marlowemuses | Fools in Love, for gentry

"White flowers, predominantly," Laurent requested. "I'm fond of lilies. Open coach, unless it rains. We'll want to be as visible as possible, especially then. Butterflies, if we must."

His food came and he picked up one of the croissants, tearing off small pieces and nibbling at them as they discussed the details. "I assumed as much, regarding the ring. I've already made arrangements for it. Do you want us both in matching green and gold? We might be most striking if you put Richard in green and gold and me in white and gold. Perhaps an emerald earring for me and a diamond for him."

"That sounds lovely," the Queen answered, only raising an eyebrow at the mention of earrings. It wasn't odd for Laurent considering he had a piercing, but Gansey did not. But the Queen wasn't about to ask if her son was going to suck it up and get a piercing—he enjoyed being contrary, and if she expressed any kind of approval, he might decide not to do what he wanted. "You'll both look very handsome."

Gansey smiled, taking a bite of one of the croissants himself. "I'm in agreement with everything Laurent suggested. I'm fond of lilies, too." Turning his face toward his fiance, "I think it would be nice to add a bit of Vere, as well. What about if we collect some of those flowers you'd mentioned and adorn the coach with them? The kids would love catching them."

The Queen looked interested. "It would be an excellent show if we added some Veretian touches," she agreed with a smile. "How are weddings in Vere, my dear? I've not had the pleasure of attending one before."

"Elaborate and expensive," Laurent answered. "The more elaborate, the better." Often blatantly sexual, as well, but Laurent thought that was best left out of his description. "I would gladly forego most Veretian customs for the ceremony. Veretian accents for the wardrobe and the carriage, perhaps? A few Veretian specialties for food, and candies. Veretians love their candies, and a good confectioner can create the most fanciful creations, which we could distribute to the people."

He smiled at Gansey in return, letting their knees brush beneath the table. It was fun to be able to plan this with him.

"I like the sound of that," Gansey grinned, sliding his foot up Laurent's calf in response to their knees brushing. "Fanciful candies? I'd like to try some of those. They sound like something the people would adore."

The Queen nodded, helping herself to some more toast. "It will be a day of grand celebration for the people. We like to involve them as much as possible. When I married Richard's father, we made flower crowns by the great fountain and gave paper lanterns to the children. We set them off into the sky that night. It was beautiful."

Gansey rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip, looking like he wanted to say something else but deciding against it. He wasn't going to ask Laurent if he'd feed him candies in front of his mother. That was a question he'd save for later.

"What of the wedding night suite?" he asked before popping the spoon in his mouth to suck on.

"That will be for you two to decide," the Queen promptly answered. "Traditionally, the couple will select where they'd like to spend their wedding night together. Any place within the capitol. You don't have to stay in the castle."

"We'll discuss it," Laurent promised, taking a few more bites. "We also still need to decide which suite of rooms within the castle we'd like, once we're married. I've already expressed to Richard that while I find his room incredibly charming, it isn't the sort of place where a married couple could live." He gave Gansey a wry smile, intending to use the information to help assure the Queen that, see, Laurent was a steadying influence on Gansey. Persuading him into more sensible living arrangements. "We were going to look at some of the available suites this evening, if we have time."

No harm, he thought, in putting the idea in the Queen's head, especially if the situation was as Gansey had described. If they were lucky, the Queen might put the idea to Helen before they had the chance.

Gansey gave a short nod of his head to confirm Laurent's words.

"Maybe I'll actually take up falconry," he said cheerfully, "since that's what I originally planned on using that room for. That'll be interesting, don't you think?"

The Queen was torn between being pleased that her son was going to move into an actual suite, and distressed that he was planning on taking up breeding dangerous birds of prey. Chucking, she pat her cheek with her hand, "Eccentric as always, Richard. I do think it's a good idea for you to choose a suite to move into."

"We want Helen's," Gansey said bluntly, not bothering to beat around the bush.

The Queen shrugged, "Oh, I'm sure that won't be a problem. She doesn't live here anymore anyway. If anything, I can convince her to be generous."

Gansey grinned and sipped his tea again. Clearly, there was a favorite.

Laurent's brows wrinkled slightly at the suggestion of falconry. He was confident he could dissuade Gansey from that, and he rather liked the idea of keeping the tower just as it was. A study. A sanctuary.

He was surprised and amused by how easily Gansey secured Helen's suite, and how shamelessly. "I appreciate that," Laurent said, pressing his lips together briefly to contain his smirk.

"May we be excused?" he asked, setting his empty cup aside. "We have business to attend. I'm grateful for your time spent with us, and all the work you're doing to prepare for our wedding."

"Of course," the Queen said, nodding her head in approval. "I'm sure there's much you'd like to take care of. We'll be in touch, of course, about anything else that might come up."

Gansey stood and pulled Laurent's chair out for him so that he might stand as well, "It's been a delight, mother. As usual. I'll be taking care of those feuds around the city today so we won't be back until late."

Sliding his hand into Laurent's and giving it a squeeze, "Though, we'll be visiting Butternut first. She must be close to giving birth. Any day now." Then Laurent would have a horse to raise, again.

"Let's go."

Laurent still didn't have the heart to tell Gansey that he'd never raised a horse in his life, and intended to leave most of the business squarely in the hands of the professionals. It was sweet, and Gansey was so proud of it.

Squeezing Gansey's hand in return, Laurent tugged him into a run, ducking through corridors holding hands as they sped down to the stables, young and full of energy. He was laughing as they tumbled in through the stable doors, letting go of Gansey's hand so that they could enter Butternut's stall.

Kneeling by the horse's side, Laurent offered his hand so that she could recognize his scent, and then he petted her nose, murmuring gently to her.

Gansey grinned and leaned and draped himself across the side of the stall when Laurent kneeled by Butternut's side. The horse was very, very pregnant, comfortable in a pile of hay and clearly pleased to see them. She sniffed his hand and huffed, closing her eyes when her nose was pet.

"She's fond of you," Gansey said, wearing a loving smile as he watched his fiance treat his horse so gently. "Understandably so. You're amazing." The horse huffed again, as though agreeing.

Seeing Laurent kneeling in the hay made Gansey laugh. "I'm reminded of our little scenario," he teased. "You know, the one where I push you into a pile of hay and have my way with you?"

"Shh!" Laurent said, laughing and covering Butternut's ears with his hand. "We're not alone."

She lifted her head, confused but tolerant of this odd human nonsense.

Laurent kissed her nose, then winked at Gansey, happy and playful. "I think we should plan ahead for that, though. Make sure that the actual stable grooms know not to interrupt."

Gansey laughed, "Oh, Butternut's been around the stables a time or two. She knows how it goes."

Kneeling down beside Laurent, Gansey pressed an adoring kiss to Butternut's nose as well. "I know. It would be a bit awkward if we were caught, wouldn't it?" More than a bit. "That would get around the castle faster than we could get our trousers on." Smiling at Laurent, he leaned in to steal a kiss from his fiance.

"While we're running around solving problems today, we should take a look at places where we can hole up after the reception is over. Unless you'd like to stay in the castle?"

"I trust your judgement on that. I'm happy to be surprised, or we can tour places, if you'd like." Laurent shrugged, petting Butternut for a few more minutes and then getting up. He reached for Gansey's hand, giving it a squeeze and pulling him to his feet. "Shall we go get to work?"

Winking at Butternut, Laurent pulled Gansey close for a kiss, lingering for a moment because he didn't want to let go.

Gansey hummed into the kiss, lingering on Laurent's lips as he considered getting to work. "I guess we must," he chuckled, smoothing his fingers through his fiance's lovely hair.

"Let's take my coach today, shall we? Much as I'd love to take the horses, they wouldn't do well in the city." Leading the way out of the stables and toward where they'd catch his coach, he gave Laurent a vague idea of how they'd handle the day.

"We'll tackle the feud between the farms first, and then move onto the feud between the farms and the smiths. Then move onto the issue with the marriage arrangement and meet with the merchants that would like to trade with us. I expect by the time we're done with that, it'll be time for dinner. Are you sure you want to tag along? It'll be boring."

"I suppose I could spend the day napping instead, and then continue my affair with the stable groom," Laurent said, slipping his hand around Gansey's waist as they walked. "Or I could stay with the man I love and help him to do his job."

Kissing Gansey's cheek, he smiled. "I'm not leaving your side. I'm looking forward to this, Gansey. You're not the only one who has been trained to rule. This is exactly where I want to be."

Gansey smiled, absolutely besotted with Laurent all over again. The man was a marvel. Smart, kind, passionate, clever, and dedicated... Gansey's heart swelled with affection. To think, this man was going to be his husband. Their wedding was only two weeks away yet it couldn't come quickly enough.

"I'm glad. I feel the best when you're at my side."

The men were already setting his coach up, raising the royal flags and making sure everything was tidy for its use. Gansey didn't normally take it. It was green with brown trim, handsome, lined with velvet and padded seats. He held out his hand so that he could help Laurent inside and then hopped in after his lover.

It took just about as long as Gansey had anticipated. The feuds took a while to settle because all parties were stubborn, and it turned out that some of the merchants wanted to trade in hallucinogens and other supposed medical pills. The marriage arrangement had to be dissolved because of an issue. By the time they returned to the castle and fell asleep, Gansey was bone exhausted, too tired to initiate lovemaking or anything of the sort once his back hit the bed.

He only woke the next morning when a servant knocked on the door to the tower, saying that a package had arrived for him. Giving Laurent a quizzical look, he dragged himself out of bed to collect. It was a long, rectangular thing.

"Is this yours?"

"Yes," Laurent said, sitting up with a grin. The package was the size and weight of a large jewelry box or a small chest, with the heft and solidity of wood. "Open it. It's for you."

He shifted to sit cross-legged on the bed, grinning with excitement.

The brown paper and string fell away easily, revealing a beautifully made wooden box of fawn-colored wood. There was no clasp, no lock, nothing, but the different patterns in the wood grain made it somewhat clear that the whole thing was a puzzle box.

"I told the craftsman that I wanted something that would take you three days to solve," Laurent said, with a wry smirk. "You've got two weeks."

All he knew about it was what he'd commissioned, from the boxmaker and the jeweler. At the very heart of the puzzle box would be a gold ring, which was inscribed on the inside with I love you in Laurent's handwriting, or the nearest approximation that the jeweler could get from the note Laurent had given him.

It was a beautiful box. Immediately charmed, Gansey sat cross-legged on the bed with it in his lap, running his hands over the grains and grooves. It was smooth beneath his fingers and clearly very well made. So this was what Laurent had done on his own? It warmed Gansey to the core.

"Three days? Oh, you fox. That means I'll be lucky to have it open by the wedding." He had no guesses as to what could be inside. It was tempting to shake the box like a child might, but that might compromise whatever was inside, and Gansey didn't want to risk it.

"I love it. Thank you." Leaning over, he snagged a kiss. When he sat back he was wearing the most dazzling smile, pure and uninhibited.

"I can't wait to marry you."

Laurent grinned, thrilled that his present had been such a success. He scooted over, hugging his arms around Gansey's waist and resting his head on his lover's shoulder. "So open it," he teased, grinning.

"The craftsman must have worked non-stop on this. The design, the crafting of it... I'll have to send him an additional gift in thanks for finishing it so quickly." Fascinated by the box, Laurent nuzzled at Gansey again to encourage him to hurry up and open it.

Gansey laughed again, hands still smoothing over the box.

"I don't even know where to begin," he admitted, turning his head so that he could nuzzle at Laurent in return. "But I'll open it. I promise." A promise was a promise.

Turning the box over, he worked on finding where he should begin. It was slow work; a lot of love had clearly went into its craftsmanship. "I think you're right," Gansey agreed as he gently worked the first piece open, sliding the grooves against one another. "He must have worked very hard on this."

"Lucky for us, we don't have any pressing business, since we covered so much ground yesterday." Looking up, he gave Laurent a curious look, "Have you heard from your family? I'm sure they've gotten the wedding invitations by now, knowing my mother." Really, he expected she sent them out the day they met.

"No," Laurent said, thoroughly content with his head on Gansey's shoulder as Gansey worked on the puzzle. "I wrote to them, but I haven't received a response yet. Auguste is going to be insufferably smug that we get along so well."

Getting up, Laurent went to call for breakfast, returning as soon as possible to cuddle up against Gansey's side. He loved the sight of Gansey working on a puzzle. Gansey's love of games and attention to detail on projects like his small model of the kingdom had convinced Laurent that the puzzle box would be the perfect gift, and he loved watching the intimate way that Gansey's hands moved over the wood. "How do you want to spend the day, my love?"

"Lounging around with you?"

He kissed Laurent's temple when he returned to the bed, turning his attention back on the box right after. "We never got the chance to look at all the suites, even if I still think Helen's is the best. I think it would be wise of us to take these next week weeks—one week and six days—as restfully as possible. The day before the wedding will be a busy one. Our customs dictate that we aren't supposed to see each other at all from sun break that morning, until the alter at the church on the wedding day. Helen will be keeping you busy during that time, I expect."

And for him, his guess was that Henry was going to drag him off in an attempt to get him to live up being a bachelor for one last night.

"And then after that we'll be off to our honeymoon and then visiting all the towns and cities."

"I'm supposed to survive without you for an entire day?" Laurent groaned, even though he was sure he'd be kept plenty busy with preparations for the wedding. "I like the plan of lounging. We could go to the ruins again. Perhaps you'll find a sleeping fairy in a meadow, who will fall in love with you at first sight." He grinned, playful and inventive. "Or perhaps I'll discover the ancient Raven King, and he'll ravish me among the ruins."

He trailed his fingertips up Gansey's spine, hands roaming idly over Gansey's skin, admiring the smooth warmth of it. "We'll have to be sure to take some oil along either way."

"Oh, don't give me ideas," he laughed, very distracted from his puzzle box with idle hands tracing over his skin like that. The fingertips up his spine made him shiver, body taking a sudden and definite interest in the events that were taking place.

"I'll really want to do it. Cheesy acting and all."

Sex outside was, admittedly, on his bucket list. Among ruins? Even better. Grinning, Gansey gently put the puzzle box to the side and crawled toward Laurent, cocking his head.

"I wonder, could I coax you open with my fingers, too?"

"Definitely," Laurent said, grinning at him and squirming backward out of reach. He went to grab a change of clothing, keeping an eye on Gansey with a smirk, ready to dodge playfully out of the way again if Gansey tried to catch him.

Hopping into his trousers, he glanced toward the window and grinned, excited for a day spent exploring and flirting with his beloved. "I'm glad we're going to honeymoon at the seaside castle. I want to see all the secrets of the place. I'd love to build a castle like a puzzle-box, all secret passages and one-way doors, tiny hidden libraries and tower reading nooks. With plenty of cushioned rooms for us to make love."

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