chapter 2

In the Throne Room, the new King sat on his new throne. For years he had carefully planned his takeover and now, finally, the fruits of his labours lay about him. It had ended up being shockingly easy to overthrow the former King. When the Palace was stormed, all but a few soldiers had immediately laid down their arms and pledged allegiance to their new ruler. Few were willing to risk their lives for such a beastly royal family. As it turned out, they were so widely disliked that even some of the peerage had helped get rid of them. The newly reigning King Richard was a handsome, fearless soldier, leader of the rebels and was the perfect man for this new position. He had been a leading Knight at one time, and therefore high enough up the social ladder that most of the peers didn't object to him, but he was not a royal, nor of noble birth and thus the commoner approved of him too.

King Richard lent back in his throne, suspicious of the silence. He had expected nobles to fight back, at least some of them. But none did. In fact, he had received many letters of support from Viscounts, Dukes, and Earls and carriages of well-dressed Lords and Ladies had been stopping all day to congratulate him and introduce themselves. Everyone seemed quite eager for life to return to normal as soon as possible, hopefully now with less needless spending at the hands of the royals.

The grand doors burst open and several arguing courtiers bustled over to the King.

"What is the matter?" King Richard asked urgently, wondering if the nobles had finally struck back.

A quick nod from his closest advisor, Collins, confirmed his suspicions.

"A group of nobles in the city, Your Highness" Collins explained. "They applaud your disposal of the King, but they believe that, as long as the Princess is alive, she is the rightful ruler and they will fight for her to take her place on the throne"

"A simple solution" came the gruff voice of another courtier. "She shall be killed too. She cannot be the rightful ruler then"

King Richard shook his head.

"No. It would not be wise. My relationship with the peerage is tenuous, unjustified bloodshed of a noble could push them over the edge. It is expected to kill the King when overthrowing him, his son was killed in battle and the Queen was ripped to shreds by her own servants... natural casualties of an uprising. To kill a young girl who is no physical threat, after the fighting has concluded... it would be underhanded. It would turn her into a martyr"

There was silence as the courtiers considered his words.

"You are quite right, Your Highness" said Collins eventually. "But she cannot be allowed to become Queen. She would undo all we've worked for. She is known all over as vain and spoilt, as much of a greedy dog as her Father"

"Indeed" agreed the King. "I am not sure of what to do. Alive, she is Queen to those nobles. Dead, she is a martyr to them"

The conversation paused as servants filed in with a great feast. They did this each morning, lunch and evening, despite the King gently reminding them that he was not one of the wasteful creatures they were used to serving and that this quantity of food was unnecessary. They didn't pay much notice, they seemed to want to celebrate the former King's death and food was the best way they knew how.

King Richard studied the grand meal before him as his courtiers took up the debate about Princess Gabrielle once again. The table was littered with cakes, pastries, breads, sweets, and a multitude of other delicious but unhealthy items.

"Your Highness?" asked Collins, noticing that the King was in his own world. The King picked up an iced bun and looked at it with interest.

"What if she were alive, but there was no way the nobles could consider her a Queen?" he said. Seeing that he was met with nothing but confused expressions, he continued. "What if she were simply an unfit choice for Queen, what if they had no option but to accept that I am a better representative of this Kingdom than her?"

"Well, that would be ideal," replied Collins. "And you are a better representative, we know that. But intelligence and kindness like yours won't matter to these nobles. They care more about the things Princess Gabrielle has. Money, fancy clothes, scores of suitors, divine beauty"

"Exactly!" the King leaped out of his throne and pointed to the feast. "Collins, have the servants bring this entire meal to the Princess. Make sure she eats until she physically can no longer do so. Repeat this at lunch, then dinner, and again and again. We will strip her of every graceful, dignified, royal quality she has. Once I am finished with her, there is not a soul in the Kingdom who will look at her and think that she could be a Queen"