The Broken Crown

Chapter 2

 Raymond

 “Why must I marry her, Mother?” Raymond’s brother asked desperately. Raphael’s head was resting in one of his hands as he sat crouched over the desk in his father’s work chamber. He had taken a liking to spending time in there after their father’s passing.

 Lucretia sighed and Raymond understood her exhaustion. This was the question that Raphael had been asking for the last hour – well, the last few weeks to be honest – with only a slight difference in the wording as variation. “Because we need to tie the Lamarcks to us.”  Her wariness had become more and more evident in the past hour or so.

 “I know that,” Raphael hissed, just as impatient as his mother. Raymond let himself slide further down into his chair. At first, he had been amused at his brother’s childish reaction to the arrangement but after months of listening to his grumbling, even Raymond could not laugh at it any more.

 “In the name of the gods, she’s the most beautiful woman in the kingdom,” he exclaimed, his head falling against the back of the chair. “You don’t need to talk to her, you just have to marry her and bed her and have a baby that the kingdom can be happy about.”

 Lucretia looked between her two sons. “What your brother says is true, even if it is vulgar.” She walked across the floor to rest her hand on top of her oldest son’s fingers, which were fisted into balls. “Just like any other marriage.”

 Raphael looked up at his mother and Raymond could see anger burning in the depths. “Except I am the King.” Every word was emphasized.

 Lucretia leaned over slightly, as if it would make him able to hear her better. “That only makes your marriage even more important.”

 Huffing, Raphael leaned back into his chair. Raymond could not help but sympathize a little with his brother; at the age of eighteen, he had not had much time to live a young man’s life. “She kept staring at me,” the older brother whispered, not exactly disgusted, but something close.

 “All due respect, you did stare at her a lot as well,” Raymond joked. When his brother sent him a lethal look, he threw his hands up in surrender. “It was a jest.”

 “Well, not a very funny one.” Raphael’s indignant tone just made Raymond laugh. Even their mother smiled a little. That was an accomplishment.

 “She is important to us,” she clarified once more. “Even if I did manage to keep your father’s consumption of the Crown’s coin to a minimum, it still has its debts. Adrianne has one of the best dowries in the entire kingdom along with the power of her house.”

 Sighing, Raphael nodded. This was the end of the discussion but Raymond knew that it would not be the last of its kind. “Are we done here?” He looked from his mother to his older brother expectantly. Seeing as none of them objected, he stood up. “I should go taste the wine for the feast tonight. It would be a shame if we, by accident, served the guests mediocre refreshments.”

 His mother gave him a disapproving glance but didn’t say anything – not even when he stood in the doorway, waiting for any of them to say something. When they turned away to discuss how Raphael should make his entrance that evening, he turned around and left.

 The halls of the castle were cold and empty. Most others would be in their rooms, preparing for the feast, but Raymond had been early. You never knew how long it would take to convince Raphael that marrying the Lamarck girl was a good idea.

 Soon enough, he was standing in the large dining hall. It was built in light grey stone, like most of the castle, with tables placed in a U-form along the edges of the room. At the middle of the table, directly in line with the entrance, the King would sit. In between the tables, a large area was cleared so that it would be possible to dance later in the evening. Servants were running around, making last-minute additions to the decorations. As a particularly pretty maidservant ran past him, he grabbed her arm with just enough force to stop her running steps. “Hold for a minute,” he asked.