It's quite a spectacle

From your spot on the bed it looks like shadows fighting and sounds like a barfight as everyone in the room tries to talk at once. The catgirls aren't sure about much of what's going on but they do hear Lessia's whispered and heartfelt plea of "You promised, you promised." They add the base note, a series of happy purrs and "Awww"s.

The guards all have to move to keep the girls from flooding to the bed and hugging Lessia. That makes for a good amount of clanking and the sound of chain mail shifting. Some deep masculine voices discouraging the girls. "No closer", "Back, stay back" or just "No".

You think you hear a few quiet whispers from the private bath that end as quickly as they start. Surely the prince and princess attempting to determine what's got into Lessia.

An oddly pitched "Oh my!" from the old servant. His voice is low pitched, but his tone is equal parts surprise and happiness.

Leshak adds nothing to the racket - not surprising for a master thief.

Once the cacophony dies down king Caravis lets out a deep, rumbling laugh and gives his daughter a hug. Probably a good thing he's a little weaker than he once was - you can hear the whalebone in Lessia's corset creaking like it's about to pop. A few years ago you would have worried she would have broken ribs.

Saying it loudly enough that Cerralla and Davris will hear the king says "So be it!" More quietly he says, "I don't know if I will be able to make the wedding, nor do I know what part I could play in it, but you have my blessing. As you always have."

Lessia is bouncing with energy. She looks at all the catgirls and says "Let them through, please."

The king repeats her words and the guards - looking a little unsure about the command, as good guards should - stand aside and let the catgirls through to the king, Lessia, Leshak and you. Bethany almost coils around the princess and the king, rubbing her cheek against Lessia and purring loudly.

Iryne, Nelayne, Kalina, Avina and Carina all close in on Leshak and give him hugs and kisses. Nelayne does take a moment to scold him for leaving them behind, but she's so taken with joy that she gives him a kiss before he can get into his apology.

But those aren't all the catgirls. You see more coming through the door. It looks like most of them decided to follow Lessia. Kyelle was already near the front, but once she sees that everything is alright she grins and hugs one of the king's guard. He's a little shocked, in part because Kyelle is stronger than she looks and actually picks him up off his feet for a second or two, armor and all. When she puts him down she gestures over at father and daughter and asks "Isn't that sweet?" It's clear the guard has no idea what to do with a 6'2" catgirl who's grinning from ear to ear.

Almost a dozen catgirls crowd into the room. Near the end of the line is Victoria and she raises her voice to let everyone know there are a pack of nobles out there demanding entry. Lessia goes beet red and tells her father that "I... sort of ordered the guard to keep everyone else out."

That gets another hearty laugh from the king. "You must be worn out, my dear." She sighs as he pats her shoulder.

From outside you hear "Out of my way, beast!" and the sound of a whip crack followed by a pained scream. You're pretty sure you know who just did that. The king sees the dark look that crosses your face - a look he's seen on a few occasions, such as when an enemy general decided to put some people to the sword to show he meant business. Lessia sees it too. It's the first time she's seen you angry. Luckily you can see fury in her eyes too as another crack fills the air.

You tell Kyelle and Jenna, the two strongest catgirls present, to carry you out to the door. You can't stand and most of your power is currently being funneled into the king, but you don't need all your strength to deal with count Velcorrin. Once past the door you see Serranne lying on the floor, her ear cut and bleeding all over her soft white fur. You start preparing one of your more 'diplomatic' spells.

The count has his favorite whip out. He's been blocked by three of the king's guard and while he hasn't attacked them he obviously lashed out at Serranne, who had managed to cross a line he could not. You don't even bother talking - you just bat aside the low grade protective spell woven into his amulet and the other woven into his cuffs, then dive in. The look on his face as he goes to raise the whip is priceless. You've already paralyzed his arm. The motion of his shoulder makes the whip drop from his hand and clatter to the ground.

"What!" he shouts, just barely keeping his other hand from drawing his sword. Too bad, that would have been a perfect end - stabbed to **** by the king's guard for drawing a blade in the king's private chambers.

"How dare you!" he mutters once he sees who's at the end of the hall.

You can't do more than whisper, but that almost makes it more intimidating. You feed the spell, allowing his shoulder to go numb. "How dare I? Because I can." His other hand starts to shake and weaken too. You lock your eyes onto his and stare like you're seeing right through him.

"You attack a lord of the realm" he says, though his heart's not in it anymore. It's finally starting to dawn on him that he's dealing with one of the kingdom's most powerful and dangerous mages. To drive it home you make his wrist and elbow go slack. Another little tweak and his bowels and bladder start making urgent calls to his brain.

"You attack one of my catgirls? Beg for her forgiveness."

Serranne is crying to herself. Count Velcorrin decides discretion is the better part of valor and dives out of your line of sight. Having expected this you brush his heart with a little tendril of weakness. He'll recover, but he will spend at least a few minutes wondering if he's about to die as his pulse races. You know you'll have to deal with him later - he is unfortunately so thickheaded and vengeful that he will come after you.

It's well worth it though. As soon as he retreats Lessia squeezes past Kyelle and holds Serranne.

"There are so many of them," you hear from behind you, "and so many kinds. Lessia told me, but seeing them in person is so much more amazing."

"There are more still, father" Lessia replies. "You should come and see."

"I will," the king replies. "For your wedding. Lord John, I leave any preparations needed to you and to Lessia. If, of course, you wish to marry my daughter."

"She's a lot of trouble, but I see some good qualities in her."

That makes the king laugh till his eyes tear up. Lessia thumps you in the shoulder and then gives you a long, smoking hot kiss. Kyelle and Jenna both let out deep, approving purrs.

A day later, back at your mansion...

"... and, and I told my father I wanted - ummm - to marry him."

There's another dead silence, apart from one of Renee's daughters. She's managed to lose her grip on Yvonne's nipple and decides to complain about it.

"Wow, you want to be his wife too?" says Doe.

"Well, um..." Lessia's blush has worked its way up from the collar of her dress, up and up until it disappears under her widow's peak. She's doing a good impersonation of a strawberry at this point. She flails a little before rapidly spitting it out. "The church says marriage is between a man and a woman. So..."

Taking pity on her you put an arm around her shoulder and explain that the church is not going to accept any other marriages as legitimate.

"That's not what I want," Lessia says, wringing her hands. "That's just what the church says. I, I want, uh..." she makes a general motion around the room, but can't complete her sentence.

"She wants to be a part of this" you explain for her. "I guess the only word we can use at this point is 'harem'."

Lessia sucks in a breath. "That makes it sound even dirtier!"

"What's a harem?" asks Renee.

"Oh, oh! I read about this," says Sandra. "A harem is when one man, usually a big shot prince or something, gets a whole pile of wives. Usually some of them are lesser wives or slaves."

"Well, sounds about right," says Yvonne, sounding totally nonchalant. "Of course we're not doing any of that lesser wife stuff."

"No, no, of course not!" says Lessia. "That's not what I want at all. If anything I should be the lesser wife here."

Yvonne lets out a sigh as Helena strokes her tail. "No, I mean none of us are lesser. There's just us." Damn, you should let Helena massage her for every important conversation.

Bethany lets out a tiny "Ummm".

You see Lessia trying to work up to saying something, but you spare her. "Also, before all this, Lessia found out she likes girls quite a lot. Thanks to Bethany. So she really wants Bethany to be a part of our harem too."

Both Bethany and Lessia look at the ground and try to make themselves smaller.

"Told you," says Sandra, bumping Doe with her bum.

There's some giggling and then Doe explains. "After you left in such a hurry we were all fired up. We got to talking and we made some guesses about stuff."

On her bed Alice stretches and says "The one thing most of us were pretty sure about was that Bethany and Lessia really liked each other."

Bethany tries to hide her head in Lessia's lap, but all your catgirls save for Yvonne swarm the two of them, swamping them with kisses and hugs. Even Alice, who's still a little weak, manages to make it over for the group hug.

"Maybe we should see if Leshak has any problem with marrying us all," muses Sandra. The idea gets quite a lot of interest.