Chapter Fourteen: Revelations
The Cat King growled, withdrawing from the scene in the garden that he had just witnessed, to sulk inside his study.
He should have known. He should have suspected, from the moment that his wife met the Cat Bureau.
The great Baron Humbert von Gikkingen… was in love with his wife. He howled, and slammed a fist onto a desk, splitting it down the middle.
"I'm not dead yet!" he shrieked to the empty room.
"But you will be soon," a slightly familiar voice answered him. The king wheeled around, to find the mysterious seer from before, sitting on the high-back chair, his face still firmly covered.
"You!" the feline monarch howled. "This is all your fault!"
The shadowy figure laughed.
"It's my fault that you blackmailed a defenseless girl into marrying you, and for damaging your heir beyond repair?"
He growled.
"No, it's your fault that Baron's here, and that he's fallen for my wife!"
The cloaked seer laughed again.
"I'm not the one that called him here. I'm also not the one that never gave the queen a solid reason to love you."
"I gave her plenty of reasons!" the king insisted. The figure shook his head again in an irritated manner.
"Which is why she'll smile at anyone but you? And avoids your touch when she can? No, it's no one's fault but your own, that you will die at the banquet tomorrow. Even I'm looking forward to it." He waved one hand back and forth, like a pendulum as he slowly disappeared, fading into nothing, his laughter full of mockery. "Tic, tock, tic, tock…"
The king's heart froze at the thought. He had less than twenty-four hours to live. He would die, in front of all the courtiers that he ruled over.
His wife was still young and beautiful. Courtiers often made up excuses to talk to her, or even be in the same room so they could gaze at her. Those sniveling felines were kept back solely by the fact that Haru was married to their king.
But after his death, there would be nothing between his young bride and all those suitors. She would surely marry again, after his death.
Perhaps, it would even be Baron. He had seen the smile she had given the Creation, never had she sent one like that at him. Perhaps… perhaps she would even have a baby with-
No! No! He had worked far too hard for her just for someone else to get her as soon as he was out of the picture. How dare Baron and all the rest of them eye her when she belonged to him, the Cat King?!
After he had destroyed more furniture, the large longhair began to calm down.
No. There was no way anyone else would ever have his precious beautiful wife.
And to do that, he would have to take her with him into death.
ooOoo
"But Baron! Are you absolutely sure?" Muta asked as the Cat Creation paced his room, back and forth.
"Without a doubt, my friend. Damian even told me that she would be a deadly dancer, and that she would be under a new name." The tawny feline collapsed onto a chair, one hand to his forehead. "He said that I would meet her under unexpected circumstances, but this was a bit over the top."
The large white cat shook his head while staring at the watch in Baron's fist.
"Who'd have thought that Chicky had such a big secret weighing her down? But wait. I thought she was supposed to be a seer and magician like her old man."
"She is," Baron said, staring at the gleaming pearl in the watch. "She just needs a little nudge in the right direction." 'And she's going to get that nudge, even if it kills me.'
The Cat Creation smiled evilly, since his death wasn't the one needed.
ooOoo
Haru took out a modest gold pendant from her jewelry collection, and reluctantly snapped the ornament around her throat.
'Why do cats keep insisting that fish are decorative? Why not a mouse or a cloud while they're at it?'
Although few things would have pleased her more than to tear the entire outfit off of her body, she looked at herself in the mirror that her handmaids were holding up.
The elaborate ball gown she was currently wearing was a huge one that strongly reminded her of Queen Victoria, yellow as usual. It was the king's favorite color on her. Although the outfit had called for a thick white collar, her neck was bare, so that the young queen could showcase her long head fur, which now held a gentle curl from the irons that had been in the locks earlier.
Traditionally, married women pulled their hair back, but the king was very prideful of her mixed genes, which were his fault, so her hair usually flowed over her slim shoulders during court functions.
She looked ridiculous.
"Oh, you look so beautiful, your Majesty," the lavender-furred Ria gushed. "No one will be able to take your eyes off you."
'Except when they're doubled over in laughter. Please, let this be the last time I have to wear something this fancy. It itches like no one's business!'
The king burst through the red curtain in order to look his wife over. He was wearing the formal golden armbands, about the only gesture he had to make for the grand occasion. He smiled greasily at her, shamelessly staring at her body like he usually did.
Just his gaze was enough to make her feel filthy.
"Beautiful as usual, babe. Let's not keep everyone waiting." He offered a scrawny arm to her, and she took it with great reluctance. The king brought his arm in sharply, forcing her to brush sides with him as they escaped through the curtain and down the halls.
"Just wait, babe," he assured her, petting her arm in long strong strokes with his other paw. "This will be our best anniversary yet."
'I hope that's because it will be our last. I'm not quite sure how I know this, but you will die today, one way or another. And I'm not all that sure I'm going to try to stop it.'
The king's eyes seemed to sparkle, her first clue that he was up to something. The second was that he had reverted to calling her 'babe' again. The name he had used for everyone except his wife since he married her.
They came to the largest curtain that led to the banquet hall, and the king waved his arm at the attendant.
Bowing stiffly, he slipped through the curtain. A triumphant fanfare blared throughout the wing of the castle.
"Their royal Majesties, the Cat King and his queen!"
'I wonder if they even know the king's name. I wonder if they even know my name,' the brunette wondered miserably.
The curtain parted dramatically, and the king made his wife stay by his side, to ensure that they would be the center of attention. Never mind the fact that the party was for them.
Haru made sure that her political face was securely in place, she smiled politely as the courtiers raised their goblets high from the dance floor in salute.
"Nana!"
Haru whipped her arm out of her husband's in order to catch the gray ball of fluff that flew at her. She caught her semi-granddaughter with ease, taking a step forward in order to make the catch.
"Nana!" Haruhi sang out, attacking her from behind. Haru smiled lovingly while straightening, carrying the princess in front and the prince behind her. The crowd laughed appreciatively as the queen carried the kittens to the royal table.
"Get off," the Cat King hissed at his grandchildren, who had ruined what would have been a fantastic entrance. Harumi pouted, holding onto Haru's neck.
"But we like our Nana!"
The brunette's heart melted and she held them tighter as she found her seat. Her husband sat down next to her, and leaned over, his eyes turning insanely mad.
"Go sit at your seats," the grandfather ordered, the spark in his eyes saying that now wasn't the time to disobey him. The kittens began to quake with fear as they hurried off of the queen, and sat with their parents, who petted them comfortingly while shaking their heads angrily at the monarch. The king smiled smugly as his wife shot him a glare of pure hatred.
"Let the celebration begin!" he proclaimed grandly, making a few servants shoot off some confetti, and the musicians start a lively waltz.
The courtiers seemed to move in a solid pattern, as smooth as a river as partners twirled around and became swept into the air. The queen leaned forward a bit from her ornate chair, her gaze distant as she watched the beautiful dance, hypnotized.
A polite coughing came from the king's other side. He looked over to see the Baron. He growled.
"What?"
"Aren't you going to dance with your wife?" the orange and cream cat asked pointedly. "This is a party for you two, after all."
"Not on your life," the king chuckled darkly, feeling his legs. When he had danced with his bride at their wedding banquet, she had left him with two broken legs. And the last thing he wanted was to repeat the experience.
Baron cocked his head, and smiled politely.
"Then would you raise a protest if I danced with her?"
The king was about to shout no to the high heavens, but then remembered. The Cat Creation would make a wonderful #496 on Haru's casualty count, and teach him a thing or two about checking out other people's wives. He smiled evilly, almost purring.
"I don't mind in the least. Please, feel free."