Hey everybody, after a longer writing break, I have finished a short story. This is set in the old Voltron universe, but I believe that the ones liking the new version will also enjoy it.

This story will be updated each Sunday until Christmas. It's six chapters long. For Christmas I will post another story as well, but I won't tell which universe I'm going to play in ;).

As always, I only own the idea to this story, not the characters. Hope you like it.

Devious Princess

Allura of Arus knew that Coran wouldn't approve of her decision. Contrary to what he believed she wasn't a sheltered, naïve little girl. A princess that didn't know about what was going on in the world. When her planet had been overrun by Zarkon, she had been twelve. Just entering the struggle that was puberty. Now she was eighteen and she had had to deal with experiencing the full brunt of hormones changing her body without anything to distract her. Anything to let her learn how to deal with those feelings, urges and fears that came with that phase of her life. While nobody was left over to properly explain it to her and talk to her without wanting to push her into a certain mould.

Well, she had circumvented Coran's decisions of what she should be allowed to find out. She knew that there were tunnels under the castle. She wasn't stupid enough to go out of the castle without disguising herself. But that was easily done. Just a little bit of hair dye, which had survived in the underground storage rooms of the castle, leaving her circlet back in her room, donning common clothes and she was set. The women inside the caves had been understanding and had explained to her more about what was taking place and how to deal with it. It helped her to know that it wasn't wrong to want to explore her body and find out what felt good for her. It wasn't wrong that she wanted to know more about boys and how they were different from girls. It wasn't wrong that she was curious how a relationship could work.

She was relieved to know that her problems were normal for girls that grew into women. And one of the women that came from a family of knights had even taught her some self-defence to make sure that she wouldn't be overwhelmed by a man that wanted to take when she wasn't willing to give. She felt a lot better about that once she had been confirmed to have reached expert level. She never wanted to experience rape and knowing where to hit a man that wasn't taking no for an answer was assuring.

Now she was looking at the young commander of the team of space explorers that had come to Arus to find Voltron. She had to keep her facial expression under control. He looked gorgeous. How could a man look that good? She would have to get to know him better when Coran wasn't around. He would never approve of it, no matter what. He held onto that overcome belief that a princess like her had to marry a prince and wasn't allowed to ever even consider a commoner as a possible boyfriend. Not to mention that his idea of finding a husband was letting a prince court her for a while and then decide. Normally that period would be a few weeks at most. How would she manage to figure out that she truly loved a man in such short time?

When he took her hand to kiss it, she felt a jolt of electricity rush through her body. When he looked into her eyes after standing up from kneeling, she thought he had felt it as well. Curious. Who was Keith to cause such a reaction in her? It was a good feeling to know that the five space explorers were willing to protect her planet. She knew that without Voltron they had no hope of helping the people that were keeping hidden in the caves. And even if she had studied the lions whenever she could slip away from Coran, which was often, she had never managed to sneak into one of them. That would have been noticed by Coran for sure. Not to mention that reactivating a lion would have drawn the attention of the Doom patrols and that would have been catastrophic.

As long as they couldn't combine the lions to Voltron, Zarkon mustn't find out that they still existed and were functional. Coran led the group up to a large portrait of her father, which hid the entrance to the control room. She liked the expression on the men's faces to the discovery of the level of technology that had survived the attacks. Even if the control room was one of the last remaining examples of how far Arus had once been developed. Her ability to hide her feelings was again tested after the men put on the uniforms of the previous Voltron Force. Damn, they all looked good in them, but Keith, oh, she really had to control herself to not let Coran see what she felt. He looked really good in the white uniform with red markings. So good. It certainly accentuated his strong body perfectly. She wanted to touch him, even if she knew she couldn't. At least not in public, and especially not with Coran around.

She would have to find an opportunity to be alone with him to get to know him better. She never expected to feel such a strong attraction to a man she had only just met.

They had done it. After some starting hiccups, they had formed Voltron and defeated the robeast Zarkon had sent to attack Arus. Allura was incredibly happy that they now had Voltron back and the mighty robot would once again protect her planet. They had hope again to send Zarkon back to Doom and force him to leave her planet alone. She had worried during the battle, especially when the five lions were interrupted in forming Voltron during the first attempt, but during the second attempt, they had fought through the attack of the fireballs that the robeast had shot at them and managed to do it. Keith had managed to work out the sequence that let the lions become Voltron. Without ever practicing it before. He was an incredibly good pilot to have managed that.

She congratulated all five members of the Voltron Force when they returned to the castle. She wanted to do more than just say thank you, but with Coran standing next to her, she was limited to that. But she made sure that the five young men knew how grateful she was. Then they needed to take care of finding a place to sleep for them. Which let her come up with a plan on the spot, which would allow her to further her plan to spend some time with Keith alone.

"Coran, how about we use the inner rooms on the second floor for them?" she suggested, "They are in a part of the castle that is structurally sound and while they don't have windows to the outside, that is currently the safest option."

"You are right, Princess, that would work best for now," agreed Coran, not knowing why she had suggested those rooms.

"By the way, do you know if we have some basic equipment for the guys ready? I can show them where the cleaning supplies are stored, but they would need things like swords and blasters as well as ammunition in the future for their new jobs," asked Allura.

She knew that Coran would never let her go into the rooms that held the stored weapons. He didn't believe she should learn how to use them, as fighting was something a princess like her shouldn't do. Meaning, he would have to go there, and she would be free of his observation for a while.

"I know we have some weapons as well as ammunition in the storage rooms, but we would need to collect those things. Perhaps one of the men could accompany me down there to help me carry the things that are needed," suggested Coran.

"I can do that," offered Sven, "Then I can also check that the equipment is in decent condition. If it was stored for years, we probably have to do basic maintenance at the beginning to make it battle ready. And I know what kind of weapons each of us prefers."

"That is a great idea, Sven," approved Keith.

"Then I suggest that we split up. Sven and I will go down to the storage rooms to get your equipment, and Princess Allura will show you the way to the rooms. Though you will have to clean them before you can use them," pointed Coran out.

"Understandable as you were the only ones living here and cleaning unused rooms didn't make any sense," nodded Keith.

"I guess there is nothing to do about that," sighed Lance, "Let's see those rooms and find out what we need to do to make them inhabitable."

"See it positively, Lance, you will all have a room of your own," commented Allura.

"That is a good aspect," accepted Lance, sounding happier.

The group split up and went into different directions.

Allura showed Lance, Pidge and Hunk the rooms they could use and pointed at the next one for Sven. When she opened the door to Keith's room, which was two doors down from Sven's, as the room between that was a communal bathroom, they found it being unusable, as a pipe seemed to have broken.

"Oh, I didn't know that the room wasn't useable," Allura exclaimed, even if it was an act. She had known, but it was part of her plan.

"Are there any other rooms around here? Otherwise, I will have to share with one of the others," asked Keith, not bothered by the idea.

"We have more than enough empty bedrooms at the castle. Would you mind living in another corridor? This one doesn't have more useable rooms, but I know of some in another part of the castle," asked Allura, hoping he wouldn't notice that she had planned this.

"That would be alright. It isn't imperative that I sleep close to the rest of the team. It is important that I can reach them on short notice though," replied Keith.

"Well, there are communicators down in storage, that should work for that need," pondered Allura, "Coran and Sven will surely bring some when they return from their errand."

Keith nodded, accepting that reasoning and followed Allura after telling Lance what was going on. Lance took it easily and promised to show Sven the room set aside for him. Then Allura led Keith into a different wing of the castle, the same wing where her room was located in fact. She opened the door with a code and let Keith step inside. The room was equally dusty as the ones the other four had got, but it was a little bit larger and had a bathroom included.

"Nice. How come this room has its own bathroom?" he asked curiously.

"It was once used for less important ambassadors that stayed at the castle. The more important ones got rooms with windows that showed the beautiful gardens around the castle. I would have given your team those rooms, but for security reasons, the rooms on the inside are currently better suited," she explained, "not to mention that many of them were destroyed in the attacks."

"That is reasonable," nodded Keith, accepting that as truth. He went into the room and looked around.

Allura watched Keith for a while, enjoying the way he moved with grace and strength at the same time. Even if he was clearly relaxed at the moment.

"I guess I will need a few hours to get the room cleaned," stated Keith after having looked into the bathroom.

"Probably."

"Where would I find some clean bed linens? The ones on the bed clearly need to be laundered before they can be used again," he asked.

"There is a cupboard with fresh linens as well as towels for the bathrooms at the end of each floor. You should find some in there," she explained, "As Coran covered the top layer with a large sheet of cloth in each cupboard after it was safe again to come out of hiding, the ones below that will be useable. Cleaning supplies are in the cupboard next to it. The maids that previously worked at the castle had an easier time while having both parts close to each other."

He nodded, that system made sense. And a little work to get the room clean wouldn't be a problem. Then he surprised her by pinning her down with a look. She felt some redness creep up her neck. That look was intense, and she felt completely open to his mustering.

"What is your plan, Princess?" he asked firmly.

"What do you mean, Keith?" she tried to hide her struggling to control herself, but him stepping closer to her made it really difficult.

"I have noticed that you were watching me more than the others. And I suspect that you knew that the room next to the bathroom was unusable. You are a great actress, but I wasn't made commander at the age of nineteen for nothing."

"You are just nineteen?" she couldn't help asking. That was incredibly young. She would have guessed he was older. Not that close to her in age.

He grinned. Damned, that was a sexy look and made her feel hot in her clothes.

"Yes, I am. So, would I be correct that you also felt that jolt of electricity running through your body when I kissed your hand?" he asked, looking deeply into her eyes.

She could only nod. Why could he break her defences down this easily? She normally could hide her thoughts much better.

"So, what do you want?" he asked again, not threatening in any way, but firm in wanting an honest answer.

She decided that she could as well tell him, as she felt he would figure it out anyway.

"I want to spend time with you to get to know you. Find out what that jolt meant. I think it means something special, but I don't know what," She admitted.

"Hm, I can agree to that," he stated and gently cupped her face, making her blush heavily, "I also believe that you find me attractive, correct?"

"Yes," she breathed heavily.

"Good, because I feel attraction to you as well," he admitted.

She smiled at him, feeling happy to hear that. He wasn't against trying this.

"We just have to keep Coran in the dark. He has those overcome ideas of what is proper for a princess to do. He doesn't even know that I got self-defence classes from some survivors in the caves," she told Keith.

"I am pleased to hear that you won't be defenceless, Princess. I would like to see where you are in your training. Then I can plan better how to set up things to keep those inside the castle safe when the next attack takes place," replied Keith.

"That is a good idea. I would have asked for further lessons anyway, as I am worried about new attacks now that Voltron is back."

Keith nodded and ran his fingers through her long hair. She enjoyed the attention he paid her.

"This is really strange, I want to be close to you, even if I don't really know you yet," admitted Keith.

"I feel the same," agreed Allura, "do you think that jolt we felt caused this?"

"It could be possible. I don't have any experiences to fall back on there," he replied.

"How can we manage this?" she wanted to know, wanting to hear his ideas.

"Where is Coran's room? We need to keep that in mind if we want to explore these strange feelings," asked Keith.

"His room is on the third floor in the same wing as the rooms of the other four. Meaning, far enough away from both of our rooms to not have him come by regularly," answered Allura.

"Why do I suspect that you planned for that?" Keith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you are a smart man?" she grinned, not denying it at all.

He smiled at her, clearly not minding her tricks at all.

"Well, if he is going to be a good distance away from us, we can set up some meetings after we are done with our duties for the day. Those have priority after all. But I believe we could spend several hours with each other in the evenings, which will allow us to get to know each other," commented Keith.

Allura nodded, happy to have him suggest this.

"I would also prefer to not have the team notice anything. They would tease me mercilessly should they notice. Especially Lance and Sven will not let it go once they find out that we feel this attraction," asked Keith.

"That wouldn't be good, especially if Coran overhears something. I agree, we can keep this to ourselves for now. We can see in the future what comes from this," Allura nodded in agreement.

Both were quite reluctant to separate again, but Keith needed to start cleaning his room and Coran would soon be back with Sven and then miss her, as she didn't have a reason to spend a lot of time with the team, especially as Coran would take it badly if she were to help them clean the rooms. That wasn't proper for a princess. Allura knew how much of a battle it had been to make him accept that she could keep her own room clean and tidy. She didn't want him to see certain things in there.

"Alright, where should we meet tonight and when?" asked Allura.

"Are there any rooms suited for that around? Because, as much as I want to get to know you, meeting in each other's bedrooms would be far too fast for my liking," admitted Keith.

Allura blushed at the possibilities that were shown in her mind at that comment.

"We can go to one of the lounges around here. It has a nice look at the castle lake, and I have cleaned a couch, next to the general parts of the room, as I like sitting there simply looking out of the large windows. It is on the fifth floor, down the corridor from my room," explained Allura.

"That sounds like a good choice," agreed Keith, "When does Coran go to bed normally?"

"If he doesn't keep watch at the control room, he retires around ten in the evening at the latest. It depends on how early he got up in the morning," she answered.

"Then we could meet around half past ten at the latest. If we meet for an hour or so, we can still get enough sleep afterwards," commented Keith.

"That works for me," she nodded and smiled at the prospect of a date with Keith.

"Okay, I will see if I can find the room on my own. Otherwise, I will at least manage to get to the fifth floor via the staircase and you can then wait at the entrance to the room," he pondered.

She nodded, seeing the sense in that. Coran might accompany her to her room before he went to his own. She suspected he would give her a lecture about how she should behave with the team now present on Arus. She would ignore much of it of course, outside of when she was around Coran. She could make her own decisions and didn't need old-fashioned behaviour to limit her. She left Keith to get started in cleaning his room and returned to the control room. She would lead Sven to the rooms for the team and then continue to Keith's room with the equipment for him. Hopefully without Coran noticing her destination.

Coran and Sven arrived at the control room with two large boxes with equipment in their arms five minutes after Allura had returned there. That was perfect for her, as this way, Coran wouldn't know that taking the other four to their rooms had taken longer than it should have. Her conversation with Keith wouldn't be discovered.

"I see you found what you were looking for," she greeted the two men.

"Yes. We should have everything needed for now," confirmed Sven.

"I have shown the others their rooms and where you can find cleaning supplies and linens for your beds. If you follow me Sven, I can show you to your room. I guess the others have started cleaning their rooms by now," informed Allura them.

"That isn't necessary, Princess. I can show Sven the way. You should go to your room and study a bit more. Due to the attack, your normal study times were interrupted after all," objected Coran.

That was typical. Coran was already working to not let her get too close to the men. Honestly, she was far ahead of the material compared to where she would be had the attacks not happened. Four years ahead at that. But she knew it wouldn't help her to complain about it. And she could prepare for her date with Keith instead. Thus, it was okay. She acted annoyed and just left the control room, muttering about more important things than repeating stuff she already knew, which was normal when Coran claimed she needed to study all that material.

Coran and Sven arrived at the corridor where the rooms were that Allura had shown the others to. True to her prediction, they found Lance, Pidge and Hunk busy with cleaning their rooms.

"Hey Sven, got what we need?" asked Pidge while carrying a bucket with water to his room from the bathroom.

"Yes, we should have everything here. Which room is mine?" Sven replied.

"The one next to mine," answered Hunk, "Next door is the bathroom we have to share."

"Alright. How badly do the rooms need cleaning?" asked Sven, not mentioning that Keith wasn't present, as he could be busy inside the room right now.

"It's mainly a lot of dust and cobwebs," answered Pidge, "Basic cleaning should take two hours. But the rooms will be great once we have them ready. They are quite spacious."

"That sounds great. I guess leaving the boxes out here until we are done is most sensible. We can distribute them among ourselves when we are done. It doesn't make sense to have to work around them while cleaning," pondered Sven.

"True," agreed Hunk, "Excuse me, I need to get myself a cloth to cover my face. Otherwise, that dust will only make me cough all the time."

He went to the supply closet at the end of the corridor.

"I will leave you to it then, gentlemen," nodded Coran, "We eat dinner at seven. It would work best if you met me at the control room fifteen minutes before that, then I can show you the way to the dining room Princess Allura and I normally use."

"Thank you, Coran, we will do that," confirmed Lance.

The men continued cleaning their rooms and Coran decided to go and have a conversation with the princess about how she needed to not get too close to the men, even if they were extremely important to Arus now, as the new Voltron Force.

Allura pretended to listen closely to Coran's lecture about keeping somewhat distant to the five space explorers. She knew how to do that from years of experience. She had her own opinions and wouldn't let Coran bully her into things anymore. But she would choose her battles when it counted.

"Coran, I will not treat them like the common employees that worked here at the castle when I was a child," she stated firmly, "Those five men are the only hope we have to bring Arus back from the desolation that Zarkon brough over our planet and people. They deserve being treated like that. And honestly, do you really believe I would act like a lovesick teenager after just meeting them?"

Let Coran think what he wanted about that. Letting people assume things was often better than telling lies about something.

"Princess, I didn't want to accuse you of anything. I am just concerned. You must consider your station," replied Coran.

"Right now, I am the sole remaining member of the royal family of a planet that was bombed back into an age where technology wasn't developed yet. You know as well as I do that if we don't manage to push Zarkon's troops back permanently, the people will not manage to work with advanced technology. It takes time and education to have the abilities to work with highly advanced technology like we had it in the past. And the children never experienced much of that if any at all. We lost nearly all of our population to the attacks. Either they were killed or taken as slaves, which by now most probably will also have ended in their deaths. Few survive long under Zarkon's tyranny. That is a terribly and sad but nonetheless unavoidable truth," declared Allura.

"While I know that you wish for me to follow more traditional behaviour, that won't help my planet and my people. I am their sole remaining monarch. When I turn twenty-one in three years, I will ascend the throne of Arus as Queen, as is decreed in the laws of Arus. I will not solely stay at the castle and have babies when my people need me. I need to decide upon concepts that will help the remaining people, which I doubt surpass one to two hundred thousand all over Arus. They need stable sources of food, they need safe houses, they need safety to raise new families.

"The Voltron Force is the key to achieving that. Without Voltron, you know as well as I do, we won't be strong enough to even start any of that. For that reason, I will attempt to build a friendly rapport with the space explorers. And friendship with them doesn't mean that I lower myself below my station. I know that I have to give a certain image to my people. But that image needs to be of a strong and competent leader who listens to experts in their fields of expertise to come to wise decisions. That is how my father ruled as King and how I intend to rule as Queen in the future."

Coran wouldn't manage to talk himself out of that. He had regularly motivated her to take her father and his sense of responsibility as a role model.

"I see, Princess," he replied, not capable of arguing against her, not with the way she had expressed her will.

She knew he would watch, but she didn't plan to show too much openly when she was with the whole group. Those times, she fully planned on mainly working on becoming friends with the young men. The only one she wanted to know beyond that was Keith and that she had already instigated without Coran having noticed. And she got the impression that Keith enjoyed the idea of sneaking around to secretly get to know her deeper than a normal friend. At least until they were sure what their feelings meant in the long run.

Keith took a break from cleaning his room after two hours. He had managed to get rid of all the cobwebs and the dust in the three rooms he had available. After inspecting the room further, he had noticed a small space that served as a combination of a small kitchenette and storage room. It was nice to have it available, even if he doubted that he would use the kitchen for more than brewing tea or coffee when he worked on something for which he needed quiet. The next part would be scrubbing all the surfaces he could with water and soap. Probably several times until he got rid of all the dirt that had assembled there over the years.

But for now, he wanted to see how far the other four had come with their own rooms and have a look at the equipment that Sven would have taken there. He took the buckets with dirt down to the outside first, as it wouldn't make sense to have to do it later, when he continued cleaning. And he needed to have at least the shower cabin ready to clean himself after he was done. It would be welcome after that much work, not to mention the battle he had been in earlier. When the buckets were empty, he took them back to his new room and then followed the path he had taken with the princess to get to his room.

He had to smile at the thought of her. She was a beautiful woman and to think that she was as interested in him as he was in her. Normally, he wouldn't have taken the step to confront her about her behaviour, but he had never felt such a strong pull to a female before. It helped that he could tell that she wasn't a typical damsel in distress or arrogant 'you aren't worth my time' kind of princess. He had met both of those and was always happy to not have to spend much time in their company. Allura was kind and clearly not trained for combat, but she had resolve and inner strength. She also cared for her people deeply, which already set her apart from many nobles and royalty that looked out for their own interests first and foremost.

He would keep his intentions toward her secret from his team and Coran for now. He didn't know where it would lead. And he didn't want that especially Lance and Sven teased him mercilessly about this. They could be cruel with their comments and he had seen how their behaviour had soured other relationships when they were still at the academy. They didn't mean to be cruel, they thought it was just fun, but they often didn't know when to stop. And before he knew what would come from this, he wouldn't let any of the others find out about his suddenly appeared and growing feelings.

When he reached the corridor where the others' rooms were, he found Hunk and Lance sitting on the floor, two empty buckets between them. Both had smears of dirt in their faces.

"Hey, seems your rooms aren't any cleaner than mine," he greeted them.

"Hi, Keith," greeted Hunk, "Where did the Princess take you?"

"A room in another wing on the third floor," answered Keith, "It's also one of the inner rooms, meaning it doesn't have windows that can be used as easy targets. Though a good part is that I have a desk in there, meaning I can work on those pesky reports that Galaxy Garrison will demand after a while."

"Rather you than me, Keith," quipped Lance, "That's one part I'm not sorry about having to bother about right now."

"Yeah, rank also has disadvantages," nodded Hunk, "one reason why I never invested much time to rise to a higher rank than I have early. I'm perfectly alright with rising slowly, while others lead the missions. At least then I have a much lesser amount of paperwork to deal with. I always hated long essays for homework."

The others laughed, being very aware of Hunks severe dislike of paperwork of any kind. He was a man of action, not sitting behind a desk. Sven and Pidge came out of their rooms, having heard Keith's voice.

"Did you come to see what kind of equipment we have to work with?" asked Sven.

"Yes. And taking a small break from cleaning," confirmed Keith.

"I put the boxes over there. We left them alone, as it wouldn't make sense to have the weapons and so on lying around while we cleaned. And after just sending Zarkon's forces running back to Planet Doom, the probability of needing them quickly was low enough," commented Sven and pointed at the two large boxes.

"Makes sense," agreed Keith and walked over to have a quick look into the boxes.

The blasters were an older model but fairly standard issues for military purposes. There were short swords next to knives and some communicators.

"We left the longer swords down in the armoury. We should go there when we are done with the rooms, as choosing a proper sword that feels right needs to be done by everybody on his own," commented Sven after Keith looked up again.

"Not to mention that Pidge and I don't have sword training beyond the absolute basics and wouldn't have any use in having one," added Hunk.

"I'm also not as much of a sword fighter. I certainly prefer guns," voiced Lance.

Keith nodded, having been aware of that already. Among the team mainly he and Sven had higher level skills in sword fighting. He would see what kind of swords he could find in the armoury. He would prefer having all kinds of weapons available and be used to them before he had to use them in battle.

"When should we hold a strategy meeting?" asked Sven.

That was basic procedure for teams on a mission. Once they had the chance, they would sit down together to go over all the means they had to fulfil their mission and what kind of time frame they could expect. This mission was the first long-term one they had been on though that included constant battle against a superior enemy.

"After dinner I think," answered Keith, "We need to get the rooms ready for the night. That is our first priority right now, as we can only be sure that we have today without any further attacks. And we need places where we can sleep properly and recover after the battles we will be in. They will come often, as Zarkon won't let his defeat stand. We will have enough time after dinner to discuss the main parts for the coming weeks."

"Alright, where?" asked Hunk.

"I will ask Coran or the Princess when I see one of them," answered Keith.

"Coran said we should meet him a quarter to seven at the control room, then he would show us the way to the dining room. Probably that would be a good time to ask for that," pointed Lance out.

Keith nodded, that would be soon enough. He took a blaster, a short sword, two knives and a communicator from the box on the left and then several packages of ammunition from the other.

"I will be at the control room at the meeting time. I better get back to my own room to have it done by that time," he told the others who agreed and went back to work themselves.

And that was the first chapter. Hope you liked it. Next one will be posted in a week.