Herald of Steel

When the rebel army broke through into the city, the former king did not run away, but chose to make a heroic final stand with his royal guards by the gates of the palace, swearing to protect the place to his last breath.

Too bad, by then it was too little too late.

He was slain, the womenfolk were taken by the victors, and only a few relatives of his house remained, scattered in distant, remote parts of the country.

In their place rose a new dynasty- headed by the nephew of that scheming concubine- his father, that powerful pasha having unfortunately died of a fever in the third year of the war.

And as a new royal family rose, like a rising tide that raises all boats, Ptolemy’s family too got to ride the wave —they had contributed significantly to the war, having led a few crucial battles, and more importantly, had the foresight to curry favor with the right kind of people.

Hence they got to shoot for the moon and gain true, substantial wealth.

While, if anyone was curious, the pagan nobles who had also rebelled managed to scrap some benefits for themselves, making a deal with the new king to bend the knee in return for greater autonomy in their worship.

However, as already said, they were the much weaker side from the start, a fact clearly proven in the preceding war- they almost always played second fiddle to the much more powerful sides.

Thus, although the newly ascended king pretended to agree with them to buy himself time and stabilize his authority, over the subsequent decades and centuries, all these privileges would slowly be eroded by succeeding rulers, leading to strife once again.

But that was topic for another day.

For today, it was enough to know that the the royal families had keenly learnt how damaging it was to give actual gold to the concubine and sought to heavily restrict it.

The ladies still used them secretly- that was the stipend they got from their families was for and the advantages were many times worth the risks... but it was still much more restrained and moderate. A similar gag existed for the underground network that currently existed in the palace; access was restricted and there were many things off limits even there.

Hence when so much gold was discovered by that deceased concubine, it caused quite the sensation.

Too bad the investigation team failed to find any concrete clues there. Seelima and Lady Inayah had been very thorough.

And upon the investigating team’s failure, Seelima began to quickly incite the mad king against the leader, painting him as corrupt and incompetent.

"How can he not find the culprit, Your Majesty? You have given him so much time, money and men. He must have been in cahoots with her. Otherwise... how could she have stolen so much money by herself without anyone noticing?" She whispered while wrapping her long, sexy legs around the man’s waist.

Seelima did this in part as revenge for the man ’suspecting’ her, and in part for wanting to remove this annoying thorn from her path. She was afraid that one day she was going to slightly slip and get caught by this extremely shrewd and observant man.

And she had good reasons to suspect that too.

For instance, it once came to her ears that the investigator had confessed in private that his greatest suspicion for the culprit was none other than Seelima.

He had no evidence to back up this claim, but as a veteran of more than two decades, he was very skilled at sniffing out his target. And his nose told him this stunningly beautiful redhead was somehow definitely involved here.

In fact, he still remembered her from their previous meeting and as he looked back at that incident now, he could see pretty clearly that she was his ’guy’ back then- only somehow, she had managed to slip through his fingers.

He was determined not to make the same mistake again.

Unfortunately for the man, he was once again a tad too slow in making his move.

With that concubine gone, the Queen Mother was once again back on the king’s good books, so for him to make such comments... it was considered slander against not only the king but his entire family.

Or at least that was how Seelima framed her complaint into Alozmer’s ear.

And the mad king, already consumed by grief over the loss of his treasured mistress, took the bait hook, line and sinker. He suddenly became very angry and thinking the man was trying to steal his mistress, had him arrested, tried and sentenced- all within one week.

The entire sage once again showed just how black bellied and ruthless Seelima could be if need be.

While at the same time, it really showed how insane and sometimes even foolish Alozmer could be. He did this despite the investigator being part of the upper rank of the clergy as well as the second son of a powerful Matbar (Marquiss). The father even tried a great deal to save his flesh and blood, but the mad king would not put even a single one of those words into his ears.

The young noble was forced to confess to a variety of crimes under duress- including bribery, stealing and conspiracy to defraud the royal family, and then promptly executed... which, by that point might have been actually more of a mercy.

All this was just one example of how tyrannical and foolishly unreasonable Alozmer was.

Thus it was really not without reason that Pasha Farzah’s rebellion succeeded. Many nobles were already extremely pissed at their lord- it was just that they could not do anything given his power and claim of godhood.

Hence when he was finally killed, although many verbally condemned Pasha Farzah for regicide, very few actually did anything. They were too happy breathing a great sigh of relief. Some were even grateful enough to give the old man a rare thumbs up inside closed doors.

Their feelings only began to sour when they learnt of Pasha Farzah’s ambition to supplant Crown Prince Amenheraft with Ptolomy.

One might be surprised to know that the nobles actually liked Amenheraft, viewing him to be very different from his mad father. This time it seemed the apple had indeed fallen far from the tree.

In contrast, Ptolomy was an obscure, weak prince whom few even remembered existed. No one knew his character and even fewer praised his competence. There was even an informal saying among the nobility that if anything good was produced by Ptolomy, it most likely came from Lady Nanazin- she was seen as the brains behind her muddleheaded husband.

Hence the nobles, almost unanimously saw the Matrak lord’s move to switch the brothers as being a play for the crown, clearly wanting to become king of Adhania by proxy- put a puppet on the throne and then pull all the strings from behind.

For the proud Adhanian nobility, who held long established norms and tradition, this was an absolute red line. The golden bloodline could not be so casually moved around, certainly not by someone lacking royal blood like Pasha Farzah.

But even with such a blatant move, many powerful houses were yet reluctant to throw their full weight behind Amenheraft- it was like the grudges they held for Alozmer, they had now transferred them towards the eldest son.

Certainly that was the case for that powerful Matbar (Marquiss) house, who was still very bitter over the loss of their son- as far as the lord of that house was personally concerned, the entire royal could tear itself apart and he would not lift even an eyelid.

....

These are only some of the stories the Queen Mother experienced during her time in the palace- for if one were to write them all, it could become a whole other novel.

But from all these examples, we can see how much struggle the Queen Mother went through to get where she is now, as well as how Seelima and Lady Inayah became so close.

In fact, the two ladies soon became so close that there were even times when the two would secretly go behind Alozmer’s back to have their own fun.

The mad king might have his interest taken by a brand new toy, so, leaving him, they would both get excessively drunk, consume various smuggled contraband and then- ’party’.

It went without saying that as bona fide imperial concubines, they would always be the centre piece of all the ’celebrations’. Attended by young nobles and sometimes even the lowly palace guards, the two ladies probably saw more of each other doing shameful things than even god himself.

Honestly, the two women really lived their lives to the fullest in their early and mid twenties, taking full advantage of Adhania’s strange customs.

Until they finally got where they were today- that was all courtesy of each other.

Otherwise- the Queen Mother would have almost certainly already been caught and tried for her many crimes in the harem long ago while Lady Inayah would be devastated seeing her daughters being taken.

But now Seelima was the Queen Mother while the Lady of Agnirat was perhaps the only one outside of her daughter Hellma who could stir the heart of this cold, ambitious woman- no mean feat given how stubborn the regal lady could be.

So Lady Inayah was probably the single person the Queen Mother would actually call a genuine friend... and someone she could trust her life with.