presents...
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A Matter of Respect
Gallisus sat across the desk from his father. Even here, in his own study, the prince stared dully down at the papers in front of him. Yesterday's packets, Gallisus realized. Damn. This was going to be about Nemise.
"How long have you been married?" the prince asked, almost idly.
Gallisus resisted the urge to sigh. He also knew better than to answer any question other than the one he'd just been directly asked. "Three years now, sir."
"Three years," his father echoed. He paused. "That should have been enough time for a child."
"I thought you didn't want your governor unduly burdened, sir."
His father nodded thoughtfully. "That's so. But now we come to an uncertain time. And the rules of the Game would protect a young mother, or mother-to-be."
"Well, that's easily enough arranged. Send for me when she brings the packet each day. I'll bend her over the desk before she goes on her way."
At that, his father looked up at him. His eyes were unnerving, so dark they were almost black. He didn't say anything, but the look was far from approving. "She's my wife," he protested hotly. "I can do as I please."
"She is my governor," Principe Mondavi replied, very softly. "And you will give her no cause to betray our family."
"What would you have me do, then?" He was getting angry, which was dangerous around his father. He made himself sit back in his chair and took a breath. "You want me to get a child on her without touching her?"
He got nothing for that but more level black stare. Gallisus held it - not for nothing was he his father's heir. His heart was racing, but he held it. Finally, his father resumed his former mein, looking languidly down at the desk. "I have taken the liberty of speaking to your wife on the matter. She understands that she has a duty to perform. But she cannot, in good conscience, perform it while she perceives such a large insult to herself. She requires a certain measure of respect from you, Gallisus. Not love, nor even kindness, but respect."
"Respect? What is there in a woman to compel - "
In retrospect, he should have known she was there. The prince was keeping her close more often in these days. But he'd seen nothing and heard nothing right until the point when fingers caught in his hair and pulled his head back. He felt the blade at his throat.
Not for nothing was he Mondavi's heir. His eyes widened, but he said only, "I do not think, sir, that Nemise Duboise du Arrent has quite La Reina's skills."
"But you must admit," his father went on placidly, "that this woman can compel respect from you."
"La Reina, if I have ever been otherwise toward you, go ahead and open my throat." There was a pause, but then the knife moved away and she let go his hair. He resisted the urge to rub either spot. He looked at his father, irked. "She has nothing to do with my wife."
"Your wife has other skills. Have you had to deal with many mainland problems, Marchese?"
"No," he had to admit. "But I had heard the bishop..."
"She has acquired Salberini's support, but I know him. The decisions I see are not his. They are hers."
"Fine, fine," Gallisus grunted. "She is not a totally useless creature."
"Worthy of your respect."
"If she pleases you, Father, I respect that."
The prince considered. "For now, that will do. As a token of that respect, you will dismiss Marifi."
"What?" Gallisus half-rose in his seat. "Dismiss - ! Why, why on Terra should I dismiss her? She brings honor to our house, to my name!"
"Because your wife requires it. She will perform her necessary duty without rancor when this is granted her."
"Is my bed to be ruled by my wife? My honor? How will it appear to the court if I dismiss the most beautiful courtesan in Vodacce? How, how am I to do what you wish me to do in the months to come, if men whisper that I allow my wife to dictate my habits? I cannot rule an island, your Highness, if I cannot rule my own wife!"
His father sighed, deeply, and waited. And waited. Gallisus sat down heavily, aware that this display might have cost him.
"You will," his father said at length, "find favor in another courtesan. A girl from Profeta Chiesa, who will be arriving with Lord Guy Duboise du Arrent. He is visiting his cousin. He wishes to see the island, and is so enchanted with her, he will bring her with him. She will stay behind when he leaves."
"I am to take up with another man's leavings?"
"Then take her from him while he is here. I do not care." The prince's tone was suddenly clipped and short, and Gallisus snapped his mouth shut and tried to bury his anger. He'd gone too far, pushed too hard, and made his father angry. "Do I seem to you to be an idiot? I understand how men see Marifi and what she represents. This mainland girl is fine-looking but more importantly, is widely reputed to have bedroom skills that entice the most jaded of the debauched Falisci. What skills, pray tell, does your Marifi have? Any at all? For she seems to me to be an empty-headed ornament who will find herself among the genne as soon as her looks begin to fade. Yes, she is desired, and yes, that makes you envied. We will create a greater reputation, a larger envy, for Celestina and you will lose nothing. Do. You. Understand. Me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good."
"A question, sir?"
"Go ahead."
"Nemise approves of this?"
His father smiled, genuinely amused. "She does. Her pride is not hurt in this; Celestina's skills are not ones a lady of her birth aspires to."
Gallisus nodded and was dismissed. When he rose to go, he saw La Reina watching him from a corner. Had she been there when he'd entered? How had he not seen her?
He put it out of his mind. Well. He had his doubts that any Chiesan bumpkin was going to be oh-so phenomenal in bed. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything to find out. But he didn't want to give up his Marifi, and certainly not on Nemise's say-so.
But of course it wasn't just her say-so, it was his father's. And that, that was something he couldn't ignore. His father would be incensed if, this close to his coup, his own son started causing what he perceived as troubles, and over nothing more than a woman. Eldest son or not, he didn't want his father angry. It wasn't prudent.
The trick, he thought, would be somehow hiding Marifi away until after Nemise got pregnant...
Back to Game 16 log.
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