Perhaps I'm not in the best of moods when I post this but I know that getting this out there will make me feel so much better. Anyway. Here is chapter four for you lovely people :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
IV
There was no denying that the Lord Privy Seal had lost a lot of his power when the new King came to the throne. Beforehand, it may have been met with a few coy smiles, a couple of remarks from the other Lords, but now it was terrifying. King Cyrus was unpredictable. He arrested people, he executed a fair few too. He rose his friends, he buried his enemies. It was a small consolation that the Lord Privy Seal had not been flung into prison with the others and beheaded without trial. As soon as that happened, half of the court was ready to jump on a boat and head to France.
He looked ragged as he walked around Whitehall, dark wrinkles under his eyes. His clothes were immaculate as usual and he still had that nondescript mask on his face, but his manner was colder than usual. He suffered a lot from headaches, the King's doing mostly.
He avoided Lady Berlitz like the plague and if she was in the same room as her, he would keep his eyes downcast and ignore her completely. She ignored him to, often with a look of contempt. Something had gone off between the couple, no one knew what. They were still a couple as far as the court was concerned, as odd as it seemed, despite both parties denying there was every any intimacy between them. The Lord Privy Seal knew exactly when to back off, the Lady Berlitz knew how to hold a grudge. It was as simple as that.
Norfolk was returned to Court a fortnight after his imprisonment, the Earl of Winchester a week after that. Both of them were still quiet members of Court, even Norfolk not daring to go anywhere near the Lord Privy Seal for the time being. That ship was sinking and Norfolk knew when to jump overboard. Instead, Norfolk and Winchester busied themselves with other things. No one saw the Lord Privy Seal talk to the Duke of Norfolk either, although their lack of communication was easily written off. After all, the Duke wasn't going to to go and forgive the man who had written his arrest warrant so soon.
But it soon became apparent that the King could not get rid of the Lord Privy Seal – he just knew too much. The Lords had forgotten just how important the moody son of a farmer was to the running of the country. He disappeared for an afternoon and the whole place went to pot. It wasn't done on purpose, mind. He had left to attend to some business in Westminster – the installation of King Gary's tomb had ran into a snag – and had left a message with his clerks. The clerk in question was not asked if he knew where his master was and chaos had ensued until the man in question walked back into Whitehall, eyebrows arched.
"Can't live without me?" he said to the Duke of Somerset sarcastically. "What sort of apocalypse has befallen us while I have been in the city?"
The Duke of Somerset, a lightly green hair man of about forty-five, grunted with disdain before shoving past the Lord Privy Seal.
"Oh," the Duke said as if remembering something. Master Shinji doubted that it was a sudden recall of memory, more like he needed the time it took to take five paces for him to come up with some witty remark. "The King reminds you that you will handling my marriage with the Lady Berlitz."
"As soon as I clear up this mess," he pointed round at the gaggles of Lords still running round the place like maniacs, perhaps the only calm mas, aside from themselves, standing in the hall was the Earl of Winchester – clueless as ever, "I will start on the preparations."
"Does it burn you to think that I will marry her?" the Duke asked. Master Shinji looked the man up and down for a minute, taking in the gaudy fabric of his coat, his gloved hands and then finally his missing eye. He wore a scarlet eye patch over the old jousting wound, his eyeball having been removed after the injury then the eye sown up completely.
"I think she is..." he said slowly, "A very... lucky woman to be marrying such a man as yourself."
"I like to think so," the Duke said, lips curling into a smirk before he turned on the spot and returned to whatever Lords did. Master Shinji would never know what Lords did during the day. He mused to himself that the Lords were lucky to be born into privilege because there was no way they would be able to make their way out of poverty with the grey matter in their heads. Even Dukes like Norfolk struggled with simple fiscal problems, their wives knowing more about accounts – or the lack of money – then the Dukes themselves. The last Duke to have any sense about ruling the country and the economy was hung, drawn and quartered. Then people wondered why he was so interested in the daughter.
i
"I am not going to marry Somerset," Dawn announced to the King when she dined with him and the Queen. The King's eyes glowed red from the fire light then he snapped his eyelids shut.
"Why not?" he asked calmly.
"He's too old," she replied.
"Dawn," Ursula said coldly. "I cannot help but notice that since my husband's accession, you have become a little bit of a madam. All you do is throw your weight around Whitehall."
"I disagree with you there," Dawn said, pushing a piece of venison round her plate. "I can't throw my weight round Whitehall when the Queen is doing that. I have two ladies, that is all I have asked for. I have not asked for favours, for dresses or for jewels. I am content with sitting in my rooms gossiping with May and Misty from dawn until dusk."
"And yet you tell me you will not marry the groom I have chosen for you," the King said, a pale eyebrow raising as he turned his cold eyes to look at her.
"I know you hit the Privy Lord Seal," she said plainly.
"He is my servant," Cyrus said lowly.
"And he has enough dirt on Ghetsis to have him thrown into the Tower and maybe even beheaded," Dawn replied. She reached for her goblet, taking a flamboyant swig of young English wine before she placed it back on the table. "All I have to do is ask him."
"Do you think that -"
"The Lord Privy Seal is the second most powerful man in the land," Dawn said. "He was gone for... three hours and the whole country went to pot. The Duke of Wiltshire was packing his bags ready to go to Spain, I heard."
"I heard that too," Ursula said, nodding at her husband. "He was rather jumpy."
"Remind me to arrest the Duke of Wiltshire," Cyrus said to no one in particular. Here, Dawn frowned. She dabbed her mouth with her serviette, her blue eyes never leaving Cyrus' face.
"I think you're going round this the wrong way," she told him.
"What the wrong way?" he asked.
"Ruling with this iron fist, ruling by fear," Dawn replied. "If I were you, I would be seeking Master Shinji's help rather than acting like a bully."
"A bully?" Cyrus asked. Opposite him, Ursula snorted into her goblet, hiding the cattish grin with the gold cup. She looked between the two cousins, fighting once more, just like they did when they were children. The only person in the world that could get Cyrus into a verbal sparing match was Dawn, despite their age difference. She had her father's eye for politics and intelligence, her mother's subtlety and flare for language.
"Throwing everyone in the Tower for something or other, allowing your friends to stride round the place like great Lords of the manor," Dawn said. "They are much more dangerous than Shinji. They will outgrow their boots and aim for new heights as soon as they sense a half chance. At least you can be confident that Shinji will be consistent."
"Why are you trying to shove Shinji in front of me?" Cyrus asked.
"So we can avoid civil war," Dawn snapped. "His Highness, King George, was the first King to rule in peace after the Blood Wars. It has been fragile ever since. Cement your reign with some consistency then do whatever the hell you like."
"Your cousin is very opinionated," Ursula commented.
"She's also quite right too," Cyrus relented. He leant back in his chair, watching Dawn as she went back to eating her supper with ample elegance. Across the table, Ursula smiled at him. He knew that the pair had never seen eye to eye – some unknown rivalry that only women could understand raging between them. Ursula had beauty, elegance and a King for a husband. Dawn had intelligence, nerve and a traitor as a father. She knew loss. She knew the barriers.
"I am glad that you are my kin," Cyrus concluded aloud to his thoughts. Dawn glanced at him, bowing her head. "So advise me, in ways that only you can: What should I do with Master Shinji?"
"Make him an Earl," Ursula said before Dawn had chance to open her mouth. "Give him to the gentry, appear to put faith in him. Then when you have a grasp on the country, you can unmake him just as quickly as you made him."
Cyrus nodded at the thought of that. He turned to face Dawn's thoughtful face, her eyes staring at her plate as she weighed up possibilities in her head. Eventually she turned to her King, a wicked smile on her face.
"Marry him off to a Lady," she told him. "That would really make him squirm."
Ursula laughed like a banshee, throwing back her head. The King too grinned with malice. Dawn returned to her meal, idly cutting up the venison with her knife.
"I heard the Duke of Norfolk teasing him once about having a wife," she went on. "Or at least courting a young pretty thing. The Privy Seal didn't like the suggestion and stormed off."
"I can imagine that," Ursula said.
"I hear he had a wife when he was younger," Cyrus said. "A young wife, French I think."
"He did always have a soft spot for the Dowager Queen," Dawn commented, glancing at Ursula who gave another while cackle.
"I suppose giving him a wife under our watch would be wise," Cyrus said thoughtfully. He glanced at Dawn, raising an eyebrow at her. "I do believe I have a proposition for you, Dawn."
Dawn glanced at him before her knife and fork clattered onto the silver plate. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets, incredulous at the very suggestive tone in her cousin's voice. She glanced at Ursula, who, for once, had fallen silent in her shock. Cyrus reached for his goblet, a coy smile gracing his lips as he drained the contents.
"I have the perfect match," he said. Dawn and Ursula looked at each other worriedly for a moment before Ursula looked away,
"I beat you to a marriage, I'll beat you to a child," she said.
ii
Master Shinji rubbed his eyes as he tried to make sense of the report in front of his nose. Gone were the days when he could swan off to the Duke of Norfolk for a quick exchange of wits, now he was resigned to look over the endless stream of documents. The price of fame and fortune, he mused to himself as he gently applied pressure to his eyelids.
He was rubbing circles into his abused eyes when the door to the office opened and three heavy footsteps thudded on the floor.
"Do not startle yourself," Cyrus' voice rang out coldly. Master Shinji withdrew his fingers from his eye sockets, his coal eyes staring right at the King as he strode to claim the chair in front of the desk. "I'm here as your equal – one powerful man to another."
"I'm honoured that his majesty thinks I am a powerful man," Master Shinji said. The King held up a hand to silence him. He didn't want to have this conversation with a humbled man, he wanted a conversation with a man. Master Shinji fell silent, placing his reports down on the table in front of him. The King adjusted his coat, making himself as comfortable as he could manage.
"None of your wit, Master Shinji," he remarked, "I'm here on business. Man to man."
This can not be good, Master Shinji thought but he nodded anyway, giving the King his undivided attention. The pair of them stared at each other for a short spell, as if sizing each other up, before the King opened his mouth to speak.
"You're not going to grab my neck again, are you?" Master Shinji asked. The King's mouth snapped shut, a look of a wounded puppy flashing across his face. As if feeling that this may be the case, the Privy Seal let out a sigh and moved the documents he had been working on to the side so they wouldn't be knocked into a mess if the King did decided to strike him. The King watched him shuffle the papers, a bemused look on his face now.
"Do you always plan ahead?" he asked.
"Oh yes," was the reply. "I always plan three moves ahead."
"Only three?"
"With multiple scenarios, of course. How do you think I sleep at night?"
"I see, it's a good practice."
"Pardon me, your Majesty, I get the feeling you did not come here to talk to the son of a farmer about his sleeping habits. Is there something I can do for you?"
The King let out a chuckle, relaxing into his seat ever so slightly.
"It's always business with you, isn't it?" he asked. The Lord Privy Seal nodded once.
"For a lowly born man, such as myself, to talk to the King of England," he said, "is such a privilege, I would spare him my lowly concerns and ask him what I could do for him. But if you want pleasantries, I can oblige you."
"Do you have any wine?"
The Lord Privy Seal rose to his feet and fetched a jug of wine from the office next door, two goblets for them both. He placed them down on the desk top, pouring the King's first then his. They clinked the goblets together as a sign of good faith, then drank. The King licked the rim of the goblet as he pulled it from his lips.
"You're very obliging," he commented. "I shouldn't have hit you."
"You were trying to scare me," the Privy Seal said, "exerting your influence over me."
"But you don't scare easily, do you?" the King asked.
"I've gone up against the French, seen the sweat carry my mother off and gone to three Kings' funerals in the space of four years," Master Shinji said plainly. "I'm very hard to scare."
"I can see that." The King ran his finger round the base of the goblet, staring at the red liquid held inside the cup. "I wanted to talk to you about the marriage of Lady Berlitz."
"Is there a problem with it?"
"Yes: She doesn't want to marry Somerset."
"That is a problem."
"Quite," the King said, his eyes flickering with amusement. "In any case, when I put it to her this evening she told me some truths that I should have seen. One: that she should not marry Somerset, he's far too old for her. Two: that I would be better working with you than against you."
The King gave him a hard stare that made him bow his head humbly.
"Three: my cousin is just as cunning and quick witted as you are. Four: the only person who can stop this country slipping back into civil war is you."
The Lord Privy Seal's eyes widened then flickered back to normal, waiting for more from the man sat in front of him.
"Five: if anyone can give her a run for her money, it's you. And finally, six: I need you as my kin," the King said. He finished his speech by raising the goblet to his lips and drinking slowly from it. He watched the Lord Privy Seal carefully, watching three emotions flash across his black eyes: surprise, admission and curiosity.
"Your Majesty is too kind," he said finally. That is all he said on the matter. The King frowned at his lack of questions or emotions, there was no humble thank you or an exclamation of shock. The Lord Privy Seal merely sat there contemplating what he should do now, forming plans in that ever working head of his.
"Change the preparations for my cousin's wedding," the King told him firmly. "You will marry her, not Somerset. I will tell him, of course, he may try to kill you."
"No one is allowed to carry arms in Whitehall while the King is in residence," Master Shinji said, automatically. His head shook slightly as he corrected himself, his eyes turning onto the King. "You really want me to marry Lady Berlitz?"
"The Queen and Lady Berlitz have an ongoing rivalry," the King explained. "Ursula married me before Dawn married her first husband, then Dawn became a widow. By marrying Dawn again, I may finally have a chance at having a child – as long as you don't get one on Dawn first."
The King drained his cup and got to his feet, pressing the goblet to the table with a heavy clunking noise. "I hope we can learn to trust each other, My Lord."
"I trust my King," Master Shinji said, climbing to his feet.
"Blindly?"
"Carefully."
"Good man." This caused Cyrus to smile. In a swish of expensive furs and velvets, the King turned and made for the office door. Master Shinji's thoughts raced as the information he had just been given sunk into his brain.
"If you don't mind me asking, your Majesty," he said before the King could leave the room. The King paused at the door, turning his cold eyes onto the Lord Privy Seal. "Does the Lady Berlitz want to marry me?"
"Never in a million years! The first time I met him, he slammed my face on a table and ripped out my hair."
The King's eyes flashed with amusement. "She'll do as she is told."
Oddly enough that didn't comfort the Privy Seal at all.
iii
Misty's eyes widened when Dawn returned to her rooms later on that night. Dawn, usually prim and proper, calm and quiet, was in a foul mood. She threw the doors open and stormed into the room, cursing and muttering under her breath as she kicked off her shoes and tore the hood from her hair. Misty looked on, keeping her distance just in case Dawn wanted a shaking bag.
"Lady Berlitz?" she dared to ask eventually as the bluenette stormed past her.
"Go away."
Misty watched as the skirts of the Lady's dresses slipped past the curtains of her bed chamber then let out a low sigh, turning to see where May had got to. The brunette tiptoed out of her hiding place, looking as nervous as usual.
"What was that all about?" she asked the older orange haired Lady.
"No clue," Misty replied. "Do you think the King said something to her?"
"Maybe it has something to do with her marriage to Somerset?" May guessed. The pair of them stared at each other, deciding what they should do next. If Dawn wanted to be left alone then they should leave her alone, but they were a little reluctant to leave her just yet. They gave her five minutes then popped their heads round the curtain to see what she was doing.
The found her face down on the four poster bed with the net hangings drawn. Her head rested in her arms. She was silent, still. May and Misty exchanged looks before they stepped quietly into the room, wondering what could have made her react this way.
"Erm... My Lady?" May said quietly.
"What?" the muffled reply shot out.
"May we ask what is the matter?" May ventured. Dawn's head shot up along with her shoulders and she rounded on her two maids. They stared at her blankly.
"Is it something to do with your wedding?" Misty asked.
"Oh no, please tell me the King has arranged it for tomorrow," May gasped. Dawn pouted, pulling her body round so she was sat down on the fur trimmed blanket. She pulled the net hangings open so she could see them clearly.
"I'm not marrying the Duke of Somerset-" she said.
"Really?" Misty asked.
"That's great, he's creepy," May added smiling.
"-I'm going to marry the Lord Privy Seal instead."
"You're joking!" Misty barked.
"He's scary!" May cried, her hands flying up to her cheeks so she could cup them. Tears formed in her eyes, threatening to pour down into her fingers.
"The King would never want that, would he?" Misty asked.
"I said he needed the Privy Seal on his side," Dawn replied miserably, "but then he decided he wanted the Privy Seal a lot closer than just a servant."
"Oh my," May said.
"But... He's just a secretary," Misty said with a pause for thought. "For him to take a wife with royal blood..."
"I don't have royal," Dawn moaned. "I just have the King's blood, the other side of the King's blood. I'm his heir by default, not through blood."
"But..." May said slowly. Two pairs of azure eyes latched onto her as she said this. The initial shock of hearing her master would soon by the very man she feared wore off her, allowing her thoughts to drift elsewhere. "If anything should happen to the King, which I hope not... then maybe having a husband like the Lord Privy Seal would not be such a bad thing."
"How so, May?" Dawn demanded.
May removed her hands from her cheeks, staring at Dawn with a small smile on her lips.
"The Lords would never take orders from a woman, even if she was a Queen," she explained. "With the Lord Privy Seal as your husband, he'd ensure you would be safe. If you're on the throne, he'd be ruling the country."
"He rules the country anyway," Dawn grumbled. She pulled her knees up to her chin, hiding the lower part of her face behind her skirts. "I'm going to be caught in the middle of this, aren't I?"
"Women usually are," Misty said. "Remember the Dowager Queen."
"All we are," May added, "are birth machines and dowry payments. Perhaps every now and again we are home makers, sometimes even mothers, but that is as much as we can look forwards to."
"And if you were a man," Misty said coolly, "you probably would have been strung up with your father."
"Are you saying I owe the Lord Privy Seal a debt?" Dawn snapped the question at Misty. Misty paused before she answered.
"I'm saying, perhaps he'll be a much better husband than you're giving him credit," she said finally.
So Paul and Dawn are to get married. Bless them. I bet she's looking forwards to that!
Anyway, a little more of a light hearted chapter next time for you all. Let me know what you think!
RSx