice shaking as much as her body as a blossoming need for him rose in her core- an ache for him to take action, to finally press her down and be with her. "This is, this is part of preparing you to be a ruler."

He paused and she watched entranced as he closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath and finally nodding, accepting her words, even without understanding them.

"Very well." He whispered warmly, leaning down and capturing her lips once more, his soul singing when she moaned involuntarily into his mouth. "Then, I shall act just as I would were I a king."

"Uha-Haaaaa!" She gasped, her head throwing back with a pulse of desire as his hands finally pulled the thin fabric from her soaked entrance and down her long slender legs.

He didn't speak, but she could see his answer in his eyes and in his smile. Kind, thoughtful, compassionate, she could see now the king, the ruler, he would become. He would conquer her, she would accept no less. He would rule over any woman he wished, she would ensure that.

But through it all he would remain the man she loved, he would do so as the gentle soul she'd fallen for so many years ago. It was everything she'd never known she'd wanted.

"C-Corrin…" She sniffed, ice cold tears slipping happily down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him. In that moment alone, he'd already made her his. "Th-Thank you."

Their lips came together once more and all distance between them dropped to nothing a moment later when he finally pulled her undergarments from her legs, discarding them on the floor and repositioning himself against her.

"AA-Ooooh!" She moaned, warm shudders running through her body with electrifying intensity when she felt his cock slowly opening up the lips of her entrance, squirming in place under him as her body accommodated for the stiff rod pressing into her.

"Felicia." He breathed her name once more, fighting for control over his desires as he marvelled at the sight of her, her clear eagerness for him. Her body remained ice cold but the heat he could feel from inside her, the warmth of her pussy, throbbed intensely through him, urging him deeper, as if her very body was urging him inside her.

"I'll make you happy." He promised as her legs wrapped gently around his waist, leaning down and sealing the words with as passionate a kiss as he could manage. "I swear it."

'We're really going to…' A shudder ran through his spine at that thought. This was his destiny? This was to prepare him? Her words made no sense to him, but what she wanted of him, even despite her nervousness, was clear.

Holding himself in place above her, it took all his control just to keep his hands from shaking, the situation was almost as scary as it was incredible. He scarcely had a clue what to do, aside from a very brief tutorial in the mechanics of childbirth he and Leo had been given by Xander some time ago all he'd ever learned had been caught from snippets of conversation between the servants.

Steeling himself he pushed those thoughts away. He couldn't let her worry, he needed to be confident, to be the man, the ruler, she wished for. Nodding, he lowered himself fully to her this time, reaching behind her back and cradling her gently in his arms as he kissed her deeply, pushing her lips open with his tongue and giving her one final moment to prepare.

"Mmhaaa." She moaned heavily in response, wrapping her own arms around his neck, the thin layer of her uniform doing little to insulate the rising chill against his skin.

Holding firmly to her shoulders, Corrin pushed forward.

"AIY! HYAAGHHA!" Breaking their kiss and arching wildly off the bed, Felicia's reaction was instantaneous. Throwing her head back, her mouth hung open in a guttural moan as she felt his length gently pushing her walls apart, gently sliding inside her, beginning to fill her in a way she'd never imagined.

Her hymen was broken a moment later, a small trickle of blood mixing with her juices and dripping down her thigh. The sudden flash of pain mixed with a thousand other new sensations, all shocking any words from her mouth and searing any thought from her head, leaving her body clenched tight around him, mouth open in a silent scream.

"G-Gods!" Corrin gasped in return, unable and unwilling to hold himself back even a moment longer as he felt the tight, hot depths of her pussy wrapping around his cock, engulfing more and more of him in a vice-grip as inch after inch of his length slowly filled her tunnel- as gently as he could manage. Burying his head in her shoulder, it was impossible to hold back his voice. "Gha! H-Haa! Gods!"

"Co-CORRIN!" Screwing her eyes shut and gripping his back as hard as she could manage, Felicia's words finally returned, coming in a panting gasp as she felt her body bucking automatically against him, her legs instinctively locking him in place and her body seizing up. The feelings, the love, the pain, the pleasure, the years of pent up desire, all of it came together, building up into a crescendo beyond words! Impossible to fight, unbearable to resist, she could do nothing but eagerly accept him as she felt the entire length of her tunnel wrapped around his shaft, filling her entirely.

Spurred on as much by her cries as his own need, Corrin continued driving carefully forward, his cock gently pushing against the soft flesh of her innermost walls, stretching them deeper, until he was finally engulfed completely inside her, her pussy moulded to the shape of his shaft.

"Wow." He gasped, shutting his eyes and arching his back, marvelling at the sensation of her walls coiled slick around him, hot and tight all at the same time, it felt as if her entire body was squeezing and sucking him all at once.

"Do, do you feel good, L-Lord Corrin?" Felicia forced out, her breath coming in short, ragged pants as she shivered under him.

"Of course." He grinned, groaning as her tunnel clenched tight around him once more, her mouth dropping wide in response as the small movements stirred his cock around the far reaches of her pussy. "A-And, are you? Are you okay?"

Felicia had always been an incredibly expressive person, but now, between the deep flush on her cheeks and the way she kept throwing her head from side to side, he couldn't read her at all.

"I, I, I don't, it's I've never… Lord Corrin!" Her words tumbled out in a clumsy mess, but the wonder in them was so clear he couldn't help but smile. "It's, I can f-feel you, y-you're inside me… you feel, you feel so hot."

That was good, right?

"I-I think it hurt, for a moment." She continued, her thoughts still racing as her mind reeled from the new pleasure. Between her battle training and the countless accidents, she had become very good at tuning out pain. "B-But, now, it's just…Hnhaa, it's, all I can feel is you!"

The sheer happiness in her words served to soothe the last of his anxieties, replacing them instead with a similarly warm joy that spread slowly through his soul. "Yeah." He nodded, cradling her in his arms and slowly becoming accustomed to the sensation. "Yeah, that's, that's the same for me." The chill of her body pressed against his, the intensity of the warmth inside her, the raw pleasure of her folds wrapping tight around his length. Nothing existed but her right now.

Shuddering again, her face screwed up once more and her hips bucked half an inch off the bed, scraping his cock around inside her again. "Nhgaaa!"

Taking her moan as his cue, and barely able to wait a moment longer with the mounting pressure inside him, Corrin began to move, leaning his head onto her shoulder and attempting to draw himself back- a task made almost painfully slow both by the incredible constriction of her pussy around his cock and the way her legs remained in place, desperately locked around his waist.

"Gh-Ghaaa!" He grunted, dragging a little over an inch of his cock from her before grinding it carefully back inside, unable to keep a wide smile from his face as he felt her fingers digging hard into his shoulders at the movement, her whole body shaking violently when he pushed once more against her deepest walls.

"C-Corrin! Corrin!" She cried, her hips shaking clumsily against his as he repeated the actions, eventually building up a slow rhythm, withdrawing an inch further and sliding in fraction faster with each repeated thrust.

The minutes passed quickly as their tempo slowly built. Her moans came louder and heavier with each thrust, her juices now thoroughly coating his cock and the pressure of her walls slowly easing, until, without even consciously realising it, Corrin was withdrawing himself almost fully from her, grinding back a little harder each time and fully hilting the length of his shaft deep inside her- again and again.

"Nghaa! H-haaann!" Felicia gasped, squirming in place and holding tight to his shoulders as she felt his cock pulled from her depths, his glans dragging heavily against her folds and as her pussy instinctively clenching tight around it. The need to suck him back in, to be filled by him, was breathtaking. "I-I can't, ah, I can't stop, stop my voice!"

"Tha, that's fine." He groaned in reply, his hands clenching even tighter to her and his shaft grinding even harder against her most sensitive parts. "I-I want to hear you."

It was embarrassing! She was his ma- "Ahnggh!"- she was his maid! She was meant to be dignified! But, she couldn't control herself at all. "C-Corrin! Nghhh!" It was too intense! She could barely think, could barely even concentrate, all she could focus on was him.

Each time he drove himself into her, she heard her voice crying out, her lust filled moans echoing around the room.

Each time he pulled out from her, she felt her entire body seizing up, her legs clenching tight around him and her hips shaking against his length, desperate to be filled once more.

He pushed inside her once more, pressing hard into her back walls, into the same weak spot he kept hitting, over and over… "Co-CORRIN!" Throwing her head back in a desperate scream, Felicia's mouth hung wide open, the last vestiges of her control finally evaporating.

Was this what it meant to be conquered? To be claimed? She'd assumed she was already his woman, to now feel this, it was beyond her wildest expectations.

"I, I can't take it!" He was being so gentle, his arms cradling her so tenderly, she'd never felt so loved. Never felt so wanted. "It-it's so warm! I've ne-ghaaan , never felt this, this hot before!"

Holding onto him like this, feeling him hard and strong inside her, she could feel his heat spreading through her entire body. It was as if he was unleashing a raging fire into her, the flames easily overcoming her natural icy core, tearing down all her defences and leaving nothing behind but a fast building pleasure. Nothing but him and all that he was to her.

It was all too much, she'd never felt anything like this before! The heat rising through her was making it impossible to think, impossible to do anything but need him.

"I feel, I feel like I'm gonna melt!"

"Y-You're fine." He promised, kissing hot against her neck and only just now noticing that the chill was gone, both from the room and her body. Her uncontrolled ice magic had been utterly smothered by the sheer heat of their passion. "You're fine. Just, eghaa, just relax."

"C-Corrin!" She cried, biting her lip and throwing her head from side to side, assaulted again and again by the raw pleasure, the feeling of all her resistance becoming slush under his touch. "I-I love you! I love you!"

It was all too much, she couldn't think of a single other thing to say.

"Ngha… I, I love you too." He grunted, his gritting his teeth as his own need rose fast through the core of his body, the desire within him escalating faster than he could attempt to fight off. "Ghhaa!" Before even knew it, before he even knew what to think, the need for release had overpowered all else. "I, G-Gods! Felicia! I can't, I can't hold out much… Nghaa."

Neither of them had much idea what they were doing, their bodies came together clumsily, their movements borne solely out of instinct- yet the shared feelings, the twining of love and lust, was indescribable, an intensity beyond what either had prepared for. Even despite their inexperience and awkward attempts at lovemaking, both raced inexorably towards climax, their senses fading away and thoughts turning only to the other.

Finally, with the heat inside her becoming unbearable and with the last of her resistance melting away, Felicia peaked first. "Ghg! Nghaaaa! Co-CORRIN!" Screaming and thrashing, her pussy clenched tight around his length, every millimetre of her tunnel wrapped around him in a vice grip, attempting to wring out every last drop from him, as if driven by some fundamental need to serve him, to please him.

With her arms frantically tight around his neck, her vision faded to white and her screams became illegible, moaning and crying as the orgasm slammed into her, all of Felicia's reason, all of her thoughts were lost…leaving her with only bliss as her world faded to white and everything became hazy.

Already well past the point of no return, the feeling of her walls wrapped so desperately around him gave Corrin no possible hope of resistance. "HGHUAAA!" Arching back and groaning aloud, he could feel every unstoppable pulse growing within him, feel his cock already spasming violently inside her, even as spots danced across his eyes and rationality became impossible.

Screaming aloud, Corrin plunged forward one final time, sheathing his cock as deep inside her as possible, grinding against her furthest walls and stretching her pussy tight around him.

For one single moment they both lay like that, her body clenched frantically around him and his eyes wide in amazement.

"GH-GGHUUAAA!"

Gasping, shaking and screaming, everything exploded all at once. Twitching inside her with maddening intensity one final time, his release finally sprayed out, thick blasts of hot cum crashing hard into her innermost walls, flooding her pussy instantly as his load pressed against her walls with an unbelievable intensity.

"NHGG-" Still electrified by her first ever orgasm and still far more sensitive

Still electrified and oversensitive from her first orgasm, the feeling of his release rocketed through Felicia's body, as if his essence was permeating her entire being. Shaking and shudder, mouth agape in a silent scream, she was dragged once more over her peak, orgasming the moment she felt his seed, warm and strong, filling her entirely.

"G-Gods…Hhaaa… Woah…" Corrin gasped, his mind spinning and body shivering with each twitch of his cock inside her, panting each time she squeezed another smaller jet of cum from him.

Breathing in short ragged breaths and feeling as if every ounce of his strength had been sucked out of him, he collapsed limply down onto her, only barely retaining the presence of mind not to lay all his weight on her slender form. "That was…that was…"

Slumping bonelessly back into the mattress, with her legs finally unclenched and her muscles going slack, Felicia's mind was a dull haze of bliss. Laying her head to the side and sucking in deep breaths, she could do little but whimper at slow ebb of pleasure thrumming through her. "Mmmhaa." She moaned softly.

Minutes passed silently between them, but still the warmth of his love for her pulsed within her, still the natural cold she'd felt her entire life remained melted by his passion.

No one had warned her about this, if she wasn't experiencing it now herself she wouldn't have even believed it possible. But, at least for right now, as she lay warm and secure in his arms, there was no chill at all in her, no comforting ice to call upon. Right now, she wasn't a maiden of the ice tribe. She was simply a woman. His woman.

"Lord Corrin…" She smiled joyously, pulling his head tenderly from her shoulder and stroking his cheek. "You did it, you really did it." Just as she knew he would.

"H-Hah." He panted, cupping her face in his hands and marvelling again at the sight before him, at seeing the woman he cared for lying under him, face flushed and eyes shining with love.

Sighing, he let her words wash over them. Even understanding they held some meaning to her, he couldn't help but brush them off. He'd done it? He'd taken the first steps towards whatever destiny she seemed to believe he had? He'd conquered her? None of that seemed right, none of that was what mattered to him.

He hadn't done anything like that. He didn't want to do anything like that.

"Felicia." Leaning down again, he pressed his lips to hers once more- a soft, gentle kiss this time. "Stay with me. Forever."

He just wanted to be with her.

"O-Of course!"

The Next Morning - A Long Way Away

"Ah!"

"Huh, Sakura?" Blinking up from her breakfast at hearing her younger sister's gasp, Hinoka turned, following the girl's gaze.

"Ah! M-Mother?!"

The sight of Queen Mikoto stumbling half-asleep around the palace in the early morning was hardly a rare one. But the sight of her now, head low and walking on unsteady legs and sniffing as a thick trail of tears streamed down her face, certainly was!

"Mother!" She repeated as both girls shot to their feet, racing over to the woman, quickly steadying her back on her feet. "What's wrong? A-Are you alright?"

"Oh, Hinoka! Sakura!" Finally looking up at them, both princesses found themselves shocked in place as the Queen laughed, her joy clear and radiant even despite the tears shining in her eyes.

"Mo-ECK!"

"He-UAAH!"

Neither girl had more than a moment to react before they were collected into a crushingly warm hug, squeezed tight against Mikoto's soft breasts as she shook with relief. "Ohha-haha, I-I'm so, I'm so happy!"

"Eh, wh-what's going on?" Hinoka wheezed out as Sakura gasped for breath, both struggling in their mother's surprisingly strong grip.

"I saw him, Corrin! Your brother!" Just those words were enough to freeze the girls in place, their eyes wide and hearts clenching almost to bursting in their chests. "I, I had a vision! A true vision, it was unmistakable, he came back to us."

"B-Brother…" Sakura whispered, her voice thick with wonder.

"I, Gods… Corrin? B-Back?" Hinoka added, suddenly finding it hard to see through the happy tears welling up in her eyes. "A-After, after so long?"

"He's, he's become so handsome." The Queens words were punctuated by loud, happy, sobs as she leaned heavily on her daughters. "And, I saw… We'll, we'll all be together again."

"You did?"

They'd wanted that, they'd all ached for that, for so long, until the desire had become almost unbearable and hope almost too painful to hold onto.

"Yes… He was…" Again the Queen's words were interrupted by the excitement bursting within her, the thousandfold emotions crashing through her. It was hard to speak, she hadn't been so happy, so truly overjoyed in a very long time. It was as if a piece of herself was finally being returned. "He was holding the two of you in his arms. You were each clinging so tightly to him! His sisters... his family!"

Hinoka and Sakura. She loved them both so much, them and Azura, she could not be more proud than any of her daughters…

…Still, she did know they could also be a little skittish. So, as the three clung together, all sharing their joy as one, Mikoto decided it was better not to mention that both girls had been naked in her vision.

"You all, you all looked so happy!"

AN: So there we go! Something new for me to chew on and to get some ideas in. Hopefully an interesting start, definitely not something I think a lot of us would expect from Mikoto, but it's fun to play with her a little bit here, and especially to see all the changes this would set in motion!

Hopefully you all noticed that Corrin isn't quite like Robin here, He didn't take his time to explore her body, he doesn't seem to know what foreplay is, and despite all his talk about wanting to "Love" her, he wasn't all that sensual. That's intentional. He means well, but he's still a dorky virgin and he's got a lot to learn. That's where Felicia (and everyone else) comes in and that's why he needs to be trained!

Speaking of a lot to learn, it's worth also noting that the Corrin/Felicia relationship here is equally a lot more naïve than the Robin/Lucina one, even with only a few years of memories, Robin has vastly more experience than Corrin and his relationship is forged off those and all that they've been together. While Corrin does love Felicia, and she him, they're both also very isolated people, she's one of the very few non-"family" females he knows. They've both got a lot to learn.

Will she be his Lucina, his true wife? Or will she relinquish that title as they both grow up through the oncoming wars? We'll see! On that note, hopefully you also noticed that Corrin does appear to have a small touch of the same Dragon based instincts as Robin… I wonder where that could lead?

As I said above, I'm planning to finish Change of Tactics first, so don't expect updates from this anytime soon. But, I would like to come back to it again, maybe if I get inspired that'll change. Suggestions, advise, pairings and such are all welcome! In the meantime, if you're just coming in now, why not check out my other story, it's Robin/All Shepherds, with a manipulation basis.

Up next… Didn't this fort have two Ice-maidens? They say you can never have too many maids!