A few minutes later I was squirming uncomfortably in the royal regalia. I had changed quickly because one did not wear traveling clothes to an audience with His Majesty. Allard had escorted me to the King’s anteroom and then departed. I waited. And waited. And waited. I eyed the angle of the sun nervously. We were getting close to the appointed hour for us to sail, and I did not want to miss the boat. Literally.
Master Aurelius opened the door to the King’s office, and my heart sank when I saw the knowing glint in his eyes as he looked me up and down.
“His Majesty will see you now,” he said unctuously.
Aurelius was one of my father’s personal counselors as well as his Spymaster. Aurelius and I had a hate-hate relationship. He had made it clear he didn’t think I was good enough to be the heir, and I knew he was a sadistic, bigoted prick who was close friends with Maalik. Closepersonalfriends, despite their age difference.
I entered the room and bowed to the King with military precision, then stood at attention. Father required perfection in everything.
He sat behind his desk, a dark wooden monstrosity that I despised. Many a time he had forced me to lay across it as he whipped me for some minor infraction. Prince or no, my body held the scars of my father’s “education”.
He ignored me for several minutes, continuing to read the papers in front of him. I had long ago learned the art of reading upside down, so I could tell that what he was reading was nothing of note. A few comments on trade taxes, a letter from a commandant seeking a commission for their son, a detailed history of the price of oil. So he was just doing it to make me nervous. I set myself to wait patiently.
Finally he set the papers down and looked up at me. His eyes were ice blue, and like always, seemed to bore into me, seeking any flaw. His hair was long and black, shot through liberally with silver. From what my mother had told me his hair had always looked that way, so it wasn’t a sign of age, just a part of who he was. Only a few small lines creased the corners of his eyes.
“Prince Lucien,” he said, acknowledging me finally.
“Your Majesty,” I responded formally.
“Your mother, the Queen, is boarding her ship for her trip to Greece,” he said.
“Yes, your Majesty. I am looking forward to seeing her homeland,” I responded anxiously.
“I’ve decided you will not be accompanying her,” he said sharply.
I felt my stomach drop. Did he know why she was making this trip?
“It seems—unwise—to have both the Queenanda potential heir out of the country at the same time,” Aurelius interjected smoothly.
“But Maalik will be-” I began, desperate not to lose the escape.
“This is my decision, Lucien,” the King snapped. “Do you question it?”
I flinched and then froze at the whip snap of his voice. I’d suffered his punishments enough to know that I dared not push him.
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” I said woodenly, my heart sinking.
He turned back to his correspondence, but since he had not dismissed me, I was unable to leave. I was forced to remain standing at attention in his office for hours, watching the time tick away on the clock against the wall. He would have sent someone to Mother to tell her I wasn’t going with her and every second was misery. I could only hope that she would have a swift journey.
It was late afternoon before he finally let me leave, and my legs were shaking. I didn’t even remember being dismissed really, only found myself somehow in the Great Library, the place that I always went when I needed comfort.
The Library of Alexandria was one of the seven wonders of the known world, even in this day and age. Surrounded by the wisdom of the ages, I struggled to resign myself to my lot. Mother would already be on her way to Greece. I didn’t begrudge her the few weeks of freedom she would have, I just wished I could have been with her.
Glancing at the light coming through the windows I guessed the ship would have already set sail. The bastard hadn’t even let me say goodbye. I just needed to figure out how to get through the months until she returned. The medication would wear off some time after the next moon and I didn’t know if she would be able to be back in time. The seas at this time of year were often perilous. While we had air travel available because of the Mageians who were enslaved, it was a very limited resource, and one the King would not spend on something as simple as a trip to Greece.
I found myself wandering down one of the aisles, fingers trailing over the spines of books that were hundreds of years old. We had begun archiving each book to protect it from loss, but it would be the work of several lifetimes to digitize all of this. It was a pity the library wasn’t open to the people, but the King strictly controlled who had access to information.
I stopped at one ancient book of poetry I recognized and opened it.
Solitude
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
