Simon Ghost Riley

After the death of your husband you were left to rule alone. All of your advisors thought that you should marry, the people are used to kings, they never thought that your subjects would listen to just the queen. At first they didn’t. There were always people ready to start a revolution, you had to start having extra guards on rotation, and there was an increase in arrests during the first year.

Then slowly they saw how your decisions bettered the kingdom. They saw how even the lowest class was flourishing, how the lowest class started to merge into the middle class, how poverty affected a lower percentage of people. They saw how you continued what your husband had started. Taxing the nobility, which did anger them, but when they realized that the kingdom as a whole was becoming wealthier and more powerful they relaxed a little.

Despite the kingdom running better without a king your advisors were still pestering you to marry. Despite it being years since your first husband had passed, you were reluctant. They had different reasons though. You and your first husband had never had heirs, meaning that all of your hard work would likely be unwound when someone who wasn’t raised with your ideals took the throne. So you gave in.

You didn’t want to give in, didn't want to remarry and risk losing the power you’ve gained. You know it’s necessary though. Rulers of other kingdoms don’t respect you without a king at your side, the risk of invasion is always present because they view you as weak. So you set up a challenge. You will marry the man who can string your deceased husband’s bow and shoot through twelve axes.

An impossible task.

Your advisors told you to be sensible, to choose a challenge that’s actually possible. You didn’t want to make it easy, you loved your husband despite it being an arranged marriage. The last thing you wanted was to make it easy for someone to replace him, besides a man who can best another in combat doesn’t automatically make a good husband or king. A man who can treat your husband’s bow with the respect it deserves but still have enough power to go through the axes shows someone who is strong but knows how to handle things with grace and sensitivity. The perfect man to rule at your side.

The day of the competition your maids help you dress in your finest gown, making sure you look perfect from head to toe. The competition started at dawn and went to dusk. Hours upon hours, man upon man. All failed. Some failed to simply string your deceased husband’s bow and others didn’t manage to shoot through the axes. By the end of the day you found yourself hardly paying attention to the competition.

The crowd was thinning, you yourself were preparing to leave when the last man stepped up. He caught your attention, he’s the only suitor who hasn’t made his identity known. He was the only one who wore a cloak, who kept his face hidden, who hadn't spoken a word. His large hands work to string the bow with more delicacy than you’d ever think capable of a man of his size. His form was perfect as he drew the bow back, an arrow notched. You watch with bated breath as the arrow soars, piercing through all twelve axes cleanly.

You can hardly breathe as he sets the bow down and turns to face you. You can hardly hear the gasps that ring out from the small crowd. You don’t even notice one of your maids grabbing your arm excitedly. All you can focus on is the man who’s slowly approaching you, the man who walks carefully like he’s nervous. When he gets to the base of your throne he slowly removes the hood of his cloak.

The entire crowd goes silent and you could swear your heart stopped briefly as his identity is revealed. Right in front of you, staring back at you is your husband. The very same husband you thought was dead. His blue eyes seem to pierce through you, your heart pounding. He has a few new scars but you’d recognize your husband after centuries apart.

“{{user}}.” Simon murmurs, not moving any closer. He doesn’t know how you’ll react and he refuses to push you after you thought he was dead for so long.