Luckily no one was taking that too seriously.
Tiera sighed and then shook her head, feeling a bit put upon, even if collecting the woman from Barton had been her own doing. It was, she knew, a mistake. It would have been better not to involve herself in the situation at all, but here it was. She'd started her part in this and had to see it through, one way or the other.
"Right now we need to contact the other members of her family and then arrange to take her around to grovel and be beaten. Then I plan to dump her on poor Gerent. Sex slave and general house worker for now. Alphonse, will you visit with him for a few weeks to make sure she's doing her duties properly? On the good side, she does actually seem wise enough to like him so far. Then she can go back to her country estate, after Gerent feels she's rehabilitated enough." It was almost funny, but no one laughed at all. Not even the Prince. Instead there was a low sound that seemed to be indicating general agreement.
The King spoke then, from further away in the room.
"Baroness Coltress, will you move to the device?" It worked the other way around, with Timon scampering over to her, handing the thing to her directly, even as she sneered at it. That got Tiera to walk over and hit her again. It was just a cuff to the back of the head though and wasn't hard.
"
Hey
!" The woman sounded put out, but everyone in the room with her, except Gerent, chuckled. Even Thom.
Trice explained.
"Part of her retraining I think. She made a face at the device, so Tiera hit her. I think the general plan is to get her ready to face Nita. You should probably take her to see Maria first..." Then she went silent and looked away, which was so phony that Tiera had to fight rolling her eyes. No one mentioned that the Wards were supposed to have become traitors.
That would be rude of course.
Tiera spoke anyway, after all, she was a traitor too wasn't she? Just because she wasn't actively going to kill the King anymore, that didn't mean she was happy with the man. He'd supported the people that killed Regina. Yes, it was true, there had been political reasons for it, but the fact was, he'd
done
it. That had led to worse things over time, such as an attack on his own city that had nearly led to him dying personally. On the good side that meant they were loosely on the same side now, so she tried to let it go and not get too angry with him. Even after being changed, that situation got her blood boiling, almost instantly.
"I'll contact her and set that up. Regardless of what else is going on, this situation is separate and needs to be dealt with. Besides, I'm not all that certain they're in the wrong." That, she knew, would probably keep her from being invited to King's week later in the year. Luckily she wasn't planning on going anyway.
The King didn't sound all that happy as his voice came from the little glass device.
"I see. I'd hoped that we'd put such things behind us... Tor assured me that being family would repair that?"
"He assured you wrongly then. Oh, I won't call for your head, but I won't abandon my friends over you either. It isn't a personal thing, but..." She forced herself to look at the others, and noticed that no one was glaring at her at all. Gerent was making eye contact, but he wasn't staring. "Well, it
is
, isn't it? You threw in with my enemies and it cost me more than anyone can ever repay. There's nothing you can do to bring Regina back. You let them go and then let her escape justice. I get that it wasn't your plan, but..." She didn't know what else to say. It all hurt, but that probably wasn't a good enough reason to sit there talking about all of this with the King himself. She just didn't care if he took offense. If she had to die for it, well, that would be a mess, but as long as Sandra and the Count her father died first, she could accept it.
It wasn't particularly sane, but life wasn't. That was her world now. Maybe it had always been, and now she was learning enough to see it?
"I... Know. Well, see to that, then." The line broke, without more being said. It was a dismal thing, she knew, but Timon didn't wait for anyone to discuss how clearly in the wrong she was. Carol was looking at her strangely. It wasn't a happy thing at all, but her eyes seemed less tense suddenly. Almost as if she were letting Tiera know that her speaking like that to King Richard made her feel better for some reason.
Why that would be she had no clue, and didn't really think she wanted to bother finding out. After all, there was nothing to gain by throwing in with the rebellion. That they
had
to lose, in the end, was just so clear that Tiera nearly hated them for it. It was a waste, disturbing the peace with a plan that simply couldn't do any good for the world at all. Richard had his enemies, but like her, most of them hadn't been harmed because they were
hated
. It was just that politics had gotten in the way, disrupting everything. As far as she'd ever heard that was the simple truth. People had said they thought Richard was bad for Noram, but no one had spoken of him harming them personally as their reason. Poor planning, taxes, or in some cases not letting Counts tax others, backing people other than them... all of these had been mentioned, but no clear abuses were.
That didn't mean she loved the man overly. Even if he were an in-law after a fashion now. A nephew in-law? Because that made sense, didn't it? If she were a less trusting soul she might have felt that Tor had made the whole thing up to save the man from her. She wasn't totally certain that wasn't just the case really. She couldn't prove otherwise, so let it go. A lot like she was doing with Trice and Timon's marriage.
The device freed up, Tim went and got his
other
handheld, so that the Wards could be contacted and informed that they were needed for some entertaining groveling. Timon actually phrased it that way, which got Maria to respond in a snooty tone that was cute sounding when you didn't have to see her pinched features distorting all out of reality over the idea.
"We have to grovel? To whom? And
why
? I can't remember doing anything to you personally that should require that, Countier Lairdgren. Did..." She sounded uncertain for a few moments, then let herself keep going. "Is it about that matter from a few weeks ago? I... can see that. I suppose that if you need us to, we could-"
He spoke over her, rudely.
"Not at all. No, Tiera has captured your mother and we're taking turns watching her be beaten and helping her perfect her apologies, before the main event with Bonita. It took a false start, but she didn't do too badly earlier here, with Collette. I think that Tiera wants to do this in the next few days and tomorrow she needs to be in Austra, so if we could do your portion of that in the morning? That will let me set up a shipment for The Royal Table and send a few of the new communications devices along for Denno and his people." It probably all made sense, on some level, but it was pretty clear that something had happened that Maria knew about and that her brother didn't want discussed in public.
That got them an appointment for the early morning, which meant that they were allowed to go off to their rooms for the night, shortly after that. Tiera kind of wondered if, after the first real beating for her wrong doings, Carol would take off in the night. It was pretty clear that Collette had the same thought, and made a bed appear in the hallway, actually across the woman's door, blocking it from being an easy escape. Tiera knew this because she had to walk past it to get to her own room, which was the one next to it.
Gerent just stood, clearly not knowing what to do. Trice wasn't around, and Timon was off doing something or another. Carol vanished inside, but a few moments later opened the door and looked at them all, her face hard.
"Countier Lairdgren? Would you spend the night with me? I fear that Collette might take the opportunity to, end my days, as it were, if no one else is around." She didn't seem all that scared, and Collette actually nodded, as if the same plan had occurred to her already.
The little fellow blushed brightly, then he stammered, more than a bit.
"I... that might send the wrong message, maybe if Tiera..." He looked desperate and sought her eyes, his face imploring.
Tiera thought about it and answered with all the concern she could muster, which wasn't much, and what was there all had Gerent's name on it.
"Well, that depends Gerent. Are you trying to avoid sex with her? That's fair, given everything. I think that everyone assumes that you'll be doing that with her, including Carol, so no one will think less of you for it. If you don't want to, well, given the evening, I think no one will take offense about that either. She has a real point though. Unless you were inviting me too? That might be a
little
awkward, since I have to thrash her again, probably several times. I might be too nice about it if we were having sex too. Probably not, but it
could
happen. Plus, you're my adopted brother, so that could be a bit strange. If we hide it from the rest of the family it should be fine, naturally." She didn't
really
mean it, since it was only the kids and Tor that it would have to be hidden from, but he blushed even brighter, which shouldn't have been possible, and shook his head.
"
That's
just being mean. I can't force myself on her like this."
It was, strangely and almost compassionately, Carol that fixed that.
"Agreed, Gerent. But you aren't forcing yourself on me at all. I
invited
you. It wasn't a mistake, and we can do whatever you wish, but it would be nice to have someone I know will stand up to my step-daughter with me. Please?" It was heavy handed, but Tiera had to agree with the plan. It was either that, or get Tim to do it and she didn't trust Carol not to make a move on him. After all, as far as she knew the boy was legal.
They didn't have to talk about it that much more and Collette allowed Gerent to crawl over her bed, but hugged him halfway across.
"Don't worry Gerent, I promise not to try and sneak in for, oh, hours. You should get her nice and tired out for me first." It was mean sounding, but when she let him go, he scolded her.
"
No
. No matter how this ends, you
can't
kill your own mother. I'll be sleeping across the door on the other side, so I suggest you don't try anything. I won't let you do that."
The woman... kissed him then. A lot more romantically than Tiera would have suspected from her. Not that she was showing poor taste, but it seemed like a new thing, from Gerent's reaction.
"Agreed. Sleep well then."
The night went on and Tiera got to her own room, deciding not to worry about what Baronetta Coltress might do with her problems for a while. As to what Gerent and Carol were doing, well that was up to them, but she had to figure that it would actually be sleeping, since the Baroness had to be nearly as exhausted as Tiera was herself. Maybe more so.
It was pretty clear that they were going to have a long day, so she decided to get as much rest as possible. That wasn't nearly as much as she
might
have gotten though, since, it was clear a few hours later, that Collette had lied.
From the yelling it sounded like it at least. It wasn't Gerent though, making the noise, but Timon, and came from the lower level, outside the house. Only the fact that she'd had her window open let her hear it at all. She saw three forms in the silver glow of the river that ringed the compounds wall and the smaller form of her brother not ten feet away.
"Halt! This is private property-"
One of the forms rushed him, bouncing off of his already activated shield. Then a real fight started. Leaping from the second story window she ran toward the scene herself. She was unarmed, after a fashion, but also wasn't. She had two cutters imbedded in the backs of her hands and a shield in her rib cage. Clothing too, so she turned it to combat leathers, and went after a small person that, when she saw her close up, seemed to be her mother. Younger, and perhaps a bit lighter in frame. After a few seconds she realized that
all
of the attackers were.
Great. Because
that
wouldn't give her nightmares later.
She didn't bother talking, focusing on the back of her right hand and fighting, her shield taking a beating, even as she rushed in and did her own damage. They didn't stop, the three women, until she managed to get the legs off of one, the eighteen inch cutter doing its work, and Timon made the one coming for him explode. That left one, who, rather than try and run away,
laughed
.
"Oh, this is rich, isn't it? Well, I see that the direct approach won't do at all. I'd thought myself more than a match for you, Timmy. It seems that I was wrong? And you a man and everything. Well, let's see if this works?" She grabbed at her belt, where there was a little pouch. It was a gray outfit, made of fine cloth, but too light for the silver night. Before she got the contents out, Timon blasted her apart, which reminded Tiera far too much of what happened with Regina. In fact it caused her to relive it all, for a moment, a wave of agony ripping through her again. She was distracted when her shield started to light up then, with tiny purple lights. Then it positively glowed with them for a while.
"Nanos?" She said the word like she actually understood what it meant, though other than them being tiny machines, she didn't really.
"Probably a virus of some kind, or other biological agent. That's what Gray specialized in. Cloning too, it seems. At least that sounded like the full Gray that I've met before." He didn't move, just standing as wave after wave of things hit their shields. She got the idea. If they left and the things were tracking them, which they seemed to be, if slowly, then whatever it was might spread. By holding their ground they could let their shields do the clean-up for them.