Presently untitled original story by CE Dalton

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Chapter 1

***

Legara rode into her family's home and dismounted, handing the reins to a stable boy. "She's borrowed, treat her well." He nodded, walking her off. She walked into the house. "I'm back," she called quietly.

Her maid rushed out. "Your father bade you stay there, Lady Legara!"

"I think not! I don't feel like that's a good idea. Especially since I have to gather things to do such." She went to her room to wipe down with a damp cloth and change clothes. "Pack all my things," she told the maid when she walked in. The girl pouted at her.

"Even if I don't leave, half of it doesn't fit anyway." She put something in her hair carefully then pinned it. She pinned the front of her hair back behind her ears then pulled the hood up to be secured on top of her head but sitting back. The maid was horrified. She stared at her. "I *am* my mother's daughter as well." She walked off after grabbing her ceremonial dagger, heading to find her father. He looked and gasped. "Father."

"You should not be wearing that!" he shouted.

"Yes, but I did inherit that from my mother as well." She stared at him. "Father, I must be blunt. You've been poisoned."

"I have not! You're not my daughter! I'll have other ones! I have the sons!"

"The sons aren't legitimate. Or old enough to hold the house. The new wife won't give you children. She's the one that's poisoned you." She stared at him. The woman in question sneered as she came in. She tried to cast but Legara was protected and it fell to the floor in a tinkling of broken air. "Really?"

The woman shrieked and attacked her so Legara stabbed her in the throat. "I do not believe you are good for this family, whore." She kicked her over, watching as she died. "As my Mother and Grandmother both bade me to live with the honor of this family, I will protect it from even your kind." She looked at her father again, who was looking horrified. "Yes, your mother. She charged me with keeping the family safe when my own mother died."

"You are not..."

"I am, Father. I'm my mother's daughter as well as your daughter. The Crown itself set you two up so I would be born apparently. I've heard from it since the day I came into being. I can tell the wrongness that's spreading." She walked over to her father, taking his necklace that held his seal off his throat to put on. "It's my turn now to protect the family."

"I..." He sniffled. "You are wrong, daughter."

"No I'm not."

"You are. The Crown has nothing..." He gasped and held his chest.

"You know he can hear you. He can hear the thoughts of feelings of every being Bound to the Kingdom. As you were; as I am. As my mother was as she was actually a given priestess to it." She smiled and patted his cheek. "She poisoned you, Father. I wish you health." She walked off, going to the basement's heir stone. She stepped onto it. "I am Legara, third Duchess of our Keep," she announced. It glowed. She put the seal on the stone and it opened to her. She bowed at the spirit floating out of the stone. "Grandfather."

"Legara." He stared at her. "Your father lives."

"He's poisoned. Mind poisoned by the whore he nearly gave me as a fourth stepmother." She grimaced. "He is not fit. Has not been since my mother died. His mother said so."

"I heard. She's right." He stared at her. "It's going to get messy and dangerous. He's spent the family poor."

"Grandmother wouldn't let him have most of the family's funds. He had to live on his birth dowry."

"I think it's good you actually read that and talked to her."

"Of course I did. I'm excellent at finding information out." She smiled. "Before you mention the half-brothers, they're not legitimate. They're not bonded to the family's stones."

"I know."

"I'll protect them and the other three stepmothers as well. Even though I don't get along with one of them."

"Good. He has your things and your mother's things ruined."

"I doubt that." She smiled and bowed. "Am I fit?"

"Yes, you are fit as our third Duchess in family history." He bowed back. "Go help the Crown, Daughter of the Line. He battles."

"Yes, Sire." She went up to save her things and her mother's books from the fire. The fire went out at her magic calling. She looked at the ones trying to burn things. "Perhaps if he had me taught properly instead of letting me read my mother's books to learn from them, I might be nicer and more delicate." She grabbed the books from the fire, they hadn't been burned. Only two dresses were.

She went to add the books to her bags, finding the maid huffing while not doing anything but stabbing a few dresses. She knocked her out magically and packed everything herself. "I do not like you either, dear. I'm sorry my third stepmother made you my maid." She walked off with the bags. She came back to get the others. "There we go. Father, I'll be back."

"You are evil!" he shouted.

"I'm my Mother's daughter," she shot back, staring at him. "You made sure I looked up to her by not giving me anyone else to learn from." He flinched back, shaking his head. "You're literally poisoned, Father. Get a healer in?"

"I will not. I will die for this family. Will you?"

"Yes. I probably will. Perhaps it'll be today. Your sons still aren't bound to the family." Her father gasped and fell down. "Hmm." She sighed. "I hate that I was taught to do that instead of swearing." She got the guards to take him outside. The fresh air would help him. She stood beside where he was laid. "I will be the first born my mother and grandmother wanted me to be." She stared at him. "She knew I'd need to correct things."

She patted him on the arm. "I wish you well, Father." He stared to cough. "Quit faking it." She walked off. "I'll be back. Send me word if he does die of his embarrassment or her poisons." She mounted her horse and took the bags to strap back on. "Thank you."

She checked the hood before riding off again. Her father would die there, surrounded by the people who were bound to him. It was a shame but they were all poisoned by that wannabe stepmother. She set up the protections on the house so nothing else could be destroyed.

***

Legara rode up to the palace, nodding at the guards she knew. "Watch the mare. She's loaned by Lord Fairmy. I was delivering notes to him earlier this week but my mare threw a shoe. And leave the bags please." She dismounted and walked into the palace, nodding at the squires.

She walked into the throne room, nodding at the king, who stared at her in horrified awe. She shifted her cloak to show off the seal and badge. "I believe it's mine now, Sire. He is poisoned by your future consort's handmaiden of evil. He's presently dying. Along with all the ones that whore poisoned."

"You should not talk of your stepmother that way, Legara."

"She's dead, Sire. I doubt she cares." He gasped. "She and my father both forgot I have *two* parents. I'm like both of them." She looked at the consort who came in sneering. "That does not match," she noted. "That dress clashes greatly. Shouldn't *queens* be more tasteful?" The woman launched an attack at her and it again fell. Though the necklace and seal in her hair glowed. The consort gasped.

"Yes, I was born Bound. Both of my parents were Bound. My mother was a priestess before the Crown set them up. It is my job to protect the Crown." The woman launched another attack so Legara struck back, including throwing her dagger at the woman, which sunk into her stomach.

She screamed, making the thing she was trying to summon scream as well. Legara defeated it and spit. "Your people are foul." She went to where she could hear the crown screaming in rage. It was being merged with another crown. She pried out the main stone holding the spirit that bound it to the kingdom. "Sir Greens."

"Legara," he panted. "Thank thee for the saving." The ancient knight bowed his head to her. She curtseyed back. "We must fight this treasonous thing." She took the blacksmith's hammer from him and hit the other crown until she shattered the main stone. That spirit came out and he defeated it. It was difficult, he was injured, but he handled it. He slumped but she walked into his aura so he could gather some of her strength. "Thank you, Child."

"It is my duty, Sir Greens. Shall we go talk to the King?" The horrified blacksmith moaned. "He must have felt it." He floated with her. She grabbed something off a table to hold up to him, getting a nod. She carried that chalice with them. "Sire," she said as she walked back in. He was slumped on his throne. "Sir Greens of the Crown." She got out of his way.

The spirit looked at the king. "You have been poisoned by her people, George."

He bowed his head. "How do I cure it? I have no sons."

"Bull," Legara said dryly. "You have two sons, Sire. One's barely legitimate and not Bound, so the Crown feels him as soulless."

"That's true," the ancient knight agreed.

"When in fact he's just Other Blooded." She looked at him. "Mother's journals talked of his mother, who was clearly Other Blooded."

The knight considered it then nodded. "Yes, he is. That makes much sense." The King's brother showed up. "Not yours."

"You're..."

"The Crown's Guardian Knight," Legara said. She put the chalice on a table. "There you go, Sir Greens. So you can inhabit that until the crown is reformed."

He nodded, bonding to it with a sigh. "That's easier." He looked at the king then at the prince. "You have a nephew."

"I do? I thought they were considered soulless."

"They both show Other Blood," Legara said quietly. The prince stared at her. She nodded. "They do. It shows in the younger one's face."

"I had not thought of that. Their mother was half Other. Who are you?"

"Legara. Duchess Legara."

"Oh." He nodded with a wince. "Does your father live?"

"As of when I left he was succumbing to the poison the whore's handmaiden gave him." She waved a hand at the body. "I am not bothered by the other three stepmothers, though one I don't particularly like or appreciate and that feeling is mutual, but that one that would've been the fourth was fairly a whore of doom."

The prince snorted. "We've called his future wife one as well." He looked at the body, grimacing. "That's disgusting. Must she lay there?"

"No," the crown's guardian said. "Someone remove this body." Knights came in to do that for him. "Thank you, boys."

Legara looked at one. "We'll probably want Squire Legmas and his *friends*," she said quietly. The knight looked amused. "Both of them, including the new one." She looked at the king again. "It's fairly obvious."

The crown laughed. "It is." The man who came in nodded. "Sir Brandles."

Legara looked. "I gave your father the note our almost future queen wrote out, which was insulting. I told him first though. He's amused. Not highly amused but amused enough that he didn't yell. Said your younger brother would be pouty."

The young knight shook his head. "My mother will do that for him."

"That's a mother's job," she agreed. She looked at the squires walking in. "We need the other one, Legmas."

"He's on his way, Legara." He looked at her. "Why are you wearing the cloak of a priestess?"

"It was my mother's. I inherited it." He shuddered. She smiled. "Sometimes," she agreed quietly. "We need him sooner."

"He's on his way." He looked at the king. "He looks sick."

"He is," she agreed. The squire in question walked in and bowed to them, including the crown's guardian. "Sire, I believe you've met your nephew," she said to the prince.

"I have." He stared at him. "How did we miss you, boy?"

"My mother was from over the border, Prince."

"You knew?" the king demanded.

"Of course, Father. I've always known. Everyone remarked on it." He shrugged. "It's why I came here to be a squire."

The prince shook his head, looking at his brother. "That will do and keep me from being so bothered." He looked at the crown's guardian, who nodded. "Your idea, Legara?"

"No. I'm just very Bound. My mother had been a priestess until the crown caught her lusting after my father." She shrugged. She walked up to the king. "This necklace, Sir Greens?"

"No. The one that's not for the kingdom." She lifted off a crystal pendant. The king went to dust. "Oh! That's for the Kingdom but should not have...." He looked at the body being carried out. "That's what I felt."

She handed the crystal to the Prince. "I certainly did. It gave me nightmares."

The crown guardian nodded. "It would, dear." He looked at her. "I will not make you a priestess."

She curtseyed. "Thank thee." She smiled. "I must now produce an heir."

"Please marry outkingdom," the crown's guardian ordered. "But make them worthy of your mother."

"If I can. I was thinking on a few counts in the next kingdom? I've met and talked to them before during messenger missions." She thought at him about what she had seen of them.

The ancient knight shook his head. "No. Please not them. Though one's pretty and smart, he's rather mentally corrupt. He likes his power." She nodded at that. "Look towards Sarva, dear. I've always wanted one with their training among mine. It will teach me new things." He smiled.

"They are pretty and mostly well learned," she agreed. "I'll arrange to go tell them of the newest crowning, Sir Greens."

"Thank you. You are a good messenger." He looked at her. "You could take down the hood."

"My hair's a knotted mess as I rode with it down. I'd hate to look so messy in here."

He nodded. "That's reasonable." He looked at the prince then the new King, who bowed to him. "I find you very worthy. That's why I sent for you, boy." He looked at the prince, who smiled and nodded. "Good. We must remove the rest of her taint from the kingdom. Today if possible. I fought off their ancient guardian and she destroyed their crown. Ours was being reformed so I'll take this chalice for now. It's more than suitable for me to inhabit."

"We can put it next to the throne so you can advise me," the new King Leonar said. He looked at the others. "How many dukes are there? I've met four."

"Nineteen," Legara said. "Spread almost equally about an hour's ride from the palace or each other. So we're not underfoot but we can defend our areas and if we have to hurry in to advise you, we can get here quickly. The only hole is the main road to the border. One lives on either side of it beyond the woods."

"That's good to know." He sighed, looking at his friends. "I think this will change our schedule for training." He grimaced. "I must tell the one I've been talking to," he said quietly.

"Paki will not mind," he reminded him.

Legara smiled at him. "Paki is under a curse from her mother to never become attached to anyone beneath her station. Her mother had horrible nightmares of her only daughter liking someone common. She made sure it would not happen. You now fit outside that."

He smiled. "I do adore her snotty, hotheaded ways."

"She'll take years to calm down but she's not going to take over on you," Legara assured him. "She's true to whoever and she's not going to try to overthrow you."

"That's good to know. Thank you, Duchess Legara." She smiled. "Your father?"

"Poisoned by the whore of doom that consort tried to make my father marry. He's succumbing to it in the courtyard as of when I left. Our heir stone has already accepted me instead of my half-brothers, who are not Bound."

"Neither one seems to have the strength to hold the bond," the knight said. "They're good boys, very good boys, but they can't handle the bonding." She nodded at that. "You'll protect them?"

"Of course. I still like their mother too." She shifted her weight when someone walked behind her. She stabbed them in the thigh as he stopped behind her, making him yelp and appear. She looked back. "Duke." She nodded.

"Legara." He rubbed the mark on his thigh. "You're mean today."

"After getting back from messenger duty to Lord Fairmy I had to remind my poisoned father that I'm not only his daughter but my mother's. My maid decided to stab all my clothes and try to burn my mother's things. It's been a long week, Duke Reggis."

He patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure it has been." He smirked. "We should talk of your future marriage."

"The Crown's Guardian wants me to find someone from Sarva."

He frowned. "They're definitely pretty." He looked at the ancient knight, who smiled and nodded. "What has went on?"

"The want-to-be consort attacked her," the Knight said. "She fought back and killed it. She helped me win against the crown from their people and their guardian. Then we came in to see the problems in here. I had her remove the stone poisoning him and it turned him to dust. Thankfully we had the new King on hand thanks to my planning." He waved a hand at him.

The duke looked then nodded. "He looks like his father." He nodded once. "Did I hear my niece's name mentioned?"

"I've been trying to court Paki," he said quietly.

"Well, you'll no longer get her killed for your title. I'd support that. Others may not like it."

"I know of her snotty ways," he assured him. "I've had them turned on me a few times, Duke Reggis."

"She'll grow out of it," Legara said. "We all did." The duke laughed but nodded. She looked at the Duke. "I'm legal by the heir stone. I have to do the full ritual tonight."

"That's fine, dear. It's reasonable in that case." He looked at the dust then at the new king. "We'll arrange for your coronation this week." He bowed to the knight. "May we help?"

"I'm still taking your youngest daughter as a priestess."

"Her mother will hate that."

"I'm aware. Like Legara's mother, if she finds someone suitable and asks me, I'll let her out of the vows."

The duke bowed again. "Thank you, Sir Greens." He looked at Legara, then shook his head. "Are you taking her?"

"No. She's strong but doesn't understand much that I'd need a priestess to."

"If my father had gotten me a proper tutor instead of having me learn from my mother's books that may be," she said.

"True." The ancient knight nodded at her. "We'll handle it, Legara. Go home, do the heirs ritual." She bowed to them and left. The men in the room all sighed. "She is very strong. She followed my orders so that was good of her. We need more heirs like her."

The others nodded. "We can work on that goal. I'll call the others together," Duke Reggis said. He looked at the new knight. "I'll send word to your father as well."

"She said she did," he admitted.

"I'll send a better one." He went to summon the others who'd need to meet the new king and make plans with him. They'd all hate this situation but it was a good thing for their people he supposed. The knight had settled in to rest in his chalice for now and talk to the new king he'd get to advise.

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Presently untitled original story by CE Dalton [Reviews - 0] Chapter or Story Table of Contents - Text Size + * Chapter 1 * Legara rode into her family's home and dismounted, handing the reins to a stable boy. "She's borrowed, treat her well." He nodded, walking her off. She walked into the house. "I'm back," she called quietly. Her maid rushed out. "Your father bade you stay there, Lady Legara!" "I think not! I don't feel like that's a good idea. Especially since I have to gather things to do such." She went to her room to wipe down with a damp cloth and change clothes. "Pack all my things," she told the maid when she walked in. The girl pouted at her. "Even if I don't leave, half of it doesn't fit anyway." She put something in her hair carefully then pinned it. She pinned the front of her hair back behind her ears then pulled the hood up to be secured on top of her head but sitting back. The maid was horrified. She stared at her. "I am my mother's daughter as well." She walked off after grabbing her ceremonial dagger, heading to find her father. He looked and gasped. "Father." "You should not be wearing that!" he shouted. "Yes, but I did inherit that from my mother as well." She stared at him. "Father, I must be blunt. You've been poisoned." "I have not! You're not my daughter! I'll have other ones! I have the sons!" "The sons aren't legitimate. Or old enough to hold the house. The new wife won't give you children. She's the one that's poisoned you." She stared at him. The woman in question sneered as she came in. She tried to cast but Legara was protected and it fell to the floor in a tinkling of broken air. "Really?" The woman shrieked and attacked her so Legara stabbed her in the throat. "I do not believe you are good for this family, whore." She kicked her over, watching as she died. "As my Mother and Grandmother both bade me to live with the honor of this family, I will protect it from even your kind." She looked at her father again, who was looking horrified. "Yes, your mother. She charged me with keeping the family safe when my own mother died." "You are not..." "I am, Father. I'm my mother's daughter as well as your daughter. The Crown itself set you two up so I would be born apparently. I've heard from it since the day I came into being. I can tell the wrongness that's spreading." She walked over to her father, taking his necklace that held his seal off his throat to put on. "It's my turn now to protect the family." "I..." He sniffled. "You are wrong, daughter." "No I'm not." "You are. The Crown has nothing..." He gasped and held his chest. "You know he can hear you. He can hear the thoughts of feelings of every being Bound to the Kingdom. As you were; as I am. As my mother was as she was actually a given priestess to it." She smiled and patted his cheek. "She poisoned you, Father. I wish you health." She walked off, going to the basement's heir stone. She stepped onto it. "I am Legara, third Duchess of our Keep," she announced. It glowed. She put the seal on the stone and it opened to her. She bowed at the spirit floating out of the stone. "Grandfather." "Legara." He stared at her. "Your father lives." "He's poisoned. Mind poisoned by the whore he nearly gave me as a fourth stepmother." She grimaced. "He is not fit. Has not been since my mother died. His mother said so." "I heard. She's right." He stared at her. "It's going to get messy and dangerous. He's spent the family poor." "Grandmother wouldn't let him have most of the family's funds. He had to live on his birth dowry." "I think it's good you actually read that and talked to her." "Of course I did. I'm excellent at finding information out." She smiled. "Before you mention the half-brothers, they're not legitimate. They're not bonded to the family's stones." "I know." "I'll protect them and the other three stepmothers as well. Even though I don't get along with one of them." "Good. He has your things and your mother's things ruined." "I doubt that." She smiled and bowed. "Am I fit?" "Yes, you are fit as our third Duchess in family history." He bowed back. "Go help the Crown, Daughter of the Line. He battles." "Yes, Sire." She went up to save her things and her mother's books from the fire. The fire went out at her magic calling. She looked at the ones trying to burn things. "Perhaps if he had me taught properly instead of letting me read my mother's books to learn from them, I might be nicer and more delicate." She grabbed the books from the fire, they hadn't been burned. Only two dresses were. She went to add the books to her bags, finding the maid huffing while not doing anything but stabbing a few dresses. She knocked her out magically and packed everything herself. "I do not like you either, dear. I'm sorry my third stepmother made you my maid." She walked off with the bags. She came back to get the others. "There we go. Father, I'll be back." "You are evil!" he shouted. "I'm my Mother's daughter," she shot back, staring at him. "You made sure I looked up to her by not giving me anyone else to learn from." He flinched back, shaking his head. "You're literally poisoned, Father. Get a healer in?" "I will not. I will die for this family. Will you?" "Yes. I probably will. Perhaps it'll be today. Your sons still aren't bound to the family." Her father gasped and fell down. "Hmm." She sighed. "I hate that I was taught to do that instead of swearing." She got the guards to take him outside. The fresh air would help him. She stood beside where he was laid. "I will be the first born my mother and grandmother wanted me to be." She stared at him. "She knew I'd need to correct things." She patted him on the arm. "I wish you well, Father." He stared to cough. "Quit faking it." She walked off. "I'll be back. Send me word if he does die of his embarrassment or her poisons." She mounted her horse and took the bags to strap back on. "Thank you." She checked the hood before riding off again. Her father would die there, surrounded by the people who were bound to him. It was a shame but they were all poisoned by that wannabe stepmother. She set up the protections on the house so nothing else could be destroyed. *** Legara rode up to the palace, nodding at the guards she knew. "Watch the mare. She's loaned by Lord Fairmy. I was delivering notes to him earlier this week but my mare threw a shoe. And leave the bags please." She dismounted and walked into the palace, nodding at the squires. She walked into the throne room, nodding at the king, who stared at her in horrified awe. She shifted her cloak to show off the seal and badge. "I believe it's mine now, Sire. He is poisoned by your future consort's handmaiden of evil. He's presently dying. Along with all the ones that whore poisoned." "You should not talk of your stepmother that way, Legara." "She's dead, Sire. I doubt she cares." He gasped. "She and my father both forgot I have two parents. I'm like both of them." She looked at the consort who came in sneering. "That does not match," she noted. "That dress clashes greatly. Shouldn't queens be more tasteful?" The woman launched an attack at her and it again fell. Though the necklace and seal in her hair glowed. The consort gasped. "Yes, I was born Bound. Both of my parents were Bound. My mother was a priestess before the Crown set them up. It is my job to protect the Crown." The woman launched another attack so Legara struck back, including throwing her dagger at the woman, which sunk into her stomach. She screamed, making the thing she was trying to summon scream as well. Legara defeated it and spit. "Your people are foul." She went to where she could hear the crown screaming in rage. It was being merged with another crown. She pried out the main stone holding the spirit that bound it to the kingdom. "Sir Greens." "Legara," he panted. "Thank thee for the saving." The ancient knight bowed his head to her. She curtseyed back. "We must fight this treasonous thing." She took the blacksmith's hammer from him and hit the other crown until she shattered the main stone. That spirit came out and he defeated it. It was difficult, he was injured, but he handled it. He slumped but she walked into his aura so he could gather some of her strength. "Thank you, Child." "It is my duty, Sir Greens. Shall we go talk to the King?" The horrified blacksmith moaned. "He must have felt it." He floated with her. She grabbed something off a table to hold up to him, getting a nod. She carried that chalice with them. "Sire," she said as she walked back in. He was slumped on his throne. "Sir Greens of the Crown." She got out of his way. The spirit looked at the king. "You have been poisoned by her people, George." He bowed his head. "How do I cure it? I have no sons." "Bull," Legara said dryly. "You have two sons, Sire. One's barely legitimate and not Bound, so the Crown feels him as soulless." "That's true," the ancient knight agreed. "When in fact he's just Other Blooded." She looked at him. "Mother's journals talked of his mother, who was clearly Other Blooded." The knight considered it then nodded. "Yes, he is. That makes much sense." The King's brother showed up. "Not yours." "You're..." "The Crown's Guardian Knight," Legara said. She put the chalice on a table. "There you go, Sir Greens. So you can inhabit that until the crown is reformed." He nodded, bonding to it with a sigh. "That's easier." He looked at the king then at the prince. "You have a nephew." "I do? I thought they were considered soulless." "They both show Other Blood," Legara said quietly. The prince stared at her. She nodded. "They do. It shows in the younger one's face." "I had not thought of that. Their mother was half Other. Who are you?" "Legara. Duchess Legara." "Oh." He nodded with a wince. "Does your father live?" "As of when I left he was succumbing to the poison the whore's handmaiden gave him." She waved a hand at the body. "I am not bothered by the other three stepmothers, though one I don't particularly like or appreciate and that feeling is mutual, but that one that would've been the fourth was fairly a whore of doom." The prince snorted. "We've called his future wife one as well." He looked at the body, grimacing. "That's disgusting. Must she lay there?" "No," the crown's guardian said. "Someone remove this body." Knights came in to do that for him. "Thank you, boys." Legara looked at one. "We'll probably want Squire Legmas and his friends," she said quietly. The knight looked amused. "Both of them, including the new one." She looked at the king again. "It's fairly obvious." The crown laughed. "It is." The man who came in nodded. "Sir Brandles." Legara looked. "I gave your father the note our almost future queen wrote out, which was insulting. I told him first though. He's amused. Not highly amused but amused enough that he didn't yell. Said your younger brother would be pouty." The young knight shook his head. "My mother will do that for him." "That's a mother's job," she agreed. She looked at the squires walking in. "We need the other one, Legmas." "He's on his way, Legara." He looked at her. "Why are you wearing the cloak of a priestess?" "It was my mother's. I inherited it." He shuddered. She smiled. "Sometimes," she agreed quietly. "We need him sooner." "He's on his way." He looked at the king. "He looks sick." "He is," she agreed. The squire in question walked in and bowed to them, including the crown's guardian. "Sire, I believe you've met your nephew," she said to the prince. "I have." He stared at him. "How did we miss you, boy?" "My mother was from over the border, Prince." "You knew?" the king demanded. "Of course, Father. I've always known. Everyone remarked on it." He shrugged. "It's why I came here to be a squire." The prince shook his head, looking at his brother. "That will do and keep me from being so bothered." He looked at the crown's guardian, who nodded. "Your idea, Legara?" "No. I'm just very Bound. My mother had been a priestess until the crown caught her lusting after my father." She shrugged. She walked up to the king. "This necklace, Sir Greens?" "No. The one that's not for the kingdom." She lifted off a crystal pendant. The king went to dust. "Oh! That's for the Kingdom but should not have...." He looked at the body being carried out. "That's what I felt." She handed the crystal to the Prince. "I certainly did. It gave me nightmares." The crown guardian nodded. "It would, dear." He looked at her. "I will not make you a priestess." She curtseyed. "Thank thee." She smiled. "I must now produce an heir." "Please marry outkingdom," the crown's guardian ordered. "But make them worthy of your mother." "If I can. I was thinking on a few counts in the next kingdom? I've met and talked to them before during messenger missions." She thought at him about what she had seen of them. The ancient knight shook his head. "No. Please not them. Though one's pretty and smart, he's rather mentally corrupt. He likes his power." She nodded at that. "Look towards Sarva, dear. I've always wanted one with their training among mine. It will teach me new things." He smiled. "They are pretty and mostly well learned," she agreed. "I'll arrange to go tell them of the newest crowning, Sir Greens." "Thank you. You are a good messenger." He looked at her. "You could take down the hood." "My hair's a knotted mess as I rode with it down. I'd hate to look so messy in here." He nodded. "That's reasonable." He looked at the prince then the new King, who bowed to him. "I find you very worthy. That's why I sent for you, boy." He looked at the prince, who smiled and nodded. "Good. We must remove the rest of her taint from the kingdom. Today if possible. I fought off their ancient guardian and she destroyed their crown. Ours was being reformed so I'll take this chalice for now. It's more than suitable for me to inhabit." "We can put it next to the throne so you can advise me," the new King Leonar said. He looked at the others. "How many dukes are there? I've met four." "Nineteen," Legara said. "Spread almost equally about an hour's ride from the palace or each other. So we're not underfoot but we can defend our areas and if we have to hurry in to advise you, we can get here quickly. The only hole is the main road to the border. One lives on either side of it beyond the woods." "That's good to know." He sighed, looking at his friends. "I think this will change our schedule for training." He grimaced. "I must tell the one I've been talking to," he said quietly. "Paki will not mind," he reminded him. Legara smiled at him. "Paki is under a curse from her mother to never become attached to anyone beneath her station. Her mother had horrible nightmares of her only daughter liking someone common. She made sure it would not happen. You now fit outside that." He smiled. "I do adore her snotty, hotheaded ways." "She'll take years to calm down but she's not going to take over on you," Legara assured him. "She's true to whoever and she's not going to try to overthrow you." "That's good to know. Thank you, Duchess Legara." She smiled. "Your father?" "Poisoned by the whore of doom that consort tried to make my father marry. He's succumbing to it in the courtyard as of when I left. Our heir stone has already accepted me instead of my half-brothers, who are not Bound." "Neither one seems to have the strength to hold the bond," the knight said. "They're good boys, very good boys, but they can't handle the bonding." She nodded at that. "You'll protect them?" "Of course. I still like their mother too." She shifted her weight when someone walked behind her. She stabbed them in the thigh as he stopped behind her, making him yelp and appear. She looked back. "Duke." She nodded. "Legara." He rubbed the mark on his thigh. "You're mean today." "After getting back from messenger duty to Lord Fairmy I had to remind my poisoned father that I'm not only his daughter but my mother's. My maid decided to stab all my clothes and try to burn my mother's things. It's been a long week, Duke Reggis." He patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure it has been." He smirked. "We should talk of your future marriage." "The Crown's Guardian wants me to find someone from Sarva." He frowned. "They're definitely pretty." He looked at the ancient knight, who smiled and nodded. "What has went on?" "The want-to-be consort attacked her," the Knight said. "She fought back and killed it. She helped me win against the crown from their people and their guardian. Then we came in to see the problems in here. I had her remove the stone poisoning him and it turned him to dust. Thankfully we had the new King on hand thanks to my planning." He waved a hand at him. The duke looked then nodded. "He looks like his father." He nodded once. "Did I hear my niece's name mentioned?" "I've been trying to court Paki," he said quietly. "Well, you'll no longer get her killed for your title. I'd support that. Others may not like it." "I know of her snotty ways," he assured him. "I've had them turned on me a few times, Duke Reggis." "She'll grow out of it," Legara said. "We all did." The duke laughed but nodded. She looked at the Duke. "I'm legal by the heir stone. I have to do the full ritual tonight." "That's fine, dear. It's reasonable in that case." He looked at the dust then at the new king. "We'll arrange for your coronation this week." He bowed to the knight. "May we help?" "I'm still taking your youngest daughter as a priestess." "Her mother will hate that." "I'm aware. Like Legara's mother, if she finds someone suitable and asks me, I'll let her out of the vows." The duke bowed again. "Thank you, Sir Greens." He looked at Legara, then shook his head. "Are you taking her?" "No. She's strong but doesn't understand much that I'd need a priestess to." "If my father had gotten me a proper tutor instead of having me learn from my mother's books that may be," she said. "True." The ancient knight nodded at her. "We'll handle it, Legara. Go home, do the heirs ritual." She bowed to them and left. The men in the room all sighed. "She is very strong. She followed my orders so that was good of her. We need more heirs like her." The others nodded. "We can work on that goal. I'll call the others together," Duke Reggis said. He looked at the new knight. "I'll send word to your father as well." "She said she did," he admitted. "I'll send a better one." He went to summon the others who'd need to meet the new king and make plans with him. They'd all hate this situation but it was a good thing for their people he supposed. The knight had settled in to rest in his chalice for now and talk to the new king he'd get to advise. Previous Next You must login (register) to review.

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