Chapter 16
Lara looked at William and felt a tinge of melancholy. Her wedding had come and gone, and she hadn’t heard from her sister. She had heard of her, the king’s new and young bride. She was quiet, docile, plain. Everything that Anwyn strived to not be in life, she had become. It made Lara feel like she had failed her sister somehow.
In the early morning light, Lara stood up from her bed and stretched. She wasn’t with child yet, and she and her new husband were enjoying being newly wed without the responsibility of children. She was able to help with the farm work, and still had time to go and see her parents and her younger siblings. Her mother was very close to having her sixth child, and she needed help keeping the bakery tidy as she liked, so Lara ventured out and helped when she could. Her brother and his wife were too far away to be neighborly, but Lara and William lived just a mile away, a 20 minute walk.
Lara dressed and kissed her sleeping husband on the cheek and walked outside. It was a chilly day, and she was happy she had bundled up. In the distance, she heard the cows moo in discomfort, waiting to be milked, and the chickens were anxious to be fed after they had heard the squeak of the door signaling the arrival of their food.
“Hey, stranger.” came a confident female voice came from around the corner of the house. Lara practically jumped out of her skin, and whipped around to see who it was. Melinda, her friend from the manor stood there, dressed in warm clothes. She seemed well enough, and she must have been to be here in the cold morning. What time had she woken up to be here by this time?
“Melinda, you scared me half to death! What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be stopping by?"
“I have news I need to tell you, and you need to listen to it. Can we go inside? I’m freezing and I want to make sure we aren’t over heard.”
~*~
Briella took Romeo by the hand and pulled him out into the hall. He had played the guitar very sweetly, and they had both had a few drinks, and they were both feeling the evening.
“Briella, I, I hope you don’t mind…” his knees shook as she smiled and gazed at him, and he leaned in and kissed her. Pulling away, he looked at her, and she fanned her face and giggled.
“I’ve been hoping you’d do that all evening! But,” she hushed her tone. “Won’t the queen be angry? Aren’t the two of you secret lovers?” She asked.
“Anwyn and I? Where did you get that idea?” he laughed.
“Well, you’re always looking at her, and you talk so easily with her. You seem to know her well since you know her tells when she’s hiding something. I figured you must spend a lot of time together as lovers.”
“Bri, we all spend a lot of time together, we know a lot about each other. If you looked harder, you would see that Anwyn and Liam were the real couple here, not Anwyn and me. She’s my best friend’s girl, not mine. I’m completely available.” he admitted.
A grin grew on her innocent face. “In that case, I wanted to show you something.” she whispered in his ear. “You know what would make this knight even better?” He kissed her quickly and sloppily, and she took him by the hand once more, leading him to the other side of the palace, into the duchess's quarters.
Romeo hesitated to enter here, knowing that the duchess was a viper of a woman who would lure you in and bite you once you were entangled in her net. Or maybe she was a spider? Romeo couldn’t get his metaphors straight.
“Don’t worry, my lady is sleeping, she won’t wake up until the morning, remember? Not even a herd of elephants would wake her now.” Briella said.
“I, I haven’t been back here before.” he admitted.
“Come in, but wait at the door way. Don’t look yet!” she squeaked in pleasure.
He turned his back, and waited. The room smelled of berries and fireplace smoke. It was brightly lit, one of the brightest in the palace. She must have some fairy lights to have it so bright, candles wouldn’t light that brightly.
“Alright, you can look now.” she called, a tone of bashfulness in her voice.
Briella was in her corset and stockings, without a shred of clothing elsewhere, and Romeo averted his gaze nearly immediately.
“Why are you averting your gaze, Sir Romeo? Haven’t you seen the figure of a woman before?” she playfully teased.
“To be honest, not in quite some time, and even then not as clearly as you are standing in front of me.” He still didn’t meet her gaze.
“Well, you’ve been very good to me, so I thought I would reward you for being… for helping me get adjusted. You’ve been very kind, and I want you to know that I’m not just hot air, I’m the real deal.” she walked over to him and kissed his cheek, the two of them enjoyed their evening until dawn.
~*~
“Hey, I’m really enjoying my time here, thank you for hiring me,” Briella thanked while she helped the duchess get dressed.
“I needed someone to do a job, and you seemed to suit the bill. I know that you have certain… talents.” she replied.
“About that, I know we had talked about not using those talents yet, but I totally slept with Sir Romeo last night. He’s a good kisser.” she said plainly.
“I thought I had been clear, no sleeping with the targets. Did you at least learn anything, now that you have jumped forward in the plan?” the duchess asked patiently.
“I learned a very important thing. Once you get Romeo drunk, his lips are loose as a limp corset. He told me,” she leaned in as if whispering to her best friend. “Romeo isn’t the one having an affair with the queen, it’s the other guard, Sir Reed. He didn’t get into the specifics, but based on how willingly he gave himself over to me last night he isn’t the one we're after.”
The duchess grinned. “This is good work, sister. With this information I will make sure that order is kept in the palace and the king has an heir of his own, not a 🐸🐸🐸🐸 child. My son will not marry the daughter of a guard and a peasant, he will marry the daughter of a queen and the most powerful man in the whole world.”
~*~
Lara knocked furiously on the door of her parents’ bakery, hoping that they were home and not out, or worse, taken by the king’s men. There was no cause for alarm, but Melinda’s message had brought as much fear as it had hope.
“Goodness, what is going on, who is- Oh, Lara, why are you breathing so heavily? Did you run here? William, it’s good to see you, son, but why are you both here so early? We didn’t expect you until it was time for dinner.” her father answered the door.
“Father, gather the family. I have news that involves us all. May William borrow a horse to get to Dante’s house? He needs to hear it too, but he lives too far away to bring all the way here. It cannot be sent in a message.” Lara wheezed out, trying to catch her breath. She had run the mile here with William and she wasn’t used to running when walking was always an easier option.
“Of course. Whatever you need. William, we’ll set a plate for you for dinner, but it’s alright if you stay at Dante’s home overnight.”
“Thankyou.” he said, rushing over to the barn for the horse.
“Now, Lara, what is so important?” her father looked at her with concern. “Are you with child? Has your house burned down? Were you robbed?”
Lara walked into the bakery and paced. There were no customers in the store, no one to over hear them. “I got word from Melinda, my friend from the manor. She received a letter from the palace from one of the king’s guards, disguised as a love letter. We have to be ready, father, we need to leave.”
~*~
After two weeks of planning, the king was finally ready to start his journey north to rally the troops. They had enough food, water, and all of the necessities needed for traveling north. The duchess was to come with them, as was her maid, the queen, Sir Reed, Romeo, and Montoya, and the king. It was going to be a small group at first, but they were also going to pick up quite a few Templar knights and the high priest and priestess.
It was going to be cold, especially going north where it was always cold, but Anwyn was excited for the change in scenery. The journey would open the world beyond the tiny island they were imprisoned on.
It would take two months to reach the front line after traveling by boat for a distance and then further inland to the rocky land they were fighting over. One month on a ship, another on land. It was certainly a long journey, and if what Anwyn had heard was correct, they were going to be travelling within two miles of her home. It would hurt so much not to see her family, but that life was behind her now, she had to move on and give them a life.
Together, with the king leading and the duchess stepping in front of the queen, they made their way out of the palace, and out the front gate.
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