by A. R. Rend
Phillip couldn’t disagree with her. His grandmother definitely looked bothered by something. She was standing at the steps to the ancestral home of the Curis duchess looking more like a worried hen, rather than the owner.
She was wringing her hands back and forth, her shoulders were hunched, and she was staring off at the carriage. Only to look away, fidget, and look back to the coach again.
What happened? Did something happen with Alice and the Rias family?
Ah. Maybe that’s it. Their grandmother finally passed?
That could be it, couldn’t it?
“Sit back. I… the last thing we need is for outsiders to see you hanging on me,” Vinnie murmured. Her leather-gloved fingers lightly rubbed at the back of Phillip’s head. “Our relationship to the outside world would be strange at best.”
Mildred and Tonie both nodded their heads at that.
Realizing just how far over Vinnie he was actually leaning, Phillip scooted back into his seat.
“Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking about it. With you I don’t really… have… to worry about being self-conscious or aware,” apologized Phillip.
“No need to apologize, Philly. I like it,” Tonie said with a grin. “Just not something we can let your grandma see.”
“Agreed,” Mildred said, her hand going to the handle of the coach as they rolled up to the front of the home.
Almost before the coach stopped, his grandmother had come forward, stepping up onto the running board and peering in through the window.
“It took you a while to get back, are you alright?” she asked without greeting.
“Uh,” Phillip said looking to Mildred, not really sure how to explain it.
“There were a number of patrols from either side of the conflict that stopped us,” Mildred said as the Duchess turned to look at her. “Apologies, Duchess, we made as best time as we could, but there was a sudden increase in activity. It wasn’t the same as when we got there. It added four days we didn’t expect to have added.”
Nodding her head at that, the Duchess looked like she understood far more than what Mildred said.
“I received a letter two days ago,” Cassandra said, looking back to Phillip. “The letter said the amount agreed upon would need to be paid sooner than expected. Did the amount get lowered? By how much?”
“Sooner than… I… okay. Well, your letter worked. Queen Karen said she wanted to keep you as a friend and recognized everything you’d said.
“She lowered it down to thirty thousand nobles only and burnt your letter. She only barely read it and-”
“Thirty thousand? Okay. That’s considerably more doable. Considerably so,” murmured his grandmother. She clearly hadn’t heard him after he’d said the number.
“Grandmother, what’s wrong?” Phillip asked, now more concerned than ever.
“Queen Karen suffered from an attack of apoplexy,” the Duchess said, looking back to Phillip. “Her daughter has taken up the reins of war and the crown.”
I… what? Apoplexy?
Sadie is the queen now?
“What?” Phillip asked.
“Apparently the apoplexy was bad enough that her daughter took over. The letter is… brief… on details but that’s not surprising,” said his grandmother. “It also explains why you saw so much more activity. The young queen Karen, Sadie Karen, is moving as quickly as she can. She needs to gather her forces, her treasury, and march. To attack now lest she runs the risk of her being viewed as illegitimate.
“Her mother ruled over her half of the country through force of will, personality, and her military. Sadie must do the same, or carve her own path.”
Sadie is the queen?
She… seemed okay.
Though I do hope her mother is alright. I liked her.
“How… does this affect Mother?” Phillip asked, unsure of why his grandmother seemed so bothered.
“It affects her in the same way we just discussed. Sadie has to move quickly,” muttered Cassandra. “We have two weeks and a day to get the money together for your mother, or it’s unlikely we’ll be able to get her back later.
“Sadie has said that’s the most time she can allow for the exchange, otherwise, she’ll be in the field. That there will not be an opportunity to get her back.”
Oh.
I… I see.
“That’s bullshit,” Mildred growled. “Exchanges occur during wars.”
“She’s just couching it politely,” argued Tonie with a shake of her head. “She wants the money. Now. She needs it. If we offer it to her later, it wouldn’t be worth as much to her then. That’s why she’s pressuring it the way she is.”
Cassandra raised her eyebrows, looking between the two guards.
As the Duchess of Curis she always maintained a distance from those not in the peerage. Speaking without being spoken to was likely bothering her.
“I agree,” Phillip said, trying to fill the gap quickly. “She needs the money, so she’s pushing in the way she can. It… isn’t personal. If it’s gone wrong Sadie may not even know how much she has in the treasury. If her mother kept that close to the vest it might not even be immediately accessible to her.
“And if you don’t pay your troops…”
Phillip let the statement hang like that.
The four women around him had all served. They all knew what happened if you weren’t paying your soldiers.
They left.
And once people started leaving, it was hard to stop them.
Women would desert en masse and only the truly loyal would remain.
“Ah,” his grandmother said and nodded her head. “Well, that’s decided then. I’ve had everything I’ve collected put into a carriage. It’ll be going with you back to your home.
“You’ll need to collect your own contributions and get what you can from the Rias family.”
“I… ah… what?” Phillip asked.
“Sadie thinks her mother was poisoned. She won’t trust anyone else but you. Apparently you made an impression as a forthright young man to her,” his grandmother muttered. “She and her fiancé are expecting you to deliver the nobles personally. That’s the condition she included as to the payment. You have to make it.”
“I was able to gather up eighteen thousand some-odd from myself and your aunts. As well as others from the family who contributed as a loan. Considering she’s my heir that isn’t that surprising I suppose,” his grandmother continued. “If you include your own two thousand, that leaves us with ten thousand to scrounge up. That shouldn’t be too terrible. I imagine the Rias family has that and could probably loan it to us. Though I do fear what this’ll cost us in interest.”
Nodding his head, Phillip felt rather nervous about repayment.
Numbers this high and with an attached interest rate had certainly bankrupted families in the past. The fact that his grandmother was taking on most of the debt would help, but that only meant the Curis duchy had that much less operating finances.
Sighing, Phillip realized he wouldn’t be going home after all.
Or at least, not for very long.
He wasn’t looking forward to asking Alice for coin. Not after everything he’d put her through with their “marriage trials” among all things.
His grandmother was assuming it’d go well since she knew no better. That he and Alice were happily married.
I wonder what she’ll want from me. Or Matilda.
Dreading asking the question, Phillip sat there in his own thoughts.
“Alright. I’ll have the second coach and its guards brought around. You’ll need to leave as soon as they’re ready,” his grandmother said, then stepped away from the coach and vanishing from view.
Yeah. To go ask my wife for money, whom I only recently was saved by, all the while telling her that I wanted to be free of my marriage.
Closing his eyes, Phillip covered his face with his hands.
***
Entering the Rias household, Phillip felt like
he’d just “gotten home”.
After having spent as much time here as he did, it really did feel like this was where he was supposed to be now. Working on things with the Rias family and moving things along in the city.
“I’m going to go change my clothes,” Bobbie complained with a sigh. “I stink like a trout landed six days ago.”
“Yeah you do,” Phillip agreed, marching up the steps between Bobbie and Frankie. “Frankie doesn’t stink as bad as you do.”
“I wipe myself down when I can,” offered Frankie. “It helps. You should try it, Bobbie, you fucking degenerate.”
“Ugh. You can smell it?” Bobbie asked, ignoring Vinnie. She sounded incredibly mortified.
“Soon as I get within a few feet. It’s pretty darn potent,” Phillip said with a laugh. “Good thing I grew up a soldier’s boy. Not a surprising smell.”
“I… ugh. Vinnie, switch with me,” Bobbie said, turning away.
Phillip grabbed her arm and drew it up to his side, holding onto her. He wasn’t about to let the redhead get away from him right now.
“Philly I-”
“Am guarding me,” stated Phillip, his fingers curling tight into her forearm.
“Guarding you,” Bobbie agreed in a mutter. She was clearly annoyed and angry but not willing to disagree with him.
Frankie opened the door and Phillip finally released Bobbie. She and Frankie both went into the home and Phillip followed them inside.
It was their standard operating procedure for entering buildings now. Much had changed since his run-in with Fend.
His guards weren’t going to leave him with people they didn’t trust. They now had the right to over-ride him on security if they felt it needed with a simple majority of votes from their own group.
Phillip wasn’t allowed a vote as it was assumed he would be against it.
Almost as soon as he fully entered the main entry there was a clatter of what sounded like hooves and wheels behind him.
Peering out the door, Phillip couldn’t see anything beyond Mildred and Tonie. The two of them were rather impressively large and did a fair job of acting like a door.
Looking over her shoulder as she entered the room after Tonie and Mildred, Vinnie snorted and looked ahead again.
“It’s your wife. Kinda early for her to be coming home so… she was waiting for you,” Vinnie announced.
Oh? Well… I… hm.
Hm.
I was hoping to relax for a few minutes but I suppose that isn’t something I’ll get to do.
Straight into the battle once more.
“Everyone, please leave. I’m going to have to… talk… to Alice about borrowing money,” Phillip pleaded. He hoped that everyone would actually listen to him and clear out.
Admittedly his personal honor was in somewhat of shambles as of late, but he wanted to preserve what he could of it. Regardless of how much of it was left.
“Course, Philly,” Bobbie said, running a hand over his shoulders as she left the room.
Everyone else wordlessly exited, heading toward the back of the home.
Straightening his shoulders, Phillip looked down at himself.
He looked a bit wrinkly but by and large he looked to be perfectly presentable.
Deciding to greet her as she exited, Phillip moved toward the still-open door and went through it.
The door to the carriage opened and Mim stepped out.
She was wearing a beautiful white and blue dress with gold trim. She had a white veil on that was behind her head and an odd pearl-like decoration down the center of the part in her hair.
Phillip stood there staring at her without any thoughts coming to mind.
Mim had always been beautiful, but right now she looked absolutely stunning to him.
Reaching up, she pulled her veil a bit further back and then saw him watching her. Giving him a wide smile, she pressed her tongue up against the bottom of her front teeth.
Stepping to the side, Alice exited the carriage a second later. She was dressed far more modestly than Mim, but she was certainly wearing clothes that emphasized her natural gifts more than she normally did.
A green and brown dress that held closer to her chest and waist and displayed none of the cleavage that Mim’s did.
“He was waiting for us,” Mim said, turning to look at Alice. “Isn’t that sweet, Allie?”
“He’s always been sweet,” Alice said, closing the carriage door. “I was just too stupid to notice it until I almost lost it.”
Turning her head, Alice caught his eyes with her own and gave him a resplendent smile.
“I’m glad you’re home, husband. I missed you,” Alice said, walking over to him.
Smiling in return, Phillip let out a sigh.
“I’m afraid you’ll miss me again. I have news. Both good and bad,” replied Phillip as Alice and Mim reached him.
Laying her hand to his jaw, Alice leaned in and kissed him with a great deal of warmth and affection.
“Oi, that’s no fair. Do I get to kiss him, too?” Mim asked from not far away.
There was a bump at Alice’s side as if she was being shoved.
“Please? Spare a poor unfortunate waif a kiss? I have no tenderness to me?” pleaded Mim in a tone that bled with over-wrought drama.
Laughing, Alice finally broke away from Phillip and then wrapped him up in a hug, holding to him.
“Never, Mim,” Alice said, holding onto him. “He’s my husband. Around me, I’ll let no one take anything from him.”
“Drats. I’ll just have to steal it when you’re not around,” said Mim, easing up behind Alice.
“As if you don’t already. His guards rat you out every time,” Alice said, slowly rocking Phillip back and forth.
“They do? Damn. I didn’t bribe them enough. I’ll have to work harder. Come on… just a quick one? Teeny weeny one? I missed him, too,” Mim begged.
Holding onto Alice, Phillip pressed his face into her shoulder and hung onto her. He wasn’t about to insert himself into their discussion.
Not when he needed to ask Alice for money.
Grunting, Alice began to walk him backward into her home.
Getting him inside, Mim closed the door behind them.
“Come on, just a quick one? No one’s here. No one will know. I really did actually miss him you know,” said Mim, getting far more aggressive about it.
“No,” Alice said, still holding onto him, her fingers moving through his hair and across his back. “He’s my husband. I don’t just… allow people to take pieces of him. This may be a competition but I’ll not treat him poorly during it.”
“Ooooh, be that way. I’m going to steal so many kisses from him when you’re not around. So many. Get my tongue in his mouth and see what he had for breakfast,” threatened Mim, moving into the room. “So, what’s the bad news, Phil? You said you had both.”
Alice didn’t release him.
She held onto him, her hands moving back and forth across him with a tenderness he’d never known.
“My mother’s ransom is thirty thousand nobles,” Phillip said, nuzzling Alice’s shoulder and neck. “Including my own coin, we’ve raised twenty thousand so far.”
“Thirty? Holy shit,” Mim said from behind him. “I know your mother is rather famous but… thirty thousand. That’s what they used to pay for princesses to be returned.”
“It was originally fifty thousand. The good news was we talked them down,” Phillip murmured as Alice’s fingers slid through his hair. “We talked her down to thirty. The problem is we only have two weeks to get the coin to her.”
“That’s kinda quick, how come?” Mim asked, sounding intrigued.
“Queen Karen had a bout of apoplexy. I don’t think she’s able to lead anymore. Her daughter took over. Sadie,” Phillip explained. “So now it’s all a mad rush before she takes the field. We won’t be able to get my mother out after that.”
“I can give you eight thousand. Even if you didn�
��t choose me in the end, I wouldn’t ask you to pay me back either. Consider it a gift from me, regardless of me being your wife. Nor do I need you to promise to do anything for it, either. Nor a favor in return,” Alice said in a soft voice as she laid her cheek to his temple, cradling and holding on to him. “It’s every coin I have that I can access right now. If I had more time, I could get you the entirety of the thirty thousand, my Phillip. Can we negotiate to pay more, later?”
Shaking his head, Phillip didn’t know how to respond. The fact that Alice would go all out like that wasn’t something he’d considered.
It was more than he could have hoped for if he was being completely honest.
Owing her so much did make him nervous regardless of what she said however. It was simply too much coin.
“That’s… generous, Alice. But Sadie has another demand. She thinks her mother was poisoned. She won’t trust anyone from my family but me to bring the coin,” said Phillip, dropping the final ugly piece of news on them.
“She just wants you to deliver the coin? That’s it?” Mim asked.
“Yes. Then I can leave with my mother,” Phillip agreed.
Sighing, Mim went quiet.
Then suddenly a body was pushed up behind him, crushing him into Alice.
“Sorry, can’t resist,” Mim said, hugging tightly to Phillip and Alice. “And besides, you’re a pretty lady, Allie, wanna go halvsies with me on him?”
Alice had stopped rocking Phillip back and forth and had lifted her head up. He got the impression she was staring at Mim.
“Wanna kiss? I’m willing to explore,” Mim said.
“You’re so awful,” Alice said with what sounded like a smile in her voice. “No, I’ll not split him. And we tried that once a long time ago. Remember? You said it was like kissing your sister.”
“You got way prettier since then. And having Phil between us would work out way better. Kissing you while having Phil would be very doable,” argued Mim. “And I can give you the rest of the coin you need, Phil. Between Alice and I we can get you the coin you need. One way or another. Auntie Tilda still isn’t back yet and likely won’t be back for a while.
“But I’ll need payment in return from you. Lots and lots of kisses when Allie isn’t around. Maybe let me get my hands on you. Get some private time in with that tool of yours like Allie does.”