“Esquiline was a very beautiful girl, and quiet, almost shy until she trusted a person. A friend of the prince, who was also a friend of my son, brought her here and asked that she be provided with a suitable home. Of course I had no hesitation about agreeing, and she moved right in, but it took her several weeks before she would really open up and talk with me. We often had breakfast together right here on the patio, right before she would take a horse out for a ride through the country, right up until late in her pregnancy,” Bayeux narrated his memories.
“She had her son, you, in the early winter, and she was back on horseback within two weeks,” he continued. “And about a month later her horse came back without her. It was wet, and we went down to the river immediately to look for her. And we found her, dead on the ground, with no good idea of what accident had happened. And soon after that the prince had an accident as well, and I was left with you and no idea about what to do or who to give you to.” Bayeux was telling the story for the first time in many years, and his memories boiled out with emotion.
There was a long, silent pause. “So I took you down to the orphanage in Frame, because it was considered the best in the land, and I gave them some money, and you grew up there, apparently pretty well,” he finished his tale.
Alec sat silently for a minute as he thought about his mother riding through this countryside. “Was she happy?” he asked at last.
“She was happy riding a horse, and she was happy singing a song, and she was happy when you were born and she had a baby to love,” Bayeux said kindly. “She was happy, but not in the boisterous, loud way. She had a calm, quiet happiness that she brought to a room when she entered it. Her smile was warm and generous, and it made people happy when they saw it.”
Alec sat in further silence, putting together the words of Lord Bayeux with the words of ghostly prince Enguerrand. He raced to a conclusion, then raced away from it.
“Are you alright?” Bayeux asked gently after several minutes.
“I believe you have told me that my mother was a wonderful person, and that my father was the prince of the land, making me heir to the throne,” Alec said cautiously.
“That is precisely what I believe, but I have no proof,” Bayeux told him. “And what do you say to that? Who wouldn’t want to be handed the crown and given the palace in Oyster Bay?”
“Perhaps I wouldn’t,” Alec answered softly.
“You may be smart enough to be a prince if you know you don’t want to be one,” Bayeux said. A servant came to the table bearing a plate of food for Alec. “Please eat and enjoy,” the lord suggested. “I enjoy looking at you and seeing the play of your face, and the resemblance to your mother; I saw your smile once just now, and for just a second, it was like seeing your mother back here on the patio, sharing joy. It makes me feel younger. Well, it and your remarkable healing ability.”
Alec ate, and they continued to talk about his mother for another half an hour. “Excuse me, my lord, but I must return to my friends. I thank you for letting me barge in on you like this, and for sharing your memories of my mother,” he said as he stood.
“Thank you for giving me such a vivid reminder of your mother, and the happiness she brought to our home during her stay here,” Bayeux replied, and as they shook hands, Alec extended more of his healing energy to the nobleman to strengthen his muscles and reduce his infirmities.
He remounted Walnut and rode solemnly back to Bethany’s home, where he found she and her family seated around their own breakfast table. “Come sit with us anyway!” Bethany cajoled when he told them he had already eaten.
“How is Lord Bayeux?” her father asked as Alec took a seat next to Bethany.
“He seems well,” Alec responded. “We talked about my mother, who lived at his home when I was born, before he took me to the orphanage. It was the first time I ever heard anyone talk about her, and it gives me something to think about and imagine.”
Aristotle arrived, and enjoyed a plate of breakfast with the family, and when he was done he looked at Alec. “We need to start our return, don’t we? We all have a lot to do when we get back.”
“You can’t leave already!” Bethany’s mother tried to protest, but the three travelers were soon packed and back on their horses.
As they rode along, Aristotle pulled close beside Alec. “You learned a lot, didn’t you?”
Alec nodded. “And how do you feel about it, about being the true heir?” Ari pressed.
“How did you know?” Alec cried loudly enough that Bethany looked up from where she was studying the passing fields as they rode by.
“I’ve suspected since I first met you, Alec,” Ari told him. “An old prophecy hinted that there could be a hidden heir with peculiar abilities, and those words popped right to the front of my mind the night we met at the carnival.
“So what will you do now?”
“I don’t know,” Alec answered. “I don’t know if I want to be heir.
“If I return to Oyster Bay and declare myself to be the heir, I’ll never be able to go free. I’ll be trapped there at the palace forever,” he said. “I know it’s a wonder that I’ve managed to get out as much as I have while I’m protector of the crown, and that’s only because of the extraordinary circumstances we’re in.
“When the day comes that the wars are over and the Dominion is safe, I want something more,” he added.
“More than what, Alec?” Bethany interrupted, riding up from behind. “What are you talking about?”
“When we’ve defeated the Michian invaders, I want to be free. I don’t want to live in the palace and make all the decisions and dance at all the balls,” he replied. He looked into her eyes. He sensed that Ari was dropping behind them now, as trees began to line the sides of the road. On an impulse, he knew he had to bring up something else.
He frowned as recollected Bethany’s father’s advice about singing. He knew his voice was not good; he’d never been invited to be part of the orphanage choir. Taking a deep breath, he decided he’d pick the most romantic song he could remember snippets of:
“Well, I will pray to God on high,
That thou my constancy mayst see,
And that yet once more before I die,
Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me,”
He sang, then faltered, as he saw Bethany looking at him incredulously. “Your father,” Alec began in a normal voice. “He said that you loved the stories about how he wooed your mother by singing to her,” his voice trailed off as he saw the amusement in her eyes.
“What are you talking about?” she asked between laughs.
“Your father told me that he sang to your mother all the time when they dated as a young couple, and when they told you those stories, you were enchanted with the idea of a singing, er, ah, boyfriend,” Alec lamely explained.
“He was pulling my leg, wasn’t he?” Alec at last understood as he saw the expression on her face.
“Yes, dear, he was,” Bethany said affectionately, as she patted his hand.
Despite the setback and loss of dignity, Alec decided to try one more time. “You remember once you said you’d wait for me forever,” Alec reminded Bethany a minute later as they rode along the quiet path through a forest. Her face assumed a more somber expression.
“I should have said I’d wait for you forever, if you wanted me to,” Bethany edited herself. “And after so long, it seemed you didn’t want me to, although I know different now, and even understand it mostly.”
“Well, I do want you to. Or maybe I should say, I don’t want you to wait any more,” he replied.
“Your father asked me last night if I sought his permission to seek your hand in marriage,” he admitted.
Bethany gasped so suddenly and loudly, it turned into a hiccup. “He can be so, hiccup, exasperating! He has no sense of social skills, hiccup!” she placed her fingertips over her lips. “How could he jump to a conclusion like that? And that was at the hiccup same time he was telling you to serenade me
?”
“Yes, at the end of our talk, he told me I had his permission,” Alec continued. “He said he’d trust your judgment if you chose to accept my proposal.”
Bethany looked around. She hiccupped again as she saw that Aristotle was now many paces behind them.
“So, what is your answer, Bethany?” Alec asked.
“You haven’t, hiccup, asked me a question, Alec,” she said with emphasis.
He started to retort, then thought better of it. “Bethany, will you marry me?” he asked. “I’ll love you forever and probably keep things exciting for a while,” he grinned. “And I promise not to sing to you ever again!”
“Yes Alec, I will marry you! I know you love me, and I love you too!” she said giddily. Alec leaned out of his saddle to give her a passionate kiss. “You can feel free to turn down the excitement level a little if you want,” she said, “but not just now.” She leaned into him and kissed him back.
“And what was it you wanted more of when I rode up to interrupt you and Ari?” she asked a minute later. “Is it something I can help with?”
Alec hesitated to answer.
“You can’t very well want to marry me, hiccup, if you can’t trust me, Alec,” Bethany told him. “You have to talk to me and tell me what you’re thinking.”
Alec took another deep breath. “I want freedom from the palace. Lord Bayeux told me that he believes my father was Prince Enguerrand, the son of King Gildevny. And when I was at the Pool of John Mark, the prince’s ghost told me he had left a secret heir; his story and Lord Bayeux’s match up precisely, which makes me the heir to the throne,” Alec explained. “But I don’t know if I want to be the next king of the Dominion!” He reached out and touched his fingertip to Bethany’s breastbone. “You can cure yourself of those hiccups, you know,” he said casually.
“You are the heir to the throne?” Bethany asked in astonishment. “You would be so good for the Dominion! You already are good!”
“But would the throne be good for me?” Alec asked as the trees thinned out and their road grew brighter. “Would you want to live in the palace forever and have guards follow you around everywhere you went, and have someone schedule everything you do every day?”
Ari rode up and rejoined them.
“Alec proposed to me!” Bethany squealed.
“What was your answer?” Ari asked solemnly.
“I told him I’d think about it,” Bethany said blithely. “No! Of course I said yes!”
“Did you set a date?” Ari asked.
“No,” Bethany said. “Alec when will we have the wedding?”
“I suppose after the war,” Alec responded.
“Where do you want to have it? In the palace or the cathedral?” she followed up.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know,” he said, worried about the flood of wedding questions that might potentially be unleashed upon him.
“So you will make Bethany your queen?” Ari asked.
“If I became king, she would become my queen. But Ari, I don’t have to become king if I don’t want to, do I?” Alec asked.
“Not if nobody finds out you’re the heir,” Ari answered. “Well, at least not immediately. But consider that even if you successfully keep it a secret, you’re going to go off on another mission and win another war, then you’ll come back and marry a beautiful girl,” he smiled at Bethany, “and there will obviously be no real heir available, so you can guess what is going to happen. The nobility and the church and the fiefdoms and even the ingenairii are going to make you the king anyway.”
“I’m not sure which is worse: thinking about being king, or thinking about planning the wedding,” Alec moaned.
“Hey!” Bethany loudly protested. “You’re the one who proposed marriage. Do you want to call it off?”
“No! No, not at all,” Alec assured her. “The marriage is the one thing out of all this that I know I want. It’s just the wedding and the kingship that I want to skip.”
“Will you be ready to leave this afternoon, to go Bondell?” Alec asked later, as they continued to ride along their way, while a gentle shower dampened the dust rising from the road.
“I’ll be ready,” Bethany said determinedly. “You’re not going to leave me behind or send me away again.
“You’re going to need healer ingenairii; will Rief come with us?” she asked.
“Yes Rief will, and I expect Rander will too,” he added. “I think he’s smitten with her right now.”
“She’s such a good person, I’m glad someone sees that in her already,” Bethany said with joy in her heart.
They continued to ride throughout the morning, and just past noon they returned to Oyster Bay. “I’m going to publically announce our engagement at the palace. Can you join me?” Alec declared.
“Alec! I have to pack for our trip,” Bethany replied. “Where will I find time to get dressed for an announcement like that?
“When will you make the announcement? I’ll try to get ready,” she asked seconds later.
“Can you meet me at the palace at five o-clock? We’ll arrange for everyone to be assembled for the announcement then,” Alec suggested. “Ari, can you invite the Ingenairii Council to attend?”
And so, at five o’clock, Alec stood in the largest hall in the palace, a great crowd of nobility, church leaders, ingenairii, palace officials and others gathered on very short notice to hear a mysterious announce-ment the crown protector was about to make. He stood on a raised platform, feeling and looking nervous, while he awaited Bethany’s arrival.
“He hasn’t told anyone anything about what he’s announcing,” Rander told Brannis and Rief as they stood in the front of the crowd. As Alec scanned the crowd just then, his eyes made contact with Rief’s, and the spark of joy and fear she saw in his eyes made her immediately voice her hunch to her companions.
He’s going to marry Bethany,” she said. She realized that she felt nothing but happiness for both he and Bethany as she contemplated a marriage between the two.
Rander looked at Rief. “You really think so? I knew they were close once, but then heard they had gone their separate ways.”
“I just saw the same look in Alec’s eyes that I saw when he met her in Frame,” Rief said, “and I knew then that he was in love with her.”
“She’s not here, though,” Brannis pointed out.
“She will be, and she’ll make an entrance,” Rief predicted, just as a stir in the rear of the hall caused heads to turn. A procession was moving through the center of the room, and as it reached the front, Bethany emerged from her convoy of water ingenairii, all dressed in blue. She too was wearing blue, a gown of stunning intricacy, as she mounted onto the stage and stood beside Alec.
“Wow!” Rander said, studying her appearance.
“Hold it together. Down boy,” Rief said as she placed her hand on his arm, pretending to hold him back.
Alec had taken Bethany’s hand in his as she reached him, and stood staring at her for many seconds, before slowly turning his head to face the audience. “Thank you all. Thank you for coming here on such short notice,” he began.
“You all look very pretty, I mean, Bethany looks awfully pretty,” Alec stumbled and grew red in the face, as nervous titters of laughter were sprinkled around the room. Bethany squeezed his hand. “Relax,” she murmured in his ear, “and just start over.”
Alec looked out. “I am a very lucky person,” he started again. “I have so many friends in this room, and you all have been important to me. And a lot of people not in this room have been important to me too.
“But I believe that no one is more important to me than Bethany, and so I want to announce our engagement to be married,” he said, and then said no more as loud and prolonged applause and cheers filled the hall for several minutes. “We will hold the marriage ceremony when we return from our campaign in Bondell. I hope you all will pray for our safety and success while we are traveling and fighting, and I hope you all will b
e ready to join us in making the Dominion a better place when we return.
“Thank you for coming, and God Bless you all,” he finished, as more applause spread through the hall. People were climbing up on stage and coming to shake Alec’s hands vigorously, or hug him. They all had something to say, and a ring of people surrounded him, but he positioned himself so that he always faced towards Bethany, could always keep an eye on her as she too was mobbed by well-wishers. He couldn’t help but look at her, entranced by the combination of her beautiful appearance and the circumstances of the moment.
Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Page 37
