Blood of Azura

Part XVI

The Queen started, visibly, and shot Cassine a look so full of strength that Theodan felt momentarily awed by it. She turned swiftly to face the King. 'Princess Fara?' She gasped, horrified. 'Where??'

The King narrowed his eyes. 'What game is this Arielle?? You spoke of the woman your son loved did you not??!' His pallor reddened, his patience thinning. The Queen nodded, and turned back around and lifted her bound hands to point at the courtesan.

'Yes. I spoke of the courtesan, Nysa,' She said. 'My son once proclaimed to love her very deeply.'

The King's face fell as a small gasp of shock escaped from Cassine. Through his fingertips, Theodan felt her heart stumble, felt her blood freeze for the shortest of moments, before rushing hotly once more into a panicked gallop. Theodan followed the King's eyes and saw the courtesan's mouth drop open as she stared back at the Queen.

'What nonsense is this now??' The king hissed, eyes narrowing to dark slits. He was quickly turning white with rage but clearly unsure where and to whom he should direct it. The Queen, The Zybar men surrounding the courtesan, the courtesan herself. 'Your son loved this whore???!'

The Zybar guarding the Queen lifted a hand to wrap it around her throat. 'You will explain yourself to your King at once!'

The Queen closed her eyes, in another act of prayer perhaps, and gasped for breath. 'I tell only what the king has asked. Galyn professed his love for her,' The Queen rushed, choked.

The King was blinking in confusion now, his eyes darting back and forth between the courtesan and the Queen. Finally, deflated, he shook his head and sank back down in his chair. It creaked from the weight and he waved a hand at the guard holding her throat.

'Let her speak her testimony,' The King sighed. The guard let go of the Queens throat and she began to gasp and cough. When she recovered, she lifted her head to continue.

'My son had a young heart and a young mind.  This woman twisted and turned both against your daughter, against his father and I, and against his noble duties.  Her influence changed him until he began to care for nought but pleasure and the fulfilment of his own desires. He threatened to marry her in secret after his father and I forbade the marriage.' The Queen's voice slowly began to lift, filling with a regal air that made it loud enough to carry around the silent space.

'Oh, how I loved him,' She continued, her eyes turning glassy with unshed tears. 'He was beautiful and kind and brave, but the Goddess knows he was willful and capricious - even as a child. He desired a great many things but lost interest in them quickly, and so we hoped his desire for the courtesan would pass quickly also. Of course, we reminded him of his betrothal to the princess Dura,' she told the King. 'But whenever we did he became angrier and more stubborn, more determined to do as he pleased. How dare we choose his wife, how dare we decide who he should love, how dare we imprison him with duty. His people would love whatever wife he should so choose, just as they loved him. And if he chose a whore then his people would accept her. And any who did not would be guilty of treason and put to death.' The last part she spoke quietly, hanging her head, clearly ashamed. The King looked tired but faintly curious, listening now with a sort of weariness. 'Finally, we persuaded him to wait until his return from the Festival in Calate. We promised him that if upon his return he still desired Nysa above all others, then we would nullify the betrothal with Dura of Zybar.'

The Queen turned to address Nysa of Therolis then. 'But our suspicions were correct: he did put aside his love for his courtesan and the Goddess smiled upon our cause - for in Calate he met the Princess Fara. And it was she he chose above all others.' The Queen smiled, a genuine, warm smile; magnificent but out of place on her bruised and dirt-streaked face. 'And from this love, he would not be moved. They spoke their vows under the goddess and the moon in secret.'