The King's Collie

Part IV, Chapter 1: May, Once Again

PART IV
A love's fruition.
—————

It was, in every sense, a splendid day. It was the ever-merry spring month of May, when the flowers of the Kingdom of Valencia were blooming, and the bees helped the—

How familiar it indeed was. It had been a year, now; May once again rolled around, and now King Felix and Queen Ophelia were celebrating their sixth anniversary. So much had changed, being about as much change as you'd expect from a year's time. In retrospect, the year was a lot more eventful than most, with a notable change having developed during its last months: The treaty for the recognition of Mauretania had been freshly signed by all the needed rulers, and that fresh Kingdom's army, led by the Queen Nadia, ensured that it would no longer be ruled by Lusitanians or Portuans. Trade was booming with it, too, ensuring that there was greater wealth to be spread.

Another big change was that the usually lone royal couple that presided over the celebrations now had some bright company. The band that blasted out its music was now exactly one sparrow and one knightly collie larger than last year!

"How cooler it is than last year, darling," Ophelia remarked, on yet another noticeable change.

"Cool enough to dance, perhaps?" Felix replied, standing and holding his hand out.

"You're so romantic these days," the Queen giggled, taking her husband's thick-fingered hand, accepting its helping-up.

"Sweetheart, it's the least I can do," the King replied, kissing his wife's respective paw.

"Ohho!" sweetly giggled the lioness, being pulled close. She put her head on Felix's chest, and the maned feline then clapped his hands and pointed, trying to direct the band to the general situation.

Lætitia, seeing this, took her violin and started to string out a delicate waltz, although with some loud and dramatic accents. The rest of the band followed suit, and provided some wonderful dancing music. All the couples in the crowd started to do the same, and such a sweet little scene resulted.

Cameron started to feel a little left out with this festivity, as subtly romantic as it was. Even Lætitia put her feathered cheek on Marco's shoulder as they both continued to play. There the collie was all the while, just plucking away at the lute as usual. It became clear, as he saw all of the romance before his eyes, what he had the hint of want for. It never seemed as rare as pearls, but it was, and it was something much more prized and worth protecting: love. From who or where, that much remained up to fate, as he for now resolved to simply fulfill his courtly duty.

—

Iago watched the merriment from the confines of the holy office in the Church, hunched over the windowsill in contemplation. Something had to be done about this. Some inbred lion helmed the land, influenced by whatever peasant boy he tapped his blade a few times on and declared 'Sir'. For all he still knew, that lute-toucher was a spy for God-knew-who. As Cameron contemplated love, Iago was surely dead set on his own conclusions. With a bowing of his head, he resolved before fetching some food to watch for a moment more.

—

It was the night, now, and Felix laid to his side. With each of these anniversaries, there was the guaranteed low afterwards, with which he would dwell on the matters of the love he shared with Ophelia. It was so strong, yet so supposedly meaningless when it came to any physical manifestation, a terrible thing when your nation's stability depended on it. It was still often that Felix was kept up by his own lament over not being able to do this. His own wife, his most beloved, nearly his everything when it came to life and love. Really, who else?

He looked over to the nude figure beside him, Ophelia sleeping deeply. He shuffled over, and wrapped his arms around her, softly nuzzling at her neck. Unconsciously, she started to purr at the embrace. Who else on God's green earth would he even dare to do this with, other than the most beautiful woman he could think of? Who would he somehow be able to take things further with?

An answer came to his head, recent, but not entirely new.

Felix went back to bed, trying to sleep off the farcical thought he'd just come up with, closing his eyes in the darkness and welcoming the subsequent slumber.