swordpoint diplomacy 44 whole

Rose wondered if the roads were treating Vivian, Kian, and Marcel as kindly as they treated her. After a few days of gentle sun and easy riding, the party arrived at the capital without any issue. Of course, they didn’t get very far in amity. The best hours by far were spent in a tense silence, which was less effort than tense diplomatic smalltalk.

That was well enough. They did not need to be friends, they needed to protect their mutual interests.

The drama came after they got off their horses and were escorted to the palace. “Princess,” greeted the head of household.  She curtsied with no eye contact. “Where shall your companions go?”

Rose didn’t look back at them. “Diplomatic chambers,” she said in a tone of finality. “The blue quarters.”

Lady Elaine was too polished to react outwardly. But Rose knew damn well word was going to spread, and it was not going to be kind. She shook out her hair and pursed her lips. There was no way out but forward. She let Elaine set the pace and kept her head high. Courtiers had come to greet her. They formed two lines in the courtyard and bowed and gave courtesies as she passed.

In her wake, whispers started about the foreign faces behind her.

‘Just wait until they hear the King is dead,’ Rose thought wryly. ‘The gossip now is nothing.’

It was bleakly funny to her.

That was the first thing to take care of, however. “Call for an assembly,” she told Elaine, taking off her riding gloves the instant they entered the private wing of the palace. “In two hours. Have baths drawn for my companions, and find appropriate clothing for them to attend as my guests.”

She didn’t have to turn to know that Lady Elaine was quietly appalled by what she must see as a decision that would dangerously infuriate the King. She was possibly even afraid of punishment for complying.

For a moment, she considered just dismissing the woman and getting out of her disgusting travel clothes. She wanted to go to the royal pools and wash away her terrible week. She’d gone from a warcamp to enemy territory to a battle to patricide and now a rush to solidify her position so that people didn’t think she was a murderous beast that needed to be put down.

That was the thing, wasn’t it. Solidifying her position. She would need more allies than Vivian of Treyveylan and Lord Karitta.

‘It would be much more intelligent to maintain good relationships with people whose assistance I need.’

Rose was controlled enough to keep her exhaustion and poor temper out of her attitude when she invited Lady Elaine to come in for a discussion.

“I would be delighted, Princess,” Lady Elaine said, perfectly genteel and controlled. She curtsied as she crossed the barrier into Rose’s private chambers. She waited for Rose to take a seat before she alighted like a butterfly on a chaise.

There were two options at this point. Rose chose to be direct. “We have a crisis situation,” she spoke plainly. “My father the King is dead.”

Lady Elaine froze. “...Princess?”

“It was a training accident in camp,” Rose said, because that was the best interpretation of events that she could spin. If Father- if he’d intended to kill her there, that would have been illegal. He hadn’t disinherited or arrested her yet. She had a right to defend herself. “He took a fatal fall. The body should be on the road behind me.”

The words made her feel exhausted and thin, shamed. But a medical examination would support what she said. They could display the body for a state funeral. Hopefully, that would reduce accusations that she killed him to inherit. She was known as a swordswoman.

She was also known to be her Father’s favorite. Hopefully, public opinion would work in her favor.

Lady Elaine slowly raised her hand and clutched at her locket. Rose eyed the motion and wondered whose token was inside of it, aching to see her little sister. “Where is Esperance?” she asked. “She needs to be here for the coronation.”

Lady Elaine went a little green. “Of course, we must plan a coronation immediately,” she said faintly.  “Princess Esperance is with her usual companions, at the winter estate. I shall have word sent for her immediate return. As for the coronation, has Your Majesty been able to arrange for the retrieval of the ceremonial items?”

She explained that she had sent Karitta’s heir to retrieve one item and a small party including Kian of Hartsbluff and Vivian Treveylan for the other two. There were other logistics- Lady Elaine got a nervous twitch when Rose said that she had already send word for her mother and the former  queen to be invited to join them.

…Rose had the sinking feeling that she should not have done that. But it seemed cruel otherwise.

It was too late now. The orders were sent. It was better to make bad decisions than it was to try too late to change them– everyone would be angry and insulted, in that case. Imagine freeing your mother from political banishment and then sending her back without speaking to her?

She strangled down the laugh. It wasn’t helpful right now, except that it was because she truly needed some levity.

Rose dismissed Lady Elaine and went through the motions of getting ready for court. She had to be strong right now. Things would be easier when Etienne returned to support her, with Aunt Aime and cousin Aiden at his heels. It was rather likely that none of them would make it in time for the coronation. The thought was depressing, but… necessity was more important than sentimentality.

Perhaps the only saving grace of the war effort was that fashion had not shifted at all. The nobility was busy with something more pressing than deciding imported pearls were out and purple lace was required. Rose called for a maid to help her dress appropriately and fix her hair.

She had felt more relaxed to go to actual war than she felt about court. Rose gritted her jaw and trudged across the grand halls. They were nearly empty, everyone having made their way to wait in anticipation.

Everyone stood and inclined their heads when she entered. Rose walked up the straight path down the center of the room with her head held high and businesslike steps. She mounted the dais. She sat on the main throne, where the royal presiding over the court always sat. She gestured to the crowd to relax.

It was the first time that court had been held in a while. Weeks, at least. That meant there was unavoidable business. She presided over a few disputes over land, over the discipline of a vassal, over unscrupulous opportunitic inflation of the price of turnips. The petititioners gradually filtered out of the room. “That’s enough for today,” Rose said, when she was tired of dealing with it. It would go on all night if she let it. “I have an announcement to make.”

She scanned the crowd for a moment, gaze catching on the little knot where the foreign guests were standing. Lady Elaine’s staff had done well enough– no one seemed to notice them as not belonging.

Rose …

It was the strangest thing. It was as if she was separate from her body. Her body stood up, called for silence, and announced there was grave news. It informed the room that the King was dead and announced that the Coronation was to be held in 4 days’s time.

It weathered the shock, opportunistic glances, and politic condolences and wishes for her success that filtered her way as the braver nobility came to pay their respects and get her attention before they went home to spread the news.

Rose came back to her body when it was done and the room was nearly empty. The foreign guests had left, or been ushered away, except for Castellan LaGown, who was quite close.

Lady Elaine crept forward. “Your Majesty, there is news,” she murmured.

Judging from her hard, pale lips, it was not good news. Rose beckoned her close.

“Lord Karittas left his ancestral home with the key to the kingdom yesterday,” Lady Elaine murmured. Rose nodded, not seeing the problem yet. He had made good time. “As I understand it, he seems to be heading back to the war front.”

Her eyes caught Castellan LaGown’s as her body froze. She tried to process this. “Thank you,” Rose said, expression and voice unbothered.

Internally, she was screaming.

That was treason. What was he doing?

There were two options. She wasn’t sure what was worse. The first option was that he was wholly a traitor and intended to give it to enemy hands, perhaps so that they could blackmail her and sue for peace. Well. Rose took a deep breath. She could… She could work with that. The other option was that there was a faction that wanted someone else to be Queen. Or King.

It was fine. It was going to be alright. Rose stood from her throne and walked out without giving nods or goodbyes to the few people who were still waiting.

Anyone in her family would just apprehend the traitor and bring her the key. Right?

…Right?