The Kings Personal Joker (boyxboy)

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine

[Despina's POV]

There was a crisp air in the late morning, drifting through the rose garden, that sweet fragrance along with it. We all inhaled deeply as we followed the esteemed Lady in an orderly collective.

Lavish might be a mild term for the garden, indeed even garden seemed to downplay it's size and wealth of life. 

It was a vast maze of thorny flowers, each bed of colours seamlessly blending in to another.  The light of the sun peered past clouds and touched the garden, the little dew drops twinkling under the shifting blades of light.  A cobblestone path spilled between the rows of roses, apparently following some sort of pattern only a bird would be able to appreciate.

In the middle of the rose garden there was one of a few statues, the one before of us of a lady suspended in a dance. Marble allowed for intricate details to embed themselves in the stone.  It brought about an air of superior grace to it. The creases of the fabric as it turned, even the strands of hair, the eyelashes as she whistled with her eyes shut, as if in a trance.

Lady Thera seemed annoyed by it, glancing up at it as she sat down on the bench, her lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

She always found it most difficult to hide annoyance from her face. It lent a certain sharpness to her otherwise soft and gentle features that even the most slight amount settled at the forefront of her face.

She wrapped her fingers on the curved stone arm of the bench as she stared straight ahead, deep in her own ruminations.

"It would be an inconvenience..." She murmured to herself.

"Ma'am?" I spoke quietly back.

She turned her cold gaze on me.

"Do you think there would be much commotion if he suddenly drowned?" She asked evenly, curiously.

I frowned. "Who ma'am?"

"Who else? That Joker..."

I thought about it. "Ma'am, he's only an entertainer, I doubt he even has family."

She scowled at me and I bowed my head. "And what if he is seducing the King? What then?"

"Even if..." I trailed off, uncomfortable, falling silent. "My lady..."

She watched me for a moment, waiting for me to finish my initial sentence, but I was tense as I held my tongue until she finally snapped at me, "Oh for goodness sake, speak!"

"Ma'am... Well... Even if he is called to care for him... ah, does this affect your goal? My lady?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"If he is being bewitched by another how can I persuade any influence over him?" She asked slowly.

"Ah, what I mean to say is; he must still marry a woman... he only has one heir and no mother to care for it... and that child looks positively meek..."

She snorted. "Certainly not material for a king."

The wind caused the leaves to rustle and for a moment I thought there was someone nearby because of it, but she purposely chose this spot because it was quiet, and because anyone keeping watch would be noticed by the maids that stopped and waited a feet feet a way in secret, spreading out to various areas around the bench.

She massaged her temple with her index finger, closing her eyes. "But he may have just been very useful to me."

I remembered his words clearly.