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Chapter 6
The Rhine King
The mighty king of the Rhine sat quietly in his chair in the library, staring out the massive window into the darkness of the night. His back was facing the enormous fireplace, behind which were the thousands of books stacked high on wooden shelves reaching to the ceiling.On the wall above the fireplace was a discolored rectangle outlined among the stones, a sad reminder of the painting that once hung there.
Wimfred, who was one of the king’s most trusted servants, sat with him in silence on a chair next to the windows.
Out of all the tragedies that had befallen the great king, for the first time, it dawned on him that his beautiful daughter might be the saddest yet.
“Nobody but myself is to blame for this,” he said.
“Do not blame yourself, Your Highness.”
The king raised his hand to his chest. “I’ve spoiled her too much.”
“It is not your fault that the queen, God bless her soul, left us so early. She always knew what to do when it came to the princess.”
“Maybe she needed less gold and more of me,” the king countered. Wimfred didn’t answer, something he often did when he agreed but didn’t want to do so out loud.
It was God’s honest truth, and the king knew it. Out of all the regrets in his life, the fact that he couldn’t bear to look at his own daughter was the greatest. But in his daughter’s every breath, he saw his beloved wife. When she smiled, laughed, cried. How often he wanted to join his wife where God had taken her. After his wife’s death, he’d recklessly thrown himself to the front of every battle in which his kingdom fought, but not once had death shown him its mercy. Over the years, his longing for death became less, and he knew, as a father, he had a duty to live for his daughter.
“Has His Highness thought of how to proceed?”
The king knew what Wimfred was referring to. His words about marrying Mina to the next nobleman or beggar who would take her were spreading like wildfire. In anger, he had yelled too loudly, and the servants had heard him, two floors beneath the attic.
“I can’t force her to marry. Nobleman or beggar. She is still my daughter, and I love her.”
“Very wise, My King.”
The king knew Wimfred enough to know that abutwould follow.
“Butwhat is your daughter to do should anything, God forbid, happen to His Highness? The world is not what it used to be. The war in the North has left many kingdoms longing for His Highness’s lands and riches. As much as it pains me to say, without a husband and strong ally, the princess will not last.”
It was true. Every word of it. But what Wimfred had politely left out was the fact that the spoiled princess had no practical abilities whatsoever. While some queens might be able to fend off attackers and rule a kingdom successfully, Mina didn’t possess the right skills. She didn’t lack intelligence or strength. And she was well feared; he knew that some called her the Night Queen, but what might seem like a strength, he knew, would be her downfall.
“The people don’t favor her, wouldn’t follow her into battle,” the Rhine King concluded.
“They will for gold,” Wimfred argued.
“You can’t buy loyalty.”
“I disagree.”
“The right kind of loyalty,” the king clarified. “The kind she would need to keep these lands together.”
“The North would need centuries to build an army large enough to take the Rhine lands.”
“Not with the help of Louis the Great. He plays his political cards well. I know he is waiting like a spider for the day I die to take my kingdom. His son is still too young to marry, and he fears an invasion from the east. His daughter’s marriage to the North King’s heir was more strategic than you think.”
Wimfred smiled. “So were your invitations to the Northern noble families to find a suitor for Mina.”
A small smile turned the corner of the Rhine King’s thin lips. “But his daughter listened. Mine didn’t.”
“Then make her.”
The king looked at his old friend. He was as wise as they came, but he’d never held a child in his arms. He didn’t know what it was like to have a piece of himself walking around in the world.
“I can’t force her to marry. It isn’t right.”
