I glance around the remarkable garden. “You did all of this?”
She shrugs. “A lot, but not all.”
We walk on for a few minutes in companionable silence, then Elsbeth pauses and kneels down to inspect a pretty little plant with bell-shaped flowers.
“So, what does that one do?” I ask, genuinely curious.
She smirks up at me. “This is a Lily of the Valley, and it isn’t medicinal.”
“No?”
“It’s poisonous. Incredibly so. It’s amazing when you think about it, how something so small and pretty can kill you.” She stands and wipes her hands down her skirt. When she lifts her head to look at me, her eyes positively gleam with mischief as she speaks. “It’s a nasty death too.” She does a little twist and lifts one shoulder cutely, then starts down the trail again.
Good gods, is everyone in this palace borderline insane?
“So…” She pauses, and I have a feeling she’s gearing up to ask me something I’m not going to be too thrilled about. Great. I’m supposed to be the one interrogating her. “Is something going on between you and Aemon?” she asks, not turning around.
I draw back, a little stunned. That is not at all what I was expecting. “I hardly know him. Why?”
She doesn’t immediately answer my question. We come to a circular clearing with a stone bench in the center. Elsbeth takes a seat and pats the spot next to her in invitation. “Sit.” She rests her hands in her lap and waits.
I guess I’m sitting down then. I sink onto the seat beside her, and she turns to me.
“Aemon was asking about you this morning. What are you like? What did we talk about? I just thought maybe there were some sparks, is all. I’ve lived here for three years and have never seen him with a female.”
The thought of him asking her about me sets off about a billion butterflies in my stomach, but I mentally squelch them. If he’s asking about me, it’s most likely because he thinks I’m up to something. And that isn’t a good thing, at all. “Maybe he isn’t interested in females.” Good gods, what a tragedy that would be.
She tips her head side-to-side, as if to say, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” “It’s possible, I guess, though I’ve never seen him show any interest in males either. Unless you count all the times Troi calls him in for meetings while he’s with a woman. Not that Aemon has a choice in the matter.”
I think my jaw just became dislodged from my face and has landed on the floor. “That’s…”
“Odd. Yes. I’m not sure if it’s a sexual thing or just Troi’s way of asserting dominance—you know, like a dog that urinates on everything to mark their territory.” She leans in so our shoulders are touching. “He has some issues.”
I chuckle. “Don’t they all.”
She grimaces. “Not like this. The queen enjoys belittling him. She’s too powerful for him to take the throne, and she reminds him of it often and brutally.”
“She has him beaten?”
“As a child maybe, but no, her methods are more devious than that. This morning, she called him to meet with her, then left him waiting in the hallway outside her door for over an hour. He was not pleased.” She lays a hand on my arm. “Please don’t tell anyone Itold you that. The situation with the queen is a well-known secret around here, but Troi would have a hissy if he knew I told you.”
“Is that what you were arguing about when I stopped by?”
“I don’t know that I would call it arguing as much as him taking his frustration out on me.” She pulls the sleeve of her dress down, exposing her shoulder, which is red and swollen. “You’re not the only one with male issues.” She lifts her sleeve back into place. “I’ve become fairly adept at avoiding his ire, but sometimes, when the queen gets him in a mood, there isn’t much I can do.”
“Does Aemon know?” I ask, though I’m not entirely sure why it matters to me.
“He does his best to divert Troi’s attention, but he’s beholden to the crown, same as me. There’s only so much he can do.”
I shake my head. “Men are so ridiculous sometimes. They act as though we’re so fragile, when they’re the fragile ones, throwing fits if we aren’t constantly stroking their egos.”
“So true,” she says, leaning back on her hands. “You know what the worst part is?”
“What?”
“I wasn’t even supposed to marry him. I was to marry his cousin Edmund, but his betrothed got cholera on her way to their wedding—stupid girl didn't boil her water—and I took her place. Lucky me.”
“One day you’ll be queen, though. That’s pretty amazing if you think about it.”
