With no sign of an heir, her marriage was as fragile as wet parchment. The slightest tremor could rip it apart if Riftan so wished. Her anxiety swelled even more when she thought about how distant Riftan had been acting lately. He had assured her that he had no intention of breaking his marriage vows, but there was always the possibility that he could change his mind. He could have second thoughts were a breathtaking beauty to come along and try to seduce him.
She truly could be coming just to inspect the lands, as Riftan said.
Maxi desperately tried to stamp out the gray clouds of anxiety gathering within her. As obstinate as he was, Riftan was a man of integrity, not a reed tossed about by the wind. After all, Riftan had sworn allegiance to the crown; it was inevitable that he would have to interact with the royal family. Drowning herself in self-sabotaging thoughts every time it happened would not do. It took all of Maxi’s strength to tame the maelstrom of doubt roiling inside her mind.
Enough of these dark thoughts tonight.
—
One good thing aboutbeing so preoccupied with preparations was that Maxi had no time to brood. Putting even her studies on hold, she summoned merchants to the castle in order to select decor for the guest rooms and landscaping for the gardens. There was not enough time for the vision she’d had for the grounds, so Maxi had them filled with shrubs and statues. The work went quicker than she’d feared, the frozen ground thawing early in one act of grace.
The merchant guild sent laborers to dig holes at fixed intervals for the new trees, and the castle servants scattered seeds in the flower beds between the newly planted saplings. It was still early to be sowing seeds, but Maxi hoped that the leaf mold mixed in the soil would help them take root as the weather grew warmer. She wanted the once-barren space to be presentable by the time the guests arrived.
“The royal kn-knights…shall stay in the annex…while Her Highness, her retinue…and her ladies-in-waiting…shall stay…in the great hall. Do m-make sure…they have…everything they need.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“And do not…be light with the spices…. Spare no expense for the f-feast preparations…. Only use g-gold or silver utensils…and see that we have several kegs of our finest wine in the storerooms.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Maxi gave meticulous instructions to the servants and inspected the castle several times a day to make sure the preparations were going smoothly. Maidservants opened the thick shutters and polished the clouded windows until the glass was near invisible. Servants cleaned out the ash-laden fireplaces until their faces were covered in soot, even scrubbing the braziers free of scorch marks.
The preparations did not stop there. The servants spent an entire day drawing water from the well in order to scrub the stains out of each and every carpet, rug, and curtain. Maxi had her hands full overseeing their progress alongside making orders and reviewing invoices from the guild. With Ruth busy working on his latest magical invention, everything came down to Maxi.
Still, she knew the others had even more on their plates than she did, so she did not think to complain. Ruth toiled away without sleep, while Riftan and the knights were up from the break of dawn until the dead of night planning the massive road construction project set to commence in the spring. Building a wide road to connect Anatol to the port was an enormous endeavor. Riftan spent his days poring over maps and discussing the fastest and safest routes with the knights, not to mention the considerable effort put into securing the manpower and materials necessary.
All of this activity meant that the frequency of their coupling dwindled. Riftan only returned to their bedchamber near midnight while Maxi, exhausted from her early-morning rounds, fell asleep as soon as it was dusk. Since Riftan came back so late and left well before dawn, there were times when Maxi would not even catch a glimpse of him all day.
As they spent less and less time together, Maxi grew increasingly frustrated. She wanted her husband to take her in his arms and kiss her with his warm, soft lips. She wanted to curl up like a kitten on his sturdy chest, her face buried against his skin, his hand stroking her hair.
It was enough to make her wish the harsh winter had never ended. She missed the days when the two of them were inseparable within the cold, gloomy castle. Some nights, it made her wonder if he had finally grown tired of her. Did this distance mean that he no longer felt any passion for her?
Such thoughts simmered in her mind as she lay awake at night waiting for him, almost to the point where she felt as if she would go mad. It was easier during the day when she had a thousand things to do, but lying alone in their vast bed,running her hand over the cold and empty spot next to her, it possessed her mind. She wanted nothing more than to see her husband’s smiling face. To go riding with him away from the castle grounds.
To be alone with him.
—
The guests arrived asMaxi’s frustrations reached their peak on a sunny afternoon that announced the true arrival of spring. Word came while Maxi was in the gardens—aband of knights carrying the royal seal was seen entering Anatol. For a moment, she froze. Her mind sought something grounding and found it in the trees now planted in what had only weeks before been a wasteland. There was far more she wished to do with it, but Maxi felt proud of what they had accomplished. Calypse Castle would be able to hold its head high before the royal inspectorate.
With that thread of courage humming through her heart, she hurried to welcome the guests.
Gathering the servants, she made sure they were stationed in an orderly fashion at the entrance of the great hall before returning to her chambers. There, she inspected herself in the mirror; her dress was lavish indeed, but she could not shake the feeling that something was lacking.
She opened the small chest on her vanity that housed her rarely worn jewelry and adorned herself with a carefully chosen brooch, necklace, and ring. She then asked Ludis to rearrange her hair. It would not do for the lady of the house to pale in comparison to her husband’s almost-fiancée, princess or not.
Thankfully, Ludis seemed to read her mistress’s mind andput painstaking effort into braiding her curls and winding them with silk ribbons. She finished it off with a stunning jewel-encrusted coronet.
Not long after, Maxi heard the blast of a kopel boom from afar.
The guests had arrived.
—
Draping a luxurious shawlaround her shoulders, Maxi made her way downstairs with her maidservants in tow. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest, and beads of cold sweat broke out on her back. She was about to welcome her first guest as Lady Calypse. The fact that this guest happened to be Princess Agnes only amplified her anxiety.
Maxi wondered what kind of person the princess would be. Would she be as haughty as Rosetta? Would she take one look at Maxi and turn her nose up at her inadequacy?
