DAY 7: FREE CHOICE

20 May 2017

Summary: Prince Sherlock falls in love with the wrong princess.

Prompt: Free Choice (Non-Canon/Headcanon)

Rating: T, for some cursing and mild sexuality

A/N: Part of my Secret Relationships are Fun! series. This is a modern royalty AU, in which Molly and Anthea are half-sisters and Sherlock is supposed to marry Anthea to forge an alliance between their kingdoms, with a little bit of Mythea. TBH, I actually wrote more Mythea than I intended, but this is still more of a Sherlolly fic.

I got the idea from colormayfade's prompt generator on Tumblr: 'I'm here to marry one of the royal children as a way to make an alliance between the kingdom and staying for a visit before the marriage but I'm totally falling for the other and more rebellious sibling that I'm NOT supposed to marry'

Hope y'all like this one!

I own nothing. Everything belongs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, BBC, Steven Moffat, and Mark Gatiss. If I owned Sherlock and Molly Hooper, then there would be a lot more Sherlolly in the show. All mistakes are mine. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome.

THE ROYAL ENGAGEMENT

Sat on a love seat facing the double doors of the Queen's Study, Prince Sherlock interlaced his fingers with Princess Molly's. He had wanted to pace along the hall, but he opted to sit with his precious (and equally anxious) princess instead. He had been trying to distract himself by checking his emails, but to no avail. He glanced at his older brother, Crown Prince Mycroft, who was leaning against the opposite wall and was speaking quietly with Crown Princess Anthea. In their short acquaintance, he had never seen her ignore her phone; but, now, she held her phone in one hand and caressed the hand gripping the handle of his brother's ever-trusty umbrella with the other. To his left, their respective youngest sisters, Princesses Eurus and Skye, whispered and giggled with each other. He rolled his eyes and wished that they would stop sexting their boyfriends when his future with his Molly was at risk.

He was supposed to marry Crown Princess Anthea to forge an alliance between the Kingdom of Albion and the Queendom of Scotia. He had been violently opposed to the arrangement, because he did not want to be anyone's consort, let alone the future Queen of Scotia's. But his mother, Queen Margaret, had told him that, since his brother absolutely refused to marry anybody and he was next in line, he had to marry the Crown Princess. So he finally relented and agreed to visit Scotia with his entire family to meet his fiancée. He liked her well enough, but he thought that she would have been a better match for his brother. But he had promised his mother and he would keep his word, although he much preferred to remain a bachelor and focus on his work as the kingdom's Chief Detective.

That is, until he met Princess Molly. He had been drawn to her the moment he laid eyes on her. And when he spoke with her, he found out how kind and intelligent she was. He liked how she was considered the rebellious princess, because she would rather work as the queendom's Chief Coroner than participate in politics. He was surprised to find that she saw through his façade and that she accepted his good qualities and his flaws. He also rather liked it when she challenged him and chastised him for his rude behaviour, mostly because everyone else would just let him do what he wanted. He loved that she could comfort him, calm him down, help quiet his mind, or drive him mad with her kisses and her touch.

He had never met anyone like Princess Molly, and he could not help falling in love with her. To his infinite surprise and joy, she loved him too.

So when they were able to slip away from their families and the guests at his Molly's birthday ball last night, they locked themselves in the Queen's Library and snogged. His hand was already in her knickers when the Crown Princess and Prince let themselves in and caught them. He and Princess Molly endured five minutes of scolding from their older siblings––who were planning to ravish each other as well––and being humiliated in front of their parents and youngest siblings.

The next morning, the two couples faced their Queens and the Duke of Reading and recounted how they fell in love with the sibling that they were not supposed to marry. Both Prince Sherlock and Crown Princess Anthea beseeched their Queens to cancel the arranged marriage between them and to let them marry the people they loved.

Two hours later, Queen Fiona, Queen Margaret, Prince Sigurdson, and their advisors were still deliberating inside the former's study.

He felt his princess squeeze his hand. He smiled and leant to kiss her.

"Are you all right?" she whispered against his mouth.

"Well, I'm anxious to hear anything––literally anything. But my fucking best friend won't answer my texts."

"God, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Mary would just send me a shrugging emoji every time I asked for updates. Like, would it kill her to send a bride or a crying face emoji?" Princess Molly rolled her eyes.

He smirked. "She's probably busy flirting with John."

"Oh, my God. You're probably right!" Giggling, she pulled up her conversation with Mary and asked her if she was paying more attention to the deliberations or to the 'hot' captain. She tilted her phone so he could see and chuckle at the drooling face emoji that the head of the queendom's security agency texted back.

"I don't even know why it's taking them so long to decide. Quite honestly, this will only strengthen the alliance. Two members of the Scotia royal family marrying their counterparts in the Albion royal family? They should be thrilled! You know the whole world would lap it up. So what if the arranged marriage has been announced?"

"Well, I think they're worried about how the Queens would be perceived if they just went, 'Sorry, we take it back.' They wouldn't want their enemies to use the fact that they went back on the agreement against them later." She took a deep breath and laid her head on his shoulder. "And that's why I prefer cutting up cadavers over running the queendom."

He heaved a heavy sigh and released her hand long enough so he could wrap his arm round her shoulders. His other hand covered her much smaller one instead. "You're right. We should just elope."

She met his gaze. "But that would break my mother's heart as well as Queen Margaret's. That would also humiliate them. We can't do that."

"No, we can't do that," he replied with a dejected sigh. "I do hope you know that I will love you for the rest of my life, even if they forced your sister and me to proceed with the marriage." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

She smiled and lifted her head to kiss him. "I do. And I feel exactly the same."

"It would be a massive scandal if it leaked that you and I are cheating on each other with our respective siblings-in-law," remarked Crown Princess Anthea as she and his brother sat down on the remaining love seat. "I doubt they," she added, tilting her head towards the closed double doors, "would like that."

"Yeah," Princess Molly agreed. "But they all married for love, so why can't we?"

"I bet they're already planning two weddings," chimed in Princess Skye.

"Well, we'd prefer to be involved!" Princess Molly turned to her older sister. "Don't we, Anthea?"

"Of course! And Mum knows that."

"It's much more likely that they're chatting about things that have nothing to do with you four," Princess Eurus said in a bored tone. "They're just making you sweat." She pulled out her mobile from her dress pocket. "Nothing on social media yet, if anyone's interested to know."

Crown Prince Mycroft turned to her. "Thank you, sister dear."

She sighed. "I don't have to kill anyone for leaking something. What a damn shame," she muttered to herself. She winked at him when he chuckled.

"If I were you, I'd just choose an empty room and shag."

"Skye!" her older sisters whisper-shouted in unison.

"It's probably not the best idea, Princess Skye," the Crown Prince calmly told her.

"As if you didn't spend the night in the Crown Princess's bedroom after you interrupted us, Mycroft."

Princess Molly only sent him a disapproving look.

He was about to apologise to his princess when the double doors opened. Mary Morstan, the queendom's Chief of Security and Princess Molly's best friend, and John Watson, his kingdom's Captain of the Guards and his best friend, beckoned them inside.

The advisors had left when the six of them re-entered the Queen's Study. Exited through the side doors, he deduced as they resumed their seats. He studied their parents, who were drinking tea and speaking to each other in low voices, but they were difficult to read.

Queen Fiona turned to them and smiled. "Queen Margaret, Prince Sigurdson, and I have decided to grant Crown Princess Anthea and Prince Sherlock's request to cancel the previously agreed-upon marriage."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he replied with palpable relief in his tone.

Crown Princess Anthea smiled at the Queen. "Thank you, Mum."

"You're welcome, dears." She glanced at her fellow monarchs. "Now, would you like to announce your respective engagements at the same time? Or would the Crown Princess and Crown Prince prefer to announce theirs first?"

The four glanced at each other before turning back to their parents.

"It's best to announce my engagement to the Crown Prince and Molly's engagement to Prince Sherlock at the same time," Crown Princess Anthea answered on their behalf. "We don't mind sharing the limelight. We are also not opposed to a double wedding. All each of us really care about is marrying the person we love."

"You've talked about it, haven't you?"

The Crown Princess glanced at her smiling sister. "Molly and I have, and the princes agree with us."

"Excellent!" Queen Fiona grinned at them. "Shall we set the date for the double wedding then?"

"How about 15th January?" piped up Princess Molly.

"Perfect!" Queen Fiona and Queen Margaret exclaimed at the same time.

While they planned the double wedding, Prince Sherlock shared a happy smile with Princess Molly––his Molly. I am now the happiest man on the planet. "I love you," he whispered as he gave her hair a furtive kiss.

"I love you," she whispered back.

He could not wait to spend the rest of his life with his beloved princess.

I know that there's actually no Duke of Reading, which is precisely why I chose it. Also, Molly and Skye's father is from Albion, and their mother's consorts are all dead.

I had an entire scene between Molly and Anthea talking about their feelings for Sherlock and Mycroft, respectively, when I was planning this fic. But it would have been too long if I wrote that, and I'm already pressed for time.

It's also been two and a half weeks, but my brain is still screaming for me to expand on this. What do y'all think?

So what do you think? Hate it? Like it? Love it?