It had been a little over an hour since the king had held his weekly audience, but Jean-Luc still sat hunched in his throne. His back stiff and his head aching, Jean-Luc was exhausted. In some ways, life had become easier in the past few months as he was slowly gaining stability over his lands, but in some ways, life was more tiring.
Court was back in session now, and the castle bustling with life, but he still remembered the day he had arrived back home. He had received news that his family was sick while he had been traveling in Galencia, delighting in the many pleasures that the nearby realm had to offer. Although he had been aware of the plague that had been devastating his country, Jean-Luc had not really feared for his family at the time. He knew that they were secluded in their country estates, surrounded by the best physicians. It was therefore all the more shocking when he learned of their deaths.
When he had finally arrived at court, the plague had ended and his father had been dead for over a month. The kingdom was in chaos. While waiting for his coronation, Jean-Luc had taken to spending many of his mornings walking in the gardens plotting, scheming, planning, and thinking. He had known then that he needed a strong ally at court and it had been all too easy for him to trust the charismatic Girard Le Blanc.
Before his travels, Girard and Jean-Luc had never been close friends. He had been wary of the slightly older Duke and his ambitions then, but after losing so many of the older, more experienced men during the plague, Girard had surprisingly been one of the few men that Jean-Luc felt he could trust.
Within a few weeks, Jean-Luc found himself depending almost entirely upon Girard's advice and counsel. Although Jean-Luc knew that Girard would expect certain favors of him in return for his loyalty, he was still unsettled by the subject that Girard brought up one morning.
"Tell me, Your Majesty," Girard had said,"have you given any consideration yet as to your marriage?"
Jean-Luc had been surprised to hear the subject being broached so soon after his coronation, but he had known that it would come up eventually. "I know that I must marry soon," he mused. "It would be beneficial for the kingdom and restore some stability were I to marry and produce an heir."
"I am glad to hear that you have given the matter some thought," Girard smiled, "but do you have any particular lady in mind to become your queen?"
"No one specific as of yet," Jean-Luc replied. "In truth I have not given much thought to the matter, although I had been considering looking outside of this realm. A powerful alliance would be very beneficial to the kingdom right now."
Girard shook his head. "Or it could divide the people entirely," he counseled. "Your rule is still in its infancy. We are much too weak at this point to bring in any foreign powers. Forgive me, but if you were to die before producing an heir, you have no real family left and the crown would be left in the hands of an outsider... Perhaps you would be wiser to look for someone within your own lands."
Jean-Luc sighed in annoyance. He thought that he knew what Girard was hinting at. "Who would you suggest?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"If it is not too forward, then I would like to suggest my sister, Anne-Marie."
Secretly, Jean-Luc thought that it was too forward, but he shoved those thoughts aside. Girard did have a point. And Anne-Marie had always been very beautiful. He had not seen her in years because he had been traveling, but before he had left court, the two had had a flirtation of sorts before he had left... "I would like to see her again," Jean-Luc said thoughtfully.
Later that week, Girard had arranged a meeting between his sister and the king. Jean-Luc had been immediately charmed by Anne-Marie. She was everything that he remembered, and if anything, more lovely. Her coy smile and lilting, breathless laugh recalled to him all of his youthful fantasies of her, and he readily agreed to the Duke's suggestion of a betrothal.
They were married in Decemeber. Although the ceremony was small, and not as grand as it should have been, Jean-Luc was well aware of how short his current supply of gold was. Things had improved since he had gained the thrown, and he was not eager to spend more than was necessary on lavish proceedings. Thankfully, due to the rushed nature of the engagement, Anne-Marie did not expect much fanfare and was simply excited to find herself the new queen on Litolia and the wife of JeanLuc.
He clearly remembered the sight of her radiant face as they had stood together in the chapel after they had been wed. They had both been so happy then, and so infatuated with each other that they could never have imagined the arguments that would one day spring up between them.
He thought back to one night in particular. after a banquet. It had been several hours after midnight, and the festivities were still in full swing, but Jean-Luc had been desperately ready to retire with his wife.
She was however, horribly drunk and enjoying herself much too thoroughly to want to retire for the night. When he had requested that she join him in his chambers for the night she had loudly protested and pouted and giggled, irritating Jean-Luc until he had angrily stormed away.
She was his wife! He did not want to force her into doing anything but he knew that he had the right as her lord and husband to command her to obey his will. While trying to calm his temper, he had seen the Lady Laeticia Le Blanc, the duchess and wife of Girard and decided to talk to her.
Truthfully, Jean-Luc had never paid Laeticia much attention. Although she was beautiful, she was very quiet and reserved, not at all like the giggling girls that Jean-Luc had paid court to in his youth, and certainly nothing like his gregarious wife.
He had been surprised by the Duchess once he had engaged her in conversation. Although reserved, the Duchess was incredibly intelligent and understanding, and Jean-Luc quickly found himself telling her of his argument with his wife.
Laeticia recommended that he ask Girard to speak to Anne-Marie has she had always had a close relationship with her older brother and perhaps Girard would be able to gently show her the error of her ways. Confident with this new plan, Jean-Luc retired to his chambers and left the Duke and Duchess to help him smooth things over with his wife.
He was very gratified then, when not even half an hour later, Anne-Marie timidly knocked at his chamber door and meekly asked him to forgive her for her earlier insolence. Whatever the Duke had told her had certainly been to Jean-Luc's advantage for Anne-Marie's light blue eyes were brimming with tears as she asked for his forgiveness. He wondered for a moment if the Duke had been too harsh with her for Anne-Marie obviously seemed to think that he was angrier than he truly was, but he was so happy to be reconciled with her after their brief fight that he simply beamed at her and opened his arms to comfort her. Such things could be better discussed at later times, he had thought then and he had let the matter slide from his mind.
Jean-Luc sighed. His wife still disappointed him sometimes, especially with the way that she behaved at parties, but he had recently received some very good news from her that he hoped would help make things easy between them again. Earlier that morning she had announced to him that she was with child.
