Chapter 14 #2
But they were in a box and the crowd of thousands below had nothing to entertain them but to watch the boxes above. Aimilia didn’t want to be left alone with her, but considering the audience they had…
Better here and now than in the palace behind closed doors later.
“That would be so kind of you, Nikias. You are such a doting son,” Aimilia said, rising from her seat and reaching out to place her hands on the railing while looking back at them.
Nikias snapped his mouth shut, glaring at Aimilia, but he got her message clearly as he headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”
His cold look toward his mother had no effect on the queen as she gave him a soft smile and said, “Thank you.”
Nikias hurried out the door as Clelia approached the railing, coming to stand beside Aimilia. Aimilia stared down at the stands of Runai and Solitus stretching their legs while the arena was readied for the next set of novices.
Clelia’s voice came out frigid and clipped as she said, “I used to like you.”
Years of dinners and banquets playing the perfect girl in order to try to endear their own son to them still didn’t make it any easier for Aimilia to hold her tongue. But she could not shed the act even if she wished to.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Aimilia said, gripping the railing and focusing on a pair of Runai below, the woman gesturing wildly as she spoke to the man.
“What was it?” Clelia put on a smile and waved to some of the Runai who’d spotted them. Her voice, however, remained dark and cold, completely measured. “My son has been tight-lipped about the whole event, but I will know what cause you gave to refuse him.”
Well, Aimilia could hardly repeat all the things she’d said to Nikias. Or tell Queen Clelia the additional reason being her treason.
She caught Cyprian’s eye where he stood at his own railing, watching her like a hawk. Maybe she’d have to do some groveling after all.
Aimilia took a deep breath. She could do this.
“Your Majesty, I… I wish most desperately things had not transpired the way they did.” She turned her head just enough to watch Clelia’s expression. “The last thing I ever expected was a proposal from His Highness. I never wanted to make a spectacle of him or myself.”
Clelia scoffed. “None of that justifies your refusal of the next king of Imperia who more than made his pursuit of you evident for months now.”
Aimilia didn’t dare contradict her. There would be no point. Nikias and his mother seemed to have much different ideas about what an evident pursuit was than she did.
“Your Majesty, as honored as I am that Nikias would ever consider me, I’m afraid I could not accept.
” The act was one Aimilia wore as a second skin, but there was nothing natural about it.
“Your Majesty, I had the privilege of watching with my own eyes Nikias and Faustina fall in love deeper day by day up until her horrific end. I saw the agony Nikias was in following her death, and knowing his promise that he would mourn her the rest of his life. I cannot marry him when I know it would only be a further cause of agony for him. He would be in utter misery married to me and mourning Faustina. How could I in good conscience be responsible for his pain?”
Clelia eyed her and Aimilia resisted the urge to hold her breath as she waited to see if the queen believed her.
“What of yours?”
“Pardon? I don’t understand, Your Majesty.”
“Do you plan to never marry? Now that the she-wolf has her claws in my second-born permanently, would that not be the case for you should you ever marry? Why not marry the one Runai who might actually understand and accept a purely practical arrangement? Nikias’ grief is irrelevant to the fact that he must marry again.
If not you, it will be some other girl that would be the cause of his ‘misery’ as you put it.
Which, I highly doubt my son would be miserable, especially once his wife provides him with the heirs Faustina didn’t.
Even so, would you rather a girl who does not understand my son and care for him the way you do have to endure such circumstances? ”
Aimilia’s grip on the railing tightened as she was backed into a corner. “I… I hadn’t thought of it like that, Your Majesty.”
“Then start thinking. By now, you should be over your infatuation with my second-born and looking at your future practically. You were a fool to refuse Nikias. What use do any of us have for the hearts of our spouses? Better they come with crowns and power. That is where security lies. You know that.”
Aimilia let out a soft gasp when the queen’s hand sank into her side. No one in the crowd would be able to see it, but Aimilia could feel her nails digging into her skin, mitigated only by the fabric of her peplos. Enough force to bruise, but at least she wasn’t able to scratch.
Clelia leaned in and hissed, “Do you think I’m so foolish as to believe such a weak, frail excuse as that?
No… You’re not as good of a liar as you like to think you are.
You think you’re better than Nikias. That’s why you led him on and refused him.
You resent him because he’s not my second-born.
That’s why you humiliated him. Did you really think you’d be able to get away with it? ”
“Your Majesty, I promise you, that’s not it at all,” Aimilia breathed out, ignoring the pain starting to bloom up her back.
Not once had either the king or queen lifted a hand against her.
She’d never imagined they would. No matter how much she knew about their treatment of Gavril, it was inconceivable.
She’d always believed she was untouchable. Why?
Aimilia took in a sharp breath.
Why had she believed that?
“I swear, I was simply trying to make the choice that would cause the least amount of pain for both of us in the long run.” Every instinct in her was screaming at her to pull away as the pain kept deepening, but she had nowhere to run.
“You miscalculated. Don’t think you’ve gotten away with anything,” Clelia said, pulling her hand away. “Your actions will have consequences.”