Right away, let me thank you for clicking on my story! A few order of businesses before we begin:
• In this story, Exceeds are unlike the anime mascots-style and more like life-like cats with wings! So for instance, Happy is a sky blue, ocelot-sized Exceed with white wings.
• Plue is a dog, specifically a Japanese Spitz of medium size!
• The nobility order is like so, for reference:

King/Queen - Archduke - Sovereign Prince/Princess - Grand Duke - Duke - Marquess - Count - Baron - Knight

And with that; enjoy! And leave a review if you would be interested in a second chapter!

A Star and A Throne Of Fire

I.

A Summons

Lucy Celestia-Layla Heartfilia tip toed gently across the intricate rugs of her father's study, purposely avoiding the large tiger skin that lay in front of the fireplace on her way to the dark oak desk near the furthest wall. The iridescent pink skirt of her nightgown bunched against the old high back chair as she slid into the seat and, with fleeting fingers, quickly shuffled through the papers littered on the desk. The clock on the mantel chimed a gentle one in the morning, the room dark besides the softly lit lantern that she had carried from her room across the sprawling mansion.

Not many would think that the normally prim and respectful daughter of Grand Duke Heartfilia the Third would be creeping around her father's private study after midnight sorting through his private papers, but then again not many knew Lucy Heartfilia past her public façade. However it wasn't like many would get a glimpse of said façade either, due to her father's rash insistence of keeping her indoors after her mother, the late Grand Duchess Layla Heartfilia, passed away. And as a result, the public grew to imagine the now freshly eighteen-year-old Lucy Heartfilia as the perfect, fragile, and ladylike all royal daughters were expected to be; therefore molding her a reputation so solid it felt like a tight noose around her neck. It was in this trap of a reputation, this noose of upholding societal expectations that she found herself shifting through her father's desk every other night in an attempt to find the letters he would often withhold from her.

Besides the few diplomatic letters between other heiress and royal daughters from neighboring counties and countries, she was isolated. Before, she had tried carrier-Exceed, but it had become too pricey and too obvious, so she had resorted to covertly slipping letters to the head maid Spetto. From Spetto they would pass to one of the kitchen maids, who would run to town and pass them onto Spetto's young niece Coco, who had become a royal messenger and didn't mind the extra letter or two. And when receiving responses, Spetto would simply slip in the letters with the bulk of letters her father received and she would simply have to sneak in to catch them before her father did.

This way, Lucy had wormed her way into exchanging letters regarding magic and military strategy through her dear friend Erza Scarlet of Eastern Fiore military force. At least with Levy McGarden, her other dear friend, she could deliver her letters easily due to Levy's status as the daughter of the royal Advisor, but if her father had found out her contact with Erza… It wouldn't be good. It'd ruin the House Heartfilia's image of the Heartfilia young mistress being oh-so-perfect, but he'd throw her into reform school quicker than she could blink. "Politics do not belong in the minds of daughters." He would always say.

It might have been the thrill of opposing her father or the thrill of gaining more knowledge, most likely both, but usually Erza's letters were the ones she was most excited to receive, as they would come sparingly with the movements of the military. But this time it was different, so much so that the pit of anxious bubbles in her stomach kept her breathless with exhilaration. Fiore Academy had begun accepting letters for their new semester, and to say it was a dream of hers to attend the Academy was an understatement. The combination of the freedom attending the university in the capitol city Magnolia and the revolutionarily opportunity to study whatever she wanted whenever she wanted made her risk it all to sneak her own letter through Spetto to the Academy, and if she had the timeline correct, then today would be the night she would've received an acceptance or rejection letter in return.

Her fingers danced over rough parchment and the occasional smooth leather puff of the desk's lining, feeling for the correct wax seal in the dull light. Outside, she could hear the gentle wind and hoots of owls along the manor's grounds. The little slip of attention caught frozen as the pads of her fingers slid onto a wax seal that registered so quickly with her that she gasped.

Memories of her mother, gracefully wrapped in silken shawls and her golden hair decorated with flowers, sitting in the garden under the willow tree, with lap full of letters and her long fingers gliding through Lucy's blond hair, flooded her senses. Every so often, a letter would tumble into her lap and she would trace the Royal wax seal with her fingernail and beg her mother to read from one of the letters. Layla Heartfilia would always smile and gratefully take the chest of letters and read each one, because to Lucy, it was the story of how two lifelong friends grew up to become powerful and beautiful royals and not the etched and deep history of the Grand Duchess Heartfilia and the Queen of Fiore.

That familiar Royal wax seal was something she would never be able to forget, and just under her fingers sat that very seal. With furrowing brow and the usual biting of her lip that came with being concerned, she scooped up the thick letter and grabbed her lantern as she fled the study. Lucy made sure to lock the study thoroughly before fleeing down the dark halls of the Heartfilia manor, silent like a shadow from years of practice.

When she reached the gold double doors of her room, she all but burst through them and immediately tripped over a slumbering ball of fur that had laid itself out in front of the doors. She was glad that there were no guards stationed after midnight because the loud thump of her knees against the oak floorboards, paired with her startled yelp, were too loud for comfort. "Plue!" She hissed to the sleeping white dog, who merely rose his head lazily to look at her. Instead of reprimanding her tired pup, she picked herself up and lit the candles on her reading desk.

The curtains flanking her balcony's open doors swirled in the cool night air, and Plue padded over to sit at her ankles as she brushed papers off her desk in order to place the letter down. With trembling fingers, she broke the Royal seal and folded the parchment out so it flattened against her wooden desk.

Immediately the world felt dizzy, and her hands froze against the paper. Her spacious room, usually too big and empty for the likes of one girl, felt constricting, the shadows of the high ceilings seeming to curl down menacingly. The candlelight no longer felt comforting nor warm as the letter fluttered out of her hands and drifted to land on the ground.

Magnolia Palace
Order of the King of Fiore, Dragneel the 7th

Dear Grand Duke Heartfilia,

Thank you for your quick response during these times of need. The King decrees that only the most eligible of Fiore may receive marriage summons from the Royal House of Dragneel. It is in this decree that we take great pleasure in extending and presenting your fair and only daughter, Princess Lucy Celestia-Layla Heartfilia, with a marriage summons for the hand of the Royal Prince Natsu Dragneel, Duke of the Isles of Fire, of House Dragneel. Should there be no conflicting previous arrangements, in two weeks to the this day, we shall prepare the Grand Palace for the arrival of the Princess and the marriage ceremony will be the following week.

So says the will of the King of Fiore,
by way of the Cabinet of Fiore,
Archduke Ivan Dreyar
Long Live the King.

A marriage summons.

Her throat felt dry, and her forehead clammy at the idea of spending the rest of her days in the Capitol, locked up like she had spent all of her eighteen years, playing baby maker to a Royal prince. She didn't even know him, nor had she heard of this Natsu Dragneel in particular. How could she spend the rest of her days with someone she didn't know? The fairy tale dream of attending Fiore Academy and finding love in a stable, romantic man, of mediocre title, was crumbling. Lucy Heartfilia felt as helpless as an inanimate object, something many that tried to make her into throughout the years.

Anger and desperation reared its ugly head in her heart and she clasped her hands in front of her chest, trying to steady her uneven breathing. "No," She breathed, clutching at her pink lace nightgown and glaring down at the marriage summons letter that lay near Plue. She wasn't going to just give away her life just because some royals believed her life was give-away-able! Lucy snatched up the letter, and placed it facedown on her desk. Eyeing the address written in lustrous scrawl on the back of the letter, she pulled out her own parchment and ink quill, catching Plue's curious gaze. "Don't worry, Plue," She exhaled sharply, scratching her quill against the parchment stubbornly, "I'm not going down without a fight."

Heartfilia Manor
Desk of the Princess Lucy Celestia-Layla Heartfilia

Dear Royal Prince Natsu Dragneel,…

• • •

The surge of muscles under his thighs set his blood pumping to the sound of the horses' hooves, the jaunts and hoots and his own steady heartbeat that echoed in his ears. The forest trees blurred in his peripheral as he urged his horse onward through the foliage, a hunting horn sounding loud behind him as the buck ahead took a sharp right. With the movements of the wild animal, the hunting party roamed right as well, circling back toward the camp they had left only moments before.

This was what freedom feels like, he thought and grinned against the wind. If he, Natsu Dragneel, could spend the rest of his life in the Royal Forest past Magnolia, hunting, he would. To his left, a black steed urged itself forward alongside his own russet horse, issuing a challenge to his lead in the hunting party. Catching his companion's devious smirk, Natsu felt the fire that he had long felt from a child begin to spark inside and, matching that smirk, he urged his horse faster. "Oi! Prince Fire breath! You'll have to think again if you've got an idea that you'll be catching the Starry buck." His companion on the black steed all but cackled, snapping the reigns and parting from Natsu's side in order to dodge a tree.

Up ahead the Starry buck, legendary game of the Royal Dragneel family, disappeared into a brush of milkweed, the little lighted tips on the tops of its antlers only giving a hint as to where it had gone. Spurring his horse to jump, Natsu clung to the saddle and tried to steady the ceremonial sword attached to his belt so it didn't fall off at impact. Sure he might be free from many expectations that a Royal Prince would have, since he wasn't the Heir to the Dragneel throne, but the fancy outfits and royal tokens he was forced into? He could gladly do without.

They were bordering the edge of their camp now, he could tell from the tents and the coat of arms that were peaking through the leaves, but the pursuit was still on going. And it was just about time to go all out. Twisting in his saddle, Natsu popped two fingers in his mouth and whistled once before whipping his pink head back around fast enough to knock the crown that sat nestled in his spikey hair. Immediately there was the sound of slicing air, and a flash of blue whizzed past at extreme speed. The blue Exceed cut past the buck and drove the white creature into the clearing that held the camp, claws outstretched to catch on the deer's hind legs in order to push it forward. The buck overturned a bench, startling attendants and scattering them as the entire royal hunting party burst into the campsite on the heels of the buck.

Hollering and grinning manically, Natsu rose in the saddle, his Exceed fluttering down to drop onto his shoulder as his horse skittered in the clearing. With a short click of his tongue, Natsu stirred forward and directed his men to encircle the buck with their steeds, all of which pranced nervously in the tight quarters. Just as he went to order the capture of the buck, a black shadow in the corner of his eye caught his attention. His companion on the black horse, Gajeel Redfox, rode up into camp, uncharacteristically late to the end of the hunt. "Gajeel!" Natsu called, pulling his horse back to face him, smirking, "Couldn't keep up, could ya?"

"Pardon," Gajeel's teeth glinted from behind his dark hood, "but I could run circles around you. I just happened to catch this little hare in the woods." And only then did Natsu noticed the rope in his friend's hand, and that it was tethered to a small mare where a young messenger sat, trembling. Upon seeing Natsu, the girl, who did in fact remind him very much of a rabbit and looked not more than fifteen years old, bowed her head quickly. "M-My Prince!" She squeaked, plunging a hand into her bag and pulled out a letter, "I have a letter for you!"

He frowned. Letters for him were usually processed through his advisor. "Was it so important that you had to come find me during my trip?" He didn't mean to sound harsh but she tensed before nodding very quickly. Before Natsu could respond, one of his hunting party, a young Baron's son by the name of Romeo Conbalt, pulled his horse beside the girl's. "Allow me." He shot a troublemaking grin Natsu's way, at which the salmon haired prince merely rolled his eyes. Romeo took the letter from the messenger, who pinked at their close proximity, and flipped it over to glance at the address.

Assuming it was from one of his military friends in the Eastern Fiore force, or even the young Duke Gray Fullbuster from the North, Natsu Dragneel thought nothing of the letter and was halfway into turning his horse around to give the order to secure the forgotten buck when Romeo Conbolt snickered loud enough to recapture his attention. The boy's impish features had broken out into a sly and cunning smirk, "Oh prince, I had no idea a lady would be writing to you."

Well that would be unexpected. As far as ladies went, he wasn't that interested, leaving the question of a wife up to his father's Cabinet. But before Gajeel Redfox could so much as reach over to Romeo, Natsu's blue Exceed shot from his shoulder and snatched the letter in his mouth. The cat dumped the letter in Natsu's waiting palm, pausing to rub his blue fur against the outstretched fingers. "Thank you, Happy." Natsu flatly declared, trying to ignore his men's laughter as he gazed at the letter himself. Happy curled back on his shoulder, in a way that expressed amusement at Natsu's discomfort. "Gihehe," Gajeel's chuckle cut like blades, "thought you didn't have a bone for ladies, Natsu?"

He shot Gajeel a glare, before returning to the letter. Lucy Heartfilia? He tore the wax seal ungraciously and flipped open the letter with a slide of his thumb, steering his horse absentmindedly around to the buck. Jude Heartfilia was the serving Grand Duke of Fiore, and he had heard of Lucy Heartfilia as a proper lady, which, if that was the case, wouldn't she have sent her letter through the palace and not independently? Curiously, he racked his eyes over her girlish scrawl once before actually reading it.

Heartfilia Manor
Desk of the Princess Lucy Celestia-Layla Heartfilia

Dear Royal Prince Natsu Dragneel,

I am writing to you today under the assumption that you too have heard of the marriage summons I have received on behalf of your House Dragneel, written by Archduke Ivan Dreyar, under the authority of the King. You will have noticed, certainly, that I have sent this letter under a covert messenger rather than what is right and proper, for the sole purpose of stating to you that I refuse to agree to marriage with a man that I do not know nor have talked to. Because of my position in the nobility, I am under no circumstances to deny you or your House if our arrangement leads to matrimony, as embarrassing my father or my own House would be out of the question. So I purpose we meet. My messenger's name is Coco, and she is trustworthy but young so please allow her a night's rest before sending her back with your response.

Regards,
Lucy Heartfilia

He knew Ivan Dreyar would be sending marriage summons to eligible nobles ever since he had turned eighteen a while ago, but hearing back from one of them so personally… that was new. Her tone in the letter was curt, if not brash and a bit rude, but it intrigued him. All he knew about Lucy Heartfilia was that she was the epitome of what a submissive and prim lady of a House should be, but this letter suggested something far differently. Even the demands on the behalf of her messenger, Coco… he hadn't ever had someone demand something from him like that before. Unconsciously a small smile had wound itself onto his lips.

The smile didn't even drop when Gajeel's grunt rang out, "Damn it, Salamander, the bloody buck hightailed it out of here while you were sticking your nose in some woman's letter!" And while the hunting party and attendants jumped into a frenzy of corralling horses and supplies, Prince Natsu Dragneel simply sat on his horse in the middle of his trampled campsite, with an unexpected letter and no Starry buck to be found, smiling.