Ring of Dreams

Getting to Know You

He smiled, but the expression was tainted by bitterness. "Do you think that I did not try? I approached each of the councillors in turn, pleaded with them to support me against my uncle, but it was for nothing. My father's councillors, you see," he explained, "are old men, with old men's fears. Many of them have known my uncle for decades, and would rather see an old friend on the throne than a young man who may or may not have poisoned his own father to secure power." 

"They thought you did it?"

Edward nodded, stripping dead pine needles off of a branch without really looking and tossing them one by one into the fire. They blackened almost instantly before turning red, twisting and curling like ribbons inside the flames. "Who else had so much to gain? With my father gone, I would be king in a matter of months. Had he lived, he might have ruled twenty, thirty - even forty years more. Many of the councillors have ambitious young sons of their own, and it was a simple matter for my uncle to plant the seeds of doubt in their suspicious minds."

"He beat you to the punch," Jane murmured. 

"Nay, we did not spar with one another," Edward said, frowning, "but he was quicker than I to sway the council in his favor. There is little wonder in that, as he had the advantage of foreknowledge on his side." He sighed, discarding the denuded branch by flinging it into the fire after its needles. "Bereft of allies at home, I gathered supplies in secret for a journey to the border, where my father's closest friend, Lord Robert Welton, guards the marches."

Jane thought that over for a moment. "You think he'll believe you?"

"Without question!" He clenched his fist and brought it down on his knee, hard. "He was more a brother to my father than my uncle was, and his son has been my friend since childhood. He knows my character, and more importantly, he knows my uncle's character far better than the courtiers in the council do. He will believe me."

"Your uncle must expect you to go to him then, right?"

"Indeed," he said with a grimace. "Hence the assassins. It is my hope that the detour through the forest will throw them off of our trail, and we may slip through to the border undetected."

Jane made noises of agreement, but privately she thought that there wasn't much chance of that. Someone who had planned a few murders and a government takeover so carefully probably also knew where his nephew would run when there was trouble. Depending on how important Edward's death was to his plan, assassins along the way would probably turn out to be the least of their problems.

"But I have been monopolizing our conversation!" Edward cried. "Pray, tell me more about yourself. What led you to wander alone in search of adventure?"

"Oh," Jane stalled, surprised. "Um, well - I guess I just... saw an opportunity. I've never really... had the chance to do something like this on my own, you know? I've always had to follow someone else's schedule, someone else's plan, and never got to see who I could be, what I could do. Out here," she smiled, breathing deeply of the breeze that blew through the wild wood, feeling the heat of the small fire on her face as the light drew a circle between what she could see and what she could only imagine, "out here, anything could happen. I might do anything - I might be anyone."

Jane shook her gaze away from the flames, glancing sharply up at Edward's face. She had spoken more freely than she had meant, swept up by the fire and darkness and the sheer headiness of her adventure into baring more of her real self to this random guy than she ever did to anyone. To her surprise, he was not wearing that superior smile he had when she had first told him she was looking for an adventure. Instead, he seemed almost sad, although he still smiled.

"It can be difficult, my lady, to fill the roles that are expected of us. Few, I think, would understand that better than I. But what of your parents, your family? Will not they be worried for your safety?"