Eniera could have been happier. Point in fact, she was very unhappy. She sat on the edge of the bed in the governor’s mansion and stared at the floor for several minutes.

The silk sheets were worth more than a common family could earn in a year, the furnishings around her would have surpassed the wealth of their lifetime, her silk robes could have bought a dozen people at auction at any time.

And yet Eniera Jabara, Hammer and Sword of the Empire, was displeased. “I can’t believe it. All that work… and the one chance to get at her before she goes to my son… and she’s booked.” Eniera rolled her eyes.

“Even a charging percheron can be undone by a gopher hole when it catches him by the hoof.” Eniera muttered the old saying and thought over her options. ‘I still have my arrows here, perhaps I can have her simply ‘snatched’ and see… no. Anyone can be broken under torture, that’s not a real answer to anything. Perhaps I could…’ But nothing followed, Eniera leaned over and clutched the side of her head, her elbows resting on her knees. “My boy is going to get himself killed if he doesn’t know how to tell the difference between who to trust and who not to trust…” Her body shivered in silks, ‘Every time I kill one there comes another… and another, and another…’

Eniera tried and tried to think of one plan or plot that might drive the point home for him. ‘Just talk to him, mother to son… explain about our history with Fa’Alenshi… make him understand it will be the same with anyone out of Abacleon, they have to be kept at arm’s length… or… maybe…’ She turned the thought over in her head.

“Maybe just throw the boy into an orgy, a bevy of beauties, has one girl and thinks it’s… whatever he does.” Eniera spoke only to herself in the empty room and rose to her feet, she snatched the purple silk rope beside the bed and gave it a yank. “The young, one taste of sex and it’s love, show him that her body isn’t some magic happiness elixir, and he’ll realize she can be replaced.”

That spoken realization put a smile on her face that met the two slaves that entered her quarters. They were a study in charm and grace, each step confident, certain. Their bare feet made barely a sound on the stone, their simple white camisks secured tightly at the waist exposing the contours of skin, the larger, a strong looking young man whose head had been shaved, was fit enough to be a palace guard. The smaller, a young woman was built like a sprinter, her legs long and slender as a doe compared to her hulking companion.

Eniera jabbed her finger toward the wall of meat, “You, the royal governor keeps courtesans, doesn’t he?”

The slave, taken aback by the aggressive gesture out of the smiling woman, instinctively withdrew a pace. “Ah, not exactly, my Princess. Instead there is a Xanadu where he goes to relax.”

“Good. Go ensure its attendants are ready for a very important guest.” Eniera replied, then moved her pointed finger to the young woman. “You, come here and dress me, I have an important guest to collect, and I want to be gone an hour ago.”

“A-At once.” The pair replied, their feet slapped over the smooth stone as they rushed to their appointed tasks.

‘The governor is such a silly fellow, I’m sure he’s trying to find out just what my type is.’ It was almost whimsical, the way she thought of it, ‘All their machinations, all the plots, all the schemes… inside and out, and I’m still here, my brother is still here.’ The smile of bemusement remained on her face when she cast the robe off, and down to the floor.

Being naked before the strangers meant nothing to Eniera, nor did her nudity mean anything to the women, it was only necessary to perform her function. And so the doe-like woman with her gentle brown eyes selected garments according to the choice of the Princess.

“Practical, not pretty. I have no time for anything but my intentions.” Eniera quipped with a dismissive wave and the girl with the downcast eyes answered her…

“Of course, my Lady.”

A simple riding garb fit for royalty, bright crimson shirt with purple silk lace, a set of black forearm length gloves, a set of ink colored pants and calf length riding boots later… and the slave finished binding the laces and buckles with deft, well practiced fingers.

The slave remained on her knees and folded her hands into her thighs with her head down when she said, “I’m finished, Mistress.”

“Good.” Eniera said, granting the servant praise and a touch to the top of her soft, silky brown hair.

“We’re done here, you can go.” Eniera said and strode past her without even another glance.

Gottfried kept his thoughts to himself as he paced privately in his room, his hands behind his back while he struggled to even understand what was bothering him. ‘She’s a whore, of course she has to do that… what do you want to do, get her pregnant…? Won’t that make mother proud, her first grandchild dropping from an Abacleon prostitute, the daughter of a traitor no less. That will go over well.’

But the question he asked himself caught him off guard when he drew back and looked at it in his head again. ‘Wait… did I actually… was there a ‘yes’ there somewhere? Am I disappointed?’

He tried to picture it, the long silky dark hair tumbling down her naked back, the soft breasts that were so very comforting. ‘What would a son, or a daughter be like?’ Iris was intelligent, graceful… and to his growing understanding, ‘She’s stronger than she seems…’

He had just paced toward the mirror when he was forced to admit, ‘And every time she comes to see you… you’re making her sick. You get to release, she gets to vomit… and on top of that… eventually it will kill her bloodline.’

Everything about it made his skin tingle, crawl, or the hairs on his arms stand on end. ‘What would she even want… would ‘she’ want a child… not as things are, she’s too smart for that… but even after everything I’m still the one to lead an army to her city. What would we tell our child one day? First, father captured mother’s city…’

The thought trailed off as he returned to the question itself, he went to a wide backed chair and flopped himself down in it.

“You’re the nephew of the emperor, who can possibly tell you ‘no’ about any of this?” Gottfried asked himself, “If I want… more. If she wants… more? Who is going to tell me I’m wrong? I can put her in a house somewhere where it won’t be a scandal, she says she doesn’t want anything from me… but that can’t be completely right… at least not when there’s nobody in the way.”

Gottfried wasn’t sure if he was talking himself into something, out of something, or just venting to the empty room, when a quick trio of cracking knocks rattled the door on its hinges.

“Your mother is here.” Xagen said before Gottfried could even ask.

“My mother… why would ‘she’ be here?” Gottfried asked, a chill came over him as he asked the question. ‘She wouldn’t be here without a reason.’ He understood, and he intuitively lept to the worst possible guess.

She came into view a moment later, breezing through the door without a glance as if she owned the entire building, which in a sense it could have been argued that she did.

“I’ve come to take you somewhere… somewhere to clear your head of nonsense.” Gottfried stiffened when he heard that out of his mother’s lips.

‘She couldn’t have heard any of that before… but… so much for ‘nobody could refuse me.’ Gottfried thought and rose to his feet.

He went to the door, took the golden handle in his fingers, the smooth surface was cool to the touch, and turned it. His grip on it was more tense than intended, and he felt the soft metal compress, molding around his finger tips as he squeezed it out of his mother’s view.

“What do you mean ‘nonsense’, mother? Where are you taking me?” Gottfried pressed for information, looking down at the woman with vicious eyes who made kings flinch with a glance.

“First, I will tell you what you didn’t know about Fa’Alenshi, and what I’ve learned about the recent little poisoning effort… then… you deal with something else.” Eniera turned away and pointed toward the door. “Come along my boy, there’s not a moment to lose.” The face she wore was intense, serious, and what, to Gottfried, almost seemed like a tiny hint of fear.

Nothing large, just the faintest tic at the corner of her fierce eyes that was there for a moment and then gone just as quickly. ‘This really got to her… fine, fine, a few hours… I can endure her smothering mothering for that long if I must.’

“Among the things we have to discuss… your recent spending.” She said as she reached the door and wrapped her hand around the golden knob, it bent inward from the tension, giving only a tiny groan of protest before the door opened at her tug.

‘Or… can I?’ Gottfried asked, suppressing a shudder as he followed her out the door.