Lucien's Predicament
POV: Alexandra
Lucien sat silently after Vanessa told him that the magic would still affect him. We all stared at him but Malinus spoke up, “I’m sure His Majesty is at a loss for words. Did the guard say how long the magic will last?” Vanessa sighed, “As long as Alexandra’s Aphrodite ability lasts. As far as we know, it is forever.” The silence settled into the room but no one was looking at each other. Each of us were staring in different directions. Ronan muttered, “Wouldn’t that be considered cheating?” Vanessa’s eyes widened, “It is! You can disqualify her from the Queen competition and banish her!” Lucien shook his head, “How can I do that if I’m around her? I will feel the pull to protect her as I do Alexandra.” Ronan shook his head, “You can, Your Majesty. I think there’s a rule somewhere that allows you to appoint a proxy.” Lucien looked up at Malinus, “Is that true?” He shrugged, “I’m not aware of it…yet. I will make it my mission to find out.” Lucien sighed, “I cannot believe that I have to fear stepping outside of my home for fear of loving someone I don’t love.” He looked at me apologetically before looking at Ronan, “Make sure the guards keep their orders to deny Melody Maigny out of the castle.” Ronan shook his head, “You know I cannot make the order to deny nobility indefinitely from the castle unless we have the permission of the Elder Council.” He looked back at Malinus, “How long is the order in place?” Malinus pulled out a piece of paper, and unfolded it, “Looks like for another two days.” Lucien sprung up, “Let’s go see if we can hold an emergency meeting. All of you need to come with me. You too, General.”
Lucien walked out of the room looking determined to go get this woman banned from his castle. We followed until we stepped outside where Melody was leaning against the carriage. Lucien smiled at her, “My love, what are you doing here?” She looked at me and smirked, “I wanted to see you but those mean old guards kept me from you. Why don’t you rescind the order?” Lucien nodded, “I will see to it that it is done.” He turned to Ronan, “Rescind the order, General.” Ronan shook his head and whispered, “Respectfully, I cannot follow that order.” Lucien glared at Ronan, “I will have your head for this.” Malinus looked at Vanessa, “Is there anything to be done?” Vanessa shook her head, “Afraid not.” Jynx whispered to me, “Would it be an act of war if I knock him out?” Malinus heard what she said, “I’ll cover you Jynx. We are going to drag him into the carriage. You can do it there out of sight. General, do we have grounds to rescind the King’s power?” Ronan nodded, “He’s not in his right mind so we can pull his power temporarily.” Malinus asked, “Who gets the power?” Ronan pointed at himself, “Me until I can appoint a member of the royal family to act as a regent until His Majesty is able.” Malinus nodded, “Perfect, do it.”
Lucien had already walked over to Melody and tucked her blond hair behind her ear. He was leaning in to kiss her when Ronan spoke to him, “Your Majesty, under the Royal Mental Health act. I am rescinding your power and placing another Doré on the throne until a time the Elder Council deems you mentally fit.” He looked at Toby, “Go get Alita.” Toby nodded and ran inside. Lucien rounded on Ronan, “You cannot do that! I am the KING!” I shook my head, “Your Majesty, respectfully, the law states that you are not able to rule when you are mentally unfit or under a spell. You are currently under a spell. We know this.” Melody stepped forward, “No one asked you, you stupid cow!” Lucien held Melody in his arms, “That’s right, pet. She is a stupid cow, not worthy of showing herself in front of the future Queen of Vellum.” I rolled my eyes, “Better to be a cow than an ugly hag!” Melody broke free from Lucien’s arms, “Say that again to my face, bitch!” I clenched my fists, ready to strike but Jynx stepped in front of me, “You are a threat to, my lady The Priestess Ophiuchus. Back away or you will be dealt with.” Tyleesh stepped up next to her, “You will also be offending the King of Seely if you continue. You will start a war.” She tried to shove past the two to get to me when Toby walked out of the building with Alita. He saw the scene and immediately ran over and pulled me behind him, “I will not let you touch my lady, Melody!” She shouted, “She insulted me! I have every right to scratch her cow eyes out! Loooooosh! I need you to have her arrested for her impertinence!” Lucien looked over at Ronan, “Arrest that Batiste brat immediately.” Ronan shook his head, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I must insist you go home immediately. I’m placing you under house arrest until further notice. Lady Maigny, you will be arrested as well if you continue to try to injure and insult Her Grace. She is an employee of His Majesty and therefore under protection.” Lucien looked at him, “Then she’s fired.” Ronan sighed then looked at Toby and Alita, “Please escort His Majesty to his carriage.” The two took Lucien by his arms and placed him in the carriage and Ronan had the carriage drive away.
He turned to us, “As his staff, I feel we need to go and discuss this turn of events.” He rounded on his foot and walked into the building. We heard Melody shout, “This isn’t over cow! I will have my revenge for your insolence. When I am Queen I will have your head!” I rolled my eyes as we made our way back to the office. He shut the door behind him, “I instructed the driver to drive to the castle but not let him out. That should be enough to portal to the castle.” Malinus sighed, “I thought we were going to have to put him to sleep using Jynx.” Vanessa opened the portal, “I figured we had better get the move on. We need to take some actions I’m sure.” Ronan nodded, “I need to talk to the Queen Mother. I will appoint her regent. We need to send word to the Elder Council to convene an emergency session. I think we can probably send Alexandra and her entourage since that will be quickest.” He scribbled something on a piece of paper and placed his seal on it, “Take this to Enzo, tell him it is urgent.” I nodded, “As you will it.” I turned to Jynx and nodded, “I think I will need your assistance.” She smiled, “Of course.” She turned and opened another portal, the two groups stepped through their portals. Ronan, Malinus, Teddy, and Vanessa stepped through her portal while Toby, Tyleesh, me, and Jynx all stepped through Jynx’s portal.
We stepped out in front of Elder Hall and walked up to the door. I spoke to the guards, “I am here by order of the General. I have an urgent request from him.” One of the guards nodded, “You need not justify to us, Your Grace. We have standing orders to let you in the building from Elder Edgar. You may proceed.” They opened the door and we all stepped inside, Edgar was stepping out of a room when he spotted me and smiled, “Your Grace, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?” I smiled at him, “Hello Elder Edgar, I am looking for Elder Enzo. It’s an emergency.” He must’ve seen the panic on my face because he pulled a Meshan stone out of his pocket and spoke into it. He nodded at me, “He’s in the meeting hall. Come, I will take you to him.” He led us down the long hall to the meeting hall. The last time I was there they were scrutinizing me as part of the competition. He knocked on the door, and the scribe answered the door. We stepped into the room and Enzo was sitting at the long table with papers placed in front of him. I looked up at us, “Your Grace, I hear you have an emergency?”
I nodded and held out the message from Ronan to him, “I think this explains it.” He took the message and read it. His face went from friendly and inviting to grim in no time. He looked up at me, “This is very serious. Is there proof?” I nodded, “Vanessa Tannen got a confession out of the guard this afternoon. Alita Baltiliard was in attendance.” He looked at the scribe, “Gather the others, we need to have an emergency session.” He looked up at me, “You can stay for part of this since it is crucial for the Royal Mental Health Act. The other thing you will have to leave since this has to do with Melody Maigny.” I nodded, “Understood, sir. That is all I ask so that I can convey to whichever royal is in charge when this is done.” He sighed, “I can assure you, it won’t be His Majesty, Lucien Doré. The General can appoint someone for now but we will vote to make the final decision. Do you know who he had in mind?” I nodded, “It is Her Majesty the Queen Mother.” He hummed, “Okay. We will see if that changes. There are some who would argue we need younger blood and advocate for His Highness.” He invited me to sit down behind him so I could take notes for the Royals. We discussed what exactly happened in front of the Citadel. He told me that I may have to speak on this as a witness as well as the other three who were with me.
The elders began to walk into the room, each glanced at me as they entered the room. Enzo rose as everyone got settled and explained that I had brought a message from the General. He proceeded to explain that Lucien was compromised by blood magic. He explained that the blood in the blood magic used against him was my own blood when the attempt was made on my life. He told them that Lucien was compromised for now but we weren’t sure how long. He explained they, as the governing body that went hand in hand with the King, would need to ensure this did not affect any of his day-to-day activities. Enzo asked me to tell the council what I saw outside the Citadel and how it was very uncharacteristic of him. He told them that Ronan had intended to appoint the Queen Mother to the regent role. Another elder had argued that youth was needed to rule on the throne. Elder Enzo had correctly predicted this. It came time to vote on who would take the regent role. The Queen Mother lost by two votes so I was ordered to deliver the message to Malinus and have him summon Blake from Mesha so that he could assume the regency. The Queen Mother would stay in place until Blake showed up, which would be only for a few hours, assuming he didn’t have Panshad with him. It came to the point that we would be kicked out of the room. We had to stick around for the scribe to write up the orders and have Elder Enzo place a seal on it. We waited for twenty minutes when the scribe came out. He handed the orders to me with a smirk, “You will not believe what they just did. This morning has been a wild one already. You make the days very interesting when you show up, Your Grace.” I smiled at him, “What did they just do?” He shook his head, “You’ll have to wait until the ball to find out.”
