In the kingdom everything seemed to be going as planned. Farmers moved into the land and began growing crops, merchants set up shops in towns that quickly grew, and landless knights were flocking to offer their services. Everything was going exactly as he'd planned, with one exception: Jamie's new queen.
The morning after their marriage Rosella kept herself confined to her room. Sir Jamie didn't think this was terribly odd, at first, and chose simply to respect her privacy. He made sure meals were taken up to her, and when he went to her room that night he made passionate love to her again.
When she didn't come down the second day he almost got angry. However, he realized women, with their delicate constitutions, might have been more than a little embarrassed by having fucked their king in front of every man in the castle. So again, he respected her privacy, this time sending a merchant with cloth to size her for proper dresses. He remembered that she had worn the same dress twice and figured she must not have anything suitable.
Things followed that pattern for over a week, with Jamie sending up her meals and various merchants to fit her for expensive clothes, jewels, shoes and ask her opinions on various items to decorate the castle. Then he would climb the tower and spend hours adoring her body.
She never complained, indeed, he thought she rather liked his lovemaking. However, he couldn't help but notice that as the day wore on, the clouds around the castle grew darker and more substantial. Jamie knew that he was missing something important in the spell, but he was at a loss as to what. After the second week of waiting for Rosella to descend from her tower, he decided he'd had enough.
"Ella!"
Rosella could hear Jamie as his boots tromped up the stone stairwell. She was nervous. She'd secluded herself in the tower for weeks, yet nothing seemed to change. She had almost given up twice, but resolved to stay in the tower until her husband gave her the respect she deserved.
She felt cheated. Here was a man who could make her feel both intensely loved and shamefully ignored at the same time. He filled his days with his duties, and his nights with her body, but he never seemed to want anything else from her. All the precious trinkets and clothes felt more like payments than gifts. She wondered if he was just waiting for her to breed an heir and then all the attention would stop.
She fervently hoped not. She'd been having strange dreams and her breasts were tender. She had no idea when her menses were due, since the enchanted slumber had obviously ceased all of her natural functions. She had noticed, before the curse, that she always bled during the waxing moon. This week the moon was full, and her courses hadn't come yet.
It seemed impossible that she was pregnant already, but she knew the signs. Her mother had gone through several miscarriages before finally accepting that one daughter would have to be enough. Rosella spent half of her childhood alternately celebrating each subtle sign of pregnancy and mourning the loss of potential brothers or sisters.
When Jamie reached the top of the tower he was ready to break down the door. He was just a little disappointed to find that it was unlocked. Normally he simply walked into the room. He'd begun to consider the frilly, feminine room to be his own. With his hand still on the handle, he had a sudden inspiration, and chose to knock instead.
"Ella! I'm coming in."
Rosella was surprised to hear the knock. She was even more surprised that he seemed to be waiting for her to answer. Before he could grow impatient, she responded. She had to clear her throat twice before her voice came through clearly.
"Come in, my king."
Jamie walked in slowly, fixing his eyes on his wife. As always, her beauty nearly took his breath away. She was his, all his. He had to mentally shake himself to keep from throwing her onto the bed and ravishing her. Perhaps afterwards.
She watched him warily. She recognized that look in his eye. It was the one that usually meant he was about to make love to her. Even though she always enjoyed the things he did to her body, this was not the time. Rosella found herself backing away as Jamie practically stalked her. When the backs of her knees hit the bed she found the courage to speak.
"My lord..."
Jamie cut her off.
"We need to talk, my queen. You have been neglecting your duties."
Rosella bristled.
She
neglecting
her
duties?!?! Rosella could feel her face beginning to flush hot with anger. Jamie recognized the rising blush, but he'd only seen it during their lovemaking. He knew he must have hit a nerve to rise such passion in her. When she stepped away from the bed and began to advance towards him he stood his ground until they were nose to nose.
"How dare you! How dare you spend weeks ignoring me, using me for your pleasure, then accuse me of ignoring my duties! You never even allowed me to have duties! Other than fucking you in front of your men to validate your throne!"
Jamie fought the urge to roll his eyes. Now he saw what had gone wrong. The girl was expecting him to play the doting suitor and instead he'd spent his time building the kingdom. He hadn't realized his bride was so naïve.
"Ella, if you had come down I would have explained your duties."
Rosella felt like her head was going to explode. Her cheeks were on fire and she had to struggle to relax her jaw enough to respond.
"Oh, I see... so you would have explained my duties. I rather thought I already knew the duties of a wife and queen; helping the king to rule the kingdom. But you didn't need, or want me for that, did you?"
Jamie resisted the urge to pat her shoulder patronizingly.
"I would have loved your assistance, but you never came down."
"And I was supposed to show my face after the debacle of our wedding night? How are the men supposed to respect me when they've all seen me naked!"
Jamie didn't quite succeed at keeping the smirk off his face. Rather than hitting him, Rosella screamed in frustration. This resulted in an ill suppressed snicker from king Jamie. He was laughing at her.
Rosella felt as though she was possessed, her hand reaching out to grab the first thing within arms length. Her fingers closed over a silver candlestick. Jamie was barely able to register surprise before the candlestick came flying at him, thumping solidly into his chest.
The force of the blow took his breath away and he stepped back. Encouraged by his slight retreat, Rosella grabbed for something else. Jamie held his hands up to ward off the tallow candle that came flying at him, breaking against his forearm. He stood there, deflecting the myriad of objects she pulled from the side table and flung at him. Finally she seemed to be running out of steam and sunk down to the floor, still clutching a hairbrush in her hands.
Jamie rather expected to be angry, but he wasn't. Watching her hurl objects at him like some avenging Fury had a strange effect on him. He wasn't surprised that he felt his cock hardening. He'd always liked strong women, and suspected that the reason he'd left her to her privacy instead of coming for her sooner was that he'd thought her timid and unappealing unless she was naked underneath him.
He was surprised, however, to feel guilt creeping up on him. He hadn't tried to find out anything about her character. The only reason she appeared timid was that he'd put an innocent into situations she couldn't possibly have been prepared for. Watching her crumpled on the floor, chest heaving with expended passion, he knew he'd misjudged her.
Jamie sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his shaggy hair, trying vainly for words to fix the situation. Rosella, however, had not finished.
"I spent my childhood dreaming of the prince who would become my king, and how we would rule our people wisely, together. I dreamed of love and mutual respect. Now we're married, and you do not love me, you do not respect me, and you do not want or need my help ruling the kingdom. I suppose you're just waiting for me to produce an heir. Well, in that case, you're in luck, because it seems I'm breeding already."
Jamie stared down into her forlorn eyes with shock.
"You're pregnant?"
"And when your heir is born, what will you do? Will I continue to spend my life in this tower, or will you do away with me so you can marry someone else?"
Jamie let her words sink in. It wasn't too far from the truth, in some respects. The thought had certainly crossed his mind. He certainly wouldn't have killed her, but after the first week of confining herself to the tower, he'd begun to rather enjoy the fact that he could do what he wanted during the day without the nagging demands of a wife all day. However, he hadn't left things as they were, had he?
"I'm here, aren't I?"
Rosella had to admit, she was surprised after all this time that he'd come up. She thought she knew why.
"It's embarrassing, isn't it, to have a wife that no one ever sees? And it's not like anyone would forget me, after the debacle of our wedding night."
Jamie clenched his jaw. It was true. His men had been making comments about him keeping his sexy queen all to himself. After the first week, however, they began to get suspicious. Why would a woman consent to being left alone in a tower all day? Most royal women were so demanding and meddlesome that the household was run ragged. Not that anyone was complaining, but it just seemed unnatural. Unnatural and unjust, if the king was at fault.
Jamie had come up the tower this morning because he was sick and tired of the men whispering that his wife was still under the spell, and that Jamie wasn't the rightful king. He could deal with her throwing tantrums and driving them all crazy, but he couldn't handle this passive aggressive stance that put all the doubt on him.
Jamie stood, staring down at his queen, trying his best to harden his gaze.
