Chapter 6

Upon Dominic's return to his chamber after his early morning patrol, he dismissed Royal Announcer Angelino for the preparation of the royal wedding. As he sat there in silence waiting for the servants to come and get him into the attire of the groom, his thoughts drifted to his interaction with Queen Antiope he had the day before. They way she had forgotten everything that has happened between them could only mean she had lost her memories. 

And yet, not only she recognized Dominic, but claimed to have loved him while Dominic himself didn't return the feeling. The Queen was many things, heartless, ruthless, and a stone cold woman, but she wasn't a liar, at least not about this. Maybe the queen was simply disoriented from the recent miscarriage. Dominic wondered.

He vaguely remembers the day he married her. They way she looked as she walked down the aisle wearing the beautiful white dress with a tiny touch of silver. The way her chestnut hair was braided so that her beautifully symmetrical face was accentuated was enough to take anyone's breath away. The way he melted when he looked into her eyes. 

He imagined a life filled with happiness in that tiny moment, but all of it shattered into millions of pieces when she refused to let him touch her on their wedding night. He respected her choice, but she made it clear that neither her heart nor her body would ever belong to him.

Dominic still couldn't believe she became pregnant despite the fact that they had never shared any kind of intimacy in their eight year long marriage, which could mean only one thing, that she had an affair. Of course Dominic pretended that the unborn child was his, to keep the honor of the family, but deep down he wanted to find the real father and rip out his heart for having his way with the queen.

What hurt him more was that the queen let another man sleep with her while she constantly rejected Dominic, her own husband. The ultimate insult to his pride. Over the past years he always hoped that their relationship would change but fate prompted him to move on. However, even after marrying for the fourth time his heart refused to waver from Antiope. 

He met Ariadne, his bride to be, and he would agree that she is the prettiest woman he had ever laid eyes upon. But she lacked something, a glint in her eyes perhaps that only Queen Antiope had, and maybe that's why he still loved his first betrothed even after everything that has happened recently. 

A minute later there was a knock on the door, which brought him back from his reverie. He anticipated that the servants were here, until the opening door revealed it to be someone else. "Brother" Dominic greeted his big brother, Desmond, politely. 

I know what you must be wondering. Big brother? If Dominic had a big brother how come Dominic had the throne? It's because he was a bastard. The royal family would never accept Desmond as their own, but he was still Dominic's big brother. At least, in the entire royal family, Dominic treated him as one. "Your Majesty" Despite Dominic's casual approach, Desmond never forgot to address the king formally. "Queen regent asked me to escort you securely to the wedding hall".

"As always," Dominic mumbled. "Aren't you tired yet"? He asked, more to himself than to his big brother. 

"I'll never be tired of doing what's best for you, your majesty," Desmond answered. 

"If only you knew what's best for me," Dominic sighed. "Anyways, how is everything?" He asked.

"I can assure you everything is quite pleasant. But you should not worry about the mundane, today is your wedding day" Desmond tried to revert the topic.

"Yeah, my fourth wedding. I wonder how many of these will I be having in this lifetime." Desmond snorted. "I am afraid you are going to have to wait, as you can see my attire is yet to arrive".

"We apologise for that. It was my responsibility, and I have failed you" Desmond bowed.

"What happened"? Dominic asked.

"Due to the sudden ill-health of our Queen consort, most of the palace activities have been delayed. We have increased our curfew to ensure the Queen wouldn't be attacked a second time" Desmond declared.

"Did you figure out who attacked her"?Dominic asked.

"Not yet. The culprit managed to run away. He was skilled not only in martial arts, so much so that he managed to overpower me, but he was also faster than anyone I have ever seen" Desmond paused. "It was almost as if…" 

"As if"? Since Desmond trailed off, Dominic pursued.

"As he has been trained in the art of speed"Desmond declared. "Did you figure out why the Queen was at the Battlement"?

"No" Dominic shook his head. "Apparently the queen is suffering some sort of psychosis. Must be due to the trauma she had endured" Dominic pursed his lips. The news of her pregnancy was kept fairly secret. Apart from Dominic, Queen regent, Elijah, the royal physician and the Queen herself, no one knew. It was kept so since it was too early to disclose.

As for the parentage of the unborn child, only the Queen and Dominic knew.

"What if she is lying to prevent you from discovering her true intentions"? Desmond prompted.

"What would those be"? Dominic tilted his head sternly. His sudden change of expression was enough to scare anyone, even Desmond to a certain extent. "She is the Queen Consort of Scarpetia, the Kingdom which rules above all. She has the highest power any woman can ever have in her lifetime. What could she be possibly trying to achieve by wandering off to Battlement all by herself"?

"That is something I don't know. But she was found there all by herself. What if she was lured there"? Desmond prompted.

Dominic pursed his lips as realisation hit him. Maybe the Queen went to meet up with her lover, whoever he was. What if that was her purpose. That would solve one half of the mystery. Certainly, he couldn't tell that to Desmond, but if that were true, he needed to know who else was supposed to go there. 

Before their conversation could proceed further there was another knock on the door. His outfit along with several ornaments of the occasion had finally arrived.

"Enough about all this. We will figure it out eventually, we must focus on the wedding."Dominic dismissed him. Desmond, exited the room to give the king some privacy. Meanwhile, with the help of the servants, the king was groomed up from head to toe. Despite being a decade older, the king looked just as he did all those years ago in his first wedding. Too bad the bride won't look the same. 

But Dominic wasn't someone who dwelled on emotions, at least not when it came to the matters of personal and political interest. Brushing off his inner thoughts, he exited his chamber only to be greeted by his big brother who was waiting for him, coupled with a few troops to escort him. "I am ready" The king declared before they walked off to the ceremony hall.