A Bad Jest

Baron Robert Warwick returns to court after two years away, eager to once again taste the splendour of royal life. But one thing vexes him.

Why is Gideon still on the throne?

Determined to resume his pursuit of power, he soon finds that all of his old allies have moved past the coup that had once been a certainty. Not due to punishment. Not due to internal squabbling. They simply insist things remain as they are, though Robert does notice a fear deep within their gaze.

He also notices a new addition to the court

Meredith.

The king's fool. 

Whose own eyes see more than her role would suggest. 

This work of fiction contains: Violence, blood, gore, fatphobia, sexism, sexual references, brief mentions of kidnapping, mutilated animal corpses. 

11764 Words

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I am so happy I finally got this out. This has been one of my favourite stories to write in a while, and while editing block prevented me from publishing it sooner I am still very pleased with how it turned out. And I'm also very obsessed with my creepy fool Meredith, I hope you all love her as much as I do as I definitely have ideas for a follow up with her. If you enjoyed reading please let me know in the comments and also let me know if I missed anything in the content warning (trying to get better at those).

Cover art is a photo taken by me then edited using https://www.befunky.com/ (using only non-AI options)