A Princess Prays Read online

  “I am sure you are better, dearest,” she said, “but do not be worried by the Affairs of State. You are not to be troubled by such things, as I told the Prime Minister when he asked if he could see you.”

  “Why was I not told?” enquired the King sharply.

  “I was told and I indicated that I did not want them disturbing you! You are still far too ill to be bothered over matters they can easily settle among themselves.”

  The King was becoming angry.

  “You should have told me that the Prime Minister wished to see me,” he said sternly.

  “Now don’t worry, my dearest. I have settled the whole matter myself. In fact the Prime Minister was very surprised I knew so much about the subject, but he had to admit that my solution to the problem, which was not a big one anyway, was very sensible and something they could put in hand immediately.”

  The King’s lips tightened.

  The Queen had no right to give any orders where political matters were concerned and he was most surprised at the Prime Minister accepting them.

  At the same time it made it very clear to him what would happen in the future if he was not there to prevent it.

  “All you have to do, dearest,” she continued, “is to get well quickly. Then you can worry about all these little matters, which I do find a tiresome bore!”

  The way she was speaking made the King think she was lying and he was aware that she knew she had made a mistake in mentioning the Prime Minister.

  Now she was trying to make light of it, hoping he would forget what she had said.

  The Queen looked at the clock.

  “I am going to undress and then I will come to say goodnight to you and make sure you have everything you require.”

  She glanced towards the sleeping draught as she spoke and the King wondered why she was so determined he should take it.

  It suddenly struck him that perhaps she wanted to look at the State papers that had been left in his bedroom earlier by one of the equerries.

  He had not demanded to see the State papers for some time and it did not surprise him that the Queen knew so much.

  He was beginning to realise that she had a finger in every pie and a detailed knowledge of everything that went on in the Palace, which sooner or later she would undoubtedly turn to her own advantage.

  The Queen rose to kiss him gently on the cheek.

  “I will be back in about half-an-hour,” she said. “I am sure that Frederik is now waiting to attend you.”

  She walked to the door and turned to wave her hand with a pretty gesture before she left.

  As the door closed the King was frowning. Every instinct in his body told him that she was up to something, but he was not quite certain what it was.

  Frederik came in followed by two footmen bringing the Salem water for his bath.

  Recently he had found it more enjoyable to take his bath late at night rather than before dinner.

  He liked to believe that the cold water was taking away the growth in his chest and he could lie in his bath as long as he wanted to.

  Now he thought it rather annoying that the Queen was coming to say goodnight to him and he might not be able to stay in his bath as long as he usually did.

  With a strong feeling of resentment he told himself she could wait and he would lie in his bath just as long as he wanted!

  The water would undoubtedly help to cure him as Father Jozsef had said it would. It had a sweet scent about it and he liked to think of it coming fresh from the beautiful little lake that stood in the centre of Salem.

  The people who lived round the lake looked upon it almost with reverence and one of the men who had brought the water to the Palace had told Frederik that it had magic powers.

  Another believed that the fish in the lake were the souls of those who had lived in Salem. When they died they could not bear to leave their beautiful village, so they came back in the bodies of fish.

  “It’s an odd tale, Your Majesty,” Frederik had said. “I always say some people believe anything, but it does seem strange that all them that live in Salem be so well.”

  “Is it really true they live to be over a hundred?”

  “I hear as there is one man who be one hundred and five next birthday,” answered Frederik, “and a dozen or so be just having their hundredth!”

  “It seems incredible,” remarked the King, “and we are very lucky it’s so close to us.”

  “Your Majesty can say that again. Someone was saying that when one of the countries up North hears about Salem, they thought as they’d have a magic lake too to attract visitors and guess what happened?”

  “What did happen?”

  “They makes a great hullabaloo about it and when the people came to see it two boys were drowned!”

  “That was not very magical, Frederik.”

  “That’s what those people said so they gave up the idea and who could blame them.”

  “Who indeed.”

  The King lay in his bath for longer than he would have done otherwise as he was so annoyed with the Queen.

  Frederik had dried him and he climbed into bed.

  “Your Majesty is later than usual.”

  “Yes, and Her Majesty is coming to say goodnight to me so you had better leave the Salem water on the chest until she has left. I think it irritates her that I am drinking so much of it, because she said it would do me no good!”

  “Your Majesty is proving her wrong. Women are all the same. They always have to be right!”

  “So you find that too, Frederik!”

  “All of my life I’ve had some woman whether it be my mother, my sister or one I fancied telling me they were right and I be wrong!”

  The King laughed as he always found Frederik so amusing.

  He drank a little Salem water before Frederik put the glass back on the chest of drawers.

  “Suppose Your Majesty wants some in the night?”

  “I know that I am better now because I resent everyone mollycoddling me,” smiled the King.

  “That is more like Your Majesty’s old self. When Your Majesty tells me to get out of the way, I know you be well on the mend!”

  Frederik blew out the lights except the one standing on the table beside the bed.

  “Goodnight, Your Majesty,” he said. “May God bless you, which I knows he be a-doing.”

  *

  The King smiled as he lay back against his pillows, for the first time in months feeling strong enough to make plans.

  He decided that tomorrow he would get up and at least sit in the window whilst he had his luncheon.

  He would like to see his horses too, so he vowed to send Frederik with a message to the stables for his best stallions to be paraded through the garden in the afternoon.

  He knew how pleased the grooms and courtiers would be to see their King taking an interest in his horses again. In fact everyone in the whole City would rejoice in seeing him back to a semblance of his old self. At this rate he would soon be back in the saddle.

  ‘I cannot be grateful enough to Father Jozsef,’ the King pondered.

  Suddenly the candles flickered and he felt as if Father Jozsef was standing beside him telling him to close his eyes and pretend to be asleep when the Queen came to visit him.

  It seemed like good advice. The same old arguments at this particular moment might put him back a pace or two.

  Only a few minutes later he heard the door creak open and he instantly closed his eyes and lay very still.

  Listening carefully he became aware that the Queen had closed the door quietly before tiptoeing slowly towards the bed. Coming so close that he could smell her distinctive perfume she stopped and stood looking down at him.

  The King made himself relax, certain that his breathing was deep and that he looked convincingly asleep.

  He was sure that the Queen would think it a shame to wake him and then leave the room immediately.

  To his surprise after a few minutes she moved away fro
m the bed to the chest of drawers and he wondered why.

  Perhaps it was to examine the water she so disliked him drinking? However he felt convinced that there was nothing she could do about it and she would not be so foolish as to throw it away.

  Curious, he slightly opened one eye to see to his astonishment that she was doing something to the tray Frederik had left on the chest.

  ‘What can she be doing?’ he wondered.

  She was there quite a long time.

  The King’s curiosity became greater than his desire not to have to talk to her, so he deliberately stirred.

  “Oh, are you there, Margit?” he called out. “I must have fallen asleep.”

  The Queen started.

  He thought she almost jumped and it seemed that the mere fact of him speaking had given her a shock.

  She came quickly back to the bed.

  “I am so sorry, I did not want to wake you, dearest,” she murmured.

  “I had only just dozed off. I was a little late having my bath and you are a little later than I expected.”

  “Yes, I had some matters to see to before I went to bed,” she said hastily. “Now dearest, you must go to sleep. I am sure after a good night you will feel better tomorrow.”

  “I do hope so.”

  The Queen bent over to kiss him and then she gave a little cry.

  “How could your valet be so careless? He has not given you the sleeping draught.”

  “Oh! I thought I had drunk it.”

  “No, it is here on the chest of drawers. I will tell Frederik in the morning he is to look after you better. You know what the doctors said.”

  “I remember it well,” the King replied ruefully.

  She put the tray with the water from Salem down beside the King with the sleeping draught in a small glass.

  The Queen picked up something which was lying in the corner of the tray, but he could not see what it was.

  It looked to him to be quite a small object, which was entirely hidden once it was in her hand.

  The Queen bent forward to kiss him again.

  “Now, take your medicine and go to sleep. I may have interesting and exciting news to tell you tomorrow.”

  She did not wait for the King to reply, but walked towards the door.

  “Goodnight, dearest. I am convinced that you are improving all the time, so don’t forget your medicine.”

  The Queen waved to him and left the room.

  The King sat up and looked at the tray she had set down beside him, grateful that she had not insisted on standing over him whilst he drank the medicine.

  She had certainly not touched the water.

  Yet he was certain the small glass which contained the sleeping draught was fuller than it had been on other nights.

  He stared at it for some moments and then he rang the bell for Frederik.

  He arrived in a few moments.

  “Your Majesty requires me?”

  “Close the door Frederik.”

  The valet came forward a little apprehensively.

  “What be going on?” he asked.

  “You forgot to throw away my sleeping draught.”

  “I know, Your Majesty, I am sorry. I did think of it after I’d gone. But you had taken so long in the bath, I just forgot to empty it.”

  “Well, you did not empty it but I have a feeling it is now fuller than when you left.”

  Puzzled, Frederik bent his head to look at the glass.

  “That be true, Your Majesty, there’s nearly half as much in it again as what I put in while you be having a bath.”

  There was silence before the King said,

  “I want you to take this glass to Doctor Iccus. Ask him to identify what is in it and bring the results back to me immediately. Don’t tell anyone else what I have asked you to do.”

  Doctor Iccus was a very old medical scientist, who had been a close friend of the King’s father.

  Upon retiring from his own practice the Doctor had been given rooms in one wing of the Palace in honour of all his achievements.

  A skilled pharmacist, many of the young medical students who were interested in apothecary and the development of scientific medicine visited him daily to ask his advice and guidance.

  The King knew that Doctor Iccus was a man he could trust implicitly with such a serious matter.

  Frederik left the room with the glass in his hand.

  The King realised that he would be away for some time, but now he had no wish to sleep.

  He picked up the book he had been reading, but found it difficult to concentrate.

  Thoughts kept whirring around in his head that were so dreadful, yet he had to know if what he suspected was true.

  Nearly an hour passed before Frederik returned looking shaken.

  As he came forward the King knew before he spoke that his suspicions were not unfounded.

  “You woke Doctor Iccus?”

  “He was already awake, Your Majesty, and I waited while he tests what were in this here glass.”

  “And what did he find?”

  There was an eerie silence as Frederik drew in his breath.

  “It contains, Doctor Iccus said, Your Majesty, enough poison to kill a horse!”

  The King nodded.

  It was just as he had suspected.

  He now knew what the Queen had held in her hand, and he even knew how she had come by it.

  What he had seen her hiding was the poison Doctor Iccus had given her a few weeks ago.

  It had been meant for a very old dog that had gone blind. The King loved animals and could not tolerate seeing the hound suffer any longer, so he had given instructions for it to be put to sleep.

  Sickened by how close she had come to fulfilling her plan, the King knew now that he had been right in his suspicions.

  The Queen did intend to steal his throne once he was dead, even though it should rightfully belong to Attila.

  The King sat up in bed.

  “Go and wake the Lord Chamberlain,” he ordered grimly, “and tell him to come here at once.”

  Frederik placed the glass down on the chest and left the room.

  The King reckoned it would take him some time to reach the Lord Chamberlain and for him to rise and dress.

  To his surprise ten minutes later, Frederik opened the door and the Lord Chamberlain entered.

  “I received Your Majesty’s message as I returned home from a Regimental dinner,” he said. “Is anything wrong? I was afraid when Frederik asked me to come to you, Sire, you were feeling worse.”

  “No, my health continues to improve. What I am feeling is anger, pure rage, and I am afraid I have a rather unpleasant task for you.”

  “What is that?” asked the Lord Chamberlain, surprised by the stern look on the King’s face.

  “I want you to arrange an Army Escort to take the Queen to her own country. Please make it plain that if she ever attempts to return to Valdina, she will be brought to trial for attempting to murder me!”

  The Lord Chamberlain stared at the King.

  He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

  “What are you saying, Sire? I can hardly believe that what Your Majesty says is true.”

  “The proof is right there on the chest of drawers. She thought I was fast asleep and added a substance to the sleeping draught I am supposed to drink at night. It has been analysed by Doctor Iccus, who says there is enough poison in it to kill a horse.”

  He paused and then continued,

  “I am not a horse and if I had taken it, as the Queen begged me to do, I should undoubtedly at this moment be dead.”

  The Lord Chamberlain gave a loud exclamation of horror.

  “Can this really be true?” he asked again, dazed by this turn of events.

  “It certainly is. Luckily I noticed when the Queen left my room that my glass was fuller than previously, despite the fact that I had not drunk any of it. Frederik confirmed it for me.”

  The Lord Chamberlain gave a de
ep sigh.

  “I will carry out Your Majesty’s instructions to the letter.”

  “I apologise for them being unpleasant, but they are totally necessary. At the same time we do not need any scandal so the newspapers must not get to hear of it.”

  He paused before he added,

  “I have, in fact, just thought of a better idea.”

  “What is that, Your Majesty?” the Lord Chamberlain enquired curiously.

  “Just over the border into the Queen’s country there is the Convent of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You will tell Her Majesty that I will announce she has retired there as it is where she wishes to spend the rest of her life.”

  His face was grim, his eyes steely and cold as he went on,

  “That is the message which will go out to the subjects of Valdina tomorrow, and if Her Majesty agrees to go quietly without any protestation, no one except you, Frederik and myself will know the truth.”

  “I think it is an excellent idea, Your Majesty. The last thing we want is a scandal of a woman, even if she is a Queen, attempting to obtain the throne by such villainous and appalling actions!”

  “I leave it in your capable hands. If you wake the Queen now, tell her you can arrange for her to go quietly without a Royal Escort to the Convent, otherwise she will go by force.”

  The Lord Chamberlain gave another deep sigh.

  “I am incredibly sorry, Your Majesty, that this has occurred, but I will carry out your instructions in full. I only hope that they will be accepted in a sensible manner and remain a secret to the world outside.”

  “Thank you, Lord Chamberlain.”

  The King lent back against his pillows and the Lord Chamberlain thought that the horror of what had occurred was extremely bad for him.

  “Please take good care of His Majesty, Frederik,” the Lord Chamberlain urged him.

  “That’s what I intends to do, my Lord.”

  Now the Lord Chamberlain, none too hurriedly, and feeling extremely apprehensive, knocked on the door of the Queen’s bedroom.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  There was a knock on Attila’s window.

  She opened the door to find Lamos outside.

  “I’ve brought hot water, but the gentleman says you are not to hurry as he’s gone swimming in the river.”

  Attila smiled.

  She thought it was just like Gesa to take advantage of the nearby river and so she did not dress herself until she heard him return on the other side of the wooden wall.