The Consort, Chapter 31
Author's Note: Okay, I am writing my way into the home stretch, here. I'm allowing myself a little meandering here and there, plus I'm sowing a few seeds to be used in potential stories to follow (no promises).
two weeks later
Years after her death, Adora Cain got the burial she deserved, her family in attendance, with an appropriate headstone and the honor befitting a hero of the Resistance.
DG stood at the graveside, holding Cain’s hand, as Adora’s body was lowered into its new resting place, her remains placed in a new casket bearing the Royal seal. The headstone, already in place, read “Adora Cain, Devoted Wife, Loving Mother and Hero.” A brief graveside service had been held, and the entire party who had traveled to Finaqua for the wedding had attended, at DG’s gentle request. She’d worried about Jeb and Wyatt, but they both seemed okay. Cain was holding onto her hand a little tighter than he might normally have done, but DG had to remind herself that they’d both done their grieving for Adora. This merely represented a footnote in the tale of her life and death.
DG glanced past the grave to the large plot where someday she and Cain would lay side by side, with Adora on Cain’s other side. To think of it gave her a chill, especially given how close she’d come to standing over Cain’s grave. It had been two months since his return during his own memorial, but DG wasn’t quite over it. Now, thinking back on how she’d felt when she’d thought him lost forever, she knew that she hadn’t even begun to plumb the depths of her grief. She couldn’t conceive of how she would have managed to go on like that indefinitely, as she’d been preparing to do. Her rational mind assured her that it would have gotten better with time, she would have healed and eventually moved on, but getting Cain back only magnified the grief she’d felt then, and all she could do now was thank whatever deity might be passing through that she didn’t have to walk that path. Not yet, anyway.
People began drifting away from the graveside, talking quietly amongst themselves. DG looked up at Cain. “Ready?” she murmured. He just nodded. DG put out her hand and shut her eyes, and she felt the grave sealing. When she opened them, she saw only an unbroken expanse of green grass before Adora’s headstone. Within a few moments it was just the three of them, herself, Cain and Jeb, and then Jeb wandered off by himself toward the woods, his head down.
DG waited for a cue from Cain. Finally he squeezed her hand and turned to face her. “DG…do you mind leaving me alone for awhile?”
She smiled. “Of course not.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him softly. “Take all the time you need. I’ll be at the house.” She started to leave but he pulled on her hand and stopped her.
“Thank you,” he said. “For this.”
She nodded and released his hand, then returned to the house.
The house was abustle with activity when DG reached it. The servants were busily transferring everyone’s luggage from the cars to the rooms and Elspeth was flitting about like a dragonfly, directing everything. Most of the party had arrived that morning; Adora’s graveside gathering had been the first order of business at Cain’s request. “I’m not sure I want to bury my first wife the day before I re-marry my second,” he’d said. “Can’t we space things out a little?” The wedding was in three days, so it seemed prudent to conduct Adora’s burial as soon as possible.
That done, everyone was focused on the event that had brought them here. It wasn’t to be fancy, but there was still food to be cooked and decorations to put up, not to mention the ordinary day-to-day maintenance of the thirty-odd people who’d be in attendance. DG was looking forward to a few relaxing days before the lakeside service, but she wasn’t looking forward to sleeping alone. It had been Cain’s idea that they sleep apart until the wedding, and at first it seemed romantic, if a little silly. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been sleeping with him for two months, to say nothing of being married to him for a year, and three nights apart was hardly significant. Still, the notion had its appeal. Make that wedding night special again.
Now, she wasn’t so sure. She might find herself sneaking to his room one of these nights, and hoping he didn’t kick her right out again for breaking the rules. Not that it mattered. She’d never manage to sneak out; she was sharing a bedroom with Az until the wedding.
She busied herself through the afternoon. It was suprisingly easy to do. There were walks to take with Az, and dispatches from the Palace to read, and cups of coffee to share with her father. She barely thought of Cain until it was just about time for dinner and she hadn’t seen him. She went down to the front drawing room in search of him, but instead she found her sister arguing with Danny Armagnac.
“Your Highness, I simply can’t authorize it.”
“That’s ridiculous, Captain. How is it yours to authorize or not?”
“General Cain asked me to handle all the security for everyone in the house, that makes it mine to authorize!”
“You’re telling me that it’s somehow a security risk to have a harpist at my sister’s wedding?”
DG lurked in the corridor, observing this exchange with some amusement.
Danny appeared to be controlling his temper. “Princess, all the musicians were hired weeks ago, and each of them was given a thorough background check and cleared not only to be in the Queen’s presence but to be allowed access to this location, which I don’t need to tell you needs to remain secure! Adding another participant at this late date is not possible, there’s no time to clear them.”
“Captain,” Az said, two fingers to her forehead. “She’s a harpist. Not a terrorist or a Longcoat or some kind of subversive who’s planning to smuggle a bomb here inside her harp case.”
“You don’t know what she is, ma’am. And it’s my job to anticipate the worst. Longcoats have disguised themselves as innocuous people before.”
“May I remind you that I contacted her? If she is some kind of infiltrator, that would mean that she’s cultivated an alternate identity as an innocent musician, and that her grand plan to harm the Queen is to have spent years patiently waiting by the phone just on the off chance that we would call and request her services.” Danny pursed his lips, looking annoyed. “How likely is that scenario, Captain?”
He sighed. “I admit that it is unlikely, ma’am. Security procedures aren’t based on likelihoods, but on worst case scenarios. You’re correct in that it’s unlikely that your harpist is a Longcoat. But if we allowed her here without the proper vetting, she could become a threat. She could be blackmailed into carrying in something harmful. She could be kidnapped or killed and a Longcoat put in her place.”
Azkadellia put her hands on her hips. “Possibilities both, neither of which would be prevented by a background check!”
Danny threw up his hands. “Your Highness, you may argue the logic all you like, but it will have no effect on my determination to follow standard procedure. Is a harpist really worth all this trouble?”
“No! It was just a little thought I had! But now your rigidity has become an annoyance in itself! Perhaps I’ll speak to General Cain about this, maybe you’ve heard he’s my brother-in-law!”
“Do what you like, ma’am, but I can guarantee you that the General won’t budge on matters of security.”
DG walked into the room. “He’s right, Az. Cain can be stubborn that way. What’s this about a harpist?”
Az sagged a little. “Oh…I just thought it’d be nice. I made a few calls and found a lovely woman, the same one who played at that garden party we went to last fall, remember? But of course Captain Cautious here won’t hear of it!”
Something flashed in Az’s eyes as she looked daggers at Danny that made DG smile. Oh. I see. All becomes clear. “Az, it’s just a harpist. We have a string quartet, everything’s set. No need to make changes now.” She turned to Danny. “Have you seen Cain, Danny?”
“Yes, ma’am, he came in about half an hour ago. Shall I go fetch him?”
“Please.” Danny bowed to her, then offered a somewhat more perfunctory bow to Az, and left.
DG turned to her sister, who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking peevish. “What’s this about, Az? A harpist? Honestly. You don’t care two straws about having a harpist.”
“Just a thought,” Az grumbled.
“Yes, and once Danny said it wasn’t possible, why didn’t you just leave it alone?”
“It’s just not logical, DG! There’s no way this woman was a security risk in any way that we could prevent.”
DG put her hands on her hips. “You like him, don’t you?”
Az rolled her eyes. “He’s insufferable.”
“And a hero. Quite the hunk, too.”
Az shook her head. “Just because you’ve got a handsome soldier on your arm doesn’t mean you have to go about digging one up for me.”
DG grinned. “You do. You like him.”
“You’re just trying to annoy me now,” Az said, but she wasn’t quite suppressing the smile at the corners of her mouth.
“You’ve got a crush. I bet you’re doodling his name on napkins. You know you are. You’re practicing signing your name ‘Mrs. Azkadellia Gale-Armagnac.’”
Az was laughing now. “Never mind him, you are insufferable.”
A door opened behind them and DG heard Cain approaching. How weird is it that I can recognize him from his footsteps? “Who’s insufferable?” he said, coming up to DG’s side.
“Your wife,” Azkadellia said.
“Hmm. Good thing she has other qualities that make up for it,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist.
“Hey!” DG said, slapping at his arm.
He leaned close. “You were looking for me?” he said, speaking in a quiet, intimate voice.
DG nodded. “You okay?”
“I’m good.” He kissed her quickly.
“I think that’s my cue,” Az said. “I’ll see you two at dinner.” She put a hand on DG’s arm, then shared a puzzling little secret smile with Cain before she left.
DG frowned. “What was that little look for?”
Cain squeezed her. “Come on. I have a surprise for you.” He led her out of the drawing room and through to the main hall.
“What kind of a surprise?” He was leading her to the parlor.
“Consider it an early wedding present.”
After Adora’s burial, Cain just wanted to “go off to his man-cave and fester,” as DG would have put it. After taking his leave of her he’d gone to the kitchen and stolen a bottle of dark ale, then snuck out to a glen where there was a particular tree he liked. He sat down underneath it, drank the ale and stared out at the water.
He’d waited for delayed-reaction emotions about Adora to overwhelm him. It would have even been okay with him if a good cry had come over him, but it didn’t. He’d sat and thought about her, how beautiful she’d been when he’d first seen her at the farmer’s market. She’d been buying cheese and flowers. It had seemed an odd combination. He thought of her on their wedding day, of her sweaty, satisfied face after giving birth to Jeb, of that flash of relief he’d seen across her face every time he’d come home from work safely. Anything to keep from thinking of the way he’d seen her constantly for eight long years, weeping and angry, begging and afraid.
He wished he could have seen her as she’d become, as Jeb had described her. Determined, and resourceful. Helping the Resistance, providing shelter, braving discovery and capture and death, until it finally found her.
He stood up at last, shaking off the reverie. He didn’t have all day to sit out here being maudlin. He had a surprise for DG today, a surprise that had been weeks in the making, and he couldn’t miss it.
He found Glitch in the all-purpose office on the first floor. “Is everything set?” he asked.
Glitch grinned. “Oh, yes. They’re in the parlor waiting.” He stood up. “Cain, this is really a wonderful thing you’ve done for her.”
“Hey, you did most of the work.”
“It was your idea.”
“Couldn’t have seen it through without your help.”
Glitch shrugged, his hands in his pockets. “It’s for DG.”
Cain nodded. “Yeah. That’s usually all the reason any of us need, isn’t it?”
There was a knock at the door and Danny Armagnac poked his head in. “Oh there you are, Cain. The Queen’s looking for you, she’s in the drawing room.”
And now Cain had brought DG to the parlor door, his stomach fluttering with anticipation of her reaction. It had been extremely hard to keep this from her, but he’d had no choice. Not only did he want to preserve the surprise, but there had been a chance it wouldn’t work out and he didn’t want to get her hopes up.
“An early wedding present?” DG was saying, looking at him with a dubious expression. “But…Cain…”
“Shh. Just close your eyes, all right?”
She put her hands on her hips, sighing in exasperation. “What’s this all about?”
“Please, sweetheart. Just do it?”
She shrugged and shut her eyes. Cain opened the parlor door and pulled her through with one hand, glancing up to make sure everything was ready.
He stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. “All right, princess, you can look now.”
He felt it when she opened her eyes, because her whole body went rigid. She sucked in a shocked gasp and her hands went to her mouth. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, taking a hesitant step forward.
Hank and Emily were standing by the fireplace. Emily hurried forward, her arms outstretched. “DG!” she exclaimed, enveloping her stunned daughter in a tight embrace. Hank reached out and enfolded them both, his hand on DG’s hair. Cain hung back and watched, unable to stop grinning.
“But…but…” DG was sputtering, touching their faces. “You know me? You remember me?”
“Of course, peanut,” Hank said. “We remember everything. Your first bike, and your first sleepover…”
“The time you won the eighth grade spelling bee,” Emily said, drawing back to stroke DG’s hair.
“But…the witch’s virus destroyed you!” DG said, her hands clutching at their arms despite her disbelief.
“We’re all right now,” Emily said. “Your friends found a way to restore our memories.”
“Good as new,” Hank said, knocking on his own skull.
DG burst into tears. “Oh, Mom…Dad…” she sobbed, hugging them both to her. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“We missed you, honey.”
Cain watched the family reunion, satisfaction swelling his chest that he and Glitch had been able to do this for DG. She’d lost two mothers, and he was just glad he’d been able to bring one of them back. Now DG was laughing with her parents. “I’ve got so much to tell you!”
“I guess so! You seem to be Queen now!” Hank said, chortling.
“It’s all right, honey. We’ve been filled in on the basics,” Emily said, shooting Hank a look.
DG wiped at her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re really here,” she said hugging them both again. “How is this possible? How were you fixed?”
Ambrose stepped forward from the corner where he’d been lurking discreetly. “One of the Longcoats we captured told us that the witch used to download the memories of the synthetics she…interrogated. For intelligence. We got the idea that if we could find Hank and Emily’s memories stored somewhere, we might be able to use them to restore their cognitive functions. We found the data storage in the sub-basement at the old Tower.”
“Oh, Glitch…I don’t know what to say.”
He smiled. “Thank your husband, it was his idea.”
DG turned towards him, a heartbreaking smile on her tearstained face. I did that, Cain thought. I made her look like that. She left her parents and ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck and peppering his face with kisses. Cain hugged her back, chuckling. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered back.
She drew away so she could look up into his face, staying close in the circle of his arms. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”
Cain reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, DG. I thought you knew that.”
She leaned forward, fresh tears flowing down her cheeks. Cain held her, his lips pressed to her forehead, for a few moments of silent communion, no words necessary.