Welcome to the next installment of the Love And Fire series! This fic is set about 2 and a half years after the ending of the first fic, The Idea Of Love. I would definitely recommend reading that one if you haven't already, since this is the sequel and won't make much sense otherwise. Just a heads up, this one will be a bit shorter than the other one but I have many more fics in the works for this series already! If all goes to plan, I will update this every Thursday. As before, I would like to give credit to the Mariolore Tiktok/Youtube series by DinoBunnyCosplay for inspiration for this series. Of course, I don't own any rights to Mario or any of its interpretations. Enjoy!
At first, Peach wasn't sure what had woken her. Her eyes fluttered open to a view she had become very accustomed to these past couple of years- the bed chambers she shared with Prince Bowser, her husband, in the castle of the Koopa Kingdom. Darkness still covered the room, the hour late enough for the fire to have died down to embers but not yet early enough for the sun to have risen above the horizon. Peach shivered slightly and buried herself further under the huge piles of covers and furs that surrounded her- as much as she loved nature and the changing of the seasons, the bitter cold of midwinter was something she definitely would rather live without. Behind her, she felt the mattress dip and then rise. Sleepily, she rolled over to see her husband standing next to the bed, already pulling on his shirt.
"Where are you off to now? It's not even dawn," Peach mumbled, her drowsiness clinging to her words as she spoke. Bowser jumped slightly and quickly turned to face her, clearly not expecting her to have woken yet.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, my dear," he smiled down at her softly and Peach felt herself blush; even after all this time, Bowser could still melt her heart with a single look.
"I suppose I can forgive you," Peach smirked, pushing herself up onto her elbows.
"I'm just leading some of my knights on a raid of a near-by bandit camp. It's nothing to worry about; we've scouted out the place, so there'll be no nasty surprises, and it's nothing we haven't done a hundred times before. Hopefully, I'll be back before nightfall," Bowser explained, continuing to dress himself as he spoke.
"I'll see you at dinner then," Peach smiled, closing her eyes as Bowser leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. As she opened her eyes, Bowser slung his travel satchel over his shoulder and began making his way towards the door. He turned and gave Peach one last smile before leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Peach smiled to herself and lay back down, burying herself once more underneath the covers. Within seconds, she was back asleep.
When Peach awoke again the sun was fully risen, gentle rays peeking through the velvet curtains and dimly lighting the room. She yawned and stretched, reaching out an arm to wrap around Bowser, only to remember that he wasn't there. Missing his warmth, Peach wrapped a blanket around herself as she stood. Slipping her feet into the pink silk slippers by her bedside, she sleepily shuffled over to the fire opposite the bed. She stoked it until the flames gave out sufficient heat then sat herself down on the fur rug in front of the fire and basked in its warm glow. As much as she disliked winter, curling up in front of the fire was certainly one of the few highlights of the season. Her and Bowser had spent many early mornings and cozy evenings doing just that. Peach smiled as the memories passed through her mind; never in her life had she felt as safe and loved as she did in her husband's arms. A knock sounded on the door, breaking Peach from her thoughts.
"Come in, Toadette," Peach called, already knowing who it was behind the door. She heard the door open, then quickly close, and Peach looked up to see her handmaid walking over to her, smiling as always.
"Good morning, my lady," Toadette dipped into a small curtsy, then held her hands down towards Peach. Peach took them in her own and pulled herself up from the floor.
"Good morning," Peach smiled before walking over to her wardrobe. She picked out her outfit- an understated burgundy dress with ivory petticoats and a white and grey fur wrap- and through years of practised routine, she was dressed and ready for the day within minutes.
"The king has requested your presence in the throne room this morning, my lady," Toadette informed her as they fastened the clip on the fur wrap on their mistress' outfit. Nothing could stop Peach from rolling her eyes, even as she began to smile.
"Oh, has he now?" Peach laughed and Toadette could help a quiet chuckle of their own; despite the rather rocky beginnings of their friendship, Peach and Boo had grown fond of each other over the past two and a half years and Peach often viewed him as the older brother she had always wanted but never had. Once Toadette was finished, she brushed down Peach's dress one last time before turning her attention to making the bed. Peach bid her a cheerful farewell before making her way through the castle towards the throne room. It had taken her a long time to memorise the route, and there were still some areas of the Koopa King's huge estate that she didn't fully know her way around, but Peach could find her way to the main rooms with ease now. She approached the set of large double doors, vigilantly guarded by two members of King Boo's personal royal guard like always. She nodded a greeting to them both as they opened the doors and let her through.
"My king," Peach called out sarcastically across the room, her voice echoing slightly off the stone walls.
"Princess," Boo matched her tone of voice, stepping out of the shadows and walking over to her, his grey overcoat almost shimmering in the morning sunlight that streamed through the windows.
"To what do I owe the absolute honour of being called to your side?" Peach asked before dipping into an over-extravagant curtsy.
"And what right do you think you have to question the king's motives?" Boo shot back, raising an eyebrow. They stared at each other in silence for all of two seconds before both collapsing into laughter, Peach leaning against Boo's side.
"You were just bored, weren't you?" Peach eventually managed to breathlessly say, wiping away tears from her eyes.
"You got me there, Peach," Boo smiled a little sheepishly, "I have a surprisingly quiet day ahead and, given that my brother will be out for most of the day, I figured we could keep each other company,"
"Now that is certainly something I can get behind," Peach smiled in return, linking her arm with Boo's as he led her out of the throne room. She was very much looking forwards to a quiet, peaceful day.