Author's Note: Hello again! Welcome back to this fic! I hope you enjoy this latest offering. I know that some scenes might seem a bit rushed, but that is mostly to accentuate the speed at which these events took place. That and I wanna get this part over with pretty soon. I've barely begun, and I have some more foundations to lay before I can get down to business. That said, read and enjoy!

Chapter 3

A Royal Wedding

He had planned everything with meticulous care. He always did. However, he was well aware that the best-laid plans could be disrupted, and so he made sure he had plans within his plans, alternate paths to take should the original prove insufficient. Upon hearing his servant's report, he decided it would be best to take another approach. He had meant to bide his time a little longer; he had given the jewel five months to do its work, after all. Of course, the mountain passes he used to leave his lands had been icebound during the winter, making them far too dangerous for travel, but that had fallen neatly into his plans without trouble. These meddling brats, however, were another story altogether. Why had the woman seen fit to bear so many children? Two or three sons he could understand. Eleven was beyond ridiculous. He would have to deal with them eventually, but first he had to secure his position, and do so with all possible speed. Yes, one of his back-up plans was definitely in order.

The following evening, while the royals and their guests were at dinner, Gozaburo announced that, much to his regret, he must take his leave of their hospitality in two days' time. He said no more at the table, and Raphael's spirits rose slightly. After the meal, however, the grand duke closeted himself in one of the private parlours with the queen for over an hour and a half, after which Coraline sought out her eldest son, finding him overseeing a chess match between Alister and Seto, which the latter appeared to be winning.

"Raphael, would you come outside for a minute please? I have something to tell you," she said, eyes alight with excitement, though her voice was composed.

"Of course, Mother," Raphael said, standing up immediately. As he reached the door, he looked back over his shoulder at his two brothers. "Don't kill each other while I'm gone."

"Oh, Raphael, you worry too much," Coraline chided gently as they left, closing the door after them.

"What is it?" Raphael asked her once they were far enough away from the room not to be overheard.

Coraline smiled.

"Gozaburo has invited me to travel to Kaiba with him when he leaves. I have accepted."

Raphael stared at her, momentarily dumbstruck.

"Mother, this is very ... sudden," he said when he found his voice.

"Gozaburo and I thought of everything," Coraline assured him. "Roland will be regent, since you are not yet of age. He can handle things well enough for three weeks or so. He has filled that position admirably over the years. And I have only ever heard of the splendour of the castle of Kaiba. Now that I have met Gozaburo, I want to see the wonders of his estate for myself."

"Even so," Raphael said, "you shouldn't travel so far beyond our borders with someone you barely know. At the very least, some of us should accompany you—"

"That will not be necessary," his mother cut in, her expression hardening for an instant. Raphael froze at the look on her face. Then her jaw relaxed, and she spoke again, her tone less sharp, but still firm. "Since you were born, Raphael, I have never spent more than a few days separate from at least one of my children, and those times were few and far between. I love you all dearly, but I need some time apart from you. I trust you to keep your siblings in line. You are responsible for your age." When Raphael opened his mouth to speak again, she added, "This will be beneficial to us all in the long run. You will see. Now, I must go and tell Roland. There are arrangements to be made."

So saying, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving her son to return to his brothers, still reeling from her announcement. He was sure that speech about her needing time apart from them had been fed to her by a certain grey-haired lord, but he had known better than to say so, especially after seeing how she reacted to his suggestion that he and some of his brothers should travel with her.

Things are worse than we feared. I'll have to talk with the others about this.

As he re-entered the room, Alister turned to look at him. His posture tensed immediately when he saw the look on Raphael's face.

"What happened?" he asked.

Raphael looked from one brother to the other before speaking, his tone grim.

"Help me gather the others," he said. "I have something to tell you all, and I'd rather I only had to say it once."

The chess game was promptly abandoned, and the trio left to round up their siblings.

There was no way to prevent the queen from leaving with Gozaburo. Over the last full day of his visit, several of the elder princes tried to convince her not to go, but she refused to listen, finally snapping at Ryou, telling him he should respect her decisions, and that she expected better of him. The sensitive white-haired prince retreated to his room and locked himself in, not coming out for over two hours, and when he did emerge, his face bore signs of weeping. The others gave up after that.

The following morning, a carriage was made ready, and Coraline left in it with Gozaburo and his men. Her children watched her leave with heavy hearts. The sky was overcast that day, seeming to foreshadow the dark times ahead.

Roland was a superb regent. Raphael's workload was lighter than he had expected it would be without his mother present, but that did little to lessen his anxiety. The letters that began arriving from Coraline about a week after her departure only unsettled him further. There were no words of worry in them, nothing that an outsider would consider even remotely concerning. In fact, they might have considered them heart-warming. Coraline fairly gushed about the magnificence of Kaiba Castle, when she wasn't describing the many merits of her 'oh-so-gracious' host.

The flower gardens here are superb. I haven't seen such variety in many years. And the fruit trees are covered with blossoms. Gozaburo has good reason to be proud of this estate.

...

I have met Gansley, the castle steward. He is a capable man, and one of Gozaburo's most trusted officials, alongside Leichter, Johnson and Nezbitt. The last of his inner circle is his treasurer, Crump.

...

He wasn't exaggerating about the size of the gems found in the mountains. Some of the jewels in the coronet he gave me today are the size of hens' eggs! I scarcely dared put it on at first; stones of that size should be on display for all to see, perhaps on the hilt of a king's sword. I told him as much, but he merely smiled and said a queen's crown would do them all the justice they deserved.

...

We call one another by our given names all the time now. It seems natural to do so. Gozaburo is a fine name, and suits him well. And when he says my name, he caresses it with his tongue, making it sound so much more beautiful than I ever thought it could. Solomon always called me Cora, because he knew how much I hated my full-name, but now I feel I could become accustomed to it.

...

The messengers who brought these letters never stayed more than one night, and usually took their leave soon after sunrise. They paid the princes no mind, and rarely spoke to anyone accept to tell Roland from whence they haled.

Three weeks came and went, and there was no sign that Coraline wished to return. The letters the Kaiban messengers brought continued to praise Gozaburo and his tiny domain, and Raphael found himself suppressing the urge to throw the nauseating missives into the nearest fireplace.

Then, fully six weeks after Coraline had left for Kaiba, on a day of late spring rains that lashed at the palace windows, the last messenger from Kaiba arrived, bearing two letters, one for Roland, the other for Raphael. Both contained the same message, and their recipients were both shaken to their cores by the contents.

When Raphael had finished reading his letter, he immediately sought his brothers. He did not say a word to any of them; he didn't need to. One look at his face told them that whatever they were doing could wait, and soon they had all gathered in the lesser audience chamber, as they had months before, the day they had learned of their father's death. The choice of venue was no accident.

As soon as they were all seated around that same conference table, Raphael wordlessly thrust the letter at Alister. The red-head's eyes moved rapidly down the single page, and as he took in the meaning of the words, his colour began to rise. Then he spoke a single word, his tone a mixture of horror and fury.

"Betrothed?"

"What?" Seto reached over and took the letter from his brother. He read it through twice, his azure gaze taking in what the page contained. Then he thrust the letter from him, fixing it with an icy glare. "No. This has to be a forgery."

"It isn't." Raphael's voice was like iron. He looked around the table at his other brothers, noticing the stunned expressions on some of their faces. It seemed they already guessed what he now forced himself to tell them. "Mother is on her way home," he said. "This letter and the one Roland received were sent ahead to make us aware of her impending arrival and ... to tell us to begin preparations for her wedding. Gozaburo proposed to her. She accepted."

The news that the queen was to marry again less than nine months after her first husband's death spread throughout Domino and the surrounding kingdoms like wildfire. Rumours about the betrothed couple sprouted like weeds from every quarter. One of the most popular was that Gozaburo was Coraline's secret lover, and that he had only pretended not to have met her before. The more imaginative gossips claimed Noa was the couple's illegitimate son, which explained why he was the only one with green hair among the royal children.

But Coraline couldn't have cared less about the scandal her imminent second marriage was causing. Almost from the moment she arrived in the palace, it became clear she was determined to see this wedding through. Raphael could never fully recollect everything that transpired during the following weeks; the days and even some of the nights were a blur of activity as the servants rushed to fulfill the queen's demands. And it could not be denied that they were demands, although she had never been a demanding person before. What with all the arrangements she insisted on overseeing to make sure all went according to plan, Coraline barely spoke to her children during that time.

When Gozaburo arrived three weeks after Coraline's return, this time accompanied by all five of the officials who formed his inner circle, the preparations were nearing completion. Three days later, the wedding took place.

It was, in many ways, a royal wedding like any other, and yet unlike most weddings, royal or otherwise, there was no real joy, save that expressed by Coraline. Most of the guests played the part of jubilant friends, but no-one really felt happy for the new couple. The royal children couldn't even pretend to be happy. Almost as soon as his marriage was consummated, and his place as Prince Consort of Domino was established, Gozaburo had begun openly showing his hostility toward them. The younger ones had hoped for at least some sweetmeats and cake during the festivities, but their new stepfather made certain this small pleasure was denied them. In response to their requests, he produced twelve plain ceramic goblets filled with sand, and gave one to each of the royal children with a curt:

"That's all you deserve. Now go and play make believe like good children."

This act left the elder princes insulted and the younger ones even more miserable than they were already. Seto went so far as to run to the top of the palace's tallest tower and hurl the cup and its worthless contents as far as he could from the battlements. It was fortunate that the flying fragments didn't harm anyone.

Of course, the consort's display of spite was only the beginning. Raphael and his siblings had never liked the man, but even they had no idea what he was capable of. They could not have dreamed how much more they would lose at his hands.

He had succeeded. The initial jewel he had given Coraline had made her so wonderfully compliant. Of course, one could never be too careful. The coronet, set with many more such gems, had been his insurance. Whether or not it had been necessary, she was now his. Domino was now his. He would have preferred being declared king, but for now, he would have to settle for Prince Consort, which was definitely much better than Grand Duke. That tiny province his family held could hardly be thought of as a kingdom, Almost nobody even lived their except for miners and a few farmers. This was a vast improvement. But if he was to maintain this position of authority, the children would have to go. The girl was no threat to him at present, but if his plan was to succeed, she would need to be as far away as could be easily managed. Then he could dispose of her brothers without her interference. No-one would know what became of the princes if he could avoid it. But first, he must be rid of the girl.

The festivities did not last long. The day after the wedding, the guests began leaving in droves. This had not been much of a celebration, however colourful the decorations and spectacular the entertainment. And none of them had much liked the triumphant expression on Gozaburo's face as the crown was placed on his head. The former grand duke's steward and treasurer also left to return to their posts at Kaiba Castle, for their master was not about to give up the estate any time soon. The province may not have meant much to him apart from the veins of gemstones and precious metals in its mountains, but the castle and its vast grounds were a source of immense pride for him, and he wanted them well-maintained.

For Raphael and his siblings, the first week of their stepfather's reign felt like the week that followed the news of their father's death. The tense atmosphere was like a weight on their spirits, and they could not concentrate on anything. Alister would later describe it as the calm before the storm. During that time, Gozaburo made sure Coraline kept her distance from them, and always placed his men between her and Raphael during meals.

Then, precisely nine days after the wedding, Nezbitt crept through the palace to Serenity's bedchamber to carry out his master's orders. Silently, he entered the room and approached the bed, gathering its sleeping occupant into his arms, blankets and all. He was not worried about her waking up-her food had been drugged that evening, and the girl would not wake until long after the sun rose tomorrow. Leaving the chamber-door open, he descended to the ground floor and slipped out of the palace, carrying the princess. Near the gates, a horse-drawn wagon was waiting for them. Nezbitt laid the child on a sack filled with straw in the back of the wagon before climbing onto the driver's seat and taking the reins of the two beasts harnessed to it. With several deft movements and a single command, they began to move. As they neared the closed gates, the man raised a hand and made a single almost graceful gesture, and they swung silently open, letting him out into the night.

Unbeknownst to him, Nezbitt did not escape unobserved. A sandy-haired youth had followed him to Serenity's bedchamber, keeping to the shadows, making use of all his training to remain undetected. He had seen Nezbitt carry off the princess, and had waited until he was out of earshot before acting. Ryman knew of at least one prince who might still be awake at this hour.

Hastening to the appropriate door and finding it closed, he knocked sharply.

"Prince Alister!" he hissed, knowing he would be heard in the silence of the night. "It's Ryman! Please let me in, Your Highness!"

There was the sound of movement within the room, and the door opened a hand's breadth. Alister's grey eyes met Ryman's through the gap.

"What is it, Ryman?" the prince asked, sounding very much awake.

"It's Nezbitt. He's taken Serenity," Ryman said in a rush. "I saw him."

Alister immediately threw the door wide.

"Help me wake Raphael," he ordered before crossing the hall to his eldest brother's door.

End Notes: Cliff-hanger! I am sooooooooo evil! Mwahahahaha! But in all seriousness, I hope you liked the chapter. Sorry to leave you in suspense like this, but I promise all will be explained in the next chapter. Things are about to get very interesting.

In case you didn't pick up on it, each of the paragraphs in italics was separated by an ellipsis to show that each was an excerpt from a different letter. I hope that wasn't too confusing for you.

Sigh. I'm so glad this chapter's over. I might come back and flesh it out a little later, if I ever come up with something better for the wedding scene. But if you like it just the way it is, please tell me. Reviews are always welcome! And faves and alerts are also encouraged. All three bring a smile to my face and a warm fuzzy feeling to my heart. No joke. I used to think authors were a bit silly to write that in their notes, but now I know better.

Hope all goes well with you, and see you next chapter!