8

Mabel

Things turned a corner after Ian rescued the six priests from the temple with Andre's lead. They had been abused horribly, but they were amazing and so helpful. They worked with me and trained me on so much that I felt like I knew what I was doing finally.

And yes, they confirmed I was a saint. Really and truly now. I fit all of the parameters. The king was thrilled to know that and even how things turned out at the temple in the capital. There were plans to rescue more priests and have them help me if they wanted to. It gave me hope.

Especially after we healed Andre's leg. It took work after I was trained, but after two hour-long sessions of intense healing, his knee was almost fully rehabilitated to be like his other one. I was not sure if Ian or I cried more.

Or maybe Andre. But it meant so, so much.

Plus, Violetta sort of apologized in my dream that she had put too much pressure on me. She took my behavior as being dismissive of her. There hadn't been anything I could do yet so—the goddess was too demanding. At least I hoped she backed off now.

Hopefully.

In the three weeks since I'd been working with the priests, a lot had changed. They were now employees of my company and each one had a product they mostly handled, and they enjoyed their lives. We could make more product, and immediately there was a trade agreement with King Alkian for several products since he was helping with the flowers.

Transformative stores had opened in Ian's territory and a few more that were well-trusted with the same sales plan in place. And they were going well.

Also, the noble I'd promised to help who was friends with the queen, Duchess Lisa Woods, had proof her husband was trying to take out loans in her name, had a mistress who was pregnant… And a whole list of other crimes against him. So her divorce was pretty well secured. She was ready to throw herself at the mercy of the king to get a better marriage.

And listened to me to even offer the chance to marry a noble from another country to broker some peace. That had shocked her, but I even brought up Telrai. Let them try and woo her if the kings could keep their heads. Why not? If the nobles in our country were going to be such greedy fools, let the ones from other countries who could not take over get a chance to win her?

I hear it's going well, and the prospect of helping bring peace is way better than caring about one divorce. Wonderful.

And this time the king and Ian promised to check the man is actually worth of the duchess. I will as well since the priests have taught me a lot about my holy power.

But while there was a lot of good going on, unfortunately there had to be some bad that came with it. I could not heal myself just yet since there was posturing between leaders, and undoubtedly more would want to have healers look at me.

There had been more threats of war and crazy. Listening to it all hurt my head, and I actually made a snarky comment to the king that he really had been a dolt for wanting to out me.

He'd actually agreed with me which was surprising, but both Ian and Andre were impressed with the confidence and backbone I had found. Part of it was the confirmation that I was the saint, but mostly it was the longer I lived without being abused. It had been so many months and what felt almost like a lifetime ago since I'd lived with David.

And tonight, I was at another dinner with kings and queens all fighting over me.

Yes, so being kept prisoner by my abusive count husband truly was a lifetime ago in many ways.

Unfortunately, the dinner was so much worse than the last one that I could not even hide my disgust. Most of them were there because they threatened war if I did not meet them. Now they were demanding I visit and trying to fight over how many months I spent in their country out of the year… Like I was property.

They all thought the king was forcing me to stay in Areca and it was his will that I did not travel and be famous. That I was not being lavished with attention and treasured.

Like they were treasuring me? They hadn't so much as listened to a word I'd said. They completely ignored me and steamrolled me.

Way worse than Ian ever had.

And I'd never seen Ian so angry before. His face was bright red as he shouted at a few of them. The king as well. It was… "Disaster" was not strong enough of a word.

I finally got fed up and left. No one even noticed. I could not even stomach the fighting between the seven "leaders" and left. Why should I even have to be there when no one would listen to me?

To feel that horrible and endure that? No, thank you.

I went back to the receiving room and sat down, thanking the maid who offered me cold water, clearly understanding things hadn't gone well. It was about ten minutes when the queen came through the door and looked like she'd had too much as well… Except it was not my queen.

It was one of the other queens.

We could not hide our shock seeing the other but then realized we were in the same boat.

"I apologize for how my husband is behaving," she whispered. "Truly. I do not… This is so unlike him that I am humiliated that he could treat another woman this way. Please understand that this is not our country."

I blinked back tears as I looked away. "This is how it keeps being for me, Your Majesty, so it's hard to believe. I believe you, but… This—I hate being the saint."

"Oh, you poor child," she murmured, coming over and sitting by me. She held my hand and comforted me.

Not two minutes later, another queen came bursting through the doors looking just as fed up. She could not hide her surprise but then sighed. "I had no idea where else to go. It makes sense you did not either."

"Why are they all acting such fools?" I sighed.

"Fear," she admitted. "My husband is terrified that this will lead to war with the Holy Empire and Areca will become more powerful and crush us because of you."

I snickered. "King Gerald does not want that. Truly. That man—all he wants is peace. He's… These fools."

Queen Louisa came in before I could even invite that queen to sit and looked near tears. She had about the same reaction and then sighed.

The rest of the queens came in the same way, and that was how seven queens and one saint were in the receiving room while the men acted like idiots in the other room.

"I wonder how many issues we could calmly and rationally solve without their tempers while being called the emotional sex?" I speculated, glad when the queens all looked just as amused and annoyed as I felt.

Ian came through the doors and looked relieved when he saw me sitting there. "Yes, I noticed you left. I noticed when you left. I was mid-yelling and—"

"I know," I whispered. "You were fighting for me. I just could not take the fighting anymore." I wiped my eyes and sipped my water. "This is so ridiculous, Ian."

"Yes, and unfortunately, it got worse. They tossed me out because two royals from the same country were not fair for the negotiations," he told me gently, hurrying over when I started crying. "Please, please do not give up, lovely. I know it's horrible and—"

"They cannot see past you being unwed and as a prize to be had," one of the queens grumbled. "They all want you to marry into their nation, and the threat you would is making them all lose their heads. It's disgusting, and I include my own husband in that."

I agreed. That was basically what I heard as well.

"I am sorry, Mabel," Ian whispered as he knelt in front of me. "But there are other nations making threats as well that have not even come here yet. The Holy Empire is circling still. I cannot see how this gets better." He took the glass from me and set it down before taking my hand. "Mabel, I love you. I know it's too soon, but please, please let me protect you."

Several people gasped, and that made me realize what he was saying.

And unfortunately, I had the worst possible reaction… More tears formed.

He nodded. "I know. I know this is not what you wanted, and I know I steamroll you, but not this time. I know I have even used situations to my advantage, but that was to see you, spend time with you. I would never use this to my advantage."

"It's the smartest play to keep you safe in the life you want if he's the one you love and trust," the queen who'd come in first admitted, meeting my gaze. "I love my husband, but this is—they are all going crazy. You are untethered and for the taking in their minds, your citizenship be damned, and only a foolish young woman."

"And I hate them all for seeing you that way, even my own husband," a different queen admitted. "I hate not realizing how he has seen me all of these years. I hate the world we live in." She sounded destroyed, clearly not having been involved with as much of the politics as tonight or maybe newly married to her husband.

"We will figure out a way, Mabel," Ian said quietly. "I will never trap you. I will never hurt you like David did. You know this. You know I truly love you. I will never force you to do anything. We will be partners just as we have been. Please? I need you, and they want to take you away. I do not know how else to keep you here when they are all losing their heads."

I nodded, seeing the same ending he did. I tried to wipe my tears away, but they kept coming. "I am sorry, Ian. You deserve so much better than someone sobbing in grief when you propose. I love you. Know it's not because I doubt your love or I do not love you. I do. I simply want to be free. I was finally free. I was a true adult citizen being divorced.

"I had all the rights a man did. I was my own person. I give all of that up when I marry you. I become your property. I become yours. I lose being mine. I just wanted to be mine. Why is that so wrong? Why is that so dangerous to men? Why can I not have that? Why do I have to be owned by a man? Why can I not just be loved and my own?"

I broke down crying but nodded that I agreed. I did not see another choice even if it broke my heart. All I saw was war or another abduction or… Someone would die. Someone else. Those royal guards had died because of High Priest Kiernan and his crazy.

Even with marrying Ian, someone still could, and they'd still come for me.

"You cannot say that, Mabel," Ian choked out, hugging me to him. "Never say that again. Please? You will destroy my heart. I cannot—please, we will have a life. I swear it to you. I will make you happy and—do not give up yet, lovely. Do not leave me. Please, I need you. This world needs you."

I did not know what I had said in my crying that upset him so much. He was half sitting on the sofa with me on his lap clutching him. I raised my head to ask him, but I met the gaze of the king and saw he was crying… And he was not the only one. A few of the other kings had tears in their eyes or were clearly affected by what I'd said.

I looked to the left and met the queen's gaze, not hiding my confusion.

She cleared her throat. "You said you wish you were not the saint and Violetta had let your husband kill you instead of letting you be free for such a short time to only be owned by another man so quickly. It was too cruel to tease you with being free to crush you with the life of being a saint, and you wish you were never born."

Unfortunately, I could not tell any of them that I did not mean it.

And they knew it. When I looked away and tried to move off of Ian's lap, every leader in that room knew that I wished I was not the saint and… The rest.

"You agree? Let them hear you say it, lovely," Ian whispered, his voice cracking, sounding destroyed.

I grabbed his arm and waited until he looked at me. "I love you; I do. I love living with you. I did not think I would, but I do. We have had such a nice time and it's so comfortable. It's lovely seeing you at breakfast and—I love it so much more than my house." I nodded when he could not hide his shock. "I am grateful and would have loved that to be our life.

"I would have been your partner and lived with my love, that having been our happiness. You are an amazing partner. You are. You are kind and patient and my perfect knight in shining armor. Truly. You have done nothing, and I love you." I let out a shaky breath. "You do not have to give you up your freedom to marry me. It's just not fair I have to do it to love you, marry you."

"I know," he rasped. "But please do it anyways."

I swallowed loudly and blinked back tears. "Yes, I will marry you, Ian Brooker."

"Thank you, lovely," he breathed, giving me a soft kiss. "I will protect you."

I nodded, too beaten up to try and have any faith or hope. He moved back towards the kings and seemed ready to go another round with them.

But the queen was already there and ready to strike first. She met the king's gaze.

"I hate you in this moment that this is the kingdom I am the queen of. This is not the kingdom I want to be the queen of where a woman has to give up her freedom to marry and become property. If you loved me, you would not let it be that way. Why have you not protected me better? The same is true of me, and you are the one person who can change that."

And she was not the only queen who said something similar or had words for their husband for the way they'd behaved.

"I would like to finish my dinner," the queen said. "Mabel, you need to eat and calm down. The emotional women will go have our dinner and discuss the situation while you rational men sit here and have a time-out like children need. Ladies, I hope you agree and will join me."

A coup happened that night, and I was fairly sure all the kings knew they needed to listen or they would not like what happened next with their wives. I was shocked that it happened over me… Or really, it was how their husbands had behaved.

We finally got to eat something, and after the first course, Queen Louisa let out a long breath. "We do need to discuss matters. We cannot let the arguments and threats stand." She gave me a worried look. "Are you up for it?"

A different queen gave an elegant snort. "I absolutely believed we were coming here to lavish praise on the newfound saint and ask her about these issues. Apparently, I was a fool."

I met Queen Louisa's gaze and nodded. Then I had a better thought. "The kings need to eat. I say we allow it as long as they keep their mouths shut and see how easy this could all have been. How calm and efficient women are on such matters. The women who cannot have freedom and are all property."

I felt much, much better when they all agreed and had the same evil smiles and simmering anger in their eyes.

Queen Louisa asked a servant to bring the kings and Ian and another to serve the next course but have half of the plates brought to the far side of the long table with settings put out there for the kings. Lovely.

Really. They deserved it, the fools.

"Before any of you open your mouths, know that divorce is on the table for several of you," Queen Louisa warned them. She met the gaze of her husband's making it clear he was one of them.

"I was thinking of asking the saint if I could become her handmaiden as that seemed a much more respected position than queen after I saw how my husband feels about lowly women," another queen added, several saying something similar.

Most of the kings went from miffed at their time-out to practically pale. No matter their status or ego, it would be a huge mess for them if their queens did not return home with them or tried to divorce them.

"So you will sit and eat and remain silent," Queen Louisa said firmly. "You had your chance to speak and ignored your partners. Now you will be ignored and treated as lesser which apparently you all feel acceptable to do in marriage."

"If you sit and dine, you accept our terms. Otherwise, leave and go back home alone," Queen Christina seethed. She was married to King Alkian of Canter and our ally, so that was a huge threat.

"Yes, my love," he whispered, being the first to cave and sit. He dipped his head to me. "I apologize for my behavior, Countess. I will again and again. Please accept this as the first step in acknowledging my insane behavior."

King Gerald was next, and from there, they all agreed, not giving quite as nice of apologies, but agreeing.

Which left poor Ian.

I looked at the butler. "The grand duke will be sitting next to me, please. He will bear the sins of his sex and be quiet, but he's not being banished to the other side of the table when he did not behave insanely."

The man managed to keep a straight face. "Yes, My Lady."

"Glad we settled that," Queen Louisa accepted. "Now, I agree with what was said, and I thought this was a gathering for them to meet you and rejoice in finding a saint. For all the talk of you traveling the world and being lavished with praise and your name chanted, it was started off by treating you horribly."

"Meaning you will not travel, and trust you will be treated well," Queen Christina wisely surmised. "And I do not blame you. Traveling is ghastly, and Alkian said you have important work. The goddess is trying to help you stop a possible plague that you have no idea where it will begin—your work is here. You are the only saint."

"Forgive the phrasing, but it boils down to what you can all get from me," I said bluntly, giving a half shrug when they were all amused. "And what wins can you take back to look good to your people as leaders so you did not seem weak in front of your idiot nobles. The politics. But also, what does Areca get out of it?"

"You understand it well," a different queen praised.

"Yes, but I hate all of it, and it hurts my head," I sighed. "And there is a lot of history between the nations I am not current on, and I absolutely will not sidestep. I cannot ignore threats to King Gerald and horrible behavior just because I am the saint."

"Agreed," Queen Christina said firmly. "The questions I did want answered are what are you willing to give, where is your line, and where do you think is the best place to start? You are the only saint. You have the direct connection to the goddess. So all of the penises over there are useless, and you are the one who should do all of the talking."

I was not surprised when several people were gobsmacked by what she said.

And I did not disagree at all.

"Well, if I was empress of our world or something, I would focus on the Holy Empire and the temples. It seems to be the one area we can all agree is an issue, problem, and where the corruption is out of hand," I said honestly. "And no matter our prior problems, it's a starting point for us to try and work together. Plus, there's been no way to breach the power of the pope."

"Except even his own teachings put you above him," Queen Louisa muttered. "And yet he ordered you to come turn yourself over like property and was going to force you to marry him, rape you, and make you have his children."

"Exactly. That is the leverage to say he's lost his mind and the Holy Empire cannot go unchecked anymore." I glanced at her and was glad when she nodded. Over the next two courses, I told the queens what Ian had found when he went to the temple to get Petee and his friends out.

They took it all in stride, asking a few questions of Ian even, so we let him speak. A few of the kings tried to interject but quickly went back to their punishment when their wives made it clear they were being stupid.

"People will say you want to take over the temples, have them answer to you," one of the queens pointed out, smiling when I snorted.

"It's all a scam," I sighed. "They get donations from our countries and feed them back to the Holy Empire. Cut off the funding. Make the temples like any other nonprofit in the country. They are citizens of our country. Make a Minister of Religion who has holy power but…" I sighed again. "People will not be happy, but I think it should be a commoner."

"The temples are supposed to help the poor and hungry, those who cannot afford it," Queen Christina agreed. "But the point is someone with holy power. An honorary title could be given for a noble, but placing a high priest as minister should be more important. I do agree. It's balance. And you are correct on the funding."

"It's all very smart in theory. How would you handle it now?" a different queen asked, motioning for me to keep focused on her when I went to glance away. "Ignore the men. Even your grand duke. Or your queen. I ask in theory. Not as the stance of Areca. As the saint, how would the goddess want us to handle it?"

I tried to swallow a snort but failed. "The goddess does not give that much instruction. She is a bit harsh and impatient. She simply wanted it all done and handled when I was a child. She thought I would just announce myself and it would all be done, not the reality of the world or being human."

Ian cleared his throat, even going so far as to raise his hand. A few of the queens chuckled and nodded. "She is too harsh on you, lovely, but she's helped when you have asked her for help. Like the ink. Like other things. I think this is her saying she trusts you to manage it as her human on this planet. So how would you do it and ask for her help."

I beamed at him, thinking that smart, before looking back to the queen. "Then I would clean out the temples. Tons of priests came to the capital to demand I be turned over to the Holy Empire. Good, round them up and let me meet them all. Ask the goddess to separate those worthy of her and the others… They want to be on the side of the Holy Empire?

"Then they can live there. Revoke their citizenship to Areca. They are not acting like our citizens. Spying on our people and taking money from us to send to another country. Enough. Take the money and let the temples stay open for prayer with the true priests loyal to the goddess. Hire help who will facilitate worship and healings.

"There should be food services for the hungry. Healings. Those with holy power should have options. Those priests wanted to work for me. Or let them be priests in good temples. Or work at hospitals as healers. That is what the Minister of Religion should manage. Or Minister of Holy Power to make sure those with holy power are never locked in a basement again.

"But no one said people cannot pray or the temple will be closed down. Kick out the Holy Empire's influence, and we can because I have been confirmed as the saint, higher than the pope. Will it be popular to start? No, but if all of his funding gets cut off from our countries through the donations… What will he do? War with no army? Holy power with no offensive skills?"

"We would need you to confirm our priests and shake up our temples," one of the queens worried.

"And would that not require trust?" I pushed. "No more talk of war? Your soldiers would have to escort them, and they could protect trade back. And I do not just mean with me, but I suppose that is what you want to start. None of that could happen if I am traveling all of the time. That is ridiculous. I work constantly to make the medicines."

"I was hoping we could start with the ink," the Queen of Telrai admitted. "It's benign, but it's something. It would be a huge win to help our police like I have heard it has yours. Yes, I want the medicines for my mother-in-law to stop constantly complaining. But the ink would… No one could abuse the ink or try to accuse you of anything later."

"Which is our main concern as well," Queen Louisa said, glancing at Ian. "The ink company is yours. Could you ramp up production? Assuming Mabel could get help from priests we free or… Is it possible?"

"Yes," we both answered.

"I can more than ramp up production and double or triple it before fall," Ian confirmed.

"I could as well," I said firmly. "It takes next to no holy power, and what I need to add is easily available if I had help gathering it."

One by one, all of the queens looked at the kings with smirks. Just like that, they had settled something easily and had a win to take back for people to see and a path to get a lot handled.

And all they had done was piss each other off and throw out threats.

Fools.