Cinderfella 2: A New Life - 17. Chapter 17

Samuel looked at the crowd of people in front of him. “All of them?”

The priest nodded. “All of them, Sire.” Then he smiled. “They all have broken the law.”

Samuel looked at Seth and me. “I can’t rule against my brother!” Then he looked angrily at the priest. “I won’t. He and Erik are both my brothers. If I rule against them, they will be executed.”

“I hate to put you in this position, Sire, but the situation in Royal Valley has become…” he sought a word. “…intolerable for the other citizens of Royal Valley.” He glanced to his side at Margret.

“Why are you putting me in this position? Did anyone here harm you?” Samuel asked Margret.

“They harm Royal Valley and Blethos. They are criminals.” Margret said again simply. “I’m just upholding the law.”

Samuel looked at all of us, then back to Margret. “What harm? What have they done?”

“They broke the law.” The priest said.

Samuel nodded. “If I negate that law?”

The priest smiled. “Then I will challenge your right to rule at all.”

Samuel’s eyes grew. “Are you out of your mind!?” Then he glared at the priest. “How dare you? I am king!”

“A fact I will challenge.” The priest said lightly. “I will challenge that the marriage between Seth and Erik is legal at all. That is the reason Seth became king and negates him taking the throne, therefore he couldn’t pass the crown to you.”

Samuel shook his head. “You have got to be…”

“Sam!” I said quickly stopping Samuel from going on. “No need to do it now.” I grinned at him.

Seth walked over to me. “What are you doing?” He whispered.

I grinned at him. “Letting our priest hang himself,” I muttered.

Seth looked puzzled for a minute, then nodded. “He doesn’t know.”

“Apparently, Arthur Thorne didn’t share what he knew about the truth before he died.” I grinned. Then I got closer to Samuel and the priest. “He can do that. The challenge by a citizen of Blethos can be raised. It is the law.”

Samuel nodded, then looked at the priest. “With the understanding, if you lose the challenge, I can have two choices to offer. Death for treason, or banishment. What’ll it be?”

“No one ever wants to die, so I’ll be banished, but I make the challenge.” The priest said a little too confident. “The throne should go to the heir, but as there was no heir, the application was put out. The marriage was done by the late king of Blethos and A’Dore’s king, but it was immoral. I don’t think the people will support it when I tell them who you and Seth really are.”

Samuel nodded and looked at Margret. “Does he speak for you, too?”

The woman looked a lot less certain than the priest. “I wanted to withdraw the charges, but I was told it was done, so…yes.”

Samuel nodded. “Fine.”

“If I may, Sire,” I said calmly.

Samuel grinned. “Go ahead.”

“First, let’s start with the law that allowed Seth and me to marry.” I began. “And I can show you the law where it’s written in modern language, so it’s easy to read. A brief history lesson first. There were three kingdoms, Blethos, Darma and A’Dore. Once again there was lack of an heir for Blethos.” I smiled at Samuel. “Not that it’s a problem now.” Samuel chuckled. “The king of Darma was in his fifties. He said that if he married a member of the extended family for Blethos’ royal line, that person would become king.” I looked at the priest and Margret. “He made it a law in Darma. He did marry a male member of the house. The ruling was done over two hundred years ago. That was when the two kingdoms of Darma and Blethos combined, so did their laws. The male member of the house was started the line that King Alexander descended from because it was a mere ten years before the king of Darma died. And the man he married loved the king, but seeing the need, he married a woman after the death of the king. They had four children. One was the grandfather….” I waved as I couldn’t think about the number of greats involved. “…whatever of the line that sits now.”

The priest shook his head. “But they aren’t of that line at all.”

My eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“They’re wards of the late Arthur Thorne.” The priest said simply. “Who knows what line they have? The verbal claim that Seth and Samuel were of the House of Thorne doesn’t really count. Not like blood. Who knows who they really are?”

I grinned. “I do.” I looked at the priest. “So, you’re saying that because Seth isn’t the legitimate heir of the late king he wouldn’t be king.”

The priest shrugged. “He wouldn’t.”

I looked at the man that scheduled Samuel’s appointments. “Please go to the archive library. There is a book about King Alexander’s family. Could you bring it here, please? Second bookcase to your right, third shelf down.”

Now Margret was looking worried. Even the priest wasn’t looking as confident. The man scheduling nodded and bowed before he raced off. It took a few minutes before he came back with the book.

“Here is the entrance about King Alexanders’ family.” I read, showing the priest the pages. “Here is the recording of Prince Phillip’s and King Samuel's births. Nothing remarkable…but note this.” I pointed to the documented birthmarks. “See? They even sketched what the birthmarks looked like.” I grinned as Seth was slipping his shirt off. I pointed to Seth’s birthmarks. “He is Prince Phillip. King Alexander’s son. The real crowned prince of Blethos.” I took Samuel’s hand. “This is his brother, Prince Peter. But he has gone by Samuel as he has his whole life, never knowing who he really was until a few years ago.” I looked at the priest who was now terrorized. “You see? I married Seth because of what happened two centuries ago. It is the law. My choice as a ruling member of the royal family of A’Dore. So, even if you managed to get our marriage voided out, he would still have been king as the heir to the throne. He is King Alexander’s firstborn son. He had the right to give that crown to Samuel as king and his brother.”

Now the priest was a lot paler. Margret was horrified.

“You told me this was a sure thing!” Margret shouted at the priest. “You said he couldn’t have been the king, but he was!” She started hitting the priest. “Now we’re both banished! Banished!!”

Samuel smiled at me, then hugged me. “It’s a good thing you studied the law here.” Then he turned to the royal scribe. “I am making a ruling. No persons in a relationship with a member of the same gender; there will no longer be any charges based on that relationship in all of Blethos.” He turned to the priest. “I’m not making a ruling to the Church. If they don’t want to marry them, fine. There are other legal routes they can go to marry. Marriages for all people, providing they are legal adults and not under duress are hereby legal.” Then he turned to the priest and Margret. “You two are to return to Royal Valley and pack. An armed guard will escort you home where you will make arrangements and leave Blethos. I don’t care where, but you are no longer welcome here. I will notify the Church of your banishment, father, they will need to send another priest to Royal Valley.”

The others there were so excited as guards came and escorted both out of the palace. That’s when Curt grabbed Daryl and kissed him on the lips with a dip of Daryl, which Daryl returned happily. So did Gabe and Zek. Hell, they all were!

Seth walked up to Samuel. “Nice going, little brother.” He hugged Samuel.

Samuel chuckled, then stepped back a bit. Samuel’s nose twisted a little. “You need a bath. Get you and Erik up to your room, have one. You both have clean clothes here and then come and meet your new niece!”

I grinned hearing that. “Terry wasn’t due for a couple of weeks more!”

“Tell that to little Kristine!” Samuel chuckled. “She couldn’t wait! She came yesterday.” Then he shook his head. “Neither could Terry wait. She was hoping the baby would come out as soon as possible. She was tired of the swollen ankles and going to the bathroom every fifteen minutes.” Then he smirked. “So was I.”

“I can’t believe it’s been ten months.” Seth shook his head.

“A long, long ten months,” Samuel muttered, then brightened. “But she’s beautiful!”

“Kristine or Terry?” I laughed.

“Both!” Samuel said happily. Then shook his head. “I guess you’ll be busy for a while back at home.”

“Why?” Seth asked.

“Who else can perform a wedding?” Samuel grinned. “The priest is leaving. You two are the only ones in Royal Valley that have the authority.”

“We don’t!” Seth balked.

“You do now!” Samuel grinned. "There will be others added, but for now...you're it!"