Chapter 9
Malachite Palace, Lysannum
The next three weeks were hectic as the wedding was hastily arranged. Rodger and Jade saw little of each other, save to agree upon the pertinent details of the ceremony. They certainly didn't have the opportunity to engage in any intimacies, Rodger's claim upon the princess notwithstanding. Jade found the experience of being denied sex to be even more frustrating than before Rodger had claimed her, since previously, as a virgin, she had only anticipated the pleasure that she would feel, but now she
knew
what she was missing. It seemed that Rodger felt the same way, since every time they crossed paths, neither of them could keep their eyes off each-other, nor keep from touching hands or kissing whenever the opportunity arose.
During the time that they were preparing for the wedding, one of Rodger's first orders of business was to summon the court apothecary.
When the apothecary, a robust grey-haired old woman by the name of Mistress Nostra, arrived, she was shown in and announced by the palace butler.
"Mistress Nostra, thank you for coming," Rodger greeted her.
"Thank you, your highness," she replied in a gravelly voice. "What can I do for you?"
"I would like you to prepare regular doses of birthbane for both Princess Jade and Xenia, until further notice."
"Rodger," Princess Jade interrupted. "It is important that the queen give birth to an heir."
"Is it
really
necessary, your highness?" he asked. "Or is having an heir of the body a matter of vanity, when all the kingdom
needs
is an heir... any heir?"
Jade considered that for a while. "You're right, of course master... but didn't you want your own heirs?"
"Yes, Jade, I do want my own heirs... but pregnancy is dangerous, and I don't want to lose you. The time for making babies will come, just not right now."
As it turned out, Xenia was already taking birthbane regularly, so only Jade needed to be provided with birthbane and instructed in its use.
Hasty word had been sent to Galadon, informing Rodger's family that the exiled Prince was about to marry the princess-heir to the throne of Tharnirion. Rodger didn't expect that any of his family would even acknowledge his forthcoming nuptials, let alone attend, but nearly three weeks later, he was surprised when two of his younger sisters, Florimel and Amorette, arrived on the back of one of the pegasi that facilitated communication between the worlds, and he was utterly shocked to find that they were accompanied by their uncle, the very man who had spared Rodger's life upon the headsman's block and had condemned him to exile. Rodger expected his uncle to ignore him, or to hold a grudge against him, but Duke Carle greeted him with perfect civility and his former degree of affection for his nephew. However, the whirlwind of events in the few days that remained before the wedding ensured that there was almost no opportunity for Rodger to speak further to his uncle or his sisters.
High Lord's Cathedral, Lysannum
It seemed to be an eternity of preparation later -- and at once, as if no time at all had passed -- that Rodger found himself standing at the High Lord's Altar in the cathedral in Lysannum, wearing a formal, ruffled white blouse, with a blue, green and gold Galadian tartan sash and kilt, awaiting his bride, his uncle standing beside him in similar attire as his best man.
"You seem awfully friendly, Uncle," Rodger commented carefully. "Given how our last meeting went."
"Oh...
that
," his uncle said dismissively. "You fucked with the
succession
, boy. That was a necessary duty... there wasn't anything personal in it. It was just a matter of showing the people that the law was being upheld... regardless of where the fault lay."
"But what about Lysette?" Rodger asked... finding that mentioning her no longer bothered him
"She was a pretty wench, and a good lay, for all that she was a noble daughter, but she was more than I could handle... more than
you
could handle too, it seems. She was laying half her maids -- not that
that
was treasonous, just unfaithful -- and I found out later that she was also dallying with a number of her guardsmen
and
a captive troll. Her own
father
admitted that Galadon was well rid of her."
"Oh..." Rodger didn't know what to say. He had thought Lysette to be less... promiscuous.
"It was just your bad luck to be the one with whom she was caught in flagrante delicto... it could easily have been one of half a dozen or more men. I
was
angry... that it was
you