Quoted By:
"I-I-I-If I'd known how much you'd..." The shorter Gil squeezes the railing, shuts his eyes. "I-It's mutually beneficial, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I-I-If it goes well, we're all better off."
"Okay. Then I think that this is an unorthodox way of going about it, but it's not intrinsically morally wrong, and it doesn't make you a bad person. So go on."
The shorter Gil doesn't move.
"I'll be right behind you."
The shorter Gil sighs, adjusts his grip, and pushes himself out of the pool, splashing chemical water onto the deck and onto your ankles. You blink. "Whuh— Gil?"
"Oh. Hi, uh, Lottie." Gil drips. His flesh is goose-pimply.
"You're wet."
"...I was swimming. Um... oh, thank god." He catches a towel thrown by taller— by goggles— by Teddy. You really did not need to see Teddy in swim shorts, but here you are. Gil wraps the towel around his torso. "Okay. Um, here's Teddy. He was also swimming."
You nod curtly. You really did not need to see Teddy at all. You don't know why he's here, interrupting your reading, hogging your time with your retainer, reading his mind, allegedly, like he knows Gil better than you could. You always thought he looked smug, Teddy. From the moment you saw him, you never liked him. "<span class="mu-i">Why?</span>"
"Because he... he was? Is that a bad thing?"
"I ordered him thrown in the snake pit, Gilbert. Is he in the snake pit?"
"What?"
You extend a royal finger. The pool, if it ever was a pool, is brimming with thrashing, snapping, knotting snakes, and the view from your throne is excellent. Gil looks down at his livery and back at the snake pit and over at Teddy, who's kneeling, who's manacled. "Lottie! I-I-I'm not going to—"
"He is a <span class="mu-i">traitor!</span> He seeks to subvert you! To subvert... us. He skulks around, whispering in your ear, taking over your mind, eating your memories—"
"You're talking about Richard! Not—"
"You dare <span class="mu-i">defy</span> me, fool?" You brandish a royal hand. "I'll have you both thrown in the snake pit, if you don't comply! He's subverted you already. I see it now. I was idiotic to depend so much on you. To the pit, now, and I hope I never—"
"Excuse me," says your lowly prisoner. "I believe there's been a misunderstanding, Your Majesty."
You adjust your royal seat. "What?"
"I did not come here to engage in subterfuge. Much the opposite. I came..." Your prisoner exchanges glances with your (former) loyal regent. "...to pledge my service. As your retainer."
"Um," you say. "Really?"
"Yes. It would be an enormous honor. I may be less overtly present than Gil, but I would strive to put my skills, as limited as they are, toward your cause. I believe it would be the right and the just thing to do."
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