The Poisoned Throne

Chapter 12

Raynor

Raynor sat down in his chair, looking at the letter in his hand with equal parts happiness and suspicion. It was the first he had heard from Mary since Elizabeth’s invasion - they had not been allowed to correspond, something that, in his darker hours, had him wondering if there was something Elizabeth did not want him to know.

At the same time, he was afraid that Mary might not have written this letter freely. What if it was a ploy? A trap?

In any case, staring at an unopened letter had never done any good, so he ripped it open and began reading.

 My dear brother,

 This letter was written in 1518, and the reason why you have received it is that I have decided that now is the time to tell you what I have found out. After Elizabeth’s coronation and my marriage to Philip, I visited Samuel - our mother’s lover, if you remember - to find peace with him. However, he soon after sent me a letter.

This is where I must advice you to consider what I am about to tell you with care. You must not act rashly, and, for the love of all the gods, do not reveal my knowledge of this to Elizabeth. I already threaten her claim on the throne enough.

You see, when I visited Samuel, he swore that his and Mother’s affair ended in 1500, so I couldn’t be his child. Their affair ended because Mother couldn’t risk the public scandal, so he thought it unlikely that she started another affair so soon after theirs had ended. He has even sent me a letter to prove this, in case I should wish to take up the case once more.

What I am trying to say is that he believed me to be the rightful heiress to the throne - before Elizabeth - and that even Helena had seemed unlikely to be his.

I do not know what to do with this information, and I do not know what you should do with it, either. However, I thought it best to tell you. Please, act with care.

 

 With love,

 Mary

 For a long moment, all he could do was stare at his sister’s words. “Sybil!” he called. “Can someone get Sybil?”

A servant left the room immediately in search for Sybil, and quickly returned.

“What is is, my love?” she asked, crossing the room to stand on the other side of his desk.

He frowned. “Out!” he exclaimed, gesturing at the servants and guards. Once they had cleared the room, he handed Sybil the letter. “Read this.”

He watched as her eyes skimmed over the words, widening more and more towards the end until her mouth fell open and she looked up from the letter to stare at him.

“She’s…?”

He leaned forwards, resting on his elbows. “It would seem so.”

“Well…” she began. She placed the letter back on the table and walked even closer to him. “Well, this settles it, then. The war, I mean. You have to fight. There’s no question anymore.”

He looked away. “Her birthright doesn’t change the fact that fighting means killing.”

She leaned down to glare into his eyes. “It changes everything. Elizabeth has no right to that throne! Don’t you see? Helena might not have been lying, she might have been killed for a crime she never even committed. Will you not avenge it? Will you not avenge your family?”

Raynor felt his eyebrows draw together. He knew she was right, but he did not feel it. He had wanted to avenge Helena when she was killed - not because of what was right and wrong, but because he loved his sister and anyone who harmed her, rightfully or not, would have to face his anger.

“It won’t bring her back to life,” he said, “but it’ll kill so many.”

She slammed her hand on the table. “With a purpose,” she hissed. “Do you really not see it? Elizabeth stole everything from you - she stole it, she had no right to take it.”

He looked up at her, tilting his head. “And what gives me the right to steal hundreds of young men from their families and take them to war?”

“The right that being King gives you,” she said, as if it was that simple.

He leaned back, rubbed his temples for a moment, before letting his hands fall down. “I have Shid-al’s kingdom to care for,” he argued. “I can’t just start a second war already.”

“Shid-al is not your sister,” she said. “Your sisters need you. Both of them. He’s not more important than them.”

“But the people of this kingdom are,” he said. “They rely on me. Do you know what that means? I have to protect them. Without me, there’ll be a war.”

Sybil opened her mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. “Let me take care of it,” she said, after a moment. “I’ll keep your Hi’taabnese kingdom safe and at peace, if you go to help your family.”

“I can’t,” he muttered.

She raised her eyebrows. “Don’t you trust me?”

“You know I do. Don’t be silly.”

“Just not in matters of war,” she concluded. “Because I’m a woman.”

He sighed. “War is a man’s field.”

She let out a laughter. “Is that why a couple of women beat you?”

He stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going there?”

She tried to hold back her smile as she nodded.

“How old are we?”

“I’m wondering that myself,” she said, just as laughter bubbled up and she had to cover her mouth as she laughed.

Raynor smiled, then laughed himself, and before long, they were both in a fit of laughter. It was hard to breathe, and both their faces were red with teary eyes by the time they were able to regain control.

“I trust you,” he said - because how could he not? Sybil had been his rock for so many years, and it would not be the first time his rock was able to knock out an enemy.

She smiled and reached across the table to take his hand. “Thank you.”

He clenched her hand before leaning back in his chair again, still smiling, still feeling the glow of their laughter linger.

“By the way, I think you should change your name to Lamarck,” she said.

He frowned. “Where is this coming from?”

“I just noticed at Aurora goes by Lamarck, not Bonney,” she said, tracing her fingers over the table’s surface absent-mindedly. “She says it’s because her father never felt like a Bonney, and because she prides herself with belonging to the House of Lamarck.”

He nodded. “I know. She says she admires the Lamarck women.”

“Indeed,” Sybil said. “I think you should do the same - recreate the House Lamarck. It would be seen as an act of bravery - to stand up to the rumors that you are not true born. It would be a little like telling Elizabeth that you don’t even want to be a Turell. Additionally, it would work to separate you from each other. It’s too confusing to have two Turell rulers.”

He nodded. “And it would be good to create a House for the descendants of the Lamarcks who’ve been wronged, whether it’s me or Aurora or Evelyn’s sons.”

“It’ll send a message,” Sybil said, nodding thoughtfully. “A message of war.”