A light knock had her calling, “Come in.”
Adelaide came around the door carrying a tray of tea and biscuits. “Top of the morning. How was your time away?”
“Enlightening.” Corina tossed the documents back to the desk. By tonight she’d decide. If she flew home without signing, she’d have to be willing to face the consequences.
“You sound troubled.”
“I bargained for something, got what I wanted, and am not sure I can keep up my end.”
“Then you’ve a dilemma.” Adelaide poured Corina a cup of tea and placed a thin, wafer-like cookie on the saucer as she passed it over.
“My head versus my heart.” Corina pulled the desk chair around, a small fire flickering in her belly from her private confrontation with the annulment.
“Tea time will make you feel better.” Filling the cups with steaming, rich brown liquid, Adelaide handed one to Corina, then took one for herself. “This porcelain tea service is quite special.” Adelaide sat primly on the chaise, holding up the cup and saucer.
“Really?” Corina inspected her cup. “This one has a small chip.” She tapped the slight nick on the bottom.
“It’s been well used. King Stephen I heard of the great porcelain cups made in China. He sent for a set, and it took nearly ten years then to arrive. One of the first sets ever to arrive in the West.”
Corina lowered her cup and saucer. The air in the room changed again as Adelaide spoke and Corina felt bound by the electricity. “You’re serving me tea in a four-hundred-and-fifty-year-old cup?”
“Kings and queens, the sick and poor, women and men, children have drunk from these cups.”
“Where did you get them?” Again, why are they not with the royal estate?
“It lives with the Manor. Along with the tiara.”
“Adelaide, you’ve quite the mission. Hidden tiaras, special tea sets.”
The woman reclined against the cushy back of the chaise. “You’ve asked what Brill and I are about. Well, we’re here to help you see what you are about.” She raised her cup to Corina. “To wear the tiara, one must drink from the cup.”
Corina considered her cup. “You mean to be a true royal one must drink from the cup of love and service.”
“There, now, that wasn’t so hard was it? Ruling by serving. It’s how the Great Kingdom is structured. It’s the love that moves heaven and earth.”
The tracing of chills over Corina’s arms multiplied.
“And that’s how King Stephen I and Queen Magdalena loved?” She was catching on to Adelaide’s wisdom.
“Yes. You and your prince have been given the same call.”
“But he wants out, Adelaide. An annulment.”
“That is your journey, love. All I can give you is heaven’s vision.” Adelaide turned over her saucer. “King Stephen I had his artisans design a cipher for their royal house. Do you see?”
Corina checked her saucer. On the bottom she found a crown crossed with a sword that matched Adelaide’s. Underneath were the letters H of S. “House of Stratton.”
“He used to serve his guests, rich or poor, noblemen or common men, with a whole set. Only these two remain.”
“And I’m to do the same?”
“If you want to wear the tiara, then you must be willing to drink from the cup.”
“If I want to wear the tiara, then how can I sign the papers?” Corina said, setting down her tea and snatching up the annulment.
“That I cannot tell you. What’s in your heart?”
“That I love him. I came over here thinking I could win him back, you know? Love well. But maybe too much time has passed. We’re not the same people we were six years ago.”
