Wicked Stepmother

"I will bring her home"

Too late! I finally caught sight of Edward when he had already turned back. I felt relief to see him, everything had gone well then.

"Is Clovis alright?" I asked. He did not immediately answer. I could not see a female figure on any of the horses.

"Where is she?" I could not completely disguise the rising panic in my voice.

"Be glad, dearest wife for our wayward daughter is to be wed!"

"Wed?" what nonsense was he speaking?

"A good marriage too. A goodly alliance for our heir, her brother!"

"Clovis is your heir" I snapped, "Orion is to be her general." My arms missed Orion if truth be told, but I had left him crying for me in the arms of a nursemaid. A kind nursemaid I had vetted carefully the girls I allowed to work with me, assisting my care for Orion.

The King told me what had happened, or more accurately I questioned and nagged the details out of him. It was the first time we had really come close to quarrelling because I was too worried about Clovis to exercise my habitual diplomacy and was short with him, outright contradicting some of his statements. When I realised how shrewish I was sounding I made an effort to modify my tone. I would pay dearly for defying him I knew- and so might Clovis.

"I am sorry sire to question you decisions for I do know that when it comes to matters of state you know best. But this is not a matter of state, it is a matter of heart and family. Might not a woman's way of thinking shed some light?" 

"My daughter has erred..."

"Sire, with respect she has felt keenly the loss of her lady mother, and such a loss can never be replaced." I hated being this kind and wheedling I wanted to express anger at his pig-headedness and cruelty. I also felt hypocritical speaking of "mothers" given my far from motherly urges toward Clovis. Given my lack of innocence, I didn't dare to point out as I might have that he had even kept her new stepmother from her, thus cocooning her from any female influence. 

"You and she are one age" he said reflectively, "I have often wondered why she behaves with so much less decorum and..."

"Sire, marriage will not cure her of this" I told him in a firm but indulgent, motherly voice since he was appreciating my matronly qualities, "she has lacked connections with other women."

At least I would not have got her with child, I thought self-mockingly.

"But the disgrace..."

"Sire you are a good and beloved king and the girl is beautiful. Trust the hearts of the people." Was I talking complete nonsense?

"You have never loved me like my first wife" he said with a sigh, "you are not truly wife to me." This seemed irrelevant to me.

"Sire I am loyal to you as the Lord and King" I said. Within certain limits that was true enough, "and I promised you loyalty to your daughter also, it was the one thing you asked of me." ...That and the horrid night-time visits. "Will I abandon my promise?"

"What do you propose I do?" he asked

"Ride back to the castle" I told him, "I will bring her home"

"And our diplomatic ties to Bryn and his son?"

"I will seek to be diplomatic" I told him, "If I fail, you will proclaim me insane and  deny knowledge of my actions."

But I did not dare to fail.

I rode off in the direction it was most likely they would have borne her. They would have had to ride slowly, hampered by the litter balanced so precariously. I tried to shut down my mind asking awkward questions of me. Get back Clovis and then what? We could not have the sort of relationship we both wanted. Nor could I continue to simply repress my feelings and ignore hers. I didn't want to make Edward feel like I had betrayed him for all that he was no husband to me (nor ever had been) in my own mind and heart. A pawn of my parents had married him, and he had not stuck to the terms of that transaction strictly speaking in any case.

But I was more than a pawn in their political game. I saw the column of people in the distance and rode closer, Seagull seemed to sense my urgency and sped up her pace beyond what I would have expected from any horse that was mortal. I would ask Clovis about that some time.

The column saw me, and for a moment i thought they would stop and greet me but then inexplicably they sped up. I rode near enough to make out the litter. A figure sat up on the litter.

"Kiora" called Clovis, "Kiora, don't let them take me!"

Her voice was weakened and frightened but there was a knowledge in it that I would rescue her. Hearing her true mistress' voice, Seagull seemed to fly ahead on the path.