Lèse-majesté

Part 48

Chapter 47

"Why that no-good rotten BOY!" Theodora uttered as she banged on the door of the room the three ladies had been sequestered in. "Let us out of here this instance!"

"This is all my fault," Evelin muttered as the middle-aged woman sat on one of the sofas while Astrid was just staring blankly out of the bay windows, trying to process all of what had happened in the span of an hour.

"How is this any of your fault?!" Theodora snapped back. Gone was the decorum of a noble woman and instead a spitfire had taken its place. Astrid supposed this was how the former King's wives acted behind closed doors, where there were no eyes of the court to judge them. "I regret spoiling that boy. I swear this is the most hair-brained scheme he could have come up with. His manure-addled brain must have taken a vacation if he thinks Quintas will just hand over the throne to him."

It was then that Astrid realized that these women didn't know. "The King is not the King," She said evenly but it did get their attention.

"What do you mean?" It was Evelin who asked as Theodora was still fuming.

"Prince Grimmel has placed a substitute on the throne with a near identical face as King Quintas." Astrid explained. "He has been ruling this kingdom from the shadows since then. I believe he now wants to make it official,"

"So that is why I was denied to see my son," Theodora grumbled. "I would have spotted a fake immediately,"

"It would also explain myself being detained by the Knight order after Lady Griselda fled." Evelin muttered. "He surely is after the riches of the Hoffersons."

"Is that why you never visited?" Astrid asked while her backw as to her grandmother. "Now that I think back... you were at the funeral. That is the only time I saw you,"

"I have no excuse," Was all that her grandmother uttered.

"Well that's a load of rubbish," Theodora said as she primly sat down before looking at Astrid. "Lady Hofferson, don't blame your grandmother. She did you a favor by staying away. Though that did not mean she didn't care."

"Theodora!" Evelin warned.

"What? Why are you so afraid your granddaughter will see the good in you?" the Dowager Queen asked. "You stayed away so she wouldn't fall prey to the vultures circling."

"I've never blamed my grandmother for anything," Astrid spoke up as she too took a seat. "I was sad that you weren't in my life and at times I think mother missed you too but she explained to some extent why you had to stay away. You came to her funeral, that's more than even her own husband did."

"Are you going to tell her or shall I?" Theodora asked as she looked between a silent Evelin and a determined Astrid. "I swear, this stubbornness to communicate must run in the family." the Dowager Queen sighed. "Lady Hofferson, there is more to the story than you know."

Astrid was quiet though she gave the indication that she was listening. "I've conceived two other children before Quintas. Both girls," Theodora explained. "Each of those Princesses was married off to some foreign Duke or second Prince. Do you know why?"

"Succession?" Astrid guessed.

"That is correct." Theodora nodded. "To put it plainly men are idiots," This earned a snort from Evelin. "They feared what the sons of these Princesses could do with their claims to the throne, if they married a Noble from within the Kingdom. In the Royal family's past some brothers or the Noble factions supporting the Princes even went as far as to poison the Princesses."

Evelin sighed. "When Maria was born there was already talk of engagement to the third son of a Duke from an Empire across the seas."

"But then the war happened and mother made some significant contributions, am I right?" Astrid asked. "Now she couldn't just be married off,"