The Lady Justice

Chapter XLVI: Of Pride and Prejudice

Crown Princess Consort Juliette Seymour of Monrique

8 December, Year 32 of King Frederick V of Monrique's reign

Bordeux Castle, Bordeux

Monrique

When Nick stumbled into my bedchamber later that day, one look at his countenance told me all I needed to know.

I calmly rose to my feet, and dismissed all the Ladies-in-waiting gathered around me. They bobbed us brief curtsies, before adjourning to the neighbouring receiving chambers. In the meanwhile, I walked around my frozen husband and closed the doors behind him.

"You knew about that petition she submitted to Papa today," his voice was full of disbelief, "you knew all along."

My fingers lingered on the door handle. "I did. Tess has been working on it for months now."

I heard him inhale in a sharp breath behind me. "Then that carriage attack, those men who put a knife to her throat in her chambers here in Bordeux - and my Oncle Bertrand who almost raped her last week," he whispered, "all of that was because of the petition?"

I turned around, gazing straight into his troubled grey eyes. "Aye, my love," I answered quietly, "although I would not justify that rapist's actions, if I were you. He has been lusting after her for years, and simply used the petition as an excuse to get what he wanted."

Nick felt around for a chair near him, and sank down on it, well and truly shaken. "By the Lord."

I walked towards him, and reached out to gently run my hand through his hair. "This is not how I wanted you to find out about the petition," I murmured, "I should have told you about it earlier. I am sorry."

He raised his eyes towards me. "That is not the pressing issue," he remarked gravely, "Julie, we both know how utterly furious Papa is with Tess at the moment. He will use this petition as a means to punish her for Oncle Bertrand's execution."

"He already has," I muttered, "he and the Crown Council have rejected it without even a hearing, after all the hard work everyone put into it." My blood boiled with injustice.

"That will not be the end of it, and you know it," he told me seriously, "especially if all of you intend to appeal against the decision - "

"We do."

He nodded, as if he had expected it. "Tread very, very carefully, then," he warned me, "Tess, especially, is courting danger. She should have realised by now that Papa is not only angry with her - he is vengeful." The word left his mouth, dripping with disbelief, as if he could scarcely believe it of him.

And neither could I.

"And I do not understand why!" I burst out furiously, "if it were any another woman in her place, His Majesty would have had at least the courtesy to listen to what she has to say about Lord Bertrand. I simply cannot fathom why he is being so unreasonable only towards my cousin - "

In the meanwhile, Nick's eyes grew exhausted. He simply took my hand in his, and gently sat me down on his lap, wrapping his arms around me. I leaned against him, breathing heavily from my outburst, and allowed him to hold me.

He rubbed my shoulders in a slow, soothing motion. "You lose your temper far too often these days, sweetheart," he murmured, "it is not good for you, or our baby."

I closed my eyes. "I cannot help it," I released a frustrated breath, "why is His Majesty intent on making her life more of a misery than it already is?"

"Well, Tess has apologised, and explained to us why she created misunderstandings between us all our lives. We now know, and we have forgiven her since," he explained softly, "but Papa does not. He still sees her as a liar, a manipulator, as an opportunist who had once wanted to entrap me into marriage for her own greed - and especially as the woman who tried to drown you to death when she realised I had fallen in love with you."