Connie wasn't done though, so he didn't speak.
“No, I won't let him do this… and we can't stop him.” She sighed loudly, tears forming in her pretty eyes. She stared at Tor and shook her head.
“The marriage is over and that's final. We'll have a meeting tonight, here at seven. I'll see the proper people are informed. Bring your wife Tor, this needs to be done in the open, not behind closed doors.” Then as if she hadn't left the whole thing hanging she stopped speaking.
“Um, I… don't get it. I'm married, as far as I know there's nothing wrong with that. Is this, I don't know anything in particular? I guess I could use some information.”
“Don't worry Tor, we'll protect you.” She said. The King nodded then as if finally getting something.
From what? Marriage? OK, So Ali wasn't who he would have chosen for himself, but she was a fine wife and was trying really hard to learn skills that no one had ever bothered to even show her before. She certainly didn't need for Tor to compound the problems she'd had for as long as she could remember by disappearing now or letting anyone make their marriage not real. What the hell was this about?
No one would tell him, just asking him back at seven.
Great, so now he had four hours to go back and tell his new wife that they might not be married the next day, and oh, by the way, no one will tell us why. The other option was to let her walk into it without knowing, but that wouldn't go well at all. A slow anger burned in his gut, it wanted to rip out, to tear the world in half, but he controlled it, damped it down, focused his will and flew back after Not-flying to the south gate.
He found Nita and Ali sitting on the front porch in a screened room that made it hard to see them from the outside, but fairly easy for them to see out, he had to go in and walk back to reach them, through a doorway in the front wall that hadn't been there earlier. The cold marble floor felt harder than normal for some reason. That or his feet were heavier. Maybe it was just his soul weighing him down. How was he supposed to tell her this? When he stopped in front of her he looked her in the eye and told her what was said and his own reaction, then waited.
She just nodded.
“Oh… Well, Karen and David said that would probably happen, or something like it. You're too important to be married to someone like me. I hope we can still be friends though and maybe sleep together? Your very good at it. Do I still get to go to school do you think? I'll have to ask Heidi, but she may not want to pay for it. She didn't go to school, dad kept her at home. She may want that for me too. I don't know.”
Tor hugged her. Why was she taking this all so calmly? Tor wasn't. In fact he was half considering showing up armed to the teeth and carrying several weapons just in case. That wouldn't help though. No one was trying to steal her away, just say they weren't married.
But they were! You couldn't just make that go away with the waive of a royal hand could you?
Connie seemed to think so.
Tor didn't.
The conflict there was obvious, but what could he really do? He was a Knight and subject of Noram and if the King said jump, he had to. But until it was ordered, Tor could argue the point with the best of them.
Was it Connie? Why wouldn't she want him married? Even if the Queen secretly wanted him to be her lover or something like that, and even to Tor that she did wasn't that big of a secret, by the rules of their society, her station in it at least, that was fine. Expected even. Was it them going away? Tor planned to be in town every few weeks to check on Debbie and her store anyway and there were festivals and birthdays. It just didn't make sense that way. If anything he'd probably see her more now than before. Being married he'd have an excuse to slow down with all these other women too, which was a bit of a relief.
Oh, the sex was wonderful. That part was grand really. The attention was good too, who didn't like attention? But it felt like he needed to slow down now and pay most of his to Ali. It was only right. Still, Alissa wouldn't care if he met with Connie a few times a month. He might feel guilty about it, but it was tempting. The Queen was about the prettiest woman Tor knew and had always been nice to him personally. Before this at least. The whole married to the King thing was off putting to his bumpkin mind set, but he'd adapt.
So it couldn't be that, right?
What else was there though? Had Burks demanded it be ended? That… made even less sense to Tor. Why would the man bother with that at all, unless he had some other marriage in mind for him? But then why tell him to marry Ali to protect her from the evil Count?
That sounded like some kind of story book tale, the kind his sisters always liked. Some man, normally good looking and dashing, sweeping in and rescue the beautiful Princess from her evil father, who was actually a monster.
Close enough. He couldn't match the looks, but the dad was worse than he'd ever heard mentioned in any of those stories. By so much Tor couldn't bring himself to think about the specifics.
They got ready in silence, Ali not scared or worried at all, just a little sad. Before they left she pulled him onto the bed and kissed him, then snuggled her head, light brown hair back in a complicated twist, onto his chest.
“I… no matter what happens I want you to know that I won't forget what you did for me Tor. You saved me when no one else could even try. The King and Queen themselves didn't have the power to help me, and you stood for me anyway. For all of us. I know that you'd stay with me still, which means so much.” Her face looked miserable for a moment but then she forces a rueful smile.
“Still, I claim right of place and am bumping all the other women as your mistress. I mean you can keep them too, I just get to be the most important one now. That seems only fair.” She nodded firmly and stood up, offering him her hand. Because man and wife helped each other and they were that, for now.
Tor made sure she had a shield on and that it was working before they left. Then gave her a second one to hide under her clothes just in case the first was taken somehow. She did it but didn't think it would ever be needed.
“It's the palace, that's got to be one of the safest places in the world.”She said innocently.
“You'd think. People have tried to kill me there, two… no three times now. Shields are your friend. I'd go in armed to the teeth too, but I'm afraid I'd use a weapon if I had it. I'm so angry about this…”
At the front gate they were met by the Prince and both princesses, who had apparently been standing by and just waiting for them to arrive. That was telling and a bit ominous Tor decided.
“Tor, Ali, welcome.” Rolph didn't seem happy to see them, and Varley wouldn't even make eye contact. Karina at least took the girls hand, but avoided him as well. Had he done something wrong? It wasn't reflecting on his wife at least, thank god. That would be too much to bear, if somehow being with him had stained her.
A horrible thought came to him then, as Karina started leading Ali away by the hand. Had they found out that he'd had Derring killed? The very thought made the dead smell come back, but Tor didn't let his reaction to the possibility show, even if he wanted to retch at the moment.
“Well,” Tor said, walking beside Rolph, his friend not looking at him.
“Any clue as to what I'm facing in there? I didn't come armed, should I have?” He made his voice playful, it was also his way of letting the Royal Guards know that they didn't have to come in force to get him. He functionally couldn't fight them, unless they wanted to punch it out and in that case it would just be them beating him most likely. All of them were better at it and bigger than he was.