Chapter 1 - Responsabilites
I sighed, the papers on the table seeming to increase in volume despite the inexorable passing of the hours. I took my head in my hands, slowly massaging my temples as involuntarily my eyes closed in search of relief.
Had I not had years of training behind me, I would never have perceived the light footsteps approaching me from behind. I pretended not to hear them until two light hands rested on mine and began to slowly massage my temples.
“My Lord, it is approaching sunset, don’t you think it is time to relax a little?”
I smiled at Diana’s words and abandoned my head against the back of the hard wooden chair.
“You know as well as I do, Lady Diana, that I don’t have the time to rest, let alone relax a little.”
I heard her sigh behind my back as her hands trailed down my neck and crept into the open collar of my blouse. She knew I wouldn’t stop her, quite the contrary. As she continued to massage my chest I inhaled her perfume, orange and cinnamon, in a combination that could go to my head.
“You know as well as I do that I am anything but a lady, My Lord.”
“You could even say that with less contempt.”
I knew well how deep-rooted her hatred for nobility was, she thought it despicable that the privileges of this world were determined by birth and not deserved. Not that it had made her uncomfortable when she had found my benevolence. It would have been impossible for her to live so freely had she been a noblewoman. In this way, she could enjoy the king’s favours and not actually have to bother to lift a finger. I was almost convinced that there was some noblewoman ready to swap places, fed up with the constant search for a husband between the old court jerks and the young pompous scions, among whom, by the way, there was me.
She continued for a while before I grabbed her hands and spun her around the backrest and sat her on my lap. The thin blouse covering her was slightly open, allowing a glimpse of her soft breasts, which I wasted no time tasting, causing her to let out a choked moan.
Before long we were lying on the heavy carpet in front of the fireplace, our bodies covered in a thin layer of sweat. Diana had managed to get into my good graces from the first moment. She had been direct and brutally honest. She knew she would never become more than a concubine and had offered me her body in exchange for a place to stay. Officially she was in charge of cleaning the many rooms in the palace, while in reality, she was more dedicated to my pleasure. She had arrived just when I needed her. Not being able to take advantage of the noblewomen of the court, she was one of the few diversions I was allowed.
I was finally about to start relaxing for good, when the heavy doors of the study burst open, my mother behind them. Diana had the quick reflexes to cover herself as she hastily got up and left the studio with a quick reverence.
I hurried to get dressed, as the headache that had recently disappeared returned.
“How much longer is this going to go on, Raphael? Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be fooling around with servants? You’re old enough to get married now, not to mention the fact that you’re the king!”
As my mother continued with her ravings about my missing spouse I took the time to dress, before turning to her and blocking her hands gesturing in the air.
“Mother, I thank you for your concern, but I assure you there is no need. None of the court noblewomen is up to the task and it was you who pointed this out to me.”
My mother was a strong woman. She had not allowed anyone to take my place after my father’s death, acting as queen regent until I came of age. She was still a beautiful woman, but the anxieties and worries of previous years had created lines on her face that gave her a much more austere and lived-in aura.
“I know perfectly well what I said! However, that must not stop you from finding a wife! There are dozens of other realms that would wait for nothing more than a marriage to ally with us!”
Unfortunately for me, she was also a very stubborn woman. Unfortunately for her, it was a trait I had inherited.
“In this case, I will have to be even more cautious. There are too many who seek a deal of convenience and it is only right that I take the right measures and precautions, rushing things would only bring trouble.”
“Rushing things is one thing, but you are not really considering them! Your twenty-sixth birthday is approaching, by which time I expect you to have begun courting a lady, and a respectable one at that!”
I knew that as king I was already late for the wedding. I should at least have had an heir by now. But the idea of binding myself for life with a snooty noblewoman just didn’t sit well with me. I had no illusions of finding love, that was neither practical nor likely. But at least I would have preferred not to have to dread my moments alone with the future queen.
“Mother, five months seems a very short time for this project of yours. Perhaps for next year.”
“Raphael James IV! I forbid you to wait that long! I want to be able to enjoy my grandchildren when I still have strength in my legs and some salt in my noggin! If you have found no lady who meets your criteria by your birthday, then you will be forced to consider Lady Trascott.”
At the mere thought of that lady as my mother called her, I got chills. As much as I recognised the importance of the benefits an alliance with her father could bring, her daughter was absolutely out of the question. My idea was to deal directly with her father and make business deals with him.
“You know I have nothing against Lady Trascott, Mother, but you will agree with me that the woman is not particularly attractive, or at least capable of reigning at my side.”
“If you can find no one else, that will do! After all, she is a proper lady, in her prime and with a strong sense of duty. In the letters we exchanged...”
“You’re exchanging letters with Lady Trascott? For heaven’s sake, what is wrong with you?”
By now the social niceties had gone out the window. And I knew from my mother’s smile that she had gone exactly where she wanted to go. Damn. I remembered Lady Trascott as a woman devoid of any kind of intellect, at least that didn’t concern the welfare of the little goat she always carried, a gift from her father on her fifteenth birthday, as she always took care to remind those who had the misfortune to be around her on any social occasion. In addition, her stubby legs and square face did not speak in her favour. I sighed.
Eventually, I knew this moment would come, I would have to find myself a wife sooner or later, a queen who would give the people an heir and thus ensure greater stability for the kingdom of Hiso.
“All right, Mother. You have won. Now let us go to dinner, there will be dances to organise and invitations to send if we are to find me a wife.”
I took the woman who had given birth to me by the arm, and while she smiled triumphantly, I grieved and headed towards the decisions that would forever change my life.
