Ah, perhaps Alberu should have delayed the return to camp just a bit longer. At least enough to help Cale fix up her appearance. In retrospect, returning to camp carrying his wife who was covered in dirt, leaves, and twigs after a private meeting alone in the forest had a very specific look to it that Alberu really hadn't been attempting to inspire.
But more important than the leering looks of soldiers and servants, he really should have considered how it would look to Penelope.
If he thought she was cold before, it was nothing compared to her reaction upon seeing him carry a clearly distraught Cale back to camp.
"Sleep outside." Was all that his dear four year old daughter said before slamming shut the carriage door in his face, a disgust that rivaled her mother's expression darkening her innocent features.
Alberu was left only with regrets and ruminations as his wife and daughter slept in the cozy carriage together. Admittedly, he'd planned to sleep in a separate carriage from them to begin with for their comfort but there was a significant difference between choosing to sleep somewhere else and being kicked out.
In retrospect, he could certainly understand why Penelope was so cross with him. She'd been very clear about how she'd feel if he did absolutely anything to upset her mother and he'd come back with her looking worse than ever.
Cale hadn't looked at him either which was disconcerting.
They'd never been on particularly good terms at any point in their marriage but Cale had never avoided his eyes. It was one of the things he could reluctantly respect about her. She was absolutely insane, a drunkard, and cruel with her words but she definitely had guts.
She'd stare down just about anyone and probably threaten even a god with a wine bottle if the celestial being got on her bad side. It was as impressive as it was concerning.
She'd never avoided looking at him like that.
He knew he'd crossed the line. He'd said things that ought never to have been said. Although in fairness, she'd said those things first.
Alberu closed his eyes and tried not to let the venom hurt.
Would his mother be disappointed with him? He strove to be a man that she would have been proud of. Strove to treat others fairly and maintain peace and prosperity to the kingdom.
She was right about one thing.
He was alone.
His aunt had returned to live in her home in the Desert of Death once she was sure that Alberu was settled in and taken care of. Some of his maternal connections stuck around but most dispersed.
It wasn't comfortable for dark elves to be forced to live everyday in disguise within a kingdom that would have them put to death if they were found out. Alberu was familiar with the feeling.
Still, Cale hadn't said anything that he wouldn't have been able to brush off coming from anyone else. He'd certainly heard more vile things coming from some of the people he had to work with daily.
She had a unique way of finding his weaknesses and stabbing them with such malicious cruelty that his defenses broke down.
He was alone now too.
His daughter hated him. His wife hated him. His cabinet was full of politically minded snakes who were likely to strike him down at a moment's weakness. His father didn't care for him. He'd probably never be able to mend his relationship with his brothers even if he tried.
He'd be okay though.
Alberu was used to feeling lonely.
It just hurt a bit more than normal when he still had the memory of his daughter's affection. Maybe he felt just a bit saved every time he was able to see her and she'd smile at him and give him a hug. Maybe the exhaustion and pain from having to constantly wear a facade with no one at his side he could trust wore away just a bit every time she'd call him papa and tell him that she loved him.
What a stupid and pathetic man he was.
He'd allowed himself a moment to believe that he wasn't alone. It had happened before, there was a time where he'd thought Cale... but that was a foolish misconception and she'd made her feelings for him abundantly clear since then.
'Haa... I'll be fine. I'm always fine.'
He was always fine. He was a king and he had to line up his priorities properly otherwise the kingdom would suffer.
When this trip was over, he'd refocus his energy on his work. He'd left a lot of tasks to other people that he would normally have done himself and that was negligent of him.
Tomorrow he'd apologize to Penelope and even if she continued to hate him forever, he'd still support whatever she wanted to do. He'd been hoping that Penelope would at least reach the age of rebellious teen before wanting him scrubbed off the side of the planet but she didn't have to love him.
It was enough for him if she was healthy and happy.
And Cale...
Alberu turned over on his side as the unpleasant feelings bubbled up.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't still a little angry with her. She crossed so many lines, physically attacked him, and there was still the unresolved matter over whether or not she was a danger to their daughter. She'd more or less admitted that she'd been the one messing with Penelope's head and manipulating her. She'd also shown absolutely no remorse and no intention to stop.
Alberu had absolutely no desire to remove a mother from her daughter but Cale had basically told him that she was a danger to Penelope's mental well-being. Not to mention it couldn't be healthy for Penelope to be around a drunk woman whose hobby was to throw things at people's heads.
Alberu had every good reason in the world to distrust Cale and view her as a danger to Penelope. She hadn't even given an excuse.
It was fine if she manipulated Penelope to hate Alberu but if she had no remorse over it, what was to stop her from manipulating Penelope even more than that? What would stop her from forcing Penelope to do things she hated? Or using Penelope as a political pawn?
And what happened when Cale grew bored of toying with her daughter? She was fickle with all her other tastes, what was to stop her from deciding one day actually, I never wanted to dead weight of a daughter and leave Penelope to suffer that betrayal.
Alberu was all too familiar with what that betrayal felt like.
And yet–despite every very good reason that he should distrust and despise Cale, that he should be boiling with anger over everything she did and said to him, when he remembered her heartbroken face as though she was about to cry, all of the anger just melted away.
He didn't want her hurt.
Maybe she was a cruel woman without any sense of restraint but he never wanted her harmed.
He definitely didn't want to be the one to make her cry.
Perhaps it was because of her stubborn streak but the sight of her vulnerability was deeply distressing.
He'd make it up to her. He could accept fault for the incident tonight. She'd chosen to remove herself from the situation when it became too much for her and he'd been the one to give chase even after Penelope had discouraged him from doing so.
In retrospect, it was obviously a foolish thing to do.
It was just difficult to sit still when he knew she was so upset and he'd wanted to do something. As a king though he knew better than most that intentions meant very little.
It was only results that people cared about.
He smiled bitterly to himself as sleep finally found him.
One misstep and he'd lose everything he held dear. No one wanted an imperfect king who wanted to do good. They wanted a competent king who achieved his goals.
When he awoke it wasn't quite dawn yet.
Alberu took a walk around the camp. After an unpleasant attempt at sleep that was somehow not at all restful but didn't allow him to sleep longer, the crisp morning air was at least a welcome reprieve.
Tomorrow he'd have them set up the tents. It had been too tense last night and his thoughts had been far too scattered and it slipped his mind.
'...she really is driving me crazy.' From a meticulous king who never left anything to chance to a man who didn't even think about setting up a proper camp before entering a fitful sleep.
Alberu leaned against a tree, watching the horizon for the sunrise with a grim feeling growing in his chest.
A short figure sidling up to him didn't cause him to look away from the horizon. Normally he wouldn't miss a moment to look at his daughter but he was still feeling raw emotionally speaking.
"Good morning, Penelope." He said softly.
"What did you say to her?"
The chill in her voice was to be expected but it still hurt. The reality that whatever damage had been done to their relationship was permanent twisted inside of him like a knife to the heart.
But how to answer her... if he told her that they'd been fighting about her, wouldn't that make her feel bad? All the same, he never wanted to lie to Penelope. A lie by omission at most but she was his daughter and he wanted at least to know in his heart he'd never directly lied to her.
"I apologized badly." He admitted. "Then we fought about our parents."
Penelope stiffened and he could feel her tiny teal glare piercing into the bottom of his chin. "What did you say exactly?"
What he'd said exactly was just to turn her own venomous words back at her. But even though that was true, saying as much to Penelope would be in poor taste.
He abridged it.
"I told her she's alone." Just like I am.
There was an unpleasant pause before Penelope spoke again.
"...disgusting."
Her hair whipped around as she marched her tiny feet away, likely to rejoin her mother in the carriage.
Alberu watched the sunrise in silence.
'...a perfect king apparently makes for a terrible father.' He reflected, the cold pain in his chest never quite fading.
He owed Cale a better apology and then one for Penelope as well, regardless of whether they accepted them or not, but he made the wise decision to give them their space for the day.
At the very least, he needed time to collect himself as well.
It would be a lot easier if he could just properly hate Cale like he should.
–
One day turned into two and so on and they'd nearly reached their first stop off in Puzzle City by the time Alberu finally gathered the mental fortitude to approach the pair.
He hadn't been sure what he was expecting. He hoped that they'd calmed down a bit and he suspected that he would be getting the same cold treatment from Penelope alongside stinging insults from Cale. But he didn't quite expect anything at all.
Cale wasn't the sort of woman who could be defined by words like 'expectations'.
So he ought to have been prepared for anything.
He was not prepared for anything.
When he gently knocked on the carriage door, Cale's predictably tipsy voice welcomed him in with a "what do ya want? Get your ass in here and explain yourself" like she might in any other circumstances.
Only the atmosphere was strange when he'd actually opened the door.
Penelope watched him enter with her usual apathetic disdain and he tried very hard not to let that hurt but Cale...
Cale was looking away.
Alberu's heart stung.
She still couldn't bear to look at him?
Worry for her well being pooled down in the pit of his stomach and he opened his mouth to find the words to apologize when she finally looked at him.
The expression left him blank.
Cale smiled at him shyly, a pink tint to her cheeks that didn't seem driven from excessive alcohol consumption and coy look in her eyes that was entirely unfamiliar to him.
"Your majesty," She addressed him without a hint of sarcasm, her tone almost sounded warm. "It's good of you to join us."
Alberu's pupils shook as he attempted in vain to understand what the actual fuck was happening right now.
Penelope looked just as confused as he felt, turning to her mother with an uncharacteristic gape.
"...ah, yes." Alberu coughed, attempting to regain his composure but somewhere behind his eyes there were many mini-Alberu's screaming and running in circles as fire and brimstone rained down from the sky and carved holes into his brain. With a valiant attempt to ignore the lobotomizing effects of Cale's smile, Alberu found his words. "I wanted to take the time to apologize to both of you for the other day. My behavior was foolish and–"
Cale waved him into silence and there was a tinkle of a laugh behind her words but it sounded light and fluffy rather than mocking. "Don't worry about it, your majesty. I understand you were put in a difficult position. Let's not linger on the past."
Alberu's shaking pupils met Penelope's briefly and for the first time in a long while the father and daughter shared a comicerating look.
Who was this woman and what had she done with Cale?
Cale tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully, her eyes alight with a realization. "Come to think of it, I was quite rude to your majesty that day."
While it was undeniably true that she had been, Alberu felt that agreeing with her at this juncture was not the appropriate course of action. "No, it was really my faul..."
Cale clapped her hands together and stood up, holding a hand out to Alberu. "To make up for it, shall we take a walk together, your majesty?"
Oh. She's planning to kill him. Alberu felt a certain amount of relief at the realization. Somehow he would prefer his own murder than the current chaos Cale was currently causing inside of him. In fact, he would much prefer that she returned to her normal spiteful self because at least then he had some understanding of her.
She hated him. She was a hedonist. She loved luxury. She was foul tempered. Those were the consistent traits that Cale had never once shown him any warmth or kindness like this in the entire time they'd been married.
It was alarming.
"If that's what you wish for." Alberu said, accepting her hand and pondering where she was planning to hide his body.
He hadn't quite worked out how he was going to stop her from trying to kill him but he was looking forward to it more than this nerve wracking experience of having her wink at him playfully as he escorted her away from the carriage.
Cale turned back to the entrance where Penelope was sitting with a shocked expression that mirrored Alberu's. It was only moments like this that the familial resemblance really showed through.
"I'll be back soon, Penelope." She called back and her voice was still so light and almost cheerful that Alberu was getting chills down his spine.
He smiled shakily at his daughter, reflecting that if Cale succeeded in murdering him that this would be the last he'd see her. "Call us if you need anything." He said, his gentle voice not betraying the panic inside.
Apparently the servants and escort knights had much the same reaction as the father and daughter duo as they gaped at the seemingly happy married couple walking arm in arm.
Alberu's smile felt like it would crack any moment.
"What was it you wanted to speak about, my queen?" He asked as calmly as he could.
Cale leaned against him gently and it was so much more intimately close than they ever normally walked when he escorted her. "I just wanted a moment with you, is that wrong?" She looked up at him with baleful eyes and Alberu was really lost.
"It's not wrong at all." He said gently. They were nearing the edge of camp so if she wanted to push him off a ledge, it would likely be soon. "Just unusual."
"I did some thinking over the last few days." She said, her voice lowered with remorse. "And I thought we ought to improve our relationship, don't you agree?"
It gave him chills every time she asked for his opinion like that. It was such a un-Cale-like thing. Cale was the sort of person who walked her own path without any hesitation. It didn't suit her at all to hesitantly ask for Alberu's opinion like that.
It didn't suit her to ask Alberu's opinion at all.
"...it couldn't hurt to improve our relations." He agreed. They'd just passed a perfectly good ant hill for Cale to push him into so he was starting to get really concerned again about her motivations.
"I'm so glad you think so too!" She smiled brightly, practically hugging his arm as she leaned upwards and kissed him on the cheek.
Alberu's brain momentarily stopped functioning. The burnt up holes in his brain were still in repair and the many thoughts he had all just collapsed for a moment.
His heart had been racing for a while now due to the sheer panic of the situation but something else swelled up with the heartbeats and threatened to give him a proper heart attack.
"We should return to Penelope." He said, his perfect political smile shining brighter than ever as it was the only default he could rely on.
"Of course we should." She purred, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked back where they'd come.
For all the world they looked like the perfect couple, wearing bright smiles as they walked back to where their daughter waited for them.
A servant actually dropped a bottle of wine at the sight.
"I really appreciate you taking this time with me." Cale said oh-so-sweetly and it filled Alberu with a strange dread. "Would you mind taking regular walks with me? I think it would help to foster a good relationship between us."
"That's a wonderful idea." He said, the non stop screaming inside of his head only growing louder as the panic extended into the future.
"I just knew you'd agree, your majesty." She said coyly, pulling away from his arm as she made the final few steps to the carriage on her own. She sent a cute little wave at him before closing the door. "Until next time."
Alberu stood dumbstruck for just a bit too long before wandering away, still attempting to calm his lobotomized and fried brain.
'...I'm going crazy.'