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creative writing fiction

Lear

365/26 - Lotus Elise

It was a grey morning. The King’s jet landed, without pomp, on the wet tarmac. To demonstrate the urgency of the matter at hand, he held court in the hangar.

Flunkies prepared champagne infused strawberries, seared swordfish, and dark chocolate wrapped in silver vark. All nestled peacefully by a hedge of white lilies. The floral scent was powerful enough to obliterate the King’s rage.

Cordelia smeared wasabi on her swordfish with a flash of defiance. Her father had filed a lawsuit (€1.2 trillion) against her to “recover assets essential to the economic prosperity and political stability of the nation.” This morning, he’d asked to see her without their lawyers.

Karl der Große, Rathaus Osnabrück

He spoke, judging her. “The Imperial Household is divided but there you sit, eating sashimi.”

“Dad, his cousin’s going to be Empress. She is the rightful successor.”

“You cannot be in love,” trumpeted the monarch. “In this era, love’s flight risk factor is treble thousand. That boy …”

“That man. That heart surgeon.”

“One rank up from butcher, cosplaying as normal. It is undignified for a future Emperor to touch the flesh of yet dead men.”

“This is incredibly bigoted!”

“Pledge your loyalty to me. Rescind this vile protest and I will abdicate. You will be Queen.”

Succession contracts wafted about her face, close enough so she would catch sight of the lucrative terms. Cordelia did not flinch.

 

⚜

Lear | SB

Photo credits: 365/26  – Lotus Elise and Karl der Große, Rathaus Osnabrück, both by Dominik Bartsch via Flickr.

By ΠιCΘLΞ

Life is short, so let’s be decent.

128 replies on “Lear”

Thanks so much. I had to come up with an unrealistic number so it would be “clear” from Lear’s pompous, overprimped perspective who’s her daddy.

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Glad you found it entertaining, Anita. Thanks. I tried to chuck the main points into the scene while making it not seem overly similar. I wrote a modern English adaptation for the stage three years ago and it was fun rereading and dissecting the original play. This version was probably spooling in my brain for all that time.

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You’re very kind. I don’t like to edit too much from the original as it tends to look choppy so I am glad the structure went over well with you.

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Thanks, Robin. I am happy you empathised with that aspect of the story. There’s always a risk a relationship will not work out. But certain pressures can be enormously persuasive in keeping people apart.

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Hello 💖❤️💙 Thank you. It is a crazy mess of an international scandal with a high end brand of cynicism. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The King is going to eat crow in the next story. OMG.

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Thank you so much for reading, mGm. I write to my taste (pun intended) so it’s these subtle additions that make it a read and not a slog-through for me. There is more, later. I hope you’ll catch that installment as well. Hearts for Friday, mGm. ❤

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You are very sweet. Thank you. I love hand kisses, too. I’ll offer you a curtsy of appreciation. I had to put Lear under a microscope for an abridged stage adaptation four years ago, and I think I absorbed the relationship dynamics by osmosis. Have a lovely weekend, my fellow Shakespeare fan. ❤ ❤

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