Script Consulting

With the hushed enthusiasm of the new mine, I’ve been seeing a lot of him, and to be honest, I’m enjoying his company. There is a new sparkle in his eyes that stems from the joy of a profitable new venture. He’s the first person who has brought any kind of humanity to this hollow play. It almost makes me want to treat him like an actual friend. Almost.

There is a knock at my door, and thinking it’s Martha, I instruct her to come in. Except it’s the Duke. His face seems even ghostlier than the last time we met, but his sunken eyes are as fierce as ever. I quickly search around the room to make sure that there isn’t anything out that shouldn’t be seen. Thankfully, there isn’t. Unsure of why he’s visiting, I put on my best business smile and ask, “Would you like some tea?” It’s the first thing I can think of…I don’t know what else to say to him as Laveda.

He shoots down my offer, “I will not stay long enough for tea.”

Still such a bitter tone, but it can’t be helped. I’m happy that he won’t be staying long, though, and continue stuffing an envelope with a freshly written correspondence to Sir Owen.

Duke Aleos notices the letter, “I hear there is a merchant who visits you regularly these days.”

There’s no reason to be defensive, so I reply curtly, “Yes.”

“And when he arrives, you send out the servants.”

Finishing preparing my letter, I meet his stony gaze, “Yes, that is correct.”

Then he asks something so candidly it almost catches me off guard, “Are you bedding him?”

My brow peaks at his question. I can see how it might be suspicious that I meet privately, but this is his first assumption? “No, we do not have that kind of relationship.” I clean up the mess on my desk. Is this paranoia a symptom of his illness? I will need to tread carefully, or he may find cause to kill me sooner than later.

“What kind of relationship do you have that requires private meetings?”

“Your Grace,” I stop my organizing briefly to meet his gaze and try to put his worries to rest,“ while Sir Owen is a merchant, he is also a knight. He values his honor above his profession as a businessman, and what we discuss behind closed doors are strictly business matters.”

His eyes narrow—I must not be convincing. “What business?”

“Must I inform you of all my endeavors, Your Grace?” This might not have been the best response, but I have nothing better to offer.

“Duchess, I care not what occupies your days, but I will have no more salacious scandals under my roof. What proof do you have to substantiate your claim?”

I don’t know where this is coming from and am getting slightly frustrated. He shouldn’t care about me, so why does this feel like a bigger issue than it really is?

“Is my word not enough?”

His expression grows dark, and even I flinch at the menacing aura emanating from him. Did I make a grave error?

“Your word? What value does that have to me?”

Laveda…just what did you do to this man? I search my memories for any hint why else he might be this livid with her, but then he outs with it.

“Was one infidelity under my roof not enough? Must you flaunt another?”

I’m stunned. I can’t believe it…it can’t be true. I can’t control my expression, and that causes Aleos to calm a bit. As if he also can’t believe how surprised I am.

“I…see…” I accidentally mumble out loud. Who did Laveda sleep with? Surely not Eligius, he would never have given her a moment of his life. Right? I want to get answers, but how can I ask Aleos who his wife slept with? The duke is saying something else, but I don’t hear him. I finally regain some composure and steady myself against my desk. He notices and stops speaking.

“I am feeling unwell, Your Grace. Might we converse at another time?”

He seems reluctant to leave; perhaps he still has more to say, but I need to gather myself. I’ll need my shadow proxy to look into Laveda’s past. I didn’t think it was necessary to look into Laveda, but maybe I should have from the start. I can’t be thrown for a loop like this again.

A couple of weeks go by and I finally get the dark secrets of Laveda’s infidelity from Grimnir, my unsavory informant. I’m still shaken by the news; it makes me rethink what I know of the story. According to the report, since last year’s Founder’s Ball…many things have happened. The Founder’s Ball is the biggest noble event of the year; anyone who’s anyone attends. Because it’s so high profile, it’s mandatory for the royal family to attend, no exceptions. Meaning Laveda would have been near Prince Eligius. There was already gossip that she desired the prince, but why Eligius would have entertained her affections…no one knows for sure. It appears she got quite drunk at the ball and made some embarrassing attempts to garner Eligius’s attention. The situation worsened to the point that she had to leave early. Before her carriage departed, however, Prince Eligius joined her inside for a short time before returning to the party.

A detail that really shocks me is the fact that Eligius had a long-time fiancée before Seren! Since when!?!? The book never mentions her, so I don’t know what’s going on. He’s described as a shameless playboy who always has multiple women, but having a fiancée while flaunting affair partners? There’s no redeeming this character. What kind of self-respecting female lead would even want someone like that?

But, back to the problem at hand, Laveda’s indiscretion…she traveled back to the Duke’s capital estate, and Eligius met up with her there. While Aleos was still at the ball, Eligius and Laveda, well…let’s just say Laveda was living her spicy fantasy. There are too many witnesses and corroborated stories amongst the staff for it to have been unsubstantiated, but the final nail in the coffin was when Aleos himself burst through the door to find them post-affair. Wait...do I need to check for diseases now? Do diseases like that even exist in these kinds of stories? I suppose…I would have felt something by now. I’m still disgusted at the thought.

Eligius left Aleos’s manor without a care for the havoc trailing behind him. The duke dragged Laveda back to the dukedom, and they haven’t been to the capital estate since. This is just too shocking!! How is this really how the story unfolds, and why wasn’t it written? I dislike Laveda even more now…and Sir Owen…I lied to him—well, kind of. I guess I said that I didn’t cheat, which is the truth. I need to wrap my head around this and look into the royal family a little more. It appears the story has many interesting, unsavory details that didn’t make it into the final draft. I can’t deny my curiosity and the satisfaction of finding out new things that might actually make this narrative more interesting.

I’ll be paying Grimnir a fortune to dig up everything on just about every key person I can. There’s no telling what other juicy morsels of information that didn’t make it to print. I’ll need to order detailed dossiers on all the princes, the King and Queen, and Seren. Ooof, my money…but this is what it’s there for, and I’m not exactly hurting for funds. Also…it can’t come back with me, so might as well spend every coin. Grimnir is already getting paid well to gather receipts on certain noble corruption, but I can imagine how high he’ll spike the cost for these new “irritating” tasks.

Grimnir is a particular fellow, and working with him is challenging. But assuming he takes the job, he gets it done. And I mean, done. If paid well enough, he’ll include every detail from what they eat at every meal to what pet they had at age three. More than anything, he is a master of disguise, but in order to explain our current interrelationship, I should preface it with my established schedule.

When I first devised my scheme of revenge-rewriting this annoying story—I knew I needed to create opportunities for the pretext of my true intentions; something that wouldn’t raise any alarm, but would be regular enough to get everything I need complete. So, I painstakingly befriended some frivolous local nobles for using them as alibis. Keep in mind that Laveda’s reputation is six feet under, and the only nobles willing to entertain a relationship with her are ones who wished to gossip about her pathetic existence at larger gatherings. I suffer through our traveling tea parties and shopping outings just to establish the fact that I go out with them on a weekly, sometimes biweekly basis.

Their inattentiveness to Laveda provides ample opportunities to slip away, take care of a quick errand or two, then return to the group with them non-the-wiser. Through these tedious acquaintances, I could establish a public relationship with Baroness Cyfrin. While the Cyfrins’ primary home is in the capital, they have manors and villas all around the kingdom and travel often. Baroness Cyfrin and I have been getting quite close, at least that is the narrative. It has become well known in the manor that the baroness and I exchange regular letters and often take tea privately in local shops. No one bats an eye when I run out to meet her for an unscheduled appointment. What harm is it to meet another lady friend? Especially when Laveda has no other friends?

Except, the person I am truly meeting with is none other than Grimnir, who is also, technically, Baroness Cyfrin. The Cyfrin family isn’t a typical noble house at all; it is, in actuality, a clever, long-standing front for their shadow guild. While two completely distinct entities, the Cyfrin House and the guild are parts of a whole. Cyfrin’s lineage isn’t based on blood relations, but orphans turned apprentices. The Shadow Guild accepts orphans and trains them and most successful are adopted into the Cyfrin name. The rest work either as servants in the Cyfrin houses, or for the guild with no true identities, all within the shadows. Cyfrins are officially recognized nobles and exploit that nobility for infiltration using their particular skill sets. The Cyfrin house goes back many generations, but only a very few select nobles truly know who the Cyfrins are. The few who know are involved with them in their various dealings.

The Cyfrin main house consists of a Baron, who is also the leader of the guild, a Baroness, the leader’s “wife” and second in command, and “their children”. Currently, the family unit boasts two sons, and a daughter, but in actuality all the members are male. Two of the five live publicly as ladies, infiltrating women’s spaces and gathering all the juicy intel from gossip and rumors.

Truthfully, I played a dangerous game getting Grimnir on my side; if I had failed, I’m convinced the Cyfrins would have ended me. And seeing as Laveda has no support, not even from her husband or family, it would have been easy to kill her, spin it as accidental, and bury her. Yes…I had to divulge many secrets I would have preferred not to speak of, just for the privilege of giving them money to do business with them. Everything was on their terms in the beginning. Blindfolds, gags, multiple secret locations—it truly felt that I had willingly signed up for my own kidnappings. But after I proved myself to be a credible source of secrets—one with deep pockets—I have become a very “special” customer. So “special” that I’ve been “honored” as the Baroness’s “friend”.

What secrets did they pry from me? A rather juicy temple secret, for starters. Let’s just say that one of the few places the Cyfrins could not successfully infiltrate is the Temple. The pope is truly a pious man and cannot abide corruption, and it’s because of this that the church remains mostly free of insidious influences. However, not everyone in the church is who they say they are. While the pope and his loyal followers are vigilant, there are those who slip through the cracks. For example, the current saintess is not the true saintess, but is living as her deceased twin sister. Yes, the melodrama ensues!

Long story short, Verene and Nerene were twin sisters adopted by the church because of their divine powers. As children, they were inseparable and somewhat mischievous. They would often pretend to be one another and play harmless pranks on the priests and priestesses. The sisters were both trained as saintess-to-be expecting the more powerful of the two would become the Saintess, and the less powerful would be the Saintess’s handmaiden. As they grew, Verene’s powers proved much stronger than Nerene’s, so much so in fact that Nerene became exceedingly jealous. During Verene’s fifth year as Saintess, both sisters were traveling throughout the kingdom to provide healing. There was an epidemic that year, and Verene’s powers were needed across the land. Unfortunately, it was the rainy season, and their carriage was swept away in a landslide with Nerene still inside.

Except that’s not what really happened. Yes, there was a landslide, but Nerene had ample opportunity to pull Verene out of the carriage before it fell into the valley’s depths. Nerene let her sister die and lied so she could have the life she felt she deserved. She spun the story that her sister’s death was such a traumatic shock that her divine powers locked away, and the church believed it. To make matters worse, there was one person who could always tell the sisters apart, so Nerene, as Verene, got rid of her as well.

Her story is a plot point for the temple and the royal family to build a better relationship, of course, thanks to Seren. Although Seren doesn’t intend to oust Nerene, by doing so the church is so embarrassed and grateful, they decide to back Prince Eligius, thinking that he is as upstanding as Seren, who is his fiancée. The church is rarely involved in politics, so you guessed right; it only further solidifies Eligius’s position as crown prince. Yet another feather in the lead’s cap. Well, not anymore. There was only one thing that proved that Nerene is not her twin sister, and that is the information I provided to Grimnir’s shadow guild. What they planned to do with it, I didn’t really care, but now Grimnir can’t help but comment on his family’s new, powerful connection, aka the church. He doesn’t say so specifically, but my guess is that the Cyfrins ousted Nerene and have now become tied to the church, in secret, of course. That poor, poor pope…but it was a necessary “evil”.

There was other information I gave up; further tests of my trustworthiness, so to speak. While money goes a long way in the shadow guild business, information is even more valuable. I supplied the names of certain corrupt individuals, all of whom they were already aware of, but it did add to my credibility. Unfortunately, I felt pressured to give them one or two choice monetary schemes that I was going to assign Sir Owen to handle. It might not have been completely necessary, but Grimnir is as prudent as he is unpredictable, so at the time I felt it was the wisest choice.

However, my knowledge proved to be a double-edged sword, and he was very suspicious of how I knew so much. And rightfully so, I don’t know that I would trust someone who wasn’t suspicious. In order to wriggle out of that predicament, I was forced to tell him about my grand plan. Yes, I told Grimnir my goal, though I left out many details of how I would see it through. That was the most painful knowledge to part with. But, as if that wasn’t enough, because of the sensitivity of the information they would provide, I entered a contract; one that will remain bound to me until all conditions are met. I’m not really worried about the contract’s clauses; it was a means to an end, and that “end” was becoming “special friends” with Baroness Cyfrin herself. I am one of only a few who know her true identity, which was a privilege that could only be obtained with said contract. As of now, there is only one remaining contracted stipulation I owe to Grimnir, and that is the truth about me. Once the finale of my scheme happens, I must divulge to Grimnir who I truly am and where I really come from. I don’t plan on having a face-to-face conversation with him; I’ll simply write Baroness Cyfrin a detailed letter stating my truth. And with that, we will have both upheld our parts of the contract.

So, why go into detail about my relationship with Grimnir? Well, I recently received a letter from Baroness Cyfrin stating a time and place to meet, and that is today. I quietly leave the manor, as I normally do when meeting the baroness, and am driven by carriage to a new sweets shop suggested by the baroness. I am eager to relay my newest project to Grimnir. There is plenty of time before my finale’s date, so why not unravel some mysteries of this story’s secret storylines while there is time? Who knows, I might find some diverting details I’ll need to weave into my “script’s” new ending.

The carriage stops, and I am ushered down. The sweetness in the air perks my eager stomach right up. I can’t tell if Grimnir truly has a sweet tooth, or if that’s just a part of his cover as the baroness. Baroness Cyfrin waves me over from under the awning of the building, and I stand shoulder to shoulder with her as we both face the shop’s window.

“Greetings, Duchess, what a lovely day for treats, no?” There is a deliciously devious smile forming behind her hat’s dark veil.

My own devilish smirk grows, “Indeed, Baroness, there is so much I wish to try, should we enter?”

The baroness slips her arm under mine, and we walk arm in arm into the shop. Since we are in Aleos’s Duchy, everyone knows Laveda’s face and is seated promptly in a private section. It only takes us a few minutes to look over the menu, and we order quickly. As we wait for our treats, I can see Baroness Cyfrin’s eyes searching the area, making sure the space is indeed private. The server returns with our orders, as well as a few extra desserts, on the house, of course. I thank him, and he leaves us in peace.

As soon as he leaves, Baroness Cyfrin takes the teapot and pours for both of us. “So, Duchess, was the most recent ‘book’ I lent you to your liking?”

“Yes, I found it quite shocking and informative.” The “book” we are referring to is code for the document about Laveda that Grimnir had provided me with. “In truth, reading it made me long for more similar ‘stories’. I hope to borrow a few more ‘books’ from you.”

“Oh? On what subject?”

Getting right to the point, aren’t we? I suppose interests have piqued. “Similar in quality, but I would like to read more substantial stories, maybe even dark tales?”

I take a sip of tea and let the flavor rest on my tongue as my words settle. Then I place an empty plate between us.

“I would love to read a story about royalty. A loving king and queen, devoted to their family and citizens.”

I pick up a coffee and a pistachio macaron as I say “king and queen” and place them in a line on the empty plate. Then I take a lemon macaron from the platter and place it below the two.

“It should also focus on their prized son, the one who has their love the most.”

I smile as I see Baroness Cyfrin’s smirk grow, but continue. “While the second son is the main character, I hope the book will have stories about his brothers.”

I place a chestnut, a praline, and a chocolate macaron on the same plate, one for each prince, in order of their ages. I can see that Grimnir is perfectly following what I am asking.

“And what would a good story be without romance?” I take a seventh macaron, a red velvet one, and add it to the bunch.

“I hope to hear about the great love that captures the second prince’s heart.”

Baroness Cyfrin sips some tea and takes the lemon macaron, lifting it near her face. “I believe I could accommodate your desired literature, but before I can recommend a book, I would like to know how dark a story you would like.”

I smile and pick up the red velvet macaron, placing it near my lips. “As dark as it can get.” I say as I take a bite.

The baroness’s smile becomes wickedly large as she takes a bite from the lemon macaron. After she sips some tea, she pats her mouth and picks up the coffee-flavored one, “A story like that would be a quality read, a very valuable experience.”

“Indeed,” I plainly say as I finish my first cup of tea. “What price could be put on such a book?”

The Baroness places ten biscuits on the plate. I knew it would be costly, but it’s a fair price for the risk and time involved. I add five more biscuits to the plate.

“The sooner the better.” I say with a smile.

The baroness lets out a soft laugh, “Our library is extensive, but we will find it for you promptly, Duchess. When it is found, I will write to you.”

With the important part of our gathering completed, we spend the rest of our time simply enjoying the desserts. Before parting, the baroness leaves me with another “book” for my consideration, and I accept gratefully. While it’s fun to play spy for a time, it’s all very exhausting.

Now that I’ve relayed to Grimnir the next round of information I require, I am left to read through these new documents. Slowly he’s feeding me reports on current noble corruption, based on the parameters I provided when I made my first request. Since it’s an ongoing mission, updates trickle in regularly. Looks like a late night for me, but a scriptwriter’s work is never done.