The Rose of Taured

Chapter I

A/N: There isn't a space to add notes so I figured I would add them here! Welcome to the story that has been my pride and joy going on a little over a month now! Before you begin, know that this is an AU. An AU of a completely altered world variety: the nations of Taured ('Man from Taured' urban legend anyone?), Lisboa, Sacria, and Monrovia do not exist - at least on this plane anyway. My original drafts involved England, Scotland, and France! Still, being bogged down by actual historical traditions stalled my writing so I figured: why not make my own nations and do blends of them? And so I did!  hope you enjoy this as much as I did. 

I.

"Your Majesty, may I have a word with you?" Lord Hutton, my most trusted counselor, murmurs to me as we are escorting the court into dinner. I regard him curiously. Whatever it is that he wants, it has to be good - he would never cause me undue distress the darkest of all days such as this. I wait until we are to the great table on the dais overlooking the rest of the black linened tables laden with food spread throughout the Great Hall to reply. "Certainly, your Grace. Please sit" I indicate that he do so to the right of my raised chair in the second most honored position apart from the King that is no more. Lord Hutton flashes me a smile that quickly fades. Oh, no. I know that look: whatever he is going to tell me is bad. Perhaps even worse than having to bury my husband less than two months ago. "I hate to distress you further in such a dark time," he begins, but I cannot bear the words. If anyone heaps any more pity upon me I will shatter into a thousand brittle, annoyed little pieces. "Oh, out with it, Lord Hutton. You have never spoke falsehoods to me before so I don't expect you to start now" I tell him. Dread twists my stomach into knots as he regards me sadly. "Your Majesty..." he begins again then stops. "Your Majesty, what?" I demand.

Despite the circumstances I find I will never get tired of the title. I am now Her Majesty Queen Rose II, named for my mother before me, and the undisputed Queen of Taured. No one can take that away from me now no matter how hard they try. Lord Hutton clears his throat slightly to bring me back to the present. "Out with it, man!" I snap. I'll never be able to eat dinner if he continues like this! He braces himself with a long swig of wine, then sighs. "The Grand Council is aflutter about you being a widow, my lady. They say it has almost been two months and that you have had ample time for mourning. They're going to advise that you remarry". All at once I forget myself, banging my goblet of wine down on the table so hard that the musicians stutter in their playing. "Never" I hiss flatly. Lord Hutton grimaces and throws them a hard glance. "I was afraid you would say that" he says. Warily, conversation around us begins to pick back up. Some disperse to eat, to dance, and tuck away portions to keep for themselves later.

With another sigh, he stabs the slice of roast duck on his plate a bit too viciously before putting it to his lips. "Do you have any idea how long I have waited to be Queen of Taured in my own right? Are they foolish enough to honestly think that I would relinquish the power to some man?" I fume. I was born and reared to rule like any other class of the nobility and I would shrink myself no longer! "They do not think that a woman alone can hold the throne after the occurrence with your Mother"- he beings, but I interrupt furiously. "Will no one ever let me forget it?" When I was eight, twelve years ago, my mother took a lover, as those unhappily married are wont to do. But she was not just any lover - she was the Queen of Monrovia, our neighbors to the north. The friendly relationship quickly soured when they were caught together and chose to run off together under cover of darkness. 

They managed to cross the ocean to the coast of the nation of Lisboa and were honored guests of the emperor...at least until my father and the Monrovian king caught them. They ordered the emperor and his wife to release them both on pain of war, and, unable to bear being imprisoned for their crimes of desertion, jumped from the roof of the great palace and into the churching ocean waves below, igniting a feud between Taured and Monrovia that has burned bright with hatred ever since. "I am not my Mother. I would not make her mistake. Perhaps if Father would've kept to himself none of it ever would have happened" I retort. "I was but a lad, but my father was present with the soldiers when yours went to retrieve them. It was not as simple as that. The point is that your mother was undisputed Queen and your Father King Consort. A commoner who had not been reared to take the throne as you have. May I remind you of those disastrous first years of his reign? Of the way you had to hide out and everyone came from all corners of the land to declare himself the son of your father and, therefore, heir?" I shudder at the memory. "That has nothing to do with me" I inform him stubbornly.