Late one evening, Duchess Henrietta Chesterton heard someone moving around upstairs at Chesterton House. She assumed it was one of the servants being louder than normal but a nagging worry at the back of her mind urged her to investigate. She set down the book she had been reading and silently ascended the stairs - she had never forgotten how to move without making a sound. When she saw the door to her son's room standing open, she discarded any notion of being quiet and rushed inside. The bed was empty and there was no sign of little Michael.

Heart racing, she stumbled out into the corridor, shouting his name, which summoned the children's nurse (who had been extremely thoroughly vetted before being employed, some might say excessively so).

“What is the matter, My Lady?” She asked.

“Michael! He is missing!” She burst into her daughter's room next door, dreading what she might find there.

Upon seeing Michael snuggled up in bed with his older sister Easter, relief flooded over her. Was that the sort of concern she had caused her own father in her youth? She resolved to apologise at length to Christmas the next time she saw him.

“Mama,” Easter said primly. “Michael and I have discussed it and we would like to hear the story about the Lion and the Cat again.”

Michael nodded in earnest agreement.

“Oh, you've discussed it, have you? Well then I suppose I have no choice but to oblige.” She sat at the foot of the bed, her heart still pounding. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that the children would have latched on to the one tale she’d once told in desperation having exhausted all the other stories in her repertoire as their favourite.

“Once upon a time there was a Princess with a secret,” she began. “None save her loyal squire knew she was also a knight. Her father, the King, would not have approved so she wore a suit of armour which hid her face but she had a lion painted on her shield which led the people to call her the Lion Knight. She would spend her days jousting and fighting dragons. That was until she heard that in the realm there was a wicked shapeshifter who took the form of a monstrous Black Cat to spread terror across the land. The Princess knew she must help so she waited for the Black Cat to strike and followed it back to its lair, which she was shocked to find was in the dungeon of a castle in the neighbouring kingdom where there lived a handsome Prince.”

Henrietta glanced to the doorway where Thomas had arrived, no doubt alerted by her earlier shouting. She smiled to reassure him that all was well and continued her story.

“The Princess approached the Prince at a banquet, certain that he was the Black Cat in human form but found him to be exceptionally kind, wonderfully sweet, and the most thoughtful, gentle soul she had ever met. They talked, they danced, they promenaded in the gardens, and though the Princess tried to prove her suspicions, day by day she fell so deeply in love with him that she nearly forgot about the Black Cat. Nearly.”

She paused long enough to appreciate the sparkle in her children’s eyes. They knew the story well enough, having requested it many times before, but Easter and Michael were a considerate audience, responding with gasps and wide eyes at all the right moments.

“After months of the Black Cat eluding her, the Princess set a trap. As the Lion Knight, she left a message, inviting the Black Cat to meet on a lonely hill at dawn. She expected the Prince to come so they could finally face each other but when her adversary arrived, she realised it was not him but his treacherous advisor! The Lion Knight commanded the Black Cat to leave the realm for good but the Black Cat refused. Using her shapeshifting powers, she turned into a harrier and flew back to the Prince’s castle and took the form of the Lion Knight and in that form she wreaked havoc, convincing everyone, including the Prince, that the Lion Knight was a villain. The Lion Knight rode hard, arriving just in time to stop the Black Cat from hurting the Prince. They duelled, the steel of their swords clashing. The Lion Knight was skilled at swordplay but the Black Cat was a killer and in the end, she had the Lion Knight at her mercy…”

Henrietta absently felt her side where beneath her gown, the scar left by the Black Cat’s knife remained as a constant reminder of that night which had brought her both great joy and great sorrow, but she could not linger in that memory for long because Easter and Michael were waiting with rapt attention for the dramatic culmination of the story.

“As all seemed lost, the Prince arrived with his greatest General and she with a regiment of soldiers who defeated the Black Cat and saved the Princess.”

“Then what happened?” Easter exclaimed, no longer able to contain her excitement.

“The Prince had a true and noble heart so he forgave the Princess.” Henrietta looked to Thomas in the doorway. “The two were wed and they lived happily ever after. The end.”

After a moment of appreciation, Michael chirped up, “again!”

Henrietta laughed. “Another time. Now, you must both sleep!”

She kissed each of them on the forehead before sending Michael off with his nurse back to his own room and tucking in Easter. Once the doors to both rooms were closed and Henrietta was alone with Thomas in the corridor, she leant against him, settling in his soothing presence.

“Tomorrow it is your turn to tell a story,” she told him in a whisper. “Please, you have to find them a new favourite or I fear I shall go quite mad.”

Thomas laughed gently, brushing away a stray lock of her hair and placing a kiss on her forehead. “But how could I top that story? It has the happiest of endings.”

They shared a smile before he continued. “I suppose I could tell them about a young man who had been thrust into the role of Prince when he was not ready for it. He was quiet and shy, drowning in the weight of his unwanted responsibilities, but he met the most wonderful woman whom he realised he could not live without. And every day he thinks about how lucky he is that he did not have to.” His fingers circled faintly over the area of her scar, mirroring how hers moved earlier. After a moment of silence, lost in each other’s presence, he added, “I might not have your dramatic flair, but I will do my best.”

– Written by Izzy D. (with a bit from GM Isla at the end)