When he returned to his place in the crowd with us, Stephen, of course, had to know what was in the box. After a little teasing, pretending its occupant might bite him if the lid were opened, Johan showed us his prize.
He had been presented with the Order of Saint George, the highest award for bravery in Hesse-Davia, as Gregory informed us in an undertone—only three recipients had won this medal since its institution four hundred years previous. Johan brushed off our congratulations and commented wryly that he ought to sell it—that it might pay for the new uniform he would have to purchase. Aleksey had promoted him to general and made him head of the army.
I grinned as I saw the pride hidden behind the gruff pretense on the scarred face. Hesse-Davia’s army was in very good hands.
Next, to our very great astonishment, the king called for Gregory. He had assumed that he, like I, was there to see Johan’s honoring, but not so. He was appointed as minister for works, something that sounded so vague I reckoned Gregory could pretty much decide for himself what he had command over, and suddenly understood that this was exactly as Aleksey intended. Gregory could take the care he gave his perfect village and extend this over the whole of Hesse-Davia. I hoped Pia didn’t have any immediate plans for him. I had the feeling he was going to be busy.
We were congratulating Johan and Gregory when Stephen’s name was called. I whispered to him that he was going to be made the royal page and that he’d better straighten his jacket. He did, no joking around now. I think he wished he were only nine still and not quite so grown up. He went to the dais and on slightly unsteady legs knelt before King Christian. Aleksey stood and waved to the bugler that he wanted complete silence in the room.
When the only sound left was the scrape of shoes on the stone flags as the courtiers shifted to get better views, Aleksey announced, “I, Christian, King of Hesse-Davia and Saxefalia, do pronounce you, Stephen, to be a right and proper son of Peter of the Mountberg line. I bestow upon you all rights according to your bloodline, all properties and inheritances, according to the law.”
Everyone, me included, had been holding breath to hear Aleksey’s words, and there was a universal exhale and then light laughter. Suddenly there was a ripple of applause, and Gregory murmured in my ear, “’Bout time too. Bastard, my arse.”
I nodded and began to make a low reply when Aleksey once more began to speak.
“In accordance, therefore, with the laws of God and man, I now pronounce you to be the legitimate and rightful heir to the throne of Hesse-Davia and Saxefalia and bestow upon you all rights appertaining to you,PrinceStephen Eric Peter Mountberg.”
This caused a great deal more of a stir. I heard some uneasy whispering, but mostly there was solid approval for this startling move. Aleksey had not breathed one word of this to me, and I could see from Gregory and Johan’s faces that they had been as kept in the dark as I.
I felt uneasy for some reason. I was delighted for Stephen and thought it was an excellent move in theory. Aleksey had apparently taken to heart the lesson from the suspected poisoning of the old king—choose an heir who preferred you alive to dead. But this ascension of Stephen’s wasn’t a rise to fill an empty place—moving into an empty chair at dinner. Aleksey already had an heir—Harold.
Aleksey had just displaced his uncle from the line of succession.
Stephen was speaking. I heard him squeak, “I am willing,” and had to smile at the incongruity of his tone with the solemnity of his intent.
PrinceStephen returned to his place with us, and he said nothing more that I heard for the rest of the day. That was quite novel.
We were all in a very pleasant mood and waiting eagerly to be dismissed for luncheon, when the bugle sounded again, and the herald called my name. I had been slightly dreading this. I suspected Aleksey might make my role as surgeon to the army more official by actually appointing me surgeon general, or that he might appoint me to the court as the royal physician. I wasn’t too sure what I felt about either of these titles and had wondered whether to tell him to leave me as I was. However, he had called me, and I had to go. I strode out to the front and mounted the dais.
He looked completely magnificent, every inch a king, in beautiful clothes that I wished to rip off him very roughly. So I knelt once more to him. If he found this amusing, no one would have known from his expression. He looked very serious as he pulled out his sword.
I had never realized how significant this ritual was before—a man bowing his head meekly to another who stands over him so armed. My neck twitched a little as a cool draft blew over it. Perhaps it was the brush of ghosts of the many men I had relieved of their heads, their necks bared to my sword in the act this ritual was mimicking.
The blade was light upon one shoulder. I felt the air stir as it moved to the other.
“Arise,SirNikolai Hartmann.”
I took my knighthood with surprising equanimity until I saw the look of pure, unadulterated love in his eyes as I stood facing him. It took all my strength then to keep my grin inside. I did it for him, for myking.
He appeared to be waiting to be quite sure I was going to behave myself—the last time we had stood this close, about three hours earlier, he had been holding my cock, and I was most definitelynotbehaving, and I knew he was recalling this too.
All his talent for theatrics appeared to pay off, for I doubt there was another person in that audience who understood any of what then followed, except for the obvious they were meant to comprehend.
“I, Christian, appoint you, Nikolai, Chief Minister of Hesse-Davia and Saxefalia, with all accordant rights. Do you solemnly swear to govern the Peoples according to their laws and customs?”
Chief Minister? It didn’t seem the time to ask for clarification. “I do so swear.” Could they not hear the thump, thump of my heart?
“Will you give good counsel and support?”
It was what I’d dreamed of doing for Aleksey since first we met. “I will.”
“Do you promise to be faithful to me alone?”
I heard my reply steady and strong, although Aleksey had begun to blur slightly. “I will be faithful to you alone.”
At that, he quirked his lip and nodded. It appeared I was dismissed.
I walked backward to the steps and then turned smartly to regain my place with my friends. They gave me congratulations due a man who now outranked every member of the council. I outranked everyone in the kingdom other than the immediate royal family. I even outranked the court nobility.
