Sweet_Secrets
Really Experienced
- Joined
- May 1, 2011
- Posts
- 176
Enter the Dragon's Lair. (Played with LordLuck.)
If there was one thing Adrianna did not like hearing from her people, it was them complaining how she had an 'easy' life compared to them. She learned of the news when she was still new on the throne, the crown on her head at last after the Bloody Succession, when she learned of what they were saying behind her back.
"We work and work and work. We work till our fingers bleed and our backs break," they would say in the taverns/markets/docks/farms when they think the Queen's spies were not paying attention. (A foolish mistake everyone makes when it comes to her spies so she cannot hold that against them.) "All the Queen has to do is simply sit on her pretty little arse and do nothing."
Even to this day, while she championed for arts and successfully defended them from the invaders once again, they continued to say this one thing about her and nothing else. If it had been another thing, like how she was an unrepentant murderer or the like, she would have not minded as much. But to hear that, of how she did nothing after she provided so much to them, was more than an insult to the Queen Regent.
It would not be enough to send them to the Tower, like she had done to her poor cousin Eleanor, but it still caused her to ground her teeth and make her people in Court scurry in fear of being burnt with her wrath when it became palpable in the air once more.
Her Royal Highness Adrianna Drake did not become the Queen Regent of England simply by sitting on her pretty little arse and have it handed to her on a silver spoon. She did not earn the nickname 'The Dragon Queen' by being nice to those who betrayed her and by being submissive when the Spanish came to invade her lands. She did not become who she was today by letting things happen to her and do nothing about it.
No, she had to fight her way to the succession and planned and schemed the downfall of her two half-brothers to get the throne. She juggled suitors, investors, captains and commoners while the War with the Invaders raged on. She pawned off her own jewelery to fund the fights. She struggled to keep her country, her home, from becoming bankrupt with every fight she had with Spain.
She worked for it all. The very thought of someone gaining something without keep was a sin in her sharp eyes.
So when she heard of the rumors of her son, the Dragon Prince, in a dalliance with one of her Ladies-In-Waitings, she was engulfed in quiet fury once again. Her remaining Ladies, with the suspected one quickly banished from Court until these matters were aired out, were all nervous as rabbits as they stood before her in her bedroom. She stood tall amongst them all, dressed in a fine green dress with her back straight.
She was a true beauty, Queen Adrianna was. The type of woman who could easily inspire flattery and praise that was actually true. With her shining dark locks that tumbled down her waist in luxurious waves, luscious red lips and full built with heaving breasts and pleasant rump, it was no surprise that she had suitors -- Often times, many years her junior -- after her hand in marriage even after twenty years of her succession and of the death of her beloved husband, the late King James VIII.
She was a true beauty but with her beautiful features so cold and remote as the bitterest of winter in her Realm, one did not need to wonder how she earned the famous nickname of hers as she stood there, both majestic and dangerous to all who displeased her. She looked at her Ladies with cool detachment and analytical calm shining in those green eyes of hers, carefully deciding her next course of action now that her Ladies-in-Waiting were all here.
"Pray tell, my dear Ladies," she said, her words purred out but laced with coldness to the point the women winced, "is the rumors of my son's romps with the Lady Mary true? After all, you are all friends with each other."
"We are not sure Your Highness," one of the Ladies, Elisabeth Southwell, said. "But she was so giggly and excited when the Prince talked to her and she made it clear if he approached her..."
Seeing no use in dancing this subject, she bluntly said, "Is it true that Elisabeth Southwell is expecting?"
Silence fell over the Ladies and they huddled closer until one of them, her favorite, the Lady Katherine May, nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. She was complaining of her dresses becoming too tight and she was eating the most peculiar things. It wasn't until I was helping her undress did I see the bump on her stomach. She is, indeed, expecting if it comforts you."
Lady May was the oldest of the Ladies and she seems to have proven that age does not come with wisdom. Oh, of course this did not comfort her at all. Now that it has been confirmed that Elisabeth Southwell was expecting, no doubt this will be revealed in Court soon enough. If she did not do something fast, her son would have to marry the girl because of possibly unfounded rumors and a child that might not even be his will become next in line for the throne.
God forbid that! She worked too hard to let a scandal ruin her careful plans. Never!
She rubbed her temples, humming her disapproval. This would be a worry. If her son could not control herself than having him part of her Core Council -- The people she trusted the most with the most intimate decisions and information about her lands and lands beyond hers -- would be bad. But if she attempted to pull him out of the Core Council out of the fear of mere rumors, his supporters would become angry. And her son had many, many supporters with the people.
Right now, her next move is to have him come to her rooms and talk to him about this situation. If it is not true, she will announce it in Court and help Elisabeth Southwell raise the child if the true father does not come out. If it it true, well... She was the Dragon Queen for nothing. It should be simple.
If it were only that simple, she thought.
"Please send for my son, the Prince," she told to Lady May. "Tell him I wish to see him in my chambers soon as possible. I wish to speak to him about these rumors I've been hearing as of late in Court. The rest of you, you are dismissed for today. I wish to be alone when my son comes. He and I have a long talk to have."
They soon left the lair of Queen Adrianna fast as they could without actually running, not wanting to be in this mess when it happened.
If there was one thing Adrianna did not like hearing from her people, it was them complaining how she had an 'easy' life compared to them. She learned of the news when she was still new on the throne, the crown on her head at last after the Bloody Succession, when she learned of what they were saying behind her back.
"We work and work and work. We work till our fingers bleed and our backs break," they would say in the taverns/markets/docks/farms when they think the Queen's spies were not paying attention. (A foolish mistake everyone makes when it comes to her spies so she cannot hold that against them.) "All the Queen has to do is simply sit on her pretty little arse and do nothing."
Even to this day, while she championed for arts and successfully defended them from the invaders once again, they continued to say this one thing about her and nothing else. If it had been another thing, like how she was an unrepentant murderer or the like, she would have not minded as much. But to hear that, of how she did nothing after she provided so much to them, was more than an insult to the Queen Regent.
It would not be enough to send them to the Tower, like she had done to her poor cousin Eleanor, but it still caused her to ground her teeth and make her people in Court scurry in fear of being burnt with her wrath when it became palpable in the air once more.
Her Royal Highness Adrianna Drake did not become the Queen Regent of England simply by sitting on her pretty little arse and have it handed to her on a silver spoon. She did not earn the nickname 'The Dragon Queen' by being nice to those who betrayed her and by being submissive when the Spanish came to invade her lands. She did not become who she was today by letting things happen to her and do nothing about it.
No, she had to fight her way to the succession and planned and schemed the downfall of her two half-brothers to get the throne. She juggled suitors, investors, captains and commoners while the War with the Invaders raged on. She pawned off her own jewelery to fund the fights. She struggled to keep her country, her home, from becoming bankrupt with every fight she had with Spain.
She worked for it all. The very thought of someone gaining something without keep was a sin in her sharp eyes.
So when she heard of the rumors of her son, the Dragon Prince, in a dalliance with one of her Ladies-In-Waitings, she was engulfed in quiet fury once again. Her remaining Ladies, with the suspected one quickly banished from Court until these matters were aired out, were all nervous as rabbits as they stood before her in her bedroom. She stood tall amongst them all, dressed in a fine green dress with her back straight.
She was a true beauty, Queen Adrianna was. The type of woman who could easily inspire flattery and praise that was actually true. With her shining dark locks that tumbled down her waist in luxurious waves, luscious red lips and full built with heaving breasts and pleasant rump, it was no surprise that she had suitors -- Often times, many years her junior -- after her hand in marriage even after twenty years of her succession and of the death of her beloved husband, the late King James VIII.
She was a true beauty but with her beautiful features so cold and remote as the bitterest of winter in her Realm, one did not need to wonder how she earned the famous nickname of hers as she stood there, both majestic and dangerous to all who displeased her. She looked at her Ladies with cool detachment and analytical calm shining in those green eyes of hers, carefully deciding her next course of action now that her Ladies-in-Waiting were all here.
"Pray tell, my dear Ladies," she said, her words purred out but laced with coldness to the point the women winced, "is the rumors of my son's romps with the Lady Mary true? After all, you are all friends with each other."
"We are not sure Your Highness," one of the Ladies, Elisabeth Southwell, said. "But she was so giggly and excited when the Prince talked to her and she made it clear if he approached her..."
Seeing no use in dancing this subject, she bluntly said, "Is it true that Elisabeth Southwell is expecting?"
Silence fell over the Ladies and they huddled closer until one of them, her favorite, the Lady Katherine May, nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. She was complaining of her dresses becoming too tight and she was eating the most peculiar things. It wasn't until I was helping her undress did I see the bump on her stomach. She is, indeed, expecting if it comforts you."
Lady May was the oldest of the Ladies and she seems to have proven that age does not come with wisdom. Oh, of course this did not comfort her at all. Now that it has been confirmed that Elisabeth Southwell was expecting, no doubt this will be revealed in Court soon enough. If she did not do something fast, her son would have to marry the girl because of possibly unfounded rumors and a child that might not even be his will become next in line for the throne.
God forbid that! She worked too hard to let a scandal ruin her careful plans. Never!
She rubbed her temples, humming her disapproval. This would be a worry. If her son could not control herself than having him part of her Core Council -- The people she trusted the most with the most intimate decisions and information about her lands and lands beyond hers -- would be bad. But if she attempted to pull him out of the Core Council out of the fear of mere rumors, his supporters would become angry. And her son had many, many supporters with the people.
Right now, her next move is to have him come to her rooms and talk to him about this situation. If it is not true, she will announce it in Court and help Elisabeth Southwell raise the child if the true father does not come out. If it it true, well... She was the Dragon Queen for nothing. It should be simple.
If it were only that simple, she thought.
"Please send for my son, the Prince," she told to Lady May. "Tell him I wish to see him in my chambers soon as possible. I wish to speak to him about these rumors I've been hearing as of late in Court. The rest of you, you are dismissed for today. I wish to be alone when my son comes. He and I have a long talk to have."
They soon left the lair of Queen Adrianna fast as they could without actually running, not wanting to be in this mess when it happened.
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