To make matters worse, things were not going well in Bernodia.
There seemed to be talk of an insurrection. Louise started meeting with
Tobias at least every third month to discuss the problem. He kept assuring
her that it was just because he was an outsider and that, soon, everything
would settle down. Matthew suggested Tobias be replaced, but Tobias was
one of the few close relatives she had, and she was afraid of upsetting him.
In addition, there began to be major problems with the Esconodians.
There were frequent incursions across the northern border by their armies.
She was having to increase the spending on the military, and it was taking
money from the domestic needs of her people.
Then there were the assassination attempts. They had never had any
before. The attackers were always Esconodians, but she had a nagging
feeling that they were really brought in by her own people. If her own
people were trying to assassinate her, there must be some problems in the
kingdom. This troubled her deeply.
During one of the assassination attempts, Captain Jason Richins had
been wounded fighting against an overwhelming number of attackers. He
had been able to hold them off until his son and Matthew had arrived to
thwart the attack. But Captain Richins had been so severely wounded that
he could not longer function as Captain of the Guard. It was decided that he
would retire to a home farther in the south to recover. Both he and Matthew
suggested Captain Richins's young son, Lieutenant Jacob Richins, be
advanced to captain.
Louise had, at first, been leery of that appointment. He was so
young. But as she watched him more and more, something stirred within
her. The young lieutenant was calm, kind, and loved to learn. The Richins
were Bernodians like Alexander. Jacob Richins reminded her so much of
Alexander.
Sometimes, when she was alone, she would speak aloud as if
Alexander were there to answer her. Sometimes she felt as if he truly was
there. One day, while contemplating the captain of the guard situation, she
had been talking aloud as if to Alexander. As she walked down the hall, she
came upon Lieutenant Richins sitting by a window reading a book. She was
taken aback. His blonde hair and demeanor were so much like Alexander's.
She stood for the longest time watching him. She finally whispered,
"Alexander?"
Immediately, Lieutenant Richins jumped to his feet, bowing in
embarrassment for not having seen her. She felt so awkward at her own
thoughts that she just smiled at him. "At ease Lieutenant. Lieutenant
Richins, have you nobility in your heritage?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"You carry yourself as if you did."
He then said something that caused memories from a yesteryear to
wash over her. "Prince Alexander told me that a man was more noble in
how he lived than how he was born."
Louise found herself choking back tears. "When did he say this to
you?"
"When he awarded me the medal for the dueling tournament when I
was sixteen."
Louise could talk no more. She hurried to her room and cried. She
realized she had only considered the young lieutenant's capabilities based
on his age and birth. It was he who had to remind her of the creed
Alexander lived by, and what her father reminded her of before he died.
She should have looked at his heart, for her own Alexander was the
supreme example that higher birth was not the most important thing. She
wondered if somehow Alexander was reminding her again.
The appointment was made, and the young lieutenant became
Captain Richins, as his father was before him. He defended Winslow well,
and he trained his men superbly. Assassination attempts became more
frequent and more intense, but the young Captain Richins seemed more than
up to the task, keeping the palace well defended. She continued to watch
him, and something continued to gnaw at her.
It was early in the morning of Marie's seventeenth birthday, after
laying awake all night wondering what to do to help Marie, that the answer
came. It was as if Alexander had spoken to her again, telling her the answer
to her problem with Marie. That answer lay in her past with Alexander, and
was right under her nose. That's when she knew the answer was to be had
in a special assignment for the young Captain Richins.
Chapter 15
News Spreads Like Wildfire
Jacob left the queen, and found himself wallowing in self-pity. How
could this have happened to him? As he walked down the hall it seemed
that even the walls were whispering and pointing at him. He thought it had
to be his imagination, but he was sure once he heard the word "tutor".
As he walked across the courtyard, he found John and Edward
searching for him. The three of them had become friends while they were at
the academy together. At 16 he had been so much younger than the other
recruits, having received his appointment by winning the Royal Sword
Fighting Competition. No one younger than twenty-two had ever won it
before.
Most of the other, much older recruits, had treated him with great
disdain. Only John and Edward had stood up for him, even though they,
too, were much older. They had became fast, loyal friends, and the three of
them had worked hard together and moved up through the ranks quickly.
Now, as they approached him, he wondered how to break the news
to them. He felt he needed someone to commiserate with. But if he
expected it from his friends, he was sadly mistaken. He hadn't even spoken
before John did.
"Hey, Captain, we heard the exciting news about your new
assignment."
Jacob was shocked. Surely they couldn't have heard about the
tutoring yet. He had barely found out himself. He acted innocent. "What
assignment?"
Edward grinned. "Royal babysitter."
John and Edward broke out into riotous laughter. Jacob just rolled
his eyes. "Ha, ha, ha. I am just overcome with mirth. How did you guys
find out so fast anyway? I just learned of this myself."
"News like that travels fast," Edward said. "It was probably around
the palace before you left the throne room."
Jacob tried to act as nonchalant as he could muster, given the
circumstances. "Well, I'm not the royal babysitter. I'm her teacher, and, of
course, her bodyguard."
Edward laughed. "Yeah, and I'm a duke. The truth is, nobody else
can do anything with her, so the Queen is getting desperate."
John got a falsely grave look on his face. "Yeah, kind of scraping
the bottom of the barrel."
Both Edward and John burst into laughter again. Even Jacob
smiled, and it made him feel somewhat better, but not much.
Edward finally became more serious. "What are you supposed to
teach her?"
Jacob cleared his throat and tried to act stern. "I am supposed to
teach her literature, how to dance, how to defend herself, and how to be
kind and think of others."
He hadn't even finished his sentence before Edward and John started
laughing again. Edward curtsied and did his best imitation of a girl's voice.
"Why don't you teach her how to bake a pie, keep house, and be little Miss
Domestic while you are at it?"
John grinned. "He'll be lucky if he can teach her to quit fighting and
wear a dress."
Edward chortled and slapped John on the back. "Wear a dress!
That's a good one."
Jacob was not in the mood to be teased. "Hey, look! This wasn't
my idea."
Edward became quiet, motioning them close, and whispering as if
telling a secret. "I've got an idea. The queen secretly hates you."
"
It sure looks that way," Jacob agreed.
John patted Jacob on the back. "Maybe she's setting you up for
failure so she can feel good about firing you."
Edward and John grinned, and Jacob even smiled.
"She ought to just fire me now and put me out of my misery," Jacob
said.
Edward shook his head. "But then we'd miss all the fun watching
you."
"How long do you have to do it?" John asked.
"One year," Jacob replied. "I'm supposed to have her acting like a
princess for her eighteenth birthday celebration next year."
John and Edward both burst out laughing again. John wiped his
eyes as he tried to control his mirth. "Acting like a princess. Dancing.
That's rich."
Edward pretended to whack Jacob across the face. "I bet she slaps
you or kicks you in the shins the first day."
"I bet within the first hour," John added.
"First minute," Edward countered.
"First..." John started to say, but was interrupted by Jacob.
"All right, All right. I appreciate you guys being such a source of
inspiration."
Edward grinned. "We try."
Jacob thought that if they were trying any harder, they would be
selling concessions at his hanging, but he didn't say it. "I guess I better be
going. I'm supposed to be there right after breakfast." Jacob turned to head
to his quarters to prepare himself.
"Good luck. You'll need it," Edward called after him, as he and
John almost collapsed in laughter.
Jacob knew he had about a half hour before he had to meet with the
princess. What was he going to do? He thought and thought about it.
Everyone knew what she was like. She was, in very simplest terms, a brat.
What else could anyone say? She had been that way for almost as long as
he could remember.
Sure, he could recall when she was small and cute, but then she just
seemed to change. She kicked at everyone, she fought with the pageboys,
and she got in the road as he tried to work with his men and the horses.
What could a person do? She was the princess. He couldn't tell her to get
out of the way or give her a good spanking like she deserved.
Jacob could feel his blood starting to boil. What kind of an
assignment was this to give to a military officer? He had to keep reminding
himself that he had taken an oath of loyalty to the queen when he became a
member of the Royal Guard, but he felt this was so unfair. How does a
person go about tutoring a princess? How does one go about tutoring any
girl for that matter? He had never truly worked with anyone but his men.
Sure, there were his older sisters, but he had never met any woman like the
princess. His last run-in with her was while he was at the Royal Stables.
He had been afraid she would get hurt and had asked her to move
away, and she kicked at him. He was able to jump out of the way, but he
could remember how angry it made him. He thought, if it was up to him, he
would have spanked her right then and there.
Then he thought about what the queen had said. The tutoring of the
princess was up to him, and he need not fear about his assignment because
of the princess. Perhaps that was exactly what the queen wanted. Perhaps
she wanted him to train her like he had trained his men. After all, what
other kind of training did he know?
Then he had an idea that was so sweet that it was almost deliciously
wicked. He didn't know if it was wicked or not, but it made him happy.
What if he did treat her like he treated his men, and she went to her mother
and complained? Her mother might remove him from being her tutor. He
smiled at this glimmer of hope. That was what he really wanted anyway.
Then he thought of something else. He had to command his men,
almost all of them older than he was. If he didn't keep some kind of
military demeanor, what kind of respect would they have for him? The
more he considered it, the more he decided his only real choice to do any
work with the princess was to treat her just like one of his men. What did
he have to lose? If she learned some respect, then good, he was doing his
job. And, if the queen removed him from being the princess's tutor, he won
that way, too.
He wasn't sure where to start, but the time had come. He steeled
himself and headed to the palace library. He would have to play this one as
the cards fell and see how it went.
Chapter 16
Tutoring A Princess
The library at Winslow was one of the biggest in the kingdom. It
was a beautiful, three-story room, open in the center all the way up, with
balconies all away around the room on the upper two floors, making it easy
to reach the books. Stairways at each end of the library led to the balconies.
Large windows on each floor flooded the room with light. The bottom floor
boasted a large fireplace. On each side of the fireplace was a royal family
crest with real crossed swords through them. There were two tables, one on
each end of the library, leaving the center open and airy. The whole room
was warm and inviting.
Lord High Chamberlain paced back and forth in the room, stopping
at times and drumming his fingers nervously on the table. When he heard
the door open, he turned around. Princess Marie sauntered in, dressed in
her usual pageboy-type clothing. She was munching on an apple and acting
like she didn't have a care in the world. She dropped into a chair and
crossed her feet on the table as she spoke with her mouth full of food.
"Hey, Matty, what's happening?"
Lord High Chamberlain sighed heavily. "I wish Your Highness
would address me as Lord High Chamberlain, or at least, Matthew. You're
not the queen yet."
Marie took another bite of apple. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Jacob stepped into the room and could see that Lord High
Chamberlain was talking to Marie, so he stood quietly as Lord High
Chamberlain continued.