DIPLOMATIC EFFECTS / CH. 23:UNEXPECTED TITLES.

IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, ST PETERSBURG. 7PM, FRIDAY 14TH MARCH 2279

Sebastian looked around the lecture room. He'd never been in this one before, but it wasn't very unusual; steep ranks of benches and fold-down seats. The desk in front of him was free of graffiti except the normal 'press here for more interesting lecture' that seemed to be somewhere in every lecture hall. He looked around and still couldn't see anyone wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing. Then he kicked himself. Of course she wouldn't be, would she? He surveyed the crowd, of about a hundred students; where was she? The sound of an opening door then a mixture of heavy and light steps sounded behind him, even though he'd sat almost in the back row. He turned round, and found himself looking up the nostrils of someone who was clearly a bodyguard. Startled, he looked in the direction of the door. Three girls, young ladies, he corrected himself and a man. He recognised the front one of them, with surprise; Princess Claire of the huge car fines. There'd been a lot of debate about her, back at the collective. Rich and powerful, yes; friend of the downtrodden people, yes. Did she fit in the good people or bad people list? He'd maintained that since she'd fined the bankers, and let the artist off, surely that made her an enemy of the system. Next to her, he saw the prince of Switzerland, which made sense, and then the grand-duchess of Kaliningrad, who was often on the news with her charitable projects; certainly on the good people list.

“Hello, are you new here? Welcome!” Nadiya asked, “Tell me what you think of the talk. I'm Nadiya, you probably recognise princess Claire and prince Rudolph, and this is my cousin Tatyana, grand duchess of Volvograd.”

“Your highnesses, your graces,” Sebastian bowed as much as he could, “I'm Sebastian, and I suppose, in this company, I ought to admit to being first son of the Baron of Smolensk.”

He saw Nadiya look surprised, as though she'd badly mis-judged him. Why was that? His othersight kicked in and he saw she had the power, and an inner being as beautiful as... no, it couldn't be!

“Never be ashamed of your rank,” Tatyana advised, totally oblivious, “People can get silly about titles, but that's their fault, not yours.”

“You don't feel, your grace, that rank leads people, say lecturers, to treat others unfairly?”

“Only if they need a chat with the Secret Services.” Tatyana said, “And it is most appropriate for us, if we see it happening, to make sure they get that opportunity.”

“Let's talk more about that too, shall we?” Nadiya suggested.

“I'd be delighted, your grace,” Sebastian said.

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DUCHESS OF MOSCOW COURT, FRIDAY 14TH MARCH, ALMOST MIDNIGHT.

“Tatyana is feeling quite miffed with you, Nadiya,” Svetlana said.

“Blame Karella,” Nadiya replied.

“Hold on... you mean...”

“I mean, he asked me out this afternoon, I said the C.U. was a good place to meet people, and look at that, we've had our first cup of caffeine together.”

“Fast work, woman!”

“You told me about the girl on Mars who said you were sick?” Nadiya asked.

“I did, what's the connection?”

“Sebastian described this thing he's been able to do since his first real decision to obey God, when he was eight or something. He tells me I'm beautiful inside too, which does wonders for a girls ego, you know? He's not exactly proud of how he's used it since arguing with his father and running away from home, though.”

“Hold on, do I know anything about this?” Svetlana asked.

“You ought to. His Dad tried to maneuver him into trying to become friends with you. He stormed out of your birthday party and promptly vanished, he says that was because his dad had just said the only reason he'd brought him was so he could ask you out. For the first year or so he sent vague messages that he was OK, but wasn't coming back. Then he met up with his mother, and she signed his university application.”

“Oh, of course. I remember mother telling the baron that he shouldn't come back to court until he could bring his son with him, entirely willingly. I didn't know he was still missing.”

“I think he's not officially missing... just estranged.”

“Lots to work through, there, though.” Svetlana said.

“I know. He's not got many kind words about his father. And his parents have just about separated.”

“Sad.”

“Sebastian thinks it's to get at him.”

“Is the baron really so vindictive?”

“I don't know. I do know that Sebastian's in regular contact with her.”

“That's quite some conversation you had there. I'm amazed you had time.”

“Metal tables,” Nadiya said. “We talked about inanities and thought about setting the world to rights.”

“He's a thought-hearer too?”

“Yes, didn't I say?”

“I don't think so. OK, I'll tell Tatyana she's got to find her own kindred spirit, not try and poach yours.”

“Hey! I've not argued with my parents.”

“No? So why weren't you living with them last year? It's not like you've got an alias to keep up, or they live half the country away.”

“Dad just kept on moaning about me getting the title instead of Mum.”

“Blame grandma, it's not your fault.”

“I let it slip once that she'd asked me if I thought a princess ought to have noble cousins to play with, and I'd said we played that I was the duchess of Kaliningrad. Grandma told me, no, no, Kaliningrad needed to have a grand duchess.”

“I remember that! I asked why Kaliningrad got a grand-duchess and Moscow only had a duchess. She said 'History, and don't be greedy.' And I didn't know why she was calling me greedy. Now I do, of course. She had it all planned.”

“Anyway, that's why Dad thinks it was my idea.”

“You didn't tell him that I was the one who decided you got Kaliningrad?”

“It was?”

“Yes. I didn't think we should pretend to be real people.”

“Oh yes! I'd wanted to be next to my teddy, but there wasn't anywhere on your list. How old were we?”

“About six, I think.”

“I still didn't exactly do anything to merit the title.”

“Yes you did. You said 'Uncle, there's some real problems in Kaliningrad, not just play ones.' And then you listed them and came up with some suggestions. Daddy was really impressed. You take your duties seriously, cousin.”

“Well, I try.”

“So, you've earned your title, you're continuing to earn it, and very soon I expect the baroness of Smolensk will bless your name.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I'm thinking that you should invite her to court, of course. You do remember that Smolensk is in your Grand Duchee, I hope. Find out what she thinks, and decide what to do from then. If you have no doubts, father will support you. If you're not sure, seek his or mother's advice, and then act.”

“I can't do much, surely.”

“If you find the baron is unworthy of his high position, you can depose him in favour of his wife or his son, or take it from the family entirely. Probably you'll get better results just reminding him of that.”

“I can't interfere in their marriage, Lana!”

“You're exactly the person to impose a few anger management courses or marriage counselling, or whatever. It's your stern and solemn duty, even.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

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COUNTESS OF MOSCOW COURT, MONDAY, 17TH MARCH, 9AM

“Thank you for coming, Baroness,” Nadiya said.

“I'm honoured for the invitation, your grace.”

“Normally, I'd say please, call me Nadiya, but in the circumstances... it's probably better if we stay formal for the moment. It's come to my attention that you and the Baron might not be on best terms at the moment,” Nadiya said.

“I can't imagine where you heard that, your grace.”

“It's not true?”

“Oh, it's true, sadly we're going to formally separate, next week but...”

“I'd like to hear the truth, Baroness, so that I'm not ill-informed. I'll also be asking the Baron for his thoughts, of course, before I make any decisions.”

“Decisions?”

“Personally, I don't like divorce. Not at all. Also, we are trying to win favour with the Mer, who see it as one of the most unthinkable forms of oath-breaking, and of course it behooves us as nobility to set an example of good behaviour to the people. So, if there is a problem, I'd like to know that something is honestly being done about solving it before it gets irreparable.”

“You think I don't want that?”

“I think it takes two people, both willing to consider their marriage relationship as one of the most precious things they have, and dedicating serious effort to make it work. I'm working on the presumption that that thought has faded.

“So, please talk to me, Baroness. I don't have wise words or experience, but I have a duty to help, a list of specialists to call on, and if necessary I have the blunt instrument of authority.”

“Authority?”

“If baronial duty is demanding too much time, effort and concentration and so causing the marriage to fail, for instance, it can be reduced, or placed upon another while the more important duty to the marriage is resolved. It would be sad, of course, if that had to be permanent, but ....”

“But my marriage is more important?”

“Wouldn't you agree, Baroness?”

“My husband would laugh at you, your grace,” the baroness said, sadly.

“If he cannot show respect, and if he cannot acknowledge the importance of a vow made before the Almighty God, of unity until death, I wonder how he can think himself be worthy to hold the title he has.”

“By inheritence, by breeding...”

“By the will of his grand-duchess and his Tsar, with whose voice I speak on this matter. I know I force my way into what should be holy ground, forgive me for the intrusion, but talk to me, lady baroness, help me to understand, and to judge wisely.”

“Me? Me? I cannot help you judge wisely, your grace,” Sebastian's mother told her, and then, between pauses for tears, she told her sad tale. Of pride, of tradition, of history, of inflexibility, how Sebastian had rebelled at his father's attitude of seeking to promote their family up the aristocracy and how his father had labeled him a traitor to his ancestors. How she, long before that, had started to see their marriage as a competition, and she'd relished scoring points at her husband's expense, finding fault in him and rubbing his nose in his failings. How, having warned him that he'd drive their son away her first thought had been to consider it a big win, and how she'd soured her whole marriage like that. Nadiya listened, and listened and listened.

“Thank you, baroness. I feel you have been most honest with me. I have spoken to Sebastian, at some length. He told me.... his perception of what was happening. Princess Claire, Grand-duchess Tatyana and I sat just behind him at the Christian Union on Friday, and we talked afterwards. Actually until past eleven.”

“Oh! But he told me he was going to meet a truthsayer at the university. Didn't he even say? Just like his father! I wonder what she thought of her date talking to three noblewomen all night long, the poor girl.”

“The poor girl was really cousin Tatyana.” Nadiya said “She obviously didn't realise what was going on, and she did try awfully hard to get his attention before Clare decided it would be better to drag her away. Not that Clare realised everything, either.”

“Whereas the truthsayer just admitted defeat in the background? I still say poor girl. And blood shows.”

“Baroness, my cousin Tatyana was just interested in your son because he was a new face at the Christian Union who will probably inherit a title. I've seen her do that before; it's a bit sad really. The truthsayer, of course, was not wearing her mask, so who knows if she showed up at all? Who except her and Sebastian, of course. Let us just say that two truthsayers visited Sebastian at his home with a message from Queen Karella of Atlantis, who noticed that something of the unmarried one had caught his eye. Her majesty then decided to stick her oar in, and after hinting to him that he could ask her out, she then told the truthsayer she'd find that Sebastian was a good young man who was full of surprises, and she could do a lot worse than him. On that advice, the truthsayer suggested he go to the Christian Union, where it seems I caught his eye and we got talking. You have a very remarkable son, baroness.”

“A very inconstant one,” the baroness said, having totally missed Nadiya's hints. “And one you'd best avoid your grace, if he finds nothing wrong with arranging a meeting with one girl and then spending the evening with another. Admittedly you outrank most women in the country but...”

“Your son is not his father, baroness. I'd hoped you knew your son better than that,” Nadiya said, “It is far safer if secrets are not stated openly, you realise. So, please don't tell Sebastian what Karella said. And certainly don't tell anyone anything about our first meeting. Just tell people we met at the University Christian Union. It's true, and judging by his face he really wasn't expecting to recognise my face, but then I hadn't known he was of noble birth before he admitted whose son he was, either. So he surprised me, too.”

The baroness looked at Nadiya, her puzzlement finally turning to shock as she understood what Nadiya had been saying. “Your grace... you...” she couldn't bring herself to ask Nadiya if she really was the truthsayer. “You know where my son lives?”

“I do, yes. And I must say it wasn't really what I was expecting, but I'm not sure it'd be wise to visit again. Being welcome because of a message isn't the same as an invitation to visit any time, after all.”

“He.... he said he'd thought he'd leave, but he wouldn't come home.”

“Well, he now knows that he doesn't need to leave immediately. He's in a nice place, with people who know him and look out for him. And I think that not having him home might make important things easier, don't you?”

That was too much for the baroness, “it's a lawless den of robbers, your grace! They could turn on him at any moment!”

“Is that what he told you, or what you've guessed? Either way, it's wrong. He's in a group of highly principled people. I felt rather like I was trespassing, but nevertheless, I felt no threat at all.”

“But you did feel you were trespassing. And you did say you didn't want to visit again.”

“No, I said I wasn't told I could, or should. And you and I work on different principles to them, do we not? I am about to smash one of their most firmly held principles to pieces, regarding your husband. I'm going to lay on him a stern and inescapable duty, tell him he must put aside his whims and dreams and I fully intend to make his current way of life impossible if he doesn't obey me, and woe betide him if he kicks and screams. Sebastian and his friends would not praise me for that heavy handed approach, I think. They'd prefer I spent long hours gently urging, reasoning and philosophising.”

“Be gentle to my husband, please, your grace!”

“No. I have a metaphorical rod of iron, and I will use it, and if he does not bend to my will, he will be broken. You may try gentleness if you wish. I expect him here at nine o'clock tomorrow.”

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COUNTESS OF MOSCOW COURT, TUESDAY, 9AM

“Your Grace,” the Baron of Smolensk bowed what would have been respectfully but for the condescending smirk on his face, at the thought that this snip of a girl thought she could command him, “You required my presence?”

“I did, yes. I understand your marriage has been low on your priorities recently. I require that you count your marriage as more valuable than your title, rank, lands, duties and properties. If you make no effort to save the one, you will lose the others, permanently. If I decide your efforts are insufficient, your rank and title will be put in limbo until I decide otherwise. If the various duties you have as a result of your rank leave you no time to repair your marriage you will be excused some or all of them on a temporary or permanent basis. You have taken a vow before the living God that your wife is flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone but you have treated spending time with her like a chore. She has admitted to me that she contributed to that, but it must change. I will not have any baron or other noble under me who takes their primary duties lightly. There are plenty who would gladly take your place.”

“Like my sniveling son, I presume. I heard you'd been speaking to him.”

“I have, yes, he wants none of it. As things stand, your great-great-grandfather's line of barons of Smolensk ends with your death, but it can pass from your family before then for all I care. I do not care who is baron, I care how they behave. You have already estranged your son, if you treat your oath concerning your wife as valueless, you bring dishonour on the nobility of Russia, and lower our standing in the eyes of powerful potential allies. I will not have it.”

“Ha! Nice try, girl. You've got guts to try and pull that bluff on me, but you keep your nose out of...”

“Guards!” Nadiya called, interrupting him, “Expel this fool who despises the authority of the Tsar by which I command him. If he will not bend, then he will be broken. Take him in handcuffs to his town-house.”

Before the baron could draw his breath to protest at being manhandled out of the room the captain said “Sir! Do not antagonise the grand duchess more. The Tsar himself gave me the order directly, sir. I must obey her grace in this matter. He has given her full authority to strip you of rank, title and possessions as she sees fit. His imperial majesty said if she orders me to drag you home by your feet, then that is his order too.”

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TOWNHOUSE OF THE BARON OF SMOLENSK, ST PETERSBURG, TUESDAY 18TH MARCH

“I tried to warn you, husband,” the baroness said after the soldiers left.

“She's mad! What was that paper the captain gave you?”

“Her grace's orders to us. Countersigned by the Tsar himself. And a copy of her authority granted by the Tsar.”

“The Tsar has really created that monster?”

“Yesterday, I met a young woman desperately worried for our marriage.”

“Today, I met a tyrant.”

“Yes. I saw that too, when I suggested you would not bow to her authority. She said you would bend or she would smash you. The Tsar gives her that authority.”

“Madness!”

“Husband, I do not want you smashed. I do not want us to be homeless.”

“I thought you said she was in love with our son.”

“That's what I thought. Maybe I was wrong, I misunderstood a lot of what she was saying.”

“What?”

“Secrets. I dare not speak them, not with this in my hand. She could smash us, leave us with no home, no income, no pension even.”

“It would kill you,” he said, knowing how often for her a cold turned to bronchitis and bronchitis to pneumonia. “Even the stress...”

“I am scared, Nicholai,” she said, using his name for the first time in months.

“Couldn't Sebastian talk some sense into her?” he asked, pacing the room.

“He always calls me, number withheld. I can't contact him.”

“The Tsarina?”

“Against her husband's express will? Read this, Nicholai! She will smash us.”

“The courts..”

“We will be homeless, penniless, powerless social outcasts before the first hearing.”

“We can fight her,” the baron insisted.

“You'd raise arms against the Tsar? Don't leave me a widow, Nicholai, please.”

“No, in the press, garner public opinion against her, make her back down...”

“'In the event of the baron or baroness discussing this with any third party, all sanctions discussed shall be applied immediately. Communicating this matter with the press shall constitute treason.' That's what the Tsar wrote.”

“Treason?”

“Don't leave me a penniless widow, Nicholai. Please, read her instructions. We can comply.”