Fate | Baldwin IV

succession

Back in the citadel, a grand feast had been prepared for the noble guests who had come from all over the kingdom for my coronation, in which dozens of new faces were recently included. Most of them; I had met in my wedding, but some were unfamiliar—like the dark, long haired man in blue robes that stepped forward and bowed deeply before the two raised thrones on the dais, while the others were dispersed throughout the grand hall with goblets in their hands and companions to converse with by their side, laughing and catching up with each other in their own worlds.

"Good day, your majesties," the man said as he straightened with confidence, his voice raised just enough to carry over the sound of joyous laughter and music that the minstrels had been playing in the background. "May I be bold enough to interrupt—to introduce myself to my lady our Queen?"

"Bohemond," Baldwin breathed out beside me, not hiding his surprise. His head tilted ever so slightly as he quietly assessed the man with narrowed eyes for a moment before he spoke again, "Of course."

The man gave a small, satisfied nod before turning his full attention to me. Slowly, he lowered himself to a kneel before my throne. "I, Bohemond, Prince of Antioch..." he looked up as he spoke, eyes steady on mine, "...come here to swear my allegiance to her majesty the Queen of Jerusalem. Pardon my absence during your homage earlier." With a quick flash of a smile, he rose to his feet and cleared his throat. "I sneaked into the church. It would be unhandsome of me to make myself known there—I'm sure you're aware of the circumstances..."

I nodded with a polite smile. "I am, Prince Bohemond. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person." I took a deep breath, my head slightly tilting as I looked him over. "So, you watched the ceremony from the back?"

"Yes, your grace." He clasped his hands behind his back, straightening his posture to that of a noble, yet still maintaining his casualness that these royal Franks often possessed from birth. "Charmed to meet you too, I've heard so much about you that I had to come see for myself—and, boy—what a scene that was... Surely I wasn't expecting our king to bend the knee for you—I mean, who could, right? That's not something you see every day—you must've charmed him as well, that would explain it—" he allowed himself a brief pause to squeeze in a laugh before continuing with a vague gesture of his hand, "Though, I do understand his majesty quite well, you are even prettier than they say—the king has an outstanding taste in women I must say, despite all the talk about his blind eye. Seems perfectly healthy to me."

I stared at him, my smile frozen in place. After a moment of silence, my smile deepened, but my eyes only narrowed in mildly concealed annoyance toward his looseness that made it hard to tell if he was jesting or testing. "...How kind words."

I'm not sure if he sensed it, but he let out an uneasy breath of laughter, shifting his weight from one foot to the other before turning halfway toward the crowd behind him. "That's my wife Sibylla over there," he pointed at the woman in the far back, standing by herself next to the columns. Other than her rather plain clothes, she could be easily spotted by her intense eyes and composed posture. She dipped into a slight curtsy, the corners of her mouth curling up into a faint yet confident smile.

"Lovely," I said simply, returning the same small smile with a nod. "Why didn't you bring her forth to meet?"

Bohemond huffed a breath in amusement as if to brush it off. "She's not very liked, you see," he said. "Half the men here turned against me for marrying her. Best she stays where she is—she sends her warmest greetings to your majesties, though."

"Send my greetings back," I said. "It's a shame that one has to be hidden away on such a day to fend off the unwanted attention."

"Certainly," he agreed with a nod, and leaned in just slightly as if to share a secret. "But I could not care less about what those old chaps think—I'm mad about her." Then, with the same casual demeanor, he straightened, and a brief frown crossed his brow. "Say, I was just about to mention my former wife, Theodora—but then it reminded me, your majesty comes from the court of Constantinople, no?"