Page 139 of Bloom
“True.” Father sighed. “Well, at least with court leaving, we won’t have to worry about that minky pestering anyone except for the servants.”
***
Despite the stressful morning, Aleric couldn’t pretend he didn’t feel lighter. He took a bath while imagining a home free of potentially traitorous courtiers, a possibly traitorous brother, and Gautier.
Bliss.
His problems weren’t entirely gone, but it’d be a relief while he navigated the coming months with Jaime and gave birth later.
He also wanted to discuss something with him. After he bathed, Jaime had his and came out. Aleric hadn’t bothered to comb his hair, and he had a book open on the bed as he lay on his stomach.
He realized he wouldn’t be able to do that for a while in a few months. His belly would be too big.
“I wanted to ask you something.” He closed the book and sat up. “Have you ever thought about going to King Alton and getting your hold back?”
Jaime paused by the foot of the bed. “I’ve thought about it, but I can’t. He might not even believe me.”
“You have your Father’s sword.”
“What if it’s stolen?”
“It would have been hard to get your hands on that. A bandit probably would have tried to scratch out the name.”
“Still…I’m also sure my parent’s old paintings are all gone, and I don’t have any. I can’t compare my looks to them. A man coming to say he’s a dead lord’s son sounds like a fairy tale and like I want a position handed to me.”
“What about the family who lived elsewhere? You said they came to visit.”
“They did, but I’m sure those homes have been cleaned out, and their possessions sold or tossed out. Who knows? Quite frankly, I don’t want to know if anyone’s using my family’s stuff. They may not have had a portrait of my parents. Just because you believe me doesn’t mean the King will. How often does he get people coming to reclaim their family name and hold? Lastly, there was someone who wanted my family dead. How do I know if it was a lord, and he’s-erm, I think King Alton keeps a court. What if someone responsible is there?”
“I’m pretty sure King Alton does keep a court.”
“Even if he doesn’t, and word travels…” Jaime shook his head. “Whoever was responsible might hear of it. What if they decide to get rid of me? The attack wasn’t to loot or take over. Whoever it was, they likely hated my family with a burning passion. Someone even chased Jed to get me and erase me from the realm.”
“I’d vouch for you, and you could get people in the village to corroborate your story, but maybe he would believe you.”
“It’s best if I stay ‘dead’ and out of everyone’s mind,” said Jaime.
“But what if you weren’t in danger? Maybe something was later found out, and you didn’t hear about it. What if King Alton knows something that’s not public?”
Jaime hesitated. He’d likely cut off a finger if he could actually know why his whole family and life had been utterly destroyed that night. “It’s not worth it. I’ve got you and a baby on the way. If there’s any chance I’d be in danger, you might be too. Our baby has Scaliger blood. Gautier’s going away, so let’s try to enjoy that, shall we? We need to get rid of him permanently since I doubt he’ll give up. He’ll simply wait and try to put together a new plan even if he can’t implement it for a while.”
“All right. If you do ever change your mind, tell me. Father could help you write to the King to address it.”
Aleric leaned back on his pillows. Zacharie likely wouldn’t care to visit after the baby was born. If Father wrote to tell him, he’d likely make a nasty joke to Gautier about Aleric’s ass being ruined from pushing out something the size of a watermelon.
What if Aleric and Jaime went to visit later with some bullshit about making nice and putting away the past? They could kill Gautier while in the house. Zacharie might have a new one built, but it wouldn’t be huge. Father wasn’t about to give him funds to have a Castle of his own.
On their last visit, he remembered the servants went home at night. There had been no need to have the house staffed overnight with the lord and his two children. Father probably couldn’t boil water without burning it, but they’d been quite capable of fetching themselves a drink or a basic snack from the kitchen.
There might be a way to work out a plan later. He imagined failing, and Father thinking he was a cold-blooded murderer.
“What are you thinking?” asked Jaime.
“About what we can do later. I wish Gautier had tried luring you in so we’d have something more as evidence that he’sagainst me. Your messed up herbs aren’t enough. Father might think Olivier made a mistake and didn’t mean to give you stomach issues.”
“Maybe he’ll give up since you’ve got someone willing to protect you. He might have guessed that you’ve told me.”
“I don’t think he’ll give up that easily. You’ll be a target too. Perhaps he wanted to give you more time to get settled. A couple of months. Except we’re getting married now, and Father’s kicking everyone out to make me happy…I doubt he was accounting for drastic changes.”
