Duchess Careena Galin relaxed comfortably in her horse drawn coach as she and her husband made their way from Kennai Palace to their new home in Genoise. Her husband, Kalas, sat beside her, a rare occurrence during their week long journey, but both of them were silent as they rested for a few hours. Kalas was sleeping, but she couldn't. She had too many disturbing thoughts racing through her head about what had occurred the previous week.
After her night with King Bromen she had resolved to stay away from him for the remainder of her stay, and had done a good job of it during the next day, but as she prepared for bed she began to remember what sex had been like with the king. The next thing she knew, she was walking down the secret passage to the king's room again. He had laughed when she opened the door, but he had been sitting in the same chair waiting for her.
She shuddered now, when she thought about what they had done together. The sex had been base and dirty with no love involved, and to her shame she had enjoyed every minute of it. It had become like a drug she couldn't do without, until the night before Kalas returned and the guilt of what she was doing had overcome her. She had managed to stay away that night, and then the next night Kalas had been there and the two of them made love all night long.
The night with Kalas had been wonderful. He had satisfied her every need, sexual and emotional, in a way that sex with King Bromen never did. She was beginning to wonder if she had been under some sort of spell that had been broken with the return of her husband. She dismissed the idea; King Bromen possessed no magic and he would have been the only person to gain from using such a spell.
The only other alternative was disturbing to her; at some level she must have liked the way the king had treated her, and that realization bothered her. She snuggled close to Kalas, content at the moment that whatever she had felt before disappeared when she was with him.
They had already been traveling for three days and she was starting to get bored with the monotonous landscape passing outside the carriage. The southern region of the Trikingdom was dry and flat and completely uninspiring. The only place that was worth seeing was Genoise which lay on the coast. It had once been a popular vacation spot for nobles, but after years of bad rule had succumbed to the kind of corruption that occurred when money met dishonest officials.
Their escort was made up of guards from both Galin and DuGuerra. They would bolster the small force guarding the ducal estate when they arrived. In addition, Careena's childhood maid had agreed to come with her. She was riding in the carriage behind. The old woman was looking toward the move as one last adventure before she retired from service. Kalas's best friend, and fellow paladin, was also travelling with them, although he had yet to decide whether he would remain in Genoise.
Careena peered out the window at the sturdy young man dressed in full paladin battle armor as he rode beside their carriage. She knew the man, Jareth, looked up to her husband, who was quickly becoming something of a legend among the paladin order. Not for any good deeds, he hadn't been around long enough, but for the amount of strength he seemed to possess both physical and magical.
She was looking forward to the task ahead of them, but she had trepidation about it too. Would they be able to find the right balance to restore Genoise to prosperity, or would they wind up dead like the previous Duke?
She looked at her paladin-husband while he slept. She knew she would have to temper the firm hand he would want to use to clean up the city. Paladins were not known for being patient with those breaking the law and doing harm to others.
As a member of the DuGuerra royal family she herself had been instructed in the use of magic, but she wasn't good at it. It wasn't that she didn't study or cast the spells wrong; she had trouble calling forth the innate magic inside her. All her instructors agreed that her form and concentration were excellent, but the spells came out weak, or didn't function at all.
When she was young, her father had hired specialists to a examine her. One of them had come to the conclusion that even though she possessed a great deal of magical energy, something was blocking it. After that, she had spent much of her time studying rule, law, and finances. If she couldn't use magic, she at least wanted to govern well. Which is why she was so eager to begin their new life together in Genoise; she wanted to see if her studies would pay off.
***
Three days later, the duke and duchess, weary from travel, arrived at their new home. Both of them examined the outside of the ducal estate with an air of dissatisfaction. It was in a state of disrepair that mirrored the rest of the city.
On the front steps stood a thin wiry man wearing glasses and clutching a stack of disorganized papers to his chest. He shuffled back and forth on his feet nervously as he waited for the young couple to approach.
"Welcome, Lord Kalas, Lady Careena," the man said with an awkward bow as they reached the top of the steps. "I'm Cilas Grantham, chief steward of this estate and interim administrator of the duchy of Genoise."
"Thank you, Cilas," Kalas responded. "I'm sure you've done a splendid job in the absence of a duke."
The man seemed pleased with the praise and relaxed somewhat. "Please allow me to show you around, and introduce you to the rest of the staff," the man said, motioning them to enter.
The large doors to the estate opened as they approached. The interior was slightly better than the exterior, at least inside the layer of grime had been washed away, but the furnishings were shabby and in need of replacement or repair.
The most important staff members of the estate were lined up in the entry to receive the new duke and duchess. After the introductions, Cilas gave a brief speech formally welcoming them to Genoise. Kalas thanked them all and then excused himself and his wife so that they could be shown to their room to freshen up after their long journey.
"Everyone seems nice," Careena commented once they were alone in their room.
"I suppose, but Cilas hardly seems like he's suited to managing a city," Kalas remarked.
"Yes, but he's probably good with finances," she responded.
Kalas agreed, but their conversation was cut short as several maids entered with their luggage from the trip. Careena's old maid, Siri, was with them. She was going to instruct the others on how to set up the room to the duchess's standards. Cilas appeared a few moments later, offering the young couple a tour of their new estate.
They accepted and were soon on an overlong excursion through nearly every room in the estate filled with unnecessary explanations and stories that Cilas seemed to delight in telling. They wearily were finally led to the dining hall, where a fine dinner had been prepared for them, where they were joined by Kalas's friend Jareth, who was bewildered by the dirty looks the couple sent his direction at his having missed the tour.
Tired from the journey, and the tour, the duke and duchess returned to their room following dinner intending to retire early. They shooed all their attendants out, stating that they wanted to be alone and prepared for bed.
"So, is it as bad as you thought?" Careena asked as she brushed out her hair. She had changed into her nightgown, but Kalas was still wearing his shirt and breeches.
"The estate is in worse shape than I thought," he admitted, "we'll see about the rest of the city in the morning."
"How do you want to proceed?" she asked. "We have to be careful how much pressure we put on the people. I know we need to clean up the corruption, but we don't want the citizenry resenting us for it."
"I know. We need to find someone to make an example of. Someone so despicable, and hated by the population that there will be no public outcry when he's punished," he said.
