Ace Among Jokers

I

I

GILDED THORNS

They had thought my mother was barren. So the High King ordered for her to be placed far, far away from him.

He took in many different concubines at the request of his council, further ignoring and neglecting my mother who was locked in a palace where she could not be seen by the visitors. He had morning walks with the slave girls of war and nightly rendezvous with errand boys to quench his never-ending lust.

Lust my mother never satiated.

He left her untouched for many weeks after their marriage, until the royal advisor convinced him to at least try to conceive an heir for the good of the Empire.

And so he did.

He visited her rundown palace one night and ravaged her until she could no longer move a muscle. He did not have much hope for her because he firmly believed she was infertile; just like how the rumors said she would be.

But then, as if the heavens took pity on her, she got pregnant.

The king was overjoyed and held banquets to honor my mother and her child. She thought that it was finally time for her to be happy with the man she so loved. That she would be able to create a picture perfect family with the man she so cherished.

Just the idea of it made her ecstatic. She was so happy about the thought that he, my father, would finally love and pay attention to her like he would the other nameless women.

And pay attention to her, he did.

He presented her with material things — jewelry, gowns and dresses, diamonds and pearls — he thought would satisfy her. But mother was never a materialistic person, for the very thing she sought for was the King's love.

My father's love.

But that love that she so craved was directed to his favorite errand boy. The king met him out working in the palace stables when he went out to train like he always did.

And he fell in love with that stable boy.

That stable boy was the very boy he'd sleep with. Yes, my father was a sodomite. A being that was heavily frowned upon in the kingdom — by the people, by the temple and by our Goddess — and will be sentenced to death by burning and stoning if anyone found out.

My mother knew about my father's little lover. But like a foolish young girl who yearned for her lover's attention, she said nothing and wallowed in the pain as she watched him embrace someone else.

She hoped, no — she wished that my father would come to his senses and realize that it was her that he held affections for.

But fate is cruel even to those who wait.

My mother knew the bitter truth. The ugly fact that she was there because the High King just needed someone to fill in the Queen's spot and take over her duties for the Empire.

She knew better than anyone else why he had kept her by his side: she was of noble blood and was part of the most powerful family the High King needed backing and support from.

He would never bat an eye.

My father was nice and cared for her since she was carrying his precious child. But when my mother gave birth to me — a female — he snatched me away from her arms and handed me to the wet nurse.