Chapter 43: Into the Darkness

The makeshift torches provided a dim glow but it was enough for the group of seven women to find their way into the tunnel. The passages were lower and all the women had to bend forward. It made the going slow and the upward slope made the trip arduous.

Finally, even Liala was laboring to continuing forward. They found an opening large enough for the women to sit down and she called a halt.

“We must rest,” she told Bianca.

Despite the cold inside the cavern, the women were covered in a fine sheen of sweat and their breathing had become laborious.

“Yes,” the young woman agreed. She had been ready to stop far earlier but pressed onward, unwilling to show weakness around such a group of fierce women. Her legs quavered as she sat down.

“Let us sleep as long as we can,” Liala suggested. “The passages are widening and the slope is decreasing. We will continue after we rest.”

“There will be no more light,” Bianca said.

“I find my eyes are able to pick out the walls now even though our light source is diminished,” the duchess whispered. “I can even see your face a bit.”

“I will take first watch tonight,” Bianca offered.

Liala pondered and then nodded – not that Bianca could see the gradual movement.

“If you become sleepy, awaken me,” the duchess said as she leaned back against the cold stone wall of the cavern. She could remember many times when she was too hot to sleep but this was the first time she found herself too cold for rest. She wished she had thought to carry a pack with at least a light blanket to shield her from the walls. As it was, she wore only her vestment and her arms and shoulders were bare.

Bianca was a bit better. She had used her dagger to cut the skirt from her filthy dress. The upper portion of the garment covered her to the waist and she wore dirty cloth leggings that fit looser than the buckskins Liala had but provided the same protection for the rough stone floors when the group found themselves crawling through some passageways.

“Move closer if you are chilled,” Bianca offered when she felt Liala shiver. She slipped an arm around the duchess’s shoulder and Liala cuddled against her. Bianca emulated the motions her mother would perform in front of the fire during winter months. She began to run her filthy hands down Liala’s equally dirty arms.

Liala found it remarkably comforting and soon she found herself slumbering lightly. Bianca felt Liala’s arm snake around her waist as the other woman sought additional warmth in her sleep. Bianca smiled at the memory of her mother again. She slipped up her makeshift shirt and pressed Liala’s arm against her stomach. She felt the chill immediately but it helped to keep her awake. Soon, Liala’s skin warmed and felt nice against Bianca’s.

The memory of her mother’s comfort soon gave way to a vision of the woman’s rape and murder. She had been forced to watch as first Prince Martis and then Renati had forced their way between her mother’s thighs. She had seen the tears in her mother’s eyes at the violation of her core and the shame and humiliation that written on her face when the attacks were through. Her mother had been the last person killed before the attack on the camp. At first, Bianca had been angry that King Joseph had not arrived in time to save her mother. As time passed, her pain had given way to relief. The men had broken her mother. She had pushed Bianca away when the daughter tried to comfort her. It had been her inability to stop wailing that had led to her murder.

Bianca’s mother had died exactly as her father had died. Her father had been trying to protect his daughter when Martis had snuck up from behind, slipped a knife into his back and then slit his throat. There had been no need for stealth with the mother. Martis had simply pulled her to her feet by her hair, pushed the knife in her back, removed it and drew it across her neck.

Then, as he’d done to her father, the once-future king had simply pushed the corpse to the floor at Bianca’s feet.

She shuddered in the darkness and it wasn’t from the cold.

“Is all well?” Liala asked from her shoulder. The duchess’ voice was thick with sleep but she shifted to sit.

“All is fine,” Bianca told her. “Come; put your head back where it was. I will keep you warm tonight.”

Liala licked her dry lips and took a sip from the flask of water around her neck. She had quickly removed her hand from the inside of the woman’s shirt as soon as she understood where her hand rested.

Bianca’s arm was still around Liala’s shoulder and she drew her back to the spot she had occupied earlier.

“I am awake now,” Liala told her. “I have learned to live on naps during battles. A brief sleep is all I require.”

“It is no warmer now that you are awake,” Bianca pointed out. “You are warming me as much as I am warming you.”

Liala considered the statement before resting her head where it had previously lain. Once again, Bianca moved Liala’s hand to her hip and covered it with her shirt.

“I am not accustomed to cold,” Liala admitted. “The weather chills at night where I am from but nothing like this. The winter months at the castle were horrid. If not for my friends to keep my mind occupied I would have frozen.”

“Your soldiers stayed with you in the castle?” Bianca asked.

“They were in the barracks with Joseph’s troops,” Liala said. “I have found many people that I like since I came here more than a year ago. There is a princess from the northlands and two young women that look exactly the same. They returned from Joseph’s campaign with him. One is already betrothed to Joseph’s closest male friend. The other is ... she is like Octavia and me, I fear. She is smitten by the king but she knows nothing will come from her infatuation. It is a shame there is but one of him.”

“The king?” Bianca asked. “You have met him?”

“Oh, of course,” Liala said. “Joseph is ... he is kind. Once you understand him, he is a very friendly man. There is part of him that is fierce and powerful but that is not the whole of him. I have known men where the unbridled rage is all there is. There is nothing beneath it. With Joseph, the rage is there but it is fading as the months pass. I was there when he returned from Blue Harbor. I’d heard the stories, of course, but ... when I first met him, I believed them to be a gross exaggeration of his skill as a warrior.

“One of his dearest comrades was injured during the battle. Oh, of course, you know him. It was Jonathan Burbridge. He was gravely ill when they returned.”

“Jonathan was harmed?” Bianca asked. “Has he recovered?”

“He almost lost his arm and I fear it wasn’t out of the question that his life would be next,” Liala explained. “But, when I left on our adventure, he was hale and hearty. Alexander returned with my mother and they were busily planning Jonathan’s wedding to Lady Elena.”

“I am happy that he and Rina are to wed,” Bianca said. “For a time, when I was younger, I believed I would be the one he took as a bride.”

“Oh?” Liala asked.

“Before King Joseph returned, it was necessary for families that opposed Wilhelm to marry within themselves,” Bianca confided. “There were few of us, I fear. My grandfather and Lord Burbridge, of course, were among them. Lord Golrick said all the right things but I know my grandfather never trusted him. There were others, I’m sure, but they were distant. My father was to inherit the lordship, of course. He was the oldest son. We would frequently make the trip to Burbridge with grandfather. The main reason was to speak freely of ways to undermine the king without losing their heads but I was brought along so I would get to know Jonathan.”

“I see,” Liala said.

“Of course, I spent most of my time with Elizabeth and Catherine,” Bianca said. “I fear that, when I was a child, I had a very large opinion of myself. I did not make a proper impression upon Catherine and Rina – Lady Elena. Life at the Burbridge manor was far different than at my grandfather’s estate. I was not accustomed to dealing with ... servants, I suppose. I could not understand why Lord Burbridge – and Jonathan and Elizabeth – treated the servants with such kinship. I understand about Rina now but Catherine is still a puzzle. I suppose it was because Lady Burbridge was distant that Elizabeth sought friendship wherever she could.”

“Perhaps,” Liala mused. She, too, had pondered the differences in the relationship between Elizabeth and Catherine from what she’d seen between other high-born women and their maids. “Perhaps their friendship had more to do with trust and closeness. I do not know. I was only beginning to get to know the two of them when I had to leave. I like them both and I believe they will find themselves among my friends very quickly. But you bear no ill will toward Lady Elena?”

“Oh, not in the least,” Bianca said. “Even before I understood, I knew she would be his true wife. Even if I were to marry him, she would be the one he loved. I will admit that I was unhappy when that revelation came to me but I also knew I had little say in the matter. As time passed, I understood and I accepted it. Jonathan is a nice man and I’ve always found him generous and warm. But he is better suited for Lady Elena.”

“That’s good to hear,” Liala said. “Lady Elena holds great sway over the king. She is the only person in Azkoval he has trusted from the time he returned. To be sure, others – Jonathan and Alexander, for instance – have earned his trust and respect but Elena is almost kin to Joseph. I believe, although he has never said this to me, that they were raised almost as brother and sister. They both have many stories of the fun they had as children. When I first saw their interaction, I feared Joseph would face another war. I met Elena before Joseph and I saw that she enjoyed the power he’d given her. I feared greatly that she would either spurn Jonathan in order to maintain the standard or, worse, slay the king in order to elevate Jonathan.”

“Elena would not behave that way,” Bianca said with certainty.

“No,” Liala admitted. “In the end, I think she determined that she had the ability to have the best of all things. She would build a life with a man she loved and she would not lose any influence in the capital. But, as I said, before I came to know Joseph, it was something that worried me. Now, she is a member of his cabinet and the job suits her very well.”

“What is a cabinet?” Bianca asked. “I know of the furniture piece but I’ve not heard it applied to people.”

“It is a group of men and women that offer the king advice,” Liala explained. “She and Jonathan both sit on it, as does Alexander. The man my friend will marry is there, of course, and so is the man Joseph sent to Azkoval to act as his eyes and ears. His name is Choran and he controls the coin. They are very good and Joseph is lucky to have them.”

“You are not close enough to be on this group?” Bianca asked.

“In a way, Julia, Octavia and I are too close to be on the council,” Liala said after thinking about the question. “We have taken it upon ourselves to provide the king with other activities away from statecraft.”

“You share his bed,” Bianca asked. Liala felt the young woman stiffen and she wondered if Amelia Trimble would find a kindred spirit.

“No,” Liala said, “although we would if he desired it and we probably will at some point. I hope that is not offensive to you. I will not lie to you, though.”

“So he is sampling his choices for a queen,” Bianca said.

“No,” Liala said again. She had thought she heard sadness in the girl’s words. “But, as I said, at some point, I believe each of us will share that experience with the king. We are all, as I told you, smitten by him. My mother brought me here for the express purpose of marriage to him. Octavia was sent forth for the same purpose. Julia is ... well, she is probably the better match in terms of personality but she cannot be queen. Her father was Lord Wellington, a traitor. The public will never respect his choice if he selected Julia. But, I fear that she will never be far from him. The truth is, I doubt Octavia and I will be far from him either. But we will not marry him.”

“Why not?” Bianca asked.

“Octavia’s brother is likely to bring war to Azkoval in the coming year,” Liala told the woman.

“So that leaves you,” Bianca said.

“I think not,” Liala said. “At some point, I might wish to marry and have children. Right now, I do not. The people of Tyrell are already clamoring for Joseph to select a bride. Marriage in my culture is not the same as it is here. We may take more than one wife or more than one husband. Most marriages do not last the duration of one’s life. We are nomadic and so are our affairs of the heart. At this point, a marriage to Joseph would suit me very well. In the future, I am not certain it will and I will not put him into that situation. I do hope he marries well. I believe his wife will find herself in the situation that you spoke about. I believe she will always be surrounded by the other women in his life.”

Bianca found herself nodding and she was thankful that no one could see her. She didn’t realize that Liala’s proximity allowed the duchess to know full well what was happening.

Joseph was happy to escape with only kisses on the cheek. The conversation had pushed him into areas that he wasn’t ready to consider.

The worst part, for him, was that he’d found himself growing more comfortable around the women as the night progressed – regardless of what they were discussing.

He pondered why he was so reticent to sample the charms they were freely offering. Several reasons popped into his head as he reached his empty bedchamber.

He was concerned about his friend’s futures. Each had presented valid reasons she would never be his long-term partner. As much as he’d like to dismiss the thoughts of the populace, he knew he couldn’t. None of the young women in his life, except possibly Liala, could be queen. Even though Elizabeth’s parentage was hidden, there were enough rumors to disqualify her from the role.

He doubted any man would willingly submit to being cuckolded – even by a king. The formidable women never would be attracted to such a man in any event. That would leave his friends to either hide their relationship with him or end it altogether. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe he would be able to keep the friendship afterward. If he enjoyed a brief dalliance – and titillating as the thought might be – it would doom the others to a life of loneliness.