Pondering Arethousa's offer

About an hour later, you recline into your own bed, feeling physically spent but your mind refuses to settle down to sleep. The temptation to stay and sleep with Arethousa in your arms was overwhelming, but you had to resist it and return to your own bedchamber. During the festival, there are too many demands on your time, and to be absent from the castle all night simply isn't an option.

"Now that I have known you as a lover, I am ever more certain that to be at your side as Queen is my destiny," Arethousa had said to you as you were compelled to take your leave. "I believe that you will also feel this to be true, dear Xavier, in due time. I will ask Aphrodite to send you dreams about me this night, so that our lovemaking need not end as we depart from one another."

She had kissed you then, so deeply that you felt your manhood stir once again in response, and the most difficult thing in all the world was to turn and descend the steps from her rooms. And now, you are back in your own bed, unable to get her out of your mind.

Of course, it's hardly the first time you've stayed up late thinking about Arethousa. Such a beautiful and sensuous woman no doubt has fueled the fantasies of nearly ever man in the kingdom who desires women in any way, and you were no exception. There were many nights in your youth when you satisfied your own needs with her face and body in your mind's eye... images which, as it turns out, fell far short of the reality of her!

She was young when she first came to Elyssia, no more than twenty summers, but you were even younger - your voice had only just dropped the week before she arrived. She had come with an entourage of mostly other women, and an impressive amount of gold and treasures; and only a week after arriving, she had purchased the plot of land adjacent to the bathing pools from Lord Bertrand's house and established Elyssia's first permanent brothel. Bertrand de Pomeroy had strongly opposed Arethousa's business from moment one; he had insisted that that such places were both sinful and inherently corrupt, bringing out the worst in people. If Bertrand had been the head of the Pomeroy house at the time, he likely would have succeeded in shutting the place down, but his father had still been alive and he had different priorities. By the time Bertrand's father passed, Arethousa had firmly established herself as a leading citizen with allies in all the other wealthy houses of Elyssia - including the King, as she was a strong supporter of your rule from moment one.

It occurs to you that you never really knew WHY Arethousa has always held you in such high regard, at least since you became King; it's not like you knew her very well before that. The only times you spoke with her were in your capacity as the blacksmith's apprentice, when she needed your master's services. You never even patronized the brothel, as your coin was insufficient for such luxuries. Of course, it was in her best interests to have a good relationship with the crown, but your lasting rule had been by no means a certainty; there were objections aplenty, mostly from Bertrand's house but from some of the other nobles as well, and it seemed unlikely at first that you would still be wearing the crown after the first year.

But Arethousa's support had been clear and unwavering from the very beginning. You have a vivid memory of her taking your hands and kissing both your cheeks to congratulate you immediately after you had plucked the coin, even as Lord Bertrand commenced the first of many protests to the elders that a blacksmith's apprentice could never be a King. (You also recall that you had come close to fainting on the spot in that moment, as the combination of suddenly ascending to royalty had already unsettled your nerves, and to also have a woman such as Arethousa kiss you - even in such a chaste manner - had been almost overwhelming!) Aside from the Elders themselves, and your own master Methodius, she had been the first person of note in Elyssia who had acknowledged you as the King-to-be. It had also been Arethousa who suggested to you that you could garner the good will of the people by ordering the bathing pools repaired and then opened to all, which proved to be very good advice indeed. To be sure, she had benefited greatly from it when you named her the proprietor of the pools, but even Lord Bertrand had not offered a dissenting opinion of that appointment; she had been the natural choice for the position.

Of course, not all your decisions and proclamations have been met with universal applause... but you cannot think of any time that Arethousa publicly disagreed or condemned any ruling you have ever made as King, and you would be hard-pressed to name any other Lord or leading citizen about whom you could say that.

It's a question that your mind insists upon pondering: what is it that has made Arethousa such a steadfast ally? If conceit were in your nature, you might assume that she had been infatuated with you, but that seems absurd - and besides, she said quite plainly on this very evening that she did not love you in that way (at least, not yet). Either she had taken a chance that your rule would be lasting, against significant odds - or, she saw something in you which you did not even see in yourself at the time, and in some way knew that you would make a good King.

There's also the possibility that Arethousa has been grooming you all this time so that you would be receptive to taking her as a Queen... but no, that makes no sense at all. If that had been her intent, she could have made her bid when you were still young and more impulsive, and of course you would have taken her to bed long ago had she ever indicated such interest - and, knowing what you know now, it's a near-certainty that she could have enticed your younger self into asking for her hand in marriage.

So then... why now? Why does she show such sudden interest in being the Queen, when she never has before?

Perhaps it would be best just to ask her. After all, if she IS destined to become your wife, it seems important that you be open and honest with each other. But, you cannot forget that people do not always deal with a King honestly; it remains possible that Arethousa has an agenda which does not have your best interests at heart. You have never had to deal with real betrayal before, but you know from what you have read about the histories of other royal houses that it can come from the most unexpected of places, and to be concerned about such things is not just paranoia.