She's a Rebel // Ben Finn x Princess

Chapter 3

Returning to the castle, my clothes stained with the blood of hired muscle, the only thing I wanted to do was sit in my chambers and solve the mystery behind encounter I had just had. The only theory I had to speak of was that it was Ben's evil twin, the two tragically separated at birth, growing up looking identical in different parts of the kingdom... but this wasn't fiction; that kind of thing just didn't happen in real life. Sadly, as I stepped over the threshold, I found Hobson waiting for me, with his wizened face, upper class sneer and digestive problems. I told him to leave me alone, in the faux polite way you learn upon becoming monarch, but he protested.

"But your majesty, your day in court is one of utmost importance to the kingdom!" His nasally voice, added to my already uneasy stomach, made me want to abdicate from the throne. "Many of your subjects will be displeased to hear of their beloved Queen's unwillingness to stick to her schedule. If this happens on multiple occasions, certain individuals may even accuse you," he lowered his voice and raised his overgrown eyebrows, "of being too distracted to rule properly, and then where would we be!"

"Hobson, I'm sure my subjects will be far more incredulous towards the idea that certain employees within the castle are disregarding the queen's wishes to recuperate after ridding Bowerstone Market of its bandit infestation, don't you think?" I turned on my heel, pausing only to enjoy of the flicker of unprofessional fear on his face before continuing up the main stairs. "I suggest you move my appointments to another day and busy yourself with whatever task you deem fit, before I come up with a worse one for you."

"Of course, your majesty." He agreed, rushedly, his tiny feet shuffling to keep up with me. "Although, I recommend speaking with Page before you retire, she has been most anxiously awaiting your return in the War Room. I do believe she's eager to discuss the details of your most recent triumph."

"Excellent." I sighed, dismissing my aide and wandering back, through the almost empty corridors of the castle. I could almost hear the distance as I thought it - the castle. This should be my home, my fortress, my castle, but as with everything in my life, it belonged to the people of my kingdom. The only thing I actually owned was the responsibilities I could never escape and frankly, I could really do without them.

I entered the War Room to see Page sitting hunched in the corner, looking down at the floor, elbows on knees, and her boots leaving dried pebbles of dirt on the rug. Upon seeing me, she rose, shedding more mud, and did a small courtesy. I nodded, and she sat back down, smiling weakly at me.

"I'm delighted to see you were successful, your majesty, not that I had any doubts, of course," her eyes dodged from one end of the room to the other, unwilling to look directly at me. I'd never seen the boisterous leader of the resistance so timid. "Is he....?"

"No." I affirmed, and heard her let out her breath. "You could have warned me, though; I didn't exactly expect to come face-to-face with a former comrade." I walked slowly over to her, leaning on the map table. "What happened to him? I assume you know, or else why are you still here?"

"I'm sorry, your majesty, truly, I thought you might not deem it a necessary use of your time if you knew it wasn't your brother." So it had been deliberate, she had intended for me to almost perish from the panic, she actually insinuated that harm had come to my kin in order to get me to do her bidding, that manipulative bi- "But I need your help - I think this is my fault. I just don't know how to fix it, whenever I talk to him, he gets hostile. His gang," she spat the word with venom, "broke into my headquarters, stole the map of the sewage reclamation plant that my men had drawn up for our next attack on Reaver Industries..."

"You mean the sewage reclamation plant that I commissioned and claimed protection of under the crown?" I tilted my head, patronising again. It was a far better option to appear angry than let anyone know how damn confused I was. It was most unbecoming for a lady, not to mention a ruler, to be at a disadvantage in any situation. "I'm surprised you didn't tell me about that part of your plan, Page." She made an apologetic face, and I dropped the issue for pursuit of answers. "So, how did you factor into the great Captain Finn mercenary takeover event?"

"I assume you know about Blackholm, right?" She asked.

Might Avo, did I know about Blackholm. While I was busy quelling a rebellion and attempted coup at the kingdom's only and insanely secure prison, I had no left-over attention to pay to what Albion's main anti-hero was up to. As it had turned out, Reaver had moved to his 4th mansion in 60 years, and hatched a plan to create a pack of balverine/human half-breeds to do his bidding. The town of Blackholm was ravaged by these monsters and barely survived, losing their chief and the majority of their citizens in the process. I spent weeks lying awake, thinking of the innocent lives I could have saved, if only I had known, if only I hadn't been so preoccupied. I spoke to countless families, gave speeches at the funerals, funnelled treasury funds into its efforts to rebuild. I was still sometimes forced awake by the ringing of their screams in my ears. But what did that have to do with Ben?

I nodded solemnly.

"Ben and I were pawns in Reaver's little game. They both tried to kill me. Finn attempted to do it while I was sleeping and Reaver while I was chained to a pole. It wasn't... pleasant." Listening intently, shifting my weight to my other foot, I murmured enough of a sentence for her to continue. "We ended up there, that day, defending Blackholm against the half-breeds. Ben had put some effort into training up the villagers, so we had quite the army. He went through a lot those months, that boy, and he wanted to travel more. I should have let him, I was selfish."

"Why, precisely, did he follow you back?" I inquired, attempting to complete a puzzle in which none of the pieces seemed to be connected. "I mean, he's a fully grown man with free will, I'm sure he could have found a way to travel around the kingdom without you holding his hand." She nodded, acknowledging my argument more than agreeing.

"I might have..." She glanced back down to the floor, and remained staring. "Slightly lead him on... a little bit. We almost kissed, I guess, in Blackholm. And I got a gnome to help me formulate a plan to get Ben to follow me back to Bowerstone." I thought I had shot all of those gnomes? "It just gets awful lonely down in those sewers."

"Let me guess," I shook my head, feigning a slight smile, acting like the social lives of my subjects were below me, to bury the burning hatred and rage that had been growing over the last few days toward her. How could any person who professes to be so selfless and for-the-people be so fucking ignorant and selfish? All of those morals she preached from that soap box, and she's just happy to ruin other people's happiness according to her own needs. At least, I believed that was the reason I was so angry. It had to be, right? I didn't do personal relationships, positive or negative. "As soon as you got him home, you suddenly remembered that you don't like soldiers in your hideout." I mimicked her voice, sighing. I had had enough of her as I could take, and possessed the information I needed. "Do you have any idea how I'm going to find him out of mercenary work hours?"

"His crew hang out at the Cock in the Crown in the market quite a bit, which is kind of like painting a large falcon in blood on the clock tower, but I guess you could check there around midnight." She stood upright, adjusting her skirt ever so slightly, shaking dust and dirt onto the once-clean floor. I could tell the servants were going to complain, and that only fuelled my now fully burning hatred. Before turning the handle of the door, she turned and reached out her hand for me to shake. I also stood, my stature allowing me to tower over her as the meeting drew to a close.

"Thanks, Page." I forced a smile, a facial expression I was used to fabricating. "And don't go messing with my factories, I'll be enacting a solution to your Reaver problem before you even have a chance to get to the gate, okay?" She nodded one last time, bowing slightly before treading muddy footprints out of the room. "Do take care, won't you?" I called, almost sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I shut the door behind her.