Chapter 17
It was a glorious morning.
Prudence never said a kind or optimistic word about any morning, so the leap in her moods was the equivalent of taking a running jump from the edge of a chalk quarry and managing to land perfectly on the other side. Everybody had noticed it, but quite frankly, they'd seen the smug smile on her face and they'd been too afraid to ask what had put it there.
They were sure they'd regret it if they did.
Not that Prudence regretted it – not in the slightest! She was actually feeling very pleased with herself, even as she took an extra-large breakfast up to Prince Niles' chambers (the boy must've been starving after that trip – there was practically enough there for two princes!). The Babcock slut had deserved what she'd said, because she'd come unstuck – her precious gold mine would soon have a new owner in the form of a wife who was worthy of a prince's station!
The beating down that she'd gotten before would be a picnic, compared to what would happen on behalf of the mystery future princess if the whoring little maid didn't agree to never see Prince Niles again. And Prudence could only hope that they decided to take preventative measures and throw the little whore out.
She couldn't wait to have to run to the market and see the slut begging in the streets...probably just tiding herself over until the night, when her real work began on the corner, with all the other girls of ill repute.
She'd grow to be one of them in no time at all; she already had the advantage in that the Prince would have made every hole in her bigger and more easily accessible.
It was a long way to go, but the information she'd given her had been the start of it all, and Prudence couldn't help letting at least a little bit of pride swell her chest. She and only she was going to be responsible for that slut having to leave, no one else!
And then no one would ever try to cross Prudence again. Everybody in her downstairs world would know their place and not try to upstage, usurp or overtake her by getting a new one! There was only one lady in the servants' quarters, and it was her, whether the rest knew or didn't or liked it or not.
It was little matter for the time being, when she was out on her rounds.
Especially seeing as this was the last. The most important one. The one where she got to see the results of her handiwork.
She knocked on the wood, but there was no answer.
That was odd. The prince didn't often meet their knocking requests with silence...
So, she decided that maybe His Royal Highness was still exhausted and deeply asleep from his trip. She decided to go in anyway, leave the tray and spend the rest of her morning congratulating herself on managing the place how things were supposed to be.
She opened the door, closing it awkwardly behind her before looking up and nearly letting the entire breakfast tray fall from her hands.
The prince was awake, after all. And so was his... companion.
That little slut Babcock was actually lying there, clad only in a nightdress and wearing a couple of rings on her fingers, all while being cuddled up in the prince's own bed!
They were massive rings, too – one had a diamond larger than Prudence's own eyes! It made her bitterly wonder what way the slut had turned to be taken, or what she'd sucked on, in order to get the prince to give her that!
It had to be worth more than a servant's wages for ten years, and yet it had made its way into her finger, all for a few hours' work!
The prince hadn't ordered the maid to come in or even heard her because he was too busy showing the slut boxes full of other glittering trinkets! Chests of them, piled around the bed like it was Christmas, and each and every one was utterly underserved!
Prudence blinked her eyes really hard, hoping – praying, begging, pleading – that the image would dissolve. That it would become something less horrible, and that the slut would no longer be there when she finally opened them.
But the image didn't even budge. It stayed firmly in place, as shocking, wrong and disgusting as ever. And Prudence, beyond the jaw-slash-tray-dropping shock, began to burn in her insides.
What the Devil had gone on there?! Hadn't the little whore been upset before, because she knew that it could never be as she wanted it to be?! Why was she there if that were the case – shouldn't she have run out into the streets and frozen to death, or something equally deserving?!
Who did she think she was, lying there like she weren't just a toy for the prince to break?! They didn't even look like they'd...done...anything! prince Niles was even fully clothed! How dare she make herself look like an honourable woman, when Prudence and practically every maid or cook or any other woman in the palace knew the truth?!
She had no place in that bed, in the palace, or...or anywhere! The powers that were had already shown her that, when she'd been tossed out into the gutter like waste from a chamber pot!
If she hadn't known what was good for her, Prudence would have already marched across the room and ripped the slut from those sheets and thrown her to the floor! Adding insult to injury, the little slut was the first to notice her presence in the room and was soon frowning at her, almost as if Prudence was the one in the wrong there instead of her.
The gall of this cunt was unbelievable…!
"Breakfast, Your Royal Highness," Prudence said through gritted teeth, giving back a glare as hateful as the one C.C. was giving her.
By this stage Niles was also aware of the new arrival, and much to Prudence's shock (and anger), he seemed livid. And not with the slut – no, his anger was clearly directed at Prudence!
"Come to inspect your handiwork, I trust?" Niles spat at the made, stalking across the room until he was face-to-face with the old hag that had made his beloved weep. If there was something he simply couldn't abide, it was a self-righteous crone that thought herself so much better than others.
C.C. had told him why she'd ended up outside the night before upon his insistence that she told him. He'd seen red the moment Prudence's name had been mentioned – he'd warned the maid about mistreating C.C. before, and clearly, she'd seen fit to just go ahead and disregard his orders!
That was not something he was going to allow.
"My Lord?" Prudence said, trying to appear as nonchalant as she possibly could. "I am not sure what you–"
"Quiet!" Niles barked, interrupting the maid mid-sentence. "Don't play games with me, woman – I know perfectly well what you've done. And I do not take kindly to anyone hurting my beloved."
Prudence nearly stumbled backwards, and not just because of him shouting.
He'd...he'd just called that little bitch his beloved! Was he insane?! Had the prince really taken leave of all of his senses, just so that he could get that little slut's legs to open every night?!
Prudence had heard how stupid men were, and the things they would do to make sure that women gave them what they wanted in return (she thanked her lucky stars that she had given up looking amongst them for anything else a long time ago; there was no point to searching for something she'd never find). She'd heard that they would often tell the object of their desire that they loved them, simply to make them give in, but she'd never heard of them telling other people that the slut in question was their beloved!
Could...could the prince truly mean it? If so, why?! Why waste any genuine feeling on a whore who was only looking out for herself and what she could get from him?!
Evidence of that was strewn all over the bed, ready to be worn all over the body, no doubt!
If she didn't know that she was in trouble enough already, Prudence might have taken the time to demonstrate all of this to him out loud. But the way he currently was – drunk on lust – he wasn't going to see it.
She could only impart some common sense and tell things as they were.
"But my lord! I have only ever spoken the truth to you," she protested in return.
"Is that so?" Niles scorned, irony dripping from his every word. "So you believe that your ability to perceive reality is better than my own?"
Prudence gulped – this really wasn't looking well for her, was it? And it was all thanks to that bloody slut! Seeing her sprawled on the Prince's bed and surrounded by his gifts disgusted Prudence to no end. It was as if the little vixen now believed herself to be the lady and mistress of the bloody place!
Well, if semantics was to be observed she technically was a mistress, but who had the time for that, really? There was no honour in being the Prince's lover, but this leech of a stuck-up maid was going to shamelessly milk her position for all it was worth.
"I would never assume such a thing, sir!" cried out the maid, "I would never doubt His Royal Highness' faculties or slight His Royal Highness–"
"And yet you see fit to slight the ones I love," Niles replied, his rage mounting on. "You took it upon yourself to spew out lies about myself and how I feel about Lady Babcock! The only woman I have ever loved and the one I hope someday will become the mother of my children!"
Prudence had to clutch at her own chest to stop herself from gasping aloud.
That little...! The prince really intended to have children by that slut, even though it would bring dishonour on the entire royal family?! The whole country when the day came that he would be king?!
What would happen when he had to take a wife?! The plan that King Joseph had in place! Granted, she knew it was within the king's right to have a mistress, but to clearly intend to so openly flaunt one around, as well as any little bastards that the Royal Whore then birthed? England would be made a laughingstock!
And the future queen of it all would be reduced to a mere trinket that the king held on his arm at balls and banquets. The slut would be getting all of his time, attention and...and...
Oh, dear God... He'd said "the" mother of his children! Then he wasn't intending on having children with any other woman, not even a respectable wife that had never so much as thought of touching a man before she was married to him!
He was going to doom his country and produce a line of bastards, none of whom could ever have a legitimate claim to the throne that would one day be vacant, all for the fact that he'd decided to turn his affections on a bitch who did not deserve them and had been thrown to the dirt for a reason!
England wasn't just going to be a laughingstock. It was going to fall, when he had no true children left to take over! All because of the bitch he hadn't been able to resist the moment she'd opened her legs.
"Clutch at yourself in horror all you want," the prince snarled. "It won't change anything! As much as you like to believe and act like it, you have no power here! You have no say over who I love, and you have no right to try to come between us!"
"But, sir, think about the Kingdom!" cried out the Head Maid, starting to hyperventilate. "What will we ever do without an heir to continue your lineage?! What will your future lady wife say when you refuse to give her children?!"
"And whenever did I say that I would not give my lady wife children?" replied the prince. "When did I ever say I would not continue my family's legacy?"
Prudence's face became one of puzzlement – so the prince was going to have royal heirs? He was going to use his future wife as a breeding mare while giving his heart and attention to a little whore and the bastards she birthed?! That was preposterous! How could the Prince be willing to slight his future wife in such a way?! By putting his whore above her, he would be humiliating her in front of England's eyes!
She wouldn't stand for it! Her loyalty was to her future queen, not to some uppity bitch who thought herself so much better because the prince simply couldn't get enough of her filthy cunt.
"But sire, I don't understand!" Prudence insisted, "Your future lady wife–"
"Is currently in my bed, wearing the engagement ring I gave her and, since we'll soon be married, she will carry and birth as many heirs as we desire! Ergo, the succession to the throne is more than safe!"
Niles couldn't help shouting – he'd had enough of Prudence's disrespect towards his beloved. Part of him was aware that maybe letting this hag in on their nuptials hadn't been the best of ideas, given that they had to keep the whole affair under wraps, but since he'd long since decided to kick her to the curb, he couldn't bring himself to care. He wouldn't leave loose ends, that was for certain.
Nobody was going to believe a mad-looking old woman, anyway. There were plenty of those, out on the streets of London, and very few people ever paid much attention to when they yelled or what they were yelling.
And Prudence looked like she would slot into the crowd very nicely.
Especially while she was shaking like a leaf, and screwing up her face as though trying hard not to let out a scream.
He...the prince...the prince had proposed to that little whore?!
No. No, it couldn't be true! Prince Niles knew what was right and good and decent, and yet...and yet, dear God, she could see it now – the diamond bigger than an eyeball that the slut was wearing on her finger was on her ring finger!
He'd done it already. He'd doomed them all, for the sake of being able to put his manhood in his favourite slut every night! She'd birth them a lineage of gutter kings, and the country would fall faster than anybody could say "If only the whore had been tossed aside"!
She had to talk him out of it! Anything to stop that smug bitch from getting absolutely everything she wanted! She had done nothing but let herself be fucked over and over, and that did not deserve rewarding!
And any children born from that solicited union had no place on the throne of England. They should be taken from their mother and put in a church home, to stand any chance of avoiding the lust that had already permeated her blood!
And that, on top of the prince's...appetites...well, if the acorn really did not fall far from the tree, then they were going to need to practically chain down any girls she birthed!
They'd all be whores, just like their mother. And they'd have disgraced England all over again before they'd even reached her age!
She had to stop him, before he made the worst mistake of his life and ended up with a dirty whore for a wife, renegade sons who wouldn't be able to respect their father, and sluts in the making for daughters!
Setting her tray down to one side, she took a bold step forward and tried to plead her case, jabbering in a panicked tone that she would have looked down on in anybody else.
"Your Royal Highness! You have to listen to reason! To see reason! If that little–"
"And that is what I am doing!" Niles cut her off immediately. This was it; the moment had come at last! "I saw sense the moment I realised I loved Lady Babcock. I saw it again when I knew that I had to propose. And I am seeing it now, in stripping you of your duties and telling you to get out of this palace!"
Prudence was almost certain that she couldn't have heard him right.
It sounded like he was taking her job away, and...and kicking her out of the palace!
But that couldn't be right! She was the head maid, the most senior ranking woman of all the servants, not including the housekeeper or the ladies-in-waiting (even if one of the latter should've been begging on the streets by now)! She had been in her position for her entire life! She'd put down more scullery and kitchen maids than anybody, and she ruled them all with an iron fist!
And when she saw that she had, in fact, heard the prince correctly, her face contorted into a snarl.
She had been in her position all her life, and she wasn't about to let some jumped up little whore who'd no doubt be opening her legs again soon in return for more trinkets take it all away.
"You," she hissed, rounding on the bitch in the bed, storming in her direction. "You did this to me! You spread your legs for him like the filthy whore you are and now I've–"
The rest of the words were slapped from her mouth and lost to history when Niles struck her across the face, sending her staggering a few paces.
But he wasn't going to end it there. If she even thought that she could try to get near his beloved, then she wouldn't stop at one attempt.
"Guards!"
He knew that calling would make them come running right away. They always did, in case it was him in danger, and they burst through the door with the urgency of someone who thought there could be an assassination attempt going on only a few doors away from where they stood vigil.
He directed his glare at Prudence, making it obvious whom he wanted gone.
"Take this one to her room downstairs and make sure she packs up everything she owns," he ordered. "She is not to go anywhere else in this time and is not allowed to talk to anyone. As soon as she is done, you are to throw her out of the palace. Do I make myself clear?"
The guards saluted and chorused, "Yes, Your Royal Highness!"
Before Prudence had time to even gasp, Niles' men had secured her arms and had quickly handcuffed her.
"Unhand me!" barked Prudence, struggling against their hold on her, "I have done nothing wrong!"
"Don't be so stupid," Niles snapped. This was it. This had finally been enough. "You have done everything wrong, and now you are going to pay for it."
That stopped Prudence's struggling, and instead replaced it with her attempts at begging.
"No. My lord, no – please, you cannot do such a thing!" Prudence begged as the guards started to drag her out of the room. "Please! Spare me! This is my life! Please, don't take my job away, my lord, I beg you!"
"You should have thought about that before you decided to treat the Lady Babcock the way you did," he barked at the maid before turning on his heel and returning to C.C.'s side. He had no interest in watching the disgraced ex-maid being dragged out of his room
Prudence was not going to go unpunished for all the things that she'd done to and said about C.C.. She was going to learn the hard way that no one insulted, put down or disrespected his love in any way whatsoever.
She would never darken their doorstep again. Not if he had anything so say about it.
He was happy that the guards closed the door on their way out. It muffled the sounds of her screaming and pleading and cursing aloud for her job as they took her away. It sounded like she'd put up a fight part of the way, just before they'd gotten too far away to hear.
Good riddance.
He turned away to go back to his love, concern growing as he saw that she'd put down the things she'd been looking at and was now curling herself up, eyes looking a little bit listless.
"Are you alright, my love?" he asked, gingerly seating himself on the bed, next to where she lay. He didn't want to accidentally sit on any pins from the jewellery. "How is your head feeling?"
C.C. mumbled in reply, sounding weak, "Not good..."
Niles could very easily believe that. Her forehead was still unbelievably hot to the touch when he brushed his fingers against it. The fever hadn't completely broken yet.
He wanted to let her curl up to try and sleep some more, but she still needed to eat. And luckily, there was a breakfast tray intact and waiting for them, not too far across the room.
The one benefit of Prudence not knowing they were both there was that she hadn't had time to spit in any of it.
He'd brought the tray back to his love in no time at all, picking his way through the food with his eyes to see if there was anything there that she'd particularly like.
"Here we are, sweetheart," he murmured, settling himself and the tray down, before picking up a slice of bread, fresh from the palace ovens, smeared with strawberry jam.
He offered it to her, hoping that a little food might help her sleep at least a bit easier.
"If you can't manage the whole thing, that's quite alright. We can pick at parts..."
He tore off a chunk of the bread, perfectly bite-sized, and tried offering that instead. He didn't want to overwhelm her by maybe offering too much, but she had to eat something, even if it was only little.
He nearly considered calling for someone to bring another full cup of tea, too, but then he realised that it was probably better if they shared that. C.C. wouldn't finish a cup by herself even if she did need to drink.
She was struggling with the bread enough as it was – she was trying to nibble at it, probably put off by the warm, verging on painful heat searing in her head.
They could share everything, he concluded. It would be easier than trying to make her have too much.
"Take that little bit, if you can," he told her gently, encouraging her to let the bread settle in her weak grasp. "I can help you break up the rest now, too. Would you like some tea to go with it?"
C.C. nodded – despite the heat radiating from her head, her body was still feeling tired and uncomfortably stiff. A cuppa would just about do it, in her mind. She reached a weak hand out and, after a few moments, she received a steaming teacup from her prince.
"It's come all the way from China," he said with a smile. "My mother is rather fond of Chinese artefacts and delicacies, so she spares no expense whenever she buys some from Asian merchants."
C.C. was sure that, as long as it tasted like tea, she didn't really mind where it had come from. But the moment a gentle, sweet scent she recognised as jasmine wafted into her stuffy nose, all thought fled her mind. She could only bring the cup to her lips and take a small sip.
Still, that alone was enough for C.C. to feel an immediate sense of comfort and warmth spreading all over her tired body. It wasn't long until she'd downed the entire cup.
"It's delicious!" she rasped.
"Nothing but the best for my future queen," Niles replied, moving to fetch the teapot and then pouring a new cup for his beloved. "And that is a promise I intend to keep until the day I die!"
He really would do it, and he knew that nothing he could do would ever be too good for her. He didn't know how or when he had come to that conclusion – it was just there, seeming obvious, and it had been since the moment he'd realised that he was in love with her.
Well, really it'd been there long before that, but it was so much more obvious when one's feelings had been sorted out!
He couldn't wait for them to be married. Even if only so that he could bring her a cup of tea in the morning, while she lay there and snoozed, in a much more pleasant retelling of the situation they currently found themselves in.
The sooner their wedding was, the better, really. But even that brief thought in his mind made him realise something that had, funnily, been escaping him up until that point.
It must've been the fact that he was so used to protocol that he hadn't thought about it, but he had forgotten that they would be the ones to set the date! And plan the whole day right along with it!
He actually began feeling rather excited about the whole thing, instead of like his life was ending, as nearly every one of his friends had said it would feel. He wanted them to be married soon, before anybody had the chance to find out, so that required getting started on planning as soon as possible. And, as his beloved would have nothing to do while she was recovering in bed, maybe this was the perfect opportunity...?
He continued, smiling gently, "That could practically be in my marriage vows...! And perhaps we should actually discuss how we are to be married, if you feel well enough...?"
C.C. partially pulled a face, thinking it over hard enough that it started to become a look of interest, but also still feeling her illness hard enough that she felt like the pain would be too much if she let herself express it fully.
Planning the wedding day...she had been so caught up with everything else that she had forgotten about the planning!
She hadn't been one of those girls who had dreamed of every single detail about the day since they could first read and write and stand (if they could do all those things), but now the time was actually coming, she did have more than one thought about how she would like it to look.
Even if she knew it would be...unconventional, in terms of most members of the royal family getting married.
"I can make myself well enough," she replied to Niles' question, attempting a smile even with the sickness making it feel horrible when she did. "You would have to...give me something far worse than this before I let you have full reign of what our wedding will look like!"
Niles bit back a tiny chuckle, amused at the determination and both grateful and aware that she had changed her mind at the last minute before saying what she'd said. She had probably been about to say something much darker but had decided against it at the last minute.
He didn't know if that was to spare him the thought, or because she didn't even want to think about it herself, but he was happy she was choosing to think positively.
Think positively, by thinking about their wedding day...!
"First things first, then," Niles said, "Let's discuss venues."
Had they lived in an ideal world, Niles knew their wedding would have been held at Westminster Abbey, just like his parents' wedding and those of his grandparents and great-grandparents had been. The Archbishop himself would have married them in front of every nobleman and woman in England, as well as any foreign dignitaries his parents had seen fit to invite. Then, after they'd been proclaimed man and wife, the celebrations would have continued at Whitehall Palace for days on end.
But, as much as he was loath to say so, they did not live in an ideal world. Their wedding would have to be a quiet affair to ensure their plan was kept a secret, and the merriment would have to be cut short – probably lasting a few hours or so. Still, luxurious affair or not, it would be just as special, in Niles' mind.
"Got any ideas yourself?" C.C. asked as she stroked Niles' chest, "I…I am not certain where it's safe for us to wed."
Niles' expression became thoughtful. Safety was indeed the main issue to be considered when choosing a venue. That immediately ruled out any of their official residences, like Windsor Castle or Whitehall Palace – his father had eyes practically everywhere, and they could easily rat them out. Maxwell's home could be a possibility, but given that there wasn't a chapel on the grounds it would mean they'd have to wed at the nearest public parish or church, which was something he wasn't entire happy with. He wanted to keep the witnesses of their union to a minimum, and getting married at a public venue would put that wish at risk.
They could always ask Marie for one of her own stately homes. Joseph had gifted her plenty of them over the years, mostly whenever he'd wanted her to allow him back into his bed. Or his own Hunting Lodge – the land was his, so he could very well order that no servant was to bother them. Maybe...maybe he could take only a select few of his servants with them, too; the ones he trusted most? They'd be less likely to tell his father, if he asked them to keep it to themselves. And the possibility of them going to London for some time was slim anyway, so there'd be even less of a risk. He could also disguise the true purpose of their visit behind the claim of an impromptu hunting trip – he knew Joseph wouldn't ask many questions that way.
"What about my Lodge? It's my land, meaning it can be as safe as I wish it to, and it is rather special to us, isn't it?" Niles suggested.
C.C. thought about it, and the longer she did, the more perfect she realised it was.
Niles' hunting lodge had everything they could possibly ask for in a wedding venue – a gorgeous setting, a peaceful atmosphere where no one would suspect the intention behind their visit and, as Niles had said, it was a very special place to them both already.
It was the place where everything had nearly gone completely wrong; where they had both nearly acted on feelings they hadn't been sure how to name yet, before having to part to realise just how much they wanted to be side by side, forever...
It would be fitting, for them to come back to that place and become one there, in mind and spirit.
And body, part of her reminded, sending a slight flush to her cheeks that her illness could luckily disguise. She didn't yet know how to feel about the fact that a wedding would of course mean a wedding night. She was still overwhelmed by the idea of not going through life alone, and excited at the idea of having someone with her throughout everything – children, growing old together...
But she couldn't help feeling scared. And worried. Part of her was sure that Niles would have a better time with someone more...experienced, and that she was just going to be a chore for him that night.
But she couldn't think about that right now. Not if she wanted to get through the rest of the planning.
"I like that idea," she smiled, trying not to let it waver. "I like it a lot..."
Niles dropped a kiss on her forehead, happy that she'd liked his suggestion.
"Good. I want the day to be as perfect as it can be."
"It will be," she replied, "It could never be anything less than perfect when you'll be there with me."
Niles didn't think he'd ever felt more warmth in his heart in his life, than when she said that. But again, it could have been tied for every other sweet thing she'd ever told him.
The warmth quickly became excitement at the prospect and preparation of their wedding, anyway. He knew that his mother would be able to find them a priest – she knew many, and each admired her chastity and dignified bearing as their queen to the point of being her most loyal servants, as well as friends against the king whose behaviour they abhorred. The couple also agreed that the Sheffields would serve as their witnesses. They were trustworthy people.
It was truly to be a happy family affair, it turned out, as the talks went on further and the hours flew by without either even realising. Niles could only happily agree when C.C. suggested that her half-brother Noel supply the jewellery and his wife, who worked as a seamstress, make the clothes. Their works were not the most expensive in London, but they were finely done and admired by many. It was a subtle selection, it saved on a cost and an order that may look suspicious if it suddenly turned up all at once, and it would give his new family members a welcome that he wasn't sure a huge royal wedding would have ever allowed. Being only a half-brother and not born from Stewart's wife, he was convinced that Noel might not have even been invited, by the standards of other weddings he had attended...
But it did not matter. All were loved and welcome at his and C.C.'s wedding. Again, breaking the tradition of other weddings he had been to.
And he could easily order that a feast was prepared for them all. He was the Prince of Wales and he needed no other reason to have one, and his servants had no other reason to obey.
They would only ever see a prince, his beloved, and close friends and family that they were entertaining. Nothing that his father could openly object to too much.
It would be the perfect day. He could feel it.
They both could. And, as they both cuddled up together in bed, full of tea and happy thoughts about the royal wedding that hardly anybody would ever hear about, they couldn't wait for the day to arrive.
The best of everything was still to come.