Death and the Emperor

Bonus Chapter: Danse Macabre

Author's Note: Tuesday was my 20th birthday, so I wrote another bonus chapter to celebrate :) It's a "what if?" AU from chapter 6 of Book 1. In this case it's "what if Kilan accepted he was married to Death?"

Danse Macabre

The power that forced itself upon its iron way—its own—defiant of all paths and roads, piercing through the heart of every obstacle, and dragging living creatures of all classes, ages, and degrees behind it, was a type of the triumphant monster, Death. – Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son

In seconds, Kilan's relatively normal life had been turned upside down. He would hardly have been surprised now if he had been told snow was black. And all of it was Death's fault.

Death, damn her, lounged in his chair by his fire with an amused grin playing around her mouth.

Kilan resisted the urge to angrily deny that they were married. He forced himself to consider this situation calmly and logically. Death insisted that her "misunderstanding" meant they were married. No court would recognise this marriage. Therefore, they could not be legally married.

He said as much to Death. She shrugged.

"Not by your laws, maybe, but we are in my eyes."

Oh, for–

"Please leave," Kilan said, as calmly as he could when having a nervous breakdown. "I need to think about this."

~~~~

He thought about it all night long. For hours Kilan paced the floor of his bedroom, replaying their conversation in his mind. Setting aside the fact he had been rehearsing his wedding vows and had not been saying them to Death, he had certainly asked if she agreed to be his wife. She had agreed. Therefore, he began to have a terrible suspicion that Death was right.

Would it be so bad to marry her? he wondered. I like her much more than I like Yse. But what would everyone say?

What did he and Death have in common, anyway? He hardly knew her. That moment at the funeral... had he really fallen in love with her or was he simply infatuated?

Those questions and many others preyed on Kilan's mind until morning.

~~~~

Death, surprisingly, stayed away for over a week. By the time she reappeared, Kilan had come to a conclusion. It was less a conclusion than postponing a decision until later, but it would do for now.

"I think that we should get to know each other better before we decide what to do," he announced. Death stared at him like he'd grown a second head. Kilan tried to explain it better. "I mean, I knew you for a few months when I was eight and then you disappeared for ten years, and I've seen you less than five times since then. We don't know each other well enough to get married."

She sat down on his window-seat and pulled her knees up to her chest. It would have been an odd thing for anyone but a child to do, and it became downright bizarre when done by a gaunt, seven-foot-tall woman wearing a long black cloak.

"I suppose that makes sense," she said thoughtfully. "So how do you propose we get to know each other better, as you put it?"

The answer to this was so obvious that Kilan couldn't understand why she asked. "Talk to each other."

"About what?"

Leave it to Death to create difficulties in the simplest things. "About..." What did people normally talk about when getting to know each other? "About where we're from – wait, we already know that. About..." Goals and ambitions were hardly a subject that he could discuss with Death. He suspected she didn't have many beyond 'kill people when their time comes'. "About our likes and dislikes. About... books, or places we've been."