Europe / British Empire / London (St. James Palace): June 5th, 1817.
It was a beautiful day for the world. The birds were chirping their songs as mankind went about their daily routines with smiles on their faces at the beauty of the city, but also sad looks on their faces at the horror of it whether it be financially, emotionally or physically, yet if you were to look closely in london. To be more specific, inside of st. james palace. You would see a ballroom that had just witnessed a blessing turn into a chain.
The atmosphere elegant and venomous.
(Unknown POV)
"Did he just claim her before the queen." Asked a noblewoman softly, her fan trembling with excitement.
A older man beside her said dryly "He did more than claim her. He made refusal impossible."
The little circle went silent.
"That was not romance." Said a young woman in shock with wide eyes.
"No dear. That was strategy wearing gloves so learn from it if you are to survive high society." Said the older man while taking a sip from his wine glass.
Across the room, whispers spread like spilled ink.
"The staffords must have known." Said a man whispering with his gloved hand covering his mouth.
Another man scoffed and whispered back with his gloved hand covered his mouth "No. Look at the marchioness. That woman looks as if she swallowed a knife."
"The dowager nodded." Said a young man with squinted eyes as he swirled his wine glass.
"Of course she did. That old woman knows when a cage is safer than open air." Said a older woman with her fan covering her mouth.
A pale blonde countess glanced toward mary and mordred and said softly "He trapped her."
A broad shouldered man beside her hummed slightly and said with a slight smile "And yet now every man who refused her looks like a coward. Interesting."
The ballroom was loud again.
Not with music.
With hunger.
Queen charlotte's blessing had not ended the scandal.
It had baptized it.
(Stafford POV)
"Inside. Now." Said edward stafford in a low voice that barely moved his lips.
Mary walked beside him with slow controlled steps, her fan in one hand and her breathing too steady to be natural.
Edith followed close, her face pale with worry. Oswald moved behind them with cold eyes. Elizabeth came last, her cane striking the floor once.
*Tap*
They entered a private side chamber.
*Boom*
The door closed.
The room was silent.
Edward turned immediately and said with anger trembling beneath his restraint "He cornered you before the crown."
Mary looked at him and said nonchalantly "I noticed."
Edith went to her and said softly "Mary, are you hurt. Did he hurt you."
"Not in any way that matters right now." Said mary calmly. Her eyes slightly shaking as if they wanted to roll themselves in edith's face.
The room was silent.
Oswald folded his hands behind his back and said coldly "He made a public structure. Refusal would have made us look desperate, ungrateful or divided."
Edward glared at him and said immediately with coldness "Do not sound impressed."
"I am not impressed. I am accurate. Their is a difference in being a pussy and a cock father. I shall excuse my vulgarity father." Said oswald calmly as he adjusted the rings on his right hand.
Elizabeth chuckled dryly and said "Finally, a functioning mind."
Edward turned to her with disbelief and asked with astonishment "You approved it."
Elizabeth stared back at him and said calmly "I permitted the room to believe we were not fools."
"Mother, he used her." Said Edith with widened eyes.
"Yes. Yes he did." Said elizabeth Immediately.
The room went absolutely silent.
Elizabeth's eyes shifted toward mary and said calmly "And now half of london believes she was valuable enough to be seized publicly before the queen. Yesterday she was an injured girl people pitied. Tonight she is the woman a dangerous young man risked scandal to claim."
Mary stared at her.
Elizabeth continued.
"Ugly. Cruel. Effective." Said elizabeth calmly with her eyes squinted.
Mary's fan snapped shut.
*FAK*
"I am standing right here." Said mary softly.
Elizabeth nodded while saying calmly "Good. Then listen while people speak about the battlefield you are currently bleeding on."
Edith closed her eyes with pain.
Edward rubbed his forehead and said with a sigh "We can deny it."
"No." Said mary Immediately.
Everyone looked at her.
Mary's grey violet eyes stayed cold while saying "We don't deny it tonight. Denial makes me look dragged. Silence makes me look chosen. I prefer looking chosen until I decide what to do with the bastard."
The room was silent.
Elizabeth smiled slightly and said "There she is."
Mary looked toward the door while asking "Where is he."
"You wish to see him." Asked oswald with narrowed eyes.
Mary's mouth moved beneath the gauze for a moment and suddenly said "No. I wish to remind him I have functioning teeth that can kill when threatened."
(Mordred's POV)
The side corridor was quieter.
Less perfume. Less music. Less useless laughter.
Less of everything I appreciated for me.
I stood by a tall window with one hand behind my back, listening to the ballroom digest what I had given it.
Footsteps approached.
Measured.
Angry.
Mary.
Good.
She stopped several feet away from me.
"You did not ask me. You positioned me like a chess piece on a board to be flung off after its use was up." Said mary nonchalantly with her eyes cold.
"Yes." I said calmly with my eyes boring into her silhouette.
The corridor was silent.
Her fan tightened in her hand.
"No excuse. No lie. No polished little explanation." Asked mary with a sharp look in her eyes.
"No. I find lying to be ineffective when it serves to achieve no results in the emotional state of people it effects less." I said calmly with one of my eyes closing.
Mary stared at me for a moment and said softly "You are genuinely rotten."
"Correct and your gonna need to adjust if your to do your duty as a wife." I said calmly with my left open eye squinting.
The silence grew heavier.
Mary stepped closer and said nonchalant with a smile "You put me in a place where refusal would cost more than acceptance. Congratulations, you have won so I hope you're happy with the result."
"Yes." I said calmly.
"You used the queen." Said mary Immeasurably.
"Indeed." I said calmly.
"You used my family." Said mary with her eyes squinting.
"Yes." I said calmly.
Mary was silent for a moment and said "You used me."
"Yes." I said calmly and robotically.
Mary's eyes went colder and said "I should break this fan across your face."
"You would need better angle and more strength. Your recovery is still inefficient so you'll break before you reach me. I should advise rest before a fight." I said calmly while glancing down at the silhouette passing by in a hurry.
Mary stared for a moment and let out a sound that was almost laughter and absolutely not amusement as she said "I hate you."
"That is more useful than indifference." I said calmly.
Mary moved closer until the gauze over her lower face was close enough for me to smell medicine beneath perfume and said with a whisper like tone "Then listen carefully, mister moron. If this marriage is becoming a public battlefield, then I have terms."
"Speak carefully ms masochist." I said calmly.
Mary's eyes sharpened Immediately and said with a nonchalant like dangerously calm tone "One. You do not make another public decision involving me without warning."
"I will consider warning you when warning does not reduce effectiveness but do please continue" I said calmly with a wave of my left hand.
Mary lifted her fan up and pressed it against my chest while saying with her eyes squinting more "That was not an agreement for you too alter or have any say in."
"It was the most efficient version of one. Their is a difference ms masochist." I said calmly with my right eye opening fully.
Mary's eyes narrowed and said Immediately "Two. I get information. Stafford politics. Ainsworth movements where they touch my life. Fletcher. Money. Names. Enemies."
"Reasonable since we're to be married." I said calmly.
Mary paused and said with her eyes narrowing more "That was easy."
"Information makes you useful. Ignorance makes you decorative. I despise decoration." I said calmly while grabbing a tabsci pipe off a tray from a servant.
The servant lit it and bowed and took his leave.
Mary's gaze stayed on mine for a moment as I exhaled In a cloud of smoke onto her face and said calmly "Three. My carriage accident. I want to know if it was an accident."
Interesting.
Very good.
"It likely was not." I said calmly with a uncaring look on my face.
Mary went still.
The corridor was silent.
I was silent for a moment longer and asked calmly with squinted eyes "You suspected already."
"I remember too little and everyone speaks too carefully." Said mary softly with a cold look in her eyes.
"Good. Suspicion suits you most since your a masochist." I said calmly with a chuckle.
Marys fingers tightened once but loosened as she said calmly "Four. Do not mistake cooperation for submission."
"I would not. Submission is quieter." I said calmly.
Mary's eyes flashed for a moment but faded just as quickly as she said with cold eyes "And fifth. If you humiliate me publicly again, I will return it with interest."
"Good. A wife without teeth would have been inefficient." I said calmly with my lip curling up slightly
Mary stared at me with pure disgust and said "Every time I think you cannot become worse, you bring tools."
"Improvement requires equipment. I just can't help being a better asshole that everyone needs." I said calmly while inhaling from the tobacco pipe and exhaling.
The corridor was silent.
Mary's anger was clean now.
Useful.
But beneath it sat something else.
Not softness.
Recognition.
Disgusting.
She looked away first, toward the ballroom doors.
"We will not be lovers." Said mary softly.
"Unnecessary but we must have children for your reputation. How sad you must have me in bed." I said calmly with a shrug as a cloud of smoke exhaled from my nose.
Mary was silent for a very long moment and said nonchalant "We will not be friends."
"Also unnecessary. I have no friends." I said calmly with a chuckle.
Mary looked back at me and asked with genuine curiosity "Then what are we."
"Aligned problems." I said suddenly from out of nowhere calmly.
Mary blinked once and sighed and said quietly "That is the most unpleasantly accurate thing you've said all night."
"Excellent." I said calmly with a nod of my head.
She turned to leave.
Before stepping away, she said without looking back "If you investigate my accident and lie to me, I will ruin your sleep, your name and your bloodline."
"I do not sleep well anyway." I said calmly with a shrug.
Mary paused for a moment and walked away.
Interesting.
Mary.
The chess match must go on.
(Unknown POV)
The ballroom received mary's return first.
Then mordred's.
Not together.
Not apart enough.
Perfectly wrong.
The whispers sharpened again.
Margaret watched from near a pillar with a fan over her mouth and joy in her eyes.
"That boy just started a war." Said margaret softly.
Vladimir leaned beside her and asked with a wide grin "You think he'll survive marriage."
"Marriage. Boy, I'm wondering if london will." Said margaret with a loud snort.
Across the room, Abigail watched mary with something close to pity and fear.
Ivan leaned closer and said with a murmur "Do not look so worried sweetheart. Some women are made for cages. Some are made to turn the cage into a weapon."
Abigail looked at him coldly and said "And which one am I."
Ivan smiled and said with a chuckle "Still deciding."
Abigail was hated that answer.
Deeply.
(Julian Pembroke's POV)
Pain still sat in julian's stomach.
Humiliation sat deeper.
He stood near a side table, one hand around a glass he had not touched, watching mordred ainsworth move through the ballroom like the insult had never happened.
Mary had refused him.
Ainsworth had struck him.
Then that blind russian freak had claimed her before the queen herself.
The room would remember.
Worse.
The room would laugh carefully.
Julian's jaw tightened.
A man beside him said quietly "My lord."
Julian did not look away.
"Find out everything about them." Said julian softly.
"My lord." Said the man calmly with a bow.
Julian squinted his eyes and said with a very cold tone "The Ainsworths. Russia. Fletcher. Money. Servants. Debts. That blind bastard's habits. The old woman. The brother. The sister. All of it."
The man bowed slightly.
"And the stafford girl." Said julian as his eyes remained fixed across the room.
The ballroom glittered around him.
Julian smiled.
Not happily.
"Nobody arrives from nowhere." Said julian with bloodshot veiny eyes.
…
THE END…