Category: Queen's Thief
Rating: M
Couples: (at least mention of) Canon ones
Warnings: AU, potentially smut, Character death
Chapter: 12
Copyright: Characters & places © By Megan Whalen Turner, Plot & OC´s © by me
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"You… have got to be kidding me..." Costis threw a flat glare at the King sitting behind his desk. "Your Majesty." He remembered to add before the break in his sentence became too obvious.
"Would I kid about something like this?" Attolis Eugenides gave him a vague smile.
"You do not want me to answer that." Costis answered with a sigh. "With all due respect, My King, but I am nowhere ready to be Captain of the Guard. If not for… the incident, I would barely have been considered as Lieutenant by now."
"Costis, you and I both know how loved Teleus… was." Eugenides put aside the letter he had been writing and rose from his seat to walk over to the window. "Especially now that the Guard can finally be halved, we need someone that people don't mind being fired by… well, fired in a way."
"And the untested, nowhere-near-ready Lieutenant is going to be that person now?" The guard resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Is Enkelis a good choice?" The King muttered. "Are any of the other Lieutenants good choices?" He snorted softly. "I… we don't need the one with the most experience, we need the one that is the closest to being the heart of the guard, now that Teleus is gone. And that is very much you."
"How?"
"Well, now that is your secret, isn't it?" Eugenides chuckled. "Costis, there is very few people we can trust with things like this, that list having grown even less after the war…" With that, Costis could agree. The Peninsula had suffered grievous losses during the war. For a time after Teleus' loss, people had speculated that when Eddis emptied, they'd have the King's father become the Captain of the Guard. But then he too had died. Who did they have left that knew the workings of a guard?
He slumped a bit. "I hope I can live up to the expectations Your Majesties have of me."
"My dear Costis, you have lived up to every expectation ever – even if it took far longer than I had planned for you to punch me – so I am certain you will do well enough." Eugenides, King of Attolia and Annux over the entire Peninsula, reached up to slap his shoulder. "I am sure you can convince Kamet to assist you with the paperwork… or deputy someone you don't like. Just make sure that if you use Kamet, it doesn't give him the impression you don't like him. I would not want him to think you two are breaking up."
"Thank you, my King." He did not quite manage to stop the chuckle at that statement. "I am sure I will manage somehow."
"Good." The slighter male's mouth-corner moved upward lightly. "Our Queen will make the official announcement tomorrow, so take the rest of the day off to mentally prepare..."
"My King?" That sounded highly ominous. The last time he heard something like that, he had been send to the Mede Empire to steal a slave from Nashuresh. "Are… you planning something?"
"Of course not." He snorted softly. "Just looking forward to how you handle all the paperwork."
"Am I allowed to punch you again, Your Majesty?"
"No."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
She returned to tend him every night after that dream, though what exactly she was hoping to do with it she couldn't tell anyone, were they to ask.
The Attolian endured for far longer than anyone would expect of him, refusing to die under her uncle's ministrations. From what she could see of the Emperor, the prisoner might somehow well survive him.
"Melheret's son?" She echoed her brother. "I am to marry his son?"
"We are somewhat running out of unmarried men of high enough standing." Naheelid answered, frowning out of the window from where he sat across from her. The attack – and subsequent annexation – of the Hephestian Peninsula had been intended to be the great kick-off point of his rule… instead, it would be the painful and embarrassing start of it.
"As my brother commands." She inclined her head, accepting her role in her family. Behind her, her personal slave was kneeling on the bare ground. "May I ask if anything has been planned?"
"We are still in talks." He looked over at her now, which was a great show of care from his end. "But I wanted you to be at ease that you are not wasted."
"My brother is too kind." She bowed deeper this time, smiling lightly. "I will await his word."
"Brother?" She might have been a bit too forward when she spoke up on her own, but he seemed not to mind.
"Yes?"
"May I ask… what will be done with the Attolian?" She pulled her wrap around her tighter. "Is he to die in the garden?"
"No." He sighed. "He'll be killed in the funeral games for our honourable uncle… it'll be a far better gift to Attolia than losing him privately."
Vindictive still… and she felt that it was far too much, but did not say anything. It was not her place to give her opinion unasked to her brother. He took his leave shortly afterwards, having an Empire to run as their uncle had started ailing too much to do so.
"Shesmegah, have mercy on us." She could only hope that her brother would endure the turmoil of taking the throne… and that she would survive it. At the slightest hint, nobles would be executed if they seemed like a threat to the throne. Until his wife or concubines finally gave him a child, her spouse would be de facto heir, since their only male sibling had died. He would have to play a very careful game of being interested and yet not.