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WITH that, King Ricardo told us about Mother’s past, including his attempts to court her.
Mother—or rather, Mariabel was born as the oldest daughter of Marquis Darling in Urhalla. The country had fallen on hard times back then, and between the wavering resolve of the royal family and plots by other families to seize the crown by force, it was a dangerous and unpredictable time.
Chaos championed the realm, and the ambitious Marquis Darling raised the young Mariabel with little love. Then, it was discovered that she was a magical prodigy. It was a rare gift in those days, and as such, it went almost entirely unregulated by the royals. The marquis was no doubt pleased at the discovery, but she was beyond his control even at that age.
Young Mariabel used her gifts however she pleased, even sending her tutor on an emergency trip to the infirmary once. That made it clear who I took after with my persistent refusal to stay in my lessons as a boy. The marquis, faced with a trump card he couldn’t control, eventually had his daughter exposed to the royal family by a political rival who’d caught wind of her talents. Supposedly, the marquis was so upset by that turn of events that he hacked up a great gout of blood and collapsed.
Unable to handle the girl any longer, House Darling resolved to send her out of the country. Her lessons had been strict enough to allow her to flourish abroad, and time apart would assumedly allow both parties to cool their heads. Personally, I thought the decision was a tad cruel.
When Mariabel arrived in Nieve for her studies, she was allowed free rein and showed a degree of self-control for the first time in her life. House Darling was relieved—and yet Nieve posed its own challenges. Two powerful families were struggling for succession of the throne, and when Mariabel happened to save young Ricardo from a plot on his life, she found herself in the heart of a shadow war. Ricardo’s supporters begged her for more long-term assistance, and unable to turn them down, she agreed.
The issue then proved to be her status as an exchange student. The lack of political power meant nothing to her—it was the fact she would be forced to return to Urhalla in two years. “I couldn’t sleep at night if this issue stayed unresolved,” she reportedly said and took action in a way not even Ricardo’s supporters could predict. She broke into the enemy faction’s stronghold single-handedly, secured proof of their assassination attempt on the prince, and drove their leader to total failure. That was when she ran into Plum, the King Cait Sidhe, and despite it possessing enough power to obliterate the entire capital, she effortlessly vanquished the fiend.
While the Kingdom of Nieve’s political turmoil disappeared overnight, she decided it was best to return home before proof of her involvement in the affair arose. Little did she know that young Ricardo had already fallen in love with her.
Upon seeing the chaos in her home of Urhalla, Mariabel recalled how easily she ended the turmoil in Nieve and decided to do the same. With that, she resolved to beat the lax young king into shape and reform the country. That king was, of course, Gaius von Weissworth—my father.
“Of course, there were no remains of the Cait Sidhe to be found,” King Ricardo continued. “Nobody could’ve known who was responsible.”
That meant the King Cait Sidhe had followed Mariabel back to Urhalla and subsequently would be sealed in the palace’s basement.
“Right, that reminds me,” Ricardo said, “I heard you folks finally dealt with the dukedom that was aiming for the throne, right? I remember Mariabel being broken up that they were so quick to cut their losses and run, and they ended up escaping with their crimes.”
I assumed he was referring to Lars’ house back when he was human, House Drewleid.
“They weren’t very powerful or competent, but they somehow had more ambition than most.”
Yep, that’s House Drewleid, all right.
In other words, when they attempted to wed Lars to Elizabeth all those years ago, they had intended to use the union of the houses to accrue more power and oppose the royal family. Only when that failed did they attempt to go after the crown more directly. I’d always known that their proposed marriage was political in nature, but I never assumed it was that political.
I suppose Lars was the most successful of their family in the end, even if he’s hiding in a picnic basket at the moment.
“I won’t pretend to know about Urhalla’s internal affairs,” King Ricardo added. “When I heard rumors of a Goddess of Destruction or the Exploder, though, I knew it had to be Mariabel. I never asked her about it directly because I wasn’t keen to get destroyed or exploded myself.”
He was right on every account there. To Mother, I got the distinct impression that her grand, heroic phase was nothing more than embarrassing stories from her youth to her now.
“This is my first time hearing of any of this,” Elizabeth muttered, hand on her cheek.
She was exactly right. The only thing preventing me from enjoying the tale fully was the knowledge that it was literally about my parents.
“I’ve learned plenty of our country’s history over the years,” she continued, “and I recall hearing the kingdom used to be rife with corruption and injustices. The textbooks always said King Gaius was responsible, and Her Majesty was never so much as mentioned…”
King Ricardo chuckled. “Mariabel insisted that the books be written that way. She said it was so that in a few short decades, nobody would know the truth.”
And now Mother sounds like some kind of villainess… Great.
I’d always known Father was scared of her, but this was far beyond anything I could’ve imagined. Frankly, I wasn’t sure Elizabeth should be marrying into such a problematic household.
“Anyhow, I wouldn’t even be alive without Mariabel,” he concluded. “That’s why I’ve sworn allegiance to her—secretly, of course.”
He tapped his breast just over his heart to drive the point home. There was a faraway look in his vermillion eyes as he did so, as though mulling over ancient history that was still far too fresh in his mind. I had no idea the king was harboring such feelings. All I remembered of him was the little things like him throwing me into the air as a young kid or throwing me into a lake and making me cry when I was slightly older. I wished I’d never heard his story.
“I suppose that explains why you keep coming to Urhalla with no reason in particular,” I reasoned.
He nodded. “All it took was a little…persuasion to convince King Gaius to let me come alone to his country whenever I pleased. It’s all in secret, of course.”
I never would’ve guessed. It was incredibly dangerous for a king to be alone at all, let alone travel to another country. No wonder why Mother erected the barrier—it was, in a sense, to ensure the world I inherited wasn’t too thoroughly ruined by that secret contract. My discomfort must’ve been showing on my face as King Ricardo nodded at me with a smile.
“Don’t worry, the secret contract has some 100 indemnity clauses. Nieve isn’t allowed to whine if I die in your country; if I cause trouble, you can banish me without political ramifications—the works.”
In other words, Father was desperate to prevent any international incidents over this.
If King Ricardo was willing to accept such circumstances, however, it proved how strongly he felt for my mother.
“That’s why I forced—er, entrusted all my work to some ministers, so I’ll be sticking around here for a while,” he said.
“About that,” I began. “Father has recently fallen ill and is quite bedridden.”
I knew the words were a mistake before I opened my mouth, and sure enough, King Ricardo’s smile widened significantly.
“No worries. I’m here to see you, Vincent, and make sure you’re fit to take the country over from Mariabel. You better treat me like royalty!”
I knew this would happen… I knew it!