Chapter 35: Chapter 35

35 Chapter 35 : The royal jewelers

“Your grace, we are approaching the capital,” Beric spoke through the little window of the wagon.

“Good, we’ll keep a low profile and hide out in the town until the wedding,” Adam responded, “and then we’ll infiltrate the castle and rescue Guinevere from that scumbag prince Nathaniel Aldos.”

Adam made a mental note to reward his men after all this was over, it was rare to find allies who would be by his side even through what some may consider a trivial matter. This mission they were on didn’t have anything to do with the wellbeing of their kingdom, it was a selfish mission for Adam to pursue a woman, yet here they were, valiantly riding beside him.

“If you want, you all can turn back and head home,” Adam spoke to his men, “you’ve already helped me enough by getting me this far, this mission is for the sake of my own selfishness, you need not to accompany me any further, you are not bound to follow me through this.”

The men were silent for a long minute, then Ozias gripped Nathan’s shoulder tightly and gave him a smile. “Sorry to be presumptuous your grace, but you are foolish to think we’re here with you as knights of Gavaria.”

Adam flattered his lashes at Ozias, wondering what he meant.

“We’re here as your friends your grace,” Beric added on, “We’ve fought along side you for years and grown quite found of you as well. Do you recall back during the siege of Baiviles when you helped me talk to that brunette from the bar.”

“I do,” Adam responded thoughtfully, “What ever happened to her?”

“I married her your grace,” Beric responded sheepishly, “been together a year now.”

.....

“And that one time my wife threatened to cut my wiener off when she found me at the brothel,” Ivan spoke next, “you told her you had sent me there on a secret mission because you caught word that there was a spy hiding among the prostitutes.”

“I’m not proud of that Ivan, a man of honor should be loyal to his wife,” Adam responded curtly.

Ivan pat Adam’s shoulder and chuckled, “my point is you’ve helped all of us when it comes to trivial matters of the heart your grace.”

“So it’s only fair if we return the favor,” Roland commented.

“Roland you too?” Adam couldn’t remember ever helping the beautiful man with any female related issues.

The beautiful blue eyed man nervously scratched the back of his head, “you’re the one who convinced the old drunk from the olive bar that I wasn’t a woman.”

All the men inside and outside the wagon burst into laughter, oh poor Roland, in as much as women were all over him because of his beautiful face, so were men. He really had a hard time especially in bars where men were too drunk to tell whether he was a man or woman.

“Shut up the lot of you,” the beautiful man grumbled, “my point is that his highness is our friend, and friends help each other out, even if it is over a woman.”

“Besides, she’s going to be queen one day,” Zander pointed out, “so to some extent this is a service to the kingdom.”

Adam smiled warmly at his men, truly these were not just his allies but his good friends, he was glad he had them by his side.

*

In the western shire of Meria, Guria, Bahram Morrell was sitting in his study when a servant walked in with a parchment in hand.

“My lord, you have a letter from Gavaria,” the servant spoke with a bow, “it is marked as important.”

Bahram Morrell was a tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes. He mostly took after his father, John Morrell, physically with a strong stature and masculine features, but he had inherited his mother’s soft blue eyes. Overall, Bahram was a handsome man.

The blue eyed man took the parchment from the servant and read its contents, “it’s from William!” Bahram spoke as he clenched the parchment tightly, “he says Ella may be in danger!”

Bahram rushed out of the study towards his chambers and started packing some items into his satchel.

“Honey? What’s going on?”

Astrid was the daughter of the former lord of Guria, she was now Bahram Morrell’s wife of two years. She was a petit woman but with striking features, a head full of curly brown hair and beautiful big brown eyes carefully centered on her small peach shaped face.

“I’ve received word from William that our sister may be in danger,” Bahram explained, “he says the man she is about to wed, prince Nathan, has a hidden agenda behind marrying her and it may cost Ella her life.”

“The prince?” Astrid felt distraught, how on earth was her husband going to stand against the crowned prince of their land? Nathaniel had soldiers and armies at his disposal, Bahram was walking towards his own demise.

“My love don’t you think you should think about this first?” Astrid pleaded with him, “the prince is a powerful man, if he finds out you’re out to foil whatever plans he has, he can easily get you killed.”

“So you would rather I sit back and let my little sister marry an evil man like that?”

“Please let someone else handle it darling, we need you here.” Astrid was desperate, she didn’t know how she would go on of anything ever happened to her husband.

Bahram crouched down in front of his wife and kissed her protruding belly, “I promise I will come back home safely to both of you,” Bahram spoke softly, “Ella is as much my family as you are to me, William wouldn’t call upon me if he didn’t think this was serious and you know that.”

Astrid wiped her misty eyes and nodded, “we will be waiting for you Bahram, don’t take too long.”

*

Two men were dragged into the royal throne room by two knights and thrown on their knees before prince Nathaniel and king Bradley.

“The royal jewelers your majesty,” one of the nights spoke with a bow.

“So you’re the men who had the audacity to sell the crowned prince fake jewelry?!” King Aldos roared, “do you have any idea what harm you’ve caused to the future queen of Meria?!”

“Please your grace, we wouldn’t never sell fake jewelry to you or anyone,” one of the men spoke

“You’ve done business with us for years my king,” the second added on, “not once did we ever sell anything other than genuine gold and silver, why would we start now?”

Nathan narrowed his eyes at the two trembling men, “are you calling us lairs?”

“No of course not your grace,” the first man whimpered, “we would never be so presumptuous, we’re merely saying that maybe there is a misunderstanding.”

“If you claim the necklace is not fake, it could only mean one thing,” Nathan added on, “you laced it with poison.”

The two men’s jaws dropped, they were not foolish, they knew the repercussions of trying to poison anyone of high stature. If they couldn’t prove that they were innocent, they’d have to kiss their lives and families goodbye.

“Please your grace have mercy,” the second man pleaded, his hands and forehead to the floor, “we would never do such a sinister thing, if you will not take our word for it, let us place the necklace on my neck. If truly it is poisoned, I too shall react as your lady did.”

“And if you do react?” Nathan questioned the man

“Then your grace, you can hang me at the stakes for all to see.”

Nathan eyed the man sternly and then waved to his guards, “get them to their feet.”

The guards pulled the two men to their feet and made them face the prince, “you shall forge three other betrothal necklaces for my beloved in less than twenty four hours under the watchful eye of my men,” Nathan spoke, his voice was firm and demanding respect, even his father could see that Nathaniel would be a no nonsense king indeed. “Immediately you are done, my lady will personally select the one she desires and wear it.”

Nathan walked over to one of the men and cupped his jaw firmly, “if my lady doesn’t like any of the necklaces, you hang.”

Nathan released the man’s jaw and swiftly cocked his head to the side before walking away, “take them away, and do not leave their sides until their job is done.”

“Yes your grace.” The guards responded.

Even though prince Nathaniel’s anger was directed towards the jewelers, everyone in the room could feel his aura weigh on them like a heavy cloud of dark smoke. This man sparked fear in the hearts of the guards and even his own father with mere words, he was truly terrifying.

“I’m going to see how Ella is fairing,” Nathan spoke as he exited the throne room, “I trust you’ll be able to handle this matter father, I wish not to stress before my wedding.”

King Bradley Aldos cleared his throat and nodded, “yes, you go on and tend to your lady.”

When Nathan left, the king slumped down into his chair and released a long breath he didn’t even know he was holding. His son had definitely changed over the past few weeks, Nathan had always been head strong and sharp, but now he had become down right scary. He had this aura around him that seemed almost not human and it scared the king to the core.