Chapter Sixteen: The Sky King
People were staring at her again. It was bad enough when humans did it in pity, but to have a wide assortment of half-animals do it, and then randomly burst into laughter? It made her want to crawl under a curtain somewhere and never come back out.
Instead, she just gripped Baron's arm a little tighter as he led her up two flights of stairs, and down a marble hallway. "Just how many people do you think were watching you chase me down there?" she asked in a low voice as her cheeks burned a little with embarrassment.
"Well, the entire court was watching when the king below first pressed his suit to you, and I'm betting that more than a few would have begged to watch the proceedings," Baron said apologetically while squeezing her with one arm. "If it's any consolation, a great number of them dearly wish to make your acquaintance."
"Why don't we just get through with the king first?" she asked in a slightly sick voice.
Baron smiled sympathetically, and kissed her on the cheek tenderly before turning to a liveried servant standing outside a long dark blue curtain.
Suddenly, Haru realized that wood had to be more precious up here than down below, since there were only so many trees available to harvest for doors inside any house, even the royal abode.
"Please inform the king that we're ready to see him," her feline fiancé asked the servant, who nodded his head respectfully and put his head through the side of the long navy curtain.
"The Baron von Gikkingen has arrived with his betrothed, my liege."
"It's about time! Send them in at once!" a deep voice commanded excitedly from the other side of the thick cloth.
Humbert smiled at Haru, kissed her cheek again, and held her arm comfortingly as he guided her through the curtain that the servant had pulled back for them.
The room was not as big as the slim brunette was expecting, although it was obviously a sitting room of a royal apartment. But her attention was quickly diverted from the room itself to a tall man that was standing in front of a cream-colored couch. Although he wore no crown on his golden lion mane, the way he held himself was enough to convince her that she was in the presence of the Sky King, Valorous.
He smiled gently at Baron and Haru, and actually bowed politely to them. "So, this is the famous Haru Yoshioka you've been bragging about for years?" the tall king slyly asked the tawny feline.
"Bragging?" the brunette asked her fiancé suspiciously, making him grin roguishly and kiss her again.
"Yes, Your majesty. This is my Haru."
Nervously, the slim girl bowed from the waist just before remembering that women didn't do that in the Sky Kingdom. "Nice to meet you, Your majesty," she said politely.
The lion king smiled even more warmly as he looked at her. "Tell me, Miss Haru; did you really intend to kill your king if he tried to marry you?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it. I don't really see the point of killing people if there's another option available."
"Have you ever killed anyone before?" the king asked curiously.
"No, but I've maimed my fair share of idiots," she answered honestly, making the Sky King chuckle humorously.
"Tell me truly, Miss Haru; what would you do if I tried to stand between you and the Baron?"
She had to think carefully on that one. "I'd try to talk some sense into you, and if that didn't work, I'd probably have to pull an elaborate escape with my furry fiancé strapped onto my back, if needed. You aren't terribly attached to your soldiers, are you?" she asked in mock-innocence.
Baron flinched as the king collapsed onto the couch with helpless laughter. "You aren't really planning to stand between us, are you?" he asked worriedly.
"What? Of course not," the king chuckled as he regained control of himself. "I just wanted to know how she would answer that." He shook his head fondly at the girl. "Don't worry about that, Miss Haru. With your permission, I'd actually like to give you away at your wedding. But that is a discussion that will have to wait until later," he said seriously, turning to Baron sternly. "I thought I made it clear that you were not to reveal yourself until you had returned to my presence."
"That was my fault," Haru quickly asserted, stepping in front of Baron slightly. "I stole his mask after his tongue slipped."
"Oh no, I wasn't talking about with you. I was watching everything, remember? What I was talking about was your little… meeting with the king below," the king explained patiently.
"I sort of ran out of options, your majesty," Baron apologized, pulling Haru to his side again. "I feel the same way my beloved does about killing, you know that."
"I fear, however, that death is on the horizon, despite all of our good intentions," Valorous said glumly as he absently flexed one fist. "The old fool below that wears the crown knows that Haru left of her own free will. He was quite thorough with interrogating Natoru, and is sailing home to rally his troops against your old village, even as we speak."
The slim brunette slapped one hand to her mouth in horror. "Oh no. How could we have forgotten about him?!"
Baron growled as he rubbed one hand over his face in irritation. "I should have taken that duel with the old fool when I had the chance."
"Very true," the golden-haired monarch said glumly to his tawny nobleman, swirling one gloved hand around in a circle to make small yellow wisps appear like tendrils of smoke.
King Valorous sighed. "I'm afraid we have no choice, Baron. The king and his small crew absolutely cannot be allowed to return to the other lowlanders and spread stories again. Our most ancient laws demand it."
"But what about the raids a few centuries back?" Haru asked before she could stop herself, making the king laugh grimly.
"My ancestor paid the price for his bride, I assure you. But I do not wish for any of my children to be sent down there as a consolation prize. Tell me, Miss Haru; do you think that the prince of your land is ready to be king?"
Haru nodded firmly. "Lune looks like his father, but he got his good sense from the other side of the family. He was due to take the throne soon anyway, and he's a good man."
Humbert quirked his head at her sharply, but she hugged him again to assure her fiancé that the dark prince was only a friend in her eyes. "Stop that," she chided him sweetly. "I look too much like his mother for him to feel that way, and he already has a bride."
"Very well then," the king said, standing up and giving the sweethearts a very firm look. "Baron, there's no way around it. This is your mess, so please clean it up without embarrassing me too much. No one in the king's party is to reach the shore. I can keep them lost in the water long enough for you to take action, if you need more time."
The orange and cream feline smiled wickedly, and bowed deeply in that strange fluid motion. "As you command, your majesty." Suddenly, he hesitated. "Ah, would you mind if I took an extra minute first?"
"For what?" The baffled king asked.
Baron looked at the love of his life, and smiled warmly. "I have a little unfinished business with Haru."
"Humbert, I can wait until after we take down that old pervert. Heck, maybe we can hogtie him so he can be the guest of honor at our wedding," she giggled evilly.
"Not a bad idea," he agreed, holding her hands with his own. "But I was talking about something else, dear."
The slim brunette quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion, but nodded for him to continue.
Baron took a deep breath for courage. "Haru, will you marry me?"
She burst out laughing with relief. "Humbert, you asked me that already, remember?"
"No," he disagreed. "I just said that I wanted to marry you. That's a pretty big difference."
"Baron, if I had a problem with that, don't you think I'd have said something by now?!" she asked him, her voice going up a few octaves.
"It doesn't feel right unless I ask!" he replied, his glowing green eyes becoming slightly irritated.
"What does it matter?! You already know what my answer's going to be!" she told him at the top of her lungs, making the king cover his ears with a slight wince, although one could see his muzzle curling into an amused smile.
"Proprieties are proprieties!" Baron said hotly.
Haru threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! Ask the question, if it means that much to you!"
"I just did!"
"Didn't we just go over this part? Do it again. This is your idea, after all," she said with a wicked smile.
Baron gave an exasperated sigh, and got down on one knee as he took her by the hand. "Haru… you wouldn't believe some of the wild things I've had to do to see you after I became a Sky Pirate. When we were younger, I used to dread the idea of what a life without you would be like. Well, I've found out what it was like since then, and I don't care for it at all. I've never hidden the fact from anyone that I would gladly live in a little mountain cottage and grow old with you than in a beautiful manor house without you, but I don't have to make that choice. I know you're more used to the simpler things in life, like I still am, but becoming a shape-shifting noble isn't all that bad, once you adjust to it. Haru… will you marry me?"
The slim woman looked at her childhood sweetheart, and lovingly memorized all of his feline features.
She had made her decision a long time ago, but… it was just too good for her to pass up.
"I'll think about it," the slim brunette said casually, removing her hand from his in order to study a random piece of artwork hanging on the wall a few yards away from her beloved. It was a royal portrait of a beautiful half-lioness, quite possibly the current queen, since King Valorous was right next to her, one arm draped possessively, yet lovingly, over her small shoulders.
"Haru!" Baron protested as the king nearly fell to the ground, laughing like he had never done so before in his life.
Slowly, she looked over at him, and winked. "Got you."
Baron rose to his feet, stormed up behind her, and firmly turned her around to face him. "How about a real answer this time?" he asked angrily as he struggled not to laugh at the number she had just pulled on him.
She smiled impudently, and wrapped her arms around his neck in order to kiss him hard enough to make his knees grow weak. "If you're going to be that way about it," she whispered into his mouth, "I guess I could do worse than you."
"Haru," he groaned hopelessly against her irresistibly soft lips, holding onto her even tighter as she giggled into his throat.
"Yes, Humbert. I'll marry you."