Five years later

Yona slid off her saddle and patted her horse's flank. It gave a tired huff, sounding as weary as she felt. The path was tricky to walk in the best of times, but it was worse after the snowmelt turned the tiny road to mud. The spring air was crisp enough to keep her awake, cold enough to hint at the winter just a few weeks behind them.

"Why did Jeong pick somewhere so far away?" Jae-ha complained. "There's nothing around for miles, except for one tiny village."

"Who knows," Yoon said, equally grumpy.

Yona ignored him out with the ease of long practice. The green dragons didn't like riding when he could jump everywhere. Not everyone could fly, and horses cut the whole journey by two months. Yona supposed she would be sick of the trip if she came out here as much as Jae-ha did. Instead, Yona only made the trip once a year, if that. Kouka couldn't spare her more time than that.

"It's pretty!" Zeno chirped.

"Garden," Shin-ah said.

Jae-ha huffed. "Garden indeed."

Garden, indeed.

It was like stepping into a fairy tale. There was a simple house in the middle of a riotous garden. Yona never saw flowers more vibrant or trees so full of fruit they bowed to the ground anywhere else. Insects buzzed around them. Honey bees and butterflies filled the air. Yona took a deep breath, and her shoulders relaxed automatically. Even the air tasted sweet and green. Jeong had a green thumb. Yona wouldn't be surprised to see the garden full of fruit even in the grasp of winter.

"My lady, do you need anything?" Kija's question distracted Yona from the other dragons. He did better lately about treating her like she was made of glass, but considering… recent events, Yona wasn't surprised he was backsliding a bit.

She sighed inwardly but smiled at Kija. "I'm fine, thank you, Kija."

"Are you sure, my lady?"

Hak smacked him on the back of the head. "If Yona says she's fine, she's fine. Quit hovering white snake."

A tall figure ducked out of the cottage, distracting Kija, who broke into a delighted smile.

"Jeong!" Kija cried out. He had grown into his looks, and with his position as Yona's right-hand administrator, he was one of the most eligible bachelors in Kouka. Even Lili asked once or twice about his marriage prospects.

The way his eyes lit up when he saw Jeong, Yona thought, amused, would make all his suiters faint.

Shin-ah, next to him, perked up. His mask was off, the way he often wore it when it was just the dragons and Yoon, Hak and Yona. It was only long years of observation that let Yona see the tiny smile on his face. He walked up and tugged on Jeong's sleeve.

Jeong ruffled his hair. "Shin-ah. Kija. Where's Yoon?"

"Here." The doctor announced himself, an annoyed look on his face. He brushed off his green robe then gestured imperiously for the people already around Jeong to move, which they did. They were all used to Yoon's moods by now.

Yoon stared up and Jeong, eyes sharp and hands on his hips. He was taller at twenty-one, but not by much. Jeong still towered over him.

"Come down here," Yoon said, impatiently.

Jeong stooped down with a small amused smile, and let Yoon look at their eyes and ears, even opening their mouth so Yoon could check their teeth.

"Nice to see you too," They said when Yoon's fingers were out of their mouth.

Yoon sniffed. "Your health is adequate. Now get your favorite doctor some tea so I can recover from my ordeal.

Yona shook her head. It was the same routine every time. It was like Yoon thought Jeong was in danger of dying once they were out of Yoon's sight. Jeong always submitted to it without complaints.

Jeong had favorites, and Yoon was one of them. He probably always would be.

Yona wasn't resentful.

Jeong was Yoon's favorite too.

Hak touches the back of Yona's neck. "You are good, yeah?"

Yona rolled her eyes. "I'm good."

"Good. Keep it that way." Hak pressed a kiss to Yona's forehead, then broke off to join the circle around Jeong. "Hey, Jeong! How's life out in the sticks?"

Yona ducked her head to hide her smile and followed after. The Dragons parted before her.

Jeong looked at Hak's carefully, like they were memorizing his face.

"Good." They smiled at Yona and opened their arms for a hug. "You're early this year."

Five years ago, Jae-ha came back with a letter in familiar handwriting, telling her the location of Jeong's new home. It wasn't signed, but it didn't need to be. It was the first hint of Jeong, and Soo-won Yona had in years. Other than rumors of someone going around and dealing with corrupt officials and helping Kouka out.

When you have the time, the letter said.

Yona, tired of the court and desperately in need of a vacation, set out the next day. It was now a yearly tradition; A long vacation so Yona didn't lose her mind from being at court all year.

The queen took Jeong's hug. Yona was taller now, but Jeong still dwarfed her and always would. Their arms were solid with muscles. It felt like safety. "Jeong."

"Your majesty."

Yona scowled up at Jeong without leaving their arms. "Don't you start that. I get 'your majesty-ed' enough at court."

Jeong laughed. "Bet that got worse with the recent news."

Yona sighed and touched her stomach, rueful. She wasn't showing yet, but the whole court knew about the potential heir. Yona didn't blame them - seven years without a true heir was a long time. They had a right to be excited.

It was still incredibly annoying. Yona felt like she was drowning in gifts and well wishes. "So much worse."

"Bet everyone freaked out when they heard the news," Jeong teased. "I'm surprised your court let you come all this way in your delicate condition."

Yona sniffed. "As if they could."

There was only so much fussing Yona would tolerate. She was pregnant, not made of glass.

"I wish I could've seen Hak's face when he found out."

"It was hilarious," Jae-ha said.

Hak scowled. "You weren't any better, Droopy Eyes. You almost fainted. We had to tie you down so you wouldn't run away."

"All of you were terrible," Yoon said. "Because all men are morons about pregnancy."

"Except you, of course," Jeong said.

"Of course. I am a genius, pretty boy doctor. I know everything there is to know about it."

She wouldn't deny the rest of the dragons were just as bad. At least Jeong wouldn't treat her like she was one breath away from dying.

"Come in, then. Sit down for a bit." Jeong said.

Jae-ha caught up to Yona and leaned against Jeong's side. "Just going to ignore the rest of us, Jeong? I see how it is. It's like you didn't even miss my scintillating company."

Jeong gave him an amused look. "You were here a month ago. I haven't seen Yona in a year."

Yona smothered a laugh. Unlike the rest of the dragons who stayed in the capital, Jae-ha was a free spirit, blowing in and out of the money as he willed. Yona would bet that he stayed out near Jeong half the time. Yona didn't mind. He always brought back the most exciting news.

She also knew that love like Jae-ha's was hard to put away. If it hadn't faded after five years, Yona didn't think it ever would.

"Come in," Jeong said. "Lunch is ready."

"Lunch!" Zeno cheered and darted past Jeong to the house.

Yona shook her head and looped her one arm around Jeong's arm and the other around Jae-ha's. "Lunch. I'm starving."

Yona sat by the fire while Jeong cleared the remains of lunch because it was still a bit cold out. The dragons and Hak were outside somewhere. She could hear their voices carry through the open door with the sweet-smelling wind - Hak was yelling about something while Zeno laughed. Yona ran her hands over the table, tracing a firebird with seven curling tails inlaid in different, lighter, wood. It was a masterwork of carving, just like the chairs and the door, and everything else Jeong built.

She propped her head upon her hands, watching Jeong move around the room. They moved with the same grace they always had, but there was something different; Jeong moved like they were more at ease. Like they put down a heavy burden.

Jeong glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to help?"

"I am your queen and also pregnant. So no." Yona said without a hint of regret.

If people were going to treat her like glass, she might as well take advantage of it. Besides, Jeong didn't mind. They like taking care of people, including their messes.

Jeong rolled their eyes then gathered up the last of the plates. "As you say, your majesty."

Yona hummed, pleased. "I do say."

Sunlight warmed the inside of the room. It poured through the windows like it lived here too, golden and warm. Jeong wore their hair loose now, no longer in the tight braid they favored as a guard. It nearly reached their waist.

Yona's eyes felt heavy. "Jeong?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you happy?"

The thing Yona loved most about Jeong is that they took her words seriously. This time was no different. Jeong thought about it for a few moments before they smiled at her. It softened Jeong's face, made them look younger, even the scars on their face.

Neither of them mentioned the door that never opened while Yona was there. She knew it led to Jeong's bedroom, and the few times it was open, she caught glimpses of gold hair that made her heart skip. She hadn't seen Soo-won's face in five years, just like he promised.

She could ask. Jeong wouldn't lie to her.

Yona never does.

Does he make you happy? Did I do the right thing? Will I ever stop missing him, or you?

Yona still doesn't know.

(Yona thought of the tiny handcrafted blanket sent with Jeong's last letter, or the postscript in familiar handwriting, reading only one word.

Congratulations.

The blanket was clumsy — full of holes and dropped stitches; obviously, hand made by someone who was learning. The thread was incredibly soft, and a beautiful purple that matched Yona's eyes.

The note was unsigned.

It made Yona's throat ache and her eyes sting. It hurt to think about Soo-won still, even after all this time. Love had a way of sticking in a person's throat, like poison in a wound. It faded, but never went away.

She kept the letter and the blanket, and never mentioned it to Hak. Hak never asked.

Yona's father would never see his grandchildren.

The thought didn't hurt as much as it once did, true.

It still hurt. Yona wasn't ready to forgive, or forget.)

Jeong rested a hand on Yona's head. "I am. Are you, Yona?"

Yona's eyes slid closed against her will, and she yawned. She just felt so warm, so sleepy. Riding all day was hard when she wasn't pregnant. Now she was exhausted.

Happy?

"I am." She said. The country was finally, finally settling. Yona was repairing the roads. Bandits were rarer as men finally had jobs to provide for their families. Yona was doing good work, with good people around her. Trade was finally flowing again. Treaties were being made.

She had Yoon and Zeno and Jae-ha to make her laugh. She had a little brother to teach in Shin-ah. She had Kija to help her with challenging tasks. She had Hak, who loved her more than anything else in the world, as a consort.

Despite everything, Yona was happy.

A sturdy pair of arms lifted her from the table as if she weighed nothing. She cracked one eye open and found Jeong still smiling down at her, the same crooked one she remembered from her childhood.

Yona closed her eyes with another yawn and rested her head of Jeong's shoulder. They no longer smelled like iron, like blood. Instead, there was the scent of fresh dirt and green, growing things, and sawdust.

"Good," Jeong said. "I'm glad."

Soo-won didn't look up from his newest project when he heard the door creak open.

"Did they leave?" He asked.

There was a small village a day hike away, and one of the grandmothers there was kind enough to start teaching him how to weave and knit. It calmed Soo-won and gave him something to do with his hands when they got too restless. His left one still went numb now and then. A side effect of the wound in his left shoulder, Yoon told him. Soo-won would carry the scar until he died.

Soo-won found he didn't care.

It was worth it.

Jeong pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.

Even after five years, it still sent a frisson down his spine. Soo-won felt heat up his face, and he gave Jeong a halfhearted scowl. They always enjoyed flustering him.

Soo-won tried to ignore the small part of him that always basked in their attention, like a cat in the sun. Jeong's full attention was a powerful thing.

"You made me drop a stitch."

Jeong smiled. "Oh, no. However, shall I make it up to you?"

Soo-won looked away first. He could never win.

"Did they leave?" He asked again.

Jeong sighed. "Yeah. They're all off to Sei, on their way to some peace treaty anniversary party. It's safe to come out now."

Soo-won stared down at his knitting. It was the beginning of a scarf in dark red.

Jeong wrapped a hand around Soo-eon's waist and pulled Soo-won down to lie on their chest. Soo-won went down without a fight. He could hear Jeong's heart.

Alive.

It eased a tension he didn't realize he was carrying. Jeong was alive. Sometimes it still felt like Soo-won was still living in that nightmare, where Jeong was gone forever, just because Soo-won wanted revenge — gone because of Soo-won's actions. He even dreamed of Hak's pale face and haunted eyes, delivering the news of Jeong's fall.

"I wish you would speak to each other again," Jeong said quietly.

Soo-won closed his eyes and sighed. "I've been disowned."

"You don't want to know your nephew or niece?"

Soo-won feels a surge of longing just thinking about it. Yona and Hak's child... Soo-won always loved children. He went up to the village once a week to teach the children there how to read and math.

Soo-won's cousin, a young mother to be. He still thought of Yona as that girl that cried for her mother all those years ago. Would the child have her eyes? Would it have her hair, or Hak's? Perhaps the other way around? Soo-won thought of a little girl with Yona's hair and Hak's eyes and ached. He already loved the child. How could he not, when it was a combination of two of Soo-won's favorite people in the world?

"You know why I can't," Soo-won said.

Until Yona herself asked to see him, Soo-won would stay out of her way. He already forfeited his chances to know the child and how Yona would grow. Cut the chance off with his hand, and even now, the coldest part of him still did not regret it. Soo-won was learning, slowly, how to push that part away, to exist outside of the past.

Soo-won had already hurt Yona enough.

"Not everyone forgives as you, Jeong."

He's happy they are happy. With or without him.

(The thought of missing tightens his throat.

Soo-won pushed the thought away ruthlessly. He wasn't one for self-delusion, even at his worst. It was his fault, and he knew it.)

Jeong sighed, and Soo-won curled up closer. Jeong felt as solid as stone to him. It always stung to disappoint them with how much of a coward Soo-won was. He owed Soo-won everything he had, and then some. If Jeong wanted the moon, Soo-won would find a way to wrap it up in silk first. If Jeong wanted a country, Soo-won would conquer one with nothing but his mind.

If Jeong wanted Soo-won's head, he would slit his own throat with a smile.

But Jeong didn't want any of that. They wanted peace. Jeong, who Soo-won betrayed, wanted Soo-won to stay in their shared house, within arms reach. Jeong, who knew how low Soo-won could sink, wanted Soo-won to live until they were both old and gray as grandmother. Jeong, who, incredibly, loved Soo-won and only asked that he loved them back. It seemed too small a price for a gift as priceless as Jeong's heart.

Next to Jeong, Soo-won felt small — not just in body, but in the heart. Jeong humbled him.

"Next time… maybe next time," Soo-won said, if he could gather his courage enough.

"I'll hold you to that," Jeong said.

It was hard when he knew he would do the same things all over again. He still didn't regret most of his actions — if he went back to the same moment, he would do it again. Perhaps he would change who he framed so that he could keep Jeong with him, but his uncle would still be dead. Soo-won understood that he was broken on a level so deep he would never be whole again.

He was trying.

The only way to live with himself was the knowledge that even if the gods Jeong spoke to offered Soo-won a way back to the past, he wouldn't take it.

Soo-won had everything he needed here, now. He'd trade one moment with Jeong for all the gold, jewels, palace guards, and prestige in the world. He had every luxury the world had to offer. Not one single thing compared to brushing out Jeong's hair in the morning.

Here, where he could sleep and work and putter around whenever he wanted; here, where the old ladies from the village teased him about Jeong. Here where he could eat the food he prepared with his own two hands.

Soo-won was freer than he'd ever been.

The former prince smiled as he propped his head on Jeong's chest. Just looking at them. The scar had faded a bit over the years, and new ones had not replaced it. They still performed katas together in the morning, but Mercy had been gathering dust.

Jeong raised one eyebrow. "What?"

"Jae-ha." Soo-won mused.

"What?"

"I want to kiss him, I think," Soo-won said.

Jeong jerked. "What?"

"He's in love with you." He added because he wasn't blind. Jae-ha wasn't very subtle. "And you love him too."

Jeong opened their mouth and shut it without a word. A flicker of hurt appeared in dark eyes. "You can't think I'd ever..."

Soo-won rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Don't be stupid, Jeong."

Jeong's love was the one thing in the world Soo-won would never doubt. The sun could fall out of the sky, and the rivers could all dry up before Soo-won believed Jeong didn't love him.

The pain faded, replaced by confusion. "Then why bring it up?"

Soo-won rolled his eyes again. "I already said I wanted to kiss him. He thinks I'm pretty and he's already in love with you."

Jae-ha was easy on the eyes, and he flirted like he breathed, even with Soo-won. Jae-ha's type was pretty and dangerous, and Soo-won knew his looks. He felt Jae-ha's eyes lingering on him more than once when the green dragon stopped by to pick up Jeong's letters for Yona.

Jae-ha was a good man. He made Jeong laugh, and Soo-won liked him for that alone.

Jae-ha wasn't in love with Soo-won. Soo-won wasn't in love with him.

There was still potential there. Soo-won could love him, perhaps. He was an expert at people after all the practice at court, and the skill hadn't faded. Jae-ha's smile was kind, and his hands were distracting. The thought of Jae-ha here, with him and Jeong, was... appealing not just because Soo-won liked Jae-ah's hands or his face, though that was part of it.

Jae-ha was kind down to the bones.

Soo-won was not.

(A deep part of his mind was coldly calculating numbers and plans. Soo-won couldn't stop it, no matter how much he tried. It was a part of him as much as his fierce love of Jeong. Jae-ha would never let Soo-won hurt Jeong. He'd stop Soo-won if he even tried. Jeong… wouldn't. They loved him too much. He didn't want to hurt them, never again. Except Soo-won wasn't a good person. He couldn't trust himself.

Jeong's heart was too important for mistakes.

It was a good solution.

Soo-won could share.

Jae-ha already had the seeds of attraction. All Soo-won had to do was water them. A touch here, a word there, a smile at the right time.

He has gotten very good at gardening lately.)

(Soo-won felt the phantom touch of thread under his hands, painstakingly dyed to match Yona's eyes. It took all his courage to add his note to Jeong's letter. Jae-ha didn't mention anything when he gave him the note, only tucked it away with a nod and smile.

"I'll make sure she gets it," Jae-ha said and ruffled Soo-won's hair.

Yes.

A good man.)

For once, it was Jeong's turn to flush. They opened their mouth, then shut it.

Revenge was sweet.

Soo-won patted Jeong on the cheek. "Think about it."

Jeong spluttered. "I- You -"

Soo-won pushed up from the bed, stretched, and headed out the door, ignoring Jeong's outrage. It was a beautiful day, and he'd wasted enough time. Grandmother's headstone needed to be cleaned up, and he wanted to tell her about his plan. He knew she'd find the whole thing hilarious.

Soo-won complied a list of chores gone undone while he was stuck in the bedroom. He rolled up his sleeves and tied back his hair. Time to get to work.

The garden wasn't going to water itself, after all.

And that's all she wrote. Shin-ha opens a tiny woodworking shop in the capital that becomes very popular. Kija thrives in his role as Yona's right-hand man and eventually marries Lili, after a very, very long courtship. Zeno lives in the capital and eventually becomes the royal babysitter. Yoon starts up a school that becomes world-renowned, and Ik-soo comes to live with him after a while when priests stop being illegal.

Yona and Hak have a little girl with her mother's eyes and hair, but Hak's smile. They name her Jeong.

Jae-ha, Soo-won, and Jeong live happily ever after, after some sitcom shenanigans and Soo-won's plotting.