A Crown for the Unchosen
A throne chooses the least powerful person in the kingdom each year. This time it selects the palace cleaner, who hires the exiled prince as her secretary.
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How it begins
The crown landed in Marian's mop bucket.
She assumed someone had thrown it.
"Very funny," she called.
Nobody laughed.
At the far end of the hall, a courtier dropped his breakfast.
Marian lifted the crown with the end of the mop.
Dirty water ran through its diamonds.
"I'll bring a cloth."
The courtier knelt.
She looked behind her.
There was no one else.
By the time the first minister arrived, three guards, two musicians and a woman carrying a ceremonial cushion were also kneeling. Marian had never seen the corridor so thoroughly obstructed.
"The crown has chosen," the minister said.
"Badly placed its trust in the plumbing, perhaps."
"It chooses the least powerful person in the kingdom."
Marian looked at her bucket.
For twenty-three years she had cleaned this corridor before anyone important woke. Apparently the kingdom had noticed.
The minister reached for the crown.
"It must be placed upon your head."
"It must be rinsed."
A man at the service door laughed.
Marian recognized him from a portrait the palace had turned toward the wall.
The exiled prince.
He wore a plain coat and held a stack of unpaid bills.
"You'll need a secretary," he said.
The minister rose too quickly.
"His presence is unauthorized."
"So was mine until five minutes ago," Marian said.
The prince stopped smiling.
She took the bills from him.
Coal. Bread. Linen.
The palace owed money to people who could not afford to wait for ceremonies.
"What does a secretary do?"
"Reads what other people hope you won't."
"Can you add?"
"Usually."
"Then start with those."
Behind them, the crown gave a small, satisfied chime.
Marian regarded it with suspicion.
"If this comes with an oath," she said, "I want to read it first."
For once, nobody in the corridor seemed prepared to tell her no.
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Outline and characters
- The crown selects Marian during her cleaning shift.
- She appoints the exiled prince as secretary.
- They audit who the palace considers powerless.
- A council tries to turn Marian into a ceremonial figure.
- Edmund admits his part in the previous selection.
- Marian consults workers excluded from royal records.
- The crown demands an apparently impossible public choice.
- She rejects the council's definition of power.
- They reform the succession bargain through collective consent.
- Marian chooses her role and her relationship without royal coercion.
Characters
- Marian Ash, 51. Palace cleaner chosen by a power-sensitive crown
- Edmund Vale, 37. Exiled prince learning to serve without ruling
Series possibilities
- The crown chooses an entire village and the palace demands one representative.
