A/N: This is a little ficlet made of some material I had to cut from the first chapters. It takes place many years before the main story. It's also an attempt to write something lighter. Hah.
- 1 -
Sophia's cousin had always been strange and unsociable.
Even as a small child, in the years where his grandfather and father sat upon the throne, he always managed to send the castle into an uproar by mysteriously disappearing for hours at end, slipping out of lessons and official functions without anyone knowing the better. They would then always find him hidden in some remote corner of the palace, surrounded by books and treatises of all sort, his hair singed by some unsuccessful attempt at magic. Sophia could still recall how his mother's shrill voice would ring through the corridors afterwards; she could remember the bruised cheek and sour look he would sport the next day at breakfast.
As of late, he had been similarly impossible to find. His absence had been noted by most of the court, prompting a few to gossip about his rather disagreeable nature. Indeed, had he not stormed out of a meeting with his brother a month ago, some noble souls were insistent to remind her, therefore insulting both their good king and the better part of Granorg's finest? Or, as others brought out, clearly thinking themselves clever, how could she not remember how he had refused to sit on his brother's royal council, thus refusing to fulfil one of his father's dying wishes? As much as Sophia loathed to admit, there was probably a bit of truth to their slander. A part of her that was certain they would soon stumble upon him, huddled up in one of his many secret hideouts, reading a book with only a bit of magical fire flickering in his hand to keep him company.
Instead, on this clear Sunday evening, Sophia was now finding that she was sorely mistaken.
"He did what?" she shouted, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her mouth hung open in the most un-ladylike of fashions.
Her outburst startled her handmaid Leah. With a small yelp, the woman strongly tugged on a strand of hair, making Sophia cringe even more.
"My apologies, Your Highness," the handmaid squeaked, suddenly contrite. "It seems the king did not want you to know." As Sophia huffed, Leah seemed to shrink even more. "It was all kept very hush hush. I myself wouldn't have known if it weren't for one of my husband's men telling him. Edmund says His Majesty assigned a part of his inner guard to keep him confined to his room day and night."
Sophia's fingers drummed on the dark wood of her dressing table. "You don't have to be so apologetic, Leah, I'm not angry at you." She gave her handmaid a slight smile that flitted away as quickly as it had formed. "That dearest husband of mine, however..."
Leah kept mum as she continued to brush her mistress's hair. She was casting that wide-eyed doe gaze of hers downwards instead of meeting Sophia's eyes through the reflection of the mirror.
"That... cad!" Sophia went on. She would have used a stronger word, but that wouldn't have been very queenlike as her mother-in-law would say. "Doesn't he know that there is only one week remaining until—"
Her voice broke—as usual, this particular subject had left her too upset to talk.
Poor Leah seemed at loss for words. She put down the brush on the vanity, quickly disappearing to fetch Sophia's nightdress. There was an awkward silence as she returned to help Sophia unlace her clothes.
"Perhaps His Majesty wants to make sure the prince does not hide when it will be time for—" Leah ventured as her fingers worked on the laces.
She never had the time to complete her thought—Sophia whirled on her, green eyes ablaze.
"Harry would never!" the queen said. "He is a bit craven, but only a fool would not know what is at stakes here." She sighed, immediately regretting her harsh tone. "I am sorry, Leah. That was not very becoming of me, was it?" Sophia gave another feeble smile. "I guess that leaves me only one thing to do, then."
Leah blinked, puzzled. "Which is, Your Highness?"
Sophia twirled a curl of bright golden hair around her finger, her smile growing more playful. "Why, breaking him out, of course."
- 2 -
The next day, however, brought another surprise.
Sophia had set out to her brother-in-law's chambers in the early morning, after breaking her fast. She was escorted by the ever-faithful Leah and by Myrte, a young lady-in-waiting Victor had recently assigned to her, but also by the nanny of her two children, Lady Beth. The old woman had never left Sophia's company since the day Ernst had been born, three years ago. Beth's dedication to the royal family was nothing short of legendary, and Sophia suspected only death would force her away from the two babes. And since Sophia herself tried to spend every second she could manage with her beloved little ones, it meant that Beth had herself become a sort of honorary handmaid for the queen.
Sophia sighed as she looked to her current surroundings. She had truly believed her plan perfect. With baby Eruca in arms, and little Ernst tottering after her, babbling and giggling along the way, nobody would suspect that she was about to directly disobey one of her husband's orders. The guardsmen had indeed been too charmed—how foolish they were!—to realize something was amiss.
What Sophia's had not expected, however, was to find Heinrich's bedchambers already empty of the one it was supposed to imprison.
"Oh, my clever boy!" Beth said upon discovering the pillows hidden under the bedcovers. "He did not need our help to escape after all."
"He did flee, then," Leah muttered, but Sophia silenced her with a glare. The handmaid stuttered an apology as Sophia adjusted the swaddled infant in her arms. She directed her gaze towards Ernst. The boy was peering curiously at a pile of books laying on the floor.
"Where could he have gone?" Myrte wondered aloud. Sophia's gaze swept across the room, and she could not help but smile as she saw Ernst toddling around in exploration of his uncle's bedchambers. When he tried to go to the balcony, however, he was quickly stopped in his tracks by Beth.
"Should we get going, Your Highness?" the older woman said, hoisting the little boy up in her arms. Sophia gave her a swift nod.
The four women left Heinrich's bedchambers (as they made their way out, Sophia assured the guards that her cousin was abed, beset by a fever. 'You shouldn't disturb him. He is in one of his stormy moods, you see,' she had told the soldiers in a conversational tone), and they were passing through the courtyard when Beth strolled over to Sophia's side.
"I do hope he won't get caught by the guards," she said to Sophia. She greeted the infant in Sophia's arms with a smile, and Eruca answered with a yawn. Compared to the troublemaker her brother had been, the little princess was a sleepy baby. "I dare not imagine what His Majesty would do if he found out."
"Victor would then have to answer to me," Sophia replied, peeved.
Beth gave a light, motherly pat on Sophia's shoulder. "You simply are the best thing that has ever happened to him, Your Highness. My sweet little Victor, bless his heart... he's always been so impetuous. Without you to guide his hand, I would fear to see what would become of him."
Sophia did not respond. She would use something other than 'impetuous' to describe her husband's character. Suddenly, she longed for the days where she once thought otherwise, those days where just one word from her tall, dark and handsome betrothed would send her head spinning and her heart aflutter.
She still remembered it, the day where the veneer of perfection that had been applied over her marriage had begun to crack. Eruca's birth had been long and arduous, and the travail had almost claimed the lives of both mother and child. Sophia had then been struck insensate by childbed fever. When she had finally slipped out of unconsciousness, confused and frightened by the haze of pain that seemed to pin her body to the bed, it was only to be told she had missed the first few days of her daughter's life. Immediately, Sophia had asked for the babe.
"You cannot nurse," Victor had told her. "You are still too weak."
"I don't care," Sophia had said. "Give her to me. Give me my daughter."
Eruca had burst into tears the moment they had put her in her mother's trembling arms, but Sophia did not care. She had looked down at the squalling little pink face, only thinking of how much her daughter had struggled to come into the world. Sophia's own tears had not been long in coming. Little Eruca had fought so hard to be born, yet she would probably never live past the age of thirty. She would be murdered by her brother (oh god, how chilling it had been imagining her lovely little boy as a murderer!) before she would have the chance to truly bloom.
Victor had misunderstood the cause of his wife's tears. "I should call for the child's wetnurse. You are still much too weak—"
"I'm fine," Sophia had said hoarsely. "She's my daughter. She's mine."
Victor's hand had been heavy on her shoulder. "Are you sure?" he'd said so softly. "I don't want you to be hurt. I can arrange for someone else to look after her. It'll make things easier for you when—"
Sophia had gaped at him as the meaning of his words sank in. "Get out," she finally said, before swallowing down the pain to shriek, "GET OUT!" The bewildered look he'd given her as he left the room had almost been as worse as his words, in a sense. He'd meant well, and that had only left a bitter taste in Sophia's mouth, one she hadn't been able to wash out ever since.
Sophia was starting to feel cold all over when she heard Leah's voice calling out from behind, cutting short her reminiscences. "My ladies! Have you seen young master Ernst?"
"What?" Sophia felt like the word had been snatched from her throat. She turned to face Leah and Myrte, sensing the blood draining from her face. Beth looked similarly stricken.
"He was with me, but—oh!" the old woman cried, "this is all my fault! How could I turn my eyes away from him?" She buried her face in her wrinkly hands, her entire body shuddering.
Tears were also threatening to fall from Leah's eyes. A coldness seized every bit of Sophia's insides—and the images of all the things that could hurt her little boy flashed in front of her eyes, making her want to scream—but she could not let her emotions run free, could not give in to her desire to just blame these poor frightened women for something that was as much her fault as theirs.
"Calm down, all of you," Sophia said. "He's only a small boy after all. He can't have wandered very far." Leah and Myrte gave small, feverish nods. "If we all search separately, then I'm sure we'll find him quickly."
The four of them split up immediately. Beth suggested to take baby Eruca back to the nursery, but Sophia instead grasped her daughter tighter, regarding the older woman with a cool look. What a fool I am, Sophia thought. She had always been a little ashamed of how overprotective she was of her children. Of course you are, silly girl. You'll have to bury one of them.
Sophia must have made quite the sight, running in the castle in her long flowing dress, one arm holding baby Eruca while the other clutched at her skirts. She encountered a few guardsmen who assured her they had not seen her son, and who then ran off, swift like the wind, to search for him as well. She was standing near the staircase that descended to the underground library (and, as her mind reminded her, to the Royal Hall where one of her children would be murdered some twenty years from now) when she heard something odd. A man seemed to be shouting from downstairs—it sounded almost as he was trying to shoo away a persistent little animal.
Could it be...? she wondered. But the steps are so steep! He could have never manage to climb them down. Still, after adjusting her hold on an increasingly fussy Eruca, she went down the staircase, keeping out an ear to make out what the man was saying.
"Stop that!" she could hear him grumble. "Don't you have someone else you can bother? Your mother, perhaps, or Lady Beth? Where in the world are they anyway?"
A high-pitched giggle followed the man's words, and Sophia could feel her heart swelling at the sound. She rushed down the stairs and into the library, making baby Eruca cry out in fright. The two occupants of the room turned their heads to find the source of the noise: one was an adorable blond toddler with chubby red cheeks, while the other was a pale young man whose glasses seemed to be perched precariously on a rather long nose.
"Your Highness!" Sophia's cousin Heinrich cried out, half-rising from his seat in surprise. At the same time, Ernst gave a loud "Mama!" and slipped out of his own chair to toddle toward her.
"Hello, sweetheart," Sophia said, watching the little boy now clutching to her skirts with misty eyes. "Why did you run off like that? You gave all of us quite the fright!"
Ernst stared at her, looking a bit unsure. "Uh..."
"You must never do something like that again," Sophia said, crouching to face her son at eye level. "You could get very hurt! Promise me you'll never do it again, won't you, Ernst?"
The boy slowly nodded, obviously not quite understanding the depth of his mother's worry. Sighing, she began to gently rock Eruca, who had started to make more of her displeasure known. Sophia met her cousin's red gaze from across the room.
"Have you watched over him all this time, Harry?" she said, still patting Eruca's curls. The young man looked away, cheeks growing pink. "If so, you have my thanks."
Heinrich shrugged as he slid back into his chair. "I just thought letting him wander off his own would be the height of stupidity. Children seem to crave danger the way my dear old mother loves nursing her bottle of wine."
"Show more respect to the poor woman," Sophia chided him. "Still... how on earth did Ernst manage to get here? Did you help him climb down the stairs?"
"If what you mean by 'help him' is 'catch him while he's tumbling down the stairs', then well, yes, I did."
"Tumbling?" Sophia gasped, her gaze snapping back to her little boy. Ernst was in all appearances completely unfazed by the experience; he was making his way back to his uncle, his pudgy face alight with determination.
"As you see, not a single worry in his pretty little head," Heinrich said, watching the boy climb atop the chair next to him once again. "He's forgotten about it already. How sweet it must be, to have that kind of life..." His voice carried a hint of bitterness.
Sophia could not bear to hold his resentful gaze, and she looked away. In contrast, Ernst didn't seem to care about his uncle's troubles. He pointed at the book laying open in front of Heinrich, commanding him with all the authority a three-year-old prince could muster. "My story! Gimme my story!"
"I already told you!" Heinrich replied, sounding oddly petulant himself. "That's not adequate reading for a child!"
"He wants you... to read him a story?" Sophia said, amused. "He barely knows you!" She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from letting out a high-pitched noise at the sheer cuteness of the image it would make.
"I never speak to him!" Heinrich said. "Why would he suddenly come up to me with such an idea?" He shuddered, as if he had just swallowed something very unpleasant
"He does love stories very much," Sophia mused. "Why! he reminds me of a certain someone who acted just the same at that age!" She contemplated the two of them with eyes that shone with mischeviousness. Except that my little Ernst is a dozen times more adorable that poor Harry has ever been, of course.
"Regardless of what he likes or wants, I have nothing here that might be suitable for him."
The underlying message was clear. "If you say so," Sophia said with a sigh. "Well, we have dawdled here long enough, wouldn't you say, Ernst? If you want to, we can go back to your room for a story."
This seemed to satisfy her son. "Uh-huh!" Ernst said, jumping off his chair to run toward her.
"Now, say goodbye to your uncle, sweetheart!"
"Bye-bye, Uncle!"
"H-have a nice day," Heinrich replied, swiftly hiding his reddening face with a book.
Sophia was only a few steps away when an idea dawned on her. She looked at the sleepy blue gaze of the infant in her arms, then back at the little boy holding her other hand. Ernst tilted his head at the sight of the staircase, then started to suck on his thumb, puzzled.
"Heinrich," she called, turning to face her cousin again. She saw his eyes peering at her from above his book; they were narrowing in a clear display of annoyance. "Can you help me with something? In exchange, I'll take care of the guards when you'll make your escape tomorrow morning. I'd rather not have you scale down the balcony again to get out of your chambers."
She saw Heinrich's eyebrows rising.
"How did you know that I...?"
"Please." She rolled her eyes. "You're covered in dirt. Did you land in a bush by some chance?"
Heinrich hid his expression behind his book again. "Just try to do something like that as fast as I did without being seen, I dare you."
"Oh, don't sulk," Sophia said. "Just come up here and help me carry Ernst up the stairs."
Heinrich lowered the book in one swift move, his face scrunching up in a manner that did not flatter him in the least. "You want me to what?"
This time she could not conceal her grin. He made it far too easy.
- 3 -
The morning after, she had Leah clothe her in one of her most extravagant dresses. It was not as fancy as the gowns she wore at court, but with that gorgeous green velvet bringing out her eyes, and the tight bodice and plunging décolleté highlighting her curves, she knew she would the eyes of every man she met today. And what better way to keep people's attention off her misbehaving cousin than to serve as the most elegant of all distractions?
Or at least that was what she explained to Leah and Myrte as they took off to Heinrich's chambers. "No one will refuse me a favour in this dress," she said.
"You're the queen," Myrte said. "They can't refuse you anything."
Sophia had to admit she was right, but that would have sucked all the fun out of their little operation. As they approached Heinrich's chambers Sophia slowed up her pace, ambling around as if she was only on her morning walk. Upon catching sight of her, the two guardsmen stationed in front of Heinrich's room bowed as low as their armours could allow.
"Good day, gentlemen," she said, curtsying back. Ernst trying to mimic his mother, while Eruca babbled something incomprehensible.
"Your Highness," the one closest to her said in a carefully neutral tone. He exchanged a glance with his taller associate, the latter turning back to Sophia to give her a cautious stare.
"Oh, you must be wondering why I am here!" Sophia said. She pitched her voice a little higher, adopting a body language she had carefully designed for these kinds of occasions. "I was just hoping to see if my poor cousin had gotten better since yesterday."
"We have been told that he must see no one," the shortest guard answered in such a curt way she felt Ernst grasp the train of her dress. Sophia fought not to let her displeasure show. "It was a mistake to let you do so yesterday. He could be quite contagious after all."
"My goodness, how dreadful!" Sophia clutched Eruca closer to her chest. "And to think I wanted to take him out again today! Still, could I speak to him through the door? I must wish him a swift recovery."
"I don't see why you could not, Your Highness," the second soldier said. Sophia flashed him her loveliest smile, and he beamed back in the same fashion her husband did whenever she fluttered her eyelashes at him like a lovestruck maiden.
"That's most gracious of you, Sir," she said, raising a hand to knock on Heinrich's door. "Hello! Cousin Heinrich, are you awake?"
She caught a muffled noise from behind the door, and she put her ear against the wood to hear better. "Hello?" She heard footsteps. He appeared to be moving farther away from her—to his balcony perhaps. What is he doing...?!
She moved back to smile at the two guardsmen again. "Well, he must be still asleep. He has never been an early riser, has he?" The two men looked at each other and shrugged.
Sophia was about to take her leave when a loud crash thundered from behind the door. Ernst went from only grasping a handful of her dress to tugging on her arm in fright. She felt her smile freeze in place, while the two guards stiffened, their hands reaching for their sword hilts.
"What in blazes—?" the taller of the two guards said. His partner only glared, moving his hand to grab the doorknob.
Immediately, Sophia slapped his hand away. Leah and Myrte gasped in shock. The man raised to her a pair of incredulous eyes. Sophia herself could sense her own hesitation, not quite believing what she had just did.
"What are you doing?" she asked, injecting in her voice just that trace of iciness she'd learned from Victor. "Do you believe my cousin would want you to barge into his room and disrupt his rest?"
The short guardsman just looked at her stubbornly. "Prince Heinrich might need our help. Did you not hear that sound, Your Highness? What if he has injured himself?"
"And how would have he done that? By falling out of bed?" Sophia said. "How delighted, then, would he to be to caught in such a position by his own guards?"
"Your Highness—"
"I will see to him. He can protest my company all he wants, but he can do nothing to send me away if I please." She did not like to use her position to force her will on others, but it was the only way she had to manoeuvre around her husband's most idiotic decisions. "My ladies, please escort the children back to the nursery."
"Mama," Ernst blubbered out. Sophia bent down to kiss his golden head.
"I'll see you later, sweetheart. Be good to Leah and Lady Myrte, will you?"
The two ladies whisked the children away as Sophia entered Heinrich's room. She rushed to the open balcony door, her heart starting to race.
"Harry!" she called out, trying to keep her voice to a bare minimum, "Harry, where are you?"
"Down here," a voice wheezed from below. Heinrich appeared to be stuck into some bush right under the balcony. Sophia stifled a laugh. Heinrich's scowl told her she hadn't hidden her chuckle very well.
"You should be moving. If any guard find you there, you'll be in trouble!"
"My ankle hurts," was Heinrich's plaintive response.
Sophia sighed. "Don't worry, just stay there. I'll see if I can heal you." And she dashed out of his room, stopping only to give another dazzling smile to the two guards again, before hurrying to the courtyard.
She was fortunate enough that no soldier was patrolling the area where her cousin had fallen. "That was very stupid, Harry," she said as she caught sight of him. "I would have convinced the guards to let you out today, you know."
Heinrich winced. "I couldn't be sure of that. King's orders and all..."
Sophia wrinkled her nose as she moved to see his ankle. "I'm the queen. I also speak with my husband's voice. They can't know whether I'm lying or not." Heinrich let out a little yelp when she removed his boot. Her fingers brushed over the swollen red skin. "It is only a sprain. I can heal this easily."
"I'm sure it's broken—"
"Don't be a baby, Harry." Her hands glowed a soft green, and Heinrich's scowl slowly dissipated. He looked at her with narrowed eyes, then wriggled his ankle out of her grasp.
"See? I wouldn't have been able to heal it this nicely had it been a fracture."
Heinrich mumbled a 'thank you' that was so half-hearted she almost wanted to force him to repeat it. Instead, she stood up and offered him a hand. His cheeks were pink as she helped him to his feet.
Several guards spotted them as they wandered the castle's courtyard, but none thought of approaching them. Sophia was grateful for that; the sky was pure blue, and the wind, so sweet. Heinrich was mostly silent, only giving her an occasional nod or grunt to show he was listening to her. He seemed to enjoy the surrounding scenery, however. His few comments were about the blooming spring flowers, and when a robin flew over their head, singing, his lips even twitched into a smile.
When they stepped into the royal garden, all trace of joy melted away from his face. The Queen Mother was sipping her morning tea with her attendants, the ladies huddled together under the garden gazebo to protect their delicate skin from the sun. Sophia grabbed her cousin's arm in an attempt to guide him away from his mother. It was too late; Queen Ruta's piercing gaze had already caught sight of her wayward son.
"Is that you, Heinrich?" came the Queen Mother's voice. "I thought you were confined to your rooms?"
Sophia forced her mouth into a smile. "Mother!" she said. "How good it is to see you this morning!"
"Come closer," the older woman said, undeterred by her daughter-in-law's cheerful tone, "my ears are not as good as they used to be."
Heinrich said nothing as Sophia dragged him toward his mother. His mouth barely moved when he greeted the woman who had given birth to him. Ruta looked up at him, her thin lips pursed in disappointment. Once more Sophia remembered the day she'd seen her daughter for the first time. She wondered whether or not her mother-in-law had been presented with the same terrible dilemma when she had first beheld her second son. If she had, Sophia knew the choice she had made. She could read it on the old woman's face as her icy blue eyes bore into Heinrich's own gaze.
"I believe Victor had assigned you to your chambers, did he not? Something about you catching some disease or another?"
"He's lying," Heinrich said through grit teeth.
"Nonsense! Why would he invent such a tale?"
"You know him, Mother," Sophia said. "He's a worrier, my husband. But as you can see, Harry is fit as a fiddle."
The Queen Mother's ladies-in-waiting had stayed silent through this exchange. Ruta's hand tightened around the handle of her cup. "It would be better to bring him back to his chambers. Victor ordered it."
Sophia took a deep breath to keep her smile into place. "Of course I will, Mother. If you will forgive us, we need to get going. A pleasant morning to all of you, my ladies."
She managed to lead Heinrich away from the old lady. They felt her cold blue eyes following them right until they were out of the garden.
- 4 -
On the following day, a Wednesday, Leah came to her chambers a little after sunrise. The handmaid began to blush profusely as she saw the king snoring in Sophia's bed, naked save for the sheets wrapped around his large form.
"Come back later!" Sophia mouthed to her. Victor's hand was starting to wander, finding her leg. Leah mercifully scampered away before she could see how higher and higher his fingers were travelling up Sophia's thigh.
Sophia pinched Victor's skin. The man grunted and snatched his hand away. His blue eyes were wide open now.
"You will have to leave for your chambers, my love," Sophia said. Victor groaned again. "No, no, no, I will have none of this, put on some clothes and get going!"
"But—"
"Didn't you have enough last night? Good things must always come sparsely, I say."
Victor's brows furrowed, his gaze growing dark. "What are you planning, my lady? I hope there isn't another visit to my brother in your near future..."
Sophia wanted to huff. Last night, when he had come to her, he hadn't said a word about her spiriting Heinrich away from his chambers (but she knew he knew, there was no way the Queen Mother wouldn't tell). Sophia had been certain, however, that he would eventually breach the topic.
"He is lonely, my love. And imprisoning him in such a way before... that day... well, it's rather cruel, don't you think?"
"What are you two doing together?" Victor hissed. It seemed as if he hadn't heard a word of what she said.
Sophia suppressed a sigh, instead looking at his face with make-believe fondness. "Are you jealous, my lord? You do know that even if I were to appear half-naked in his chambers Heinrich would have absolutely no idea what to do?"
Her response was spot-on, and Victor smirked. Disgust prickled at Sophia's skin.
Victor's hand grasped her thigh again. "Stay with me today."
Sophia bit her lips. Once, she would have welcomed his touch, but now... "I have things to do, and so have you. This afternoon, I'll have to negotiate with the head of the merchants' guild, and later in the morning you have a meeting with—"
"I'm the king," Victor growled against her neck. He pressed a kiss to her throat. "Let them settle their own problems without me for once. Stay with me this morning."
Sophia knew the man had another reason for pining her to bed. She finally allowed a sigh to leave her lips. Would her younger self have loved him as much had she known about this part of him, this side he kept so carefully hidden under those grins and those fierce blue eyes? As she lay down, she saw Heinrich in her mind's eye, sitting in his bed, quietly waiting for her. The image—and the way her body eased under Victor's ministrations—left her feeling oddly traitorous.
- 5 -
If he held a grudge against her for not helping him out the day before, Heinrich did not show it. He did, however, raise an eyebrow as she explained her plans for the day.
"Victor will never forgive me if I go out of the castle," he said. He watched the palanquin that had been brought in front of the castle gates with a critical eye.
"Harry," she said simply, "all the guards accompanying us today belong to me. They're the subordinates of my handmaid's husband." She motioned over to where Leah was standing. She and Myrte curtsied, while Beth smiled broadly. Baby Eruca stayed asleep in her arms. Ernst detached himself from his nanny and ran to his mother. "They'll never tell Victor," Sophia added with a laugh as Ernst began to pull on her skirts. "I've even replaced the ones at your door. No one will know."
"But, Your Highness—"
"I told you before, you don't have to call me that." As the palanquin was brought near her, Sophia climbed inside. Ernst reached for her with eager arms, and her heart broke in two. He started to protest when Beth dragged him away.
"You can't come with us, darling," Sophia told her son. As his eyes filled with tears, she could feel her own welling up. The palanquin shook a little as Heinrich, Leah and Myrte joined her. "Please be a good boy for Lady Beth, won't you? And keep an eye out for your sister" She looked at the blond curls sticking out of the swaddled blankets, and the sight made it even harder for her to dry her tears.
I wish I could take my children to the city, she found herself thinking. She wanted them to grow tall and beautiful and strong. She wanted them to mingle with the people they would lead one day. She wanted them to love and be loved in return If only I could convince Victor...
Sophia caught sight of Ernst as he waved her goodbye. She blew a kiss for him.
Soon, it became evident for her that it was a mistake to have brought Heinrich along. They first stopped at the shop of her favourite tailor, a man whose family had served the royals of Granorg for generations. When the man's wife went to Heinrich, the latter pressed himself against the wall, looking every bit like a small animal cornered by a beast of prey. Later on, as Sophia prepared an appointment at the palace for Victor, Heinrich came back from the fitting room in a rather fetching outfit (so fetching, in fact, that Myrte blushed and tittered on her spot, Sophia noted). He was redder than the fabric of his waistcoat. Sophia teased him mercilessly and tried to push him at Myrte. The latter giggled louder, but Sophia's cousin looked ready to crawl under the carpet.
Their afternoon was spent in a visit to an orphanage of which Sophia was the patron. A famous musician had thought of training some of the children in the choral arts, and they were now one of the city's most sought-after attraction. Their voices were as hauntingly beautiful as ever. As their representation went on, Sophia felt a chill all over her body. Children outliving their parents. She tried not to think of her son and daughter. Parents outliving their children. As one boy hit a high, crystal-clear note, she brought her gaze to her hands as she folded them over her lap. How horrifying that she dared compare their suffering to hers. Mothers are such selfish creatures...
They made their way back to the palace a little before dinnertime. Leah and Myrte chattered animatedly next to Sophia, but Heinrich was looking out of the open panel window of the palanquin with a wistful expression.
"I wish I could have let you be on your own for a bit, today," Sophia murmured to him.
Heinrich shrugged. "The guards would have never let me go out of their sight. I didn't mind following you."
The lie was so big that Sophia couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was about to retort when a wondrous idea passed through her head.
"Your Highness?" Heinrich asked her. "Is there something the matter?"
"Nothing, Harry," Sophia replied. "I was just thinking of what we could do tomorrow."
A crease began to form between Heinrich's eyebrows. "We are getting closer to—to that day." He inhaled sharply. "Victor won't let me go this time. He'll keep a close eye on me, I'm sure of it."
"Trust me on this." She smiled. "Trust me."
- 6 -
This time, Heinrich was the one who was brought to her. As he edged closer to her, Sophia noticed how uncomfortable he seemed in the old rags Beth had slapped on him. Next to her, Leah and her husband Edmund exchanged a glance. They were not entirely convinced by the soundness of her plan either.
Heinrich immediately recognized the hallway in which they stood. "Wait... isn't this the entrance of one of the secret passages we used to take as children? You would have us get out of the castle without telling Victor?" His voice went up a notch. "Have you gone mad?!"
Leah and Edmund's disapproving faces told her they felt the same, but Sophia ignored them. "We will be undercover. Look, even Ernst is in disguise!" She pulled her son forward. His giggles made her heart soar in happiness.
"You—" Heinrich choked on the word, looking at her with the most adorably horrified expression, "—you dressed him as a girl?!"
"Yes!" Sophia said. She held up Ernst's hand, and with a string of giggles the boy twirled on the spot to show his getup, a beautiful dress in tones of blue and soft creme. "Isn't he beautiful?"
Heinrich's dismay left him speechless for the rest of the trek through the secret passage, which was lucky for him. Sophia didn't think she would have tolerated another word from him; she would not have anyone criticize the loveliness of her little boy, no, she would not. Only when they set foot inside the city proper did he come up to her, looking slightly worried.
"Even with these... disguises... it's dangerous for us to be out of the castle. What if someone finds out? What if someone attacks us?"
Sophia turned to gaze at Edmund as Ernst squirmed in her arms. He and his wife were walking a few paces behind them, looking like just any other couple browsing the shops of the busy street. Sophia knew that Edmund's eyes were always upon them, however.
"One armed guard?" Heinrich said dryly. "Really?"
"He was the only one I trusted enough," Sophia replied in a mutter. "Beside, we won't be here for long, perhaps a few hours at most. Just stop worrying so much and enjoy your stay."
The city charmed Ernst, but Heinrich remained jumpy, looking at every new face with an amount of dread even his younger, more anxious self would have never shown. Sophia soon felt a twinge of shame. She noticed how clammy his palms were when she grasped one of his hands to lead him through the crowd. And his eyes were wide and alert, his breathing fast and hoarse. She had not brought Myrte with them today, thinking that giving him some space would be enough to make him calm down, but now she could see she should have done more. I shouldn't have brought him here in the first place...
"Harry," she called out gently. Her cousin turned desperate eyes to her. "Let's go sit down for a bit."
They found some stairs, and sat on the steps. Sophia warned Ernst to stay within sight of them, and then the boy shot off, picking a branch to poke at a nearby ant colony.
"Harry," Sophia said, "are you scared?"
Heinrich's response was a scowl, but on his face the expression was childish, unsurprisingly. Even though he had turned twenty a few months ago, his short stature and messy hair still made him look like a teenager.
"I'm sorry," Sophia said. "I shouldn't have forced you to come with me. I didn't realize just how frightened you were."
Heinrich's features softened. "It's alright. I know you were trying to help." He looked about to say more, but then Ernst suddenly skipped over to them, sitting down his uncle's lap. A monster would have materialized to do the same, and Heinrich would have looked as terrified.
"I told you he was fond of you," Sophia said as Ernst yawned. The boy muttered a 'good night' before closing his eyes.
"Are all children so impossible to understand, or is it just yours?" Heinrich asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't say that," Sophia growled playfully. "You find this adorable too. You're just pretending."
Heinrich gave a haughty huff. Usually, Sophia would have laughed at his expression, but now only one thought kept coming back to her brain. If only you had done your duty and married, then perhaps then my own children wouldn't be forced to—
Sophia shook her head, disgusted with herself. Heinrich was watching her with heavy eyelids as well; he had now encircled the boy dozing off in his lap with his arms. How could I? How could I ask him to force any children he might have into the same fate? The fate that will cost him his life? The sadness tightened her throat. Why would he even want to give his life for the world, then, when the same world would only destroy what was most precious to him a few years afterwards?
She enveloped Ernst and Heinrich in a hug. Her little boy mumbled, moving to rest his head on her belly, but Heinrich stiffened.
"Sophie—"
"I know, Harry, I know." I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
He eased into the hug. Sophia tightened her hold on him. She couldn't remember a time where he had returned one of her hugs.
- 7 -
On the morning of the last day, Sophia was escorted to her cousin's chambers with an army of servants carrying his favourite dishes and drinks. She herself had brought books to pass the time—encyclopedias of history and geography for Heinrich, and novels about dashing swashbucklers and daring warrior ladies for herself. Ernst followed after her; when she had told him his uncle might read him a story if he was enough of a good boy, he had grabbed his favourite collection of fairytales. Eruca was chirping happily in Beth's arms.
Their procession however came to a grinding halt when they met Victor outside of Heinrich's bedchambers. He was accompanied by a few soldiers who were far too heavily armed for a simple matter of guarding someone's door.
"Victor!" Sophia cried out. "Did something happen? You seem unwell today."
"It's nothing that should worry you, my lady." Victor's gaze was cold. "I have heard disturbing rumours lately."
"Is that so?" Sophia said, anger rising within her as well. "Were they disturbing enough to warrant putting a group of soldiers armed to the teeth in front of your brother's chambers?"
"You've undermined my authority!" Victor replied. His voice hadn't exactly risen above a shout, but his tone still had been too violent for a simple reprimand. "You've manipulated my guards and encouraged servants to disobey my orders. All of this under the gullible eyes of my son!"
Ernst hid behind Sophia at the sound of his father's voice.
"You don't want me to raise our son to act like a decent human being, then?" Sophia said.
"You don't know Heinrich!" Victor shouted. "You don't know him the way I do! I did all of this for a reason! He's never raised a finger to do what he'd been told to do, never! He would have scampered the moment I would have left him unwatched!"
"So the answer to this is to treat him as some sort of criminal? For something he might do?" She moved closer to her husband, jaw clenching. "Is that the kind of king you are? Is that the kind of king you want our son to be?"
They stood staring into each other's eyes for seconds that seemed an eternity to Sophia. The silence was only broken by a door creaking open.
"Harry!" Sophia exclaimed, turning to look at her cousin as he peered in the doorway. She heard Victor give an angry hiss at the sound of the nickname.
Heinrich's face was grey with worry, his eyes lined by deep, dark circles of fatigue. "Have you come to take me away, then, brother? Isn't it a little early?"
"The Ritual can be moved as I see fit," Victor replied. "It seems better to me to get it done as swiftly as possible."
Sophia couldn't believe her ears. Victor was glancing down at her. He was doing this to spite her as much as to hurt Heinrich.
Heinrich looked at his feet. "I should get changed," he mumbled.
"There is no time," Victor said. "Come, and let this be finally over."
Sophia glared at her husband as Heinrich attempted to protest. A guard swung the door open, and another seized Heinrich by the arm, throwing him into the corridor. Heinrich was still wearing his night clothes, and his feet were clad in unlaced boots. His glasses were askew on his long nose. Still, he managed to glare at the men who had acted so roughly with him. Even so, Sophia could only feel a sense of pity at the sight of him. She looked away, repulsed with herself.
"So be it, then," Heinrich said. He shot a joyless grin at his brother. "I'm ready for your worse."
Sophia found the strength to look Heinrich in the eye again. "Good luck, Harry." She then nodded coolly in her husband's direction. "Victor."
As she began to gather her skirts, Ernst tugged on her arm.
"What are they going to do to Uncle?" he whispered.
Sophia fought the impulse to draw her son in a hug. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I can't tell you."
Ernst clutched his book, his gaze going downward.
"Ernst!" someone suddenly called out. Mother and son turned to face the one who had spoken. "Did you bring that book for me?" Heinrich asked. He had to be aware of the annoyance that rippled on Victor's features at his interruption. Sophia found herself smiling at this little bit of defiance.
"Uh-huh!" Ernst said. "It's my favourite."
"It used to be my favourite too, when I was your age." Heinrich's tired smile became warmer. "Do you want to read it with me when we'll see each other again?"
Ernst nodded enthusiastically.
"It's a promise, then," Heinrich said.
As the guards took him away, Heinrich dipped his head at Sophia, the gesture part salute, part thank you. She smiled at him through her tears, then grasped her son's hand tightly. When she was in the safety of her room, Sophia asked Beth to leave Eruca with her; afterwards, she brought her two children to her chest, letting the tears fall freely for the first time in several days.