A Beast's Tale

Chapter 62

I decided not to spend the next day with Ivetta. That steamy evening in the library was more than sufficient to sustain me until the engagement ceremony, and there was a lot I needed to discuss with Gilbert, anyway. The emperor's death was still a secret to all but a few trusted people within the Obsidianite palace. As far as everybody else was concerned, the original story Gilbert told us last night was the truth. Even the doctor kept himself sequestered in the emperor's room, supposedly tending to his ailing ruler. Gilbert was going to announce his father's death upon his return from Rhodolite. There would be no coronation ceremony. He was just taking the throne, as his father had done before him, with no fanfare and a bloody backstory.

He was more than happy to take the traitorous noblewoman who had attempted to poison Ivetta back to Obsidian, along with the two other women who had also participated in the emperor's scheme. Clavis and I had dealt with the men, of course. My current problem was the affected families. Unsuspecting spouses and children did not deserve to be punished for the faults of their foolish significant others. I decided to give them a choice: remain in Rhodolite, or go back to Obsidian, with reassurances from Gilbert and I that there would be no retribution either way.

I was glad Ivetta didn't know about any of this.

The day of the engagement ceremony was crisp and cloudy, with the heavy promise of snow in the chill breeze. My preparation was minimal. I simply changed into a white tuxedo that afternoon and headed for the church, where Leon, the priest, and I would wait at the altar for Ivetta. She would be wearing a dress made from a silken white material sent by Silvio as a gift. A dress that could easily be a wedding gown. It annoyed me to no end that we had to maintain this ridiculous tradition, but Sariel was insistent, especially after I talked to him about changing the law that allowed for the king to be a bigamist.

"I will have to discuss the matter with the other court ministers," he said firmly, his lavender eyes narrowing.

"There is no discussion. I want these marriage proposals to stop."

"Of course, but you must understand that there will be resistance," Sariel replied, removing his glasses and massaging his temples. "I can already tell you the court ministers will want to see Princess Ivetta produce a male heir before they will consent to changing this law."

"Would you rather I talk to them?" I growled.

Sariel replaced his glasses and gave me his usual thin, frightening smile. "That will not be necessary. I will see that this is resolved to your satisfaction, but if I may, they will be more easily swayed if you and Princess Ivetta continue to meet their less noxious demands, such as maintaining ceremonial traditions."

The give and take of politics could be incredibly draining.

"Hey, Chevalier!"

Yves caught me just before I stepped outside into the cold air on my way to the church.

"The ring," he gasped, out of breath from running through the halls to catch me. "I know it's not part of the ceremony, but I thought you might like to put it on her finger again. You know, since you have to go through all this nonsense, anyway."

I took it from him, the cool metal re-energizing me quite effectively as I slipped it into my pocket.

"Is she ready?"

He shook his head. "I just finished doing her hair, and she still has to get dressed. She's pretty nervous." He suddenly grinned. "Have you seen the dress?"

"No."

I hadn't even contributed to the design of this one. The seamstresses were insistent that I did not see the engagement or wedding dresses until the day Ivetta wore them.