Thayet gently laid her arm around the quivering shoulders of the young man seated next to her. Pulling him in close and talking to him as she would a frightened animal she told him, "Solan, it's alright."
Still shaking, the Initiate covered his face with his hands. "No, no it's not," he whispered. Trying to pull away from Thayet he said, "Please Your Majesty, please leave. I fear what might happen shall you remain."
As Raoul opened his mouth to agree with Solan, Queen Thayet once again cut him off with a flick of her wrist. "No Raoul," left her lips to echo throughout the room before a word even formed on his.
Ignoring the futile attempts made by both men to get her to leave, Thayet instead tightened her grip on the Mithran, "Solan, I read your note. I understand what drove you wasn't your own motives and therefore I do not fear what you may do to me, because I do not believe you will try it again."
"Thayet, wouldn't your husband feel better about this if you weren't risking yourself?" Raoul started once again, trying to be tactful. "I know Jon worries about your safety."
Thayet placed the fingers of her free hand at the bridge of her nose and pressed just a little, giving herself a few moments to think. Drawing in another breath she gave Raoul her reply, "Jon doesn't know anything about this, does he? What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"Thayet…" Raoul moaned, but he knew he had lost the argument.
"Raoul," she stated, holding back a small laugh. He had always tried to protect her, and Thayet loved him for it, but there were some things more important than her own physical security.
The queen turned her attention back to the man beside her, "I trust you too now see that there is no way you can make me leave." A small smile crossed Thayet's features as she waited for his answer.
Solan returned her smile. Although it was a bit shaky it was a step forward for him, the first sign of a joyful emotion he had exhibited in a long time. "Yes, Your Majesty," he agreed, "Although I still wish you would."
"Well, I can't help that Solan." Thayet's voice was light and cheery with a coaxing undercurrent to it, her way of trying to calm him down, "But, if you give me what I want, I'll give you what you want." She paused for a moment before asking, "Deal?"
Solan answered his queen with, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Looking to Raoul, she saw that he was still a bit uncomfortable. Deciding quickly, Thayet moved both her and Solan over, giving Raoul space to sit on the priest's other side.
The big knight took the offered space, giving Solan another once over as he did so. Turning slightly, Raoul reclined against the footboard of the bed and gave himself an unprecedented view of both Solan and Thayet.
As Thayet watched, she grew more and more upset with Raoul's distrustful actions. When he placed his right hand across the hilt of his sword, Thayet finally said something to him.
"Raoul, if you're going to keep acting like a vicious and spiteful brute, you can leave." Thayet's voice was not loud, but locked tight in her iron control, "There is no need for that," she said, pointing to his sword hand.
Raoul looked down, his eyes flicking to his left hip. Glancing back to the angry woman seated across from him Raoul sighed, "Look Thayet, I'm sorry, but there are things you don't know." Trying to placate her, Raoul spread his hands open before saying, "Things I do."
Thayet's voice was still dead quiet as she demanded, "Tell me then."
Solan answered before Raoul could open his mouth, "He can't, Your Majesty." The Queen's fierce hawk-like gaze stopped him for a minute, but Solan gathered his courage to him and continued, "But I understand why he acts as he does, and I agree with it."
Raoul came in on Solan's last breath, "Trust me please."
Thayet knew both of them were right, so slowly she nodded her head. "Okay," she whispered as Raoul replaced his right hand on the bound hilt of his weapon and Solan returned his eyes to the floor.
"You do have to look at me though," she told the young man.
"Yeah Solan, you have to meet her eyes as you explain everything to her," Raoul added.
Solan lifted his head before asking, "What is it you want to know, Your Majesty?"
Thayet held his chin in a firm but motherly grip as she told him, "First off, I want you to call me Thayet, not 'Your Majesty.'" She gave him another small smile, "Can you do that for me?"
Solan grimaced, "No, Your Majesty."
Thayet let loose a lusty, sad sigh, "Fine." Keeping a firm clasp on his chin, she asked him her next question, "So, can you explain what that letter was about? You said you had attempted to kill me, but you did not state why, although you told us it wasn't of your own choice."
Drawing in a deep breath, Solan nodded. Turning himself much like Raoul had, Solan met Thayet's eyes, "It was a deal between me and King Maggur. If, if I –" his voice caught in his throat, and it took him a moment to clear it before he could continue.
Trying for a second time, Solan finally got it out. "If I were to, to kill you, Maggur would return Elecia to me."
"Elecia?" The voice was Raoul's.
"My sister, a Priestess of the Goddess." Solan stopped to wipe a few tears from his eye, "He took her by force as she was on her way to Galla."
"Why?" Raoul continued to ask the questions as Thayet listened.
"Because he knew she was powerful, as both a granddaughter of late Master Si-Cham and one of the leading Sisters in her own right." Solan's chin was still held tight in Thayet's grasp, but he managed to convey his words to Raoul as well, "He knew he could use her."
"So he proposed regicide as the trade off." Thayet said, finally removing her hand from Solan's face. "If you were to kill me, it would weaken the Crown enough for him to try attacking us again, this time with a chance of winning."
Thayet pinched the bridge of her nose again before going on, "Why didn't you use magic?"
Raoul had another question, "And why Thayet instead of Jon?"
Solan kept his gaze on the Queen as he answered both, "Maggur didn't want me to use magic; he said he had wanted it done the old fashioned way."
Linking his fingers together, Solan pushed them outward in a small stretch before saying, "He told me to go after Her Majesty instead of His Majesty because he knew that Thayet was a strong factor in Tortallan politics too, and that her death would affect King Jonathon's judgment a great deal."
"He said she was the key that held the kingdom together." Solan cracked his fingers again, evidently uncomfortable with what he was saying, "According to Maggur, King Jonathon might be a good ruler in his way, but she was the one who worked behind the scenes to support him and help him keep a level head."
Thayet shook her head. "That's folly," she whispered. "Jon and I work together."
Raoul lifted his sword hilt a little, making sure the weapon was clear in its scabbard as he asked, "Why did he want you to do it the 'old-fashioned' way?"
"He thought it would give the people more of a shock and make them loose faith in those like you, Sir Raoul, who's duty it is to protect Her Majesty."
Thayet came in with her own look at the situation, "So, Maggur told you that if you killed me using a blade, thereby shattering my kingdom and loosing us the faith of our people, he would return your sister to you?"
Solan nodded his distraught acknowledgment to Thayet's words.
"Then why didn't you go along with it?" Raoul asked, "You had the chance, if you so desperately wanted your sister back you could have done it."
"I know." Solan's voice was low and filled with distress, "I also know that my duty is first and foremost to my King and Queen, as both a Mithran Initiate and as a Tortallan citizen."
"I love my sister dearly, and I despise every minute I've had to leave her in his horrid clutches, but I can't destroy the lives of countless others just to satisfy my own wants." Solan shook his head, "It goes against everything I've ever stood for."
"What are you going to do then?" Thayet asked him, her voice still tight in her control, betraying none of her thoughts.
"Submit myself to whatever punishment it is I'm given." Involuntarily, Solan shivered, "I attempted to murder my Queen, I deserve whatever it is I get."
There, we know what Solan's deal was! What do you think?
FanFictionFantom, there are only a couple three or so more chapters after this one, and then the alternate ending. FSaD is almost over!
Well, R&R please!
Sull