Chapter 33

The following day, Marion woke up terrified and alone. It had been a long night because she had almost constant nightmares. Images of Gabriella on fire and Luke gutted and hanging from a tree filled her head. Also, images of Pollyanna giving birth and her infant split open on a pike while still attached by the umbilical cord and Mackenzie being tossed into a pig pen to be eaten alive flew around her head. All this while she was tied to a stake, unable to do anything to stop any of this. Her cries just garnished cheers from the crowd Cecilia was leading. Marion begged and pleaded to be killed, but nobody would take the time to kill her and put her out of her misery. Marion had woken up screaming on more than one occasion during the night, only to realize she was safe in her bed and Luke’s strong arms were wrapped around her. Finally, she woke up for the day and realized she had been sweating all night; she was very tacky, and the sheets were soaked.

Looking out the window, Marion figured it was almost ten in the morning. ‘Shit,’ she thought; she had a lot of work to do today. Marion managed to drag her feet out of bed and sit upright. Her head was pounding; she felt hot and weak. This was the worst she had felt since she had gotten extremely sick when she was young. It took her almost five minutes to crawl out of bed and reach where Luke had installed a water faucet. He claimed that eventually, he would have hot and cold water available, but it was only cold water for now.

He got the water to the rooftop water tanks by using the steam engine he used to power his shop. This way, the entire castle would have access to running water, and he would only need to pump the water up there once a day, usually in the evening. Luke had even hooked these water tanks into a primitive fire suppression system for the castle. He was still working on making enough flushing toilets for everyone, but there was enough to manage, and nobody had to use chamber pots anymore. As the plumbing came online, the seasonal diseases that usually appeared yearly were absent this year in locals where the sanitation system had been upgraded.

Marion threw water in her face in an attempt to wake herself up. It took some time, but the cold water and the sunlight started working magic on her. After she had washed her face, she went over to the window, where she let the warm sunlight drench her nude body. As she slowly moved around, her hair began to flow again and caught the morning light, sending golden rays through the room. The sun’s warmth felt so good on her skin that she almost fell asleep standing up. The heat also helped to loosen up her stiff muscles. After twenty minutes of standing in the sun, she felt good enough to get dressed and get some work done.

Today’s first order of business was to find out everything about the turncoat guard. Marion walked into her office to find Gabriella and Luke hard at work.

As she came through the door, Luke said without looking up:

“You don’t need to worry about that turncoat guard anymore. We had him executed this morning after we pumped him for information. He was just a greedy bastard who also didn’t like you having such a close relationship with Gabby or me. He still thought Cecilia should be the ruler because “she was born first, so it was her right.”

At this, Luke scoffed and refocused on the paperwork before him. He had already gone through all of his paperwork for that morning. Since the army’s main body was on their way back home, they didn’t make an overwhelming amount of work for him.

In the meantime, Gabriella was going through the intelligence reports from their spies that they had all over England. It was always amazing how easy it was to gather intel. Nobles never noticed the servants in the room; that was where Marion’s intelligence service struck. In her castle, servants were never in the room when sensitive items were discussed. Some rooms were strictly off-limits to all but a few handpicked servants. Marion’s office was one of those; her briefing room was another. Luke had banned almost everyone from his workshop because some of the stuff he had in there would be deadly if mishandled. However, he would head to the nearby military base whenever he handled explosives. Right now, the only threat to them was from the area around Sheffield, and once the army had returned in a couple of days, that threat would diminish greatly. They knew that nobles in the area had teamed up and rapidly built a large army to take on Marion.

After Marion had been filled in on everything, she nodded and went off to check on Pollyanna. She was in better spirits this morning because she felt pretty good for once, so she could get some work done. Marion stayed and talked with Pollyanna until it was lunchtime.

After lunch, Marion, Gabriella, and Luke toured the town to see what was happening. This took much longer than it used to because the city was so busy. It seemed like someone was trying to sell something on every street corner. The whole place was now more like one big market. All these sights and sounds made Marion smile. Not only was the town more alive now, but her tax coffers would swell with all this commerce. Most people barely recognized them because there were so many new people in town, and most had only heard the vaguest descriptions. Marion could be standing before them, and they wouldn’t know it. Before they went back for the evening, they bought stuff for dinner. After dinner, Luke continued to work on Alice’s new tools and the solar water heaters he had been tinkering with.

Life for Marion continued much in this same way for the next week. At least her nightmares were calming down, and she could get through the night without screaming. Her army made it back safe and sound, and she gave most of them a week’s leave so that they could visit with their families or relax. Many of the soldiers also had a lot of loot from this expedition and were eager to spend it. Some got drunk, some used it to pay off debts, some bought a piece of land for themselves, and still, others considered starting a family.

Speaking of family, Marion had also made sure to spend time with her small family. She enjoyed watching Luke play with their daughter, and after some warming up, Marion also enjoyed playing. Luke had even moved their daughter into their chambers so they could help take care of her. Marion was confused but figured it was important to Luke, so she didn’t complain too much. This was something that no high-ranking family would do, but Marion had to remind herself that Luke came from a time and place that didn’t have nobility. Not only that, but Luke was also a family man who would do anything to protect them.

During the last week of May, the noble who had proposed through his brother, Osgar of Dore, made it to York and was amazed at how much wealth had found its way into the city. Marion wasn’t even bothering to rebuild the walls; she had decreed the town would grow in that direction first. This would give her time to have the rest of the walls demolished. First, some of Pollyanna’s engineers would lay out the new section of town. Then, crews would start excavating for the sewer and water system. The crews could work fast since there was no such thing as environmental reviews. After the underground infrastructure had been put in place, the roads would be put on top, and then the buildings could be built.

The two nobles and their entourage managed to get themselves lost because the city was changing so rapidly. They also had a run-in with York’s new city police force. The group had been stopped by someone directing traffic away from a construction area, and the nobles took offense since they didn’t like a commoner telling them what to do. The commoner fought back against the nobles, attracting the attention of a pair of passing officers. The officers listened to both sides of the story before giving the nobles two options: apologize to the commoner or spend the night in jail. The nobles attempted to make themselves a third option, but this was slammed shut when the officers laid them out on the pavement.

This was par for the course because all the officers had been through the new police academy that Marion had opened. There, the recruits were taught how to de-escalate a situation and, if that failed, use force. All the officers were issued a baton, two pairs of cuffs, and a snub nose pistol. The nobles then apologized and were on their way with proper directions this time.

At the castle gates, the nobles were forced to disarm. It was here that they learned of the assassination attempt, and Marion was done with taking chances. Once in the castle, they were further amazed since it seemed like every square centimeter was having work done to it. The nobles watched as copper pipes were put in for fresh water and iron pipes to haul away waste. Plate glass windows were also being put in. This was something else that Luke had introduced.

Windows had existed before but were handmade, inconsistent, and expensive. That inconsistency offended Luke’s engineering soul, so he started doing something about it. One of the results was the windows. He knew the general window-making process from watching videos while still in Alaska. One of his favorite things was watching “How It’s Made.” It only took Luke a couple of weeks of experimenting to get the window-making process right. The most expensive part was buying the tin to float the liquid glass on.

Once they had managed to make their way to the great hall where most nobles did business and Marion had spoken with the brother, Uhtric of Dore, they learned Marion conducted her business from an office down the hall. When the nobles stepped through the office door, workers almost ran over them. Men and women were going in every direction carrying reports and other papers, and many more people were working from the desk filling out reports. They were escorted to the back of the room, where a large door met them with two very fearsome-looking guards on it, and never mind that one of the guards was a beautiful woman. After the nobles explained their business, the female guard opened the door and stuck her head in. The nobles were just able to hear the guard announce their presence. The guard told them to enter, but the entourage had to stay outside and was directed to a comfortable lounge where they could wait.

All through this, the nobles were having a hard time containing themselves because most of the women working showed much more skin than they were used to seeing outside of a whorehouse. Osgar’s composer was almost wholly undone when he saw Marion and Gabriella for the first time. Uhtric had warned him, but he didn’t quite believe him. Seeing Marion for the first time, Osgar could see Uhtric didn’t exaggerate and, if anything, wasn’t kind enough toward the ladies’ beauty. It didn’t help either of them that the way Gabriella was bent over, the men could see right down the blouse she was wearing and watch her perky breasts jiggle as she moved. In the meantime, Marion was busy with some paperwork and hadn’t even looked up yet.

“Why don’t the two of you have a seat?” she pointed to a couple of chairs. “I will be with you in a minute.”

Marion finished what she was working on and looked up. Osgar had to catch his breath because Marion was breathtaking, with shimmering blue eyes, golden hair, light tan, and bright red lips. The shirt she wore hugged her curves nicely and showed off some of her cleavage, while the necklace she wore matched the color of her eyes.

“What can I help you two gentlemen with today?” Marion asked. Looking at the younger brother, “Uhtric of Dore? Correct?”

“Aye, ma’am.”

“What is your brother’s name again? I apologize for forgetting, but I have been very busy.”

“Osgar of Dore.” Gabriella then left the room with a stack of papers and gently closed the door. “We have come back to discuss my wedding proposal with you.”

“Ah,” Marion said as she leaned back in her chair. “And what exactly are you proposing again? Sorry, but I have had a hectic week.”

“That is quite alright, lass. I am proposing you marry me. After the wedding, your lands will be under my protection, and I assure you, they will be quite safe because I have the most powerful army in the midlands at my disposal.”

“What will happen to my people if I marry you?”

“They would also be under my protection.”

“I see.” The brothers were quite happy with themselves; they figured Marion was about to give in. “So, what would happen if I refuse to marry you?”

“My army will invade and lay waste to everything before it.”

“I see,” Marion said without emotion. “So you are trying to extort my hand in marriage?”

“No, not at all, milady. I want to see the people of this province under solid leadership so that they are not tempted to stray.”