The Winter Queen (RH/Why Choose, MM, MF, MFM, FF) ✅

Chapter Five

Cyprian

I did not know what to expect of the woman who would be queen.

By the time word had gotten to me about her arrival and her illness, she was already in her quarters with the doctor.

I never got to lay eyes on her.

"Help me up, Cy," the king demanded, holding out an arm that had gotten frailer over the past several months.

It was strange to watch him waste away.

He had never been a particularly big or strong man. In fact, he was small for the cold lands. And all through his life, he was prone to illness. Any sickness that worked its way through the kingdom found its way into his system, taking him out for weeks or even months at a time.

Each time I got word of some disease making people even mildly ill, I held my breath, terrified this would be the end of our king.

Our heirless king.

It would be absolute chaos.

A catastrophe the likes of which our kingdom hadn't known for generations.

There were always whispers of rebellions or threats from a neighboring kingdom, but they knew we had strong leadership in place and that most of our citizens would pick up a weapon and fight for their way of life.

But were we to lose our king, and be put in an immediately unsafe position?

The wars would start.

The people would begin to die.

Our peace we loved so much would end.

It was why we tried as much as possible to keep the king away from the people, away from any illnesses they might be carrying with them.

He still held court, of course, because that was simply not an option to avoid, lest people start talking. But we did not host as many events anymore, citing various other scheduling conflicts that were mostly made up.

"Good man, thank you," the king said, standing still beside his bed, waiting for his body to agree to the motion of walking.

"Your queen is awake, sir," I told him as I fetched his robe.

He no longer used a personal valet since his last one died almost a year before. He, rightly, worried that servants were known for talking, and that a new valet would not be as loyal as the one he had used since he was younger.

We did not want word getting around that the king needed help just to rise from the bed.

So we had made the decision that I would help with the tasks as much as possible. As would Warwick, if it was deemed necessary.

We still were not sure if we could trust Gwen, the queen's new lady's maid. She was relatively new to the castle, and had been chosen mostly because, from what Warwick and I had observed, she did not socialize much with the other servants.

The word that got back to us was that the other servants did not want to be associated with her. Because of the rumors spread around the kingdom of her preference for the company of other women.

She was the least likely to be trouble if the queen decided to confide in her about her husband's state.

And, if she proved herself trustworthy enough, she could even help assist in the care of the king as well. Since it served all of our best interest for him to continue to do well.

At least until there was an heir.

Though, objectively, I was not sure how that would even be remotely possible.