Disclaimer: Most characters herein are, naturally, not my own.

A Throne of One's Own

5. Lovers in the Night

The steamy waters churned as Knuxahuatl squirmed out from under Queen Rouge. Clambering out of the tub in a frenzy, he made as if to flee the chamber. The moment his wet feet met the smooth flagstones, he wiped out, landing hard on his front.

"Are you quite done?" asked Rouge as the echidna lifted his face off the floor.

Too winded to stand, he awkwardly shifted onto his bare backside. Leaning precariously on his hands, he looked up. The queen was peering down over the side of the tub, her chin resting on folded arms.

"King…of Arcadia?!" he spluttered.

"Who else should I put in charge?" said Rouge flatly, "Would you prefer one of Iximche's cronies?"

"But Pachacamac's daughter—"

"Is, what, ten years old? And that's assuming she's still alive."

Wincing at the bat's words, Knuxahuatl looked away. Tikal being dead was a scenario he still couldn't bear to ponder at any length, let alone accept. The child had always been so vocal about her dream making her father's hard-won peace last forever when she was queen. Surely no one could regard her as a threat…could they?

He shivered as the question coincided with a whistling breeze that leaked through the chamber's wooden walls. Just then, a cascade of water splashed on the flagstones near his feet. His head snapped up. Rouge was standing over him. There was a second cascade as she unfurled her wings.

"My queen?" he said timidly.

Rouge got down on her haunches.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, "That was…inelegantly put."

Knuxahuatl lowered his eyes, uneasy about being pitied for hypothetical grief. Even though he felt like he was giving himself false hope whenever he thought of Tikal as being alive, the fact was, he hadn't been home since Pachacamac was overthrown. For all he really knew, he might be moping over nothing.

All the more reason to look forward to his dawn ride with Shadow and Blaze, regardless of how Iximche might receive them.

"No," he said, looking back up at the squatting bat, "I'm sorry."

"You are?" asked Rouge, tilting her head, "What ever for?"

"You're right…about Iximche," said the echidna, "Anyone would be better than him. Even me."

The queen flashed a tight smile. "There's my Arkadian warrior."

Standing up, she leant forward to offer him her hand. Reaching up to accept it, Knuxahuatl's other hand slipped on the flagstones. Rouge snatched his outstretched hand and heaved him upright. Pulling him close, she clapped her palms on his wet rump.

"Now, tell me…you don't believe those rumors, do you?" she asked.

"Rumors, my qu…Rouge?"

"You know the ones. About how I only keep you here so I can get my dainty little hands on all those emeralds."

Knuxahuatl felt a lump rise in his throat. He hadn't needed to hear them. He'd suspected that was her motive the morning after the night she first took him into her bed. It'd been the same day that word of Iximche's coup reached Dalriada. It was only since he'd started spending almost every night in the queen's bed that he'd started to doubt himself.

"Should I believe them?" he asked meekly.

Feeling Rouge's right hand part company with his backside, the echidna tensed, expecting a slap.

"I wonder," she said thoughtfully, bringing her hand to rest on his shoulder, "How can I demonstrate you mean more to me than some pretty green rocks ever will?"

Knuxahuatl quietly held her gaze, hoping there was more to come.

"Hmm…what if I were to tell you what I actually want you to say when you meet Iximche?"

Knuxahuatl opened his mouth to speak. Rouge pre-empted him, drawing him into a kiss. Wrapping her right arm around his shoulders, she enfolded them both with her wings.

жЖж

Blaze mewled as her knife slipped, nicking a forefinger. Sucking the cut fingertip, she looked over her shoulder. Hunni lay fast asleep in the bed she was leaning against, tangled in that horribly scratchy blanket, every bit as naked as she was.

The princess snorted softly. Of course she hadn't woken her. She'd seen the flaxen-furred feline sleep through much louder back in Agnia.

Keeping her fingertip in her mouth, the cat turned back to the small block of wood she'd been carving. Mercifully, the slippage hadn't left any unwanted grooves on the flame-shaped engraving. That meant it would still be effective, Iblis willing.

The amulet was for Shadow. Anyone who received such a propitious Truth from the pyromancer was sure to be favored by Iblis. She may not be an acolyte anymore — in all likelihood, she never would be again — but she still felt dutybound to assist anyone He chose to marshal his fire.

Once the taste of blood in her mouth had faded, she went to finish off the detail she'd been working on.

"Another one of those? Seriously?"

A flaxen-furred hand reached down and casually plucked the knife out of the stunned Blaze's hand.

"Come back to bed, princess."

The lavender-furred cat glared woundedly at her fellow feline.

"Just because you don't believe—"

"Oh, and you think Shadow does?" Hunni cut in, "You heard the queen earlier. Today was just her way of indulging you. Frankly, I was impressed how well you took it in there."

"I'm…used to it," muttered Blaze.

Glancing at the almost-finished Iblisian amulet, she curled her lip and set it aside. Hunni shuffled back over to her side of the bed as Blaze lay back down, albeit facing away from her.

Queen Rouge's bodyguard smirked. "Would you act your age for once?"

"Why should I?" whined Blaze, "You treat me like a child most of the time anyway."

"Sorry, princess. Just an old habit. You really were a child when I knew you in Melqart."

"You left Melqart eight years ago!"

"I know, princess, I know," cooed Hunni, reaching out to scratch the nineteen-year-old behind her ear. She was rewarded with an involuntary purr, "There's a happy Hellcat."

Blaze hissed and swatted her paw away.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped, wriggling as far away from her mentor-turned-lover as she could.

It was one thing for the queen's other warriors to call her that behind her back. Hunni, however, knew very well the circumstances of that siege at Zama.

What right-minded cat gave a thirteen-year-old complete command of an army, then set her loose on the rebels who'd just killed her big brother?

Her uncle Magnus's justiciar, apparently. Iblis damn him.

жЖж

A tremulous whimper leaked through Amaranth's clenched teeth as she clung to Shadow. It hadn't felt like this in a long time. Maybe not since that first night in Erinia. The night their lives changed.

Above her, the black hedgehog's ragged breathing gradually eased.

"I love you," he sighed, inclining his head to touch noses with his wife.

He went to move, but the legs wrapped round his waist held him in place.

"Not yet," breathed Amaranth.

Lifting her head, she embroiled him in a kiss. Shadow gave a bass chuckle amid the liplock. Amaranth felt the reverberation in her chest, pressed flat as it was against his. She drew her head back, eyelids narrowed.

"What's funny?" she whispered.

"The last time you were like this…the camp near Pharlain."

"Your point?" she said, failing to see any cause for mirth.

Shadow cocked a brow moist with sweat.

"I'm not going into battle, Amie."

Amaranth pouted.

Shadow couldn't help but smirk. His wife's expression transported him back to those occasional gatherings of young highborn Erinians at King Melodeon's court in Tesiphon. He'd seen that look a lot, albeit from a distance. Nothing like now.

Amy sighed deeply. "I hate this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"Like we can't tell what the queen's thinking anymore."

"Could we ever?"

"She's never done something like this before. Dispatching an embassy with half a day's notice. What's the rush?"

Shadow's brow furrowed. "What happened to 'it had to happen sometime'?"

"I had some time to think," said Amaranth. It'd been a long walk around Dalriada, seeing all those wolf pups back to their respective homes, "You're not the only one around here who broods."

Shadow snorted softly. "Did I ever claim otherwise?"

"Not…exactly."

Sensing a moment had passed, Amaranth reluctantly relaxed her hold on his waist.

"I just wish—ah!"

She inhaled sharply as Shadow rolled his hips, more insistently than before.

"The chil…dren?" she gasped.

"I told Silver…to slip out…with Susi," he whispered hoarsely.

Amaranth's legs were back around his waist in a heart. Enmeshing her fingers in his head-quills, she ensnared him in another protracted kiss.

She'd thought to berate him for abetting bad behaviour, but their whole life together hinged upon a timely act of bad behaviour. Had he not sought her out that night in Tesiphon, she might now be married to Prince Sonic of Erinia, patiently awaiting her turn on her throne while he caroused his way around Cambria.

Thank the stars he had.

"I love you," she whimpered as sensations elsewhere banished any thought of berating him from her mind.