Before:

But before that happened….

Wyatt was just about to enjoy a bath. It had been a long day—a long month if he was being honest and he usually was—and a steaming tub was just what the apothecary ordered. His copper pipes had just finished delivering sulfur-saturated subterranean hot spring water and he had just removed his robe when the summons came.

Annoyed, he jerked his robe back on and took the note from the castle footman.

Wyatt, I need you here now. It's about DG.

-Dellia

Suddenly startled, Cain realized that he hadn't seen DG in almost three weeks. Three weeks! How?

The answer was easy: he'd been busy. Not just normal-every-day-busy, but meetings-with-the-royal-advisors-and-all-the-security-officers-and-oh-yeah-his-son-and-that-sort-of-busy. There was just so much to do, and so few people who wanted to do it. In a way, he was actually rebuilding the judicial system of the OZ, which even after two years of Queen Lavender attempting to restore order, was still corrupt and ineffectual. There were only a handful of people he could actually count on to be truthful so there were many instances of real crime that had to go unsolved due to a lack of trustworthy investigators. Thankfully, Raw and his friends and family had set up a screening system so that potential candidates could be tested, but it was all moving very slowly. Abysmally slowly. And Wyatt's relationship with DG and Ambrose had suffered because of his dedication.

And now he was suffering because clearly something was very wrong with DG; so wrong that Dellia had to write to him. Why hadn't Ambrose said something? Why hadn't Raw? And worse of all, why hadn't he noticed? Slipping up, old man.

Wyatt dressed quickly, throwing a dark blue court robe over his suit instead of his usual greatcoat.

At the palace, he was sent directly to Dellia's private receiving room where she was pacing by the tall windows. The queen and Ahamo were sitting by the fireplace, and Ambrose was standing near, looking vaguely guilty and twitchy. Well, that can't be good.

"Wyatt, thank the heavens," Dellia said, rushing to him and taking his hands. With her hair down around her shoulders and less makeup on, Dellia had taken on a very vulnerable look that she shared with DG.

"Dellia, what's going on? Where's DG? Is she hurt? Sick? Why wasn't I sent for sooner?"

"We didn't know!" Dellia said. "Come here, and I'll show you what my idiot sister has been up to. Ambrose!"

Ambrose jumped and stood behind Azkadellia then handed Wyatt two pieces of vellum from that relatively safe position. When Wyatt touched the papers, though, Azkadellia grabbed both his arm and Ambrose's and stepped out from between them.

"Oh no, Ambrose. You are going to face Wyatt on this one."

Ambrose visibly gulped.

Okay, what could be so bad?

The papers were typical for the royal palace. Under the Great Seal of the OZ, the direction was printed in gold ink and the Queen's names were listed in all their pomp and splendor.

The letter read:

From: Ambrose, Royal Advisor to Queen Lavender of Oz, Holder of the Great Seal

On behalf of: Her Royal Highness, Dorothy Gale of Oz, Keeper of the Emerald

To: Lautrec, Prime Minister of Marshland, Holder of the Revenant Key

On behalf of: His Royal Highness, Janus of Marshland

Re: Marriage Proposal from Prince Janus to Princess Royal Dorothy Gale

Sir,

Princess Dorothy has carefully considered your proposal and has decided to accept. Your requirements are already met in regards to Article 3(a), and as a show of goodwill, the princess requests to be excused from any examinations, whether by doctor or other means to verify that her word is true. As to all other conditions, Princess Royal Dorothy is amenable and has her own list of requirements as follows:

Wyatt stopped reading. "What is this requirement, Glitch?"

Ambrose twitched a little at the use of his old name. "Ah…the prince just requested that DG be…you know…intact…at their wedding."

"Intact?" there could not be more contempt in his voice. He was sure. He tried.

Ambrose tried to stop quivering and pulled himself up to his full height. "It means that—"

"I know what it means, curse you!" Wyatt ran his hand over his closely-cropped hair and briefly considered growing it out slightly so that he would actually have something up there to ruffle. Keeping his hair long was an impractical style, but there was something soothing about feeling your hair between your fingers. There was nothing soothing about this situation. "Ambrose, how could you have even taken the original letter to DG when it contained a list of demands. A doctor? Really? They would really carry it that far?"

"The Marshlands have a slightly more rigid social structure than the OZ does," Ambrose said helpfully.

Azkadellia threw her hands into the air and rolled her eyes as if to say, "This is what I've been dealing with."

"Ambrose, how could you write this about your friend? Forget that DG is a princess, she's your friend too, and you put down on paper that she fulfils purity requirements!"

Ambrose had that look on his face that he got when he was about to say something detached and logical, but that ultimately missed the point. "Firstly, DG asked me to help her, and I did. As any true friend might, I may add. As for her virginity, it's a normal biological state, Cain. There's nothing to be embarrassed or prudish about. Sexuality is ultimately—"

Wyatt clapped his hand over Ambrose's mouth. "I'm just gonna have you shut up right there, friend. For your own good."

"Fampk oo," was the muffled reply.

He then brought his attention to the queen and her consort. Where were they during all of this? "Your majesties' permission to speak freely."

"You always have that permission," Lavender said, finally stirring on the settle. She seemed to be slightly shocked.

"Did you know anything about this?" He held up the letter.

The queen shook her head. "Of course not. I would have advised her differently."

"Trust me, Mr. Cain, both of us would have done everything in our power to stop her from this decision had we been told," Ahamo said, directing a glare at Ambrose who gulped audibly and took a step closer to Dellia.

"How was it found out?"

Azkadellia moved closer to the sofa, took her mother's hand and said, "Ambrose finally did something right and brought the letter to me before sending it. Legally, we really can't hold onto it much longer since the mail is scheduled to run again at seventh hour and it is a Royal Missive which gives it a protection all its own that no one but DG can override."

"So we have two hours to make her change her mind," Wyatt said hopefully. Surely all of them together would be able to get her to see the light.

Azkadellia gave him a look that he thought he'd never see on her face again now that she had been exorcised. "Ah…we've already tried. She's not listening to any of us. You have two hours. You know what you have to do." Her raised eyebrow made Wyatt want to gulp himself. Surely she didn't mean…

The queen took his hand. "Please, Wyatt. You have to let her know how much we care about her happiness, how much we don't want to see her throw herself away like this."

Azkadellia was more to the point. "I know what you feel for her. Whatever your reasons for hiding it from her up to this point are your own, but I guarantee she feels the same for you. She's been avoiding all of us for about a month now, but you the most. I think she can't face you knowing what she's giving up for her own crazy reasons."

Raw was escorted into the room at that point, and he looked just as tired as Cain felt. He had been just as busy the last several weeks as Cain had been, and he seemed concerned but, of course, more in control than the rest of them.

"Raw feels nothing from DG," he said despondently. "She is closing her mind, putting up shields from us."

Wyatt explained very shortly what was happening, and Raw looked at him sympathetically. "Cain can help her see clear," he said with a nod. "DG will listen to Cain."

Wyatt wasn't so sure about that, but he kept it to himself. Raw explained that DG hadn't been seeing him either these last weeks, and Raw had sensed some sort of sadness and indecision in her, but had kept his distance because of her coldness. Wyatt couldn't help but think Raw could have done more, or at least told him about DG's state and let him try to do something.

"DG not want my friendship right now," was Raw's sad response to Wyatt's unspoken emotional surge. "She is afraid of what Raw sees."

"You really think she'll listen to me?" Wyatt asked him.

"DG will hear your heart," he said confidently.

Okay, did everyone know what he felt for DG? He didn't even know what he felt for her.

"She's in the garden," Azkadellia said. "Do anything you have to. Make her ineligible. I don't care what you do, but don't let her do this."

Ahamo looked up sharply and then away at the word "ineligible," but the queen simply smiled down at her hands.

"You don't really want her to marry him, do you?" Azkadellia asked, searching his eyes when he hesitated. She grasped his arms, her eyes wide and green and beseeching.

"Of course not." I want her to marry me.

Oh Great and Powerful, where did that thought come from?

Raw smiled at him widely.

Azkadellia had said that he might not be ready for this. It was true, he didn't feel ready. But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. He had to save DG from herself.

Later….

"Her Majesty regrets to inform his highness that Princess Dorothy Gale is already spoken for, and asks for His Highness's congratulations on her upcoming nuptials, though a date has not been set as of yet. The Royal Family of the OZ wishes His Highness all the best in future endeavors, and is hopeful to receive a similar letter of announcement from the Royal House of Westermarch in the near future."

Prince Janus frowned at his Page before dismissing him. Damn! And DG had seemed so sweet and innocent when she was at the palace for his elder brother's coronation and wedding. He was sure, of course, that DG simply did not fulfill his requirement. It could be the only explanation.

Ah well. There were still other princesses to address.

And later still…

DG lay in Wyatt's arms, her head on his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat against her cheek. He gulped. She laughed and stroked her fingers through his chest hair.

"You're telling me you could have lived without that?" he demanded.

She laughed again and propped herself up on her elbow. "I don't know; that was just my first time. I mean, it can't get better than that, right? Don't they always say that nothing beats the first time at anything? I mean, now that I know what to expect-"

Wyatt grabbed her and pushed her back onto the bed, kissing her more fiercely than a man who had just used as much self-restraint, resiliency and control as he just had in order to make his fiancée's first time amazing had any right to do, but he couldn't help himself. Where DG was concerned, he couldn't do anything by half-measures.

"Wait!" she said just when he was about to start showing her what his fingers really were for. He raised his eyebrow. "I just…I mean, don't you want to check the sheet? Make sure there's really blood on it?" she asked, her innocent eyes fluttering up and down with what could only be described as mock sarcasm.

Wyatt laughed and pulled her to him. "Only if you want me calling a doctor up in here."

Their laughter rang out loud and clear, startling Azkadellia, who had been prowling the hallway on a mission of her own. She entered the antechamber, wondering if DG was all right, but before she could knock on the bedroom door, the laughter shifted to something decidedly different, and the no-longer-wicked-sister gave a decidedly wicked smile and left the room, but not before casting a silencing charm.

That's what sisters are for.