I'm getting very close to the end of this story, and it makes me happy because I will be able to see the happy ending for these two and move to my other fics and start wrapping things up on a lot of epilogues and future-takes so that I can go back to stories that have been long neglected. Thank you all for sticking with some of my older stories and we will see a lot more complete in the second half of the year. Love the reviews, and as we get closer to the end I'm excited that this story has the possibility of hitting 1,000 reviews before the end.
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Chapter 37
With the letter secure, I left for Carlisle's and was pleased to see Rosalie meet me along the way. We walked in silence until the guards let us into Carlisle's room.
"Girls, I'm so glad you're here," Esme said as she enveloped us both in a hug.
"We're going to spend the morning with Uncle Carlisle so you can go about whatever business you need to," Rosalie told her.
"I will make an appearance in the Great Hall and be there when Edward makes the official announcement to the people that the king lives and is resting. I should be back after lunch," Esme explained.
"We will look after Carlisle, Esme. Do not fear for him."
"I know you will, Daughter, you've done so much for him."
From the moment Esme left us with Carlisle, it began a pattern over the coming days. One of the seven of us was always with the king, while the rest tried to show the country that we had faith in his recovery. The nobles wanted proof, but we refused to let them into Carlisle's chambers.
Edward spoke to Paul about his lance and what we had learned. He'd wanted to go and kill Lord James for his treachery, but was convinced that the best way he could help was with some treachery of our own.
Paul was publicly exiled, sent with guards home to Ohi, though with him was a letter to King Collin explaining what really happened and the need for the ruse. We had made it plain to both our people and the King of Ohi that we did not think Prince Paul to be guilty of attempted regicide, only of practicing poor judgment and he was being exiled until we felt that he had learned his lesson.
Lord James had been hoping for a beheading, but was happy to see the bait had been taken.
Meanwhile in the week since the tourney, Carlisle showed no signs of improving, and the nobles were growing restless.
I was once again passing my afternoon with the king; Rosalie had left to meet my brother for a ride with Vera and Lord Garrett, when I first noticed the change. The moan was so soft, I almost missed it, but then I looked up into the same blue eyes that had offered me much comfort since my arrival in Masen.
"Carlisle?"
"Isabella, what happened?"
"You were knocked off your horse during the tourney. You've been sleeping this whole week."
"A week…" he whispered.
"Let me send for the physicians, have them look you over and then Esme can come see you. Edward will be thrilled to know you've woken up."
I ran to the door to have the guards find the physicians, because they needed to see the king before anyone else could be informed.
"How are they?" I heard Carlisle ask when I reentered the room.
"We've all been so worried for you. Between the blow itself and the fall, then the waiting for you to come back to us…they needed you to wake up. I needed my father back," I told him.
The first of the physicians arrived a few moments later and began his examination. Edward walked into the outer rooms with Esme as they were finishing up. The lead physician came to give us his report.
"King Carlisle is fully conscious, but he is not completely himself. The injury has left him with blurred vision on the left side. He can see, but the peripheral is limited by the blurriness but it only slightly affects his main field of vision. We will have to continue to monitor that to see if it grows worse as the day progresses and he gets more tired or if it remains as it is. What is more concerning is his state of mind."
"What do you mean?" Edward asked.
"He's agitated and combative, and then goes to remorseful in a moment. The mood swings are disconcerting, but it could be that he just woke up and is trying to adjust. We will need to monitor how that continues as he's recovering. He also complains of a headache and a sharp pain that is localized to the point of injury. We will need to see how these ailments affect him. They may go away in the coming days and weeks, or they may haunt the king for the rest of his days. But for now he needs continued rest and to remain out of the public eye."
"Very well, I will announce to the Court that the king is awake but needs more time to recover, will you come with me when I do that?" Edward asked the physician.
"Yes, and one of the junior physicians has gone to fetch some opiates for the king, but there is one thing I must stress. He will bring a chart with him and it is imperative that whoever might be administering the medicine marks when it is given to him so as not to dose him too often. It is a powerful drug that can have adverse effects when overused."
"I will leave that to my wife and mother," Edward looked to us.
"You may sit with the king now." The physician motioned to us as he left with Edward.
Esme and I entered the bedchamber as the remaining doctors exited. I stayed a moment, waiting for the doctor to return with the vial of opiates and the chart. Esme and I listened to his explanation and then watched as he administered the first dose, marking the chart.
Once we were alone, I felt as though I was intruding on a private reunion, so I left the king and queen and decided to spend some time with my daughter.
Edward found me in the nursery just before dinner, a concerned look on his face.
"What's the matter? Has something happened to Carlisle?"
"No," he reassured. "I went to his rooms and my mother said you never returned after the doctors saw him. Is everything all right with you?"
"Yes, it just felt like I was intruding on a private moment," I explained.
"Well, both my parents asked that you return. We are in need of a celebration."
Smiling, I allowed Edward to lead me to the room I now knew all too well. It was a joy to see Carlisle sitting up in bed, Esme feeding him from a plate on the bedside table while Rosalie and Emmett sat at a table set for four nearby. I joined them at the table, my brother offering to hold his niece so that I could eat.
"I want to know what has been happening in my kingdom since the accident. It is vital that I'm brought up on everything," Carlisle said.
"Perhaps that is a conversation best left for another day." Esme tried to reason with him, but Carlisle snapped.
"Do not tell me what is best! I am the king and I demand to know what you are hiding from me."
The silence that filled the room after Carlisle's outburst was only broken when Antonia began to cry. I watched as my fifteen year old brother struggled to quiet her, so I moved to take her from him. She still wouldn't calm down and after another minute or two of crying, Carlisle groaned again.
"Isabella, can't you soothe your own child?"
The comment wasn't screamed like the last ones had been, but the disgust at my inability to care for my child was clear. Trying to hold back my own tears, I bobbed a curtsey and fled to the safety of my rooms with my daughter.
Edward followed behind me a few minutes later, but I would not return to that room with my daughter.
"There is something truly wrong with your father, Edward. I hope it will pass but I cannot allow our daughter to be around him like this. I want her memories of him to be good ones and that is not the man that held my hands while I went through my trials."
"My father feels horrible about his outburst, but perhaps you are right. Until he is well we will keep his visitors to the adults, and only a few at a time."
"How did Court react to the news that the king is awake, but in need of more rest?"
"They were happy for the news, but Eleazar is anxious to see him. I told him that until he is doing better it will only be family, but he made a comment, almost as if he believes I'm lying to stall."
I could see the annoyance in Edward's expression, so I tried to soothe it. "He knows his standing is about to fall like a stone. It doesn't help that his daughter is due any day, and likely driving them all mad. I can only imagine what it is like to be in that inner circle with Lady Victoria having given birth three weeks before I did and Tanya about to have her child."
"Emmett did say that there's a bit of insanity in their rooms now, it is why he is avoiding it under the guise of being here for you," Edward confided.
"I cannot wait until the day when we will be rid of them," I whispered.
"Once we know that it is safe to move against them, and we have proof of what we believe, then we will. But there is too much that is uncertain at the moment."
"I know."
Edward approached the crib where Antonia slept and smiled down at her. "How about we let Lucy and Nettie take care of her for the night? You need to eat, since you ran from my father's quarters, and then you need to rest."
"All right, let us try and relax."
From that first night, we were in for a hard road. Carlisle was set off by the smallest of things, which had us all on edge. Angela had sent for her sister, Emily, and cousin, Claire, to join my ladies as there were more responsibilities on the horizon and I had never found a replacement for her.
Rosalie had received word from her father that he would be arriving after the harvest to negotiate with Emmett on the terms of their marriage, so that added the timeline to everything because if we looked weak while hosting this summit between our allies, it could end in disaster.
Thankfully, Tanya's birth of her son, Laurent, as well as the now two month old Irina, Victoria's daughter, left little time for scheming from the Duke's family.
When left alone in the nursery with Antonia and I, Esme would cry over the change in Carlisle, truly wondering if he would ever regain the composure he was once known for.
I wondered the same thing, but never spoke the words.
On one afternoon while Carlisle was eating lunch in his room, I joined him, hoping a quiet afternoon would help him. Unfortunately, one of his headaches struck and any attempt to help him was met with screams until I dosed him with the opiates that seemed to relieve a bit of the pain and then left the guards to listen for any of his needs.
With each day it grew harder to enter those rooms, as Carlisle's frustration over being kept in his rooms made him more agitated.
Finally, three weeks after the accident, and two after waking to his new reality, Carlisle had had enough.
"When will I be allowed out of these rooms? I am the king and for my own guards to close me in like this is ridiculous. They don't even listen when I order them away," Carlisle bellowed.
"They're following Edward's orders, and the doctors' recommendations that you remain in your rooms until you are recovered."
Carlisle looked at me with cold blue eyes as he scoffed. "I think you're trying to keep me from Court for more sinister reasons. Perhaps I was too quick to marry my son off in my haste to find alliances after assuming the throne."
His words hurt, but I knew that was his desired effect. "Edward wants you to be well, as do all of us. There is no great plan against you."
"Like you would tell me if there was," he said, moving for the door.
His strength had improved some, but he should not be moving around as much as he was, so I tried to stop him before he hurt himself. I made it to him a few feet from the door and tried to guide him back to the bed.
"Carlisle, you can't leave. If you open the doors the guards will simply stop you from getting any further. Please, just sit back down."
"No, I am the king, and you will not hold me in here any longer!"
With more speed and strength than I'd seen from him, he swung backwards and shoved me hard, sending me backwards over a chair. I landed hard on the floor, pain radiating through my arm and my head as I hit.
I wasn't aware that I'd lost consciousness until my eyes opened to see Edward sitting beside me in our bed.
"Thank the gods, you're awake," Edward breathed.
"What has happened … where is your father?"
"My father lost his temper and threw you to the floor. He thankfully called for the guards and the doctors came in and split their efforts between the two of you. They'll want to speak to you soon, to make sure you're well. But after the incident, some things have changed."
Edward looked like he might have continued if it wasn't for the interruption of the doctors. "Is Her Majesty awake yet?"
"She is," Edward said.
The doctor entered and did a quick examination, asking about what happened this afternoon as well as some questions about when I first arrived in Masen, all the while he flexed my forearm to and fro. I winced a few times before he placed it back on the bed and turned to Edward.
"Her wrist is sprained, but there is no break in the bone. And she's fully aware of both distant and recent events, not to mention her vision and hearing all seem to be well. This afternoon was a scare, but nothing more serious."
"Thank you," Edward said as he dismissed him.
"What else is happening?"
"Once my father was calm, and I was able to be in the same room as him, he expressed his fear at what he was becoming. Even though the doctors say that with time he will get better, he no longer feels it is right to wait."
"What are you saying?"
"This evening, my father abdicated the throne in front of the members of Court in attendance for dinner. He and my mother will depart for Pike in the morning with a few of the doctors in hopes that the quiet setting will allow him to work on the anger his injury has created and return him to the man he once was. The outlying lands are being notified by messengers, as are our allies, and though the coronation will be a month from now, we are no longer the prince and princess of Masen. As of two hours ago, we are king and queen."
My mind raced as I thought about what he was saying and then the doctor's words from a moment ago registered. He called me 'Her Majesty' not 'Her Highness'.
I am the queen.