Power and The Queen

Chapter Forty - Three 🟢

Trevillia's nobles in court were as grumpy as ever. The games may have served a suitable distraction, but many had lost money from the bets they placed on the wrong candidate. The slave fighter had a better build and no injuries.

By all reasonable logic, he should have won, but the young commoner won instead. While this was a good thing for the entire Kingdom, these royals took out their frustrations on the King.

King Icarus' face was swollen with tiredness. They all lacked sleep after tarrying the night away for the games. After his previous complaints to the queen, she had made it a habit to visit him nightly, but that only helped him sleep better. The problems of his court were enormous. It appeared to get bigger every day, even with the help of his two children.

"Father, Sophia and I can handle everything today. You look unwell." Prince Zachary offered.

The king was stubborn to any suggestions and continued the session. He refused to have his nobles think weak of him. As the issues to be addressed were mentioned one after the other, he couldn't stop recalling his conversations with the girl his son had taken a liking to. He was quick to forget her name, but everything she said remained with him. The problems of Trevillia weren't a problem for the king alone.

Lord Tolon was addressing the issues of merchants and citizens migrating out of the kingdom.

"... the kingdom is losing merchants who pay most of the taxes and our people have little to offer. We could end up in a recession."

"The merchants would not sell in Trevillia if the kingdom was going to war." A lord shouted.

"Who said we're going to war?" Another countered.

"The queen is raising another army. We cannot afford their food and welfare. We need more miners for gemstones, not soldiers."

Getting more Miners was a good thing Prince Zachary thought. Rare gems were something only found in Trevilia and the other kingdom bought them from the kingdom at a heavy price. It brought them domestic light sources and acted as a better heat source than coal.

The industry began to encounter problems when bandits and migrants started smuggling gems stones and selling them at cheaper rates. From the last mining sales reports he read, the fraud was crippling their economy.

"Lord Bathias, come forward," the king called before the prince could suggest anything.

The old man walked towards the throne and climbed up till he stood next to lord Tolon. Prince Zachary recognized him as the man Cora's teacher and employer. She spoke about him in her stories of the library back in Ovalon.

When he returned to the palace, he heard rumours from nobles that Lord Bathias was training Cora to be his successor. It seemed like a good idea since it meant Cora would have a reason to stay at the palace, but the story was different now that he knew her other identity.

"Your apprentice suggested I do this and if I see progress, she may be allowed to seat in court with us and learn." The king said.

"You have a good eye for wisdom, sire." Lord Bathias commended.

"Lord Bathias, you have been in court since the days of my grandfather. What do you suggest would solve this problem?"

The king's question surprised everyone in the court. King Icarus has never sought council from anyone that wasn't queen Artemis since he sat on the throne. The queen herself had forbidden it. She was right to do so with all the scheming nobles with their eyes on the throne.

"Sire, the queen forbids me from -"

"Is this the queen's court or mine?!" the king cut in full of anger.