Penelope tapped her fingers irately against her knee, eyes narrowed as she glared out at the sight her parents made.
This was new.
Disturbing and new.
What the hell was going on with her mother? Ever since that night where Alberu brought her back in his arms, she'd been quieter than normal. She was just as loving and kind a mother behind closed doors, which was blissfully plenty of time since her shitty father had buggered off, but there was something strangely pensive about her state.
She also caused notably less trouble for the servants. Penelope certainly didn't mind the change but it was a rather startling change to suddenly occur without warning.
Penelope had assumed that she was tired from the travels. Or maybe she was cooling off after that dirtbag had dared to say such vile things to her.
Penelope had expected a return to the status quo when Alberu approached them.
Nothing could have prepared her for her mothers sudden change.
Cale was humming to herself as she re-entered the carriage, drawing the curtains closed so that she could relax outside of the prying eyes of the camp.
"...mama?" Penelope asked, concern in her voice.
Cale frowned softly, sitting by her daughter and petting her hair gently. "What's wrong, munchkin?"
Penelope's pupils shook. Was Cale just going to pretend this was normal? She couldn't understand it. Why in the hell would her mother suddenly cling to the king affectionately? She hated him, didn't she?
"...I told her she's alone."
Penelope's heart hardened. Was that it? Had Alberu's words weakened her mothers defenses to the extent that she'd actually try to be kind to him?
'That manipulative dirtbag.' Penelope seethed. 'It's not enough to cheat on her and kill her, you have to manipulate her too?'
Penelope's impression of her father probably couldn't get any worse than this.
Oblivious to her daughter's concerns, Cale chuckled and pulled the pouting child into her lap. "Are you tired from our travels? We're stopping in a city soon, munchkin."
Cale was in an amazing mood.
That had gone so much better than she'd expected. At first she'd been uneasy about the prospect of using her acting skills in the opposite direction than usual. She'd never pretended to like someone before, she excelled in pretending to hate people. But her act had clearly been effective. Alberu had been all but speechless.
She grinned maliciously to herself. How good it was to give that piece of shit a taste of his own medicine. She wasn't sure how long she'd keep up the act, at least long enough for Penelope to calm down towards her father or at least for Alberu's suspicions that Penelope needed to be taken from Cale's care were abated.
She was going to have fun with this too. She reasoned that she could make it work well with her usual act so long as things worked out before they reached the Henituse territory. She'd grind Alberu beneath her heel and make him regret the day he'd ever met her.
Cale had plenty of time to ruminate in her fury and she'd come out the other end even more angry then she'd come in.
Nevermind the context, Alberu had tried to take away the person who meant the most to Cale in her whole existence. Or at least he'd threatened to. And Cale had a fairly dim view of that.
"Mama." Penelope's tiny arms wrapped around her waist as she hugged her tightly. "You're not alone. I'm here."
Cale's heart warmed, malice fading as she embraced her daughter. "I know, Penny. You're not alone either. I'll always be here."
Penelope's grip tightened as the tiny child's shoulders shook and Cale petted her gently as she contemplated what could be upsetting her. Was she jealous? It was the first time Penelope would have seen Cale be kind to anyone but her.
She kissed the top of her daughter's head. Whatever it was, Penelope would tell her when she was ready. Her daughter really was a fiercely independent sort and there was no persuading her to talk about something she wasn't ready to.
She'd have to spoil Penelope rotten when they reached Puzzle City.
–
The sloppy rock towers adorning the streets might hold significant historical value but Penelope couldn't help but view them as just what they were. Rocks.
She was interested in seeing some of the older towers though rather than the pebble towers built relatively recently by the citizens. Penelope hadn't previously considered it but there was something pretty fascinating about investigating the history of a completely different world.
She didn't think she'd really have the opportunity to explore her love for archaeology as a princess but she could at least indulge in some of the interesting historical aspects that could be learned through research and visiting historical sights. The entire thing would have put her in an exceptionally good mood overall.
The trouble was that the person escorting her for the day was not her beloved mother. Or even the entourage of servants and knights that she was apathetic to.
No.
Alberu Crossma stood at her side as they proceeded through the streets surrounded by their guards. The annoying bastard had tried to hold her hand no less than two times and had only given up when she'd told him it was disgusting.
"Where would you like to visit first, Penelope?" Alberu asked, looking down at her and almost stretching out his hand to attempt a third time before apparently thinking better of it.
Penelope gave him a dirty scowl. "I'd rather be alone." She emphasized the word, watching his flinch with satisfaction.
Cale had not returned to normal in the day it took to reach the city and she'd actually only seemed more affectionate towards this manipulative monster. Penelope hated the idea that her mother was being coerced or emotionally manipulated into liking him. So much so that she'd been the one to suggest this outing. Pressuring her mother to rest in the hotel while Alberu and Penelope explored the city.
"...I'm sorry, Penelope." Alberu said and he really did sound sincerely remorseful.
Penelope didn't particularly care. Remorse was exactly what he ought to be feeling. She hoped he rotted in the emotion. "Am I the one you should be apologizing to?"
"I apologized to your mother as well."
Penelope clenched her tiny fists. There truly was no correct answer for Alberu to say. If he'd stated that he hadn't apologized, she'd have hated him being unapologetic in his abuse. If he apologized, it only fed into the narrative that he was manipulating Cale by pretending to care.
"I actually had a question about her..." Alberu started and Penelope had to calm herself from expressing the venomous emotions that cropped up.
'So you want to use me for your fucking games?' She had no interest in being the tool for an abusive cheating murdering dirtbag.
"...is there anything she wants?"
See. He wanted an insight on Cale from a close source. Despicable.
"For you to leave us alone, your majesty." Penelope said nastily, walking faster so that she didn't have to look at him.
Alberu let out a small sigh and followed after his furious daughter.
As though the pair had swapped places, Cale was disturbingly affectionate and sweet and the venomous hatred rolling off of Penelope only grew by the day.
It left the clueless king absolutely at a loss for what to do next. If it were matters of state then he'd easily be able to navigate all of the unspoken nuances that drove their behavior and seamlessly manipulate them into following his will.
The trouble was that Alberu had no interest or intention of manipulating his wife and daughter, he certainly didn't plan to treat them how he treated the politically minded greedy snakes he worked with.
However since he'd never had very many, if any, interpersonal relationships without any political ramifications he was left rather defenseless in how to appropriately handle interpersonal drama. His normal defenses were all useless.
He knew what he wanted. He'd like for them to be happy. Although, he wasn't sure if he was comfortable with Cale's current 'happy'. She was completely different and it still left him flabbergasted even a day later.
He'd been a bit hopeful when Penelope suggested this trip but it didn't appear like she wanted to spend time with him after all.
"Would you like to head back to the hotel?" Alberu offered, wondering if perhaps she was tired.
"No." Penelope said firmly, marching forward just ahead of her father.
Alberu's ever present sunny smile strained under the pressure of his emotions.
They were out in public though and he needed to maintain his image as a magnanimous and friendly king. He couldn't afford to let his emotions show or to allow his emotions to drag him down.
In that way, perhaps he ought to be happy. Penelope didn't live under this pressure and she could freely pout or hate him.
'...that's certainly Cale's influence.' He thought with a sincere smile creeping onto his face.
If there was anyone in the whole world who could teach a person to express themselves freely without censoring even ugly emotions, it was Cale.
There was a time when he'd really respected that about Cale.
His smile ebbed away as the memories returned.
He supposed he still respected it for the same reasons he had before. The pure and shameless attitude of a person who didn't give a flying fuck what anyone thought of her and pushed forth her agenda without a care for who would dare to dissent.
It wasn't that Alberu wanted to be that sort of person. He chose his persona because he believed that it was the best way to achieve his goals.
That didn't mean he couldn't admire someone who chose a different path than him.
"Your majesty."
Alberu looked up towards his scowling daughter. "Yes, princess?"
"Let's go in there."
Alberu looked towards the shop Penelope had pointed towards, wondering what about it could have possibly attracted the attention of a four year old. Still, it was the first thing Penelope had asked of him since they started their little outing and he wasn't about to refuse.
Penelope's fury momentarily abated as they entered the store, eyes shining as she excitedly examined the various tools and supplies. Some were familiar to her and some were foreign as one might expect from a different world.
She was quite interested in learning the uses for all of them though, practically glowing with excitement as she explored.
Alberu watched her explore with a soft smile overtaking his face. Whatever the reason, he was grateful to see a smile like that on Penelope's face again.
If it brought her this much happiness, he'd buy her everything in the store. Although some of the tools looked a bit dangerous for her to use unsupervised. Alberu had never had any interest in archaeology; the historical president had been his enemy for as long as he could remember, but knowing that it interested his daughter so much made him determined to do a bit of research into the subject.
Even if it was just the passing fascination of a four year old he still wanted to support it and understand it.
–
Cale rolled around on the bed despondently.
On one hand, it was nice to be one a proper bed after so many days camping out. Albeit, camping out in the lap of luxury, but camping out nonetheless. Cale faked a lot of things in her life but her fondness for the finer things in life certainly wasn't one. She liked her clothes nice, her beds soft, and her food delicious. So spending time in the hotel where she'd be waited on hand and food like the literal queen she was didn't have a lot of drawbacks.
On the other hand, Penelope had insisted on seeing the city without her. Worry nagged at her as she wondered what was going on in her head. Normally Cale had no trouble reading Penelope at all but truthfully even she had no idea what was going on with the girl lately.
She'd entered her rebellious phase early which was fine but her behavior was starting to concern Cale that there was a larger underlying problem that the child was concealing. She scowled bitterly at the potential source of it.
The most dramatic change in Penelope's behavior had been her behavior towards her father. Had something happened? Cale couldn't think of a time that they'd spent significant time alone with each other of late and all the behavior that she'd witnessed hadn't been concerning but...
Cale buried her face into a pillow.
"...why didn't she want to go with me?" She whined to herself, feeling left out by the departure. Penelope had framed it as concern over Cale's health and it was true that Cale was tired from their travels but that wasn't the sort of thing that a four year old was supposed to worry about!
It was frustrating.
Cale got to her feet and looked out the window into the bustling city beyond.
If she found out that Alberu was at fault for Penelope's sudden behavior shift, she was going to bury him. King or not, no one hurt her daughter and lived to tell the tale.
A gentle knock at her door drew Cale's attention away and caused her to frown. Alberu and Penelope hadn't returned yet and most of the servants ought to know better than to call upon her without being summoned.
"What do you want?" She called out with a drunken slur, leaning against the window pain and rolling her eyes, ready to hear the meek response of nothing, your majesty or just one thing, your majesty or some other simpering variation on please don't throw a bottle at my head.
Cale scoffed. She made sure never to actually hit anyone. Well, except for when she wasn't throwing something that could do any real harm. Then she allowed her pinpoint accuracy to showcase itself.
There was silence beyond the door though and unease tickled Cale's spine.
She couldn't say why but something was wrong.
The glass shattered behind her.
Cale was fast enough to avoid most of the shards and the outstretched arms that threatened to take hold of her.
The door opened as well and Cale backed away from the dark figures who were closing in.
Two from the window. Three from the door. Cale's lip quirked. The entry point was loud so the guards would come soon unless they'd been dispatched.
Cale felt rather grateful that her daughter wasn't here as she backed up until her foot touched the far wall.
The lionshare of the king's forces had gone with the king to protect him and the princess. Cale comforted herself with that knowledge. They should be safe.
These idiots probably only felt safe going after her knowing that she was useless lush with minimal guards at the moment.
"Come quietly."
Cale smirked. Oh, those were the magic words. This was a kidnapping.
If it was a murder, she wouldn't stand a chance. It was so much easier to kill someone than to take them alive.
Their menacing approach stuttered when Cale ripped the skirt of her nightgown, revealing her pale legs and wrapping the white fabric around her fists as she lowered her stance.
"Don't ever forget, Cale. We're a martial arts household."
She certainly hadn't forgotten.
"We're strongest when we have something to protect."
Bastards brazen enough to target her were certainly brazen enough to go after her daughter.
One of the masked men laughed openly. It definitely would be an amusing sight. The worthless lush of a queen pretending that she could fight. There wasn't anyone who didn't know how worthless even her aim was, considering the number of bottles that failed to hit their targets.
A bottle flew through the air from where Cale'd found it by her feet, hitting the laughing bastard with pinpoint accuracy.
The merriment of her attackers was somewhat stilted after that. Especially when the bottle was followed shortly by a swift blow to his solar plexus that left him breathless. Cale caught the still falling bottle, swinging it around to smash it against the head of the second bastard who'd thought to stop her assault. The shattered glass gave her another weapon and Cale grinned as the scent of sweet tea filled the air.
One of her daughters concoctions. Penelope made such sweet tea.
Cale crouched low, avoiding a third attacker who dove for her and bringing the shattered bottle handle upwards to neatly stab him through the stomach.
He cried out, back away as his blood covered the grinning queen who stood up, running a hand through her hair as she looked to her two remaining attackers. The first three certainly weren't down for the count yet but it would take them a moment to recover.
Really.
Whoever's idea it was to attack her with such worthless thugs? She'd beaten up more and stronger men back in her bar fighting days.
The final two were noticeably more cautious, taking into account her vicious and effective strikes. Circling her slowly and pulling out knives to make it clear who had the advantage.
Cale was grateful.
She really needed a stress release after everything that had been going on.
The first one lunged for her, the second one lingering nearby for support.
Cale punched the flat edge of the knife, crudely knocking it from his grip before she followed up by stabbing his hand with her bottle and sending another powerful punch to his jaw before using a push kick to send him falling gracelessly to the ground.
She'd gotten too into it though and lost track of the second, along with her first attacker who'd somewhat recovered from his initial blows. An arm wrapped around from her neck, choking her while a dagger nearly pierced her gut. She used her foot to block it with a sharp push kick, getting the dagger stabbed straight through.
"Son of a fuck–" She cursed, elbowing the man behind her sharply again in the solar plexus and twisting to stab him in the gut with her bottle, leaving it impended as she retreated in a hop, her back hitting the wall.
Her vision blurred.
The fucking knife was poisoned. Of course it was.
Cale grit her teeth, smirking maliciously at the kidnappers who seemed to think that they'd made headway on their ultimate goal.
"Stop fighting, bitch." One of them cursed.
Cale spit in his direction. "That's queen bitch." She sneered thuggishly, testing her ability to put weight on her impaled foot.
It was agonizing but it would hold her weight. Good. She didn't want to do this one footed. She had a stronger metabolism than most, causing most alcohol and poison to do about jackshit to her, but that didn't mean she was impervious.
There was a ticking clock on how long she could keep this up before her body gave out.
"This was supposed to be easy." One of the kidnappers complained as he held his bleeding stomach. "I'm going to break her fucking legs."
'Thanks for broadcasting your target.' Cale thought sweetly, withdrawing the dagger she'd pickpocketed from the bastard who tried to choke her out.
She wouldn't have given up her weapon without getting something better in exchange.
It wasn't all that difficult from there. The poison dousing the dagger meant that she just needed to get a stab in to incapacitate the bastards. The first two fell because they'd misguidedly tried to tackle her. They did manage to bash her head against the wall but Cale got one across the throat and the other in his still open gut wound.
She threw a freshly pickpotted dagger with unerring accuracy into the shoulder of the third one. And the last two finally read the situation, cursing her as they made to retreat from the window.
She wasn't that merciful though.
Cale tackled one of them, punching his face until he stopped moving before glaring out into the open air where the last one had managed to escape.
Her legs trembled under her weight.
Would there be more? She might not be able to handle more in her current state. It was also concerning that the guards hadn't come yet. Either something had happened to them or... perhaps was Alberu the one who arranged this?
She leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as she went through the list of people who'd want her dead or gone. She didn't normally include Alberu on that despicable list but...
...why hadn't the guards come?
She closed her eyes, willing the dizzy nausea to fade.
Cale stepped over the immobile attacker, stripping him of his weapons in a casual movement and throwing them up on the bed. Repeating the action for all the fallen bastards.
She'd like to do the responsible thing and kill them all but first she'd need some answers.
Cale crouched over the unlucky bastard she'd chosen, noting it was the same fucker who stabbed her in the foot, and straddled his chest with a knife pressed against his neck.
"So, who the fuck do I have to kill?" She asked cheerfully, ready to begin the interrogation in earnest.
She knew all sorts of fun interrogation tactics and she was pretty eager to get some practice in.
The bastard spit at her. "I have nothing to say to you, bitch."
"I thought I told you." She said softly, gently shaving some skin from his neck. "That's queen bitch, get it right."
Her body was definitely hitting its limit as the poison spread. It definitely was a powerful one to have her this fucked up but she'd push through. If she allowed herself to lose consciousness, there was the chance of these fuckers regaining conciousness first.
That couldn't happen. At least not before she'd broken every limb in their fucking bodies.
–
The slumped guard wasn't the first cue that something was seriously wrong, but it was the first sign that Alberu saw that caused his gut to drop, blood freezing over as he barked out orders for the protection of the princess, rushing towards Cale's room with increasing dread running through him like ice.
Cale.
He couldn't even bring himself to think about all the varying horrible things that could have happened to her. He probably hadn't run so quickly in his whole life, bursting into her room with dreads cold grp crushing his heart.
The first thing he saw was red.
Cale turned to him, ripped and stained nightgown fluttering in the wind from the broken window. She smirked at him with a cocky upturn of her chin.
Her lips parted to say something but the strength left her body and she swayed, legs crumbling beneath her.
Alberu caught her, breathless and terrified. She was sweating and covered in various cuts and bruises, a brutal one running along her throat that made his heart steel over.
Alberu held her closely, glaring at the guard who'd made it to the door behind him. "Find out who's behind this." He said coldly, the tone startling all who heard it. Few had heard Alberu speak so coldly or look so angry.
Alberu kicked the prone body of an attacker as he carried Cale from the room. "Bring potions and healers to my room. Immediately." He ordered sharply.
His pupils shook but Cale was still breathing. He could feel her shallow breaths against him and her trembling body was still alive.
Whoever had done this to his wife would live to regret it.