There was not much for Freyza to unpack in his temporary chancellery in Norbury Castle. Quills, ink, vellum, wax tablets, sealing wax, maps, charts, and hourglasses were all kindly provided by the advisers. It was the least they could do, Freyza thought, after the hellish carriage ride there, locked in a constant interrogation by Richard. Had he passed Richard’s many trials? By that time, he was largely unsure what any of his prying questions had meant, or what they had to do with what Richard had assumed Freyza to know, be part of, or to be plotting.

  Bayezid and him had made their way there immediately upon arrival, given the great feast that had been promised to them would commence in a few hours, and Rima and Iskander joined the pair. Freyza was clearly on edge, tapping on the surface of his writing desk with his nails, eyeing his associates quickly and in rapid succession, and his posture slouching as it always did when he did not pay it any mind. It seemed not to concern him how he appeared.

  ‘It could be tomorrow or the day thereafter,’ he began, ‘That they arrive. There’ll be a joust, a feast, a potentially ill-advised soiree, after which we have been given the reins — or at least initiative — when it comes to any activities that they might find engaging. Bayezid, thoughts. Rima, notes. Iskander, tea.’

  Rima was the first to move, snatching the vellum on his desk to the side at which she sat, scooting closer and dipping the quill into a pot of ink she opened. Iskander stood up to the fireplace upon which a kettle had been placed. Bayezid simply sat in his chair with his arms crossed.

  ‘A… hunt?’ he asked. ‘I fear you should have brought an Ilworthian associate for this. Perhaps an afternoon in one of the universities?’

  ‘Both could be good,’ Freyza said. ‘Perhaps we could visit a mine as well.’

  Bayezid looked lucidly at Freyza and nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘A mine. This is some engaging country, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, they could go up to the mountains in the north as well,’ Freyza added, beginning to feel exasperated as he knew Bayezid was right. This country was dull for such prestigious and well-travelled men as the Sultan’s — he knew from experience. ‘Look, Bayezid, I know it’s no Massouron or Baradran Kingdom, but let us set this straight. There will be plenty of theatre in Norbury Castle and when they make it to Stansby House in a week. Nobody will be bored. Besides, we are here to exchange culture and diplomacy — we are not seeking the next spot for the Sultan’s newest palace. Whether it is pleasant, we do hope so, but it is not elementary to the cause. All we are asked to do is to shortlist a few activities that we, being Sbaians ourselves, would be enjoyable and inoffensive to our countrymen. A bit of initiative would be fantastic.’

  Iskander poured them all tea, starting with Freyza and ending with himself. All the while, Freyza’s eyes were upon him. Amusingly, he could barely reach the kettle upon the hearth.

  ‘If all else fails, you may humiliate me before the delegation. I know the Sultan has enjoyed that pastime before,’ said Bayezid. ‘Throw in a few cracks of a whip, Freyza, and I’m sure you’ll have the King of Massouron amused as well.’

  ‘Should I have left you in Massouron?’ Freyza asked instead. ‘Would that have been your preference, then?’

  Before Bayezid could answer, his mouth already opened in anticipation thereof, there was a knock at the door, followed by a soft opening of it. In its frame stood Katherine, still in the clothes that she travelled in: a loose gown of fine wool, with a collar in purple silk. Her hair was in braids crossed over her head but uncovered.

  ‘Oh,’ she said at first, when she saw the crowd of four rather than what she had likely expected — just Freyza. ‘I didn’t expect the whole delegation.’

  ‘Your Majesty,’ said Freyza and stood up just to bow, rolling his shoulders back in order to return to his state of propriety. ‘My apologies. We were just talking over the first few days of the state visit…’

  ‘Great,’ said Katherine. ‘Quite right… well, I was wondering if I could have you to myself for a moment? I have some matters to discuss that are not fit to be heard by a secretary, a dwarf, and an exiled treasurer.’

  Bayezid looked over his shoulder to catch Katherine’s attention, but it was firmly on Freyza, looking him up and down to where the desk cut off her view of his thighs. Freyza in Ilworthian clothes always amused her so, given his legs were just too long not to look like spider legs sticking out from pumpkin breeches.

  ‘Your Majesty…’ Freyza repeated, attempting some gravitas to counteract her playful tone, ‘I will have you know this is likely the most important duty I will carry in my lifetime, and I am intent on delivering magnificent work. For that, I need time to myself and with my fellow countrymen. I please urge you to consider—’

  Katherine simply shrugged. ‘No, I think you’ll have this gathering after the great feast tonight, when I’ll have a gathering of my own. I do not believe our schedules will align much these coming days, and it is rather urgent. I won’t say please but I will urge you.’

  She raised one eyebrow in joyful defiance. ‘Or would it be above my station, somehow, to command you?’ she added.

  Freyza huffed softly and narrowed his eyes. ‘Well, you heard the Queen of Ilworth. Let us continue after dinner. It’ll be good to have some time for initiatives. If you can, speak to a few courtiers.’

  One by one they stood up, and Katherine stepped into the chancellery when space began to open up for her. Freyza whistled Iskander back, at which Katherine rolled her eyes and sat in the chair where Bayezid had sat.

  ‘I didn’t mention the dwarf?’ asked Katherine.

  Freyza chuckled as he sat back down as well. ‘You don’t want a cup of tea, then, Your Majesty? For it is he who makes you that, and not I.’

  ‘I’ve had quite enough to drink,’ she said. ‘He may go.’

  Iskander begged Freyza with his eyes, who signaled towards the door. ‘You heard the lady,’ said Freyza.

  Once the door shut again and the pair were alone, Freyza took a long sip from the cup before him and looked at Katherine. He loved her dishevelled. Though it was without a doubt the queen in her coronation dress that he had fallen in love with, perhaps even the princess in her portrait, time had introduced him to the messy, practical and frankly youthful woman behind the crown. It appeared that the intense shine of her public persona was not just the polished gold of her regalia: it shone through even the most stately of disguises, but it was very much her own. It was a dangerous situation to be in for a diplomat just seeking to reach the end of his list of tasks.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  ‘You look silly,’ she said. ‘It’s the highlight of this trip so far.’

  He chuckled uncomfortably and brought his hands together. ‘I am pleased to have caused you such joy even if it is at my expense.’

  Katherine grinned. ‘You’re very serious, though.’

  ‘I am under great pressure.’

  ‘Are you?’ she asked.

  There was a type of irritation in her voice that made him wince. ‘Did you tire of your fiancé and choose to seek me instead?’ he asked. ‘I really should be getting back to my tasks, Lady Katherine.’

  She sat back and exhaled sharply, amusement and playfulness dancing on her face. ‘How are you taking to Ilworth, Freyza? Have you considered that this could have been your home after our get-together in Bourrac?’

  ‘I’d have done a poor job of advising you,’ he said. ‘Given I’d likely be distracted most days. You have a way of stealing my time and attention rather well, and I take enough of a liking to you that I would find it worth it. Souchon Palace is my home today.’

  Freyza scraped his throat and demonstratively crossed his arms. ‘Aside from this reminiscing, is there a reason for your exalted and honourable presence?’

  ‘You act as though I’ve offended you,’ said Katherine. ‘Is that right? More importantly, is that right for the woman who invited you here? Is that right for the liege of this very nation?’

  He shook his head. ‘Certainly not.’

  ‘I am sick of Henri,’ Katherine sighed at last. ‘I was hoping for a little respite before the sultan arrives.’

  Freyza’s mouth twitched upward. ‘Sick of Henri,’ he aped.

  It was a chamber in his mind that Freyza hardly allowed his thoughts to wander in: the union between the monarch was not inevitable. He had started to despise Henri more with each passing day, not just due to his proximity to Katherine. And yet, he could not begin to lose his formality — even he did not know what stopped him.

  ‘What’s on your mind?’ Katherine asked when the fallen silence began to get on her nerves.

  Freyza blinked slowly. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I was wondering about what I wished to tell you about when the Sultan came.’

  The weather was unusually hot, the sky blue and the wind had reduced to a gently warming breeze. Katherine stood in the great hall which was aflutter with the last preparations both to the castle and to her person. As a servant painted her mouth, it was Freyza who came up to her.

  ‘Glad I came upon you before the Sultan makes it here,’ he began. ‘I have a few pointers.’

  Her eyes swivelled towards him, and the moment that the tiny brush lifted off of her lips, she chuckled, ‘Morning, Frey.’

  The smile on his mouth was one more formal and placid than any that he could have meant. ‘Good morning, Your Majesty. May I have a word?’

  ‘Make it quick,’ she said dryly.

  Freyza’s hands were awkwardly clasped behind his back. ‘I have been informed that Prince Murad has decided he wishes to court you. Unless you are happy to be one of many, I would resist. Speak as little as possible — they assume you speak Sbaian. Keep Rima close if you can. Do not touch anyone. Do not let anyone touch you. That shall be all.’

  She chuckled and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘I touch who I like,’ she said. ‘Clearly. And if Murad wants me, he shall have to bid. Whether I am one of many or the only one, I did not intend on marrying for love anyway. I was hoping for a bit of advice rather than a list of acts you forbid me. I hope you are aware: my power is in my ability to bend rules.’

  ‘Certainly, but…’ Freyza began.

  ‘If I do not let my advisers rule me, why would I let you?’

  Freyza sighed. ‘At least keep Rima by your side. She will interpret for you where necessary. You know you don’t speak Sbaian to the extent you’ve sold yourself at.’

  ‘And whose fault is that?’ Katherine asked.

  Yours, Freyza wished to say. He had been fully willing to teach her the language, were it not for the sprawling and intensive nature of their affair. Strange how little of that urgency of Souchon Palace’s Wednesday afternoons had carried over to Ilworth.

  ‘Let us not speak of this in public,’ said Freyza.

  ‘I suppose this is wise,’ said Katherine, and turned her head. ‘I should head out.’

  Rima came with her: she had come with Freyza, dressed as aristocratically and properly as a lady-in-waiting was expected to be. Her hair was modestly covered with a heart-shaped bonnet as was the latest fashion, though Katherine had never taken to the style — for this occasion, somewhat misguidedly, she wore only a sheer veil over an intricate hairdo swollen with false braids and pearls.

  Harcourt caught up with her as she walked towards the door, and Freyza thought he would combust with frustration. If there was anything worse for Freyza than being second fiddle to Henri, it would be being second fiddle to Prince Murad. Then again, it appeared that rather than playing second fiddle at all, he played fiddle in a discordant orchestra composed solely of other violins.

  He wondered where he would stand when they arrived. The Ilworthians had not given him seating with the peerage, and to stand in the crowd with the minor nobles would be too humiliating if it meant that his former liege and peers were to see him like that. Instead, he thought to be invisible when they arrived, watching from his chancellery with Bayezid. At the banquet, they would make their way down again and greet the Sultan.

  Bayezid seemed even less excited than he was. In his hand he had already had his first unit of gin — they were in Ilworth after all, and Ilworth was gin country — and was leaning out of the window when Freyza arrived there.

  ‘Talked to the lady?’ he asked, only giving Freyza a short look as he entered.

  ‘To no avail, of course,’ Freyza replied as he took a seat opposite Bayezid, the window in between them. ‘Sometimes I wonder what I do it for. She hardly ever listens and I catch myself being paralysed in her presence. Petrified by all I’ve done to catch her eye and now unable to deliver on the promises I’ve made to do so. If I’m honest… I catch myself beginning to grow unsettled knowing that she sees me as her favourite.’

  Bayezid blinked slowly. ‘Rather than?’

  He huffed and shook his head with disdain. ‘If I’m a favourite, that would mean that without her crown, I would be nothing to her. Only monarchs keep favourites. And it’s not having a favourite or being with a favourite, it’s keeping one. I am not one to keep: certainly not upon a shelf with a dozen others. I wish I could have advised myself before this all happened. I wouldn’t have left the Empire if I knew I’d be sitting here with you in a ditch of my own digging, toiling night and day for a woman who so kindly repays me by keeping me in constant anguish.’

  ‘Freyza…’ Bayezid began. ‘Do you hear yourself?’

  ‘By definition, I do,’ Freyza snapped.

  Bayezid sighed and shook his head, after which he took a sip of gin. ‘Let’s put it this way. If you feel that you are too good to be the queen’s royal favourite because you want her all for yourself, it is about time you make a clean break from the arrangement. Walk away. The state visit will continue without you — and you won’t be in self-proclaimed anguish anymore.’

  ‘Preposterous. You know I couldn’t leave,’ said Freyza. ‘My life would be over.’

  Bayezid poured Freyza a goblet of gin and handed it to him. ‘Then I suppose anguish it is. Cheers to that. The type of anguish that inspires envy in millions of men, and that nobody would ever wish to hear anyone complain about. That does include myself.’

  ‘I should at least be seated with the advisers,’ said Freyza.

  Bayezid peered out and scanned for familiar faces. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘I don’t see any other lovers of hers sitting there.’

  Freyza felt himself being seduced to look out as well. There was no music playing yet to declare the arrival of their guests, and so he felt safe enough to look down upon them as well.

  Though Katherine stood below a canopy that had been erected upon some scaffolding, he could see the tail end of her train sticking out on the back of it. In the crowd, indeed he did not see any faces that had become known to him in his adventures of inadvertently becoming part of the inner circle of Souchon Palace’s royal couple.

  ‘I’m basically an adviser,’ snapped Freyza. ‘Those aren’t in the crowd for they stand with her.’

  Bayezid chuckled. ‘You keep telling yourself that. It’ll be hard enough to make it through this fortnight, Freyza, let us drop any of the pretence and instead enjoy the show for as far as we can. In many years, when we will be sour old men, you will likely wish for your anguish back.'