Queen of Sorrows--Part Three, Chapter Fourteen

[Evie]

Previous chapter: https://rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3503.0.html


Chapter Fourteen

June 25, 1465
The town of Horthánthy
The Cathedral of St. Kyrill
Morning

The remains of the late Hort, Adémar von Horthy, were finally laid to rest alongside those of his forefathers in the Royal Crypt at the Cathedral of St. Kyrill. A messenger had been duly dispatched to his mother the Dowager Queen to inform her of her son's death and to provide reassurance that the coup had been put down and that safe passage would be offered to her should she wish to return to the Hortic Realm to attend his funeral, but to Miranda's utter lack of surprise, she received a reply the evening before the funerary Mass thanking her for the information, but sending her mother-by-marriage's regrets that she would be unable to attend. It occurred to her that, having never met Adémar's mother during her years of marriage to him, she was unlikely ever to have the opportunity to do so in future. Given what Lady Marija had shared of the woman's lack of interest in any of her children, Miranda counted that as no great loss.

Adémar's two remaining sisters were nearly as unknown to her as their mother, but at least Miranda had met them each at least once or twice on the rare occasions they had attended a Hortic Court with their husbands. Neither had been especially close to their eldest brother, though both put on at least a token show of grieving.

Lady Marija, as Miranda had fully expected, was the late Hort's chief mourner, although for propriety's sake even she had done her best to rein in her emotions as much as she could while in the public eye. Miranda's initial anger and hostility towards her former rival had evaporated completely over the past couple of weeks, replaced by pity. By her side stood Dmitri, his first time ever to be in the public eye, still not openly acknowledged as Adémar's son, but now that he had been seen at the late Hort's favorite's side, Miranda was sure that his resemblance to his father was certain to be noticed. She had spoken privately to the Lord Regent about the boy's situation, and he had promised to look into the matter of making sure both Marija and her son had their financial needs met, if not by Adémar's forethought and provision, then by some other means.

Her own three children, though well aware by now that their father was dead, were still too young to know for certain exactly what that meant. Rezza came closest to a full understanding, yet even she at times still occasionally asked if he would be coming home soon like the rest of them had. As far as Miranda could tell, her younger two seemed to be under the impression that their father was just away on a long trip and would make his way back eventually. But even they had not been especially close to their father, who had genuinely cared for them, but who had never really spent all that much time with them, not knowing how to relate to very young children and reasoning that there would be time enough to engage in activities with them once they grew older and easier for him to relate to.

As for Miranda at all, she was a little surprised to discover that she felt a great deal more grief for the husband she had never come to love than she had ever expected to feel, though it was mingled in equal parts with regret. She wondered how their lives might have been different if she hadn't entered her marriage already in love with someone else and filled with resentment towards her new husband for asking for her hand. Or perhaps if Adémar had entered their marriage as a younger, less cynical man, more willing to make a greater effort to win over his young bride and more accepting of her need to be a full partner in their marriage rather than simply the Royal hostess and the mother of his children. If he had not already formed emotional bonds with Marija that ran deeper than anything he had ever felt for his wife, and if Jesaminda hadn't already begun her corrupting magical influence that kept him blind to all the undercurrents of treasonous intent that others had seen clearly for years before the coup.

Had they built their marriage on a more stable foundation than the crumbling one they had attempted to build it on, would it have become stronger in time? Would she ever have come to love her husband? Unfortunately, that was something she would never know. At least she was free now, though even that realization felt strangely empty, since upon returning to Horthánthy, she had begun to realize that as long as her children were still so young, she was still tethered by ties of blood to the Hortic Court.

#

June 27, 1465
The Île d'Orsal
The Palace at Horthánthy
Late Morning

It had taken a few days for the Lord Regent to determine what Lord Davorin and his hired men had done with the remains of Lady Genevieve, Father Emrys, the Tralian nursemaids, and the two infants who had been killed by the Corps Phénix mercenaries. At last he had managed to piece together a more complete picture of what had taken place in those first chaotic days of the coup.

Now they had at last been located, their bodies retrieved from their shallow grave and prepared for more fitting burials in the land of their birth. The Earl of Marley arrived in Horthánthy on the twenty-seventh of June, ten days after the execution of his youngest daughter, to escort her and her beloved husband and son on their final voyage home.

Miranda met privately with the grieving father as their coffins were being conveyed to the ship that was waiting to carry them home. "I am so very sorry, Earl Richard," she said after their initial exchange of greetings. "Genie and I had been privately worried for some time that Lord Davorin had some sort of treasonous intent, but had I realized the danger to her or to the rest of my household was so grave or so imminent, I would have sent her and Gareth home to Marley with little Brendan as soon as the war in Gwynedd was over."

"I doubt she would have left willingly," the Earl admitted. "Even when she came home for a time, she fretted about leaving you the entire time she was in Marley. And of course Marley was the last place any noncombattant needed to be once Nördmarcke and Eistenmarcke invaded, so I was all too happy to send her back here to the Hortic Court." He sighed. "Was she happy in her marriage to the young priest?"

Miranda smiled. "Deliriously so. Far happier in her marriage than I ever was in mine."

The Earl gave her a wistful smile. "I'm glad I allowed your mother to talk me into the match, then. Queen Soraya was very convincing." He sighed. "Poor sweet, gentle soul, though! I'm certain Genie must have been terrified at the end."

Miranda paused, feeling certain the Earl did not need to see her daughter's memory of his daughter's actual execution, but also believing he deserved to know what courage Lady Genevieve had displayed in her final moments. "I wasn't there when Genie died, but I have Seen my daughter Rezza's memories, so I can tell you what her final words were. 'I am a Coris of Marley. We do not bow the knee to a usurper. You shall have to strike my head off as I stand.' Your daughter died as she lived, as a woman of great integrity and courage. She turned the tide of public opinion against Lord Davorin that day."

#

June 27, 1465
The Île d'Orsal
The Palace at Horthánthy
Early afternoon

Lady Ailis MacArdry Montrose finished packing the small trunk she intended to bring back with her to Transha. She took a final look around the chamber she had once shared with Genevieve before Genie's marriage.

The Queen peered into the room, frowning slightly as she saw the closed trunk on the bed. "Surely that's not all you're bringing home with you?" she asked.

"That and Ciardha are all I need," Ailis assured her. "I'll be back in a few days, once my son has been properly buried next to his Da and I've had a chance to visit with my family."

"Ailis....You needn't feel like you have to rush back here," Miranda protested. "Please take as much time as you need!"

Ailis shook her head with a wry smile. "There's little left for me in Transha anymore. Noella's in Kierney now when she's not needed in Rhemuth, and while I know I'd be welcome for a while in my brothers' homes, I don't really know either Ciarán's wife or Cullen's, and I would hate to impose. Besides, Transha feels too small for me now that I've seen more of the world."

Miranda could understand that last sentiment, at least. She had spent the past eight years feeling homesick for Rhemuth, only to return there and realize she missed Orsal and Tralia just as much once she'd found herself briefly exiled from it.

"And at any rate," Ailis added with a faint attempt at her usual good humor, "I can't trust Jadviga to dress you properly."

"Oh, I'm sure she'd somehow manage to muddle through for a few more weeks without you," Miranda replied.

Ailis turned away, giving the chest an experimental heft. "Anyway, I'd be rubbish at sitting around Transha with nothing to do there. I need to stay busy so I won't go utterly mad."

Miranda nodded. That, she could relate to also.

"Well, if and when you are quite certain you are ready to return, you know you will always be welcome back to my household. Just give me enough advance notice so I can have a room set up for you."  Jadviga and Danelija would be moving into Ailis's room once she had left. Ailis had requested the change; the room held too many bittersweet memories for her now.

"I'll send word ahead," Ailis agreed. "Though if I arrive the same way I'm leaving, I'm not sure how sending someone popping through a Portal fifteen minutes ahead of time will do much good."

Miranda chuckled. "In that case, I'll get that spare chamber set up sooner rather than later, just in case you decide to return earlier than I expect. Though please take at least a fortnight. I don't want your brothers turning up on my Portal stone to accuse me of being totally heartless!" She gave Ailis's shoulders a quick squeeze, instinctively understanding that her friend wouldn't be able to bear much more of a show of affection just at the moment. "Let me call Jadviga to help you get that chest into the Portal room."

#

June 27, 1465
The Île d'Orsal
The Palace at Horthánthy
Late afternoon

"Your Majesty, my Uncle Matej Adamović, the Duke of Bočna, is at the main entrance," Lady Jadviga announced. "He is requesting a brief word with Lady Marija, if you will permit. He says it's regarding her dacha."

"Of course!" the Queen replied. "Show him into my Receiving Room. Danelija, would you go fetch Marija, please?" She stood, eager to meet the man who had taken in several of her ladies-in-waiting when they'd needed a secondary refuge after the dacha had come under attack by the Corps Phénix. Miranda had seen the Duke from a short distance a few times before, but never really had a chance to make the man's acquaintance previously. He, like his brother-in-law the Lord Regent, had never been one of her late husband's close cronies, and their obligatory visits to the Hortic Court in the past had tended to be brief.

Jadviga returned with the Duke, who greeted his Queen with a courtly bow over her extended hand. To Miranda's surprise, he appeared younger than she had realized, perhaps in his mid-thirties, close to the same age as Comte Réhon. Having heard Jadviga refer to him from time to time as her Uncle Matej, she had assumed he must be older.

"Welcome back to Horthánthy, Your Grace," Miranda greeted the loyal Duke. "I'm afraid between your involvement on Joux's Ruling Council and now the recent bit of unpleasantness with Lord Davorin, we've been keeping you rather busy of late. You have my gratitude for giving safe shelter to my ladies-in-waiting while I was in Rhemuth seeking my brother's aid."

"It was my pleasure to take them in, Your Majesty. And yes, it has been quite the eventful year thus far, and appears to be continuing to be quite...interesting, at least in the Kingdom of Joux," the Duke replied. As Lady Marija entered the room with Lady Danelija, he offered them a polite bow as well.

"Lady Marija! The Lord Regent has asked me to look into how bad the damages were to your dacha, and since I needed to report back here anyway, I figured you would wish to know as well."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Marija murmured, responding with a curtsey.

"The defensive walls and the main gate took the brunt of the attack on your property, but the damage to the walls is not very extensive. They look a bit battle-scarred, and a few of the crenels could stand to be rebuilt, as well as several windows in the manor itself, but for the most part the stonework is still sound. The gate is more badly damaged; I would not trust it to withstand a second assault. But that can more easily be replaced. My carpenters and ironworkers are working up an estimate on how much that will cost in terms of materials and labor, but it will certainly be less expensive than what replacing large sections of the wall would have cost. A few of your outbuildings have sustained damage, mostly to the roofs or upper sections of their walls, but again, most of that damage looks fairly easy to restore. You'll want a new apiary, though." He grinned. "I can't imagine your bees were very pleased with your attackers when that got hit!"

Lady Marija laughed. "Serves them right if the mercenaries got swarmed for their pains!"

"The defensive wards on your property did an excellent job, under the circumstances, which likely explains why the damage was not more severe, given that the mercenaries had access to some pots-de-fer and hand cannons. However, they could stand to be re-energized. I understand you are not Deryni yourself, but once things settle down a bit, I can stop by with a few others I know to take care of that for you."

"I would appreciate that, Your Grace," Lady Marija responded, looking surprised by the offer.

The Duke inclined his head towards her politely, then turned his attention back to the Queen. "Your Majesty, I stopped by the Lord Regent's quarters on my way in, but he was out. Would you happen to know where he might be found this time of day?"

Miranda laughed. "I believe he is in his daily briefing with the Hort at the moment."

The man looked baffled, as well he might be; she had had the same reaction when Comte Réhon had first proposed the idea. "How old is the young Hort?" he asked. "I had been given to understand he was barely out of his infancy."

"Oh, he is. He's thirteen months old. He'll be fourteen months at the end of next week." Miranda smiled. "Come, let me take you to them."

Understandably curious, the Duke did not hesitate to follow the Queen Mother as she led him out of her apartment and up the stairs towards the rooftop garden.

#

June 27, 1465
The Palace at Horthánthy
The Rooftop Garden
Late afternoon

The Lord Regent and the young Hort were enjoying the cooling breezes under the shade of a pergola in the Rooftop Garden, sitting crosslegged facing one another on a plush carpet. The Comte stretched a length of silken cord out between himself and Létald, then placed a few castle-shaped blocks on either side of it.

"So this cord represents the border between Tralia and Joux," the Lord Regent began.

The toddler reached over and tugged at the cord, pulling it a few inches closer to himself. Réhon laughed and moved it back to its original position.

"Yes, I am sure that King Renier would love to claim some of Tralia's land for himself, but fortunately there is a nice big river between our kingdoms that is much harder to move than a silk cord. It's called the Thuria River, and it makes a very handy border."

Létald grinned up at him, clearly not comprehending the explanation at all, but very pleased by the attention he was receiving from the nice man.

"Now, the situation at the moment is that most of the Corps Phénix seems to have retreated to this area around Auburgy," Réhon explained, tapping his finger on a block on Létald's side of the cord. The boy picked up a different block, bringing it down smartly on the one the Lord Regent had just tapped.

"Well, yes, that's the general idea," the Lord Regent said with a smile. "I'm hoping to smack it also." He pointed out the two blocks on his side of the cord. "So I will be sending out troops from these two locations to converge on Auburgy...."  He used his hands to trace a wedge centered on the block in front of Létald. "And in the meantime, your uncle the King of Gwynedd will be preventing them from retreating here...." He pointed distractedly as he sensed the two approaching presences and turned, rising to offer a bow to the Queen Mother. "Good afternoon, Your Majesty," he greeted her, bending to scoop the little Hort up into his arms. "And I think that is enough geography and military tactics for one afternoon."

"Is our young sovereign offering you sage advice?" Bočna joked.

"Yes," said Lord Réhon. "Don't let the Jouvians divert the Thuria River to gain more land." Looking down at the boy in his arms, he said, "Létald, this is the Duke of Bočna. His lands lie in the northwestern part of your realm alongside the Beldour River."

The Duke gave his sovereign a deep bow as the boy stared at him curiously.

"Can you bow your head?" Lord Réhon suggested, giving him a subtle mental nudge to reinforce the suggestion. "About this much," he added, demonstrating for the boy.

To the Duke's delighted surprise, Létald offered him a solemn nod of the head, looking very regal for a brief second before punctuating the gesture by sticking his fingertips into his mouth. The Duke smiled, approaching to take the toddler's now slightly sticky hand and inclining his head to touch his forehead briefly against the back of Létald's fingertips in a traditional Tralian gesture of respect.

Miranda watched, utterly charmed. The point of these daily exercises, the Lord Regent had explained to her, was not to attempt to teach Létald information he was not yet ready to comprehend (although he believed that the child would soon begin to absorb it more quickly once his command of spoken language grew), but more to ensure that the young Hort would soon grow very familiar with his Regent so that working closely together as he grew in understanding would become second nature for him. Already it was clear to her that her son was beginning to enjoy his daily visits from the Lord Regent, even if he still thought it was just some unusual form of playtime.

The two men conversed quietly, the Duke conveying the same information to the Lord Regent that he had earlier shared with Lady Marija. The Regent gave his permission for the Duke's men to start on the necessary repairs, promising half of the cost of expenses up front and the remainder to be reimbursed later once Réhon had had a chance to look more closely at the lady's financial situation and determine if she might need additional assistance in paying off the debt. The conversation gave Miranda an idea.

"If, when you are taking inventory of Lady Jesaminda's personal items, you happen to discover the rather large number of jewelry items the late Hort gifted her with over the years, I would suggest those be sold and the value of those items be added to Lady Marija's coffers. They should have been hers by right to begin with," Miranda said.

Both men glanced at her in surprise. "They ought to have been yours by right, Your Majesty. You were his wife," the Lord Regent reminded her.

"Yes, I was Adémar's wife because he needed heirs, and because he had been led to believe that only a princess of the Blood Royal would be a suitable bride for a Hort," Miranda replied. "But had he been free to follow his heart, I feel certain he would have married Marija. I don't begrudge her that; had I been free to follow my own, I would have wed elsewhere as well. While I might not be particularly happy that my husband continued to keep her as a paramour, ultimately I don't think the liaison brought either of them as much happiness as they might have hoped. But you can consider the cost of the jewels to be my reward to Marija for having the tact and good taste to be discreet over the years, unlike Jesaminda, who was only seeking out her own advantage and that of Lord Davorin in her liaison with Adémar. Besides which, in addition to the cost of repairs to the dacha, Marija will have educational expenses for Dmitri to consider. It would be in Létald's best interests for him to not have a half-brother who grows up envying him, watching him living in luxury while his elder brother struggles to pay for every small advantage."

#

As the Lord Regent brought the young Hort back to the chamber he shared with his sisters and their new nursemaid, the Queen led the Duke of Bočna back towards the stairs leading from the rooftop to the apartment block below.

"Your Majesty," he said hesitantly, causing her to pause near the top of the stairwell entrance, "Might I be permitted to ask for a few minutes of conversation with Lady Ailis Montrose?"

"You are certainly permitted to ask," Miranda assured him with some surprise. "Though I'm afraid she is not in Horthánthy at the moment. I have given her a leave of absence so she could return to her family in Gwynedd for a few weeks, and she left just a couple of hours ago. Her son was unfortunately one of the casualties of Lord Davorin's uprising, so she requested permission to bring him back to her family's lands for burial."

"Oh!" The Duke looked even more uncertain, his cheeks growing slightly flushed. "I had not realized the lady was married. My apologies, and my very deep condolences to her and her husband."

Miranda studied the Duke with growing interest. "Lady Ailis is widowed, I'm afraid. Her husband was killed during the recent War of Four Armies. Ciardha was their only child. So as you can imagine, Ailis is going through a very rough time right now. But I will certainly pass on your condolences. She has indicated her desire to return to my household; I just can't say exactly when that will happen, under the circumstances. And even once she does, I imagine she will need a bit more time to heal."

"Of course, Your Majesty." He hesitated as though searching for an appropriate response to what she had shared with him. "Your Lady Ailis is a woman of great courage and resourcefulness. I greatly regret her recent misfortunes and wish her every happiness in future." The Duke swept her a deep bow and took his leave. Miranda made a mental note to take Lady Jadviga aside at the earliest opportunity to inquire further about her uncle the Duke of Bočna and if she had noticed if there was any reciprocation of interest between him and her longtime friend from Transha during their short stay in his domain.

#

July 16, 1465
The Île d'Orsal
The Palace at Horthánthy
Late afternoon

A month had passed since the late Hort's death, and Miranda had begun to settle into the new normal in this latest chapter of her life. The crisis in Joux had thankfully been resolved, and she had just received word from Ailis that her Lady of the Bedchamber would be returning to Horthánthy at the end of the month, just in time to help prepare the Royal Household for their annual autumnal journey across the water to Orsalis, since it was their habit to spend the cooler and more stormy months at Vár Adony, their Winter Palace on the mainland. They had agreed that Lady Jadviga would remain her Mistress of the Robes, as the Tralian lady-in-waiting had more than earned her right to stay in that honored position.

She and the Lord Regent had settled into a companionable working relationship that was beginning to verge on a true friendship. He was making plans for a brief visit to Furstánán once the move to Vár Adony had been completed, because by that time his future heir was due to make his appearance, so his wife had agreed to allow him to bring their daughters back with him once he returned to the Winter Palace after their son's birth, and she and the newborn heir would join them shortly thereafter once she had recovered enough from childbirth to re-enter the far busier society of Palace life. During his brief absence, Miranda would assume responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Hortic Realm until his return, for unlike the late Hort, his distant cousin saw no problem with leaving the administration of the realm in the hands of a fully capable and well-educated woman of royal birth who had been more than adequately trained to serve as a true partner and consort to a sovereign, and certainly no one else could be found who would be a more trustworthy guardian over the young Hort than his own loving mother!

The old tensions between Miranda's various ladies-in-waiting and their former factions had all but ceased with the deaths of the former Hort and Lady Jesaminda, and while there were naturally still differences of personality which prevented some of the ladies from forming close friendships with certain others, there were no longer any overt hostilities among them, their recent tribulations having forged a bond of shared suffering between them. Her former ladies-in-waiting Arijana and Mirna who had been dismissed along with Lady Jesaminda had certainly not been permitted to rejoin the Queen's Household after her death. Having sided with Lord Davorin, although not found guilty of the same levels of treachery that he and Jesaminda had been executed for, they had been imprisoned for their crimes. The Lord Regent had already decided that should Lord Davorin's heir survive his birth, he would be taken from Mirna and fostered out to some trustworthy couple of humble birth in need of a child, his true parentage concealed from them, for neither the Regent nor the Queen Mother wished to see Davorin's sole surviving son being raised up to follow in his late father's footsteps.

If on occasion Miranda still longed for more, still harbored some wish to put her duty aside and be free to follow her heart, she did her best to put her personal dreams to rest. Her life revolved around her children now, as it should, and Létald would still need his mother close by for many more years to come. She still caught herself gazing out upon the tiny silhouette of Coroth Castle in the distance every so often, but it would be almost a decade and a half until her son entered full manhood and was ready to rule Orsal and Tralia on his own. Perhaps once that happened, she would consider returning to Gwynedd, if there was some small niche there that still felt like home anymore. But Corwyn would need heirs long before that time, and no matter how much her heart might still long for its Duke, Miranda had finally resigned herself to that fact. Like it or not, she would need to leave her past behind once and for all, give up her girlhood yearnings, and follow her future wherever it might lead.


Next chapter: https://rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3507.0.html

[tmcd]

"crisis in Joux had thankfully been resolved"

<sarcasm>I guess we'll never know what that was. It's not like anyone is eager to find out.</sarcasm>

"should Lord Davorin's heir survive his birth, he would be taken from Mirna and fostered out to some trustworthy couple of humble birth in need of a child, his true parentage concealed from them"

<sarcasm>Great! Farmboy with a Destiny famously never goes wrong. No chance that some rando with some random name like "Camber MacRorie, seventh earl of Culdi" will ever tell the hidden heir of his ancestry & lead him forth to claim his birthright.</sarcasm>

[Evie]

"crisis in Joux had thankfully been resolved"

<sarcasm>I guess we'll never know what that was. It's not like anyone is eager to find out.</sarcasm>

"should Lord Davorin's heir survive his birth, he would be taken from Mirna and fostered out to some trustworthy couple of humble birth in need of a child, his true parentage concealed from them"

<sarcasm>Great! Farmboy with a Destiny famously never goes wrong. No chance that some rando with some random name like "Camber MacRorie, seventh earl of Culdi" will ever tell the hidden heir of his ancestry & lead him forth to claim his birthright.</sarcasm>

The Sarcasm is strong in this farmboy.... 😂

And sure, you will find out exactly what is happening in Joux, but I'm still trying to finish writing that story, so at the moment even I haven't fully worked out what has happened/will happen in Joux yet! (In general terms, sure. All the specifics? That's still unfolding as I write. Thus far, I am up to June 19th in that story now, so just a few days ahead of what is currently happening in this one.)

There is one important difference between the "Draper" heir who was actually Cinhil Haldane and Lord Davorin's son (who might not even survive his birth or infant years). The "Drapers" always had and passed down the memory of who they actually were, plus as a member of the clergy, Cinhil ended up with an education that would make it possible for him to assume his birthright. Even in the unlikely event that somehow Davorin's son discovers who his father was someday, Davorin's claim to the Hortic Throne was nebulous at best (hence the need to eliminate so many others ahead of him), and his coup could only be accomplished at all because he had the level of education and familiarity with court life to know how to run the kingdom once he managed to acquire it. Farmboy wouldn't have that advantage, nor is some Camber-like mentor likely to be waiting in the wings for him to grow up because they think he'll make a great replacement for Létald. Létald would have to grow up to be the Eleven Kingdoms crappiest ruler for anyone to think "Hey! Let's take a chance on Farmboy!" 😂 (But even if they do, and Létald hasn't had sons yet, the next in line is still Lord Réhon-Rogan, then that son he is expecting in a couple of months, then Dmitri if it were to come down to that.)

[Demercia]

Some disappointing hints here, I had earmarked Joss for Ailis (having reached the same conclusions as Miranda) leaving uncle Matej as a suitable consort for a widowed Queen.

[Evie]

Some disappointing hints here, I had earmarked Joss for Ailis (having reached the same conclusions as Miranda) leaving uncle Matej as a suitable consort for a widowed Queen.

Given that until now Miranda has only known Duke Matej as a distantly glimpsed figure at her late husband's court, and also given the limited options for a queen to have a lot of opportunities to socialize closely with male courtiers in order to get to know one well enough to fall in love again (not impossible, but medieval society tended to be a lot more sex-segregated than modern society), that possibility would have been quite the long shot.

However, despite the fact that there are some obstacles in the way of Miranda and Joss finding their Happily Ever After, are those obstacles completely insurmountable? Well, you'll notice this isn't the final chapter of the story yet.... 

[tmcd]

No, Evie, nothing can stop the destiny of the https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FarmBoy

Besides, nobody says that the destiny is going to be good for *him*. Doomed Antagonist is a destiny. C.f The King's Justice

Anyway, an ignorant farm boy can still be of use to plotters: see Lambert Simnel. He might be a figurehead that's easy to control by, for example, the New True Blue Joux Crew Two (the eighth conspiracy for reviving the Glory That Was Joux).

I think you could get 5 books out of it.

[Jerusha]

Some disappointing hints here, I had earmarked Joss for Ailis (having reached the same conclusions as Miranda) leaving uncle Matej as a suitable consort for a widowed Queen.

Given that until now Miranda has only known Duke Matej as a distantly glimpsed figure at her late husband's court, and also given the limited options for a queen to have a lot of opportunities to socialize closely with male courtiers in order to get to know one well enough to fall in love again (not impossible, but medieval society tended to be a lot more sex-segregated than modern society), that possibility would have been quite the long shot.

However, despite the fact that there are some obstacles in the way of Miranda and Joss finding their Happily Ever After, are those obstacles completely insurmountable? Well, you'll notice this isn't the final chapter of the story yet.... 

Oh good.  For a moment or two I thought this might be the last chapter.

[Evie]

Some disappointing hints here, I had earmarked Joss for Ailis (having reached the same conclusions as Miranda) leaving uncle Matej as a suitable consort for a widowed Queen.

Given that until now Miranda has only known Duke Matej as a distantly glimpsed figure at her late husband's court, and also given the limited options for a queen to have a lot of opportunities to socialize closely with male courtiers in order to get to know one well enough to fall in love again (not impossible, but medieval society tended to be a lot more sex-segregated than modern society), that possibility would have been quite the long shot.

However, despite the fact that there are some obstacles in the way of Miranda and Joss finding their Happily Ever After, are those obstacles completely insurmountable? Well, you'll notice this isn't the final chapter of the story yet.... 

Oh good.  For a moment or two I thought this might be the last chapter.

Nope! You still get an Epilogue, although it is nearly full chapter length also.

Usually if a story has ended, I will either say "The End" centered at the bottom of the post or I will end it with three hash marks (###), which is the conventional way to note the end of a manuscript. So that should remove any doubt that you've reached the actual end of the story rather than just a chapter ending.

Besides which, Anne would have killed me if I ended the story there, and I'm still alive, aren't I? 

[Jerusha]

Bless you, Anne. 

[revanne]

Had I been able to find that portal it would have been a near thing on occasion.