North America / Kingdom of Yorkania (Crownlands of Manhattan): November 12th, 1517.
(Morgan's POV)
I grabbed a knife and started cutting at a slice of cake, hopefully no sort of specific human based autonomy existing inside of where it shouldn't
"Let's enjoy myself today, it's a rare break for my kind" I thought while catching a woman an a young looking girl on the corner of my eye sneakily maneuvering around the dancing ton and over to me.
The music was loud yet elegant.
The throne room full of moving silk, jewels, perfume and lies.
I sat the knife down onto the plate and said calmly without looking up "If you both intend to keep circling like starving birds then please do land already. I tire of watching people hesitate."
The footsteps Immediately stopped. The air around them became tense.
"Y…yor maistrel…" Said the mature woman's voice in yorkanian tongue with a curtsy. It being lady adeline de' roosevelt.
I slowly looked up and seen the mature woman with the same calm smile on her face and the young girl at her side looking as if she wanted the marble floor to open and swallow her whole.
"Lady adeline." I said calmly while leaning sideways on the throne and picking up the fork.
Adeline curtsied again and gently pushed the young girl a little forward and said in yorkanian tongue "Yor maistrel, my daughter. Gia'annie de' roosevelt. I beg leave to Introduce her before your majesty."
The throne room was still lively but the eyes of many had already started drifting in our direction.
Of course they had.
I looked slowly down at the young girl.
She was young. Quiet. Awkward in the way of someone that had not yet learned how to wear nobility like skin. Her fingers clenched tightly around the fabric of her dress, her shoulders trying to make themselves smaller than they truly were.
"She looks like she would rather be in a library than in front of me. Good. That means she isn't stupid enough to enjoy this" I thought while tapping the fork lightly against the plate.
*Tak* *Tak*
Gia'annie curtsied quickly and said softly "Y…your majesty."
I was silent for a moment and asked calmly "What are your interests."
Adeline Immediately opened her mouth with a smile still on her face and said "My daughter is very wel…"
"Do not speak." I said calmly while glancing at adeline.
The smile on adeline's face froze. Gia'anne visibly stiffened.
I looked back at gia'annie and asked again calmly "I did not ask your mother. I asked you. What are your interests."
Gia'annie's throat bobbed. Her eyes lowered for a moment and then raised back up to meet mine only halfway.
"I…like to read your majesty." Said gia'annie softly.
I waited.
The girl swallowed the spit in her mouth and said with a slightly steadier voice "I like histories, stories and ledgers. I like learning how things move and how people become rich or poor and why some families rise while others fall."
The music continued in the background.
I was silent for a moment longer than was comfortable and asked calmly "Are you married."
Gia'annie's eyes widened Immediately and she shook her head quickly while saying "N…no your majesty."
"How old are you." I asked calmly while cutting another small piece of cake.
"I am 15 years of age your majesty." Said gia'annie softly.
I nodded once with my eyes closed and said calmly "I see."
Adeline finally dared to speak again and asked with a very careful smile "Your majesty, if I may say, my daughter has always been a sensible and quiet gi…"
"I said do not speak." I said calmly while putting the cake by my mouth and taking a bite of it.
The throne room near us had started to subtly quiet down again.
Not fully.
Just enough for the nearest predators to smell blood.
Adeline's jaw clenched tightly for only a second before her face smoothed out again.
Gia'annie's face had gone slightly pale.
I chewed, swallowed and said calmly while looking at the girl "You may go now. I will call upon you and your mother at a later time."
Gia'annie's eyes widened.
Adeline Immediately curtsied and said with a closed eyed smile "Your majesty is most generous."
"Do not mistake future attention for generosity. Dismissed." I said calmly while waving my right hand lightly.
Adeline's smile tightened.
Gia'annie curtsied again, more awkwardly than before, and let herself be guided away by her mother through the moving crowd of silk and ambition.
I watched them go for a moment and thought while stabbing at the cake again "The mother is desperate. The daughter is not. Good."
"Your majesty." Said percival's voice from out of nowhere.
I looked to my left and seen the wood pecker with that same careful, annoying, overly professional face and beside him stood a luxuriously dressed man with a narrow handsome face, pale skin, dark eyes and a posture that tried very hard to say importance.
Ah. I already knew.
I sighed and said calmly "Shoo. Go away, goodbye."
The ambassador blinked.
Percival froze slightly.
The ambassador adjusted his throat loudly and said with a confused yet polite look on his face "Your majesty, I beg your pardon but I have only just been brought to your pr…"
"Shoo. Away. Go enjoy the ball, stare at some noblewoman's jewels, drink my wine and pretend you were of use tonight. You reek of england." I said calmly with a wave of my hand as I looked him up and down once.
The ambassador had a flabbergasted look on his face and said with a stutter "B…bu…"
"What kind of goodbye don't you understand, there are only so many ways that I can say goodbye, I've said them in every language I know fluently. Goodbye." I said calmly as I waved my left hand at him.
Percival leaned towards him and whispered something lowly into his ear.
The ambassador's face changed Immediately into one of tight understanding.
He bowed and said calmly "Of course your majesty. I shall not Intrude further."
He took his leave with dignity barely intact and vanished back Into the body of the ball where the musicians still played and servants moved like shadows.
The moment he was gone I looked back at percival and asked calmly "Why are you still standing there."
Percival's face twitched slightly and asked with a careful tone "Your majesty, have I done something to displease yo…"
"Yes." I said calmly and Immediately.
The throne room was loud enough now again for privacy to exist in pieces.
I stood up from the throne slowly, the pain in my body hidden underneath lace, jewels and grace and stepped down one stair lower so that I was closer to him.
Percival kept his back straight.
His face serious. His forehead slightly damp.
I stared straight into his eyes and said calmly "You betrayed me."
Percival's jaw tightened.
"Your majesty…0 Said percival lowly.
"No. Do not insult me further by pretending not to understand. You betrayed me. You advised me to hear both sides of a coin yet the moment I was poisoned and bedridden, you thought yourself fit to act in my place. You killed in my name. You moved in my name. You presumed upon my name." I said calmly with my hazel green eyes boring into his.
Percival's fists clenched at his sides and said with a strained voice "I was trying to preserve your reign and the stability of the cro…"
"You were trying to prove that you could carry what only I could hold. That, chancellor wood pecker, is the particular arrogance of loyal men. You call it service when it flatters your conscience." I said calmly and suddenly. My voice low yet sharp enough to cut through his excuses.
The music swelled in the background. A few couples turned slowly in dance.
The throne room sparkled with candlelight.
Percival looked at me with a pained face and said lowly "I did not do it for myself."
I stared at him for a moment and said calmly "That is what makes it worse."
The hall around us felt smaller.
Closer.
My right cheek did not move. My mouth did not smile. My eyes did all the work for me.
"You are useful. You are clever. You are more competent than most of the insects in this kingdom and that is precisely why I trusted you enough to keep you close. But do not ever mistake proximity for permission again. I can forgive ambition in enemies because it is expected. In those beside me, it is uglier." I said calmly while adjusting one of my rings.
Percival lowered his eyes for the first time and said with gritted teeth "I know I overstepped."
"You did." I said calmly.
"I know I cannot undo it." Said percival lowly.
"You cannot." I said calmly again.
The silence between us stretched.
Percival finally looked back up at me and asked with a serious look on his face "Then what am I to do."
I looked at him for a moment while the light from the chandeliers danced across his face and said calmly "You will stand where I place you. You will speak when I require it. You will stop trying to predict my moves and instead learn to survive them and perhaps, over time, I may allow myself the luxury of trusting you again."
Percival's throat adjusted loudly.
His face was ugly. Tired. Ashamed.
"Yes your majesty." Said percival with a slight bow.
I was silent for a moment and asked calmly "Do you know what betrayal truly is percival."
Percival did not answer.
I leaned closer slightly and said lowly "It is not disobedience. It is forcing me to realize that even competence can become a disappointment."
Percival's face tightened as if I had struck him.
Good.
I stepped back up onto the stair and sat back down onto the throne while looking over the ball again and said calmly with a wave of my fingers "Now then. Since you have already embarrassed yourself enough for one evening, go and be useful. Keep the old men drunk, the ambitious mothers hopeful and the foolish sons far away from me."
Percival bowed more deeply this time and said with a quiet voice "At once your majesty."
He turned and took his leave into the crowd again.
I watched his back disappear between silk, velvet and weak bloodlines and thought while taking another bite of cake "He'll either become greater from this or break beneath it. Either outcome is useful."
The music continued. The ton moved.
The game had only just begun.
…
THE END…