The events of the storyline have reset! Our characters are returned to the beginning of our story to live it again. Read on to set the scene for this year’s adventures!
It had been a terrible plague. It had come from seemingly nowhere, they had had such little warning from the countryside before it had come to the city and Queen Anielle de la Courcel had done the best she could to work with the chirurgeons, the parliament, and the guild assembly to do what they could to stop the spread of the plague.
But she could not stop it all, and so very many had died.
No parent should have to bury their child.
She mourned. No matter how heavy the crown was on her head, her heart was heavier. Her firstborn, her dear son Daniel…
A tear dripped from her lashes to drop onto the sash of the window where she stood in her mourning gown, looking out at the City of Elua sprawled out beneath the royal palace without really seeing the view. Daniel had been so loved, and she had taken great pains to make sure he was ready for the responsibility that would one day pass to him.
But now, he was interred in the family crypt, sleeping beside his ancestors, and his mother was left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and look forward into an uncertain future.
She had another son, her darling Gustav. He was a sweet soul, kind and gentle. He had been born the “spare,” certainly, but she still loved him dearly, even if she hadn’t invested as much time in his schooling. Daniel had been the crown prince, Gustav would have had more freedom to do as he pleased in his life. But now…
She glanced down at the letter held in her hand. It was clinical and distant, it had to be. The Queen of Terre d’Ange was calling one of her subjects back to the city. Her second son had been sent to the university in Siovale years ago to study as he pleased, and he wrote dutiful letters every two weeks about his studies, his professors, and how he was applying himself to his courses, but she knew precious little of the young man he had become. Once, he had been a boy with bright blue eyes who sat on her lap and listened to the music the court musicians played for them. She remembered how he had run after the balls as the little family had enjoyed lawn bowling in the gardens. Gustav had idolised his older brother, and Daniel had endured his younger brother’s exuberance with loving patience that had shown Anielle he would have been a good king.
And now, she was sending a letter ordering her second son home. There needed to be a crown prince declared. The line of succession needed to be clear.
But she knew that when Gustav de la Courcel returned to the city, he would be a stranger to her.