Lady Katherine Harrington of Johanne

4 December, Year 1 of Sebastian VI, Emperor of the Longbournian Nations' reign

Ambrose's Pleasure House, Amöneburg

The Longbournian Nations

My eyes were about to close, when loud footsteps shattered the silence of the dawn.

Richard emerged from behind the curtains, his grey eyes hard and his countenance ashen. His clothes were crumpled, and his brown hair was tousled. He strode out of the pleasure house as swiftly as he had come the night before, without a glance backwards.

At once, I shook the Emperor, who was already dozing off on my shoulder. "Sire, he has left," I hissed in his ear, "wake up - "

At that moment, I noticed Dela walk out of the curtains, and lean against the doorway. Free of all the rouge and kohl she had caked on the night before, her countenance, still as beautiful, now looked much younger and held a certain gentleness and innocence.

I was surprised. She could not be a day older than nineteen.

She clutched now her red robes tightly to her body now as she watched Richard gallop away on his stallion, with a small, content smile playing about her lips.

I needed to talk to her.

"Dela!" I called out loudly, raising my hand to wave at her.

She looked around at the sound of my voice, startled, before she noticed me. A small crease appeared between her brows, as she walked towards our table.

Before she could reach us, however, a heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder, preventing her from walking any further. Dela froze, and her eyes grew deadly fearful at once, almost as if she knew who it was without even turning around.

I looked past her.

It was the elderly woman who had escorted her to Richard the night before. The woman now roughly pushed her aside, and towered over me, glaring at me with a scorching ferocity.

"Was willst du mit ihr?" she snapped.

"I do not understand you. I am sorry," I frowned, "do you speak English? Or French?"

She scowled even more fiercely.

Clearly not. "Give me a moment," I held up my hand in a waiting gesture, before I turned and prodded the sleeping Emperor harder.

"Se - "

I stopped before I could call him by his name, and give away his identity. "Mon coeur," I addressed him instead, "I need your help. The old hag only speaks German."

The Emperor raised his head groggily. "Who?"

"I do not know who she is. She seems furious, though."

He sat upright at that, startled and bleary-eyed. He blinked at her and Dela, and then at me, confused for a few moments, before understanding dawned. He quickly rubbed his eyes clear of sleep, and cleared his throat before he began to address the old woman.

She repeated what she had said earlier, her tone hostile. The Emperor tried to answer her, keeping his voice measured and respectful, but she cut him off, bent on lashing out at him.

Dela's countenance grew paler with every passing moment. She tried to interrupt her at several points, but the woman pinched her upper arm cruelly to force her to keep quiet, before continuing to shout at the Emperor. She pointed to me several times as well, almost spitting her words at me.

I looked between them, utterly confused. Many of the women, who were going about their chores in the Pleasure House, had also stopped by to watch them.

The Emperor was growing steadily frustrated. He and the woman were almost having a shouting match by this point, back and forth, before the woman pointed at the front door, and yelled something at the both of us. She then dragged Dela like a poppet by her upper arm back beyond the curtains.

He put his head in his hands. "God, I am not a morning person."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Who is she, in any case?" my voice was soft, "why were you both arguing?"

"She is the Pleasure Housekeeper. She wanted to know why we want to speak to Dela," he answered quietly, "time is money, as you well know. Unless either you or I are paying to sleep with Dela, we cannot talk to her. I assured the Housekeeper that we are ready to pay her fees, so long as we can talk to her for a few moments, but she would not even hear of it."

I bit my lip. "'Tis all right. We will find some other way – "

He shook his head. "The Housekeeper then grew suspicious that I was one of Dela's old lovers from her village," he muttered, running a hand through his hair, "and that I had come here to rekindle our old flame, create trouble and spoil her business. She made quite a lot of statements about my upbringing and my mother, while she was at it." He growled.

I winced, knowing what he meant. "By God, I am so sorry – "

"She did not spare you in her tirade either," he scowled, "she proposed selling you to her in exchange for Dela. According to her, Monriquan women made good whores." His jaw was clenched.

Wow. "It is a good thing I do not understand German, eh?"

He stared at me, his sea-green eyes still burning with fury.

"Your mother and many back in Monrique called me far worse after Richard announced his engagement to me," I took his hand in mine, "at this point, all their words simply slide off my back like raindrops on a leaf."

"It must have been awful," he squeezed it.

"Well, in the end, they are mere words," I told him quietly, "they only affect us when we choose to give them any value or thought - "

I fell silent, and shook my head at the Emperor, when I noticed a young woman approach our table with a tray. She kept her head down, avoiding our gazes, and began to clear our table of the empty bottle of whiskey and our mugs.

As she wiped the table surface with a piece of cloth, she slipped a piece of parchment beneath the Emperor's and my joined hands. Before I could ask her anything, however, she swiftly turned around and walked away.

In the meanwhile, the Emperor remained calm, as he pulled the parchment beneath the table, and read it.

He then looked up at me. "She wants to meet us."

***

"Who are you?"

An hour later, the same young woman pulled us both behind a tree in the bend before the path that lead to the pleasure house. She covered her head with a scarf, and kept looking back and forth to ensure that no one was watching her.

"Hanna. Dela's friend," she mumbled, pointing to herself, before she looked at me apologetically, "little Englisch. Bad."

I blinked. "Oh."

She then turned to the Emperor, told him something rather rapidly in German. His expression changed at that, into one of surprise, and he began to talk to her in the earnest.

After a few moments, he glanced at me. "She is ready to tell us about Dela," he sounded disbelieving even as he said it, "anything we want to know."

"What does she want in return?" I was suspicious.

"To keep Richard far and away from the Pleasure House," he murmured, "she thinks he is leading Dela on, and giving her too much false hope for a future outside of the Pleasure House. You have seen how the Housekeeper is like. She will never let any of them leave until they are no longer attractive enough to bring in customers."

I bit my lip. "We cannot promise her that," I sighed, "we do not control him. But if Hanna will help us understand why he keeps seeking out Dela, mayhap we can help both Dela and him. If there is anything that is troubling him, I want to know."

He translated that to Hanna. At first, she vehemently shook her head. The Emperor, adopting a calm and measured voice, then proceeded to launch into a monologue, gesturing to me once every few moments.

I did not know what he said, but from the manner in which her shoulders slowly relaxed and the furrow of her eyebrows eased, I presumed he was doing a very good job.

Eventually, she gave me a small smile, albeit with some hesitation.

"What do you want to ask her?" the Emperor murmured.

"I want to know how Dela met Richard," I took a deep breath, "and how long he has been sleeping with her."

Nodding, he crossed his arms over his stomach, as he relayed my question to her. While they conversed - the Emperor in his same quiet and soothing tone and young Hanna with some caution - I looked between them, fascinated by the modulations and the harsh sounds in their spoken tongue.

After what seemed like a long time, he turned to me, his sea-green eyes swirling with turmoil. "Hanna says they met here, in this pleasure house," he remarked quietly, "he came utterly drunk and miserable one night, and took her to bed."

"When was this first night?"

He hesitated. "In July."

"That is impossible," I said at once, "he was still living in Bordeux as of July. Why, he only came to Amöneburg for the first time in September, when he fled our engagement."

"Nay, my love. His first time in Amöneburg was in early July," his forehead creased, "when he led a group of ambassadors from Monrique, on behalf of his parents, to discuss the first draft of the Treaty of Amöneburg with me."

This was news to me. "What?"

"You did not know?" he was surprised, "it was only after his visit that his parents and I began to contemplate a marriage between him and my sister."

"Nay, I did not know," I stammered, well and truly stunned, "and Richard never told me about it. I take it he also met Natalya during this time, then?"

The Emperor nodded. "Natalya had already been quite taken with his portrait, of course," he explained tiredly, "but it was only when he came to stay with us, and spent time with her, that she truly fell in love with him and decided she wanted to marry him."

I bit my lip, my thoughts racing.

"So Richard visited you in early July. Negotiations for his marriage lasted throughout July without his knowledge," I slowly put the pieces together, "and when he found out, he put an end to it, and proposed marriage to me instead in early August. And he fled our engagement in mid-September."

I shook my head as I processed this. "I always thought that something happened close to our engagement date to change his mind," I admitted to the Emperor, "but now I believe the problem may have begun as early as July."

I looked at Hanna then, who had been watching our discussion in clueless curiosity.

"Ask her if he had kept in touch with Dela after he left in July," I whispered, "and if he has been meeting her since he came back to Amöneburg."

The Emperor obliged, and translated my question for me. She frowned heavily in disapproval, as she answered him.

He nodded at her, before turning to me once more. "She did not hear from him at all after July," he murmured, "up until September, that is, when he returned to Amöneburg and began to work for that merchant as a horseman. He has been seeing her every night since."

All my breath was knocked out of me.

"Do you think he loves her?" I asked him in a small voice, "did he flee Monrique for her sake? I mean, I can understand...his mother would have never accepted her as his bride."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders in comfort, and I leaned into his embrace. "I do not know," he sounded as confused as I felt, "I truly do not know."

I raised my eyes towards Hanna, as exhaustion and sadness washed over me all of a sudden. She was watching us closely, trying to understand what we were saying.

To my surprise, she reached out to take my hand in both of hers just then. Her gaze was strangely full of compassion, as she squeezed it gently and murmured something in German to me.

I gazed up at the Emperor questioningly.

"She says you have beautiful eyes," a ghost of a smile unfolded on his face, "just like her own younger sister."

"Oh," I turned to Hanna, and offered her a small smile, "thank you. But in my country, blue eyes like yours are considered prettier than grey ones. Indeed, we even have an old saying about grey eyes."

She could not understand most of what I said, but her ears perked up on one word. "Saying," she tested it on her lips, blinking at me, "proverb?"

"Aye, something like that," I nodded, as I tried to recall the exact words, "beware eyes the hue of armour steel; they feel, they heal, but nothing is real."

The Emperor chuckled weakly, as he translated it into German for Hanna's sake. The young woman broke into a wan smile in amusement.

"But if nothing is real," I murmured to myself, "what is?"

***

Later during the day, I looked around at my class.

"I hope you all remember that there is a short, written examination tomorrow, on the materials we use to make bows," I informed the sea of students sitting before me, "please be punctual for class tomorrow, because I will not wait for latecomers."

Everyone's eyes went wide simultaneously, as they gazed at each other in horror. They seemed more awake than they had been in the last hour and a half, as they began to whisper amongst themselves with great urgency.

"Is there a problem?" I raised an eyebrow.

Silence fell in the room at once. Only one of them dared to put up her hand, presuming the role of their spokesperson.

"Yes, Cadet von Blomberg?"

Cadet von Blomberg rose to her feet, and took a deep breath. "My colleagues and I were wondering if the examination could be postponed to next week, Ma'am," she requested, a pleading glint in her eyes, "you see, all of us have been practising for the military exhibition these few days, and we have had no time - "

In honour of Queen Eleanor's visit, a short military exhibition - involving both the men and the women's army - was to be held in the morning tomorrow, and a celebratory ball had been organised for us to enjoy later that evening.

As we had been informed of this on such short notice, everyone had been working tirelessly to prepare for the big day tomorrow. Theory classes and training sessions had been cut in half to accommodate practice sessions with the men's army in Amöneburg Palace.

"But I had told you all about the test weeks in advance, Cadets," I surveyed the class, "surely you would have completed your revision by now?"

Silence prevailed in the room. Cadet von Blomberg hung her head.

I gathered that most of them had been betting on burning the midnight oil tonight to cram for the test, as they did for every other exam. It was most unfortunate that the military exhibition had ruined all those plans.

But procrastination was still -

I should not be the one to talk about procrastination. I was guilty of the same myself most of the time.

"How about this," I suggested to them now, "I will postpone the test to the day after tomorrow. You may use the extra day to finish up whatever you need to."

The relief was immediate on their faces.

"This is the first and last time, Cadets," I warned them, "I will make no more exceptions. Class dismissed."

Sighs of delight and relief rose among the girls, as they stood up from their chairs and gathered their books and notes. I suppressed a smile, amused, as they trudged out of the chamber to their next theory class.

In the meanwhile, I had reached for a piece of cloth to clean my blackboard, when a knock sounded on my door. I turned around to find Richard lingering on the threshold of the chamber, offering me a faint smile.

I gazed at him, my throat drying up. His countenance was clear, open. I would not even have known that he was hiding something if I had not followed him yesterday.

Why, he did not even seem in the least exhausted from staying up for most of the night before.

"Corporal Baudelaire told me you wanted to meet me," he broke the silence.

I snapped out of it. "Aye, I did," I cleared my throat, "this will not take long. Please, sit down." I gestured to the endless rows of chairs before me.

His forehead creased in concern, as he took a seat in the front row, crossing his arms over the desk. In the meanwhile, I walked around the teacher's desk, and came to a stop in front of his.

I bit my lip, wondering how to start. "Richard," I took a deep breath, "I know you do not want to tell me why you fled our engagement two months ago, and that...that is fine with me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"

"Believe me, I am trying very hard, old chap," a ghost of a smile unfolded upon my face, "I want to make peace with the fact that I may never know why. I want to make peace with you, and move on."

He sensed the contradiction. "But?"

"But there is something I need to clarify, if you do not mind," I was hesitant, "in that letter you left me when you left, you mentioned that I did not do anything to...to make you leave." My hands gripped the table, and my knuckles turned white.

He noticed the gesture, and a flash of pain crossed his eyes. "Nay, you did not," his voice was filled with guilt, "this is entirely my fault. I should have never proposed marriage to you after - " He stopped himself in time.

"I know," I sighed, "after the Queen tried to have you marry Princess Natalya."

He did not seem surprised. "On hindsight, that was of no consequence at all," he admitted, his voice bitterly soft, "I was already going to ask for your hand in marriage even before Mama told me about...Natalya's intentions."

I was more confused than ever now. "So I was not merely your back-up plan?"

"God, nay," he shook his head heavily, "Kat, believe me, I truly did want to marry you when I proposed to you." He held my gaze.

I could detect no trace of a lie in his words. But what about Dela?

How was I to ask him about Dela without revealing to him that I know about her? If I laid down all my cards, honest and direct like I wanted, he would never speak to me again, and I would never be able to help him, or get the answers I so desperately sought -

There was a knock just then. Richard and I turned simultaneously towards the door, startled.

The Princess was leaning against the doorway, a weak smile playing about her lips. "Your Highness, Mistress Harrington," she greeted us, "I am sorry for the interruption, but the Cooks would like your help in moving today's ration of meat and vegetables from the courtyard to the kitchen, Your Highness."

He nodded at her, standing up at once. He looked at me again, and his eyes softened.

"It was never your fault," he assured me again, and was on the verge of saying something more, before he decided against it and strode out of the room.

I walked around the desk, and sat down on the seat he had just occupied, burying my head in my hands in utter exhaustion. I could hear the Princess approach me, and perch on the edge of the desk.

"How much of that did you hear?" I wanted to know.

"Most of it," she murmured, "you know, you are terrible at wheedling answers out of people."

"I believe in, and usually employ, a direct approach," I admitted, leaning against her side, "this persuading and coaxing is new for me. And rather exhausting."

"Of course it would be exhausting," she snickered, as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "when you spend half the night before outside with my brother, instead of sleeping in your quarters."

I froze. "How - "

"You and Brother-mine are not the first to follow Prince Richard to that pleasure house," her voice was quiet, "or get chased out with a broom by that old Housekeeper when trying to meet her precious Dela."

My head snapped up, shocked. She smiled down at me sadly.

"Does he know that you know?" I held my breath.

"Nay, Mistress Harrington," she sighed, "but surely you realise that trying to wheedle answers out of him here will do us no favours. He will simply deny it all, and start avoiding us like he is currently avoiding his mother and mine."

"Then what do we do?" I whispered.

"We directly confront him," her eyes hardened, "at the pleasure house."

***

After evening training the next day, Corporal Baudelaire, Corporal Montgomery and I collapsed onto the training fields, side by side.

We were sticky, sweaty and utterly exhausted.

The four-hour military exhibition at Amöneburg Palace in the morning, under the hot sun, had been draining enough - and even after that, the three of us had to teach eight hours' worth of theory classes, and an evening training session, without a single, stinking break in between.

"Never again," I shook my head, panting, "never again."

"I love Her Majesty Queen Eleanor, but goodness," Corporal Baudelaire breathed, "could she not have warned us before she came?"

"I am going to sleep right here," Corporal Montgomery muttered, closing her eyes, "and no one should dare wake me up until New Year's."

As we lay there, slowly lulled into slumber by the silence around us, I knew most of our students and colleagues were preparing themselves for the Ball that was to be held at Amöneburg Palace in a short while. Although it was mainly for Queen Eleanor, both armies, along with the aristocracy and other important guests, were also invited.

The three of us had decided yesterday that we would not attend - and it seemed that we had made the right decision.

"Goodness, there you are!" a voice called us at that moment, filled with surprise, "I have been looking all over the Academy for you."

I turned my head, startled, to find the Princess walking towards us. Unlike us, she was impeccably dressed for the evening. She had donned a lilac evening gown, with her dark hair was unbound over her shoulders in well brushed waves.

"Oh, God, go away," Corporal Montgomery groaned, rolling over to her side.

"Why, a very good evening to you too, Corporal," the Princess muttered wryly, sitting down next to her, "why are none of you ready yet? The Ball starts in half an hour." She glared at us in disapproval.

"We are not going, Mistress Hohenstaufen," Corporal Baudelaire sighed, yawning, "we are too...damn...tired."

"I concur," I mumbled, closing my eyes.

"Come now, you need to go! I cannot survive four hours at a Ball alone with the Dowager Empress and Queen Eleanor," she began to shake each of us, "and you, Mistress Harrington! We have a plan to execute tonight!"

"Then take her away, and leave Michelle and me alone," Corporal Baudelaire waved her off, and snuggled into the grass, "we want to sleep."

"What plan?" I muttered groggily.

I felt the Princess's lips near my ear. "We have to confront Richard at the pleasure house, remember?" she hissed, "tonight is perfect. Everyone will be too distracted at the Ball to notice us leave. Richard, especially, will not suspect a thing."

"We will confront him another day. What is the rush?" I swatted her away, wriggling away from her, "I need to sleep."

"You leave me no choice, then," the Princess sighed, and a moment later, I found myself doused with ice cold water!

I sat upright, coughing and spluttering water out of my mouth and my nose, all notions of sleep gone. On either side of me, I realised Corporal Baudelaire and Corporal Montgomery had sat up as well, drenched.

"Natalya!" I shuddered, "I swear to all the Gods and demons above - "

"I hate you," Corporal Baudelaire mumbled, "I truly, truly despise you."

"Princess or not, I am going to kill you, Mistress Hohenstaufen," Corporal Montgomery growled.

"All three of you, keep silent and listen to me," the Princess raised her voice, and cut us off, "I have a proposition for you."

We narrowed our eyes at her.

"Corporal Montgomery," she turned to her first, "if you agree to come to the Ball, I will persuade a good friend of mine to teach you to read and write in German, everyday after evening training. Free of charge."

I raised an eyebrow at Corporal Montgomery. "That is your greatest desire? To learn German?"

Corporal Montgomery looked almost embarrassed. "Well, I have lived here for four months, and I can barely understand anyone around me, apart from those who speak in French or English for my sake," she defended herself, "I would love to learn German, but I have never found the time to study, or someone to teach me the language regularly." She glanced at the Princess.

"This is downright bribery, Mistress Hohenstaufen," I scowled.

"Do not fall for it, Michelle," Corporal Baudelaire cautioned her, "you know our other Longbournian colleagues will be more than happy to teach you for free. We need our rest tonight."

Corporal Montgomery looked torn. "But - "

"Michelle, focus," Corporal Baudelaire's voice was stern, "you are better than this."

"Corporal Baudelaire, do you remember that special Longbournian tea you always enjoy whenever you stop by the Palace for guard duty?" the Princess added just then impishly, "well, if you agree to come to the Ball, then five, large bags of those tea leaves are all yours. Free of charge, as well."

That made her fall silent at once.

"Stay strong, Arielle," I mumbled, "you - "

"And my dear Mistress Harrington," her voice was deceptively sweet, "if you come, I promise to take over all of your dawn training sessions until New Year's Day."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Imagine, you can sleep for longer hours for a full month," her sea-green eyes twinkled, "if I am not wrong, the theory classes you teach only begin at 11 00 hours, yes?"

I bit my lip, undecided now. It was indeed a rather tempting offer. If I took it, I could sleep for a grand total of eleven hours each day from this day forth, for thirty-one days – all for a mere four hours of torture at the ball.

That was three hundred and forty-one hours of blissful, blissful slumber. Three hundred and forty-one. That was almost equivalent to a fortnight!

I huffed. Damn, she was well aware of my weaknesses, and clearly, she was not above exploiting them to her advantage.

Well-played, Natalya.

"So Corporals, and Mistress Harrington," the Princess crossed her arms, an amused smile playing about her lips, "do we have a deal?"

All three of us promptly scowled.

***