bother.
The Princess lay down on her bed and stared at the silk canopy. Her father had tried to say goodbye to her today, and she was not ready to let him go yet. If he died she would have no one, she had no real friends and her brother was not very fond of her. When her father was gone, her life would be very lonely, and she hated being alone.
Chapter 4
Why isn’t he dead, Selmac?” Bishop Lyfair was unhappy about the fact King Aaron still lived. “You told me he would die last week, you told me the same thing the week before, and yet that old fool still lives.” The Bishop’s brows lowered. He was not a tall man, but his looks of displeasure could be imposing. “If he starts to suspect what’s happening things could go very wrong. You know what that would mean for us, Finn?”
The healer ran his hand through his thin graying hair. The royal surgeon was spindly and frail-looking, his face reminded the Bishop of a starving rat.
“I don’t understand it, Your Eminence. The lung sickness should have killed him some time ago. I have done everything I can think of to hasten it, but still he hangs on. I don’t know what else I can do short of poisoning him.”
The Bishop rose from his great oak desk, a gift from the King years ago for his outstanding service to the crown. How things had changed over the years. Once he was the King’s confessor and most trusted advisor, now he was trying to orchestrate the old man’s death.
Bishop Lyfair began to slowly pace back and forth stroking his close-cropped goatee. It, as well as his hair, had both gone grey in the last ten years. It was the stress of trying to keep the declining Kingdom afloat. He turned back to the royal surgeon and held his arms up exasperated.
“You know the rest of the council will be here soon, what am I to tell them? The royal healer is at a loss on what to do? He can’t even see to it that one sick old man dies. Cain has returned home, Finn, we can’t dally now. They will all want this over so we can get on with the succession and restore the Kingdom.” The Bishop knew the Lords of Bandara that were mixed up in this nefarious scheme were already impatient. The King was supposed to be dead before Cain returned from Asqutania. Selmac had failed to see to that now, he would be pressured to make it happen. The intrigue in Turill was beginning to exceed his skills as an agent provocateur.
“Tell me, Selmac, do you understand what is at stake here? Not only the well-being of this Kingdom, but our very lives could be in danger, there are powerful men embroiled in this. They have risked a great deal on the consummation of their plan, and if it fails who do you think they will blame?” Lyfair rubbed his eyes, he hated to be stressed. “I’m a man of God, do you think I would involve myself in this most unsavory of affairs if the very realm did not hang in the balance?”
“It’s the Princess, Your Eminence,” Selmac said almost whining. “She is the one that is keeping him alive. She gives him reason to live, and she is always interfering with my medical orders causing the King to hang on a little longer. You saw her yourself this morning taking him food.”
The Bishop clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to the healer and screamed, “Then do something to stop her!” Lyfair took a deep breath and lowered his voice, realizing he didn’t want to be overheard by one of the young priests outside his office. “Finn, the fate of this Kingdom is resting on your shoulders. For us to move on and rebuild this nation, the King must die and Prince Cain must take the throne; there can be no other way. King Aaron has forced our hand, we must bring solidarity back to Bandara. Our country must be allowed to thrive again.”
The healer nodded his head as a knock came on the door to the Bishop’s private office. A priest stuck his head in the door. “They have arrived, Your Eminence.”
The Bishop cupped his hand to his ear as if he was intently listening to the priest. “Then see them in, Father.” Whirling around, Lyfair faced the nervous surgeon the hem of