The Knight and the Peasant [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 33

Angelica and Benedict returned on their mounts to Lux Aestius. Her brother, Inejgo, was preparing the Veroñan vanguard to begin their march to Navitium on the morrow. But she was not going to speak to her brother now. No, she was going to speak with her mother.

The Coronation of Blood was what the commoners and highborn alike had begun to call the massacre that was Prince Francisco's coronation. The only king crowned was blood and death. And Angelica knew her mother was behind all of it.

So many scions of noble families had died in the Coronation of Blood. Martin Pelagia, Dame Janet Canbria, Alphonso Navaré, Sir Terrance delle Lafoulé, and so many others... including her own sister. The Cleric Knights and the Serpent Guard had been decimated. And Sersalvon was now in civil war.

She asked some of the handmaids for the whereabouts of her mother. They said that she had resigned herself to her rooms.

So Angelica stormed right to her. She knocked quite loudly and quite rudely on the door to her rooms. The guard standing next to her had a worried look on her face.

"Who is it," the Duchess of Mercenaries called out.

"Your daughter," she replied sharply. Your only daughter.

"Come in."

The guard took out keys to the room and opened the door for Angelica. Her mother was in a small secluded area of her room, lying in a large marble bathtub filled with water that covered most of her bodily parts.

"My daughter, what is it you wish?"

Angelica looked her mother directly in her eyes. Her cold sea-blue eyes. Were her own irises so cold? "Are you going to marry me off to Benedict?"

Her mother barely deigned to look at her. "You already know the answer to that."

"So was this all part of your plan, Mother? To side House Florjes with Prince Benedict in a civil war that will undoubtedly engulf all of Sersalvon? Was it your plan for Myeria to die?" She spat the last word out like the poison it was. When she looked at her mother now, she was taken aback.

There was hurt in her eyes.

"Angelica... I'm mourning Myeria as much as you and the rest of our family. Even more so."

Angelica ignored the hurt and continued. "You had probably planned to marry her off to Benedict and divorce her husband since Lord Estevan is a prisoner now and branded a traitor to the realm."

Her mother nodded. "Yes... that was the plan."

"But then she died," Angelica said scathingly.

"Angelica," her mother snapped. Hurt turning into anger. "Do you truly believe I am not mourning for my daughter? I did not want her to die! The coronation was supposed to crown Prince Benedict, not blood." Her mother's voice caught on something. Then Angelica realized, the Duchess of Veroña was about to cry. "If you want me to confess that I have been pulling the strings then you shall have it: yes, I did. When the Battle of Carcino occurred and I traveled to la'Manse delle Simia, I knew the king would come to chastise his son. So I arranged an incident to occur on the road back to Navitium."

Angelica put a hand to her mouth. "You hired the Company of the Hook?"

Her mother nodded. "I told them to specifically kill the king. Although it put the two of you at risk, I knew you could take care of yourself and the household guard would do their job in protecting you both. The attack focused on the king's carriage so you were not as at risk as you could have been. If the mercenaries had failed to kill the king, I would've sent a hired knife posing as a servant or guard to finish the job."