<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #40BF40">‘If only Hector were here.’</span></span>Motto squeezed his eyes shut and rode out a powerful wave of sorrow.  He felt small and alone.  It was time he became a man and a King and dealt his own dealings.  He had to.  Hector would not forever be there, and his own father ..was a good King.  Surely there was some of that in Motto’s flesh and blood?  He felt sick and sad, but also angry.  That damned King of Faldothia had toyed with his dignity just then.  His heart also.  It was unsettling to see how weak he was when it came to Genevieve.  If he wasn’t careful, Motto might put Gilthlore in peril because of his love for her.  Because he would if it meant protecting her.<br/><br/>Forgetting to fix his coat, Motto flew up the stairs and strode fixedly to where Geneveive had taken a rest of some kind.<br/><br/>Mildred’s heart fluttered for Her Ladyship upon hearing of their intimate evening but only briefly.  Hadn’t Genevieve just described his scandalous babbling with the Setaphina harlot?  But Mildred’s heart skipped a beat.  It sounded as though Geneveive had followed the King in a violent state?  HAD HE ACTUALLY HARMED HER?  Before the servant could form a complete thought, Setphina’s name was mentioned the second time.  God in heaven this was a scandal indeed.  That scoundrel was kissing Lady Setaphina???  And her poor Ladyship cut her foot.. what a tragedy.<br/><br/>Mildred’s eyes settled on a bit of embroidery on Her Ladyship’s skirt.  Motto of Gilthlore was a dreadful creature to steal Nevi’s purity and behave unabashedly lewd.<br/><br/>Just as Genevieve was finished speaking, the chamber door burst open and a somewhat brazen King Motto stood gazing intently at her.<span style="color: #00BF40">“My Lady I-”</span>his eyes moved to her foot.  For a full second nothing happened.  And then many things happened.  Mildred stood and filled the silence with a furious tone.  She had no care of propriety or repercussion.<br/><br/>“How dare you cause this fine Lady such suffering.  Licentious, crude, and shameful..the likes of which I have never seen.  It is your fault Nevi is wounded but worse still you-”<br/><br/>Mildred gasped as a strange draft of air blew about the room and teacups began rattling.  The women would hear the windows creak from an unseen force and the air would feel heavy.  Motto’s fists were shaking at his sides.  He was looking at Genevieve’s foot with an unreadable expression.  His eyes seemed almost blank.<br/><br/><span style="color: #00BF40">“There is to be no rehearsal.  You shall return to the castle immediately.”</span><br/><br/>He was holding back great rage, among other things.  An unlit candle tipped over and rolled off a table and a book flew open and it’s pages flit in another draft of air.  Motto turned and left quickly.<br/><br/>He found himself opening a side door, startling the daylights out of two peaking children, crunching through the loose stone pathway, mounting a guard’s horse, and riding through the streets.  King Motto rode without a destination.  His mind was in utter shambles and it would not due to be seen in such a state.  Onward he spurred the beast until he was on the outskirts of the Gilrthlore where meadows widened and forests waited.<br/><br/>Something caught his eye and the King reigned the horse to an immediate stop.  There was a high point where land fell away into a slope.  Places like those were often times were infected fabrics and materials were brought to be burned.  Motto dismounted and walked towards the rocky area now filled with dead flowers.  The castle had been tidied and the walkways.  The streets, the walkways.  Nothing left of his message of love but a massive pile of rot in the sick pit.