Revenge [Heart of Steel]
Heart of Steel - One Shot
Do not read before you finish the series.
Y/N was slowly but surely seeing Midgard as her new home. She felt less and less like a visitor every day.
This new sense of belonging, it made her happy.
Steve had decided to throw a tournament in honor of Midgard’s new Queen and his wife. The tournament included jousting, sword fighting, hand-to-hand fighting, and archery.
“Will you be gracing the kingdom with your archery skills today?” Steve asked Y/N as they sat down to watch the jousting that was about to begin.
Y/N was taken aback by the question, not knowing if he was being serious or simply teasing her.
But when she looked over at him, his expression was sincere.
“Would that not be…improper?” She asked carefully.
He smiled at her cautiousness. “Why would I ever wish to hide your talents? Perhaps the Midgardians should know of their Queen’s strength and skill, and not just of her beauty.”
Y/N blushed at the compliment. “I shall consider it.”
That seemed to be good enough for him.
The first pair of knights to joust brought their horses in front of their King and Queen. Both of them took off their helmets and bowed to them.
Then one of them appeared to have a rose in his hands. He reached forward, clearly intending to give it to Y/N.
“A rose to honor my new Queen, Your Majesty,” he said with another bow.
Y/N smiled, flattered by the gesture and took the rose. The crowd applauded at the moment.
As the competition went on, Steve noticed how Y/N jumped every time contact was made in a jousting round. He could tell from her expressions alone that she found it rather barbaric. She was not one to turn away from violence. But that was only when it was war, when it was necessary and there was no other choice.
This seemed like pointless violence to her.
But she kept her expression rather stoic. No one seemed to notice her discomfort, except for her husband.
As they were getting toward the end of the competition, Steve leaned over and whispered to her, “Will you reward the winner with a kiss from their Queen?” It was meant to distract her slightly from the discomfort of watching unnecessary violence.
She knew he meant to tease and embarrass her.
But it would take much more to do so.
“I shall,” she countered with a smirk.
Then she turned and tilted her head at him. “But if I am to win the archery event, who will I receive my reward from?”
“Why me, of course,” Steve laughed.
“And if I were to lose?” She challenged.
Then she smiled when Steve realized what she was asking, for she would be the only woman in the competition.
His eyes darkened. “Then I suggest you win, my queen.”
Y/N laughed lightly at his attempt at intimidation.
But then their little moment of laughter was interrupted by an arrow hitting the wooden railing, landing just inches away from them. It was closer to Y/N than Steve.
Y/N gasped, already knowing this was no accident.
It took Steve half a second to recognize the fletching. It was blood red.
Hydra.
It was another second before Steve shot to his feet, Y/N did the same, and Steve thrust her body behind him from the direction the arrow came.
In the same moment he moved her, another arrow came flying and landed in Steve’s chest.
“Steven!” Y/N screamed.
“We are under attack!” A royal guard shouted.
Cries of panic erupted from the crowed. Everyone stood and started rushing for any sort of cover.
“Protect the King and Queen!” Shouted a Knight of Howl.
Y/N was shaking as Steve dragged her back and into a tent, getting them under cover. A dozen knights now surrounded them.
Steve turned to her now.
Y/N’s eyes immediately found the arrow. In her panic, she didn’t realize it has landed in his shoulder and not his heart.
He growled when he looked down at it.
Without hesitating, he grabbed the shaft as close to the wound as possible and broke it. He barely even hissed from the pain of it.
“Steve…” Y/N’s voice shook as she watched him.
“I will be fine,” he reassured her before she could even ask him anything.
Then he turned to Sir Gabriel. “Have you spotted him yet?”
“There are archers hidden in the trees. The branches are too thick to see what trees they are in and how many there are.”
“Surely there cannot be too many. How on earth could they have snuck onto the castle grounds?” Y/N argued.
She peaked around Steve and the knights, ever so slightly, to look at the arrow that was embedded in the railing. She could tell what direction it had come from based on that alone. Her eyes followed an invisible line in the air and to one specific tree. And just as she did so, a branch shook slightly.
“Give me a bow,” she commanded without breaking her stare, she didn’t want to lose her point of reference.
Gabriel immediately grabbed one from his men and handed it to her.
Y/N grabbed an arrow and nocked it.
“I need to go out there,”
“Y/N,” Steve warned.
“I have a shot, Steve! You know no one else does. Use your shields to give me cover or stay out of my way,” she warned without looking at any of them.
Steve grabbed a shield and told his knights to do as she said.
Quickly Y/N walked out into the open and released the arrow. It whistled through the air and disappeared into the trees. A few seconds later, a man fell to the ground.
Suddenly Steve brought her to his chest, using his entire body as a shield for her, and holding an actual shield at his back to protect himself.
Y/N gasped and as she recognized the sound of an arrow hitting wood. Escaping her husbands embrace, she nocked another arrow and found her shot. She released it a second later and there was another body that fumbled to the ground from twenty feet up.
Before Y/N could even attempt to find another possible target, horns were being blown and the royal cavalry arrived – over a hundred of them, prepared for a full-blown attack.
“Look to the trees!” A captain yelled at them.
Steve pulled Y/N back to cover and safety underneath the tent behind them.
Now that she had a moment to breathe, Y/N looked at Steve’s wound. There was blood trickling from from where the arrow was still embedded in his shoulder.
“I will be fine,” he whispered to her when he saw the worry and fear in her eyes.
Suddenly a captain came rushing into the tent to address his king.
“We found no others. It was simply the two. One is dead, the other survived.”
“I did not mean to kill both,” Y/N answered. “I wish to question him.”
Steve couldn’t help but smirk at her. She never ceased to amaze him. “Seize him and deliver him to the dungeons,” he ordered.
The captain nodded and quickly left.
———————-
Y/N now sat in front of the fire with Steve, who was shirtless. The physicians and healers had rid him of his clothing when they came to tend to his wound.
They had put a paste around it, saying it would ease his pain and also prevent it was festering.
“Perhaps you should leave,” Steve had warned his wife.
But she immediately shook her head. “I will do no such thing.”
Steve chuckled, “This is not my first affliction, Y/N. Nor will it be my last.”
But she already knew that was true, for his skin was already covered in various scars.
“Is that meant to make me feel better?” She accused.
“Are you ready, Your Majesty?” A physician asked him.
Without asking for permission, Y/N grabbed both of Steve’s hands.
Steve nodded to the physician.
With a set of iron pliers, the physician grabbed a hold of the piece of arrow that stuck out of Steve’s skin. Without counting down or giving any sort of warning, he ripped it from his shoulder.
Steve let out a grumble, but his grip on Y/N’s hands barely tightened.
Not giving him even a moment to recover, another physician put a hot iron rod to the open wound, cauterizing it.
Steve hissed and Y/N looked away as she heard and smelt the burning off skin.
A healer put more paste around the are and then they left the royal couple alone.
The moment the door closed, Y/N leaned forward and kissed Steve.
“What was that for?” He whispered.
“For the pain, perhaps?” She offered.
He laughed before kissing her again.
But then he realized tears had formed in her eyes. “Y/N, all is well. Please, do not cry.”
She shook her head. “Just a short distance over and you would be dead, Steve.”
“I was lucky,” he admitted. Then he stood. “I must go to the dungeons now. Perhaps you should take a bath. I will have a servant bring food up for you. We have not eaten since breakfast.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I wish to accompany you.”
Steve wanted to say no and keep her away from the dungeons. They were not pleasant and no place for a woman. But he knew it would just upset her more if he were to deny her such a request.
“Very well...” He sighed.
---
Steve had a torch in one hand as he led them to the cellar where their prisoner waited. There were two knights in front of them and two behind. After such an attack, they were staying close to their King and Queen. Some felt they had failed already after the two assassins were almost successful.
“I must be very important to be graced with such company,” their assassin laughed as his face was lit by Steve’s torch.
“You are in the presence of King Steven and Queen Y/N of Midgard. Choose your words wisely,” Sir Gabriel warned the prisoner.
But the assassin still laughed.
“Who sent you?” Steve asked low and even.
“Hydra,” he responded.
“Hydra is dead. It is without a leader and its armies have dispersed,” Steve snapped back.
He shrugged. “Some remain loyal to the cause.”
“So you sought revenge and hoped to kill me?” Steve accused.
“Not you. The greatest revenge on you would be killing her,” he spat as he glared up at Y/N. “Killing you would not suffice. We wished to kill your precious Queen, and before she could ever bare you an heir to the throne.”
Steve shot forward and grabbed onto the prisoner’s neck, choking him. “You dare threaten her!”
The prisoner’s eyes widened as his ability to breathe was taken away. He couldn’t even try to remove Steve’s grip, for his hands were cuffed to the dungeon floor.
It was clear Steve’s intention was to strangle him to death right there and then.
“Steve! Wait!” Y/N jumped forward.
He dropped the prisoner, instantly listening to her command.
Once the prisoner caught his breath, he started laughing maniacally. “Women… all the same, weak and scared of violence.”
Y/N stepped forward slowly. “Are you so sure? For the wound in your side was my doing and no one else. I am who shot you down. And I kept you alive on purpose.”
She tilted her head and stared down at dark red spot on his tunic. Clearly no one had tended to his wounds, nor should they have.
“You wished to become a martyr? Kill me and meet death after taking one last life?”
He smiled.
“You wish to be so lucky,” Y/N spat. “There will be no execution for you.”
Steve eyed his wife carefully.
“You will rot in this dungeon. You can watch as your wound festers, and you grow sick from it. Your death with not be swift. You shall suffer, slowly and painfully.”
Then you should kneel down. “I hope you survive long enough to see me grow with child. Then you will die knowing the royal bloodline of Midgard will live on...while Hydra remains dead.”
Any glee or mocking had now disappeared from the prisoner. This was not what he expected, nor what he wanted.
Y/N slowly stood up and stepped back. She gave a look to Steve, telling him she had said all she wanted.
The prisoner looked at Steve, hopeful that he would undermine a Queen’s authority.
But the King simply glared at him and said, “It seems your fate has been decided.”
“Wait! Wait!” He cried out as they started to walk away.
But neither the King or Queen turned as they made their leave.
---
When they returned to their bedchambers, Steve had grown rather quiet.
“Steve?” She asked carefully.
His brow was furrowed as he muttered, “They were after you, not me.”
“Yes, but surely you are not surprised…”
“When I married you, when you became Queen of this Kingdom, I made an oath to protect you. I made a promise.”
Y/N rushed to him and clutched his face. “And you have! I am here, am I not?” She challenged.
Steve was deep in thought, unable to look into her eyes, even as she held him so tightly and so close.
His jaw tightened. “It will not happen again,” he growled.
“I know,” she whispered before kissing him. “I know.”
And she didn’t stop until his body relaxed and the tension was released.
Soon they were discarding each other’s clothes.
“Let us go to bed,” she had whispered as he traced her bare skin.
He nodded in agreement, knowing it was the only thing that could help him right then.
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Let me know what you think :)
Thank you to the anon for inspiring me.
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