by S R Nulton
“We have more announcements that need to be made,” he and Stone said. “First, the man who now lies dead before you was not a priest. He was a magician who had been in the employ of our uncle. Over the past few days, we have gone through our uncle’s belongings and discovered that this supposed priest was the one paid to kill the former king and queen. In addition, you should be aware of the identities of the women we have married. You may have met them as kitchen maids or merchants, but their names are Princess Thyme of Lettelach and Princess Grace, Lady Enchantress of Alenia. As you can see, they are not to be trifled with.”
A few nobles began to shift, specifically the ones who had insulted or flirted with us at the ball three days before. None of them was looking particularly pleased. The lake people were known to be warriors, one and all. Enchanters were incredibly dangerous and powerful. To say that they were uncomfortable with the impression they’d given their future queens was an understatement. The commoners we had met were beaming with pride at seeing us up there.
The boys continued on, unaffected by the mood of the room. “The final announcement is the order of succession for the country of Shessat. To each generation of our family a set of twins who share a soul are born. The first set is the one that will inherit the throne. You’re heirs will be born in another month or two and anyone who seeks to turn them against each other will be jailed. There will be no competition!”
It was a strong stance, but would be effective. The reasons to attempt it were gone and the tradition had done major harm to multiple rulers. It was time to end it.
“We will now proceed with the coronation.”
Yew stepped forward from wherever he had hidden and stood before the assembly in a priest’s robes, though not ones from any order I’d ever heard of. In his hands he held a very large golden sphere and a golden knife.
This looks familiar, I thought to myself.
The twins stepped forward and pricked their fingers on the knife. “Bound by promise, fulfilled with blood.” They swiped their bloody fingers over the orb.
“Bound by fortune, fulfilled with truth.” They took off their crowns and placed them on the orb.
“Bound by choice, fulfilled with a kiss.” They placed their bloody fingers against each other, sealing them completely. (I hadn’t seen the ‘kiss of brotherhood’ in years, but it worked perfectly for the spell they were weaving.)
“Bound by magic, fulfilled with life.” And they poured fire and earth magic into the orb, making it glow blue and green before fading back to gold.
They stepped back and turned to face the people once more.
“May I present your kings, King Jeshu and King Grentiin!” Yew cried.
“Long may they live and well may they rule,” the people responded before bowing to their new rulers.
Without ceremony, Thyme and I stepped forward to stand beside our husbands. The four of us stood, bound soul-to-soul, as a united front, daring any to challenge our power.
No one did.
~
“I was wondering where you’d gotten to. I should have guessed you’d be here,” Jeshu said as he sat down beside me at the bow of my ship. The coronation had happened a week before and the clean up required after was enormous. Apparently killing a usurper is less problematic than killing a murderous priest, even when said priest isn’t actually a priest. I hate politics!
“Just… needed to get away from it all. Everyone talks and no one says anything.”
He smiled and pulled me into his side, a small sigh escaping as he did. “I know what you mean. Half the nobles have decided that we need to reassign titles because the system was influenced by the old regime. It’s taking a while for them to realize that Stone and I function as one person, not two, while ruling, so nothing much has actually changed.”
I laughed, knowing that he was understating things. The nobles had been a pain in the rear from the very beginning, but they really didn’t want to understand the new system. In fact, they actively tried to forget how it all worked so they could try and get more privileges. I didn’t think it was all that difficult to understand. Then again, I was the one who came up with the initial idea.
Basically, the role of king was split in half. Stone was the one in charge of the military, army and navy, as well as the social services like guards, clinics, and the like. The clinics were mostly because of Thyme’s insistence. He was also the one to keep an eye on the farm production.
Jeshu was the one specializing in dealing with international affairs, court rulings, and anything involving more political maneuvering. He hated it but was much more adept than his brother and better at dealing with the mountains of paperwork running a kingdom generated.
My train of thought was broken when Jeshu squeezed my side lightly.
“What’s wrong?” he asked gently.
I considered my words, wanting to lie and claim that I was fine, but decided to be honest with him. I couldn’t expect him to trust me if I didn’t trust him first. Still, it was hard to figure out how to say it. Finally, I settled on going as simple as possible.
“I’ve missed you.”
He frowned. “I’ve been right here.”
“No,” I said while shaking my head. “No, you haven’t. You’ve been growing more and more distant. You stopped joking with me. Stopped hugging me. It’s beginning to feel like you’re avoiding me as well, walking away when I come into a room.”
Jeshu grimaced. “Ah. That. I didn’t realize… I mean, I wasn’t actually planning to, but…” He sighed. “You’re right. I guess things became more real when we finally broke the curse. We were back in a place where anyone I’ve cared about has been used against me. Multiple times. I’m sorry. I fell back into old habits. It was always safer to keep my distance, to not show favoritism.”
“Well, don’t. They can’t use me and it’s making me feel like I have a disease or something. Also, I miss your beard. You look too put together now. I want my Thrushbeard, the salamander prince, back.”
“I’ll work on growing it out again,” he said with a grin. “Now, what else is wrong? I’m not selfish enough to think it’s all about me.”
I worried my lip for a moment before replying. “Where do I belong? You and Stone are running the country, Thyme is busy setting up clinics and learning how to use her magic effectively, but what am I supposed to do? I know nothing about being a queen. I’m the daughter of a sadistic murderer and I lived in self-imposed isolation in the middle of nowhere!”
He said nothing, just sat there, holding me. Finally, Jeshu’s voice broke the silence. “You’re an enchantress. You enchant things, experimenting and making new charms to make our lives easier.” I looked up at him, shocked. He laughed. “Did you think I wanted you to become someone else, love? I was led to you to marry you, not some fine noble lady who was raised to run a household and maintain her family’s reputation. There’s nothing wrong with that, but none of them were right for me.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed. “I forgot about that for a moment. It’s just a bit scary when you can’t figure out what someone wants from you. It’s even worse when it’s an entire country of someones.”
“I know. I’ve lived this for a long time. The trick is not letting them tell you who to be. You made sure that I didn’t have to let their rules define me, why would I not return the favor? But you are more than welcome to help me deal with the international affairs. You seem to be better at navigating those waters than I am.”
I laughed. “Just more experienced. My mother is based in Alenia, but that isn’t her only place of business. She made sure that both Deirdre and I could blend in with pretty much any of the citizens of the continent.” I paused. “Did you ever figure out who cursed you? The woman you mentioned?”
“Sort of. We just found the letter he received, letting him know that the witch he’d been loaned was on her way, as was the curse he’d commissioned. There weren’t any names attached, just initials: C.R. It looks like it came from Ale
nia, but that’s all we know… Grace, what’s wrong?”
I’d frozen and started trembling. “What color was the ink?”
He frowned down at me. “Um, a light blue, I think. Why?”
“Charlotte Rancune. She’s… she’s an old friend of my mother’s and worse than anyone you’ve ever met or heard of. She collects magicians and sells their services to other people. And that’s her most legitimate business.” I shivered harder, remembering the only time I’d met her. “Just be glad that she didn’t come in person. It means that she didn’t care whether your uncle succeeded or failed. She’s playing the long game, she always is, but I have no idea what it might be.”
Jeshu rubbed my back and kissed my temple. “It’s okay, love. She isn’t here and her plan didn’t succeed. We’ll be fine. Just forget all about her.”
I appreciated the sentiment, but knew he didn’t understand how close we came to failing. If Charlotte Rancune was involved, there was more going on, and I intended to find out what.
At that moment, there were more important matters to discuss.
“What should we name the babies?”
Epilogue
“Are the boys asleep?” Jeshu asked. He’d been busy with an ambassador from Mindep all day and hadn’t been able to check in with us until then.
I nodded. “Passed out an hour ago. We have the rest of the night to ourselves,” I declared wrapping my arms around him.
He smiled at me and rubbed his beard against my neck. “How was your day, love?”
“Fine. They are getting more personality, but that’s to be expected with four month olds.”
“And your mother’s visit?” he asked lightly. He rubbed my back when I froze up. “Yes, I know all about her showing up. Yew was beside himself with worry when he found out, so I sent him to watch her.”
I took a deep breath and leaned back so I could look him in the eyes. “Well, she didn’t get near the boys, so that was good. Didn’t even ask about them, actually. What she did ask about was Joy.”
He blinked. “Your niece, Joy? The one staying in your cabin?”
“Yep. Wanted to know if she’d gotten her powers yet and if she’d started going evil or was still pretending to be cold hearted. It has me worried, to be honest. Mother has always been overly concerned about what Joy is up to and I worry that she’s going to start causing trouble. Maybe even try and hunt my niece down and kill her.”
Jeshu was horrified. “She’d kill her own granddaughter? Why?”
“I didn’t tell you about the prophecy? Well, it doesn’t matter. I sent a letter to Cindy, my stepniece. She can get in contact with Joy and let her know Mother’s headed that way. It’s out of our hands at this point. Now, how was your day?”
He sighed. “Long, tiring, lonely.”
I smiled brightly. “Well, I told the nanny that she’s on duty tonight. Why don’t we head out to the boat and spend some time alone?”
Jeshu’s grin was wicked as he led me out of our suite and down to the boat. Sometimes we just need reminding of where it all started.
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Afterword
Many thanks to everyone who made this story possible! My family had to deal with my ridiculous ideas bouncing all over the place. My friends had to listen to my half-baked ideas and tell me when I was going too far. All I can say is, I thank God ever day for your support!
Ultimate thanks go to God for being the greatest author of all and giving inspiration. What I did with it may be questionable, but that is no fault of His!
Tiffany, thanks for the editing help! You were thorough and timely, two incredibly useful traits that are difficult to find.
And finally, many thanks to four authors who helped a lot by pure inspiration: to Honor Raconteur for publishing stories that didn’t follow the same paths as everyone else did, to K.M. Shea for the writer’s resource you created, to Rachel Aaron for 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love, and to Kate Stradling for her “Average Ordinary Girl” blog posts. You all have been incredibly helpful in various ways, not just through your excellent stories.
About the Author
S.R. Nulton, also known as Sarah Rose, is a true California native. She was born in southern California, raised in northern California, and went to college on the central coast. She has written off and on since junior high, but truly got into it again when she was working at school over summer in college. She was too broke to buy a new story to read so she started writing her own to stay entertained. The rest is history. Or it will be in about two decades.