The hopeful light of spring filtered through the curtains of my carriage, and I pulled them aside to check our progress. The landscape was unfamiliar to me, all rolling green hills and scattered boulders. Where were all the wildflowers? The blooming trees with their slender leaves? The trees I could see were bushy, covered in dark green needles. I pushed the curtains closed again and sat back in my seat.
"Good god, are we close yet? My poor legs are aching horribly," Cassandra drawled. Tantomile murmured her agreements, stretching her black and white legs out in front of her.
"I think so," I replied. "I'm... not sure where we are, though."
"We're close," Bombalurina said. Cassandra and Tantomile expressed their relief and closed their eyes. My gaze met Bomba's and she smiled her easy smile. Bomba had been to court many times before. If anybody would know, it'd be her.
My sister. A spinster, if the cats in my father's household were to be believed. She wasn't a spinster, in truth. Not really. She'd told me once that she was just 'too busy' to choose a mate. Busy doing what, I wasn't sure. Once I had asked her, but she'd only winked at me.
"Has he changed much?" I asked her quietly, once the other two had drifted off.
"Unfortunately not. Still as boring as ever." Bomba pulled the curtains back open to gaze out the window. I watched her green eyes drink up the sights. She seemed to become more and more alive the further we traveled from home.
"Why am I marrying him? You're Father's firstborn, shouldn't it be you?"
"I'm afraid I'm ruined, dear Demeter."
My ears reddened and I diverted my gaze. Father had been outraged when word of Bombalurina's trysts reached him, but she'd never seemed to care.
"You shouldn't call him 'boring', you know," I said after a long pause. "He's the crown prince. It's best that he take his duties seriously, isn't it?"
"Hmm," was all Bombalurina said in response, before closing her eyes to doze with the others.
Our arrival was met with tinkling music and chatter that I could not make out from within the carriage. The four of us composed ourselves as we rolled to a stop. Cassandra fastened shining bracelets around my wrists while Tantomile fastened my delicate diamond collar.
"One final touch," Bombalurina said, positioning my tiara between my ears with ease. "We do have to make sure he knows which of us is his fiancee, hmm?"
"Bombalurina, I'm sure he'll recognize me." Still, I chewed on the inside of my cheek with worry. He hadn't seen me in almost a decade, and I was a dame grown now. Though he couldn't have met many black and gold cats in his time.
My sister was watching me with what must have been pity in her eyes, but before she could speak to comfort me, the driver knocked twice in warning, then opened the carriage door.
"He'd be a fool to forget you," she managed to say as Cassandra and Tantomile stepped out. She followed them gracefully, leaving me alone for only a second in the darkness of the carriage. I took a shaky breath and stepped down onto the cobbled pavement and into the sunlight.
The Jellicle's castle loomed so far above us that, for a moment, I was sure it was some sort of illusion. I could see cats sticking their heads out of the windows to catch a glimpse. Guards lined either side of the walkway to the entrance, swords at their hips and capes fastened to their collars and flowing around their shoulders and down their backs. There were even more cats, nobles, gathered on the lawn to our right. They were staring shamelessly, and I immediately felt like retreating to the safety of the carriage to escape their gaze. My attention was pulled away from them by the sound of a trumpet at the castle entrance, and the massive wooden door was pulled open.
"Is that Old Deuteronomy?" Tantomile murmuered behind me, as a muscular grey and brown tom with thick fur and a golden crown exited.
"I believe he prefers 'King Deuteronomy', Tantomile," came Cassandra's reply. Her usually smooth and controlled tone was laced with excitement. Like me, it was her first time at court.
The king was followed closely by a colorpoint dame wearing a tiara similar to the crown. Even as far away as we were, I could see coldness in her eyes. Instinctively, I straightened my stance. Bombalurina stepped forward to loop her arm in mine.
"Don't be too threatened by the Queen," she muttered into my ear. "Auriel is mostly harmless."
"Mostly?" I said meekly. Bombalurina only chuckled in response.
Two toms followed the Queen. My eyes were immediately drawn to the taller of the two, a black tom with leopard print points and a large ruff.
"That can't be Tugger," Tantomile said, her voice filled with disbelief. Bomba stiffened beside me and I looked at her curiously. She merely shook her head, so I turned my attention to the tom walking next to him.
His silver fur appeared to gleam in the sun, broken up by jet-black stripes. Straight as an arrow, he wore his crown with pride. It seemed nearly impossible that this was the gangly kitten who'd visited my home all those years ago. He and his brother, walking next to each other, were different as night and day. The crown prince was meeting the gaze of nearly every sentinel he passed, nodding at them all with a stiff smile. Rum Tum Tugger, however, was looking past them, catching the eye of the younger noble dames and smiling like a kit on their birthday.
The king and queen stopped walking halfway down the path, standing side by side but feet apart. The king shared Rum Tum Tugger's easy expression, though managed to maintain much more formality than the maned tom. The quen, on the other hand, maintained her very severe expression, and her eyes, bright against her dark face, were trained sharply on me. I wanted to shrink down, or hide behind my ladies. Duty forced me to keep my head high.
Munkustrap and Tum Tum Tugger passed their parents, both pairs of eyes on me and my ladies. The Rum Tum Tugger held back, standing a few feet away with a casual air that didn't seem to match the crown on his head. Munkustrap did not stop until he was directly in front of me, and my heart thudded beneath my chest as he took my paw in his and pressed a perfectly chivalrous kiss to my knuckles.
"Lady Demeter." His tone was full of formality, but I clung to every word, desperately hoping to find some semblance of substance in them. Anything to reassure me that my time here could feel like something more than a business transaction.
"Your Highness." I dropped into a curtsy reflexively. "It has been too long."
"It has, yes." Was that amusement in his eyes? "I hope your journey was pleasant."
"Quite. Though much longer than I-" Whispers and titters from my ladies cut me off, and I turned my head to glance at them. Their attention was focused on something far to the side of the pathway, though the whispers stopped when they saw me watching them. I turned my attention back on Munkustrap to apologize, but he seemed to have been distracted by whatever had excited my ladies, and he was staring in that direction with a strongly set jaw and hardened eyes. Enraptured, I followed his gaze, and just barely stopped a gasp.
His coat was red. Not the warm, sunset red of Bombalurina or the wine-colored highlights in my own black and gold fur, but a proper, electric red. He carried himself with the relaxed air of the Rum Tum Tugger, but there was something so powerful in the set of his shoulders. And he was walking straight toward us.
"Father doesn't like us walking on the grass, Macavity."
Macavity. It sounded like the whisper of wind through the trees, and I found myself stealing glances at this strange new arrival. He ignored Munkustrap's reproachful warning and looked at me. I felt even more exposed than before, and adopted a shield of a smile.
"Forgive me, I'm afraid I was not told you were arriving, or else I would have joined my father and brothers to greet you." His voice was smoother and sweeter than syrup, and heavy with things he seemed to be hiding. "I will not take up too much of your time. I'm sure the prince has sweet nothings he'd like to be whispering into your ear." He took both of my paws in his, and my skin tingled beneath his touch. He leaned forward, and for a brief, electric moment I was sure he meant to kiss me. Instead, he pressed a feather-light kiss to each of my cheeks. I refused to acknowledge the sinking feeling of disappointment in my gut. "I do hope you will enjoy your time at court."
He was gone before I could think to reply, passing by Munkustrap and the Rum Tum Tugger, then the King and Queen, and disappearing into the castle. I barely realized I was watching him go, until Munkustrap shifted and cleared his throat uncomfortably. My ears burned.
"You won't have to worry about him while you are here, my lady." His jaw was still clenched, but his eyes were much less severe. "He keeps to himself. I imagine he just wanted to rattle you, I apologize."
"It's alright, Your Highness." The sympathy in his eyes ignited something in me, and I straightened my shoulders and steadied my gaze. "I am not so easily frightened."
Something that could have been appreciation flashed in his eyes, and he nodded. "I'll take my leave, then. I imagine you would like to rest after such a long journey. My lady."
He started muttering furiously as soon as he reached the Rum Tum Tugger, and the two seemed to argue as they passed their parents and entered the castle. The King and Queen seemed to give me one last look before turning and leaving. My ladies swarmed around me, each whispering furiously, and with a sigh, I turned toward Tantomile in hopes of an explanation.
"Macavity is the King's oldest son," she said nervously.
"But Munkustrap is the heir. What do you mean?" I asked.
"He's a bastard." Bombalurina seemed less nervous to talk about it than the other two. "He was born only a few months after the King and Queen were married."
"Who is his mother?" Cassandra looked almost excited by the drama.
"Just some kitchen maid, probably. Whoever it was, I heard she died giving birth to him. So Deuteronomy took Macavity and raised him, and the crown prince was born a few months later."
"We shouldn't gossip." I shot them all a stern look, nervous about all the ears turned toward us. "Let's find our rooms. We could all use some rest."