DF230 - What's Love Got To Do With It? (Patreon)

Anton thought it was a trap at first, but Kelsey kept herself entirely out of it. She kept close enough to listen—even if she hadn’t, she’d have been able to keep tabs on him through Suliel—but she kept her mouth shut.

More than anything, that convinced him they were serious.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” he said. “I can maybe see Suliel putting rational considerations over her emotions, but Aris? Kelsey bullied you into this arrangement, and now you want to extend it?”

“I can be emotional too,” Suliel grumbled.

Anton pulled her in for an embrace and stroked her hair while Aris struggled to find a response. “I know you can,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong about thinking of the future of our family, and I love you for it.”

He looked at Aris, but his words were for both of them. “It can’t be easy, imagining me with another woman. I don’t know if it makes it easier or harder that you know her, and that she’s a queen. But I can’t imagine doing that if it would hurt either of you.”

“It’s…” Aris was still struggling with her words. “It’s not about the advantages, it’s about survival. Suliel said that without a queen, this could all fall apart. We’d be defenceless.”

“If it comes to that, I can protect you,” Anton said. “Both of you, and your family, Aris. We can take the Whiskerwind or hide in Kelsey’s depths… there’s no need to sacrifice your feelings to save your lives.”

“It’s not enough to just survive,” Aris said grimly. “I want to win. And Elara…”

“She needs us,” Suliel stated. “We need her to be queen, but she needs us for her to stay in power. Listen! She’s fighting right now, for herself and for everyone here!”

Anton listened. He couldn’t hear much of the argument below, but he could hear Elara’s voice. She was shouting over the other voices. He couldn’t hear her words, but she sounded… desperate.

“Well, it’s not like I hate the idea,” Anton admitted. “You’re sure? About everything you said?” he asked them both.

“Yes,” Suliel said firmly. Aris nodded with just as much certainty.

Anton glanced over to Kelsey. “I don’t have to ask you,” he said. “I know this was all your idea.”

“Guilty!” Kelsey confessed. “But the arguments are all home-grown. Now get down there and save the Kingdom!”

Anton grunted and went down the stairs. He took a deep breath to brace himself before he entered the room. There was a lot of Charisma in there.

Some of the nobles glanced at him as he entered the room, but they were too busy with their argument to pay much heed. That stopped when he strode into the middle of the room and spoke.

“I need you all to leave the room. I need to speak with the Queen in private.”

Duke Ariman was already red in the face from arguing. At Antons’s words, he went purple. Anton found himself impressed by how, even in mid-argument, the assembled nobles could all agree that the Duke had the greatest right to rebuke Anton for his insolence.

“Just who do you think you are, Baron Nos?”

The words were one thing. The pressure that came with them was another. At 23, Anton’s Charisma was good for a commoner, but only low to middling for a noble. Suliel was at a much lower level, and she had reached Charisma 35.

That might not be the best example. Suliel had an Epic Class, just like Anton.  None of the nobles surrounding him had better than a Rare. They might have prioritised Charisma, but as Anton shifted his stance, they started to realise that the other Abilities had their roles too.

For one, when it came to just resisting a Charisma onslaught, it was Willpower that came to the fore. Anton was a little better off there, with 28 Willpower. It didn’t matter, though, because Anton was Unwavering.

“This is my bedroom,” Anton said calmly. “In my castle. You are arguing over the corpse of our Queen, which is inappropriate at best.”

He glanced over at Voice Sehra, who had been hanging back against the wall.

“The priests need to prepare the body. You will give them that space. Take this discussion down to the Great Hall. Queen Elara and I will join you shortly.”

To Anton’s amazement, about half the room was instantly cowed and started filing through the door. Duke Ariman was made of sterner stuff, though. His mouth worked as he held back whatever order or insult he had in mind. He knew better than to give an order that would not be obeyed.

Anton watched as the Duke slowly came to terms with the fact that there was nothing he could do to make Anton yield. Just trying would make him look disrespectful towards his Queen. When he turned on his heel and left, he wasn’t cowed, he was redeploying to take the matter up on a different feild.

Once all the nobles were gone, Anton was able to relax. He nodded at the Voice, indicating that the priest should take charge of the body. Sehra bowed low in response.

“Come this way, please, Elara,” Anton said and led her out into the hall.

“Um, you called me queen in there,” Elara said. “That’s, ah, not quite correct. I haven’t completed the Crown Princess Class, so I don’t yet qualify for the Queen class. Nor have I been crowned so…”

Anton led Elara into Suliel’s old room. It was cramped with the new bed, but there was a single chair. Anton had her sit on it, and sat on the bed.

“I was taking a page out of Kelsey’s book,” he said. “Talk like you’ve already accomplished what you set out to do, and some people will start to believe it. You had your third Tier before you took Crown Princess, didn’t you?”

“Elara nodded. “Only four levels in.”

“Then, you should qualify for the Class once you’re crowned, or once you’ve completed Crown Princess,” Anton told her. “Under the current circumstances, levels should come quite quickly.”

Elara nodded soberly. “I’m level three already. I… received a level when Aunt Syrelle died.”

“That… must have hurt.”

“Succession is an important part of the Class,” Elara said with a brittle smile. “I shouldn’t be surprised to get experience from… that.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and massaged her forehead. “Anyway! Thank you for the rescue, even if it was temporary. What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“I—” Anton started, when he was struck by his crippling lack of etiquette. Was this the sort of thing he was supposed to kneel for? He thought that it might be, but he hadn’t kneeled for Suliel or Aris.

I’ve done this twice, and I still have no idea what I’m supposed to do, he thought ruefully.

He forced the doubts aside.

“Elara,” he said simply. “Would you allow me to marry you?”

Elara blinked and then gasped. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth as she let out a stifled giggle. Anton didn’t say anything as she slowly got herself back under control

“You said no, before,” she said, with just a hint of accusation.

“I dismissed the idea out of hand,” Anton agreed. “Not because of anything about you, but because even thinking about it would have hurt my wives.”

“What has changed, then?”

“They have,” Anton stated. “They came to me with the proposal.”

Elara laughed softly. “Unbelievable. You know, about half the nobles in there were working towards the same sort of offer. For them, or their sons.”

“Working towards?”

“They wouldn’t come out and say it, as you did. They were trying to maneuver me into asking them.”

“Oh, is that how you’re supposed to do it?”

Elara laughed again. “I should ask you. You have at least two successful proposals out of three, while I am zero for one.”

“I really don’t know what I’m doing, though,” Anton confessed. “The way Suliel explained it, you can support me politically, while I support you physically.”

“Yes, the advantages are obvious, as are the objections,” Elara mused.

“Objections?”

“Anton, you are married twice already! To get married twice can be considered merely greedy, but three times?”

“Does that mean you can’t do it?” Anton asked. “Or… does it mean you don’t want to do it?”

“I don’t think it means either of those things,” Elara said. “It’s just… after Amastan, I never thought I’d get married again. At the very least, I hoped that any future marriage would be free of political considerations.”

“I can’t replace your husband,” Anton admitted. “I feel fondly for you, Elara, but I don’t know you well enough yet to consider that love.”

“That hurts a bit,” Elara told him. “But in the end, political considerations have a way of ending up on top.”

“They don’t have to.” Anton looked at her with concern. “If you want to choose another, or sit on the throne alone, I’ll still give you whatever support I can.”

“Please allow me to clutch gracefully at the lifeline you have thrown me—Anton.” Elara smiled sadly. “I suppose I will have every right to call you that from now on. Shall we go downstairs and tell the others?”

“If you’re sure,” Anton said. He let her open the door and precede him, which meant that she was the one to almost run into Suliel and Aris, standing quietly at the door.

Suliel lunged forward and grabbed Elara in a hug. “Congratulations,” she murmered into the princesses ear.

“This… this is just a political alliance,” Elara protested.

“It isn’t,” Suliel insisted. “You’re part of the family now.”

She spun Elara around, almost flinging her into Aris’s arms.

“Awp!” Elara squeaked. She looked quite undignified, trapped between Aris’s breasts. “You’re… quite big. And strong.”

Aris snorted. She was about the same height as Elara. “Get used to it. Anton is stronger than both of us.”

She didn’t squeeze Elara in a hug, she just stroked Elara’s hair as Elara struggled to regain her feet.

“What Suliel said,” Aris stated. “You’re going to go downstairs, and face all of them. And we’re going to be behind you.”

Elara stared into Aris’s eyes, looking for… Affection? Conviction? Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to find it.

“I understand,” Elara said. She looked back at Anton. “Please accompany me downstairs.”

Elara and Anton walked down the stairs together, Suliel and Aris behind them. Kelsey was waiting at the bottom, smiling enigmatically.

“They’re waiting for you,” she said. “Well, not waiting, they already started arguing, but…”

“Thank you… Kelsey,” Elara said. “I’m sure we shall get to know one another well in the future.”

“Probably,” Kelsey agreed. “Why don’t I get the door for ya?”

The arguments stopped as they made their way to the head of the table. There were more people here now, nobles that hadn’t been quartered in the castle had been sent for. Almost all of them had some mix of fear and avarice in their expressions.

Elara didn’t waste any time.

“I have decided to accept the suit of marriage from Lord Nos,” she said. There was a moment of silence before everyone started talking at once.

“Silence,” Duke Ariman growled. “My Lady, have you taken leave of your senses?”

“Why would you ask that?” Elara asked innocently.

“Because! For one, Nos is of lowly rank. For another, he’s already married. Twice!”

“Multiple partners has long been the privilege of the nobility, and is still. Should not your future King have the same rights?”

“For him to be King… My Lady, he is a hero! The legends and tales of Heroic Kings all speak of the tumultuous times they lived in. The people will panic!”

“We are already living in tumultous times Duke Ariman. It seems to me that Hero-Kings are born from the troubled times they live in. They don’t cause them.

She looked over the crowd. “Zamara trembles on the knife-edge of destruction,” she stated. “We need a strong ruler to see us through it. I may not be strong enough to save us, but I know who is.”

She pulled Anton forward. “You all know him as the man who held these walls near single-handed. Who delved the bottom of the Hungry Depths. Who sailed to the rescue of his captive townsfolk. Anton Nos is a hero, and he will be your king.”

“But! But!” Duke Ariman prostested. Elara talked over him.

“Tomorrow, we will bury my Aunt, Queen Syrelle. The enemy will no doubt be encouraged by our grief, but we will stand strong. The next day, I will be wedded to Lord Nos. We will call a truce for that day.”

Elara smiled grimly. “I am sure Prince Mazir Jiro will want to attend the wedding of his sister.”