Gilding the Lily, page 1
Gilding the Lily: And Other Stories of Myrcia
J.S. Mawdsley
Published by J.S. Mawdsley, 2022.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
GILDING THE LILY: AND OTHER STORIES OF MYRCIA
First edition. May 29, 2022.
Copyright © 2022 J.S. Mawdsley.
ISBN: 979-8201660666
Written by J.S. Mawdsley.
Also by J.S. Mawdsley
Of Duty and Silver
The Queen's Tower
For Her Own Good
Royal Obligation
Reunion Vale
The Last Bright Angel
Of Duty and Silver: The Complete Series
Reign of the Eagle
Black Eagle Rising
Siege of Kings
Unspeakably Wooed
When You Are King
Old Habits Die Hard
A Troubled Peace
Reign of the Eagle: Complete Series
The Moiriad
A Sorceress Born
A Sorceress Made
Years of Exile
Called to Account
Standalone
A Fatal Humor
One False Step: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Above His Station: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Every Count Votes
A Fine Distinction: And Other Stories of Myrcia
The Changing of the Guard: And Other Stories of Myrcia
The Metal of Victory
The Web in the Palace: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Gilding the Lily: And Other Stories of Myrcia
The Night Nothing Happened: And Other Stories of Myrcia
A Glass of Sand and Stars
The Romance of the Viscount: And Other Stories of Myrcia
The Consolation Prize: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Red Sand Girl
The Art of the Future: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Girls' Night Out: And Other Stories of Myrcia
Watch for more at J.S. Mawdsley’s site.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By J.S. Mawdsley
Introduction
Solstice on the Straits
Old Silver
In the Face of Death
Here to Help
Sweet Little Child
Gilding the Lily
Siege of Kings (Preview)
Wealdan Castle Floor Plan
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Also By J.S. Mawdsley
About the Author
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the first collection of short stories connected to our new series, Reign of the Eagle. The exciting first novel in that series, Black Eagle Rising, is available now in ebook stores, in case you haven’t picked up a copy yet.
If you’re new to our work and the Myrciaverse, don’t worry. You don’t need to have read our previous series, Of Duty and Silver, in order to enjoy these stories. In fact, you don’t even need to have read Black Eagle Rising, even though part of our purpose in writing these stories was to introduce some of the main characters in that novel. Just sit back and read, and if you like what you see, then consider buying some of our books. Oh, and you might want to sign up for our newsletter, too. (There’s a special novella, The Perfect Time, which is only available to newsletter subscribers.)
If you’ve been with us for a while, then you know how these short story collections work. Each of these stories introduces one of the major characters in Black Eagle Rising, giving you a little of their history and some insight into what makes them tick.
However, we always like to make sure there’s a little something extra in our story collections, because most of these stories have been sent to our newsletter subscribers and (ultimately) put up on our website. For that reason, we’ve added the story “Sweet Little Child” and a floorplan of Wealdan Castle, seat of the Kings and Queens of Myrcia, both of which are completely new. If you read Black Eagle Rising, and you were wondering where Broderick’s room is in relation to Elwyn’s, for example, well, now you can look at the map and find out.
As always, thank you so much for reading our stories, and we hope you enjoy them. Keep an eye out for the second novel in the new series, Siege of Kings, which will be coming very soon.
J.S. Mawdsley May 2022
Solstice on the Straits
346 M.E.
“Elwyn, dear! What are you doing out here? You’ll freeze! You’ll catch consumption!”
Elwyn didn’t bother to turn as Lady Bianca Henderson, her governess, bustled over to cover her with a fur cloak. It was windy on the terrace, and a light snow was falling, but Elwyn didn’t feel the cold. She was entranced by the lights and the sounds and smells of Presidium at dusk.
Lanterns swung on the masts of a hundred ships at anchor in the harbor and tied up along the docks. Colored lights hung across the bazaars and markets on silver chains. Close by, in the exclusive Palatine District, bright lamps shone through gauzy curtains in the upper windows of great marble palaces, as the richest men and women in the Empire prepared for their holiday parties.
Smoke rose from kitchen chimneys all around, carrying the scent of wood smoke, roast meat, and sizzling fat. It reminded Elwyn of a hundred feasts she had seen as a child, but those had been feasts in Myrcia, in smoky old halls with fat knights and matronly ladies and her father’s hunting dogs begging for scraps below the high table. Elwyn was in the Empire now, where everything was beautiful and cultured and refined.
“Dear, please,” said Lady Bianca, tugging at Elwyn’s hand. “Come inside. We’ve got to get you ready for the party. Domina Uggeri will want to leave soon for the palace.”
Elwyn consented to be led away from the magnificent sights of Presidium and inside to the grand guest bathroom. She didn’t know her host, Vita Uggeri, very well. But she knew her ladyship was an old and dear friend of Elwyn’s stepmother, Queen Rohesia. So, Elwyn knew she had to be on her best behavior, lest her failings as a guest be reported to the queen in one of Domina Uggeri’s many, many letters.
Half an hour later, when Elwyn had done enough scrubbing and rinsing and perfuming for any two girls, she sat in the big, wood-paneled dressing room while Lady Bianca did her hair in complicated ringlets and braids, and they talked of what she might wear.
Before they could decide, there was a knock at the door, and Domina Uggeri herself arrived, followed by a maidservant carrying a box wrapped in gold paper.
“I didn’t want you to feel out of place,” said her ladyship, smiling. “So I took the liberty of guessing your size and having this made this morning.”
Domina Uggeri was very good at guessing sizes, apparently, because the dress fit perfectly. It was a kind of Thessalian robe of silvery-white silk, high-waisted, with a little belt of gold medallions. The short sleeves and the hem were lined with silver and pale blue embroidery. Because of the way it wrapped around her body, like a dressing gown, if she turned quickly to her left, the lower portion of the skirt flew open, revealing her legs almost up to her knees.
“I suppose I’ll have to remember not to turn like that,” said Elwyn, giggling and red-faced.
“You will be wearing a long shift under it, of course,” said Lady Bianca.
“Will she?” said Domina Uggeri. “It would spoil the lines somewhat.”
Lady Bianca pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “It is a rather chilly evening, Domina Uggeri.”
Elwyn took another look at herself in the mirror, and her face went even redder. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “Yes, a shift would be best. And possibly a shawl, too.”
Domina Uggeri smiled indulgently. “Whatever makes you comfortable, dear.”
Once Elwyn was appropriately dressed, and Lady Bianca was ready, as well, they took Domina Uggeri’s carriage up the Via Spina to the Fora Antiqua, where crowds of revelers were already gathering around bonfires and the stalls of street merchants. Elwyn could smell cider and fried sausages and candied fruit, and the scents reminded her of lazy winter evenings by the fire with her father, after the two of them had been out hunting together.
Before she could get too comfortable, however, their carriage entered a long line that snaked up and around to the grand portico and front steps of the palace.
“Now, once we’re inside,” said Domina Uggeri, “I’m afraid we’ll have a rather tedious little duty to perform.”
“What’s that?” asked Elwyn, suddenly nervous.
“I’ll have to introduce you to Emperor Lucius,” sighed her ladyship.
“Oh, yes. Of course,” said Elwyn. She had always assumed she would be introduced to his imperial majesty, sooner or later. After all, Lucius was a friend of Myrcia, and a close ally of Elwyn’s father in the ongoing war against Loshadnarod.
Domina Uggeri went on. “Just remember not to take anything he says very seriously.”
Lady Bianca looked alarmed. “Why? What is his majesty likely to—”
“Oh, look. Here we are,” beamed Domina Uggeri. “Mind the step as we climb down. And then mind the steps as we go up.”
In moments, they were climbing up the wide, marble steps, joining a crowd of people funneling toward the front doors between two rows of Imperial Guardsmen in black and purple uniforms and silver armor.
Once they reache
Domina Uggeri disappeared for a moment and returned with a servant who had three small glasses of whiskey on a silver tray.
“Be sure to drink this slowly,” advised Lady Bianca, as she passed one of the glasses to Elwyn.
“No, you’d better drink it all at once,” said Domina Uggeri. “Trust me; it’ll make your audience with the emperor much more tolerable.”
Faced with conflicting advice, Elwyn compromised—she drank the whiskey in four small gulps. It burned her throat and made her shudder, and she decided it would have been better to take it all at once, like Domina Uggeri had suggested.
Her ladyship led Elwyn and Bianca to a wide arch, then down a hall lined with gilded armor and huge murals of naval battles to a reception room with gold pillars and purple silk curtains. Through a crowd of officers and elderly ladies, Elwyn caught sight of an old, balding man in a pure white admiral’s uniform and a gold-handled gladius, sitting on a gilded throne with purple cushions.
When they reached the front of this line, they all curtsied, and Domina Uggeri presented Elwyn to Lucius Salvius Paulinius, Imperator of the Immani, Consul of the Senate, Pontifex Maximus, Tribune of the something-or-other, and all the other titles that Lady Bianca had made Elwyn memorize once back at Atherton.
“So you’re Edgar Sigor’s daughter, then?” said Emperor Lucius.
“Indeed, your majesty,” said Elwyn, curtsying again. “I have that honor.”
“I’m not sure it’s much of an honor.” The emperor smirked. “At least you didn’t inherit his looks.”
Stunned, Elwyn stammered out, “Um...yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. Um....”
“Her royal highness is a scholar of Atherton,” said Domina Uggeri. “She is also renowned for her feats as a huntress.”
“Do you mean she shoots animals,” growled the emperor, “or is that supposed to be a clever way of saying she’s a slut?”
To her right, Elwyn heard Lady Bianca gasp.
“I hunt, your majesty,” said Elwyn firmly. “I hunt deer and elk and wild boar. The last boar I shot, I brought down with a single arrow from ten yards while he was charging me and my father’s master of hounds.”
The emperor nodded, seemingly impressed. “Good for you. That’s considerably more than most of the idiots around here can do—both men and women. If I were twenty years younger, I might ask you to be my empress.”
“I...um...thank you?” said Elwyn, losing her composure again.
“Or perhaps not,” sighed Emperor Lucius. “You’re a bit flat-chested for my tastes. Anyway, welcome to my court and Happy Solstice.”
“Well!” gasped Lady Bianca, as they headed out of the reception room and back toward the main party again. “Well, I never! His majesty is not...well, I hesitate to say anything insulting about one of Myrcia’s dearest allies, but—”
“He’s a pig,” said Domina Uggeri. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I won’t tell you what he said to me the first time we met. It would make you faint.”
She caught Elwyn’s eyes and winked. Elwyn let out the breath she was holding and laughed from sheer relief.
Domina Uggeri introduced her to several handsome young patrician gentlemen who were all excellent dancers. When Elwyn tried to take them aside and practice her Modern Immani conversations skills with them, however, Lady Bianca inevitably appeared out of nowhere, demanding to be introduced and glaring at the men like a hawk regarding fieldmice.
She had never acted that way toward the boys at Atherton, so Elwyn was a little confused. But when Elwyn asked about this, Lady Bianca said, “Those were good Ivich Myrcian boys, my dear girl. Standards in the Empire are somewhat different.”
Lady Bianca was considerably relieved when Domina Uggeri brought over two of her old friends, Sir Presley Kemp and Professor Grigory Sobol. Elwyn actually knew Sir Presley, who had once served her father at court. Professor Sobol had been a Loshadnarodski government minister, but had escaped with the help of Elwyn’s cousin, Sir Robert Tynsdale, in order to join Sir Presley, the love of his life, in exile in the Empire. Elwyn knew her father missed Sir Presley a great deal, so she passed along his good wishes, and Sir Presley, in turn, asked after all sorts of people he knew from court.
Elwyn enjoyed seeing Sir Presley and Sobol, but talking with them gave her the same sense of slight discomfort she had when talking about the Myrcian court with Domina Uggeri. They all talked about Elwyn’s stepmother as if she were the most wonderful person ever. Sir Presley called her “an angel.” Professor Sobol said she was, “A true and loyal friend.” Domina Uggeri had several times said that Queen Rohesia was, “The sweetest little thing ever.”
In Elwyn’s experience, Rohesia was neither sweet, nor loyal, nor particularly angelic. She was, in fact, something of a boil on the backside of Elwyn’s comfortable life. But Elwyn was willing to forgive these people for their mistaken ideas about the queen. After all, they didn’t have to live with her.
Elwyn danced with both Sir Presley and the professor twice. After her second dance with Sir Presley—a Brigantian Galliard—they were headed toward the drinks table, when suddenly she found herself separated from him. She looked around and saw that Domina Uggeri, Professor Sobol, and Lady Bianca had left their little corner by the potted ferns, as well.
She was wondering what to do, when suddenly a tall, handsome man with tan skin and wavy black hair glided up beside her. He had on a jet black tunic with some sort of purple embroidery that suggested he was either a government official, or perhaps simply enjoyed looking like one.
“Has anyone told you that you’re the loveliest girl at this party?” he said, handing her a glass of ice-cold Argitis.
“Not yet,” she said.
He laughed as if she had said something witty. “I don’t know if you remember me, your royal highness, but I was at your parents’ wedding six years ago.”
She didn’t like his tone of oily familiarity. “Then you were not at my parents’ wedding, sir. You were at the wedding of my father to my stepmother.”
“Quite so, quite so.” He bowed. “Tullius Ursicanus at your service.”
Elwyn felt like an idiot. She ought to have recognized the man. He was another of her stepmother’s old friends from her days as an ambassador’s daughter living in the Empire. His father had been the emperor before Lucius.
“My friend Vita has rather monopolized you all evening,” he went on. “I was wondering if you might like to join me and some friends on a yacht for a little party after this party.”
“Ah...um, well....” Elwyn looked around her again. She saw only crowds of people she didn’t know. “I think Lady Bianca would want me to—”
“Your governess is naturally also invited.” Prince Tullius winked. “Unless you would prefer that she not be, of course. I believe Vita told me that you are now legally of age. So, if you wish, I could find some young gentlemen—or young ladies—who would be more than happy to give you a proper Immani welcome to Presidium.”
“I...already feel quite welcome, your highness. But thank you.”
“Are you planning to stay long in Presidium?”
“Only for a few weeks. We wanted to go to Vinopolis next before we head home to Myrcia.”
“Ah, Thessalia. I could arrange for someone to give you a proper Thessalian welcome, too.”
Before Elwyn could think how to respond to this offer, Domina Uggeri and Lady Bianca arrived.
“There you are,” said Domina Uggeri. “Tullius, please tell me you haven’t been scandalizing our dear girl.”
“I haven’t said anything scandalous at all,” laughed Tullius. “I was simply about to suggest that there’s no reason for her royal highness to be in such a hurry to leave our fair Empire. She could stay with you, Vita. You could take her to Vinopolis this summer. In the autumn, you could take her to Albus Magnus and all around the north.”
