Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 23

[ The King ]

Today was the day Lady Esther and I would be having the afternoon tea I had promised all those days ago. I had permitted Poflorin to make all the arrangements and allowed him to be the sole decision maker on Lady Esther’s welfare. He had been very thorough. I was pleased.

Poflorin had tended to Lady Esther everyday. When he was not tending to her he was researching, writing notes and planning. Today's order of events were organised by the young Healer. According to him the flow of the day needed to demonstrate trust, freedom and truth.

To achieve this Poflorin would share personal information with her, the dissonance with his Father, the fact that he was not a fully qualified Healer and the circumstances of his appointment. He even told me that he would invite his Father to attend an assessment. It pleased me that he was including his Father. I did not expect their relationship to heal overnight but it was a beginning.

Ms Doran would be Lady Esther’s escort to my study, an elderly, unassuming woman. In my study it would be just the two of us. It was contrary to protocol but the exception was necessary. I would spend some quality time with her, feeding her information and then introduce her to her escort and companion; Willis as Josephine.

Esther would be given what she thought she should have for her imagined station. Clothes, jewellery, a seat at my table, access to the castle, the grounds and anywhere else she should want to go. Only, if she wanted to go anywhere she would need her Healers go ahead and Poflorin assured me that if the journey was not one we wished to permit then his approval would not be received.

A clever ploy, all of it. Designed to keep the pretence and stop her brain from seeing issues, connecting dots and rewiring itself. It had not been easy but I had managed to acquire some information on ‘Lady Esther’. The Dukedom she claimed to hail from did not exist but that I already knew. Nothing she had said regarding ‘Lady Esther’ existed so instead I sent someone I trusted to glean titbits. It appeared she was quite memorable, a quiet and delicate looking Lady with a tragic backstory.

Her parents died of the plague, her brother took over the family business in the trade of unusual and expensive materials and silks leaving poor Esther all alone with no company and no way to entertain herself other than attend every ball, party or celebration. Taiya had lived up to the reputation that blue magic held, sneaky and deceitful. Using her magic to infiltrate the homes of the rich and steal from them. The elusive Blue Shadow.

I held some admiration for her, the world was tough for her shade and she had carved a space for herself. Her fingers were very sticky and I believed the Captain when he said that everything pointed to her having the Remnant. Why she would take it was obvious. Why she would keep it… that was a question I would like to know the answer to but it was all speculation. There was still a chance she had never even seen it - if it existed at all.

Remnants were still conjecture. There was no solid evidence for their existence but I wouldn't risk my people and my Kingdom by clinging to my own disbelief on the matter. Unfortunately, with the King Fendryn of Heldren boasting that he possessed a Remnant and using it to apply political pressure and threaten war I was forced to take the matter even more seriously. On a personal level I was appalled at having to deceive this young woman but as King; I had to do whatever it took to protect my Kingdom. That included torture, imprisonment, execution if it came to it and it had. More often than I would have liked. In this case I was the cause of a young woman’s amnesia and was actively denying the correct care thus preventing her from remembering who she was; all in pursuit of protecting my people.

I was feeling the weight of my decisions this afternoon. Being King was a privilege and a burden. The table was set, the teapot was full and imbued with magic to keep it hot, the hearth was lit, all I needed was my guest. I was brooding in an armchair close to the fire when Zach stepped into the room, straight out of the far wall. He danced his way across the room, using his magic to step through the furniture rather than around it. The smile on his face was infectious. Zach pinched a little cake off the stand and popped the whole thing in his mouth.

“Zach…” I chuckled. “The cakes aren’t for you. There are plenty to be had in the kitchen.” He shrugged and continued chewing while circling the room.

“Lady is late… Ms said.” Zach sounded like he was gloating.

“So Grace asked you to let me know Lady Esther is running late?” I clarified.

“Yes, Lady sad.” Zach was still smiling, that was quite unlike him. He did not revel in the pain of others.

“What is it Zach?” I watched him spin through the couch, his eyes glowing brightly as he used his magic freely.

“A secret! I found a secret!” He sang out, so excited that his concentration lapsed and he slipped into the floor up to his knees. Zack giggled and stepped up onto the fur rug. “Lady has magic.” He whispered in my ear. My stomach flipped a little. I had a suspicion, I’d had a suspicion from the moment I’d seen the nasty scar on her stomach but obviously scepticism had gripped me - still gripped me as to the existence of Remnants.

“Are you talking about blue magic? I know she has blue magic.” I checked with Zach. I didn’t find speaking with him difficult, just different to how I would normally communicate.

“Noooooo…..” He laughed and pinched another cake. “Not all blue.”

“Is it what we are looking for?” I asked, anticipation bubbling away. Giddily he lapped the room again before dipping close to my ear as he passed.

“Yesss!” His laugh was shrill, he pilfered another cake.

“Thank you, Zach.” I sighed in relief. If Zach said it was there, I believed him. “Catch!” I called out, tossing him a drawstring pouch full of coin. All the staff here earned a good wage and I rewarded generously when it was earned. Zach, as always, had most certainly earned himself a reward. “Tell Captain Preston to push back bringing Willis to my study by half an hour and then perhaps you can take your sister into town, treat yourselves to cake from a patisserie and not my table.” Zach whooped at my playful words before sliding into the floor.

Feeling more settled than I had in a long while I relaxed back and waited for Lady Esther to arrive.