Madeline sat on the dock, gazing over the large lake bathed in moonlight. Despite travelling around the kingdom as a young royal to visit a few duchies, Prathage did not have many lakes to visit, so this was a rare sight for her to see.
The group had left Coit the day before last with Lars at the lead, reaching the laketown of Paidale last night. They caught the ferry in the morning, taking the full day journey across Lake Westsoll to cross the border between Prathage and Ixaidel, before arriving in the laketown of Drudale on the eastern side. It was already late afternoon when they docked, so they got rooms in the Drudale inn.
Madeline glanced back at the town, seeing the inn near the shore and hearing the ruckus from the pub below it. She had been in there earlier with the boys to enjoy their meals, but the evening festivities got overwhelming for her. Knowing that her room upstairs wouldn't be much quieter, she had come out here to sit at the dock instead.
As Madeline gazed out at the calm waters and the now-waning moon, she finally had time to reflect on everything she had learned in Coit. After lifting the two spells, she was indeed able to gaze into Francis's mind and see his memories. She doubted for some time whether they were genuine memories, or just fabricated illusions Francis used to mislead her. As she realized she wouldn't have been allowed to see Virside or that engulfed, frozen stabbed heart if he had any control, she determined that they had indeed been genuine memories.
The fact that these visions may have been genuine memories troubled her, because of the vision she did not tell anyone else about yet. There was one other memory she saw in Francis's mind, connected to the word of "vengeance" along with her father exiling the man. It was an event where there had never been any known third parties to witness, an event that ultimately changed her entire life.
All these years, she had believed she knew the cause of the event, only to learn now that Francis was pulling the strings. This discovery terrified her, and had shaken her soul to the core.
Focusing on the bright moon, Madeline watched as the silhouette of a bird gradually grew in size in front of it, before hearing the familiar caw identifying it as a raven. As it glided towards her on the dock, Madeline realized it was Naktakė approaching, and held out her arm for the raven to land on.
"Hello, Naktakė," Madeline greeted, "I hope you had a good flight."
As she scratched the bird's neck, Madeline noticed that Naktakė had two letters coiled in her claws.
"Letters please," Madeline requested, tapping the parchment to make sure Naktakė understood her.
The raven lifted the leg, and Madeline held out her hand to catch the two letters as Naktakė released them.
"Good girl," Madeline cooed, "Let's see why we have two letters this time."
Naktakė hopped off her arm and landed beside her on the dock instead, allowing Madeline to inspect the two letters with both her hands. At the edges of the two rolled sheets of parchment, she finally noticed there were written instructions for the recipients. The first one with a simple seal was addressed to Tolys from Feliks, while the second one had a royal seal and was addressed directly to her from Alfred.
"Alfred must have important news for me," Madeline guessed.
She placed her letter on the dock beside her, before showing Naktakė the letter addressed to Tolys.
"This is for Tolys," Madeline instructed, waving it around to make sure Naktakė understood.
The raven immediately took to the air, jumping up onto her arm again. Madeline held the letter by Naktakė's claws, allowing her to take the letter again. Once the raven had the letter safely in her grasp, Madeline pointed over at the inn.
"Tolys is over there," Madeline directed, "The noisy pub below the inn."
Naktakė cawed as she immediately took flight, soaring over towards the inn. Certain that the raven would find Tolys just fine, Madeline picked up the letter from Alfred. She broke the royal seal, unwound the parchment, and started reading the letter.
Maddie,
We got Tolys's letter about everything that happened in Coit, sounds like quite the adventure you're on!
We were shocked to hear about the Ridudians turning to wolves, that is definitely something we should've known about. There is quite the relief in Primgate, knowing that both the winter and werewolf spells have finally been lifted, and we can now try to make things how they were before. I had the scholars look for information on Francis Bonnefoy, the only thing they've found so far is Father's signed declaration of the man's exile. There aren't any recent records on missing duchesses either, another mystery to dig into.
There has been a development here in Primgate that you need to know about. As we discussed in Glefield, Antonio and I have been working with the court to re-establish the Royal Family's control of the throne, and the court has now come to a consensus. They are willing to give me the Crown and make me King, but there is one condition. They need you to surrender your rights to the Crown, so that you can never be Queen of Prathage. If you agree to have your claim to the throne made forfeit, the court will then acclaim me as King, with Antonio as my presumptive heir.
Madeline slammed the letter to her lap and stared out at the lake, feeling the anger rising within her.
"On top of everything else I've spent the last three days questioning," she muttered to herself, "I use my ice magic one time in self-defense, and they make me the monster and reject me. Those fucking hypocrites!"
She nodded to herself, feeling a slight relief of her frustration from correctly using Arthur's otherworldly curse word. After taking another couple deep breaths, she lifted the letter from her lap and kept reading.
Antonio is prepared to agree to these terms, but I wanted your approval before your rights were taken away. There are ways I can make sure you still maintain your royal titles, and I can see to it that you receive generous stipends to live your life on. You could easily take one of the vacant duchy titles, Tolys did point out that the Northern duchies desperately needed leadership. I could try to find a nobleman worthy of marrying you, perhaps even a royal if King Gilbert is still looking for a queen in Ixaidel.
There is time for you to think about this as the court is now on break for the next while. Antonio, Feliks and I will ride out to join you and help you hunt down this Bonnefoy sorcerer, we'll have already left by the time you receive this letter. We intend to stop at Inasdiff briefly en route, perhaps Gilbert will know of a missing Ixaidellian duchess for us to search for. Our arrival at the Krizoris Lakes should be within a day or two of you.
I will see you soon,
Alfred
Madeline slowly rolled the letter up again, placing it beside her on the dock while she stared out at the lake again. Her mind raced with her mixed thoughts on the matter, particularly on the hypocrisy of the court.
After years of being taught to be both a perfectly obedient lady and a strong leader at the same time, she had felt that she would never meet their standards for what a ruler should be, even as she faced more pressure than Alfred to behave. After all this time trying to be the court's perfect Queen in waiting, they are rejecting her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the cawing of a raven, before Naktakė suddenly flew by her, twirling in the air before landing on the dock's post beside her. Seeing that Naktakė was looking towards land, Madeline turned to see Tolys walking down the dock towards her.
"Naktakė says you got a letter from Alfred," Tolys reported, "Feliks mentioned in his letter what it's about, and that it's important you read Alfred's letter before his."
"I read it already," Madeline confirmed, "The court doesn't want me to ever be the Queen of Prathage."
"Yes, that's it," Tolys said as he sat down beside her, leaning against the post Naktakė was perched on, "I came to check on you, to see how you were handling it."
"That's very kind of you," Madeline replied, "Do the others know?"
"Not yet, they're busy drinking," Tolys answered, "I managed to read Feliks's letter alone, and slipped out of there without them noticing."
"They'll read it later," Madeline stated, "They'll have their chance to react to what's going on in Primgate."
"And what about you?" Tolys pried, "How are you feeling about it?"
"Frustrated at the moment," Madeline admitted, "All my life, the court has been training me to be a future queen, to be the symbol of virtue and honour. The one time I defend my own honour, they condemn me and refuse me my birthright. After all these years of trying to reach their standards, they cast me aside."
"You're still troubled by it, aren't you?" Tolys deducted, "The attack by the courtier, I mean. When you mentioned it in Coit, I noticed you still seemed very troubled by the memory."
Madeline glanced down at the water, composing herself and gathering her thoughts. Tolys seemed to be gentle and kind, surely she could trust him with the truth.
"Remember how I described what I saw in Francis's mind?" Madeline revealed, "About how I was certain they were memories? There was one more vision I saw that night, another memory of his. He witnessed something that nobody else ever got to see."
"What was it?" Tolys supported.
"He was there, seven years ago in Primgate," Madeline declared, "That courtier only forced himself on me because Francis cast a spell on him, making him do so."
"Francis was responsible for the attack?" Tolys inferred, "Why would he do that?"
"That's how he got his vengeance on my family," Madeline elaborated, "He knew that having the courtier force himself on me would cause a scandal strong enough to throw the power of Prathage into question. He didn't expect me to freeze the man's heart in self-defense, but it still achieved a similar effect. Now I can't help but wonder if I killed an innocent man."
"Madeline, listen to me," Tolys pleaded as he leaned forward, "Whatever the circumstances may have been, you were wrongfully attacked, and defending yourself is the best thing you could've done for yourself. You cannot blame yourself for what happened, or for what methods you had to resort to in the process."
"What does it even matter anymore?" Madeline deplored, "Nobody will ever believe what I tell them at this point, whether I blame it on Francis or the courtier. They will just accuse me of using them as scapegoats for using my ice magic to kill someone!"
Madeline lost her words as she gasped for breath, her voice cracking as she reached the verge of tears. She focused on the small ripples of the water below her feet, watching them slowly pass as she focused on catching her breath and calming down. After a moment, she heard Tolys shuffle over beside her, and felt him wrap his arm around her back, prompting her to look at him.
"I believe you," Tolys quietly pledged, "I know I may not have much say in the matter, but I do believe you. No matter what happens, I am on your side."
As Tolys spoke, Madeline could feel her heart fluttering in her chest. It might have been fear, since this was the first time in seven years that anyone had ever held her so close, and that last time had ruined her life. On the other hand, the way the moonlight shone on his face, the way his forest green eyes looked at her with such tenderness, it all filled her with this strange feeling that she couldn't describe. A feeling that was both calming and exhilarating at once, which she did not know how to act on.
Realizing that she needed to snap out of whatever this was, Madeline turned away and looked at the water again, focusing on returning to the waking world and not letting herself get carried away.
"Thank you, Tolys," Madeline muttered, "I really do appreciate it."
"Of course," Tolys answered.
His arm dropped away from her back, and she felt the desire to let the touch linger, only to catch herself and immediately will herself to dismiss the thought.
"Now I just have to figure out how to respond to all this," Madeline deflected, looking back out at the lake again, "Do I let the court have their way, or do I fight it?"
"That's a very difficult question," Tolys analyzed, "In the time we've known each other, I've seen you display incredible resilience and strength. You show grace, dignity and respect to everyone around you. If you were a queen, you would be adored by all your subjects. At the same time, perhaps it's a blessing in disguise to not take the throne. The court has shown their contempt for you, which will be difficult to face on a daily basis. If you turn away from Primgate, you can be free to explore the world as you wish and do whatever you'd like."
"What would you do?" Madeline solicited, "If you were in my position, what path would you choose?"
"As Arthur would probably word it, to hell with Primgate," Tolys chuckled, "I'd like to explore the world, see as many places as I can. All of Ixaidel and Stulikya for sure, perhaps even further south past the Bay of Shertara. Then, once my body could no longer keep up with the travelling, I'd choose the place I enjoyed most and live out the rest of my life comfortably there."
"That sounds like quite the plan for a life well spent," Madeline remarked, "Would you recommend that for me?"
"You do have experience surviving in the wild, so you do have that going for you," Tolys judged, "Then again, do you have the perseverance and determination to forge ahead into the unknown, with no guarantee of where you'll end up each day? There's a lot you have to consider, but there is only one thing that truly matters."
"And what would that be?" Madeline asked, daring to look him in the eyes again.
"Your freedom of choice," Tolys replied, "What do you want to do?"
Madeline chuckled as she looked back out at the lake and the moon far above.
"What do I want to do? If only I knew."