Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Adeline stood by her grandfather’s bedside, staring down at his still, dead form. After lingering for hours, the end had come mercifully and suddenly for a man who had caused so much pain to others.
Lord Sarlon turned to her, his hands clasped behind his back.
He’d been the only lord allowed in to witness the king’s death, a mark of how her grandfather had essentially begun handing the kingdom to him rather than her.
“I need an answer on the betrothal. The kingdom should not be left without a monarch.”
She didn’t miss how he used the neutral monarch instead of queen. Lord Sarlon fully intended to make sure his son was the power behind the throne, not her.
The war for her crown had begun.
Despite her trembling hands and shaking knees, she kept her chin high, her back straight as she held Lord Sarlon’s gaze. “Please gather the council in the formal reception room. I will be there momentarily to make my marriage announcement.”
A hint of a smile curved Lord Sarlon’s mouth. He thought he had her cornered and that the marriage she’d be announcing would be the one to his son. “Very well, Highness.”
He gave her a bow—the one for a princess, not yet the one for his queen—and left the room.
Adeline lingered another moment. In death, her grandfather was still and hollow, just a shell lacking the fire and power he exuded in life.
Yet even after death, he had the power to control her life. She would have to spend the first years of her reign undoing everything he’d done in the past decades.
If she survived the attempt.
With a deliberate spin on her heel, she strode from the room.
In the sitting room, the royal doctor lingered, as well as several of her grandfather’s guards.
Adeline gestured from the doctor to the guards. “Please prepare his body for lying in state.”
“Yes, Highness.” The doctor and the guards gave bows before they strode past her into the king’s bedchamber.
With that done, she left the king’s suite and walked back to her rooms as quickly as she could without appearing to hurry.
Inside, her loyal guards, the physician, Jelsa, and Thaddeus waited. All of them stood as she entered, and she swept a glance over them. “My grandfather, the king, is dead.”
She should feel more emotion at those words. Something beyond this numb relief. He had been her last living relative, after all.
But being all alone in the world was better than having him for a grandfather.
Thaddeus dipped into a low bow. “Your Majesty. My queen.”
The others followed, curtsying or bowing deeply.
Her heart ached. She was both honored and strangely melancholy at seeing her friends give her this deference.
“The council is convening in the reception room.” Adeline glanced from Thaddeus to the physician. “Is Lord Lorne up for making an appearance?”
“No, but…” The physician shifted, as if he didn’t think it was his place to say the rest out loud.
“He doesn’t have much of a choice,” Thaddeus finished in a quiet voice. “You need a husband standing beside you at the meeting.”
“Yes, but I’ll do my best to minimize how long he will have to stay.” Adeline resisted the urge to glance at the bedchamber door. “Have him brought to the private waiting room.”
“Very well, Majesty. I will see to him.” The physician entered the bedchamber, followed by Thaddeus.
“Jelsa?” Adeline gestured down at her gray dress. “I will need to change into black.”
“Of course, milady.” Jelsa bobbed another curtsy. “I will also see to your hair. You will need to make a statement.”
That she would. Adeline headed into the bedchamber, glancing only briefly at where the physician was checking on Lord Lorne’s wounds and Thaddeus was laying out a new set of clothes, before she entered the dressing room.
In the dressing room, Adeline gave herself over to Jelsa’s care.
She dressed in one of the black dresses she had in her wardrobe before Jelsa set to work weaving another crown of braids, similar to what Adeline had worn for her late-night wedding, except that this time she tucked in diamond accents instead of pearls.
Adeline found herself physically ready long before she was mentally ready. All too soon, she was sweeping down the halls, Thaddeus just a step behind her and her guards trailing after, the physician’s reassurance that he would have Lord Lorne in position still ringing in her ears.
She descended the stairs, strode down a short corridor, and halted before the double doors to the assembly hall. Only a few nights ago, she’d been married within this hall. Now she’d face down her council and hope they didn’t revolt then and there.
The guards stationed there opened the door, and a footman called into the room, “Her Highness Princess Adeline.”
The title was no longer correct, but the footman didn’t know that.
As the occupants of the room stood and bowed in her direction, Adeline glided inside, keeping her head high, the diamonds woven into the braid wound around her head winking in the light shining through the high windows.
She didn’t pause until she’d climbed the dais, where she turned and faced the gathered crowd of lords before her.
Her legs shook worse at the sight. So many men arrayed before her. Not a single ruling lady in sight since women couldn’t inherit a title and sit on the council. It was amazing that Kelvernese law allowed women to inherit the throne at all.
Even if she couldn’t inherit it without a man at her side. True, a man couldn’t inherit without being married either. But she didn’t think those marriages were as much about control as the men in this room intended hers to be.
Had she bypassed that domination? Or had she simply taken on another form of it by tying herself to the Lalsacian lord? She didn’t know him well enough yet to see if he would be a man like her grandfather.
Or he could be a man like her father. Kind. Gentle. Self-sacrificing. Whatever confidence she still retained was a remnant of the love her father and mother had given her in her early years.
She wouldn’t know for sure until Lord Lorne healed enough to no longer be so vulnerable and dependent.
Pushing the thoughts of Lord Lorne away, she faced the crowd of men packed into the rows of the hall. “King Jeraldo is dead.”
She didn’t even try to work up tears or a mourning note to her voice. Right now, she was queen, and queens didn’t have the luxury of emotions. Nor did she actually feel that sort of sorrow at her grandfather’s passing.
Lord Axtol, the oldest lord on the council and therefore its head, stood. “As you know, the law clearly states that an heir to the crown must be married to ascend to the throne.”
“If I might speak, Lord Axtol.” Lord Sarlon slid to his feet as well, his expression as slick as his tone.
When Lord Axtol nodded to him, Lord Sarlon held up a sheaf of papers.
“Before he died, the late king negotiated a contract of betrothal between his granddaughter and my son. All it needs is the princess’s signature to make it official. ”
Several of the lords leapt to their feet, shouting and protesting. Many of these lords also had eligible sons, and their protests had more to do with wanting to grab power by positioning their son as consort than any concern about her.
The few lords who were loyal to her remained seated and quiet, their gazes fixed on her as they waited for her to reveal the truth.
She let the commotion continue for several more minutes, forcing herself to note the various protests and sides the lords were taking. That would be important information for her to know going forward.
Near the door at the back of the room, Thaddeus lingered in the shadows. He, too, would be making the same notes, likely with far more political astuteness.
After another moment, she lifted a hand. “Silence, please.”
It took long moments for the lords to quiet and retake their seats.
Her heart pounded harder as she looked out over the crowd. This was it. “Thank you for your concerns, gentlemen. But as it happens, I am already married.”
After a heartbeat of stunned silence, most of the lords jumped to their feet again, the shouting and protesting starting up all over again. They were no more happy to have been denied their chance at the throne by her than they had been by Lord Sarlon.
This time, Adeline raised her hand and her voice right away, cutting them off. “Silence.”
When the lords finally subsided to a semblance of calm, a low muttering still filled the hall.
Lord Sarlon faced her with barely contained fury suffusing his face. “To whom are you married?”
“To me.” The new voice rang strong and confident behind Adeline from the direction of the door to the waiting room behind the dais. Bootsteps sounded on the flagstones before Lord Lorne appeared at her side. His head turned to her, his gaze meeting hers, as he held out his arm.
This close, she could see the brightness of fever in his eyes and the flush to his cheeks. But he was standing upright, dressed in a set of trousers, shirt, and doublet that fit him rather well.
While he didn’t wear the Lalsacian colors, his black hair and darker colored skin were distinctive enough that there would be no mistaking who she had married.
She laid her hand on his arm, even as the lords before her burst into chaos once again.
“A Lalsacian!”
“You cannot be serious, Your Highness!”
“I will not stand for this!”
“How do we know this marriage is even real?”
Lord Pellier, one of the lords loyal to her, spoke for the first time, raising his voice. “The marriage is quite real. I witnessed it myself.”
“Then you approve of this…travesty?” The other lord gestured to her and Lord Lorne.
“I believe this is our only path forward to peace with Lalsacia.”
“Peace! Lalsacia just killed our king!”
“And we imprisoned their diplomatic envoys.”
“They killed our crown prince and his princess before we were even at war! What we did to their envoys is nothing they didn’t deserve!”
Beside her, Lord Lorne stiffened, but Adeline didn’t dare glance at him. This moment was too precarious for any distraction, even if the words stabbed at her heart.
Forcing her emotions away, Adeline called for silence. The lords took far longer than any of the previous times to quiet, and the low murmurings continued. Most of the men before her had mutinous looks on their faces, and they remained standing instead of sitting.
“I understand your concern over my marriage. There has been a lot of bloodshed and atrocities committed in this war.” Adeline tried to keep her expression and voice neutral and stern.
If she showed any weakness now, the lords would exploit it.
“But my marriage signals both to you and to Lalsacia that I am resolved to bring about peace between Kelverny and Lalsacia, as is my husband Lord Lorne. It will be a long road, but I will see this through for the sake of our kingdom.”
The lords stared at her, most of them appearing as if they were contemplating treason right then and there.
Her fingers tightened on Lord Lorne’s arm, needing reassurance, even if the only one standing with her was the enemy lord she had married.
Surprisingly, his other hand came up to rest over hers on his arm. When she glanced at him, he gave her a hint of a smile and tilt of his head.
His support stiffened her spine and strengthened her voice as she stared out at her lords once again. “Since I am already married, I became queen the moment my grandfather breathed his last. Now I ask the council to recognize my right to rule.”
Lord Pellier pressed his arm over his heart before he swept into a low bow. “My queen.”
Others made the motion and bowed, holding the bow. Lord Sarlon and his ilk hesitated, but after a moment, they, too, bowed. Although Lord Sarlon did so with a sneer on his face. But even he was unwilling to make his move this publicly.
Not yet, anyway.
Adeline waited another heartbeat, letting them linger in their bows, before she motioned. “Rise.”
The lords stood once again. After making a few final statements, Adeline gathered her skirts.
A light pressure on Lord Lorne’s arm had him turning in time with her before the two of them swept toward the door at the back of the dais.
Lord Lorne remained a half-step behind her, even as they walked together, falling almost effortlessly into his role as consort.
He opened the door for her, and she stepped inside first. He followed, closing the door behind them.
Yet he didn’t immediately move from the door, gripping the handle with white knuckles. His face had gone white, beads of sweat trickling down his temples.
“Come, you need to sit down.” Adeline gripped him under the elbow, not sure if there was anything she could do if he couldn’t manage to walk on his own.
The physician had pushed to his feet from the chair where he’d been waiting and was hurrying forward.
“I need to tell you…tell you…” Lord Lorne’s voice was growing fainter as he swayed.
The physician arrived just in time to catch the Lalsacian as he collapsed.
“Is he all right?” Adeline still gripped Lord Lorne’s arm, although she wasn’t actually supporting any of his weight.
The physician pressed his hand to Lord Lorne’s forehead, his brow furrowed. “His fever is spiking. He needs to be back in bed and resting.”
Adeline nodded. Lord Lorne had pushed himself beyond what he should have to stand at her side back there.
Hopefully he hadn’t pushed himself too hard. Strangely, she didn’t want to find herself a widow before she even had the chance to get to know this Lalsacian lord she’d married.