Bishop: Chess, #4

By Cathy Draig

Retta wants to get married. Legally she can. Emotionally she's way more than ready. But the country is at war, she got divorced only a week ago, and her fiancé? There could be a lot of heat if they announced their nuptials right now. 

 

So, the answer is obvious, right? All she has to do is win the war, and the people will love her. Probably even forgive any whispers of treason about Anders. Easier said than done, of course. She could negotiate if the Elves had any demands. But, nope. Oh, and did she mention that she and Anders just had a big fight? Things aren't particularly stable right now.  

 

She knows she should care about the war more than she does about Anders leaving town, but she doesn't. How does she fight a national war when a personal one threatens her entire relationship?

 

Book three of the Chess Series brings new struggles for Retta, Anders, and the rest of The Gang. This is not a stand-alone novel and must be read after Knight and Queen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cathy Draig
• Release date: Nov 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215258125

Book preview

Map of Jador

Map

Click for a high resolution map.

Pronunciation Guide

Continents/Countries:

Cesoli: sess-oh-lee

Jador: jay-door

Frapane: frahh-pane

Enestpon: e-ness-pon (like ponder; the T is silent)

Provinces:

Petidar: pet-i-dar

Uesdar: you-es-dar

Surmdar: sirmm-dar

Fontidar: fon-ti-dar

Sabladar: sab-la-dar

Rocedar: rowshh-dar

Roi: roy

Gods/Godesses:

Filarune: fill-a-rune

Shalltar: shall-tar

Other:

Chakrir: shack-rear

Chapter 1

With all due respect, Your Majesty, that’s a terrible idea.

Oh, boy. Alecks had used the formal address when telling me that getting married again was a bad idea. When he pulled out the ‘Your Majesty’ I knew I needed to pay attention. I looked at him across the poker table, then around at my other friends who were playing with us to see what they thought of his statement.

They all looked like they didn’t want to incur my wrath by agreeing. Smart.

An eyebrow raise would have been completely appropriate in that moment, but I’d never been able to master the trick. Instead, I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, Getting married again is a terrible idea? Are you really saying that?

He sighed and shook his head. "You know that’s not what I’m saying. You guys deserve it. No, I’m saying getting married in two weeks is a terrible idea."

Our friend Piers nodded. Retta, think of how bad that will look. The king’s only been gone for two days. Then you turn around and get remarried in another two weeks. Doesn’t that look like you setup Lucian?

Anders, my fiancé, said, I hate it. But they do have a point. After all that work, the last thing we want to do is turn everyone against us.

Dart nodded. More rumors. And we know how much you love rumors.

I aimed a mock glare his way too. Who says you get a say? Shouldn’t you be cuddling your newborn or something?

He snorted and shook his head. She’s being changed. Don’t want any part of that.

Anders glared at him — although I’m pretty sure that glare was real. No way — she’s your daughter, you have to do that stuff too. Do you think I like changing Ronan’s diaper?

Seriously? Your son has a governess and you still change diapers?

I shook my head and said, Enough — we’re getting off topic. I turned to Alecks. "So, great and wise Alecks, when should we get married?"

He rolled his eyes at me. Great and wise? Well…my child…perhaps if you were to end the war, the country would be so happy they would overlook that you’re marrying the man who’s been connected to you in rumors for over a year. Happy people will forgive a lot of crimes.

Anders said, Including treason?

Alecks shrugged. "For your sake, let’s hope especially treason."

I said, Oh, sure. Let me snap my fingers and make that happen. It’s not like we haven’t been trying to win the war for four years.

Piers said, "Technically, you haven’t been trying for four years. You’ve only been trying for a month or so."

I sighed. Anyone want to volunteer to go and ask the Elves to please leave Jador peacefully?

Dart snorted. Not it.

I answered, "Right, it wasn’t a serious question. But, I do have a serious question — how do you fight a force who doesn’t have any demands? That just keeps coming no matter what you do?"

Anders added, And who may have a god on their side.

As if I didn’t need any more obstacles to ending this war, I said.

He put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. I have faith we’ll figure something out.

"I like the we’ll in that sentence, at least."

The door to my study opened and Celeste, my best friend and Dart’s wife, came in carrying their two day old baby. He reached out to take Anastasia, and Celeste handed her over, but then smacked his arm.

What was that for? he asked.

Anders looked at Celeste and asked, Because he needs to change diapers, right?

Celeste nodded. Damn straight he does. But, what are we really talking about?

I said, How to end the war so Anders and I can finally be together openly.

She laughed and took her seat at the table. So, your typical light conversation. Got it. But, seriously, why don’t we get help?

From whom? Frapane? If Dad was going to send troops he wouldn’t have sent me to marry Lucian.

Piers said, Whatever happened with the Chakrir?

I shrugged. They declined to help. I didn’t get a real clear answer, but I suspect Lucian pissed them off somehow.

Dart said, AKJ probably called them orcs.

I shook my head. First, we can’t keep calling him AKJ — he stopped being an asshole and he’s not the king of Jador anymore. As for calling them orcs, surely he wouldn’t have?

Alecks shook his head. That’s unlikely. Doesn’t mean someone else didn’t, though.

Petidar? I asked, then I looked around and everyone nodded — we were all thinking the same thing.

The door opened again and Eve, my son’s governess, and the seventh member of our gang, came in carrying Ronan. He woke up and I figured you would like to see him. Anders reached out and took Ronan so Eve could take her seat.

For Eve’s benefit I said, We don’t know for sure, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Petidar insulted the Chakrir when they were here last year, which is why they aren’t helping us in the war.

She said, Why not try again? The king — sorry Lucian — isn’t here any more and Petidar’s dead.

I sighed. Anyone got any Chakrir contacts we can reach out to? Everyone shook their head and I rolled my eyes. Well, that’s super helpful.…Who’s deal is it?

Alecks reached for the deck of cards and I filed away Eve’s suggestion. Just because none of the seven of us knew someone, that doesn’t mean I was out of luck. Surely one of the perks of being the queen was assigning the task of finding someone who did?

∼∗∼∗∼∗∼

I stared down at the huge map of Jador and the scattering of model soldiers representing our troops and the troops of the enemy.

There was more red — for Jador — than there was blue — for the Elves. But, the last time the models had been repositioned was weeks before. We were in a holding pattern — the Elves weren’t taking more, but we weren’t pushing them back either.

Lucian had sent emissaries to try and speak with the Elves — if they came back alive, they reported no one would talk to them, and just sent them back to the Jador side of the line. I’d tried again after Lucian was deposed, and had just gotten back the message that morning — they didn’t want to talk to me either. It seemed they just wanted Jador. All of it? Part of it? Who knows? Maybe they didn’t like humans and thought we should be wiped from the planet?

I sighed and amused myself by tipping over the models so they were all lying on their sides. I made quiet explosion noises as I did so. At three months, Ronan wasn’t quite old enough to laugh yet, although I hoped he was getting close. I’d always loved the sound of a baby’s laughter. But maybe watching his mother exploding toy soldiers would get him to start?

While I was debating whether or not to go get my son, there was a knock on the door and Alecks opened it. I looked up with a question and he said, Retta, I don’t know what’s going on, but Anders got a letter and now he’s shooting at targets as fast as he can load his pistols.

I stomach dropped and my heart sped up. That was completely out of character. Where is he?

At the garrison.

Take me there.

He nodded and we hurried to the stables. The garrison was on the other side of the palace gardens, seemingly close, but the road between the two would take at least a half hour to walk. Going by horse was much faster, especially when you could kick them into a gallop.

We arrived at the garrison less than ten minutes after Alecks had come to get me. He was right, Anders was blasting away at a target — and not hitting the center every time. Anders was the best shot in the regiment — there’s no way he would miss the center that often unless he just didn’t care. That was almost more upsetting than the shooting was in the first place.

I slid down off my horse and slowly walked over to Anders. He didn’t look at me when I stopped next to him, and the look on his face was completely blank. Something was wrong — really, really wrong.

I took a deep breath, then said slowly, So, are you aiming for a different target than the one I can see? Cause you’re not hitting that one very well.

He said nothing and reloaded his pistol. It wasn’t clear how many times he’d fired his pistols, and I only saw the two, yet I doubt he was cleaning them every several shots. Which could lead to a dangerous situation. He raised the pistol again and I turned so I was facing him and reached out to put my hand over his. Hey, look at me.

He shook his head and went to pull the trigger, and I reacted quickly. I dug my nail into his hand, trying to get some response. That at least got him to look in my direction, although I’m not sure he was actually looking at me, so much as through me. Where’s the letter?

He inclined his head towards a table off to the side of the yard where his jacket was laying. I nodded and dropped my hand, then said to Alecks, Please give him some pistols that won’t blow up in his hand because they’ve been cleaned recently. Alecks nodded back and pulled the two from his belt, then gestured at a couple of other guards around the yard.

I went over to the table and looked through Anders’s jacket until I found a crumpled letter. Although, it wasn’t clear if he’d crumpled it, or if it had gotten abused on it’s way to him, since it was quite dirty as well. I smoothed it out and started to read.

The first part of the letter was clearly from a friend of his, telling him how they were doing and what was happening in their life. I glanced at the bottom to see who it was from, but there was no signature, just a postscript in different handwriting. I skipped the rest of the letter and read the postscript.

Anders,

I hope this letter finds you quickly, although I’ve been told many are getting intercepted and delayed. It’s my sad task to inform you that Marta was attacked on the road and killed a few days ago. It’s unclear who the assailants were, but all efforts are being extended to catch them. There will be a service held at the temple in the Sacred Mountains. She would want you to be there, so I hope you can attend. It will be a small service, for close friends only. I will be staying here for some time, so even if you miss the service, she would still want you to come and pay your respects. I’ll see you soon.

Fa’rod

Marta was dead? Shit, no wonder he was so upset. And wait — wasn’t Fa’rod a Chakrir name?

I refolded the letter and put it back with his jacket, then walked over to him. As I had instructed, Alecks was making sure that Anders wasn’t using the same pistol over and over and fouling it with gunpower residue.

I looked at Anders and said, So, we’re going to the Sacred Mountains.

He shook his head, but didn’t look at me. "No, I’m going to the Sacred Mountains. You’re staying here."

I choked back my snort. Was I now? You really want to face this on your own?

He fired the pistol again and at least it was close to the center of the target this time. He said, No, but you didn’t know her.

I felt like I’d been slapped. I set my shoulders and replied, I didn’t have to know her to know how important she was to you.

He snorted and said, With all due respect, Your Majesty, you can’t understand. Your best friends are still alive and well.

Dart and Piers arrived as Anders was speaking and from their surprised expressions, they must have heard what he’d said. And I was about to snap. I got that he was hurting, but I’d never seen him so…nasty before. I wasn’t sure if the ‘Your Majesty’ was because there were other people around, or if he was being condescending. I chose to believe it was because there were others around.

I said quietly, in what I hoped was a soothing tone, Everyone has experienced loss of one kind or another. Which means we all understand that you’re hurting and need us.

"What I need, is to be left alone." He held his hand out to Alecks for another pistol, but I shook my head and Alecks pulled it back.

Anders —

What? He bit out.

Then, I snapped. I clenched my teeth and set my face in what Anders himself had dubbed my Don’t Fuck with Retta expression — then leveled it right at him. I said, steel clear in my voice, Lt. Anders, you are relieved of duty until further notice.

That got a reaction. He looked at me and narrowed his eyes. You can’t do that.

Dart stepped forward. Of course she can. Now, I’ll need your weapons.

I added, Unless, you want to apologize right now and then have a reasonable conversation with me? I looked down my nose at him.

He unbuckled his sword belt and threw it on the ground at Dart’s feet, then started to unbuckle the belt that held the sheath for his dagger and that he hooked his pistols to. I wanted to cry, but I pushed down the feeling and said, Until you’re ready, the door will be locked.

Dart’s eyes widened, but he said nothing. Anders scoffed and replied, Whatever.

My stomach clenched. Was there something else going on that I wasn’t aware of? Excuse me? What did you say? I paused and lowered my voice then said, And be very careful how you answer that Lieutenant, or visiting privileges with the prince will be suspended as well. I wasn’t playing around.

Finally — finally — I think I got through to him. He looked at me and I saw pain in his face, not the cold anger he’d been showing since I arrived. He swallowed and said, I spoke out of turn, Your Majesty. I believe I will retire to my quarters.

Okay, that was something at least. He could see his son. But I meant what I said about my bedroom being off limits. He gathered his jacket, leaving his pistols, and headed off into the garrison, not looking at any of us.

When he was out of sight, I finally allowed my shoulders to relax a bit. I still had to bite back tears, though. The man who had just walked into the garrison was not acting like the man I knew and loved. He had every right to be upset and angry, but he did not have the right to lash out at others.

Dart picked up the sword and dagger belt from the ground and sighed. So, do you know what that was about?

A good friend of his was killed. Grief I understand, but this reaction? I’m as confused as you are.

Alecks asked, What do you want us to do if he tries to leave?

Let him go. I sighed and got a boost back on my horse for a much slower return to the palace. Alecks mounted and rode with me.

About half-way to the palace, out of view of everyone but Alecks, I let the tears start. He looked at me and asked, Are you going to be okay?

I nodded and pulled a handkerchief from a pocket in my dress to wipe my face. Yeah, I think so. I can’t believe that relieving him of duty and telling him he couldn’t see me alone weren’t enough to get him to crack. I had to threaten to deny him access to Ronan to finally get through? I know Marta was a good friend, but there’s got to be something else going on. This reaction is out of proportion to that.

Everyone grieves in different ways, he said quietly.

Sure, I get that. But why lash out at me? What did I do?

Wrong place at the wrong time?

Maybe. Let me ask you something. Isn’t the name Fa’rod a Chakrir name?

Certainly sounds like it.

I thought for a moment. Something’s not adding up. I explained the letter and the postscript saying Anders should come alone to the temple and signed by a Chakrir. And yet, just last night he said he didn’t know any Chakrir that I could reach out to.

You think he’s lying to you?

Goddess, I hope not. I sighed, and wiped the last of the tears from my eyes. He said Marta was married, and I presumed to a human. So, who is Fa’rod? Maybe Anders doesn’t know, or didn’t read far enough to ask?

I’ve never heard him mention anyone named Marta.

I gave him a puzzled look. Really? I didn’t know that. She was someone he knew several years ago. She was…very influential in his life.

He looked at me sideways. Is that Retta speak for the first woman he slept with?

I blinked. "Retta speak? I smiled weakly No. I don’t actually know her name, but I know she wasn’t Marta."

We arrived back at the palace stables where we turned the horses over to the stablemaster and made our way inside.

Chapter 2

I went and found my son and picked him up. He wasn’t hungry, but I wanted to hold him. I really wanted to hold his father, but I guess he had to deal with some things before that would happen.

I took Ronan with me back to the War Room to show him the model soldiers. He wasn’t impressed. He seemed interested in the explosion noises, but not enough to laugh. I picked up all the soldiers and put them back to rights, and then I walked around with Ronan.

We ended up at the small desk where I stared at a stack of paperwork. It wasn’t a large stack, but it never seemed to get any smaller either, although I hadn’t been doing the work for long enough to really get an idea of what was typical.

I sat Ronan in my lap and flipped through the pages. "You know, sometimes there’s something in this stack that is so crazy it’s easy to deal with. Like one time, the city guard asked for a sauna in their garrison. So Mommy said they’d either need to forgo raises for three years or save the money themselves. Never heard about it again. Does that surprise you?"

He made a noise that I chose to interpret as answering no. Yeah, me neither. Ooo, wait, this one looks good. I read the first couple paragraphs and started laughing. Ronan, this is the silliest yet. You’ve got to hear this. Sea monsters off the coast of Rocedar. He looked up at me. Oh, don’t worry, there’s no such thing as sea monsters. Maybe a whale in territory they don’t normally roam into, but no sea monsters. I’m sure that’s what’s eating all the fish too. I put that one in the this paper is now scratch paper pile.

So, I admit, I was killing time, hoping that Anders would come looking for Ronan, find me, and apologize. I wanted him to tell me what the fuck was wrong with him, but as the day wore on, my hopes got lower.

Oh, baby boy. Your daddy’s sad and he won’t talk to Mommy. I kissed Ronan on the forehead, then took him back to my apartments to feed and change him.

I skipped dinner, and instead I laid back on the bed and stared at the canopy overhead. I was strong enough to run an entire nation, but not strong enough to get through to the man I loved. I made sure the door at the bottom of the secret stairs was firmly locked. Anders had a lock picking kit, or at least he did at one point, but I didn’t think he’d try it.

I needed to cry — should probably cry more than I had on the way back from the garrison — but I held back the tears. I needed to be strong in case he came to see me. When it was time for our poker game, I made my way to my study, not sure I even wanted to play. I opened the door slowly, sending a silent prayer to the Goddess that Anders was sitting in his usual seat.

He wasn’t, and neither was Eve. I backed out of the room quickly and went to see Ronan. Maybe Anders was with him?

Eve looked up when I entered the room and she gave me a small head shake. He’s gone. He came to say goodbye to Ronan and then he left.

I nodded. Did — did he say anything?

Only a brief comment that he’d probaby be back by the end of the week.

She carried Ronan and walked with me back to the study. Maybe playing a game would get my mind off of it. Eve put Ronan in his bassinet next to Ana’s and I took my seat at the table. Everyone was quiet though. Finally, Alecks said, He left earlier.

Dart nodded. I hope you don’t mind, but I let him take back his weapons. I figured it wasn’t a good idea for him to travel alone without them.

I shook my head. I didn’t suspend him to punish him. I wanted to get through to him.

Piers said quietly, I think you did. I think he’s just not in a place where he can talk to any of us.

I blinked back tears, then said, Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not getting married in two weeks. The…fucking groom might not even be back by then.

And that’s when I lost it. I folded my arms on the table, then put my head on them and sobbed.

Then, someone was rubbing my back, and someone else was handing me a handkerchief. I sat up to wipe my eyes and looked around at my friends. I’m sorry. I’m not very good company tonight.

Piers said, We understand. Do you want us to go?

I shook my head. Stay if you want. I’m going to bed, though.

I left the study and went back into my bedroom. A tiny part of me had hoped he’d be waiting there for me, even though I knew he wouldn’t be. Then, my eye caught on something on my pillow. I walked over and saw it was a sealed letter.

My hands shook as I reached for it. There was no writing on the outside, but I didn’t dare hope it was from Anders. I sat on the edge of the bed and opened it.

Retta, My Queen,

First, I’m sorry. Second, I love you. Third, I’m really sorry. Fourth, I really love you.

I know you said the door would be locked, but I hope you forgive me for sneaking in through the bathroom to leave you this letter.

My behavior was unacceptable and the way I spoke to you was completely uncalled for. I know you only wanted to comfort me and I probably should have let you do so. I sat in my quarters at the garrison and thought about how to apologize. And then I reread the letter.

Marta lived in a village near the mountains. I wasn’t aware she had any contact with the Chakrir, but given the name who signed the letter, it appears she did. There is more to this than a simple bandit raid on the road, I’m sure of it. However, I won’t know more until I arrive at the temple and meet with Fa’rod.

I’m taking the quick route to get there, going by ship. I should reach the temple tomorrow afternoon. If for any reason I don’t expect to return by the end of the week, I’ll send word.

You’ll wonder why I didn’t just tell you these things in person — the answer is that I’m too scared of losing it. I need to hold myself together until this is over. But, I didn’t want to leave things the way they ended at the garrison.

I’ll miss you. Kiss Ronan for me.

Love,

Anders

P.S. Did I mention that I’m sorry and that I love you?

My tears had started again when I started reading. By the end, they still hadn’t stopped, but I was smiling at least. I tucked the letter away on the small table in the corner and went to splash water on my face.

∼∗∼∗∼∗∼

Anders left on Monday. By Friday I was snapping at everyone and snarky in general. No one wanted to be around me, and I didn’t blame them. My close friends knew me well enough to give me space. Although, usually, when I was in one of these moods, Anders snapped me out of it.

Friday afternoon, I met with Minister Thomson about the war. Again. He did at least have a little bit of new information out of Sabladar Province, though.

Sabladar Province was the province closest to the Elvish islands of Enestpon, southeast of Jador. They also had the most coastline of any of the provinces and therefore an active shipping industry. They had a small navy, basically larger merchant vessels turned ships of war with funds from the crown. I knew there used to be a proper Jadoran Navy as well as a Minister of the Navy, but I hadn’t yet found out exactly what happened to them. Although, I was pretty sure the answer was: George, Duke of Petidar.

Early on in the war, the Elves had taken over one of the largest port cities in Sabladar, and the Jadoran Navy, such as it was, mostly worked to keep the Elves confined to using only that one port city. It helped to establish a bottleneck for the Elves in their land invasion, which was most of the reason we were currently at a stalemate.

However, there were reports that a few Elvish ships had been seen north of the city they occupied, almost as far as the Peripple Sea which was the middle of the country. This was new behavior for them, but it appeared to be only one or two ships and they turned around once they saw the Jadorans headed for them. I hoped that meant they’d changed their mind about heading a force north to the Peripple Sea, but that wasn’t certain. Minister Thomson suggested we send more funds to Sabladar as well as see if we could recruit more merchants into supporting the war effort.

I approved of the idea, although it felt more like slapping a bandage over a gushing wound without stitching it closed first. It was only a matter of time before the patch gave way. Jador needed a true navy again. Shit, Jador needed a central army too, but that was a topic for another day. For now, the province militias were my army and converted merchant ships my navy. I shook my head and sighed quietly. No wonder we hadn’t been able to get the upper hand in this war. Thomson left to work on that and I was left with my thoughts.

Why hadn’t Lucian done anything about this? It had been four years. Surely the Navy could have been rebuilt after whatever happened to them. Unless George deliberately interfered somehow? Or was he just incompetent or maybe lazy? Although, considering we were pretty sure he’d deliberately not appointed a