The dragon and the rose

Chapter XIX

I

After Princess Constanza's incident with the impostor and her running into the dining room in the middle of the ball in a bloody gown and after they had found out how everything had happened and especially about how Eric de Rocha had saved their Crown Princess's life, everyone, from the kitchen maid and the stable boy to the queen's ladies and the queen and king himself wanted to now actually how it did happen. How Eric knew, how he found her and knew that she was in great danger. The kitchen maid and the stable boy - not even the queen's most trusted ladies did- did not have the chance to find out about the truth but the queen and the king and the royal family did. Eric, still quite shaken and uncertain of what to say, feeling unable to lie so that the other mistress of deception ( Queen Anne-Marie herself) would believe him, he told them the truth. He did not embellish it, he did not narrate it like something legendary and glorious, he just simply opened his mouth and spoke shortly and in a straightforward manner about his dreams. He was not sure whether they would believe them but he was in a kind of state that he did not care. (This conversation had happened straight after the incident so it is evident that he was not over his shock. ) But, to his great amazement, everyone, even the king who abhorred things like this he simply called "nonsense", believed his every word and had no doubts about its being real and the truth. That was because they trusted Eric already and after he had saved the princess's life, he could have said anything, really, they would have trusted in his every word. And thus now the whole Asturian royal family knew about Eric's gift as a seer but the most interested in it was surprisingly not Queen Anne-Marie, but her daughter, Princess Claudia. She immediately started asking him about other visions, great prophecies and she seemed very interested and eager to find out but Eric had to disappoint her for he had no other dreams solved.

After the royal family had no more questions, Eric de Rocha was finally allowed to return to his own chambers, that is, to the apartment where his family resided at the court, and, perhaps for the first time, was very glad to do so. It almost dawned when he finally reached his bed and crawled into it, his eyes barely open. He silently mumbled a prayer, begged God to let him have a blank, dreamless sleep at least this one time and then, he actually fell into such a trance and woke up calm and undisturbed the next morning.

II

As the days passed, the impostor got better and better, his wound healed quickly and his system was seemingly strong for he got not infection. Of course, the best physicians cared for him and he was in a fine room with fresh air and sunlight quite common in it. An outsider might have thought that they actually wanted him to heal, to get better, to recover completely but such an outsider was right for that is just what the Asturian royal family wanted. It was Constanza's plan again, the ugly bruise on her face healed even quicker than the traitor and after the head aches disappeared and she looked quite pretty again, she was ready to immerse herself in the trouble of plotting to save a monarchy or actually, two or more that would have been threatened by such a man and such a rule. She did not visit him though for she could not bear to see him but she knew that she had to keep him safe, alive and at her mercy even though she was sure that when the time came, she wouldn't have any for him. Even if he slept in a lavish chamber and ate delicious meals, he was separated from the frequented parts of the castle and guarded by much more men than the king himself. He was only precious to them while he was in their hands for it would have been better if he had died than if he had escaped.

On the day which followed the one after the disastrous ball, King Flavian announced Henry's being the rightful king and the one dethroned by a traitor, an impostor, the man the nobles and everyone else had believed to be the real king and the man who was currently held captive for everyone's best interest, as they said. He was proclaimed king, at least by the King of Asturias and the noblemen at court had to accept that but he still had no throne nor country to show; he was only king because Flavian had said so. He was allowed to attend society, join feasts and dances and do everything a visiting monarch might do but it still seemed to be a funny and uncertain situation where no one actually knew what to do, what was allowed and what was not and certainly not what the next move would be. The people were immediately sensing chaos and the coming of a disaster but did not do anything, Constanza felt this too in their suddenly quaint manners and way of speaking but she had sworn that she would prevent it.