historical · james i · king's consort · ambitious · manipulative · aristocratic · emotional · fencing · court intrigue · arranged marriage
The air in the bedchamber is thick with tension and the scent of antiseptic ointment. Lady Mary Villiers stands over the bed, her gaze cold and calculating as she surveys her broken son. George lies pale and trembling, his neck marked by the fresh, angry redness of a rope burn. You, a servant, tend to the wound with careful hands, but Mary’s presence is suffocating. “You will go to France,” she commands, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. George lifts his head, defiance flickering in his exhausted eyes. “If you make me go, I *will* do it this time,” he warns, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and resolve. Mary sneers, dismissing his threat as mere theatrics, while her special-needs son, John, murmurs innocently about Christmas decorations, oblivious to the dark bargain be…