by A. R. Rend
Staring out the window at the capital up ahead of them, those random thoughts had triggered a question he’d wanted to ask his grandmother.
“Grandmother,” Phillip asked, turning his head to look at the only other occupant in the coach.
“Yes, Pip?” she asked, looking up from her book.
“Did you give Gerdie money?” he asked.
His grandmother didn’t reply. She stared at him as she considered his question.
“I assume you mean Geraldine,” the Duchess clarified.
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“First… I’d like to know why you think I gave her money?”
“Uhm… just… reasons,” Phillip said, with a shrug of his shoulders. His grandmother and his mother had always been amongst the few people he had extreme difficulties hiding things from.
Peering at him, she clearly didn’t believe him at all.
“Elizabeth?” she asked suddenly, tilting her head to one side.
Phillip said nothing, he met his grandmother’s eyes squarely, and made no move at all.
“Of course it was,” his grandmother said with a snort. “She always was the quickest when it came to knowing what I was doing.”
Turning her head, his grandmother looked out the window and let out a slow and soft sigh.
“Your grandfather wasn’t my first choice, you know,” she murmured. “Not even my seventh, in fact. He was forced on me by my own mother. I’d actually been courting this… sweet… little man from an old knighted family. Barely landed, but… not a commoner. Not really.
“Sweet as could be, you know. Kind in all the right ways. Warm and willing to listen. Thoughtful.”
Losing herself in what Phillip would guess were memories, the Duchess grew silent and still. Gazing off at nothing.
“Well, be that as it may, Mother didn’t care for him. And so I married accordingly to her will. Thankfully your grandfather gave me my girls and promptly died. Couldn’t have asked for a better marriage in the end,” his grandmother said with a dark chuckle. “By that time though my dear Phillip had already married and had kids of his own, of course.”
I… Phillip?
“I couldn’t even be angry at who he married either. His wife was a friend of mine. And May was a good woman and good to him. Kind and charitable.
“Just what he needed, honestly. It’s a pity the sickness last year took them both,” the Duchess said then gave her head a brief shake, turning to look at him. “I did what any reasonable lovesick woman would do in my position after your grandfather passed. I had Phillip’s son marry my eldest daughter. Then I managed to talk that daughter of mine into naming the only grandson I ever had, after her grand-father-in-law.
“I made my own romance happen, in my own way, I suppose. It’s why I treasure you, Pip. You’re so much like him. My own Phillip. You have all his goodness in you. As did your sisters, in fact. Your father is one of a kind.”
That… explains quite a bit.
Not to mention why Grandpa Phil and Grannie May were always invited over to Grandmother’s house. Always welcome.
Requested, even.
Why she let my mother have such a long period of time to be with Father as well.
Grandma wanted them around and for it to succeed in a way she never could make her own marriage.
“To answer your original question, of course I gave and still give Gerdie money. She’s my grand-daughter,” the Duchess said with a tired smile and a laugh. “I also send her letters quite often. She’s doing very well you know. Has her own inn and everything now with Theodore, that’s her husband by the way. Very nice man. They’ll do well by each other.
“I dropped by the other week while I was passing through. She’s quite swollen with their first child. Rather exciting to have my first great-grandchild coming.
“I’m already putting in the paperwork to have them officially recognized in the family line. Just because I did what I had to, to Gerdie, doesn’t mean her child won’t receive the family name.”
Grinning like a fool, Phillip was quite glad to hear all that.
“I disinherited Gerdie because I had to. To preserve the family honor. But just because I disinherited her, doesn’t mean I won’t support her. Or I don’t love her,” the Duchess said with a snort. “I uphold my duty to the best of my ability. To hold to the Curis honor.
“It’s what makes us noble. The honor of duty.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m not human. I'm her grandmother who loves her.”
The Duchess cleared her throat and sighed.
“You should write Gerdie, Pip. She asked about you and how you were doing. I’ll have one of the servants provide you with the address. Maybe you and Alice can stop by.
“And before you fret, I won’t say anything to Elizabeth. So long as you don’t tell her that I’m aware she was sending money to Gerdie, too.”
She was?
Ha. So much for not having any pity, Auntie.
“That daughter of mine… she lies to herself about her own emotions more than I ever did,” grumbled the Duchess, finally looking back to her book.
“Like mother, like daughter, Grandmother,” Phillip said with a winsome smile.
Getting the full glare from the older woman for his comment, he just kept smiling at her.
“You’re right,” she admitted and shrugged her shoulders, looking back to her book once more. “Very proud of my girls. All of them. Even Elizabeth. She’s just too much like me, I suppose. Makes me worried of her.”
“You should be proud of her. She did what you wanted to do yourself, did she not? She fulfilled her duty, had five very smart and strong children, and then divorced. She’s living her life on her terms,” argued Phillip.
His grandmother’s eyes were frozen to the page she was on.
Unmoving.
Finally she let out another sigh.
“I’m going to write Elizabeth as soon as we stop and ask her to come over for tea,” the Duchess muttered. “I suddenly find that my youngest daughter needs to be given a firm pat on the head and a hug. Maybe see what we can do about getting Bethany a proper husband soon. She’s her eldest and could use my support. Maybe we’ll luck out and find someone with a similar disposition to you.”
Grinning, Phillip looked back out the window and nodded his head.
He liked his Aunt Elizabeth quite a bit.
She was always there for him.
It didn’t hurt that she’d served as a lieutenant for his mother and had once been a line soldier, too. Phillip had grown up seeing the two of them working together.
Between his mother, his Aunt Elizabeth, and his sisters and cousins, Phillip was fairly certain he’d had his preferences in women hard-wired into his brain.
Crass, vulgar, straight-forward women who said it like it was.
“If Elizabeth is that much like you… does that mean you were a pants chaser, too?” Phillip asked, deciding to push his grandmother just a little.
He was learning quite a bit about his family history today.
Glancing at him over the top of her book, his grandmother quirked an eyebrow.
Then she laughed and went back to her book.
“Even more so,” she admitted. “Definitely going to need to have a long talk with my dear daughter.”
Twenty-Nine
Standing behind his grandmother and a step to the left, Phillip and the Duchess slowly moved through the crowd. Being able to slide through and amongst them with relative ease was due to the fact that it was only the peerage here.
No one actually wanted to be touched by someone else and everyone kept their distances from one another.
The Duchess was casually walking her way toward the throne room. She didn’t wish to speak with anyone at the moment and was presenting that aura.
Her business was with the queen and no one else.
Given that the vast majority of the capital was aware of what had happened to the heir of the Curis family, there
was no mistaking what the Duchess was here for either. Everyone would be assuming she was here to petition the queen for her daughter’s release.
“If it isn’t Duchess Curis,” said a smooth voice from the side.
Turning her head toward the speaker, the Duchess hesitated, then turned toward them.
Matching his grandmother’s movements, Phillip found they were veering off toward a woman who looked to be in her thirties. With soft-looking short brown hair and dark-brown eyes.
“Countess,” his grandmother said with an incline of her head, which the other woman returned. “I must confess I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Well, we all do what we must for family. I’m here acting as a liaison and emissary, though also as my title,” said the woman with a pleasant smile, her eyes moving to Phillip. “And you must be Phillip. You certainly have the Curis look to you from Clarissa but… you also… ah. Yes. He definitely resembles Phillip, doesn’t he?”
“He does indeed. We’re very fortunate to have Phillip,” the Duchess said, laying a hand to Phillip’s back and easing him forward. “Phillip, this is Countess Karen, third in line for the title of Ducal seat of Karen.”
Karen? As in the pretender?
Who… has Mother imprisoned?
Phillip bowed demurely as a noble-man should to the other woman.
“A pleasure to meet you, Countess,” said Phillip as he stood up.
“Indeed, a pleasure,” the Countess murmured, her eyes drifting back to the Duchess. “I assume you’re here about… what happened?”
“Of course. It’s what a mother would do, is it not? As you said. We all do what we must for family,” the Duchess repeated back.
“Indeed, indeed. Well, I think you’ll likely find that the conversation will end without a conclusion,” the countess warned. “When it does, please feel free to seek me out. I’m staying at the Ducal estate while I’m here.”
His grandmother’s face had a pinched look to it at that statement.
It made Phillip quite wary of what was happening. To him it sounded like there was a great deal going on behind the scenes right now. Things occurring that neither he or his grandmother knew about.
“Is there anything you could perhaps tell me?” his grandmother asked, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Looking surprised for all of a second, the Countess snorted.
What’d you expect from a Curis?
“Your daughter is being treated more than fairly. She is unharmed, unwounded, and being given all the courtesy my aunt can,” the Countess offered. “Countess Curis has been, and always will be, the renowned general first and foremost. She isn’t being locked away in some dreary cell, but is being held in family apartments. She also dines with my aunt and her family for every meal.
“Though I’m afraid that’s all I can say or admit to for the time being. My instructions were to reveal nothing to you at all but-but you’ve always been fair in your dealings with us, Duchess. As have your daughters. The last I can offer is that on my word, your daughter is safe, being treated well, and will be treated well.”
Duchess Curis, a woman of decent political strength, raising daughters that all joined the military, surviving her only marriage, and maneuvering the queen’s political landscape for fifty years, looked tired and thankful. Letting her head sink forward several inches, she let out a slow and shuddering breath, her eyes closing.
“Thank you, Countess. I will repay this kindness in the future,” murmured the Duchess.
“No need. A simple courtesy repaid for past kindness,” said the Countess, who curtsied to the Duchess, nodded her head to Phillip, and then left.
“Thank you, Countess,” Phillip called after the woman before she’d gotten more than a step away. Bowing himself down to her he waited, able to see her just barely. “I’ll personally not forget your words.”
Pausing for a moment, the Countess looked over her shoulder at Phillip. Giving him a small smile she turned around and then curtsied formally to him.
Turning again, she left without another word.
“I fear… that we may end up having to go this alone,” murmured the Duchess as she straightened up. Turning her head, she looked to Phillip and sighed. “The queen… isn’t… she isn’t her mother. And her mother would have already paid the ransom for Clarissa. I wouldn’t have had to come here at all.
“With what the countess just said… I fear that your mother may have fallen into a political hole. One we can’t dig our way out of by ourselves.”
Grimacing, Phillip couldn’t argue that. He had the feeling that his grandmother was correct.
“Come, we’ll make for the queen and request a private audience,” said the Duchess as she turned back toward the main hall. Back onto the path they had originally started on.
Sorting through others, filtering their way into the palace, Phillip could only contemplate what he’d learned. His mother was being treated kindly, but there was something else going on here.
Not to mention that the pretender-queen had an open line of communication with the true queen. That letters had already been sent and what information could be given to his grandmother had been laid out.
Beyond all that, that the countess expected them to come back to her after treating with the queen.
In other words, the queen has already ruled against paying Mother’s ransom. That for whatever reason she isn’t already freeing her lead general.
Yet as far as I know, prisoner exchanges are still ongoing.
So she isn’t swapping Mother for others, either.
This… it’s a personal snub, isn’t it?
Trailing along behind his grandmother, Phillip felt like he’d already arrived at the same conclusion he imagined his grandmother had.
That it was this belief that had caused her to look defeated in the face of the countess.
When his grandmother came to a stop it shook Phillip from his thoughts.
Looking up, he found that they were standing in front of a woman about the age of his mother. She had long dark-black hair that was neatly arranged behind her, held in place by a number of pins and a golden and blue coronet.
Cold blue eyes were set in a beautiful face that was as pale as fresh snow.
Her figure lent itself towards inactivity but she wasn’t unappealing either.
Standing next to her was a woman that looked a year or two older than Phillip. She shared all the same features with the queen, including the rather impressive figure, minus the extra bits.
She was also taller than his mother and his eldest sister both.
Considering she was wearing a military uniform, he imagined she was considerably more active than what was likely her mother.
“Ah, Duchess Curis,” said the queen, turning to look at his grandmother. “What a pleasure to see you at court. We haven’t seen you in several months.”
“A pleasure, your majesty. I’m afraid I’ve been managing my household and have been busy. I’ve brought my grandson with me today, Phillip Curis Rias,” the Duchess said, then curtsied deeply to the woman.
Phillip took this as the signal for him to bow deeply to the queen at the same time.
“Yes. I’d heard he’d married into the Rias family,” the queen said, not even bothering to nod her head to the Duchess. It was a clear sign of royal displeasure.
Turning her head, both the queen, and what Phillip assumed was the heir-apparent, looked to him.
“You’re certainly a handsome young man, aren’t you,” said the queen rather boldly with a smile. “Had I known, I would have secured you for my daughter.”
“It is indeed a pity, Mother,” agreed the woman next to the queen. She eyed Phillip in an entirely different way than her mother. It was more akin to a hungry woman waiting for dinner to be served. “I would have liked him as a husband.”
I… is that what this is about?
Did Mother turn down an arrangement from the queen?
“I ha
d no idea, your majesty,” the Duchess said, standing up and straightening her shoulders. “I can assure you that we would not have opposed a royal match. We would have embraced it whole-heartedly.”
Both of the royals looked back to the Duchess. An awkward silence descended on the conversation. One that looked to be shaping up to be somewhat of a stare off.
This… might be the time to pull the “ignorant man” card and step into the breach.
“Your majesty, forgive me for speaking up,” Phillip declared in an earnest voice. Lifting his hand up, he laid it over his heart as he spoke. “We… we wished to speak to you regarding my mother and her captivity. Could we please trouble you to have a private audience with us?”
While it was rude to address the queen directly, she had at least spoken about him. Though it wasn’t quite to him, he imagined he might be able to slip through the political quagmire of the situation.
Bowing deeply at the waist, Phillip faced the floor, staring at the boots of the princess who was directly across from him.
“Oh,” said the queen with a little bit of surprise to her voice. “Well… certainly. I have nothing to attend to at the moment and I can spare you and your grandmother some time.”
“Thank you, your highness,” Phillip said, not raising his head yet. He felt mildly ashamed for what he was doing, but his mother’s freedom was at stake. “We appreciate your magnanimity.”
A cool set of fingers slipped down under his chin and lifted his head up.
He found himself looking up into the lovely and delicate features of the princess herself.
Pulling more firmly, she brought him to a standing position, her fingers still resting on his face.
Her hand moved forward until her palm cupped his cheek, her index finger lightly playing with his earlobe.
“You may entertain me, Phillip Curis,” stated the princess. “The Duchess and Mother will discuss what needs to be said while you and I have our own conversation. You may attend to my… needs.”
Did she… I… I… I don’t-okay.
I wish I wasn’t here. Grandmother doesn’t actually need me here.
But… what… if the princess uses this against Grandmother? What if the queen… takes this as an insult.