Sirius, as matter of habit, rose with the sun. He was already, to some extent, aware that Marlene did not. She would have to be woken by a lady's maid in order to be on time for breakfast. But on that first day of their secret marriage, Sirius stayed in bed with the sleeping princess and just took in the sight of her. She'd cast off her shift entirely nearly as soon as her inner chamber door was shut behind them and hadn't found instance in the interim to reclothe herself.
Though he'd certainly seen representation of the nude female form in paintings and sculptures, but this was a new experience. He had not expected that his life would include an extremely undressed heartbreakingly beautiful woman lying sleeping next to him. The the new day's light peeked through the bed curtain, reflecting off her hair like a halo. He silently thanked the lord that his new wife slept deeply and well into the morning. The look on his face was probably worthy of all the ribbing he would take from the king and then some. But he couldn't help it. He'd always contended that a princess like this should not, by all logic, have been a real person. He had only become more sure of this as he fell in love with the woman. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her sleeping head.
She stirred. Little sounds escaped from her perfect mouth but none of them came together into anything that Sirius understood as language.
"Good Morrow, My Princess."
Though he'd intended to remind her that they were meant to tell the king and queen about their marriage and beg their blessings, he forgot all about it as Marlene's mouth found his.
The couple was not in attendance at breakfast that morning.
After a truly mortifying experience involving the Lady's maid, Emmeline, Sirius was quite glad to be clothed and above suspicion that afternoon.
Eventually the opportunity presented itself for himself and Marlene to speak privately with the King and Queen.
After they'd made a show of propriety for lookers on, and were well out of earshot, Marlene took no prisoners in the endeavor.
"We've entered into a precontracted marriage. I assumed you'd be pleased with the match. It was rather late into the evening when the discussion came to pass, you see. Waiting until morning to beg your permission seemed both unnecessary and vexsom." She was fearless in such a way that set Sirius's pulse racing. The walls he'd carefully constructed around parts of his mind had come crashing down all at once and only hours ago. He was still adjusting to the fact he didn't just love her; he was allowed to desire her. The whole thing was very distracting, to say the least.
James's face was truly a sight as he took in the statement his cousin had matter of factly dolled out. He cycled through confusion to shock, onto mild disgust and finally to amusement. Sirius could have predicted the exact responses, but they were quite a lot of fun to watch, regardless.
"You broke through my knight's chastity belt? I thought he had it soldered on."
"Marriage tends to be the key to such things." Marlene smirked at the King and then winked at the Queen who chuckled.
Sirius still had not said anything up to that point. He'd expected that the king would make some sort of crack about the concept of chastity. He'd been a little too loud in his defense of the virtue being ideal in a knight for this to have gone any other way. It did not stop his face from heating up with embarrassment. Why did this have to be discussed? Couldn't they just… talk of war or something? Surely they had enough battles to plan that this was all very silly?
He chided himself that he'd rather plan the demise of his own family, where good men would surely die, than tolerate a little embarrassment. Marlene surely did not seem embarrassed in the least. She seemed quite pleased with herself.
Sirius no longer wanted to think about war, all he could think of was how very difficult this secret would be to keep. It was a battle unto itself to refrain from touching her.
"Am I to understand your mild insults as your blessings upon our union?" Sirius smirked, tearing his eyes away from his wife to meet his dearest friend and sovereign eye to eye.
"Yes many blessings and all that. But it's not going to be popular with… nearly anyone… so I hope you have some sort of plan." James turned to Marlene with a pained expression.
"I always have a plan, cousin." Marlene rolled her eyes with a huff and Sirius restrained from kissing her as her eyes flashed dangerously. "You knew my mother. I'm ashamed you had any doubt."
"I had no plan. Largely, I just do what her Grace tells me." Sirius admitted, chuckling as Marlene regained her temper.
"Well that sounds like the start of a long and happy marriage to me. What's the plan, your Grace?" Queen Lily's warm smile reassured Sirius that he hadn't stepped on any royal toes in making this rather hasty decision.
"It's best if we keep our union a secret from the court until my husband returns to me a Duke." Marlene moved to take Sirius' arm and smiled at her own jest. She was making it very hard not to kiss her, and by the look on her face she knew it.
"Your instincts are good, cousin. I hope that you'll advise me someday when the Chief Minister has decided she's had quite enough. Though I am concerned that there will be rather glaring evidence of your marriage before we are able to take Semprapuria, at least with the current plan in place." James looked pointedly at Marlene.
Sirius didn't quite understand. Everyone was already meant to think that they were in love. What evidence could be so glaring that the whole court would become suspicious that the affair was more than courtly in nature? Before he put it together in his head, Marlene's voice chimed in.
"Worry about the fruitfulness of your own marriage cousin. Leave me to mine. I have contingencies worked out, in any case."
James rolled his eyes, "Of course you do."
Sirius could have kicked himself. He'd been rather preoccupied and had somehow failed to consider the fact that Marlene could be with child.
"Your Majesties," Sirius heard the stilted formal tone to his own voice and nearly cringed. "Do we have your leave to go to Father Hagrid? I'd prefer we get this in the church records so there will be no questions as to the honor of the Princess."
"My husband and I are of one mind. Is Father Hagrid a trustworthy holy man?"
"He's been my confessor since I was 15. I trust him with my life" James answered without hesitation.
"Very well then. There's no time like now." Marlene looked up and nodded.
Sirius was very happy, in this instance, to follow the Princess's lead.
Sirius pulled his boots off as he sat down on Marlene's - their - bed, and sighed contentedly.
"I'm so glad that everyone protested my idea to marry you off just after you arrived."
Sometimes words just happened to Sirius. This was clearly one of those times. Though his statement was entirely true the look on Marlene's beautiful face as she reacted was proof that they'd been completely inadvisable.
"You… what? You wanted to marry me off? This was never brought to my attention! Explain yourself, Sir!" Her attempt to look very angry was admirable. But there was still a hint of laughter in her eyes as she chided him, and standing there in her underskirt completely undermined her faux chagrin.
"Don't look at me like that!" Sirius smiled and stood to walk up to her. "It wasn't some wicked plot and it was to my own brother!"
"Well believe it or not that does not make it sound any better from my perspective." Marlene's face became wide with shock. "In fact it makes it a sight more nauseating."
"Oh come on, Marly…" He wrapped an arm around her waist and slid the other hand along her cheek. "All I knew about you was that you were the strangest lady I'd ever met and you considered me the most handsome gentleman at court." He smirked down at her. "It seemed like a kindness to marry you to a man who bares a strong resemblance. I wasn't aware that you'd only have the genuine article."
"You are quite lucky Sir," Marlene snaked her arms around his neck and Sirius knew he was in the clear, "that you are so very handsome. I don't generally think I'd be over fond of the touch of a man who wanted to have me as his sister in law." She rolled her vivid blue eyes. Her bitten lips curled themselves just so, into a most captivating smile. Sirius pulled her closer. The look in her eyes was fast becoming addictive. He lifted her shift from the bottom to tease soft caresses up the outside of her thigh.
"Well it does appear that I am lucky then. Because you seem more than a little fond of my touch."
She only nodded and took in a sharp breath. Her eyes were so full of want as he brought his lips to hers. When she practically melted into his kiss, he knew that he was more than lucky.
They couldn't have been asleep for long when a messenger burst into the Princess's chambers. This was highly irregular. Therefore Sirius had to assume someone was there to harm Marlene and prepare to defend her with his own life… while completely naked. He'd always thought he'd die with a sword in his hand, but he'd not pictured it quite like this. Life had taken a turn for the strange when Princess Marlene came to live at court.
"I am not here to do anyone harm! I'm just a messenger!" The man cowered as Sirius pinned him against the wall, sword at his throat. "Lady McGonagall sent me to collect Sir Sirius! She says it's… about your family? That's all I know. I promise. Please lower your sword and… put on some clothing?" He said the last of his plea in a hushed voice.
"If you even think about saying anything about this you will regret it for the rest of your life, do you understand?" Marlene interjected in a disconcertingly threatening voice for a woman who had been screaming bloody murder not a moment ago. Though she was still standing naked as the day of her birth, she held herself with such authority that she might have been wearing her cousin's own crown.
There was no time to think. Sirius's head was spinning as he quickly dressed and, since there was no going back from this in any case kissed his wife goodbye as he followed the messenger. He was sure whatever news awaited him was grim.