Adon Santinetta and Crown Prince Lorens, accompanied by Princess Carena and Lord Bardonnel, make a state visit to Satele, where they encounter a mob at the dock.
Dressed in formal livery, the king’s seneschal welcomed the party from Margonne on the grand white-and-black marble stairway leading up to the massive gilt doors of the palace. Apologizing to Lorens for the ordeal they had endured on the ride from the dock, the seneschal assured them they would be safe in the palace and wished them a pleasant and profitable visit. King Mirando, he said, would be pleased to greet them at a lunch in their honor at noon. He then led the prince and princess to their quarters, located only a hallway away from the royal suites. With equal solemnity, the under-seneschal guided Adon and Petron to individual suites on the floor below.
A cheerful young lieutenant of Satele’s palace guard escorted his Margonni counterparts to the barracks behind the palace, and once they had claimed their bunks, he took them on a tour of the palace to familiarize them with the areas the royals would go during their visit. As soon as the tour finished, four Margonni guards immediately departed to their posts outside Lorens’ and Carena’s doors.
A little while later, Satele’s Captain of the Guard arrived to escort the Margonni royals to the king’s luncheon. With little fanfare, he led them to an ornate dining hall adjacent to the Grand Ballroom, where a score of lords and ladies sat waiting at two long tables extending below the high table. The seneschal announced their arrival to the strains of Margonne’s anthem played by a string quartet set up in a far corner. A minute later, Lord Petron Bardonnel and Adon Santinetta were also announced. Once they were seated, the seneschal pounded the parqueted floor with his ceremonial staff and proclaimed the entrance of Satele’s monarch, King Mirando Valleroi, and its Crown Princess, Grania Valleroi-Portelia.
Older than Margonne’s king by a quarter-century, the silver-haired King Mirando, attired in his military uniform, shambled to his seat at the center of the head table, paying no heed to his daughter, who followed serenely behind him in a sea-green gown and a silver tiara generously peppered with emeralds and diamonds. Adon started when a servant pulled out the chair to his right, and he hastily stood as the Satelen princess sat between him and Carena. A dark-haired, petite, middle-aged woman, Grania gave him a nod of greeting and a polite smile, but said nothing as her father began his speech.
“A warm welcome to our Margonni friends, Crown Prince Lorens and Princess Carena,” Mirando said in a hoarse voice, as he stood in front of his oversized chair. “We are pleased to have this opportunity to renew our longstanding friendship with our neighbors to the west. The centerpiece of their visit, I’m told, will be good-faith discussions between our trade ministers, Margonne’s Lord Petron Bardonnel and our Lord Rigorio Andalo. I hope those two don’t find a way to ruin the two-hundred-year special relationship between our two kingdoms.” Many in the crowd chuckled as the king sat down, and the quartet began playing melodic dinner music. Taking their cue, the servants began pouring wine and serving the meal.
After the wine steward had poured wine for him, Adon turned to the princess, smiling, “I am pleased to meet you, Princess Grania. I am Adonis Santinetta, a captain of the Palace Guard in Palisade.” He gave her a bow from his shoulders.
“The pleasure is mine, sir!” she replied with a genuine smile, her small and perfect white teeth gleaming. “I have wanted to meet you for some time now. I have heard all about your branch of the Santinetta family, Captain. Your father and grandmother have made the Margonni Santinettas quite illustrious.”
Adon chuckled. “Not so illustrious that I should be seated next to the Crown Princess of Satele!”
Grania laughed. “It is your good fortune that I am currently out of my father’s favor,” she said quietly, leaning toward him so that only he could hear her words. “By custom, I should be sitting next to Prince Lorens, but he put me here to show his displeasure.” She shook her head at her father’s petulance. “I hope that doesn’t offend you. I quite like this arrangement. You see, he wishes me to marry again—and the sooner, the better. But I did that once at his insistence, and it was a disaster, an experience I am loath to repeat.” After a moment, she added, “I envy you your happy marriage.”
“My dear Cassindra deserves all the credit for that,” Adon said, his eyes sparkling. “She’s a joy to live with! I, however, am just a crusty old sailor who stayed too long at sea most years.”
“Perhaps your absence made her miss you more,” the princess suggested, “and when you came home, she showered you with her joy.”
The captain gave a noncommittal grunt, but his face remained cheerful. “Since I’ll be working in Palisade now, I’ll have the chance to see if your theory is seaworthy.”
The delicious food set before them, much of it the produce of the sea, stalled their conversation for a while. As they ate, both kept an ear on the king’s strangely insistent questioning of Princess Carena about her voyage, what she hoped to do in Delphino, and finally, her prospects of marriage, which made Grania blush deeply and lower her head. To her credit, under the king’s onslaught, Carena, though a little flustered at times, kept her usually mercurial temper in check and answered the king as politely as she could.
A short while later, between courses, Princess Grania whispered to Adon, “I’m sorry about my father’s questions. I was his target. He wanted me to hear how much the princess desires marriage and feel ashamed at my refusal. After all these years, I know how that old man works.”
Adon gave her a sympathetic smile. “I must assume he does it out of concern for you.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “The old man’s heart is thoroughly political, my naive captain! He wants me to secure the succession through an advantageous marriage to a deserving male relative who will be strong enough—and politically minded enough—to rule Satele after he’s gone.” Her face flushed again, but this time, anger flared in her eyes. She continued in a fierce hiss, “I’m merely a pawn in the game of succession, and I refuse to be used!”
Adon, not knowing how to respond to her vehemence, gave her a sympathetic look and said, “Politics is a cruel slave master, I’m told.”
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“You are a plainspoken man,” the princess said, admiration in her eyes, her anger pacified. “I know that truth all too well. It has ruled my whole life, and I have fought it like a tigress every day since I realized how it controls me. If I had one wish, it would be to be free of politics for the rest of my days—free to live my life for my own sake. But I doubt that wish will ever be offered me.” After a moment, she added, her cheeks pink, “I don’t know why I am telling you all this! It is not like me, nor is it proper.”
“I’m honored that you have confided in me, my lady,” Adon said with a bow of his head. “Your words are safe with me! You see, I am not political—at least not deliberately. Of course, I do as the king and prince command me, but in my own mind, I just try to help my friends. And I already consider you a friend, Princess Grania, though I met you just half an hour ago.”
She beamed. “Which is precisely what I need—a friend! Royals are lucky if they ever find a true friend, you know.”
“I do know,” the captain replied, nodding. “I’ve lived among them long enough to realize how lonely wearing a crown can be. If there is one good thing we Santinettas have done, we have been there for our kings as relatives and servants, but mostly as friends. I think that’s why they keep us around.”
Grania sighed and pouted. “Then I guess I cannot poach you from the prince.” She appeared to be at least half-serious.
“No, we come together or not at all.”
“Well, then, I will do my best to be friendly with Prince Lorens!” Her eyes glinting deviously, she smiled her radiant smile again, adding, “It just occurred to me you two would make powerful allies.”
Adon laughed, taking a sip from his wineglass. “Now who’s scheming politically?”
“Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I didn’t learn anything! Here in Satele, I’ve had the very best teachers.”
“Then I will step lightly and remain vigilant,” Adon said. “You remind me that here, in a court of intrigue, I must remain on guard.”
“Always, captain,” Grania said approvingly. “Everyone—I mean everyone—is angling for advantage or promotion. Even me. I must at least swim the waters to survive among the circling sharks, even though it is distasteful.” She looked up, flinching involuntarily as a courtier approached the head table. “And here, my dear captain, comes one of the most dangerous.”
The man walking toward them gave Adon the impression of a playful hound rather than a rapacious shark, but her warning made him look more closely. Attired in a mix of black, white, and gray, he was of average height and weight, with dark, slightly mussed hair and almost black eyes in a tanned face that sported a stubbly beard. His lopsided grin appeared genuine, or perhaps the result of a little too much of the king’s rich wine. He stopped an arm’s length from the table and sketched a perfect courtly bow.
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“I am overjoyed to see you looking so well, Princess Grania,” he purred in a magnificent baritone voice that did not slur. “I trust you have recovered from your recent illness?”
Grania gave him a practiced smile, dipping her head. “Thank you, Lord Marinacci. Yes, I have quite recovered. It was exhaustion, nothing more.” She turned to Adon. “Captain Santinetta, this is Lord Corado Marinacci, one of Satele’s leading producers of metal goods. Lord Marinacci, this is Adonis Santinetta, Prince Lorens’ cousin and the Captain of his Guard.” The two men gave each other the proper courtesies.
“Captain Santinetta, I knew you were Lorens’ Captain of the Guard, but not that you were related,” Lord Marinacci said as if he were confused. “How is it you hold no noble title?”
“Lord Marinacci!” the princess scolded. “That is hardly proper!”
“I am not offended, my lady,” Adon said in an even voice. “It is no secret, and I carry no shame.” He turned to Lord Marinacci. “My father was the son of the late King Lorens II, but not of his queen. To pacify her for acknowledging my father as his son, the king never granted him a title. King Alfons later awarded him a barony for his service to the crown, but it will not pass on to me. So, the Prince and I are cousins, but I am his common servant.”
“So, you are a military man,” Lord Marinacci said, unshaken by the princess’ rebuke.
Adon shrugged. “I am now, but I made my mark as a sea captain in my youth. I have carried your family’s wares in my hold many times.”
“You know, then, the quality of our steel. It makes very fine weapons: swords, axes, spears, and pikes.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “I will tell you a secret: We have overproduced this year, and I am willing to part with our overstock for a highly reduced price, if you are interested.”
“What military man is not interested in weapons?” Adon said with a grin. “Mostly in using them! But the buying of them? No. Those sorts of procurements must go through our trade minister, Lord Bardonnel, and my superiors in Margonne’s military. I will pass on your offer to Lord Bardonnel, and if we have a need, I’m sure he will call upon you.”
Lord Marinacci’s face fell as if his hopes had been dashed, but he gathered himself and gave Adon a bleak smile. “Of course, captain. It’s above your station to negotiate such things! Many pardons, sir. I will not bother you further. Princess.” He bowed, turned on the heels of his exquisite black boots, and strode away as quickly as he had come.
Grania chuckled into her wineglass. “You did well, my new friend! He was, of course, testing you to see what sort of man you are. He now knows you won’t play his games. Marvelous! You just passed your first test in Satelen politics—against one of the very best!”
“I’ll take your word for it, my lady,” Adon said, dabbing his brow with his napkin, “but it doesn’t feel like much of a victory. Truth is, I feel like I need to take a bath.”
A note:
Two centuries earlier, Adon’s ancestors had clashed with the Marinacci family over illicit arms trading with the Leitani. As the Leitan Great Chief’s warlord, Chogan had worked out a deal with the Marinaccis to supply them with the best Satelen swords, spears, and shields in an effort to upgrade their more primitive weapons. Both the Satelen and Angevan governments had forbidden any such sales, but Chogan insisted—with the help of more money—that the Marinaccis uphold their agreement. Hearing of it, Margonne convinced Nikolos Santinetta to support a clandestine raid on the Marinacci family compound to thwart a planned weapons shipment. Adon was likely unaware of this history between their families, but Lord Corado Marinacci certainly was.
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The thought of a life in Satele's court is exhausting. Though some people, like Lord Marinacci, seem to thrive in those kind of environments. I wonder if all of Lord Marinacci's business endeavors are legitimate...
Oh that last line. Just so good!