THE LAW ACCORDING TO LOVE
A combined story written by Moira and Adele.

Part Three

Keith reins his horse up to the restaurant and dismounts. "Well this is it my friend. Wish me luck…and thanks for listening." He glances over to the stable nearby and just sees the tail end of a horse enter... "That’s funny…that looks just like..."

His steed snickers out to the other horse.

A stable boy runs up. "Sir may I... Wow! You’re..."

Keith smiles. "Yes, but I’m here in secret. Promise not to tell."

"Sure I promise. Just like I…opps…uh, nothing."

Keith grins, "Thanks." and he hands off the reins. "I won’t be long."

Keith then pulls out the paper with Romelle’s letter printed on it. "Sven you have a lot of explaining to do!"

He makes his way to the door and pushes it open. His anger instantly melts. The place is beautiful. He thought he would be inside, but the door opened onto a beautiful courtyard, all abloom with fragrant, nighttime opening flowers, glowing in the lights of the nearby torches and candles. The tables are all scattered amongst various plants, providing privacy for their occupants.

He wanders to the center of the courtyard, to a large fountain filled with floating candles.

"Gonna make a wish?" A voice asks.

Keith turns to finds Sven standing there, looking rather smug. Keith’s calm is instantly replaced again with his rage. "Have you seen this?!" He thrusts the paper at Sven.

Sven waves his hands up in the air...

"I know, Keit. I know. Allura already told me all about it..."

"She told you? What?!? You mean, Allura's in on this too?” Keith shouts, then starts waving the paper around in Sven’s face. “What's THIS all about, Sven? Come on! Can't you keep a leash on Romelle? I mean...she's way out of line!"

"She's concerned for her cousin..." Sven replies smugly.

"Concerned is one thing! All out nasty is another! Did you read this? She's backing me in a corner! Well…READ IT!"

Three space explorers sit in the Rec hall, glued to a portable view screen. The audio feed was not working as well as they hoped. Just too many other noises muting the sound, especially the constant munching of the cameraman. Never send a mouse into a restaurant full of food and expect him not to steal a bite.

"Ohhh…now this is getting good!" Lance grins.

"Quick switch to Allura." Pidge reaches for the screen in Lance’s lap.

"I’ll do it…just hold on..." Lance flicks the camera view. "Hmmm... I never thought I’d say it, but our Princess is a hottie!"

"Lance!" Hunk pulls the screen away. "Don’t look at our Princess like that!
She is... She..." Hunk is quickly transfixed. "She’s..."

"A hottie..." Lance finishes and ducks Pidge’s swat to his head. "Just admit it. No wonder Lotor’s always after her."

"She is not!" Pidge wines. “She’s a Princess. Stop looking at her like... well… like that!"

Lance grabs Pidge in a headlock. "Someday Pidge, you will understand, right Hunk? Hunk...oh Hunk? HUNK!" Lance bops him upside the head.

"Wha..."

Pidge giggles… "Hehe... she’s got you too...hehehehe..."

"No she doesn’t!" Hunk straitens up. "And besides… Keith would... well you know..."

"Yeah," Lance grins. "We all know. Too bad he doesn’t!"

Meanwhile... Allura sits at a table...hidden behind a screen of plants. She is mortified.

"Now I understand!" Allura thinks to herself. "Sven's trying to put us...Keith and I...oh no! I knew it! I knew something was up! Sven! Romelle!!!!" Allura starts to fidget with the hem of her dress. "What have they gotten me into now…and how do I get out of it?"

Keith thrusts the letter into Sven's hand. Sven takes it...reads it...smiling at various times as he reads on.

Finally, he looks up at Keith. "Well..." Sven says.

Keith has crossed his arms in front of himself. "Well? Is that all you have to say??? Well???"

"No," Sven replies. "But I'm waiting to hear what you have to say."

"What am I supposed to say? Why is everyone so concerned with my love life? And why does everyone think that I should be with Allura? Did anyone ever stop to think about the consequences..." Keith shouts.

"Oh...here we go again." Sven sighs.

"YES! Here we go again! I can't do this, Sven! You know that!" Keith shouts again.

"She's a woman, right?" Sven replies.

"She's more than just any woman, Sven! For God's sake...she the Princess of Arus! Now just what business does a lowly pilot with zero royalty have to even think that I stand up in the same light as she does?"

"Why are you limiting yourself, Keit? Why are you limiting love? You do love her...don't you?" Sven says quietly.

Keith pauses...blinking rapidly. "Are you kidding me? Sven... for the love of...I can't... You don't understand the position I'm in…I can't even believe you and I are having this... What am I supposed to say to that?!?"

"Well...Romelle asked you a question. What is your answer?" Sven asks Keith.

"SVEN!!! For crying out loud! You’re as bad as Romelle is! You know it’s not a question of that! I'm not in her league! This is out of the ballpark...understand? We're talking big leagues here, Sven! Not peewee minors! She's the Princess! Understand?
P-R-I-N-C-E-S-S!!!! I can't even think about... do you know how hard it is for me to...to even...I mean... NO! It’s just not possible!"

The patrons in the restaurant can’t help but take notice of the augment. The two pilots, suddenly aware that they are not alone, retreat to a corner table. Sven leads the way and unknown to Keith, places them right beside Allura, only a planter away.

Keith collapses into a chair, dropping his head to the table with a sigh. "Sven, I don’t know what to do anymore. This is agony. Arus isn’t like Pollux. They’re not as open to this kind of thing. She could loose her crown over this."

"Keit? What are you saying?"

"It’s in the books…black and white…I read it myself. Allura cannot marry someone without title. If she does, she forfeits her title."

"What!?!?" Sven looks to Keith in utter shock. "Why didn’t you say any’ting about dis before now? Keit...?" Sven puts a supportive hand on Keith’s dropped head.

"I can’t do that to her." Keith’s words are muffled. "I can’t take her crown away from her. Being ruler is everything to her. I... I...I care about her too much to do that!"

Allura's hand cups over her mouth. She is in utter shock.

“What is he talking about, loose my crown? How could my being me with him… No… he’s putting up walls again. I knew it… he really doesn’t care about me… more than… more than… his Princess…”

She keeps thinking to herself...her heart now in her throat…and an immense sensation of loss washing over her. She suddenly now wishes she had gone to her chambers...as Nanny had required.

She begins looking around...

No way to escape from the building…without being seen, that is. What was she to do now? If Keith were to see her here...now...after pouring out his heart to Sven...

This was becoming a disaster!

"You two are sick. I’m switching it back to Keith." Pidge sits, studying the new image. "Hey…guys…is…is Keith... crying?"

"What! Let me see that!" Lance grabs the screen. "Guys…I think we really went too far this time. Since Keith doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, I guess we sometimes forget he has one."

The other two Voltron Force members look at the image of their captain hunkered over a table, with Sven hovering over him…comforting him. They soon come to the same conclusion.

"Come on we better..." Lance begins to say...

"Not so fast!"

"Nanny!" They all breath, trying to hide the screen.

"And vhat do we have here?” She grabs the screen away. "Huuuuugggggghhh! My baby!" The image was now revealing Allura with the two men. "She’s with dose...dose... Hooligans! And dressed like... like..." Nanny picks Lance up by the collar. "Vhere is she?"

Allura shifts positions... repeatedly crossing and uncrossing her legs. Now...she hears...what sounds like...

“He's...he's crying?” Allura whispers. She knows this has gone too far. She has to put a stop to it. One way or another.

Rising to her feet, Allura takes a deep breath. "Start moving toward the door, Allura...a nice and steady pace...don't stop...don't look around...just keep moving toward the door... ready?"

Immediately... Allura bolts out from behind the planter, heading directly toward the door.

Sven's face is aghast, as he looks up to see Allura beginning to leave. Keith looks up at him to say something else...and then quickly, watches as the blood flows out of Sven's face.

"What's the matter with you?" Keith asks him. "What are you looking at?"

Keith turns around before Sven could deter his attention. Now, Keith is in shock...

"Sven...is...is that...Allura?"

"Uh... I'm not sure?!?" Sven stammers back.

Keith rises to his feet, quickly wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Then...

"Allura?"

Suddenly...she stops dead in her tracks... stunned. She hunches her shoulders reflexively...

"Wonderful..." Allura thinks to herself.

She stands where she is... and makes no attempt at turning around. Keith quickly makes his way around the tables to where the young woman is standing. He comes around to face her...

"It IS you!" He says to her. "Allura!"

"What?" She hisses back at him, suddenly.

A sudden boiling anger comes over Keith. "What it the universe are you trying to prove here, Princess?"

Now, Allura, feeling the heat of his unprovoked verbal attack, retaliates with equal anger in her voice. "This is NOT my doing, COMMANDER!"

"Look...I have no idea what's going on here, but your cousin started this whole thing with her obnoxious email to me! Then, Sven tells me that he needs to speak to me...tonight! So I come... and what do I find? I find Sven, trying to talk me into something I know I can't...that I shouldn't even be thinking about…and…here you are…right in the middle of it all! Now, just what AM I supposed to think?"

"I had nothing to do with this, if that’s what you are accusing me of!" Allura shouts back at him. "I was asked to come here...by Sven! I had no idea you would be here! I wasn't planning on this! Although, I must confess... I did suspect something was going on..."

"And you just let it happen, is that it?" Keith exclaims.

"How can I stop... wait a minute…why are you blaming me? I'm not the one who brought us here!" Allura shouts back.

Suddenly, they both turn their heads and look at Sven. One of his arms is crossed in front of him, while the other, is reaching up, with his hand resting on his forehead.

"Well...time for damage control." Sven mutters to himself. He comes out from around the table and crosses the room to the face Keith and Allura.

"I...suppose...I have some explaining to do." Sven says, wearily.

"Some?" Keith questioned sarcastically. "More than, 'some', Sven!"

"Why have you done this?" Allura asked him.

"It…it was Romelle's idea. She t’ought dat if you two were to git toget’er in an atmosphere...more...natural...outside of da Castle... den maybe...some’ting might...spark...between da two of you."

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Keith sighs, shaking his head.

"She can't be serious." Allura sighs breathlessly, as well.

"No…it’s true." Sven replies, now downcast. "And…I went along wit it."

"And…let me guess." Allura says to Sven. "Lance is in on it too."

"Lance?" Keith replies to her. "Why would you think Lance would be..."

"Because...he created a diversion in the Castle's main hall, diverting Nanny's attention from me to him...and his muddy feet." Allura replies.

"Huh? Muddy feet?" Keith repeats.

"Yes... he interrupted Nanny's tongue-lashing of me...about what I was wearing...or the lack, there of, I mean." Allura replies back. "She was in the middle of scolding me, when Lance showed up, tracking muddy feet all over the clean hall floor."

"What you were...uh…wearing?" Keith says slowly...suddenly taking notice of her outfit. "Um... what...exactly...was Nanny... uh... upset about?"

"Well, can't you see?" Allura exclaims. "Look at me? I certainly don't go around, dressed like this, everyday!"

"Um...well...no…I...I guess not." Keith stammers his reply. "But...uh.... I don't think I've ever seen that dress before."

"You haven't, because this is the first time I've worn it. And the last time, too." Allura says in reply. "Romelle sent it to me."

"Figures," Keith replies back, somewhat sarcastically. "I wonder why."

"Listen...I'm terribly sorry for the embarrassment. I'm returning to the Castle. Let's just...forgot this ever happened..." Allura begins to say.

A waiter then walks by with a tray full of the most exquisite looking and smelling food either of them has seen in along time. It passes just in front of them…the smell hanging in the air.

"Uhhh.ummmm ... Allura?" Keith stammers, trying not to drool.

"Huuuuuh." Allura's eyes are busy, hungrily following the plates, as they are served to a nearby table.

"Would you mind if…" Keith stops as another waiter zooms by with a flaming desert in hand.

"Ohhhh…that looks positively decadent." Allura breathes and unconsciously licks her lips.

Keith bites his lip, gently. "Well, uh…Allura…I haven't eaten yet. And I'm starved. And…well...you took the time to get all dressed up... "

Sven slides in front of them. "Why don't we all go back and sit down...and jist…talk!" Sven smiles. "Dere's no harm in dat…right?"

Keith and Allura stare at each other. Allura was suddenly apprehensive, but another waiter passing with and appetizer tray quickly dissolved that away.

"No…I don't suppose there's any harm in that." Keith replies, suddenly extending his elbow toward her. "Shall we dine, My lady?"

Allura looks at him, suddenly feeling more at ease. "Well...maybe..." She soon smiles. "Of course! Why not!"

"Wonderful!" Sven clashes his hands together. "Right dis way, Princess! Commander!" Sven leads the way back to the table.

Sven pulls out a chair for Allura and dashingly offers it to her earning a glower from Keith.

Sven puts on a comical pout. "What is it Keith? Its not like you're on a. date or any’ting."

"Sven will you just get lost! Haven't you done enough damage already?"

Sven pushes her chair in for her. "Oh fine. I bring you to dis lovely place wit great food and ambiance… and all I get is..."

"GET LOST SVEN!" They both chime in together, surprising one another.

"Fine, I'm going. But if you need…"

Both Keith and Allura shoot him a nasty look.

"Aright, alright." Sven turns and wanders off.

They both sit and watch until the door Sven went out closes behind him. They then turn back to one another, lips fighting not to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but soon they erupt into hysterics, the tension dissolving with their laughter.

A waitress soon approaches and takes their order. They each fight valiantly to control themselves and do…for the most part…but every so often a giggle erupts. The waitress just smiles at the couple and then discreetly leaves for the kitchen.

Allura watches, almost mindlessly as the waitress trots out of sight. Keith notices her sudden distance...and begins waving his hand in front of her face from across the table.

"Arus to Allura?" Keith chuckles. "Anyone there?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh...I was...um...lost in thought…uh…I guess." she replies softly.

"Am I boring you, already?" Keith says.

"Oh...No! Not at all! I was just thinking...about something you had said earlier."

"What?" Keith asks her. "What did I say?"

"Oh...nothing... its...its not important…really." she replies winsomely, all the while thinking about Keith's concerns over her losing her crown if he were to become involved with her. What was that all about? But…perhaps, more importantly…did that mean...that he really does love her, after all?

"Hey...over here." Keith says to her, now chuckling. "You're spacing out again. You keep doing that and you’re going to give me a complex!"

"I'm sorry."

"Anything you want to unload?" Keith says, suddenly concerned.

"No…I'm just…thinking stray thoughts. Nothing, really." She replies, hoping he buys it.

"Well...I've got to admit," he says to her. "I didn't expect to see you here tonight."

"Me either." she replies. "And…are you sorry that I am here?"

"No! Of course not! Well...I mean...maybe I was...at first...but certainly not now! I mean... we...you and I... we're… just, …uh... friends, after all...right?"

"Uh...yes, of course! We're just...uh…just friends." Allura replies back, trying to keep the smile on her face in tact.

A defining silence come between then...and suddenly, a beautiful musical piece begin to play. Keith and Allura watch, as couples begin to gather on the dance floor to enjoy a whirl or two. Keith tries not to take notice...but soon, he hears the sound of Allura's voice, calling to him from across the table...

"How about a dance, Commander Keith?"

Keith looks at her...and feels a sudden lump developing in his throat. "Uh...well... I'm sure our food will be here soon."

"Oh come on! It’s just a dance! You have no problem dancing with me at formal events at the Castle. Why the sudden apprehension now?" Allura asks him.

Keith opens his mouth to reply...but nothing is there to say. His eyes suddenly catch hers... they were begging him to dance...

"Well...okay. After all…its...its just a dance," he says to her.

"Between very good friends." Allura adds with a breathtaking smile.

Keith lets out a quick breath of air and thinks, "Yeah...who's she kidding? Friends…"

"Well... before the song is over, please." Allura says to him again, disrupting his thoughts.

"Uh...well...I suppose…one dance..."

Allura is up on her feet before he even had a chance to finish his sentence. She quickly grabs his hand and begins to pull him away toward the dance floor. The other couples are locked in a tender dance, romantically looking at each other with eyes of love.

Allura rests her hand on Keith's shoulder and he takes her other hand in his, while bringing his other hand around behind her small waist. Keeping a discrete distance, Keith begins to lead her in the dance, moving softly and tenderly as the sweet romantic melody plays on. It wasn't long before Allura moves in closer toward him, and before he could object...her head begins to rest gently on his shoulder.

Now...he knew he was in trouble! His body began to tremble...feeling her touch against his shoulder through the thin fabric of his tee...the feel of her warm embrace...

If only...she wasn't a princess...

The song ended much too soon... Allura looks up at Keith as they pause in mid step. Their eyes locked... hers, glistening in the flickering torchlight. He now finds himself, once again, captivated by her soft, inviting blue eyes. His heart begins to pound.

Keith begins to frantically think, “Hold on, Keith…you can do it… don’t…you can’t…well…you shouldn’t…oh…why can’t I!”

Thankfully, the waitress is now tapping on Keith’s shoulder from behind, braking his trance.

"Sir? Your meals are at the table," she says to him.

“Thank God.” Keith now thinks. With an almost relieved smile, Keith nods and looks at the Princess. "Well... let's eat, before it gets cold!"

Allura nods and follows Keith back to the table to enjoy their meal. All the while... a tiny figure is running up and down the trellis, following after their every move.

Next Part
Home, Fiction, The Law Acording to Love, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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