As the queen planned, one of her maids returned to the dining room and informed Roland that the queen needed to see him.
"Is there bad news?" Elarin blurted out. "The queen had had a headache all day, she has gone to summon a doctor and now she is summoning Roland." She put a hand on the king’s arm and looked at him through genuinely worried eyes. "Raffi, we should go and check on her. My aunt went to bed with a headache and the following morning, she was found dead." Elarin stood up and looked at the maid. "Lead the way, hurry."
This maid was not one of Sigrid’s people and she became uneasy as soon as Elarin asked her to lead the way to the queen’s chambers.
"I...the queen asked for the crown prince only." she started off stammering and finished with a whisper.
Roland stood up but the king slapped the table in anger. "How dare you!" He glared at the maid. "As a servant girl who gave you the right to talk about to my second queen and disobey her orders?"
The maid fell to her knees in fright.
"Take her out to be punished and dismiss her." King Raff ordered. He stood up and took Elarin’s hand. "Let’s go and see what ails the queen so much that only the crown prince can heal her?"
Sigrid slipped her arm through Roland’s and they followed. Galen could not stay behind, he was also the queen’s son. Everyone at the table found it difficult to continue eating and the entire group made their way to the private chambers of the queen.
The king’s knights stopped Queen Maurelia’s knights from announcing his arrival. Quickly, the king noticed the fidgety looks on the faces of the servants and knights but he said nothing.
As they approached her private bedroom, some sounds started to become clearer. It sounded like moaning and heavy breathing which all the adults were familiar with.
"Is that coming from the queen’s bedroom, isn’t...isn’t she supposed to be seeing a doctor?" Elarin gasped and covered her mouth.
King Raff stopped all movement, his brow furrowed. As the sounds grew wilder, curiosity, tinged with unease propelled him forward.
A red knight pushed the doors open and the sight that met everyone’s eyes had them gasping or covering their eyes. There, amidst the silk sheets, tangled on the bed were three people that were naked. One was the queen of Eldoria Maurelia De-Kensington, the other was a red knight who was devoid of all clothes but his red cloak and the last, another woman, Orena Hawthorn.
King Raff roared like a an angry lion.
Alistair who was invisible put out the incense while Sigrid secretly muttered a spell for the fog to be lifted and the minds of the three people caught in bed to be cleared.
The king was already unsheathing a sword and judging by the murderous look in his eyes, he was about to murder three people.
"My king, calm yourself, you cannot kill the queen." Elarin tried to stop him, pulling him back.
Meanwhile, the queen and her companions froze, none of them could seem to recall how they had got to where they were but there was no denying what they had been doing. The queen scrambled to cover her nakedness with a sheet. The red knight dropped off the bed and fell to his knees while Orena’s face paled and she remained immobile.
"How..you...." Queen Maurelia had no idea where to start. "I don’t know what happened, I...."
Roland covered his eyes and Galen punched a wall.
"Mother, have you lost your mind?" Galen bellowed. "Not only are you having an affair but you are...." He groaned and walked away because he could not stomach looking at the three people anymore.
Roland turned his back too and he left, his silence spoke volumes. Sigrid chose to stay, she had to see what she had started to the end.
"You bitch..." the king growled at the queen. "How dare you do this in my castle? You are the queen of this kingdom and yet you are a whore!!! All this time you called Rina one because of her background but how are you different from her now? At least she only slept with one man; me. You...." His eyes trailed to Orena and then the red knight. "one man can’t satisfy you so you need a woman too and you do this in the presence of all your servants. You have brought shame on me and our children. Are you worthy of being queen?"
For the first time ever, queen Maurelia found herself at the mercy of the king. The crime of a queen committing adultery was punishable by death.
Benjamin in the meantime saw an opportunity. A queen’s character was important, if she was caught up in such a scandal the paternity of all her children would be questioned. It would not take much for Roland’s position to be shaken. If he was removed as crown prince, not even Galen was qualified to take up the position.
Naturally, it would fall on him and no man could take Emmah away from him...especially not Prince Firron. "Father, this is an unforgivable crime, we must drag her out and shame her. All the Eldorians must know what she has done and...."
King Raff whirled around and he slapped Benjamin. "Do you think that I don’t know what you are thinking? You want to tell the whole world that my wife has been sleeping with another man and woman. What will that say about me? That I am not man enough to satisfy her that she needs to sleep with a fellow woman that has no cock! Do you want to tarnish your father’s name?"
"Father that is not...." Benjamin was just starting his explanation when he was slapped again.
The king’s eyes burned with a storm of emotions__anger most dominant. "You have become more and more useless since your mother died. Did you not hear me talk about your mother’s background? I bought her from a brothel for a few gold coins. If I shame this bitch as a whore through the kingdom, her family will bring up your mother’s past.
If you think Roland and Galen will loose their right to the crown and it will fall to you then you are mistaken. It will only mean that all of my children are not worthy to rule the kingdom. Your status as a admirable prince will fall quickly and you will become a source of shame that the people laugh at point at.
Worse still, the De Kensingtons’s will band together with any of my relatives and take vengeance. Have you thought about this? Do you think that family will allow you to live for more than a week if you are made crown prince?"