Glory in Our Defiance • Zarry

30. - Heading South

( there are some real people - the Medicis and the Pope, but their depictions here are purely fictional, I just used the real names )

May 1486 - Zaragoza, Kingdom of Aragon

After spending time with Zayn's family, their steps lead to the Iberian Peninsula to meet the King and Queen, ruling over Aragon and Castilla. Harry's eternally grateful for the opportunity to meet with a lot of Europe's most important leaders because this is a new era for Europe. The majority of thrones in Europe are occupied by young people, all of them barely older than Harry and Zayn themselves and they can show that England isn't the way it used to be. After a long and tiring civil war and also a war with France that had ended just a few years ago, they need to show that with them on the throne, there will be peace and not war.

The same sentiment is expressed by Catalina and Timoteo, the Queen and King of Spanish people. Their court is quite fun and both the King and Queen are pleasant enough to have fun with. One night after a play in Spanish that they didn't really understand and too much dancing for the amount of wine they've drunk, Harry and Zayn retreat to the gardens to watch the sunrise.

"It's so warm here," Harry sighs, pleased as he plops down on a bench, Zayn promptly following him and wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders. "In England, it's probably raining right now. I should have married off somewhere south."

"Really?" Zayn drawls, his hand suddenly on Harry's thigh. "So you would rather have warm weather than me?"

Harry opens his eyes and looks at Zayn with a smirk. "Who knows? Are you worth it?"

Zayn raises his brows, clearly ready for the unspoken challenge as he surges forward and captures Harry's mouth in a kiss, his tongue finding its way inside of Harry's mouth right away. Harry leans towards him, shifting to get slightly on his side and grabs the side of Zayn's face, pulling him even closer. Zayn grabs his arse from the side, trying to get them as close as possible. Harry's dangerously close to taking their cocks out of their pants when they hear footsteps on the gravel path and subsequent giggling.

Just as they pull apart, they see Catalina and Timoteo entering the little secluded area of the garden, their eyes widening when they spot Harry and Zayn on the bench by the fountain.

"Oh, hello," Catalina says, her face flushes as she extracts her hand from Timoteo's grip. "We did not know you were here."

"It's alright," Harry says, he and Zayn too putting some distance between them. "We were just trying to see the sunrise."

"Oh, yes," Timoteo nods. "It is very beautiful."

There's such embarrassing silence as they all nod and try to smile at each other in this situation. Catalina is the one to finally break it after those few excruciating moments.

"Well, since we are here," Catalina says, coming closer and dragging Timoteo behind her. "I think we should tell you that we would be happy to be your allies. We want peace too. There are rulers in Europe who want more land but we do not want any more European land. We are more interested in discovering the world. If the Pope lets us."

"Thank you," Zayn says, a genuine smile at his face. "Too many lives were lost in these pointless wars. We do not want to go into a war unless it is absolutely necessary."

And an alliance is formed in a garden while the sun was rising above Zaragoza, between two royals couples who were seeking privacy for things far from being described as political.

xxx

Visiting the Pope is surely terrifying. Innocent VIII grants them an audience just as they arrive in Rome and they hope he won't have any complaints about their reign. Yes, he would've sent a letter or an envoy or done something already if he was unsatisfied but still, the paranoia is there. After all, they're asking him to officially recognize the new Plantagenet dynasty they revived with their marriage. They do not bear the name but their children will.