Chapter Two: The Meeting

During that last few days, every noble and every peasant could easily bet that their midnight colored king would pull all his fur out. He looked that worried, yes.

He felt desperate. The matters didn't seem as heavy to the other people in the kingdom, but the king himself was worried sick. There were a couple of reasons why. First of all, what would he do if his kingdom was overthrown by another kingdom nearby? He was particularly worried about the one south of both Sheldon and Ethend, one named Leralind. The label sounded pretty, yes, but it was dangerously pretty. It was the largest kingdom within the whole range of land. From the one time Shadow had met the rulers of the kingdom, he had hoped that he would never have to have an encounter with them. Leralind was originally ruled by a powerful female, Queen Sally. She was beautiful, but, as mentioned before, dangerously beautiful. Beautiful with her elegant blue eyes, but ice cold at the same time. As if it could pierce through you if you weren't careful around it. She had gotten herself another name because of those pair of eyes. Sally the Deceiver. (A/N: kill me.)

And who she married after a few years of ruling and expanding wasn't too far off from the fatal eyes, either. She had married a ruler just as powerful, if not, more so than she, herself. He went by the name King Mephiles. He also had a nickname; Mephiles the Dark, for he reflected a dark aura around him wherever he went. He and Queen Sally had lived happily, ruling the big mass of land in luxury, and occasionally expanding their territory.

May Shadow be damned if he was attacked by them.

Another reason was…well, even if Sonic of Sheldon did take up his offer and marry him, what would happen back at his own kingdom? Would the generals not take advantage of that and form a tyranny? Would they not attempt to rally the loyalty of the soldiers and overthrow Ethend? Either way, the kingdom would be at the edge of survival, marriage or not.

Plus, regarding more personal reasons, wouldn't he technically be married to another male? Surely no one had ever done this before…Especially not with kings.

And very especially not with one of the kings disguising as a girl.

And another thought came to him. What if King Sonic had actually thought of Shadow was attractive and…oh Chaos, if he takes the offer, of course he'll think Shadow is attractive! And, during these times, a woman's job is to reproduce. He'd have to strip, which will reveal that he is not a woman…and the whole plan will go down the rusty drains.

As Shadow let his fingers weave through his head quills as an attempt to find any other problems, a knock came from the door on his bedroom.

Sighing, he grunted out a, "Yes?", his current train of thought gone.

The door stayed closed but the voice of the servant still came through. "Sonic of Sheldon has taken the offer, Sir," he paused, as if preparing himself to say something he didn't want to. "And he wants to have the ceremony in a week."

XXX

The moment King Sonic had seen the painting of this 'Shadow' girl, his mind buzzed. An odd familiarity struck him, and he wondered if he had ever seen the girl.

The portrait was beautiful. The different shades of colors made her seem unique and exquisite.

And, honestly, he had been quite fond of the color pelt and found the white fluff oddly cute. Her eyes were a dark crimson color that he had to tear his gaze away from, and the colors of the dress went surprisingly well with her.

And to add to the deal, he was also informed in the letter that came with the painting that she was the daughter of the king in Ethend. Which might explain why she seemed so familiar. He wondered why he had never heard of her. And who would've thought the king's daughter would be so…so…Sonic didn't know which words to use.

But, he would not have to send more soldiers to try and conquer small bits of the land at a time. Surely, King Shadow would make amends and they can…ah, share the land.

Eager to take the marriage offer, he smiled and called in a messenger.

"Tell Shadow of Ethend that his offer is taken and that the marriage will be held in seven days."

And that was when Shadow became even more stressed.

XXX

The day that followed immediately after the day King Sonic had announced that, Shadow held a meeting with everyone in a big hallway.

The King didn't come here frequently. However, a quick scan reminded him of what it looked like. The ceilings were arches that were held up by strips of wood. The floor of were rushes that were newly placed down on the floor. Layering on top of the rushes was a plush carpet with many interesting patterns. On the halls were a few paintings and tapestries. The walls were covered in smooth strips of wood. On each side of the room, there was a row of simple chairs with velvety cushions and a pillow. At the end of the hall were a fireplace and a big window. A little in front of the fireplace and the window was a small square table made of wood.

After everyone that had been called had arrived and quieted down, the king stood up onto the small table and cleared his throat to get the rest of their attention.

"I have called upon everyone and interrupted what you all are doing because I have an important announcement to make," he began, pausing to look around to see if anyone had anything to say. "I, King of Ethend, will be departing for our neighboring kingdom, Sheldon, in the next three days. I will not be ruling here for, possibly, the rest of the time this kingdom thrives. I have to form a political marriage with the King of Sheldon to keep us at peace. Yes, quite true, I will be marrying him, disguised as a woman." Shadow stopped again because of the thick gasps filling the room, not leaving him any room to continue. After a few seconds, he started again. "So, I shall elect another king or queen to rule Ethend. The one most loyal to me, my most trusted one…I will hand the role of the king to her, the serious and calculating feline and the knight protecting this kingdom, Blaze. Please, take care of the kingdom for both me and the people who live here."

The cat in shiny silver armor stepped forward, seemingly thrown off by the sudden surprise offer. Or, well, in this case, election that couldn't be turned down. "Y-yes, your highness," she stammered, bowing. "I will take care of Ethend as if it were my loved ones."

Satisfied with the answer, the king nodded and turned back to the crowd. "Everyone is dismissed except for the cosmetologists and the people who own horses and carriages."

And they did. But not quietly. Rather, in a rush of whispers and after a few seconds, an explosion of words spilling out of the mouths of the citizens of Ethend. The King was getting married. The King was getting married to another king of another kingdom. The King was going to 'be a woman' for, possibly, the rest of his life.

But Shadow couldn't blame them. He, himself, was wondering if he had just announced what he thought he had announced.

And honestly, he didn't want to be dressed up again, to have his quills and chest fur fluffed up, be shoved into a very tight gown, wear the fake eyelashes again, feeling the cold necklace around his neck, have blush powdered onto his cheeks, have sticky lip gloss stuck to his mouth, put on high heels when nobody could even see under his gown, and to act like a girl for a long, long time.

Hey guys. I wanted to point out something that some of you might get wrong from reading this fic, as well as a question at the end of the message.

Shadow is not going to be a 'woman' here. He's going to pretend. Which means that this is NOT a genderbending fanfic. So don't complain to me when you read a (possible) lemon later in the chapters and say 'zomg, why does Shadow have a peni—' You get the point.

My question: Do you guys find these one-thousand-word chapters too short? Please drop a review or PM me and tell me!

OH YEAH, another message. To those of you who are my friends and reads my stories: Since I am leaving on the 22nd of this June (which is PRETTY soon) I'm going to try and update all my other stories as well as post some more artworks before I leave. Let's call it…The Last Push. Sound okay? Anyway, now that I've got The Kings of Sheldon out of the way…gonna go work on Romance in Japan, and My Shadowy Hero, and also draw something for an internet friend, which I'm pretty sure will be reading this right now. ^u^ It's a surprise. But please don't get disappointed if it isn't you! If you want something you can always ask. ;)

ALRIGHT! I'm out~~