Chapter 19 #2
But she didn’t seem inclined to leave her position on the couch.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…I don’t think I can stand.”
Of course she couldn’t. It was a marvel she was awake after her overuse of magic.
“Will you allow me to carry you?”
“Just this once,” she whispered.
Theron scooped her up off the couch and held her in his arms, praying this wouldn’t be the last time she rested her head against his chest or placed her hand near his heart.
And when she left the manor in his arms, the cheers became deafening, the smiles infectious. Aurora gasped, and he wished he could see her expression.
“O-oh,” she said, her voice cracking, wiping tears from her eyes as laughter bubbled out of her.
“Please, sit, Your Highness, and allow the townspeople to present their gifts and thanks,” Lord Kaenas said as attendants brought a plush chair from the mansion and set it in the shade of the entrance.
Theron set her down with some reluctance.
“Will you be alright?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“Don’t push her, Lord Kaenas. She has used a great deal of magic today,” Theron warned.
“Of course not, Your Majesty.” He bowed.
The gates were opened, and both the household guard as well as Theron’s own controlled the flow of well-wishers.
As they knelt at his wife’s feet and thanked her profusely with tears in their eyes and gifts in their hands, she tried and failed to hold back tears of her own.
The elderly lord smiled and put his hand on her shoulder as townspeople kissed her knuckles.
And all the while, a strange mix of pride, happiness, and deepest shame swirled through his veins.
His wife was not mad. She was possessed of a great and terrifying magic. She had come to save them from calamity. And the person who had stood in her way was none other than her wretched husband.
That ended today.
“Your Majesty!”
A man with the mark of the royal post raced up to the manor atop a loper. Both man and rider appeared road-weary and pushed to their limit. He leapt off his steed and presented a letter. The seal was Polydorus’. Theron’s gut twisted. What fresh chaos was this?
He cracked the seal and read—then tossed the missive into the nearest fire.
“Bring me ink and parchment and a bird to fly my reply to the palace.”
Apparently, Flora had sent a group of nobles into Aureum under the guise of merchants.
Polydorus’ spies had uncovered that they had meant to reveal themselves and push their way to the gates of the palace for an audience, demanding he return Epicasta to Viridis.
Much as he would like to simply send them away, more of her people could have infiltrated Aureum.
The newest arrivals would need to be questioned and a message sent to Flora about her breach of protocol—as well as her outrageous demands.
He had no more control of her wayward crown princess than she did, and he could not allow Flora to turn that into his responsibility.
This was not something his cup bearer could deal with in Theron’s absence.
Which meant they would have to put off their trip to the Dragon’s Spine mountains and pacifying the spirits there. Perhaps that had been Flora’s plan.
Theron wrote out his instructions. Detain the nobles.
Treat them like the invaders they were. To send her dogs in disguise into his kingdom without proper protocol could reasonably be considered spying.
Question them. If any more had slipped through the cracks, find and detain them as well.
Only when he had returned would he see them and give them something to send back to their bitch queen.
He sealed his missive and handed it to his people. They would see it arrived in Altanus within a day. That left the journey back. Theron sighed. It felt like he was tucking his tail between his legs and running away from his duties. Lord Vettias would surely be displeased.
“Ready a boat. We’re to return to Altanus tomorrow.”
At least the trip would be fast, sailing with the natural flow of the river and aided by the wild magic of wind and water to hasten the trip even more.
With luck, he could deal with this most recent unpleasantness in Altanus and be back on his journey to the mountains within a few days.
He supposed the delay would give him a chance to take a few tentative steps towards earning his wife’s forgiveness, if such a thing were even possible.
As the day dragged on, she was served food and refreshments. The line of well-wishers seemed to grow throughout the day, only daring to wane with the light.
When the grateful crowd finally departed, it was nearing dusk.
Time to get safely within and away from the anger of the spirits.
Theron knelt by his wife’s side and held out his arm for her.
Her eyes were red rimmed from happy tears, her cheeks flushed from praise, but she looked ready to faint from exhaustion.
“Can you stand?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“May I carry you?”
She nodded once. His heart leapt as he swept her up into his arms once more.
This was the second time today she’d allowed him to touch her, no matter that she’d told him she would only allow it one last time.
He didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve this shred of hope and happiness, and yet it was his.
By the time they’d reached the bedroom, she was already asleep.
He set her on their bed and allowed his attendants to ready her for the night.
By the time he was wiping the grime of the day from his face, she was already tucked in under the covers.
Theron didn’t dare to slide under the covers next to her.
He was barely fit to sleep at her feet like some housecat.
He set himself up on the nearest couch and prayed for even a moment of rest.
The morning dawned without much fanfare, and Aurora said little when he informed her of their change in plans.
They requisitioned the best boat that could be had and were already more than halfway to Altanus by midday.
Aurora sat next to him, her eyes unfocused, as if her mind was a hundred leagues away.
It was a strangely peaceful silence he was reluctant to break.
He wanted to question her further, to learn more about her and the world she came from, but he could see that though she sat beside him without complaint, she had no desire to speak to him.
There would be time yet to show her he was sorry.
For now, he had to be content that they were no longer at each other’s throats.
He would be best served thinking of some way to earn her forgiveness.
But as the day waned and their exhausted attendants sped them into the docks next to Altanus, Theron was no closer to an answer to that particular conundrum.
Word of his return must have spread, because he was greeted by courtiers anxious for his attention. He tried to dismiss them, but Polydorus met them at the docks.
“It would be best to entertain them, Your Majesty. Putting the Viridian spies in their place publicly would go a long way to soothing tempers about allowing Her Highness’ soldiers to roam the countryside in search of Drakon.”
He supposed at least the show would be quick. Dusk would be upon them in only a few short hours, and no one would wish to be caught out in the open.
“Very well.”
That was how he found himself seated in his throne room, Aurora sitting on a cushion by his feet, as the nobles of Altanus gleefully watched the Viridian spies hauled up from the dungeons and presented in chains.
Bruises, split lips, and blackened eyes accompanied their miserable, hunched postures, but they would find no sympathy here.
Curses and calls for their heads echoed off the walls, echoes which only ended when Polydorus stepped forward, beginning the session.
“You have been caught entering Aureum under false pretenses, your merchant’s documents falsified. His Majesty King Theron of Aureum has graciously allowed you to keep your heads so that you might explain yourselves in his court,” Polydorus announced.
The least battered of the four shuffled forward and knelt.
“Triad bless the sun of Aureum for his generosity,” he said.
Theron waved him on, certain that whatever spilled from his lips would be full of lies.
“We have come on orders of Her Majesty Queen Flora to—”
“So you’re spies, sent by your bitch queen!” Lord Gallus interjected.
“Lord Gallus, I do not recall hearing you give the proper blessings required to be allowed to speak in my court,” Theron said lightly, raising his brow at the boldness of one of Lady Ino’s hounds.
“Triad bless the sun of Aureum. Please have mercy, Your Majesty,” Gallus said, paling.
“Interrupt again and you will discover how much mercy I’m willing to extend, Lord Gallus,” Theron replied. “Continue, prisoner.”
“As I was saying, the bounty of Viridis asked that we search for Crown Princess Epicasta, last spotted on the Queen’s Road heading for Aureum.”
Aurora gripped the back of his calf, eyes beseeching him. He bit back a sigh. This was the last thing he needed. But his wife was oddly fond of the sharp-tongued harpy, and he had no desire to help Flora in the slightest.
“And has your queen also sent spies into King Enalos’ capital in search of her daughter, or is my kingdom the only one so honoured?”
“I do not know, Your Majesty.”
“If she wished to search for her daughter, as you say, then why make a secret of it? Why enter my kingdom under false pretenses? If Flora truly wishes to find her daughter, why not enlist the aid of the public? Why not go through the proper protocol and send an official messenger asking for my aid? I can only assume it is because you are not here to search for a wayward princess, but because you have a more sinister purpose. The last time Viridians snuck into my kingdom, the spire they built caused a blight. I held back because they were clerics, but you have no such protections,” Theron said, his tone menacing.