Chapter Text
The crowd standing below the balcony gasps, almost in unison, just seconds before Mary feels the rain stop hitting her.
‘What are you doing?’ she hisses from the corner of her mouth.
‘Holding an umbrella?’ Kat replies calmly.
‘Do you know what this means??’ Mary fights the urge to turn around to look at her, knowing it would catch even more attention.
‘That you will not get rained on?’
‘This place. At this ceremony. It is for the heir. The next in line to the throne.’ She had explained it to Kat already. How it was supposed to let their subjects know their future ruler and vice versa, especially during the public audience that would follow the parade. ‘Nobody has joined me since...I was in my teens. And even then, it was my mother. Maria once. If they see you here with me, they are going to think you are going to join me in ruling them too. As in...married,’ she concludes, still whispering.
‘I thought that was the plan? Are we not engaged to be wedded?’
‘They don’t know that yet.’
‘Do you want me to leave?’ Kat’s question is sincere.
‘Just stop distracting me.’
.
‘What are you doing now?’
As they are walking towards the area where the audience will take place, Kat is holding the umbrella over Mary’s head but not hers.
‘Checking if it is still raining.’
‘Couldn’t do it with your hand?’ Mary asks with a sigh. She doesn’t think she will ever fully understand her.
Bringing back the umbrella to cover them both, Kat leads Mary to the raised platform. Then she closes the umbrella and offers her hand to Mary as they face the wet steps.
‘Wouldn’t want you to slip and hit your pretty little head.’
Mary rolls eyes but takes the hand, and then she lets herself be led to the throne in the middle of the stage.
‘We apologise,’ an attendant approaches them in a hurry, ‘we were not expecting for Lady Katherine to join Your Highness. We would have added a second throne...we could procure a chair–’
‘There is no need,’ Kat interrupts, albeit politely. ‘I will stand behind her.’
‘That’s a... precise symbolism,’ Mary stretches out the words.
‘I know.’ Kat nods to the attendant, who steps aside, giving them some privacy.
‘Are you sure?’ Mary whispers.
‘I am starting to think you are the one having doubts,’ Kat replies, then she softens her voice. ‘I promise I will not embarrass you. Don’t forget that for years I was Anne's heir. I know how to behave.’
‘And yet you went on an official diplomatic visit and all you did in our first meetings was insult me.’
‘And yet you still fell in love in me,’ Kat retorts.
‘That I did.’ Mary reaches out to fix Kat's hair and then her collar. ‘You just cannot let me do things my way, can you?’ her tone is affectionately resigned.
‘Where is the fun in that?’ Kat grins at her cheekily.
‘For me or for you?’ Mary asks with a raised eyebrow.
‘Your Highness,’ the attendant interjects softly but firmly, ‘if you are ready...’
Mary sits down. As she feels a weight on her shoulder, with one hand she reaches to cover Kat’s, waving the other to signal that the ceremony can officially begin.
‘We are ready.’