The Lady's Highlands

Part 8

I know I said that this would be the last chapter... but there is one more after this :) Hopefully this chapter is enough to tide you over for now! Thank you all for being so patient! <3 I love my readers! 

____________________________________________________________________________

It took two weeks for the preparations to be made and the journey to the Northlands to ensue, the King made sure it was a quick one. He hated traveling. Travel reminded him of his days in the army. It was common knowledge that the king’s nerves were not what they used to be thanks to the wars to the East that his own father waged. Since then travel only served to remind him of the days in rank behind his father heading off towards a war he had no belief in, so he would much rather foreign diplomats come to him where he could sleep comfortably at night, but there were times when he could not avoid his duties. This was one of those times.

He looked over at his wild cousin, the one he remembered watching grow up with raised eyebrows. If her mother confessed having an adulterous relationship in result of her, he would not be surprised. The king could not understand where the girl’s wild streak came from, but it was there alright. When she first came sauntering into his study he did not know what to think. She was meant to be in the Northlands for her sister’s upcoming nuptials, what in the name of all things living was she doing in his study?

He was absolutely astounded by not only the presumptiveness of her plan, but the brilliance of it. He honestly could not wait until he was given the pleasure of seeing it unfold. Quite honestly, he needed some entertainment in his life that had nothing to do with the women in his bed because Life knows it was the only reprieve he got anymore. Being the “Peaceful King” after his father’s warring ways was not easy to do. Keeping the warmongers off his back was hard enough and it is not even the most time-consuming of his duties. Or the most stressful, for that matter. This should give him some peace, and he treated it like a vacation of sorts, no matter how short it may be.

Arriving at Duke Lozen’s estate was comical. News that the king was arriving spread faster than the king’s party itself, and once they got onto the grounds of the duke’s estate the bustle only grew to a comical state. Maids ran around carrying fine linens, errand boys and girls swarmed around with the supplies they were sent to fetch by whomever their masters were, there was even a cook scurrying about among the chaos, and stewards struggled to clear the entryway as the Royal Caravan rolled up.

The king kept his face straight. Any other time he would have joked, but this was not a time for frivolity. He was there for a purpose. He turned his head and watched Scarlette jump from the back of her horse and make her way steadily towards the entrance to the keep where Lozen stood in wonderment and fear.

He knew his actions were wrong. He knew that he should have either been straight forward with his intentions and the reason for his craze to marry the younger of the two sisters, or simply resolved to stay true to her. But he did not think for a single moment that either of the sisters would have taken such offence that they bring their cousin the king in to intervene. Lozen was close to feinting on the stone floors of the courtyard, something that Scarlette saw with amusement in the green pallor overtaking Lozen’s features. The man would die of heart-failure before he hit the ground if he were not put out of his misery! Scarlette remained silent as she walked passed him, followed by her sister and the king himself.

Lozen dropped into a clumsy bow, clearly attempting to keep as many of his wits about him as he could muster the strength to rein in.  His attempts were poor given the vibrations of flesh that his hands resembled, but admirable all the same. The king hoped that Scarlette would not torture the man much longer, he may just die of heart-failure before they reached the meeting room.

“My king,” Scarlette smiled and bowed once she, her sister, the king, and the quivering adulterer were in the meeting room. “If you will please accompany me to another meeting; it seems that my sister and the duke need to have a word with one another.” She aired a posh accent, a tone she only used for satire, though the duke did not know that and watched her with wide eyes. He’d never heard her speak like a proper lady before. The king, still holding back laughter, nodded gravely. “Of course, cousin.”

Together they exited the room leaving Duke Lozen and Lady Lillia alone together.

Lillia regarded Lozen with uninterested eyes for a moment before she lazily made her way to the large chair behind the desk. She was aiming to make a point that was not lost on Lozen who bristled at the clear show of superiority.

“My Lady, I understand that I have scored you, but to show me such disrespect as to-“

“I think you should close your mouth, Lozen, and listen to the deal that I am so generously willing to offer you.” She eyes him levelly until she was sure he was not going to speak. He stood before the desk, refusing to sit in a seat that would make him seem subservient to her. His pride would not allow it.

Once Lillia was satisfied with this attention, she continued, “Now, Lozen, you seem to be under the impression that I am the caliber of woman who would be subject to a marriage for anything but love. I am not the daughter of a power-hungry father looking to climb in social status, nor am I the daughter of a king; therefore I am free to choose whom it is that I spend the rest of my life with. When I choose that man, and he will not be you, I will hensforth relinquish the fortune that is attributed to the name that I was blessed with at birth to him. But I will love him. And he will love me. He will be true to me. It saddens and elates me at once that you are not that man, Lozen. As I look around me now, I realize how miserable I would really be living with you. How many of the maids would I have had to dismiss out of self-respect?” She sighed and shook her head, fully intending on barreling on through her rhetorical question.

“Any matter, because I have such a soft heart, I would never wish bankruptcy on anyone; even you, the man who would have so callously taken my freedom of marital choice from me through your lies and deceptions. So when my sister came to me with her plan I accepted the responsibility of relaying to you the details.” Lillia splayed her hand out towards Lozen in a wry manner as she took a deep breath and on the exhale she said: “I do hope that you cooperate with us in this, it would be a shame to simply strip you of your title and lands.”

Lozen’s pale face reddened with anger, “On what grounds?” He snarled, slamming his fists into the desk before him. Lillia did not flinch at the aggressive action and only slumped into the large leather chair in an uncaring and dismissing way that had Lozen gritting his teeth in irritation. If she were any other woman, she would be out of his office with a handprint welting her smart mouth, but she was cousin of the king who was currently present in his household. He held his hand.

Lillia sighed yet again and looked straight up at the ceiling, seemingly bored, “It seems that the king agrees that you are not the best man to be lording over the land along the northern border any longer, seeing as the king wishes to move toward peace between our neighbor to the north and ourselves. You seem to have quite the… prejudice against the clansmen, and it has not gone unnoticed that it is your men whom are found to be the aggressors in near eighty percent of the border disputes and skirmishes between their people and ours. I do not believe that this is something that is very proactive in the search for peace, do you? Of course you don’t, you are not a stupid man, simply a biased one.” Lillia straightened and rested her forearms on the desk before her as she leaned forward as a woman with a juicy secret would. “The king no longer wants you here. Instead he intends to take you with him back to the capitol until he finds a place for you; most likely he will marry you to one of the ladies who are either widowed or who’s fathers are near death so that you may once again lord over a land, but that is up to him as king.” Lillia shrugged and sat back again, placed her hands in her lap, and watched his expression.

He was not a happy man.

“And who will be put in charge of this land? You?” Lozen spat, making Lillia roll her eyes.

“Have you not been listening? I will marry for love on day and I will live with that man. Of course I am not being put in charge of this land. The Laird Evret Hogarth and his wife, my sister, Scarlette will be.”