Crown of Blood

4.1.|| To be King

The apartments of the Queen Mother were the most lavish in the Grand Palace. By tradition, they belonged to the reigning queen, but since there was no such thing, Cage had not forced his mother to move out of the place she'd considered home for the past thirty years.

As he approached them, he wondered if that was not a mistake. His mother hadn't done anything to make this transition any easier for him or Edmund, so why should he bend over backwards to appease her? He stopped in front of the door and swallowed his bitterness.

The guards were almost as stiff as those guarding Edmund's chambers and Cage gave them an appraising look and made a mental note to ask Humphrey about how they came to be in the palace. It made sense for them to be fiercely loyal to Fherras, and Cage suspected that the only reason they weren't driving their swords through him was the crown on his head.

Biting back a groan, he knocked on the door. There was no answer from inside. He waited a few moments then knocked again. Still no sound from inside. With a confused frown, he turned to the guards.

"Is the Queen Mother out?" That would be news. She'd refused to leave her rooms ever since her husband had died. Or better said, since Cage had killed her husband.

The guards shifted uncomfortably, obviously not wanting to answer but unable to deny their king.

"No, your Majesty," one of them finally said, his voice so low it appeared he didn't want Cage to actually hear.

"Thank you, whatever your name is," Cage mumbled and banged his fist against the door this time. "I'm not going away, Mother. You knew this was coming."

The guards jumped at the sudden noise and stepped away from the door as if expecting Cage to blast it off its hinges. That wasn't a bad idea, but he'd rather not cause more animosity than necessary. So without any flourish, he opened the door. It was locked, but his physical strength was enough to break the lock without causing much of a fuss.

His mother was in the middle of her sitting chamber, on the sofa, a book open in her lap. There was a string of crystal beads between her fingers and she appeared to be in deep prayer. Cage felt bad for the second it took him to notice that the book on her lap was not one filled with prayers.

"Interesting read, mother," he said, closing the door behind him.

The Queen Mother startled out of her pretend trance and glanced at him with large pale-green eyes, so much like Edmund's. Even if her hair was dark, there was almost no resemblance between her and her eldest son. As he'd come to learn by reading books on lineages and ethnicity much like the one in his mother's lap, the first born of the rightful ruler of Iride took after his father almost completely. Cage had too. Only after reading on the matter did he realize why Fherras had banned all books on the subject. Even if they would have been another reason for suspicion and discrimination against Endir, it would have made it painfully obvious that he did not belong on the throne. As such, the previous king chose to save his own neck rather than disseminate more hatred and bigotry.

"Are you trying to confirm that this cursed crown belongs on my head?"

She lowered the beads with shaking hands and placed them on the table. Cage didn't recognize their pattern or colors so he assumed she'd been fake-praying to some Annorian deity.

"It is on your head," she answered, her voice barely a breath. "It makes little difference how it got there."

"That's what you and Edmund fail to understand. It makes all the difference in the world." He walked deeper inside the room and sat on the armchair across from the sofa. He was close enough to reach over and take her hands. A part of him wanted to, but he knew she'd just draw away and he didn't need that kind of pain. "Is this what you told yourself when Fherras killed my father and claimed the throne?"