"Finish it, Calliope, accept my oath or drive your sword through my throat. Either way, my life is yours, as it always was."
For the first time in her life Queen Calliope's hands trembled around the pommel of her sword...
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CW: A little bit of spicy stuff, blood, head injuries.
The dulcet tones of the bard echoed around the hall singing out his tale of unlikely passion where a travelling minstrel was fortunate enough to find himself in the bed of a beautiful queen. The tune was gentle but the words became more bawdy as the song went on. Calliope listened attentively to the skilled performer as did the rest of the nobles in the hall, the hum of conversation much quieter than usual, for the bard truly was gifted. As he came to a particularly scandalous part of his song the bard caught the Queen's eye and winked, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he chuckled to himself before continuing his performance.
Hadn't dreamt one such as me, Would be blessed enough to see, The faintest scar above her knee, And above it spread quite bare, Never seen a cleft so fair, Than one crowned with golden hair...
Calliope shared a look with Valkyrie as she snorted a laugh into her wine cup and shook her head at his boldness. She was quite at home with the coarse songs of soldiers and tavern-goers, although she hadn't heard one sung quite so skilfully and with such a delicate melody, and she quietly relished the shocked faces of some of the older nobles.
As she approached her chambers later that evening she saw a figure leaning casually against the wall next to her door and her mouth quirked up into a smile.
"You, sir, are a menace. I should have you thrown in the dungeon," she said, with her finger pointed.
He held his hands up defensively but he laughed and shook his head.
"From what I saw Majesty, I believe you enjoyed the song." He gripped the door handle and opened it for her, sweeping low into a dramatic bow.
He stayed like that as she brushed past him and entered her chambers. Stopping in the middle of the room she turned and folded her arms across her chest with a sigh.
"Jaskier,"
"Majesty?" He replied, still bowing.
"Get in here, you fool."
With a cocky grin he rose and swaggered into the room, locking the door behind him.
Calliope gasped out a giggle as the bard's nimble fingers tickled across the small scar that lay just above her left knee before continuing their journey up the inside of her thigh.
"You could have been a little more subtle in your lyrics," she accused playfully, her hand tugging gently as she tangled it in his hair.
"Surely you can allow a poor bard his bragging rights," Jaskier mumbled, kissing his way across to her mouth.
He looked at her, blue eyes twinkling with mirth and for just a second Calliope's mind flashed to another pair, lighter in colour but filled with love. She shook herself and smiled once more at her bedfellow, for those other eyes were long gone, and after ten years she had mourned enough.
