Chapter 23: A Decision Made

The winter months in Burbridge were no happier than those in Tyrell. Elizabeth had bristled at Jonathan’s continued friendship with the king. The man had caused the death of her mother and the departure of the man she had long-presumed to be her father.

Elena had been distant. The news of Gabrielle’s deceit had shaken the young woman. Joseph had filled her in on the entire discussion, something he hadn’t done yet with Jonathan. The news had caused a horrible thought to pop into Elena’s head: If Jonathan were king, she could have the best of both worlds. She would have unfettered power and she would have the man she had grown to love.

She had fled the room with tears in her eyes, not only because of the news that Gabrielle had hated her but because she had considered that Joseph’s death might be the only way she was truly happy. The loss of prestige also caused her problems. She had grown used to being treated as special by the people in Tyrell. At Burbridge, she was simply Rina, a girl who had washed out the linens just like the rest of the servants. She bristled at the familiarity and summarily dismissed two members of the house staff.

The cold weather caused Jonathan’s wound to ache, and that hadn’t endeared the king to Elizabeth in the slightest. Jonathan also found he missed his father’s counsel and the camaraderie of Rucar, Genrico and Joseph. He longed for a return to the capital – if for no other reason to hide from Elena and Elizabeth.

“We should return to the castle as soon as the weather permits,” Jonathan announced at dinner. It would be another week before the roads were passable but he was ready to pack his bags that instant.

“I agree,” Elena offered.

“Why?” Elizabeth asked shrilly. “That awful man has you both under his spell.”

The tension that had persisted at the manor house for weeks came to a head and Jonathan exploded.

“You know absolutely nothing about the king,” he shouted. “Because of that, I expect you to sit silently while people unblinded by ignorance discuss things!”

“Jonathan,” Elena said.

“I will not permit this ... this ... treachery to foment under my roof,” he said. “You weren’t there. Neither of you were there! I was. I saw how it pained Joseph. I saw how it pained Father to learn the truth. Elizabeth, like it not, our mother was a harlot. If you ever question it, look no farther than the truth of my birth ... and very likely yours. Do you not think that Joseph would do everything in his power to take that away? He would. I assure you of that. Do you realize that he has it in his power to leave us without a copper to our name? I am spawned from two traitors and still he trusts me. He respects me. If you gave him a chance, he would respect you. Instead, you bleat about the injustice of it all. Well, I agree. It is a terrible injustice that our mother was so disrespectful to the man who gave us everything you see around you.

“And Father? He was well within his rights to disavow both of us. He could have left us to fend for ourselves. How would you like a life as a tavern whore, Elizabeth? If the man who raised us wasn’t five times the man that the traitor who spawned us was, you know where you’d be right now? You’d be part of Caliph’s harem right along with our two half-sisters! Do not sit here and denigrate the two finest men I’ve ever met.”

Elizabeth had tears in her eyes but Jonathan ignored it. Instead he turned his gaze toward Elena.

“And you!” he continued in a loud voice. “Joseph has returned. You are no longer the Steward of Azkoval. You no longer can make decisions that affect all of us without having the courtesy to at least inform us of those decisions. If you wish to return to that situation, I will release you from our betrothal and you can make you play for Joseph with the rest of them.”

“I’m not interested...” she began but Jonathan cut her off.

“Do not tell me that you’re uninterested,” I said. “Perhaps you are not interested in having Joseph for a husband but you are certainly interested in the trappings that marriage would bring. You will need to resign yourself to being the wife of one of Joseph’s most trusted advisers. You need to understand that your position as his oldest friend and one of his closest confidantes already gives you unprecedented power. You will have more authority as my wife than you will as his queen. Think about that for a few minutes, Rina.”

He got up and left the dining area. Not for the first time, he wished his father were around to give him wise counsel. He heard a knock on his study door and bid the person to enter. He had expected Elena but instead his sister stood before him.

She didn’t hold a look of anger on her face. Instead, sadness resided there.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” he said. “I’m angry but I know you need time to adjust to the reality of the situation we find ourselves in.”

“I just don’t understand it,” the young woman admitted. “I am not a child but no one will explain to me how this happened. Father’s letter ... Lord Burbridge’s letter ... told me that he elected to stay behind to oversee the former Wellington lands. He apologized for being a coward but I don’t know what that means. Did he run from a battle?”

Jonathan’s anger lessened when he saw how distressed his sister looked. He did love her, despite the differences in age.

“He was scared to face you,” Jonathan said softly. “He was scared that we would reject him or defy him because he didn’t sire us.”

“I wouldn’t!” Elizabeth said.

“You defied him when you thought he did sire you,” Jonathan said with a laugh. “I know I haven’t been forthcoming as I should have been. It isn’t because I view you as a child. I know you are a woman now and I know you have a right to know. I have avoided it because it still pains me to talk about it. I still feel the same pain in my chest now when I think of what Mother had planned. It was treachery pure and simple, Elisabeth. Just so you know, Joseph wasn’t going to execute her. Father and I had decided that we would take that step if he let her go.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked, aghast.

“She was willing to sacrifice us for her own aims,” Jonathan replied.

“No, that wasn’t her plan,” Elena said from the doorway. Brother and sister turned to look at the new voice. “May I come in?”

Jonathan nodded.

“How do you know this?” Elizabeth asked. “Why should someone tell you and not me?”

Elena sighed and sat down heavily on a chair.

“Joseph told me the whole story,” she explained. “Jonathan, he hasn’t even told you everything.”

“He didn’t trust me?” Jonathan asked, obviously hurt.

“That isn’t why,” Elena said, tears in her eyes at the pain on the face of the man she loved. “He didn’t want to cause you further pain. But I can see that not knowing is causing this family more pain than knowing would. Elizabeth, he’s right. You probably would have been sold – if not the Caliph then to some other foreigner.”

“She planned to sell me?” Elizabeth yelled.

“She probably didn’t plan that but I’m certain that was Wellington’s plan,” Elena said. “He had already promised Julia and Victoria to the Caliph’s harem. That much is fact. It isn’t a stretch to think he would have done the same to you if it proved expedient.”

The young woman’s face fell and Elena’s heart went out to her, too.

“Jonathan, you were to be made heir to the throne,” Elena explained. “Gabrielle planned to murder Alexander, marry Wellington and he would assume the throne.”

“That’s absurd!” Jonathan said.

“Not when you consider the plan was put into motion when Wilhelm first assumed the throne,” Elena said. “The Caliph was going to gain all the land south of the Great River. Wellington was going to rule over northern Azkoval. Joseph believes that the Caliph would have very shortly overthrown Wellington – just as his predecessor had planned to overthrown Wilhelm. Gabrielle was supposed to fill you in on the plan. Your job would be to murder Joseph.”

“No,” Jonathan gasped.

“Yes,” Elena said with a frown.

“You would have never have accepted that,” he said, shaking his head.

“I would have been dead,” Elena said.

“What?” Elizabeth asked, incredulous.

“The reason Joseph told me this was so I would be alert while I am here,” Elena admitted. “Part of the plan involved my death. It seems your mother wasn’t as fond of me as she pretended to be. Joseph suspects that she might have enlisted the aid of some of the household servants.”

She gave a sad look toward her future sister-in-law.

“Or perhaps even you, Elizabeth,” she admitted. “I find that I am suspicious of everyone. Part of the reason is my time in Tyrell. I will admit that I got used to having the protection of armed men around me. I also admit that I got used to having people follow my every word. It will take me some time to adjust to my normal life.”

“I meant what I said,” Jonathan said, looking at the desk. “I will release you from our betrothal if you prefer to cast your lot elsewhere.”

Elena sat and looked at her fiancé and his sister before coming to a decision.

“What I am about to tell you must never be repeated,” she said urgently. “Can we agree to that?”

“Certainly,” Jonathan said. Elizabeth merely nodded.

“I will return,” Elena promised. She went to her room and pulled a wooden box from her trunk. Jonathan and Elizabeth sat in silence until Elena returned. She put the box on the table and opened it.

There was an aged piece of parchment inside and she extracted it gently, again using a letter opener to gently lift the folds.

Brother and sister peered at the document and then up at Elena.

“Where did this come from?” Jonathan asked, his face pale.

“Queen Melina’s former maid gave it to her daughter for safekeeping,” Elena explained. “That bastard Wilhelm sold the poor girl into slavery but she was allowed to keep the papers.”

“I heard rumors while I was at the capital,” Elizabeth admitted. “I didn’t know they were true. What will you do?”

Elena only smiled, causing Elizabeth to look at her brother.

“You knew?” she asked.

“Father told us,” Jonathan said. He took the blade from Elena and pointed to the bottom where Alexander Burbridge had signed as a witness.

“And no one told me?” Elizabeth asked with a huff.

“We didn’t tell anyone,” Elena said. “Yes, when I was a child, my father and Joseph’s father agreed to a marriage contract. The only reason this isn’t valid is because I haven’t signed it.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Jonathan said. “Your father signed it. That’s the same thing.”

“Then it was,” Elena said. “Now it is not. Do you recall when Joseph made an edict banning arranged marriages without the daughter’s consent?”

“Yes,” Jonathan agreed. “It caused quite an uproar from a couple of nobles.”

“He did that in case this document came to light,” Elena said. “He asked me if I remembered signing anything. I was so young at that point I could barely write my name.”

“It doesn’t appear to have stopped King Joseph,” Elizabeth remarked, gesturing to the untidy scrawl at the bottom of the page.

“Yes, well, his signature hasn’t improved with age,” Elena said with a laugh. “By the new edict, this contract is invalid without my signature. I didn’t understand the rationale behind the new law until he explained it to me.”

“And if you sign it now?” Elizabeth wondered.

“Joseph would be compelled to marry me,” Elena replied.

“Will you?” Jonathan asked.

Elena reached out and took his hand.

“No,” she said. “I want to be honest. I found the nicer parts of being steward to be very intoxicating. But the worst parts are not something I would want to experience again – unless I had you beside me. Since that isn’t possible, I would prefer to be your wife than a queen. I am ashamed to admit that it wasn’t until I saw you carried from that ship that I put my priorities in order. I’m sorry. It will take me some time to adapt.”

She was surprised when Jonathan chuckled.

“I can understand,” he said. “For more than a year I was on the move. I was an integral part of something important. Now I sit here and watch the fire burn to embers. I do not wish to return to war but I find that I will not be happy as simply Lord and Lady Burbridge.”

He looked at Elizabeth for a moment before his gaze returned to Elena.

“I wanted to discuss this with you before bringing it up but I since we’re all opening up, I’ve been thinking about something,” he said. “I feel guilty sitting in my father’s chair knowing what my mother planned. Learning of the depths of her betrayal has increased that feeling. I have considered removing myself from the Burbridge line of succession. We still have the Westmont lands and I know you don’t wish to live there. But I’m not sure I want to live here.”

“Where would that leave me?” Elizabeth asked. “I do not want to return to the capital so long as the king is there. I don’t like him.”

“You have blamed him for things that aren’t his fault,” Elena said gently.

“The things I blame him for are entirely his fault,” Elizabeth countered. “I was perfectly content with Wilhelm as king. We were fine here. He shows up and my entire family disappears. He should have just stayed away.”

“You expect him to leave his birthright so you can have yours?” Jonathan asked. “Did you not listen to the reasons I have not abdicated my position as Lord Burbridge. Elizabeth, you are being selfish. I can assure you that King Joseph would wish nothing more than for our family to have remained intact.”

“He’s right,” Elena said. “He said that had he known of how this would affect Alexander, Jonathan and you, he would have found another way to deal with Wellington.”

Elizabeth didn’t look convinced but returned to her previous question.

“What will become of me if you leave?” she asked. “You’re all I have left.”

“You would become Lady of the Manor,” Jonathan answered. “You would be next in line to inherit the title and Joseph has already removed the language that prevents a woman from inheriting a title or property.”

Julia hated to admit it but she found she liked Octavia and Liala. Octavia had a wicked sense of humor, mixing ribald comments into everyday conversation every chance she got. Liala seemed almost a kindred spirit. The two young women sparred relentlessly as Julia strove to become as deadly with her new weapon as she was with a crossbow.

Equally as important, the two didn’t ignore Octavia during their bouts. The young Marindarian princess learned how to throw a dagger and fire a crossbow. She wasn’t as proficient as Liala and Julia with the weighted staff but she was becoming better than almost everyone else. The winter exertions had peeled some of the extra pounds from around her middle – but not around her bust, to Julia and Liala’s displeasure – and the pale young woman was even more attractive than when she arrived in Azkoval only five months earlier.

Octavia had cut apart some of her furs in order that all three could dress warmly in the castle. Everyone admitted the trio cut quite a figure as they strolled the hallways in pelts from animals never seen in Azkoval.

The young women were experiencing true freedom for the first time and it was fitting that they learned together. Octavia and Liala had spent their lives in the shadows of their parents and their siblings. They had roles to play and expectations to meet. Julia had spent her entire life with Victoria. She sometimes wondered where she stopped and Victoria started.

Now, Victoria was spending time with Genrico and Amelia had taken on Lucretia as a project. It left Julia to develop a new set of friends – which she had.