Winter Wedding

And with a little help from above

You feel the power of love

~ Huey Lewis

Chapter 2

What is revenge but courage to call in our honor's debts, and wisdom to convert others' self-love into our own protection? ~ Edward Young

The group waiting in Julius' rooms at the palace looked up hopefully as Jilk entered the room. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed as the green-haired young man shook his head.

"I'm sorry, my father refuses to let me use one of our family's ships. I did everything but beg on my knees but he told me that I'd made my bed and should lie on it."

"Who cares about making beds!" Greg snarled. "We're talking ships and knight-armours!"

"Just one ship would be enough." Brad was sitting on the couch, one arm around Marie's shoulder and toying her with her hair idly. "What is going on with our families?"

"You can say that," the redhead shot back, "But the knee on my knight-armour hasn't been the same since I fought Julius' cousin. I've asked around but fixing it needs a skilled armorsmith and most of them are already working for a household."

"Surely there are some independent craftsmen?" Julius suggested.

"I got told I'd have to wait! What's up with that?"

Marie tried to hide her disappointment. Hadn't any of them figured this out yet? She was almost tempted to just get up and remind them that this was what being disinherited meant, but no one liked the bearer of bad news - and they might even blame her!

Chris rose and stretched - he was still good eye-candy. There was that.

"Let's review our options," he suggested. "Firstly, we could pass on going after the treasure right now. We only have the holidays, and if we don't get a ship then we'll not have time to get there and back."

"Does it really matter if we're a bit late for term starting?" asked Julius. "After all, Bartford and his crew just ran off for two weeks in the middle of last term."

"Ascart covered for them," Jilk told the prince, sitting down in the armchair next to Julius' seat. "There's an allowance for family emergencies, but unless one of us is in peril, we're not going to have much luck with that."

"This is an emergency, we don't know when someone else could find that treasure. Isn't this what adventuring is all about?" Brad let go of Marie's hair and leant forwards.

She didn't think anyone was likely to find the cash shop island if they hadn't already, but she could hardly tell them that the information she'd discovered was only inside of her head. And given the parlous state of their collective finances, it really was an emergency. Thank god that Greg hadn't realised that the craftsmen he'd approached had probably been hinting that offering a premium for the repairs would get him to the head of the queue - he'd have paid without thinking and there would go more of the dwindling funds available.

Marie hadn't believed that anyone could be worse for taking money from her than her parent's creditors, but the five of them were apparently intent on proving her wrong. There was a statuette of her that Julius had commissioned, paying with money she'd been earmarking to buy something - anything - she could wear other than her school uniform.

"This can't be so hard," the prince muttered. "Lots of people are adventurers, how do they get ships?"

"And knight-armour repairs?" added Greg. "I thought I was ready for that, with all the times I've been to dungeons before." He rested his chin on his hands morosely. "I never realised how much was going on behind the scenes to go out there."

Of course you didn't, Marie thought. You never had to actually do any of the hard work. Just smack whatever was in front of you.

Chris cleared his throat. "If we don't give up, then we're going to have to look at other ways to get a skyship. We've tried our families, perhaps we could buy our own?"

"That's a good idea!" the prince declared. "If we put all our money together."

"We can't." Marie had already looked at that. "Skyships are expensive, guys."

"Once we have the treasure, we can afford it!" Brad suggested. "Why not take a loan?"

A shiver went down her spine. "No, not a loan. Anything but that!"

He put his arm around her. "Marie, it's alright. We'll just borrow a little and then pay it all off once we hit it big."

It was like he was her husband from her past life. Who never hit it big, and borrowed more and more, with the interest getting higher and higher as the banks and loan sharks realised that they'd never have enough together to clear the debts… but that they could be milked of repayments forever. "Borrowing is evil, Brad! Anyone lending money is out to get you!"

"Okay…" Chris said slowly. "I think we should respect Marie's wishes here. So if we can't get our families to lend… to let us use a skyship and we can't buy one, who else might be willing to lend us a ship?"

"I tried Bartford."

Which had gone about as well as Marie had expected. The mob was entirely too fond of the halfwit he sharpened whenever he could, but he wasn't stupid. And if he had come along, he'd have wanted a huge share for using his ship.

"Yeah, well it's not like he'd have helped us," Greg pointed out. "We're not exactly his favourite people in the world - he hangs around with Angelica, Clarice, Violette and Scarlet. None of them would be impressed with him spending the holidays adventuring with us."

The mention of their former fiancees wasn't a topic Marie was eager to broach. Hopefully none of them were stupid enough to suggest approaching any of those families for a skyship.

"Maybe we can find an adventuring party who already have a ship of their own," Jilk offered. "We could share Marie's information with them and split the proceeds. It'd mean we get a smaller share but some is better than nothing, which is what we have right now."

"We're already going to have to pay a lot of what we find to the Adventurer's Guild," Chris pointed out. "Splitting the treasure too far might mean we have too little to make it worthwhile - but it's worth asking around at the Guild. There might be ships that charter to adventurers just for a share of the take. That'd be less going around than bringing in a ship and another party of adventurers."

"That's a thought," agreed Julius. "Asking around could get us somewhere."

Marie nodded. And there was another possibility, one she'd been loath to try without having the bracelet. But right now she was running out of options. She was pretty sure that no reputable ship owner would join up with this pack of silk-pants on some treasure hunt - and any non-reputable captain would throw them over the side once they had the treasure. Given a ship, the captain could then set out to some other kingdom and no one would know that they were missing until it was far too late.

"Please don't take any chances," she pleaded. "Ask around but don't commit to anything until we can talk it over."

"Of course, Marie." Greg walked over and ruffled her hair, like she was his little sister or something. "We're in this together. All for one, one for all!"

"Nicely said," Julius agreed. "Shall we go to the guild then?"

The boys started standing.

"I have another idea," Marie told them. "But it's a little embarrassing if it doesn't work out…"

"My lady," Anne Fou Shelley informed Katarina Rafa Claes. "You have a guest."

"Is it Gerald?" she asked, rising from where she'd been sitting. The problem with wedding finery was that it was so delicate that she couldn't run around or climb or even garden in it, without leaving evidence that would earn her a lengthy lecture from mother.

According to Anne, the dress was perfectly durable for ladylike pursuits… which was apparently limited to tea parties and talking to Sophia about romance novels. It wasn't as if Katarina didn't enjoy either of those, but sometimes she just wanted to sprawl out on the lawn.

Well, maybe not today. Until it warmed up. But it was the principle of the thing, and she'd be wearing dresses like this for several days.

The marriage of a duke's brother to a duke's daughter was not a simple affair, she had learned. Both the Stuarts and Bergs would host massive parties before and after the event. Banquets, balls and hunting parties would take the better part of a week. As a matter of honour the two ducal families would host all the guests so Katarina would be staying at the Berg mansion even though it was only about a hour's walk from the Claes mansion. There had been a huge fuss over where she would stay, but mother had finally decided that Selena's argument that it would be improper for Katarina to essentially live at the Stuart mansion before her marriage to Gerald was correct.

Even if she wasn't staying with the Stuarts, it was still Gerald's responsibility as her fiance to come and escort her. They'd be riding in the coach together with Keith and Anne as chaperones.

She flushed slightly at a naughty thought involving Keith and Gerald. Ann was such a pervert for putting that thought into her head! Katarina knew she couldn't be entirely blameless - she'd had that dream about Gerald kissing her before Ann joined her - but Keith as well?

Think of the vegetables! Was she going to find babies under a cabbage one day? Not that that was where babies came from - she still remembered health class from her past life - but if she might have to rush off to exile then having a baby would be a bit of a problem.

"No, my lady. It is Lady Lysia from the temple."

The temple? Katarina tried to remember proper etiquette as the older blonde lady entered the room. Curtseying, she then kissed the priestess' offered ring in deference to the presumed authority of speaking for the saint.

'She most definitely does not!' Ann complained as Angelica, who was also waiting to go to the wedding, also kissed the ring.

"Lady Claes," Lysia greeted her. "I am here on the business of the temple. A sensitive matter, I am afraid."

"Er…" Katarina looked appealing at Angelica, who was moving towards the door. "I'm not very good at sensitive matters."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Anne touch her forehead as if the maid had a headache.

"I would simply ask that you not discuss this matter outside your family," the priestess clarified. "At least until the temple has reached the point of making a formal announcement about the matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"Oh. Well, Anne's practically family and Angie's one of my best friends!"

Anne bowed to Lady Lysia. "Perhaps in the Duchess' momentary absence, you would allow Lady Redgrave to provide young Lady Claes with mature advice?"

The blonde priestess hesitated and then nodded. "I believe that you accompanied Lady Claes to rescue her brother during the recent affair?" she asked Angelica.

"Yes, your grace."

"Then you are probably somewhat aware of some of what I want to discuss," Lysia decided.

They sat down around the tea table, Angie and Anne flanking her while Ann complained quietly about the temple using her name without permission.

"To begin at the beginning, I believe that you recovered a bracelet from the dungeon under the school, in the spring."

"Oh yes." She wasn't wearing it right now. "Anne, do you have it handy?"

"I can fetch it, my lady."

"I would appreciate that. It has been described to me and we believe that it may be part of a set." Lysia relaxed slightly in her seat as Anne left the room. "I also understand that you began to show signs of using light magic while you were rescuing your brother from Baron Sullivan. Is that true?"

Katarina paused and then nodded cautiously. "I mean, it looked a bit like light magic?"

Angelica patted her hand. "I've seen Olivia Campbell and Marie Fou Lafan use light magic," she told Lysia. "What Katarina did was the same light."

"How amazing," Lysia's eyes sparkled. "Light magic is a rare and precious gift. Your family must be very proud."

Actually her mother had said something about not letting anyone know in case she got in trouble.

"May I ask who it is that you were healing?" the priestess asked.

"Eh? Ah, I wasn't healing someone," Katarina explained as Anne returned holding a jewellery case. "There were these shadows, you see?"

"Ah, you used it for illumination?" Then Lysia gasped as the maid placed the case on the table and opened it, revealing the silver bracelet. "Oh my. Oh my!"

'Oh mine,' Ann thought in Katarina's head, giving the girl an image of the saintess dressed like Anne and swatting Lysia's trembling fingers.

The priestess gathered her composure. "Your pardon, Lady Claes. The bracelet seems just as it was described to me. May I examine it?"

"Sure!" Oh, that wasn't ladylike. "Er, I mean… of course you can, Lady Lysia."

Not apparently taking any note of the informality, the older lady picked the bracelet up and turned it over. She retrieved some paper from a pocket in her dress and unfolded it, checking what seemed to be notes and a diagram.

Katarina wondered if she should call for refreshments. She could really go for some cakes right now.

'Pronounce yourself my heir,' Ann advised her. 'These idiots will believe it, and with your family behind you, we can pick the right moment to overthrow the Holforts and you can marry Lia.'

Poor Ann, she seemed to still be confusing Leon with her old boyfriend Lia. Maybe she could get some of those lovely creamy cupcakes, the ones with little wings… fairy cakes, that was what they were called!

'Katarina, stop thinking about cake, you can overthrow the Holforts and become queen.'

Nope-nope-nope. Her mother would be incandescently angry if Katarina became queen somehow.

"I…" Lysia's voice almost broke as she finished her examination of the bracelet. "I am amazed. This exactly matches the description of the Saintess' Bracelet. It might be a very good copy, but if so then the craftsman almost certainly must have seen the original at some point."

Angelica leant forwards. "Of course, the kingdom's oldest laws, as confirmed by the temple, assert that it is inalienably the property of Lady Claes. She may sell it if she chooses, but not even the crown can take it from her if she wants to keep it."

"Of course, of course." Lady Lysia waved the hand not folding her notes up. "Of course," she repeated, eyes not leaving the bracelet. "Although if we might come to some arrangement to test it… just to see if it really is the Saintess' Bracelet?"

Katarina had enough self-preservation to glance at Angelica.

"Any such arrangement would need to be discussed by both the Duke, as Lady Claes' guardian, and the temple's leadership," the other young woman pointed out. "Katarina is not of age, after all, and securing an item of such possible importance would require a significant commitment of security."

Why did that make Lady Lysia look so upset?

Ann snickered. 'Because the temple lost the bracelet once already. Your parents will probably let them take it only when the consequences for not returning it have been set so high that the temple won't dare claim that it was stolen and hide it away for themselves.'

"I suppose you are right," the priestess agreed reluctantly. "Perhaps I can arrange another meeting - though I suppose that that must wait until after Prince Ian's wedding."

Angelica nodded. "And if I may correct your earlier assumption: Lady Katarina didn't use her light magic for mere illumination. The shadows that she drove away were dark magic that had enchanted the minds of her brother and of one of our comrades. Without her skill and courage, we might never have recovered them from that captivity."

Lysia's eyes went wide. "That… that is amazing." She sounded flabbergasted. "Dark magic itself was so forgotten that we had thought that it might have been driven from human knowledge. Learning that we were wrong has caused great alarm within the temple, but to learn that light magic is rising to battle it..." She rose and then curtsied to Katarina. "You bring us all hope, Lady Claes."

"Oh, I couldn't have done it without the Saintess' help," Katarina exclaimed.

"Indeed, we are all guided by her wisdom."

'And they'll try to steal the credit,' the Saintess whispered angrily to Katarina. The girl really wished she could give Ann a hug - it sounded as if she needed one.

Leon had barely arrived at the Randall mansion when he was ushered across to the coach waiting for the Randalls and their guest.

Lord Isak Fia Randall held a minor office at the Treasury (something to do with military pensions), thus his technical status as a court noble. However, the bulk of his influence lay with the fact he was his brother's chosen successor. Rather than his wife, he was escorting their daughter Frey and handed her up into the coach before climbing in.

Leon offered Ginger Fou Tucker a wry smile and his arm. She flushed awkwardly and let him help her into the coach. They didn't know each other well, and Leon had always found her blunt to the point of curtness. A royal wedding - for dukes were royal in their status for traditional reasons - was rather outside of her comfort zone.

"Lady Randall won't be joining us?" Leon asked once he had made sure that his charge was seated.

Lord Randall shook his head. "Frey's brother Njord is unwell, so my wife will be staying with him. I don't believe it's contagious, but it's still convenient for Frey and our guest to stay with the Stuarts for a few days."

"I've had most everything already," Ginger observed. "Nature of having so many siblings."

Frey gave the other girl's hand a little squeeze. "You'll like it at the Stuart mansion, Suzanna's been building up their library."

"Don't spend the entire wedding festivities in there," her father warned with gruff fondness. He glanced at Leon. "Just like her cousin was at the same age. Suzanna was mad for the notion she'd join the Ministry of Magic when she was younger. Couldn't happen of course, not at our station."

Leon remembered Larna Smith and hid a smile. "One never knows what will happen in the future."

"Well she certainly wasn't expecting to marry a duke," the man said fondly. "I think she's invited you two young ladies so she has someone to talk about magic with," he added to the young ladies. "So I won't fuss at you for doing that, just don't ignore everyone else. It's a good chance for you to make connections here in the capital, Lady Tucker."

"I'll be here for years at the academy anyway." The brown-haired girl seemed to find that sufficient answer and turned to Leon. "How did you make it onto the student council when you can't use magic, Lord Bartford?"

"I had to be very good at everything else," he told her. "You won't have that problem, I suspect?"

"Ginger's amazing, she knows ever so much about wind magic!" Frey exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I'm not that strong," the girl claimed, her cheeks flushed at the praise. Not something she likely got with her brood of older siblings, Leon thought, recalling occasional local gatherings of his youth. Hah, he was barely sixteen and he was calling it his youth.

"Nor is Lady Claes," he told the girl. "But she's pretty good about making use of what she can do."

Ginger nodded and looked out of the window. "We're almost at the Stuart mansion. Why do they and the Bergs have to host everyone for the wedding? It seems silly when half the guests are already living within walking distance."

"I don't actually know," Leon admitted, "It's a tradition, so there was probably a good reason for it once, even if it's a bit silly now."

"It's actually a custom from the feudal lords," Lord Randall informed them. "It used to be that few of the lords had permanent residences in the capital so weddings took place in their domains and guests had to stay with them - there weren't many alternatives." He chuckled. "It's a bit much now that most weddings among the nobility are held here in the capital, but it's sparked some funny stories."

"Such as?" his daughter asked eagerly.

The older man leant back in his seat. "Well, the custom does mean a lot of houses have rooms or guest houses that are only used a few times a year, at best. A few years ago, some viscounts with neighbouring mansions decided to take advantage of their proximity and they built a joint guest house that could be accessed from any of their homes, changing the furnishings and approaches to disguise that it was the same guest house whoever was hosting there. Most of them had different circles of friends and allies, so it was pretty rare for anyone to be hosted there by more than one of them."

"That's pretty clever," Leon admitted. "I'm surprised more of the lower nobility don't do that. My parents sold off the Olfrey mansion, but we may struggle to host a large gathering for my brother's wedding."

"Unfortunately it turned into something of a cautionary tale," Randall explained. "It came out when Marquis Frampton discovered that they were all putting funds in to pay taxes on a single guest house rather than five distinct ones. We were investigating them for tax fraud for over a year until someone checked the building on a map and realised that there really was just one guest house."

"How is that a cautionary tale?" Frey enquired.

"Like I said, none of the five really had friends in common - they were neighbours but each was part of a different faction at court. The fact that they'd been collaborating like that raised suspicions that they might also have been cooperating in other ways. There were several rather fierce arguments and three of them found themselves alienated from their previous supporters." Lord Randall shrugged. "The perils of politics I'm afraid."

He'd timed the end of the tale well, and the coach pulled up outside the Stuart mansion right as he delivered that warning message.

Leon opened the door and hopped down so that he could offer his arm to Ginger, followed by Isak Fia Randall doing the same for his daughter.

"Isak, Frey!" Suzanna Rafa Stuart swept out to meet them, kissing her cousin and her uncle each on the cheek. "Lord Bartford -" She gave him a flirtatious look that Leon was sure was feigned, while he kissed the back of her hand. "- and you must be Lady Tucker."

"Ginger Fou Tucker, my lady," the girl muttered nervously.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope to see a lot more of you in the future," Suzanna assured her. "Frey, why don't you show Ginger the library? I have the newest research on botanicals that you were asking about."

"Thank you!" Frey exclaimed loudly and half-dragged her friend away.

Leon arched an eyebrow to ask 'can I escape too?' and got a slight shake of the head.

"Thank you for finally taking my advice and offering patronage to young ladies," Isak told his niece. "Frey'd probably be very happy at the ministry but we both know that that isn't going to happen. At least if you're hosting salons she'll have some way to meet like-minded young people."

"That's one of my reasons," the duchess agreed, letting the two men each take one of her arms and escort her back inside. "But it's for my own pleasure as well."

Leon suspected that at some point Suzanna would have a frank talk to her cousin about how to establish a false identity and then the Smith presence at the ministry would increase by one. The conversation might have already happened in fact. Frey was a bit too young to take employment right now and unless something changed she'd also need the right husband.

"And is Lord Bartford here another of your proteges?" the court lord asked wryly.

"Some believe that he's my little bit on the side," Suzanna joked, with a wicked laugh, "but he's actually the intermediary between myself and Director Smith at the ministry. Your old superior gets quite hissy about his subordinates having private correspondence with the other nobility."

Leon almost swallowed his tongue at the sheer gall of that claim.

Once her uncle broke off to speak to some of his peers in age among the other guests, Suzanna drew Leon off to one of the guest suites. "I trust this will be acceptable for your parents?" she asked him hopefully. "I don't want to overwhelm them, but I have to maintain some standards for a countess and her husband."

Leon looked around. It was a nice suite but probably rather less decorated than most of the guest rooms - he suspected some embellishments had been removed. "I think that they'll manage, my lady. I appreciate the consideration."

"I don't host that often," she told him and then shook her head. "And don't worry about the formalities when we're alone. I'm sure you've seen right through my masquerade."

"Not when we first met," he admitted. "But yes, director."

"Suzanna, or Larna, depending what face I'm wearing." She reached up and tousled her long dark hair slightly. "I liked your report on Alexander, don't worry about getting him back from Miss Campbell - she's sure to join us once she graduates so it's not as if he'll be out of the Ministry forever."

"One less chore." The little bear had hidden away any time he tried to retrieve it from the other student.

"I'd appreciate a similar report on your experience being controlled by dark magic."

"I don't remember very much," Leon admitted reluctantly.

She shook her head. "We know so little that any detail could be valuable. I've asked the same of Lord Claes."

"Is Frampton still blocking access to your captive?" he asked. "Surely an actual dark mage would know more?"

"Unfortunately, Mr Brode was granted his dark magic through a ritual and has virtually no magical education of his own. I think he's doing his best to answer but Frampton seems convinced that if we learn too much then someone in the Ministry will start sacrificing their co-workers to empower themselves. As if we have sufficient skilled workers to do that."

"Interns?" Leon asked, on an impish impulse.

Suzanna frowned, apparently taking him seriously. "I have enough trouble keeping them around as it is. One little non-invasive experiment and everyone takes it as standard practice. We only had to chain Nathan to his desk for a couple of weeks."

"And I bet they always ask 'why do you need manacles in your laboratory' when they see the cost estimates," he said sympathetically.

"I know!"

He'd been joking but now he was considering whether it might be wise to suggest to Olivia that she consider a career outside the Ministry of Magic. Possibly on the far side of the globe. "Do you have any suggestions for countering dark magic?" Leon enquired, hoping it would be a safer topic of conversation.

"I'd suggest preemptively killing them," the duchess said honestly. "But that could lead to a lot of dead bodies that can't answer questions. I've not found anything that could lead to a protective device yet, if that's what you mean."

"The best countermagic being a quick knife." He shook his head. "I'd hope with three light mages at the academy that there would be enough data to work something out."

"Not yet. I'm hoping that Lady Claes' bracelet will have some answers."

Leon contemplated telling her the truth about Katarina's 'guest'. "I'd be interested in your independent evaluation of her," he said instead. "If it's possible for light magic to be induced within someone, it would be an interesting parallel to dark magic."

"Leon," Suzanna told him as if to a not-to-bright puppy. "You know the temple would call that heresy. Experimenting in creating light magic is absolutely prohibited."

"And?"

"I have some ideas," she admitted. "But even I have to be discreet about some things." Then she reached over and caught his bowtie, yanking it slightly loose. "Perfect."

"What's perfect?" he asked, reaching for it. "That took ages."

"Perception is everything," Suzanna declared and opened the door back into the corridor. "Ah, Lord Ascart, Lady Atlee."

Bitch, Leon concluded - her tousled hair and his crooked bowtie would tell a story if anyone wanted gossip - and followed her out. Nicol was impassive as ever but Clarice gave them both a suspicious look. "Having fun, Duchess Stuart?"

"Always, my dear. I do like your young man." Suzanna took Nicol Ascart by the arm and drew him down the corridor and away from the two of them.

Leon and Clarice both looked after her. "Alright," the girl said after a moment. "So when did she start messing with people's heads? I thought she was a semi-recluse."

"Forget all your assumptions," he told her. "Mind you, I have no idea what she's up to." Maybe she knows that I'm keeping secrets from her and is trying to punish me.

"Well, if she wants me to believe you're cheating on her with me, she'd have to look more realistically mussed," Clarice told him matter of factly. "Is this your room?"

"My parents - they've not arrived yet."

Clarice looked in. "Tasteful - a bit sparse, but I get the impression your mother would fret if there were too many valuable ornaments in a mere guest room."

"I can see you've got a feel for her."

"She worries about you, I imagine she worries about a lot of things." The girl took his arm. "Now, I know you might prefer to have Princess Hertrude on your arm, but just think: it's not treason if I get mussed up in some corner."

Leon laughed. "Are you feeling insecure, Clarice?"

"You're not going to tell me you don't like the princess, you were always very conscious of her when you were in the same room as her." The count's daughter patted his arm. "You never acted on it, so I'm not mad. I'm just counting coup on the foreign princess. It's not every day I can claim ascendancy over royalty."

"She's more a puppet than a princess," he grumbled as they walked down the stairs.

"And that brings out the chivalrous side of you."

Leon glanced at her and saw the amused look on her face. They were alone in the entrance hall without even a servant present. "Keep this a secret, but I met her once before she came to the academy. She doesn't know, I was in disguise."

"Oh? Now I have to know."

Leaning over, he murmured. "I may have stolen a lost item from Castle Fanoss during my adventuring days."

"...god damn, Leon. No wonder you were nervous." She paused on the stair, holding him back from going past the step below her. This left their faces more or less level. Slowly they leant closer to each other, Leon sliding an arm around her waist while Clarice rested her hand on his shoulder.

Right as he could feel her breath against his lips, the door from the library opened and Frey Fia Randall looked out. "I'm sure I heard some...one… ooops!" she gasped as her eyes finally settled upon them. "Sorry, sorry. Carry on!" She ducked back into the library and slammed the door.

With the moment broken, Leon wasn't sure if he laughed first or if it was Clarice. They leant on each other, trying not to fall down the stairs as the fourteen year old's reaction sank in.

"M-maybe we should take a raincheck until we find somewhere less public," he offered, once he could breathe again. "Not that I mind people knowing that we're together, but there are innocent young minds that we'd be corrupting."

"Oh yes, Katarina is attending, isn't she?" Clarice remembered. "Is she staying here?"

"No, at the Bergs."

"Oh pooh. Well, I suppose there's no vegetable patch here for her."

Marie practically danced down the hall to Julius' rooms. It had taken much longer than she thought, but the temple authorities had allowed her access to the Saint's Regalia. The bracelet was definitely not the real thing, which they'd explained away as 'a test' to see if she could identify the substitution, but both the Rod and the Necklace had reacted to her.

Between that and her light magic, she'd thought she'd got a lock on the situation, only for a faction among the priestesses to argue that there were two other light magic users at the academy so she might not be unique in her connection to the relics. She could have screamed - the last thing she wanted was for them to test that cardboard cutout, Olivia Campbell: as the game protagonist, her connection to the relics would be far stronger than Marie's.

But fortunately, Marie had a secret weapon.

And thus it was 'saintess candidate' Marie Fou Lafan that was returning to the palace. Not the unilateral approval that she'd been hoping for, but good enough for now.

"Guys!" she exclaimed, throwing open the door. "I got us a ship!"

Then she saw who was waiting in the room and was tempted to close the door, sneak away and hope that everyone could just pretend she'd never been there.

The game's battle mini-games were considered the biggest obstacle to completing it, a job she'd delegated to her older brother in her past life. But even the romance plot was really difficult, and by far the biggest challenge wasn't Angelica Rafa Redgrave or any of the villainesses engaged to the other capture targets. All five of those had obvious vulnerabilities that could be exploited - Cassandra Fou Olfrey's criminal ties, for one example.

But no matter what you did to get rid of Jilk and Julius' fiancees, it was assured that they had a powerful backer that players couldn't just get rid of. No, the only solution to Queen Mylene was to win her over - a herculean task that had contributed heavily to Marie's conviction that she wasn't going to finish the game alone.

So far she'd managed to avoid Julius' mother but that streak was clearly now over, because Queen Mylene Rafa Holfort was sitting in an armchair facing the five boys.

"Ah, the mysterious Lady Lafan." The silver-blonde woman beckoned. "I had wondered where you were. Take a seat."

"M-mother, surely you don't..."

"Julius. Shut up."

The prince flinched as if no one had ever spoken to him like that. Possibly no one had.

Marie cringed and slunk to sit on the couch, where Jilk and Chris moved apart to make room for her.

"So," the queen declared levelly. "You have a skyship. From the temple, I assume. So this entire foolish endeavour is now possible. Congratulations."

For some reason, Marie got the impression that Mylene didn't approve of the treasure hunting she and the boys were planning.

"You can't stop us from going!"

"I'm very tempted to put that question to the test, Jilk. However, given the reverence that Holfort has for adventurers, that would probably cost me more political capital than I wish to expend. Particularly since your collective foolishness has not only brought us to the brink of a war of succession but now introduced the possibility of a religious civil war as well. Bravo, Lady Lafan." The queen applauded briefly and insincerely. "If it weren't for detailed reports confirming that you've never once even left the continent, I'd suspect you of being an agent of the kingdom's enemies, here to cripple us. You could hardly have done a better job if you'd been trying for it."

"That's unfair!" cried Julius. "Mother, you don't understand!"

Mylene shook her head. "I will agree with your second statement. I do not understand why you have chosen to throw everything anyone has ever given you away, when there was essentially no need to. I imagine that you also understand very little of the sacrifices that all of your parents… no, I will be fair, all of your parents except for Lady Lafan's… have made for you. And perhaps there is fault on our side in not teaching you that."

Then she slapped her hands down on the arms of her chair. "But there is nothing unfair in my assessment of the consequences of your incredibly selfish decisions, Julius. Your father and I spent years putting together an alliance of lords that would help you rule Holfort; and in the name of Lady Lafan, you destroyed that alliance."

"For the first time in a century, Holfort could have seen an unchallenged succession to the crown, because we ensured that every potential rival you had was convinced instead to support you. In Lafan's name, you actively alienated them."

"Generations of the royal family have worked to diminish the wealth and independence of the feudal lords, in favour of centralising authority. Now those same institutions - the ministry of magic and the temple - are falling under the influence of feudal lords as we try to patch up the damage you have done to royal authority."

Julius had been gathering his feet. Now he jumped up onto them. "I never asked to be king!"

"And I never asked to be queen!" his mother snapped. "What do our wants have to do with it? Do you think the yeomen and peasants asked for their lot in life? I was born to privilege in Repard, and sent into what amounts to life-long exile here to secure an alliance my people needed: the price of those privileges. You were born to even greater privilege and I did everything within my power to see that you would have a chance to have a happier life within the constraints of what is possible for us. Instead here we are."

"If you didn't want Marie to go to the temple for a skyship, why didn't you let us have one so she wouldn't have to go to someone else?" asked Jilk.

"What part of your being disinherited did you not understand?" the queen said. "You find the burdens of expectation in being heirs to your families so harsh, but you cannot expect to dispense with them and still receive the same lavish treatment you had before. The royal skyships are already in use. We might be able to pry one loose for a crown prince, although it wouldn't be without cost for us. A crown prince has some prestige and their actions would be of some benefit to the kingdom. But so you can gallivant around on some foolishness that will never profit or advantage Holfort? Why would any of us expend resources on you? Do you think any of your peers could easily find a ship at the best of times - much less when at least a tenth of the feudal lords are on a war footing?"

Julius sat down abruptly. "So that's all I am to you. A future king, not a son. You're just like Angelica, neither of you ever saw me as a person!"

"Julius, I wanted you to marry someone who grew up with you so that you might have a chance at happiness that your father and I never had, marrying a stranger."

"Marrying Marie will make me happy!"

"I'm not stopping you."

She wasn't!?

"I can't help you," Mylene clarified. "Not won't, can't. Whatever it is you see in Lady Lafan… you clearly have far too much of your father in you… whatever you see in her, she is utterly unacceptable as a queen."

Hey! If Marie hadn't been trying to hide between Chris and Jilk, she might have registered some indignation about that.

"But since you don't want to be king, that apparently isn't an issue." The queen looked at Julius wearily. "If you had come to me, talked seriously about this… well, I would not have been happy. But at least we could have tried to find a way to free you from your position without grossly offending almost every key player we had been courting the support of."

"What do you mean too much of father in me?" protested Julius.

"Julius, your father is functionally incapable of… husbandly duties… with anyone past their mid-twenties. Believe me, I've tried." The queen's evident humiliation at that admission was exceeded only by the horror her son had at learning that fact. "And now you've fallen headlong for a girl who looks like she stopped ageing when she was ten." Mylene shook her head. "The apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree."