Chapter 36: Royal Warnings

Colyn absently speared a ripe, bulging grape with his fork, his concentration intent upon the parchment off to his right side. He didn’t notice the slight spray of juice as the fork embedded itself. He brought the fork up and into his mouth, closing his lips and slowly pulling the fork out, now sans grape. Distracted, he chewed the grape quietly, inattentively savoring its sweet juice. He moved to spear another grape when his wife interrupted him.

“I thought you weren’t going to bring work to the table anymore?”

It was more the tone of voice rather than the words which caught Colyn’s attention. The tone of voice was accusatory and displeased, something no man wants to hear from his wife even under the best of circumstances. He made a mental note of his place in the document before looking up.

His breath caught in his throat. Even upset, his first wife was beautiful. Lamyra had her family’s signature red hair and green eyes, a heritage which extended through the ages back to antiquity. Her mother’s hair had been long and straight, a hint of yellow tempering the fiery red, but Lamyra’s hair traveled around her face in gentle waves and curls and was completely missing the blonde highlights of her mother. Kaylen’s green eyes had been hard and shrewd, but Lamyra’s were usually soft and gentle. His wife’s face was an oval, her nose gentle and slight. She had expressive full lips atop a dainty, pointed chin. Though she was small in stature, barely topping five-feet one-inch, she was delicate and lithe. Even after two children, she maintained her figure.

He still couldn’t believe his luck. He couldn’t believe she’d agreed all those years ago to take him as her first spouse and her first husband. Beyond having such a beauty for a wife, he also became the Crown Prince and eventually the Crown King. In one fell swoop, he’d garnered a stunning, passionate wife, ruler of his heart and twin to his spirit, and became partial ruler of a kingdom. The only thing greater was knowing their daughter, Ataya, would one day become high queen in her own right.

He couldn’t help but smile at his wife’s expression. She had a slight frown with the eyebrow above her left eye raised significantly. It was her classic face of disapproval but in that moment, he found he was unable to care. All he knew was the boundless love he had for this woman.

“Forgive me, beloved,” he smiled. “I forgot myself. I have a meeting with Holy Brother Renud directly after breakfast and I have yet to fully investigate his trade proposal.”

“Oh?” She asked, intrigued out of her pique. Her head tilted slightly to one side in interest. “What does Tylnanari’s Priest Ambassador offer now?”

Colyn chuckled at the ease with which his wife’s annoyance was diverted. As Crown King, his authority was exceeded only by hers, but Lamyra was content to allow him to do his job with minimal interference. More than anything else, they trusted each other, and it was in this trust they shared their lives. Administrator of foreign relations was a small part of his duties, but lately it had taken up a significant part of his time. As always, she was content to let him oversee the treaties and agreements between Wenland and its neighbors – but she was always interested in his work.

“Nothing new, I’m afraid,” Colyn continued. “I swear it’s the same proposal they offered last month with new wording and the clauses moved around. They claim to want to be our premier trade partner, but it appears what they’re really looking for is unfettered, duty-free access to our docks and markets as well as the right of first refusal on any new trade agreements we might make with other countries.”

“And you’re going to turn it down again,” Lamyra spoke softly, a light smile playing around the edges of her lips.

“Of course,” Colyn replied, returning her smile. “I’m not sure why they continue to offer the same treaty week after week, knowing I won’t sign it. It’s almost as if they’re just marking time, waiting for something. It’s aggravating.”

“You don’t seem aggravated,” Lamyra noted.

“Only because you’re near me,” Colyn replied, his own smile brightening. “I sometimes feel I could face chaos itself so long as you’re near me.”

“Ugh!” Gesper pretended to gag. While made of opulent iron-wood and delicately inlaid with decorative bands of gold and silver, the table wasn’t overly large, with Lamyra at the head and Colyn at the foot. Gesper was seated in the middle between his mother and father. “Child trying to eat here!”

“Eat?” Colyn laughed at his son. The boy was growing like a weed, tall and thin. He was at that in-between age, not quite a boy anymore but not yet a man either. Colyn’s laugh turned into a chuckle at the boy’s unkempt auburn hair. “Eating implies chewing and swallowing. You’re not eating. I swear you just dropped that last sausage link straight down your throat and into your gullet.”

“I have to hurry,” Gesper remarked, shoveling more food into his mouth. He made a half-hearted effort at chewing before swallowing it. “Noro was just getting out of bed when I was heading down here. If I don’t finish, Mom will make me sit here while she eats – and she is soo slow!”

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Lamyra asked her birth-son.

“Honor Jivo Corley is going to start teaching me swords today!” Gesper exclaimed. Jivo was the First of the Fourth and Gesper thought he was the greatest swordsman in the country, maybe even the world. “He says if I work hard, I can become a knight. Wouldn’t that be exceptional?”

He stuffed the last of his food into his mouth, talking around it. “Can I be excused?”

“We’re going to need to have a talk about your manners, young man,” Lamyra shook her head. Her stare held the boy’s bright, brown eyes for an instant, her displeased expression holding him where he was. However, her twinkling eyes gave her away. “Fine! Go. Just make sure you tell Jivo I want you back, cleaned and properly attired, by noon meal.” She couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s enthusiasm.

Gesper pushed his chair back and jumped to his feet. “I will! I’ll tell him!”

With a burst of speed of which only the truly young seem capable, he was off, running towards the door.

“Gesper, you don’t run in the castle,” his mother called after him. “And make sure Jivo sends you back in one piece and unbloodied!”

“Yes, Mom,” Gesper called back, slowing himself until he was at the very edge of what could be considered walking.

He escaped just in time. He crossed paths with Noro as he was exiting the room while she was entering.

“A knight?” Lamyra remarked with some exasperation. She rolled her expressive, green eyes towards the ceiling. “I’m not sure I want him to be a knight.”

“He’s a boy,” Colyn laughed. “He changes his calling every time the wind blows. Last week, while my brother was here and filling his head with all those tales of hunting down pirates, he was sure he wanted to be a naval captain. The week before he wanted to be a merchant. He’s only twelve. He has time.”

“At twelve, most children in the land have been apprenticed for several years,” Lamyra pointed out. She was a practical woman and, while she indulged her children, she still felt they should find a trade. She didn’t believe in indolence.

“He’s a prince of the blood, my dearest Queen Synel,” Colyn shrugged with a smile. “He has advantages other children in the land don’t have.”

The Wenland royalty had a curious naming system. The queen had been born with the name of Lamyra Wehran but, upon her coronation, had taken the name Queen Synel IX, continuing her family’s heritage of honoring Queen Synel I, who had been the first queen from the house of Wehran. Upon marrying Colyn Sha, as her first spouse, she had coronated him as King Drace III after her father and grandfather. In public, they would only use their official names but behind closed doors, they continued using the names they’d had all their lives. The other king and the other queens kept their birth names even after coronation.

The multiple spousal marriages common in their part of the world meant the hereditary rules were convoluted as well. Precedence was given to any offspring of the hereditary King or Queen – formally known as the High King or High Queen – with the rank of succession determined chronologically by spouse’s wedding dates. Children born of the High Queen and Crown King Drace III (Colyn) had precedence over children born of the queen and her second husband – and currently the only other male spouse – King Andin. After those unions, precedence went to children born of Crown King Drace III with the other queens in order of marriage.

Since Princess Ataya Wehran was the oldest child of Queen Synel IX (Lamyra) and King Drace III (Colyn), she was the crown princess and first in line to the throne. Her younger brother Prince Gesper, from the same parents, was the crown prince, second in line to the throne. Princess Noro was a minor princess, having Colyn (Crown King Drace III) as her father but Queen Sia Mik’Thalon, first wife and second spouse of Queen Synel, as her mother. She was fourth in line for the crown, behind Prince Rindon Clortho Wehran, the child of Queen Synel and her second husband, King Andin. At fifth in line was Princess Peli Wehran, daughter of Crown Queen Ulyn (High Queen Synel’s first wife, whom she married after King Drace and King Andin) and King Andin. The rules of succession could become quite murky and there was even a Royal Genealogist – Chandmer Goven – to keep it all straight.

“Good morning, Noro,” Lamyra Wehran, Queen Synel IX, greeted the fifteen-year-old as she sat at the table. Even though she left the raising of the children to Colyn and Sia, Lamyra insisted on at least eating breakfast and dinner with them – her appointment schedule allowing.

“Morning, mother Lamyra,” Noro replied, seating herself at the table. At fifteen years old and five-feet, nine inches, Noro was an inch taller than her birth mother, Queen Sia. She shared her mother’s long, luxuriant black hair but inherited her father, Colyn’s, bright, gray eyes. Where she inherited her long, aquiline nose was a mystery, however. Colyn’s nose was more bulbous and Sia’s was tiny and hawkishly thin. The girl also had a slight overbite which she shared with her mother, though her lips were fuller like her father’s rather than thin and severe like her mother’s.

“Do you have plans today, dear?” Lamyra questioned with a smile.

“Treasurer Frantal has me going over the books again,” Noro sighed. As the young girl fretted over her upcoming work, one of the servants filled her plate with pancakes, slathering them with butter and then adding a thick syrup. “My count was off by 33 silvers last week, so he has me double checking my work for the past few months!”

“Are you really set on working in the Treasury, Noro?” Colyn asked. Noro had been apprenticed to High Treasurer Frantal since she was eight. She had actually requested the apprenticeship. Colyn would have waited several more years before starting her on her life’s journey. Even so, he was inordinately proud of his eldest daughter, though he didn’t understand her fascination with the treasury. She had a head for numbers which Treasurer Frantal had widely praised to any who would listen. “It seems boring to me, balancing ledgers all day.”