War Torn Love

It had been a couple of days since Nicholai and Alice had been at the Werewolf court for Lis’s joint engagement and birthday party. Now Nicholai was in his room, staring at the clock and waiting for Emeric to arrive. It was the middle of the day, and sure, almost all vampires were asleep now, but Nicholai had some important things to discuss with his love and it sure as hell made him nervous and edgy.

He jumped at the sound of Emeric knocking on his closet door, but soon moved to open it, finally relaxing a little at the sight of his loves face.
“Hey baby” Emeric smiled, leaning up to kiss Nicholai softly. Nicholai smiled, kissing him back happily.
“Hey yourself” he grinned, pulling him into the room fully.
“Alice is over at our palace with Lisette and some friends, helping her pick out a dress” Emeric said, biting his lip a little.

The reason Lisette was picking a dress, was because in a couple of days, Nicholai would be telling his father than he was engaged to a werewolf. Although he liked Lisette to think that a pretty dress might sway his father’s mind, he knew truthfully it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference.

“Actually, there’s a lot of stuff I need to discuss with you about the meeting and the stuff afterwards, and actually….stuff for tonight” he said softly to Emeric, looking up at him through his lashes.
“Okay, shoot” Emeric smiled softly as he and Nicholai moved over to sit on the sofa, both cross legged and facing one another.

Nicholai was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out where would be best to start from. He decided to start from the stuff in the future, and work back to the stuff he needed to tell him about today.
“Okay. Once Lis and I are married, and we’re both King and Queen and once we’ve found Darren, how would you feel about coming out as a couple to both courts?” he asked Emeric cautiously.
Emeric was silent for a while, making Nicholai stare slightly, he was worried about his loves reaction, and didn’t want to upset him in any way, he wanted him to be happy.
“Emmy talk to me” Nicholai said, not wanting to pry into his lover’s thoughts when there was clearly a lot going through his mind, you didn’t have to be a mind reader to notice that.
“I’m scared” Emeric admitted.
“Of what?”
“Of people attacking you for marrying a woman when your lover is a man, of people being mean to Lisette for it, of ruining your marriage and the peace treaty… Of people hating me”

Nicholai stared at Emeric for a moment, his heart breaking in his chest that he would think all those things would happen.
“Emmy, you listen to me” Nicholai whispered, hooking his finger under his lover’s chin, forcing him to look right at him.
“Everyone in the Vampiric court knows I’m gay, Christ, it’s been known for a century now! My people aren’t going to attack me for marrying Lis because I love you; they know this is a peace treaty, not a real marriage. Lisette is a strong woman, and I’m sure your people know as well as mine, that even if you don’t agree with what royalty do, you do not under any circumstances judge them for it, and you, my love couldn’t ever ruin our marriage, or the peace treaty; so what if people hate you? You’ll always have me okay?”
Emeric looked up at Nicholai when he finished vanquishing all of his problems and smiled softly up at his lover.
“I love you so much baby” Emeric smiled
“I know, I love you too” Nicholai grinned
“Was that all you wanted to ask me?”
“No, there are a couple more things”
“Okay, shoot”

Nicholai fidgeted slightly this time; this was going to be a tough one. He took a deep breath, preparing himself.
“You know that in a couple of days, I will be introducing Lisette to my father. Now, a lot of things could go wrong, and probably will”
Emeric nodded, scared, but willing Nicholai to go on, this needed to be voiced, he needed to know where they stood.
“There is a chance my father will try and attack Lisette right then and there, or order for her execution. But don’t worry, I have a plan and will do everything within my power to make sure you are both protected”
Again, Emeric nodded, tears in his eyes now, unsure what to say. He knew his love would keep his sister safe to the best of his ability, but what if things went truly wrong?!
“I have already told the guards who will be entering with us this, but I need you to know now as well. If I shout your name, you get Lisette out of the hall is that clear? If I shout your name, it means things are going badly. If I don’t shout your name, but things are still looking pretty scary in there, just try and stay calm, I know my father; I know when things are truly bad okay?”
“O-okay” Emeric finally said his face now a ghostly white.

“There’s just one final thing Emmy, that I need you to deal with, like, right now” Nicholai said, looking more nervous about this than anything he had just said.
“What is it?” Emeric asked, almost dreading the answer.
“I talked to my mother today, so she knows everything before father, so I could try and gage what she though Father’s reaction was and now she has dinner ready for the three of us and wants to meet you like now” Nicholai said quickly.
“Nicky!” Emeric shouted, throwing a pillow at him. He thought it was going to be something terrible!

***

Anna was sat in one of the many dining rooms in her palace. Sure it was the middle of the day, but the servants hadn’t minded cooking for her, however she had given her personal servant a couple of days off, so she had just the regular servants working for her today which was just fine.

It was scary when you looked at Anna and then looked at her children. They looked so much like her, and hardly looked like their father at all; apart from their hair colour. Anna had long ginger hair, unlike Alice’s, was natural, and not fire red out of a bottle. Peter’s hair used to be black, where the children had gotten their hair colour from.

She moved around the dining room in her cream ball gown, lighting candles and making sure everything was just right. Most women of her age couldn’t pull of a strapless dress, but then again, most women weren’t 429 years old. She looked good for her age though, looking like she was in her early to mid-30’s, sometimes a little confusing when she was next to her children who still looked like teenagers.

Nicholai led Emeric into the dining room and bowed slightly before moving to hug and kiss the woman.
“Mama, this is Emeric” he smiled softly, relaxing slightly.
Anna turned and smiled warmly when she saw Emeric.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, I had a feeling Nicholai was hiding a boyfriend from me, but I never realised you’d be so handsome” Anna smiled.
Both Nicholai and Emeric blushed at this, needless to say, things were going well already.

“M’Lady, it is an honour to meet you” Emeric smiled softly, bowing slightly.
“Now you can stop with that right away, you can call me Anna” she scolded lightly, smiling.
“My apologies…Anna” Emeric smiled softly.
“That’s quite alright, now come sit and tell me about yourself while we eat” Anna smiled warmly as servants began bringing out food.

Nicholai smiled. Yes, this was a great first meeting between his love and one of the few positive role models in his life.