Palace Intrigue Read online

  A Medieval Tale

  Palace Intrigue

  Lina J. Potter

  Copyright © 2017 Litworld Ltd. (http://litworld.com)

  All rights reserved.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase another copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Contents

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  The Brew Comes to a Boil

  Chapter 2

  On the Usefulness of Animals

  Chapter 3

  Good Neighbors

  Chapter 4

  Why the Hell Am I Writing to You?

  Chapter 5

  The Plot Thickens, and So Does the Snow…

  Chapter 6

  A Visitor Arrives

  Chapter 7

  Winter’s Icy Blast

  Chapter 8

  A Prince Underfoot

  Book Recommendations:

  Astounding travelers! What histories

  we read in your eyes, deeper than the ocean there!

  Show us the treasures of your rich memories,

  marvelous jewels made of stars and air.

  We wish to voyage without steam or sails!

  Project on our spirits, stretched out, like the sheets,

  lightening the tedium of our prison tales,

  your past, the horizon’s furthest reach completes.

  Tell us, what did you see?

  ~Charles Baudelaire, “Le Voyage”

  Chapter 1

  The Brew Comes to a Boil

  “‘Gammon,’” My Lady.”

  Lily’s eyes flashed, but she had lost fair and square. Hans Tremain had become an expert at backgammon, and he beat her at three out of every five games they played. She was glad they weren’t playing for money.

  “You have no move.”

  She studied the simple, unvarnished, wooden board.

  Who would have thought a year ago that I would be here playing backgammon with an envoy of the king?

  Certainly not Lily; she had been skipping along, enjoying her life and even planning to get married soon, but fate had other things in store for medical student Aliya Skorolenok. Instead of checking off life goals, she had lost consciousness in an automobile accident and awakened in someone else’s body in an entirely different world. Neither one—the body or the world—was to her liking. There was no indoor plumbing or decent windows to keep the cold out, and peasants paid their taxes in rutabagas. Internet? Telephones? Television? For all the locals knew, those are the names of evil spirits. Her new body was equally shocking. As a young woman reared in the 21st century, Aliya was used to the idea that “thin” and “beautiful” were synonyms. In her new incarnation, however, she weighed as much as a Roman centurion and had several weight-related health issues that worried her.

  The dice skittered across the board. Lily glanced at them and shook her head. She wouldn’t be escaping Hans’ trap any time soon.

  The one bright spot in her new world was that she was a noblewoman—Lilian Elizabeth Mariella, the Countess of Earton. It wasn’t much of an estate. The castle was a pile of stones, her husband was allergic to her, the manager had been stealing from her, and her only living family—her father—was far away. It was bad business, to be sure, but Lily was making the best of things.

  She had expelled the manager and set her peasants to cleaning and repairing the castle. Her husband was a dark spot on the horizon, and she was in no hurry for him to come home. In all honesty, she had her hands full with their one child, his beloved daughter from his second wife.

  Lily secretly felt that the little girl could use a spanking, but she was wise enough to see that she was in no position to give it and took to reforming the girl with love and kindness. So far, her approach was successful. In her darker moments, she reflected that Miranda Catherine had grown up a spoiled brat on her father’s watch. He obviously knew nothing about children, and that made her even more wary of him and who he might turn out to be. She suspected that she would have a hard time getting along with the earl, and hoped that his travels with the prince kept him away as long as possible.

  To add to her troubles, there had been an attempt on her life. Her husband’s lover had apparently hired a man to kill her because she thought the earl’s emerald bracelet would look better on her own wrist. Lily, however, had no intention of dying that easily. She had always faced problems as they presented themselves, so she squared her shoulders and continued with her work around the estate. In spare moments, she wrote down everything she remembered about medicine and tried to decide what advances she should share with her new world.

  One thing was certain; she would tell them nothing about military technology. Her new world had not yet invented gunpowder, and Lily was damned if she would do it for them. She remembered the ingredients (What child didn’t fool around with explosives, especially if she lived on a military base?) But she kept it to herself. She wanted her new world’s moral capacity to grow faster than its technological prowess, so she kept her innovations simple: glass, lace, ladies’ jewelry. And she worked constantly.

  Even in her old life, Aliya had never had any patience for people who complained that they didn’t know how to do something. With free online classes available on any subject from raising rabbits to tatting lace, she saw no excuse for ignorance.

  When Aliya was younger, her mother had signed her up for clubs and classes whenever they moved to a new town. Tatiana Viktorovna believed that a body needed to know as much as possible in order to succeed in Russia, so she filled her daughter’s head with knowledge—from wound care and surgery to canning vegetables and embroidery. She was overjoyed when her daughter applied to medical school; a doctor could always find work. Lily was still grateful for her mother’s efforts.

  A loud bang interrupted her train of thought.

  “I believe I’ve won again!” Hans grinned.

  The countess jumped up and went to the window; the children were up to no good.

  “Leir Tremain, I admit defeat. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go see what the children are getting into.”

  Tremain nodded. “Of course, My Lady.”

  Lily gave a slight bow and sailed out of the room, leaving Hans to put the game pieces away. She reflected that, while the era might not be to her liking, the government was decent enough. Edward VIII seemed to be a sensible and intelligent man, judging by the envoy he sent to get to the bottom of the trouble at Earton. Hans Tremain was whip-smart and a consummate professional. She was even a little afraid of him at times, probably because he rarely smiled.

  She pushed open the heavy castle door and walked out into the courtyard, where she barely missed being hit by a small missile. It was a rock, delivered by slingshot; the children were practicing self-defense.

  “Lily! Look what I can do!”

  The countess smiled down at her stepdaughter. “Let’s see.”

  Another rock went whistling and hit its target with an impressive thump. Miranda looked up at her stepmother, eyes shining.

  Lily laughed and nodded. “Keep up the good work. You’re my smart girl!”

  Miranda Catherine tilted her head to one side and grinned, revealing a gap where she had recently lost a tooth. Lily couldn’t accomplish everything she wanted to do in her new world, but she made sure to brush her teeth with Miranda every night before bed. Instead of toothpaste, they used a mixture of nettles, birch bark, and chalk that did the job just fine. At first, Mi
rrie had protested the new hygiene rules, but after listening to a lecture on cavities and looking around at grown men and woman who were missing half their teeth, the little girl stopped arguing and started brushing her teeth twice a day. To be fair, she would have done anything at all in order to be just like Lily. She was overjoyed to have a kind, fun-loving adult who took the time to listen to her. They argued on occasion, but for the first time in her young life, Mirrie had a mother. The little girl could never have explained it that way, but she knew without words that, finally, someone cared about her.

  She threw her arms around Lily’s neck, kissed her cheek, and ran off to play with her friends.

  Lily smiled as she watched them. There was no sign of the pale, spoiled aristocrat who had arrived in Earton without warning. Now, she saw a tanned little tomboy who was having the time of her life, dressed in comfortable pants that were cut to look like a skirt, and with a slingshot in her pocket wherever she went.

  The countess had originally intended to teach the children to use a small catapult, but she then thought better of it. Instead, she gave them all slingshots. True, they had broken quite a few things around the estate while they learned to aim, but Lily noticed that the local children were more mature than what she was used to. They thought ahead of time about the consequences of their actions and tried not to get into trouble. She reflected that this was wise since local parents meted out severe beatings instead of taking away computer privileges for a week.

  As a result, the chickens might have been terrorized, but the castle’s windows (made of thick, bubbly glass in a variety of unintentional colors) were all still whole.

  ***

  “My Lady?” Hans came up behind her silently.

  Lily turned and graced him with a smile. “Leir Tremain.”

  “I see you are busy, as always.”

  “I can set aside my affairs to speak with you,” she said sweetly as she petted the mongoose seated on her shoulder. The intelligent little animals stayed close to their master or the countess during the day when there were hordes of children running around the castle, and at night, they hunted rats, bringing back dozens of kills each morning.

  Hans studied the countess’ face. It was his personal opinion that the earl was lucky beyond all reason. The countess was smart, kind, beautiful, and a good manager. What else could a man want in a wife?

  “My Lady, I must leave you soon.”

  “Of course,” she nodded. “The things you will be taking with you are almost ready to go. The taxes I owe have been packed separately from the gifts I wish to send to His majesty, the young princesses, and my mother-in-law. I do hope I am not burdening you unduly.”

  “Of course not. I will make sure that every item reaches its recipient. Will you allow me to take one of the slave traders’ ships? I need some way to carry them back to the capital for trial.”

  Lily nodded. “Certainly. I would like to send Erik with you if you can wait for him to return.”

  “I will do that, My Lady.”

  ***

  Lily admired Hans. She enjoyed his sense of humor and appreciated his help organizing men to dig out the amber that had been discovered on Earton’s coastline.

  It isn’t truly my amber, though… It belongs to my husband!

  Once again, Lily was distracted by the thought that if Jess Earton came to a bad end somewhere out there on the backroads of Ativerna, the king would have to appoint someone to manage the estate until Miranda’s second son was born. That would give her plenty of time to accomplish her goals.

  She sighed and pushed the thought away. For Mirrie’s sake, she was prepared to make nice with her husband. If he wouldn’t play along, however, she would make her own plans.

  During their long evenings at backgammon, Lily had cautiously probed Hans for information about the laws governing marriage. In the end, she thought she might have found a way out of her predicament. If she gave birth to a son of her own and her husband tragically passed away, her father would act as the child’s guardian until he reached adulthood. Meanwhile, Lily would play the role of the grieving widow.

  While she would prefer peaceful negotiations, Lily was glad that she had other options, as well. The first step in her plan was to gain the support of those around her—the king, the princesses, her mother-in-law, her father, other courtiers.

  Hans had passed along the king’s invitation for Lily to come to the palace in the spring. She had every intention of going, and she would outshine everyone there. She was well aware of the rumors circulating about her. It hadn’t been difficult to find out. Her loyal housekeeper Emma had struck up a warm friendship with two of Hans’ servants, and information was soon forthcoming. To Lily’s chagrin, she learned that Lilian Earton was strange and stupid and that everyone at court felt sorry for Jess for having to marry her.

  Is that so? We’ll see who takes his side once I arrive at court.

  It was clear that Lilian had been a disappointment to her husband, but Lily still felt he had behaved badly. Men in her new world were supposed to protect their wives. Instead, her husband went around complaining about her to anyone who would listen.

  Shameful!

  ***

  Jess ran into his cousin’s room. Richard looked up in surprise. “What’s the matter?”

  “Bad news!”

  “Sit down and tell me what happened.”

  “Just look!” Jess tossed a scroll on the table.

  Richard raised one eyebrow. “Who is it from?”

  “Pastor Simon Leider.”

  “Did you decide you needed a blessing?”

  “No, but he decided I needed to know something! Read it!”

  Richard shrugged an unrolled the scroll.

  Your Lordship, I fear I must inform you that your wife is behaving strangely. She attends public markets, has dealings with Eveers and Virmans, and even hired a band of the latter to serve as her guards. She trades with Khangans and is up to no good with Baron Avermal. As a servant of Aldonai, I felt it was my duty to let you know.

  Pastor Simon Leider.

  “What do you think?”

  Richard tapped his forehead. “Jess, have you lost your mind?”

  “No, but it looks like my wife has.”

  His cousin sighed, exasperated. “She’s pregnant, and she’s sitting at home. This man is raving mad.”

  “That’s just it. She isn’t pregnant.”

  A second scroll thumped down on the desk next to the first. “Read it!”

  It was from Amalia.

  My dearest brother,

  I want to tell you the latest news. Your wife has lost the baby. She fired Medicus Craybey—the one I worked so hard to hire—and told him she would have him hung if he showed his face in her presence again. I don’t know if you’ve already heard about this or not. I’ve asked Uncle to see what he can find out. He promised to send an envoy to Earton. I am worried about Miranda. You should have sent her to stay with us. Peter wants me to return to our estate so that the baby…

  Richard scanned the rest of the letter. There was nothing else of interest in it, so he set it aside and looked up at his cousin. “Well?”

  “What do you mean ‘Well’?’ My wife lost the baby and fired the medicus.”

  “I don’t see anything strange in that. He was supposed to ensure that she gave birth to a healthy child. He failed to do so. I would have fired him, too, if I were in her position.”

  “Why didn’t Etor write to me about any of this?”

  “Maybe he did, and his letter hasn’t reached you yet.”

  Jess shrugged. “I suppose so.”

  “You know how the mail slows down the closer it gets to winter.”

  “True. Etor’s letter could be on its way, and she may have been right to fire the medicus, but what about the rest of it?”

  “Jess, use your brain for a moment. She’s doing exactly what any woman would do after losing a child. She’s run off to the market to buy things.” He paused. “
And to trade with Khangans. By the way, what do you think she could have sold them?”

  Jess snorted. “There’s nothing to sell in Earton. It’s all swamps. Aside from the hunting, I’ve never even really looked at the place.”

  “Fine. Maybe she sold the Khangans some of that swampland.”

  “What about the pastor?”

  “Does he know your wife? Has he ever spoken to her in person?”

  “I doubt it!”

  “There you have it. He’s probably mistaken about something. He isn’t Aldonai, after all.”

  “Is that what you really think?” Jess’ voice was uncertain. His sister’s letter had not surprised him, but the pastor’s letter had been a shock.

  “Write to him. Better yet, write to Etor.’”

  “Yes, Etor.”

  “Write to him and see what he says. I think the only issue of any interest is why your wife would hire Virmans for protection if she has your manager and the castle guards. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “See? Some stupid pastor writes you a letter, and you start to panic. Think with your head, Jess.”

  “You’re right. I was being stupid.” Jess sat down on the bed next to his cousin and grabbed an apple off the bedside table. He bit into it and grinned.

  “You usually are.”

  “I learned it from you.”

  Richard didn’t want to argue with Jess, even in fun, so he changed the subject. “How is that Adele of yours?”

  “I don’t really know,” said Jess, chewing on the apple.

  “Why not?”

  “She started to get clingy.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Everything was good between us in bed, but as soon as we got out of bed, she would start begging me to swear eternal love and whining that she was a fallen woman. And she was always afraid of getting pregnant.”