by A. R. Rend
“So awful,” Alice grumbled, laying her cheek back down to Phillip’s temple.
Mim pressed her face up into the other side, laying her mouth to Alice’s neck.
“Oooh, you smell fun Allie,” Mim said, kissing the other woman’s neck. “Let’s go halvsies.”
“Knock it off,” Alice said, not moving or releasing Phillip.
Standing there between the two beautiful women, Phillip didn’t know what to do.
So he did nothing.
Thirty-Four
Disembarking from the carriage, Phillip once again stood in front of the palace of Queen Karen.
Where he’d seen a great number of guards and soldiers before, there was an overwhelming number of them now. To the point that he had to wonder just how many people Sadie had hired on since her mother’s condition.
“Welcome back, master Rias,” Janice said as she stepped out from the gate-house guard room.
“Ah, thank you, Miss Balstir,” Phillip said and inclined his head. “I’ve returned with the payment as agreed.”
“The queen will be most thankful for the swiftness you’ve displayed. We’re ramping up for a full deployment very soon,” Janice declared as she unlocked the gate.
“That was… our assumption,” Phillip admitted. “That she’d be appreciative to those who moved quickly in this time.”
“Indeed,” agreed Janice as she shoved open the gate. “I assume the carriages hold it all?”
“Yes, they do. The first one was just my guards and I, the second two are what brought the payment,” Phillip explained.
“Your guard will remain with the first carriage then here inside the gates,” Janice explained. “The other two coaches will be taken, examined, and the payment counted. The queen has asked that all visitors be kept in the receiving hall. You however, have been given a special invitation to speak with the queen.”
Invitation?
There’s never an invitation when it comes to royalty.
It’s a demand couched as a request.
“I am of course available at the queen’s leisure,” Phillip formally replied.
Janice nodded her head at that and then a number of royal guards descended on the coaches. In no time at all the three were separated, his guards pulled to one side, and Phillip escorted away.
Inside looking out, he found there were even more guards than he realized. The walls were filled with soldiers, as were the grounds.
Anyone walking around also had a guard practically attached to their hip.
Sadie really does believe her mother was poisoned then. It isn’t her just making up an excuse.
She believes her mother was laid low by an agent of Tralin.
Considering they had already made attempts on her life, that isn’t too far fetched either.
Janice paused briefly to give orders to the two red-haired men Phillip had met last time, each of the men going off with the carriages.
Likely to count the coin, Phillip assumed.
It was one thing to take someone’s word over a few chits or a double.
But thirty thousand nobles was an entirely different matter.
Where ten thousand of that amount had come from Alice and Mim.
Thinking back to his departure, he found he desperately wanted to return home. To the Rias household. To get away from all of this and out of politics.
In the end, Mim had indeed stolen a great number of kisses from him when Alice went to get the coin for him. To the point that Phillip had been cornered in a couch and Mim was straddling his lap when Alice came back. Grinding herself into his lap with her tongue down his throat.
Phillip hadn’t been able to fight her off and had given up after the fifth kiss. She wouldn’t push it too far, he knew that. Though she would kiss him until someone pried her off him.
For two thousand nobles, he could survive the beautiful Mim’s antics.
Surprisingly Alice hadn’t even been angry when she came back. She just pulled Mim off him and took her place, sitting down at Phillip’s side.
Mim had left then to get her own loan for Phillip, leaving him alone with Alice.
Who reaffirmed the fact that she didn’t want the money back. Didn’t consider it a loan.
And only wanted him to come home safe.
“-Phillip Curis Rias to see her majesty,” Janice announced, standing in front of the same study he’d met the former queen Karen in.
“Delightful. That would be a most welcome distraction,” called a voice from within.
Janice put a hand behind Phillip’s back and eased him through the doorway, then shut the door behind him. Leaving him alone with Sadie.
She was sitting in the same chair her mother had been in when she read his grandmother’s letter.
A book was perched in her lap, a finger pressed to the page as if to keep her place.
“Welcome back, Phillip,” said the woman, smiling at him.
She was dressed in a military uniform. The lines of it were neat and clean as if it’d been pressed this morning. The sword belt looped over the arm of the chair along with a matching short-sword were within arm’s reach.
“Thank you, your majesty,” Phillip said, bowing low to the woman.
“None of that now. Mother had less decorum than most and I have precious little need of it myself,” Sadie said, closing the book atop her finger. “Janice didn’t mention the reason for your visit. I assume you’ve come with the payment for your mother?”
“That’s right, your majesty,” agreed Phillip, standing up. “We were able to acquire the coinage through various loans and contributions. We value the return of my mother.”
“Of course you do,” Sadie murmured with a nod of her head. “Just as I would if it were my own mother. Though I’m afraid that isn’t the case for her.”
Sadie’s eyes clouded over at the mention of her mother. They unfocused and stared through Phillip as if he weren’t there.
“May… may I ask how she’s doing? I don’t know the details of what happened. Just… that she wasn’t the queen anymore and she had an apoplexy,” Phillip tried, hoping to find out a little bit of information.
Sighing, Sadie let her eyes fall to the floor.
“She had a really… bad attack of apoplexy. I found her in the morning when I went to check on her,” murmured the newly minted queen. “I think someone put something in her evening drink. She was just… lying in bed moaning when I found her.”
Phillip had no experience with the sickness and knew very little of it.
“She’s alive, thankfully. Though… half of her body won’t move,” Sadie continued, her eyes looking at something that wasn’t there. “She can’t really talk. Not in any way that we can understand her.
“She needs round-the-clock care now. She doesn’t even have control over her faculties. As soon as I realized she wouldn’t be fit to lead, I took the crown.”
“I’m… so sorry, your majesty,” Phillip offered sincerely. He’d liked Queen Karen.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Phillip. And please, call me Sadie,” said the young queen, lifting her eyes back up to Phillip. “We’ve found she can at least communicate if we give her a quill. It’s hard to make out but… she lets her wants be known.
“She’s living the best life we can give her now. Though the surgeons constantly try to get her to get up and move. To force her into trying.
“Surprisingly, she managed to wiggle a toe the other day. There’s hope yet. She just… won’t be able to lead ever again. Mother never gives up though. Never.”
Smiling, Phillip moved over to stand in front of the sofa.
“May I, Sadie?” he asked politely, gesturing.
“Oh! Yes, please. Heavens yes. I’m so sorry, Phillip. I’m still getting used to this. I was just the crowned princess not long ago,” Sadie said in a very embarrassed tone. “Just an heir to the duchy before that.”
“Thank you,” Phillip said, taking a seat.
“Well. We’r
e going to move ahead as best as we can. There’s no reason to wait or dilly dally,” Sadie said. “With your mother no longer on the board, only Princess Marie will be a problem. Tralin herself is worthless as a leader. And after the queen formally ignored your mother’s ransom, it’s unlikely anyone will be willing to step up into that role for a time.”
Nodding his head, Phillip agreed with Sadie on that point.
Eventually someone will. There’s always someone wanting to push their way up. Regardless of the risk. That’s just how people are.
“If we can strike a critical blow before someone’s willing to risk the hot-seat as a general, all the better,” finished Sadie as if reading his mind. “Hence the extreme need for coin and urgency. We’re moving as rapidly as we can.”
“Of course. I personally didn’t fault you for the request, it made sense,” Phillip admitted. “Especially when we factored in that you’d need to move quickly to keep your legitimacy. Secure your supporters, the treasury, and your momentum.”
“Just so,” murmured Sadie, giving him a brilliant smile. Slowly she tilted her head to one side, staring at him in an entirely different way now. “I’m sure Janice will be bringing your mother along shortly while they continue to count the payment.”
“Ah, yes, I assume so,” replied Phillip, smiling at the queen. He felt odd about the way she was looking at him right now. “Have you made preparations to marry your fiancé? I imagine there’s a heavy push for an heir now that your mother is… incapacitated.”
“They’re definitely trying,” agreed Sadie with a chuckle. “It’s a shame I annulled my courtship. He was chosen for me by my mother. Now that she has no power… I’ll choose my own husband.
“And with so many men putting themselves at my disposal, I can at least insure myself of a good match. One that’ll buy me a good political marriage and backing.”
Phillip nodded his head.
That was the prudent thing to do if he had to think about it.
The fiancé she had was likely for her mother to seal alliances. Alliances that might not have the same worth to Sadie that they did her mother.
“A new trading partner when new trades are available,” said Phillip. “Especially with business you didn’t expect and had no way to plan for.”
Sadie grinned wider at that and nodded her head.
“Just so, again. That’s exactly right. Your mother was quite determined to teach you to be a useful husband it seems,” Sadie complimented him.
“I-yes. She did. It was expected I’d marry into a house that was on the rise. That could have risen well beyond where they were,” explained Phillip. “Unfortunately they fell just before they could finish that rise.”
“I heard. I looked into it. Then your mother let the Rias family get you at a steal,” Sadie said, her eyes drilling into him now. “My understanding is that they’re very likely to become counts. Or to just… have the land they’re in now given to them.”
“That wouldn’t be surprising in the least. The Rias family is incredibly upwardly mobile and they know how to move coin.”
“Indeed. And what is more upwardly mobile than coin? Even queens such as I are beholden to it and must do terrible things to acquire it. Such as forcing you to pay such a price so quickly, despite not wanting to upset you or your family.”
“I… yes. Exactly. I’m sure there are those who can be content without chasing the almighty coin, but I’m not one of them. To respect finances is to understand the rule of the world.”
“And just so, once again,” Sadie said, leaning to one side and putting her chin in her hand. “But that only qualifies up to a point I’m afraid.
“Politics, military might, and… motivation all do play their part as well. Because the world is a dangerous and unkind place.”
Someone knocked on the door, causing Sadie to glance at it.
“Enter,” she called out.
Opening, Jamie entered the study, and the door was closed behind her.
“Have a seat, Miss Jamie,” offered Sadie, gesturing at Phillip. “I was just about to tell Phillip about my condition to this release.”
Wincing, looking incredibly unsure and angry, Jamie came over and sat herself down next to her brother.
“Thank you, your majesty,” Jamie murmured demurely.
Sadie didn’t tell her to call her anything else, and spared her a single look, before focusing back on Phillip.
“I’m afraid that I can’t let your mother go as she is,” apologized Sadie. “No one doubts her word at all. But now that I’ve seen the depth that Tralin will go… to poison my mother… I cannot take chances.
“Not at all. Not in any way shape or form. I think no sooner than I send your mother back home, that Tralin will just scoop up Jamie here as a hostage and force your mother back into service. Regardless of anything else.”
Blinking, Phillip considered that.
It’d come up briefly before with Sadie’s mother but they’d disagreed as to it being an actual possibility. It would seem Sadie now believed it wasn’t just a problem, but a likelihood.
Given that the queen had indeed delved deep into tyranny when it suited her, he found it incredibly difficult to naysay what Sadie was saying.
He knew first hand that the queen wasn’t beyond simply stealing resources from her people. To take it all, claim it was for the war effort or some such, and never look back.
If Tralin had been a moderate queen who didn’t do such things, there wouldn’t be a Queen Karen to begin with.
“Okay,” Phillip said as Jamie and Sadie stared at him. “You’re… keeping Jamie as a hostage?”
He wasn’t sure why they were putting him in the middle of this discussion. If they were keeping Jamie as a hostage to prevent his mother from joining the forces of the queen, it made no sense to him.
They were exchanging one hostage for another with an added coin value attached to it.
“Mother… is far more vital to the family than I am,” his sister said. “If Mother is there, she can do all that she needs to, to support Grandmother. To lead the Curis household accordingly.”
“Additionally,” Sadie said, stepping back into the conversation. “Once I defeat Tralin, I’ll pay back half the ransom to the Curis family we collected. Sent with the hostages I’ve kept against Tralin. Provided your mother remains true to her word.
“Given her care for her children, I don’t think it’s an issue. This’ll be over relatively quickly and we can go about settling the country.”
Phillip felt like there was more to those statements than he heard. That there was something else here going on and he hadn’t quite caught up to it.
“Hostages? Plural?” Phillip asked.
“Ah! Yes, I’m sorry. I’m… jumping all over,” apologized Sadie with a wave of her hand. “I’m so sorry, Phillip. I’ll have to keep you here as a hostage as well. Given your political link to the Rias family and that you’re your mother’s only son… well, keeping you here with Jamie serves my purpose two fold.”
I… I’m to be a hostage?
“I can easily guarantee your safety. That isn’t a concern at all,” Sadie promised and then uncrossed her legs. Only to cross them in the opposite arrangement. “You’d be welcome to do as you liked as long as your personal bodyguard, assigned from my royal guard, accompanied you.
“Though, it goes without saying your guards wouldn’t be welcome here of course. They’d have to return with your mother or to the Rias household. Whichever works for them.”
Taking in a slow and deep breath, Phillip did all he could to process what he’d just been told.
“Before you ask, no. There is no alternative. No, I won’t accept more coin instead. Hence why I’ll repay half, later,” stated Sadie, getting ahead of his thoughts before he could voice them. “I apologize for this, it isn’t what I want to do, not really. But it must be done. Tralin can’t be allowed to continue to drive our people into the ground. And I don’t think for a secon
d that she’ll spare your mother once she’s home.
“Political pariah or not, she needs a general who can equal me. And again, outside of maybe Marie, there isn’t anyone.”
Realizing that Phillip had been put into a position he couldn’t exit from, he let his head slowly hang down. Looking to his booted feet, he considered them and what he could do.
Everything boiled down to one inescapable fact.
If he wanted to free his mother, he would need to remain.
His duty was to his family, the Rias family. To love, cherish, and support his wife, Alice, as she led their household.
Except he was also expected to pay respect to his mother. The woman who’d birthed him and bestowed her family name on him. Paid for all the things he needed in life and provided him with that same marriage to Alice.
It was exactly as his grandmother had said.
This was the honor of duty. Familial duty.
And he was expected to play his part.
“I understand,” murmured Phillip quietly. “I think this is deplorable, but I understand. There’s… there’s no reason to hold us hostage. My mother would never allow Tralin to use her.”
“Given that she poisoned my mother,” said Sadie with a tight voice. “I don’t think anything is beyond Tralin. Nothing, in fact. Whether your mother allowed it or not, she’d be forced to become the general once more. With both of you here, however? That’s not going to happen.”
Jamie laid a hand to Phillip’s back and lightly began to rub back and forth.
“I’ll be sure to keep you both well entertained, cared for, and protected,” Sadie promised. “You’re a hostage, but I’ll treat you as a guest of my home. Now… I’m going to go have your rooms made up and get your mother ready for release. It’s apparent to me I don’t need to have my people finish counting your coins. You’re an honorable man, Phillip. I respect you.”
“Thank you, Sadie,” said Phillip in a low tone.
“You’re very welcome, Phillip,” the queen said with warmth.
“Thank you,” Jamie said.
“Thank you, your majesty,” corrected the queen, her tone sliding into a dangerously cold territory in a flash.