The Wedding

Nicquel was shaking in her wedding dress. She couldn't help it! Those InCels were still out there en masse, plotting against the monarchy. She'd promised her sister that she would have things in hand in six months, what was taking Aoshi so long?

"Please, your Highness . I need you to relax. I don't want to hem your dress unevenly."

"Sorry, Heather," the bride sighed, forcefully controlling her shivers of dread.

"You look lovely, dear," Victoria grinned compassionately, enjoying this time with her future daughter in law. The last six months had been so hectic with the wedding preparations that she and Barbarossa had moved into a guest suite in the palace to help. She had therefore witnessed first hand the attacks on her royal highness. The men sent to kill her line were relentless, but consistently predictable in their determination. Her poor daughter in law was at her wits end.

"Are you sure you have to be the only one to draw the attention of these horrible people? You've been a constant target for months now and that - on top of the wedding - can't be good for your stress levels."

"I refuse to make my own sister a target anymore than she is," Nicquel said tiredly. "She's trying to run all of Ardennes. I'm only trying to get married. The stress on her is greater."

"Oh, but you've been so stressed out lately. Surrounding yourself with men where your sister has chosen all female attendants to make the attacks more difficult to hide. Can't you switch up your rotation just for a day or two? The stress is killing you."

Heather finished the adjustments to the dress and had the princess step out of it carefully so as not to stick herself. In truth, she was curious about this strategy herself. Neither of the royal siblings could afford to be sacrificed to these men's stupidity and the notable lack of security around Nicquel invited disaster as far as she was concerned.

"I'm the lesser sibling. It's my job to take the risks so that she and her family can rest at ease. If those idiots aren't targeting me, then they will be after my sister. That's unacceptable." Both women stared at her in horror.

"Where did you hear such a horrible thing, child? You're not-"

Tyr burst into the dressing room just then, causing everyone to jump. Nicquel immediately went to cover herself, but her fiancé didn't allow it, taking her into his muscular arms, arms that were bulging after months of intense training by her side. In fact, both of them were quite ripped in their own way. He didn't say anything at first, opting to kiss his woman senseless. Once she was a moaning pile of need, he chided her.

"You are precious to me and your life matters. It matters just as much as your sister's."

The princess was already shaking her head. "Mama always told me that my life's goal was to have my sister's back. Daddy said the same. It's important that I never have thoughts above my station."

"Having her back doesn't make you less important, Nicci," Tyr said, still horrified that she thought so little of herself. "They probably told her the exact same thing!"

"Why would they? I'm not as important as-"

"They did," Evera said, grabbing everyone's attention. Everyone in the crowded dressing room bowed to the queen, but she was too focused on her sister to care. "Mama and Daddy always wanted us to look out for each other. You were never meant to feel inferior to me. Why do you think I call you 'Babygirl' all the time? You've done a fantastic job watching my back. But you never let me watch yours! You're so stubborn! It's infuriating." She took her suddenly crying sister into her arms, rubbing her back soothingly. "See? It's not so hard, depending on someone else. You're about to do the same with Sir Tyr. There's nothing to be ashamed of, little sister. I can-" She felt her sister tense in her arms, but before she could ask, she was thrown to the side as Nicquel whirled and grabbed the spear one of The Rod aimed at her. She broke the spear, destroying the dose within it and tossed it aside to address the thrower.

"Attacking from behind. I would expect that from cowards like you InCels. Why don't you come at us like men?" With that battle cry, she spotted the assassin hiding in the bushes out back and attacked him, even though she was still in her underwear and bra and nothing else. The coward had brought help. Three men stepped out of the bushes to attack, clearly comfortable with outnumbering their prey. Nicquel didn't hesitate to kick one in the face while punching the one across from him in the stomach. When the second one went to attack her with his own dose of the serum, she spun out of the way and elbowed him in the mouth, paralyzing his arm with the serum in it.

Instead of hearing the shattered glass since these morons insisted on using glass syringes, she glanced over to see that he'd duct taped the syringe to his now useless arm. Thug number three had recovered from his stomach pain and grabbed the princess from behind, holding her tightly in his burly grip as the first man grabbed the second's limp arm to drive it into her stomach. Nicquel refused to give them the satisfaction of hearing her scream as she struggled to free herself. So, when she was suddenly free of her captor, she immediately yanked the serum syringe out of the first man's grip, driving the needle into the second man's eye and pushing the plunger quickly. She then headbutted the first one, ignoring the sound of an eye popping from too much fluid in it at one time and the subsequent screams.

"We will be victorious! The Rod will prevail," all three men shouted in unison before biting down on their false teeth. This was a common occurrence once they failed in their mission, but it still disturbed the nurse. She supposed that in the long run it didn't matter - these assholes were slated for execution anyway. But it was still disturbing to see these people throw away their lives so easily for a cause that still made no sense to her. Warm arms wrapped around her where she'd gone cold.

"Fucker almost got me that time," she mumbled to her fiancé.

"What did you do wrong?" he asked, chafing warmth into her supple limbs.

"I let that big, burly asshole get too close," she answered honestly. "I'm generally more aware of my enemies in a fight, but he snuck up on me with his superior strength."

"We should practice getting out of a hold like that for next time. But in the meantime, I need to know something. Something important." The sexy male leaned in to speak directly into her ear. "Did that degenerate cop a feel while he was holding you?"

Nicquel sputtered a laugh at that, her first true laugh in weeks. Victoria came to her with her simple dress that she and her handmaidens had chosen specifically for today. King Richard burst into the dressing room with a bunch of guards.

"Search for more of those ingrates. I want them rounded up. Alive, if you can manage it," he bellowed to the men. "Are you alright, my love?" Evera threw herself into his strong arms without a word, shaking with quiet sobs. Nicquel let them have their moment as she finished dressing. But when he started kissing and caressing his woman, she decided to interrupt.

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking, your Majesty," she said with a smirk. The royal couple broke apart with an embarrassed laugh. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but I've noticed that there are suddenly a number of men in my private women's only dressing room, so I think I'll head out now. You're done with me for now, right Heather?"

"Of course, your highness," Heather said with a smile as the guards all froze around the princess. "I should have the sewing done in the next few days. I'll call you when it's done."

"Thank you. That should-"

"I didn't mean to exclude you, Nicci," Richard jumped into the conversation. "Evera isn't as versed in combat as you so obviously are. Captain Shinomori has been training hard with you. I'm surprised that anyone can touch you by now. Hell, I'm surprised that these degenerates are still wreaking havoc on our kingdom," He grumbled this last while absently stroking his wife's arm.

"The Captain wants to nip this so-called movement in the bud," Nicquel defended Aoshi. "To do that, we need evidence, documents, and the source of the trouble. I have faith in him to see us through this latest crisis in the kingdom."

This silenced Richard and his bride. The princess bowed tiredly and allowed her bodyguards to lead her to the car so that she could drive back to the castle. Deep down, she was tired of this. Being royalty meant that you hardly ever got a good night's sleep. But lately, she'd barely slept at all. The Rod was relentless with their kamikaze assassins. How were they getting so many recruits anyway? The bodies were piling up and still, Aoshi was dragging his feet on this!

"You need to relax, my love," Tyr said in concern, looking his woman over critically. "My mother was right about you looking rough around the edges. I'm sure the Captain knows what he's doing."

"No less than two hundred men have died from trying to attack me over the last six months and we are no closer to the source of the disruptions. I am attacked almost daily by these InCel assholes. My wedding is less than a week away. Please explain to me how I'm supposed to relax?" Without a word, her fiancé laid her out on her bed and started massaging her tense body. He worked on her taut muscles until she fell into a deep sleep, then worked even harder on her as she was still tense even in slumber. His poor love! He resolved to take her away from all this stress once this was all over. Someplace where The Rod was nothing but a dirty joke.

"I will not lose you, Nicci. You belong to me." He smiled down at her tenderly before wrapping her around him and settling down to sleep.

… …

"No! The archway is off-center. The ceremony must be moved to another room!"

"But your Majesty, Nicquel requested this room especially for the ceremony. We've already worked out a way to-"

"My sister would never agree to have her wedding in a library of all places! What possessed you to-"

"It's where I feel closest to Mom, Evera." The Queen looked up to see her little sister standing in the doorway. "Tyr and I discussed it early on in our engagement and he was fine with it. We even figured out how to get my nursing friends in on the ceremony - which is tomorrow, by the way so it's too late to change venues. Besides, I thought I was supposed to be a bridezilla, not you."

Evera had the decency to look sheepish. "Babygirl, sentiment is one thing, but this is your wedding day! You don't have to settle for just anything. Don't you want-"

"I planned what I wanted and I got it. I'm not like you, sis. I don't want a grand, overly elaborate ceremony. I never have. Besides, even if I did want something different, those stupid InCel bastards are going to break in and ruin everything anyway, so what's the point?" The Queen looked the girl over critically, not liking what she was seeing. Under her sassy attitude was an exhaustion that would take weeks to cure. She was anticipating disaster on her own wedding day, for goodness sake!

"This has to stop, little sister! Let's change your wedding day, push the date back until The Rod is permanently out of commission."

"They'll only go to ground and pop up again at that time, like cockroaches. I want this over and done with, and if I have to sacrifice my big day to make it happen, so be it."

"Nicquel, will you listen to yourself? No woman should have to sacrifice their own wedding for the sake of some two-bit bullies!"

"It is what it is, sis. I've made my peace with the situation. You should too. Tomorrow, those assholes will swarm my wedding, thinking themselves oh so clever, and we'll nail them once and for all. Crushing the backbone of this so-called 'movement' is the only way to keep you safe."

"Did I not make it clear that we are meant to protect each other?" The two faced off before the Queen stormed away. Once the agitated woman was gone, Nicquel turned back to her staff.

"Now that the distractions are out of the way, let's get back to work. The wedding is tomorrow afternoon, and I need help setting up." Everyone pitched in and soon the grand old chamber was perfect for her to say her vows. Flowers and fairy lights adorned the walls and ceilings, giving the room a warm, welcoming feel. It was very late at night when they finished. Nicquel smiled and grabbed her favorite story off the shelves, curling into her mother's chair as the servants filed out of the room. She'd barely finished the first chapter when sleep found her. She looked so adorable in slumber that both the knight and her sister snapped pictures of her on entering the chamber.

"You can't let my precious sister go through with this," Evera whispered urgently. "She doesn't deserve-"

"Your Majesty, you are the one who charged your sister with the eradication of The Rod. Nicquel takes that responsibility very seriously. We've laid a trap within the trap they will obviously have set for us, the princess has selected a dress that does not restrict her movement, and the venue is complete. There's nothing more to be done to ensure both your and her safety. I know that you're upset, but this is the way it has to be; her Highness has insisted on it. You should get some rest. Tomorrow is her big day and it's guaranteed to be hectic."

"Why do none of you men see how wrong this is?" The Queen huffed. She took her leave then, exhausted from having similar conversations with her husband and the Captain of the guard. All either man could do was assure her that her sister would be safe, completely dismissing the fact that weddings were already stressful and that Nicquel shouldn't have to be subjected to even more stress by taking on The Rod this way. If she had her way, the girl would be part of a private ceremony, the reception being the target for the rabble. But Nicquel insisted on making a spectacle of herself tomorrow!

"Still worried about tomorrow, my love?" Richard greeted her, beginning to undress her six-month pregnant body. The woman sighed happily as her heavy robes were removed. Soon she was completely naked and headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Of course I'm worried, Rich! My sister is a target!"

"Your sister will be a target either way," Richard soothed his wife gently. "At least this way we can possibly bring this madness to an end."

"I don't like it," she growled as she spat out her toothpaste. "I've only ever wanted her safety."

"Don't I know it," Richard grumbled, rubbing his wife's shoulders as she rinsed her mouth out. "Evera, your sister is a grown woman. She has the right to choose what dangers she subjects herself to. And again, Shinomori and Anasazi will ensure her safety through it all. You really need to relax. Everything will be fine. Or you can turn the kingdom over to me like I suggested back when this whole thing started," he teased. "That would ensure your sister's safety."

"No, it wouldn't," Evera said seriously.

"No, it wouldn't," Richard sighed, rubbing the woman's shoulders. "Honey, I don't know what else to say. Nicquel is going to be fine tomorrow and all this unnecessary stress is not good for our baby." The king reached around her slender body to caress her belly. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't think Nicquel appreciates how much of a protective older sister you are to her."

"It's my job to look out for her!"

"It's Anasazi's job to look out for her, sweetheart. She's going to be fine." He started planting hot little kisses along her sensitive shoulders, wanting to spend some quality time with her tonight. The naked woman moaned under her husband's care, relaxing at last. He didn't hesitate to pick her up and carry her to their bed.