Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 36: Fortuna
13 September, 1358. Magdaline Castle, Islia
William strode to the training grounds after a night of broken sleep, rubbing his scratchy eyes and determined to vent his frustrations on whichever poor soul was unlucky enough to be his sparring partner that morning.
Despite that, he was glad to be back at Magdaline Castle, sleeping on a proper bed and eating decent food again. He wanted to enjoy the last few days of summer, before the weather started to turn. Soon enough, the court would have to pack up all its collective belongings and head out on progress to King Edwards’s favourite palace of Westerhaven in the south of Islia. The king and queen preferred spending the winter months in the warmer southern region as it better suited the queen’s weak lungs. William, however, wasn’t as fond of Westerhaven. It reminded him too much of his late father, who had loved the dark, gothic architecture and endless marshes that surrounded the palace.
"Will!" He looked across the training ground at the sound of his name and saw his group of closest friends waving him over. Grabbing his practice sword, he walked over and joined them watching Prince James spar with one of his knights for a while.
"Why didn’t you join us for dinner last night? It was a good celebration." Richard raised his brows at William as he deliberated between two practice swords. "We all ended up going to the bathhouse afterwards."
William shrugged. "I had dinner in my rooms and ended up falling asleep early." That was only partially true. He’d been exhausted after the long journey home but also incredibly flustered after almost crashing into Princess Camilla. She had run into him when he had been travelling for days on end, covered in dust and reeking of sweat, dirt and horses. Why oh why did she have to catch him looking at his absolute worst?
If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have really cared. Then again, if he’d run into anyone else, he wouldn’t have just stood there and stared like an imbecile. He hated himself a little for acting the way he did around her. He hadn’t been able to face the thought of seeing her again, so his only option had been to avoid dinner in the banquet hall altogether.
William pushed further thoughts of the girl out of his mind and instead tried to focus on what his friends were talking about. Robin was telling the others about events that took place over the summer, including the names of all the new ladies-in-waiting that had joined the court.
"One of them is Lady Mathilde De Buer, who is now attending the queen." Robin looked pointedly at Prince Thomas. "She’s only a young girl so perhaps she’ll turn out to have a sweeter temper than her elder sister?"
"I doubt it. The entire De Buer clan can end up at the bottom of the damn sea, for all I care." growled Thomas. "Besides, Father is determined I wed the elder sister since her dowry is so generous. He said I’d be a fool to turn down such a mountain of gold. But I told him I deserve three mountains of gold if I have to share my bed with that shrew for the rest of my life."
William shot his cousin a look of pity. Arguing with King Edward was a waste of time.
Thomas sighed. "Still, I suppose I only need to grit my teeth long enough to get a child on Eleanor, then I can banish her to the countryside. That’s what Rufus did with his wife."
William chuckled as he started parrying blows with Francis. "Aww. That’s beautiful, Tom. The bards will be writing a ballad based on your words, this very week." The young men all roared with laughter as they continued warming up with the practice swords.
Richard gestured with his sword towards the cluster of ladies at the edge of the grounds who had gathered to watch the training session. "Well, here’s hoping Her Majesty and the other princesses all find themselves several new ladies to serve them. I’m bored of all the women at court. We need new blood. Otherwise it’s just the same wenches, most of which we’ve lain with already."
"Don’t tell me you have run out of conquests, Rich?"
"No, he hasn’t quite run out yet." Tom’s voice was sly. "Rich, didn’t you say once that it would only a matter of a week or two before you’d manage to seduce the Princess of Moraigth? And yet, she has been here for months and remains quite untouched. By you, anyway."
Richard scowled at him. "Firstly, I’ve been away from court for weeks. Secondly, now that I’m back I could still have her if I wanted. I just have no interest in orphaned paupers."
"Well, she’s not such a pauper any more, is she?" Robin gave him a knowing little smile. "It has been rather funny to watch men who always refused to give the princess the time of day, now fall over themselves to show her every courtesy. Even some of the ladies have started being less frosty towards her. Goes to show how shallow most courtiers are, I guess."
The other young men, who had all been away on the campaign, looked puzzled. "What has changed?" one asked.
Understanding dawned on Robin’s face as he explained. "Ah. I guess not all of the news from court would’ve reached you in the south. Princess Camilla has been declared King Kenneth’s heir by the Grand Council of the Moraigthian lords. Or heiress, I should say. Kenneth doesn’t like it, of course. But he finds himself unable to oppose it at the moment."
The faces of the men were all stunned and they abruptly stopped their practice drills. "That’s impossible." stuttered Richard, who’s sword fell to the ground with a loud clang. "How the fuck did that happen?"
William tried to make sense of this new information, casting his mind back to the events just before he and his soldiers had departed from court. "But Kenneth’s queen is expecting a child imminently, isn’t she?"
"Child’s been born. A girl. A sickly, weak girl at that." Robin replied cheerfully. "King Kenneth is beside himself with disappointment, of course, but still declared the baby his successor. Most of his lords rose up in opposition though and the king was forced to back down. So until he has a son for an heir, he’s being forced to accept his niece."
"What a turn in fortune’s wheel for the princess." Tom muttered. "No wonder Father has looked after her so well. He probably expected something like this to happen."
"It will never work." fumed Richard. "Moraigth has never had a reigning queen. That mongrel pack of barbarians will never submit to a woman’s rule."
Francis shrugged. "That’s true but it sounds like they have little choice right now. It’s either a baby who might die at any moment or a young woman of fertile age who can be married off to a powerful lord and make babies of her own. If Princess Camilla were to choose a Moraigthian husband wisely and then give him a son, I’ve no doubt most of the lords would flock to her."
As the news sunk in, William realised his cunning uncle would never let Camilla leave Islia now, knowing she had become an even more powerful pawn. Instead, he’d use her as leverage against King Kenneth for as long as he could. She truly was a prisoner, albeit one in a golden cage.
"Surely then King Kenneth will insist his heiress should be immediately returned to Moraigth, not be living outside his realm. That’s like leaving all your gold in your enemy’s pocket." Richard argued.
"Well, he can insist all he wants, but our king will never comply and he’s the one with the princess in his keeping. He who has the gold makes the rules." William said, more to himself. "I think we all know that the moment the princess crosses the border, she’s a dead woman. King Edward will keep her safe here and likely try and marry her to someone beneficial to Islia. And King Kenneth will have to pray he can get a healthy boy on his wife before then."
As the group paused training to take a short break, William thought about the change in Camilla’s circumstances. He wondered how she felt about the turn of events. The thought of her marrying troubled him, but he didn’t really understand why. Wasn’t that the most important task for a princess - to marry and produce as many healthy children as possible?
"If I’d known we had a potential future queen in our midst, I might have asked to dance once or twice." William mused.
"It’s an odd position the poor girl finds herself in." Robin agreed, laughing. "Either the heir to a throne or the heir to nothing at all. It all depends on the whims of Fortuna."
