Artemis (previously The Lady Lockhart)

Chapter Nine - Part One

KING ANDREW SIGHED HEAVILY. "I APOLOGISE, LADY EMMELINE. YOU, AS A guest, should definitely not have witnessed thus an unpleasant scene... My son has been especially ill-behaved of late."

"Oh, I assure you it is no matter, Your Majesty," Emmeline dismissed hurriedly, "but shall no one go to comfort His Highness? He appeared...upset."

The King shook his head with a chuckle, but even his laugh was stony. "No. It is useless pursuing that boy when he is upset, Lady Emmeline. He is absolutely inconsolable and, to speak candidly, utterly beyond reason."

"My husband is correct," Sarah quipped. "I must, however, say in Alexander's defence that his character is very much inherited from his father."

"What nonsense," Andrew refuted. "I am perfectly level-headed."

"Impassive, perhaps, but hardly level-headed," she disagreed, "and completely unreasonable when provoked."

Emmeline squirmed in her seat, unsure if this subtle argument was a harmless lover's quibble or a symptom of a broken marriage. Andrew noticed this out of the corner of his eye and responded to his wife with, "Come now Sarah, you make the Lady uncomfortable." Then, in his thundering voice, he commanded, "Bring the first course to the table!"

The meal began to be served, and Emmeline would have staggered at the grandiose of it all if she had not been seated in that throne-like chair. There were salads and soups and lamb and beef and venison, and for dessert she was presented with a plate of beautiful sweets originating, the King informed her with a self-important look upon his countenance, all the way from India. Sarah's chatter filled the entire meal, with King Andrew remaining terrifyingly silent and Emmeline only responding politely when absolutely necessary. She did not wish to come across as out of line before the King any further than she already had, and was determined to remain proper as can be for the rest of the evening. Even after all the plates had been cleared, however, Sarah seemed eager to talk. Eventually the King retired to his chambers and left Emmeline alone with her, but the Queen did not seem to be affected by this in the slightest – in fact, she began to speak with greater gusto, and Emmeline thought their conversation might never end.

When she was finally escorted back to her room with Penny by her side, the hour could be described as ungodly and Emmeline's eyelids were jousting with one another as she wrestled her fatigue, pushing back yawn after unladylike yawn. Yet, after Penny helped her out of her gown, into her night shift, and eventually into bed, she found herself sleepless.

A lone beam of pale moonlight snuck into the room through a crack in the thick curtains, and Emmeline tossed and turned by herself. Penny had been put up in a small adjacent room meant for maids in waiting right through the service door. Normally her insomnia brought her loneliness; but on this silent night she found herself without the capacity to think of her aloneness as she brooded instead over her marital affairs.

Captain Jamison was the man she would like to be with. Yet her Aunt Beth seemed not to care very much for this information as long as she was not in love with the officer; and when Bethany Rutherford set her mind to doing something, she always saw it through. Emmeline felt her stomach twist at the thought of her aunt's unwavering resilience.

Emmeline could not possibly speak to either monarch about her position; for neither of them were responsible for securing her happiness. She could only approach Bethany, who seemed to be out of the question, or her brother. She felt a tinge of comfort in her heart at the memory of all the things her brother had done for her: arguing with Miss Paltrow to get her out of trouble; dancing with her numerous times at the balls they attended so that she did not have to feel so lonely; arranging for violoncello lessons for himself such that he might, in turn, teach her. The thought of the stately Emmett Lockhart's brotherly protection warmed her from her head to her toes, and it was with this thought in her mind that her heartbeat finally slowed and she found sweet slumber.