The Duke's Secrets

Chapter 5 - The Truth Is...

"I'm impressed..." the Duke stated, glancing at the chessboard.

"Did I win?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Win?" the Duke grinned, a hint of laughter escaping him. "No!"

The Duke let Elizabeth make the first move. He had assumed she had some familiarity with the game, given she said its name. However, that assumption was thrown into question after she made two horrible moves and was swiftly checkmated.

"You've played this game before, haven't you?" the Duke asked.

"I've...watched others play it once or twice," Elizabeth smiled.

"Watched...you've watched...." the Duke said, suppressing a laugh with his hand. "Very well, guess that concludes our first match. Now, what would you like to ask first, Elizabeth? What did you want to know so badly you spoke up to add this rule?"

"The truth..." Elizabeth declared, her mind long made up on what she wanted to know. "I want to know the truth behind Lord James' death?"

"Well," the Duke responded, his laughter contained, "that's not what I expected. May I know, before I answer you, why you think I lied about his death? Just what leads you to believe something different occurred?"

"Y-Your voice..." Elizabeth asserted, prompting the Duke's eyes to widen behind his mask in amazement, shock, and, deep within, a flicker of fear. "I can't quite explain it, but I could feel your pain when you talked about Lord James. And your words...they felt so rehearsed. That's why I want to know the truth! Not the version told to everyone or gets whispered from ear to ear. The truth..."

"You astound me..." the Duke said in wonder, catching Elizabeth off guard. "You're correct, of course. What I said was rehearsed. Repeated over and over so I wouldn't...break."

The Duke picked up Elizabeth's white queen from the chessboard. He seemed to study it, yet his gaze wasn't there. It had wandered back in time as he prepared to reveal a truth known to only a few.

"James..." the Duke almost whispered, "I first met him when my rule was still in its infancy, and my grasp on power was as fragile as glass. He stood among the initial foreign nobles to acknowledge my authority. But he was the only one willing to trade with the so-called Demon Duke. Not for the dreadful things I said, but for what my people needed-food, water, and supplies to survive up here in the North."

"Then he wasn't your slave?" Elizabeth questioned.

"No," the Duke smiled quietly, "he was no slave, Elizabeth-he was my friend. A kind man who saw a boy and not some monster, as so many believed and still do. But most of all, he was a father...one who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice for his son's future."

The Duke got lost in his memories as he remembered that day.

He heard the heated argument he engaged in with Lord James. He recalled their clash of ideals, a dispute not over his daughter's hand, as he had claimed, but rather over the right path for the future. He heard Lord James' pleas as his sword hovered at his neck...but not for mercy.

"I killed him...that is the truth," the Duke declared coldly. "Because I couldn't save him. An illness he hid from everyone, even me, until nothing could save him would have taken his life within a week. So, to hide his kindness for my home, which could be seen as treasonous in the Western Dukedom, and hoping his death would be a catalyst for his son Alexander to be awakened...I took his life."

The Duke gazed down at his hands, momentarily seeing them bare and stained with blood, just like that day. Despite knowing that what he had done was the only correct path they had, it still haunted him.