“Lizzy!” Charlotte called out, breaking Elizabeth from her wandering thoughts. “Where in the Seven Hells have you been? We have to go.”
Charlotte looked unnerved and was accompanied by a palace guard. She gestured quickly for Elizabeth to follow her.
“Charlotte, slow down.” Elizabeth hurried, struggling to keep up with her brisk pace. “What happened?”
“There’s been an attack. An attack on the queen. We must return at once.”
“You’re kidding. Is everyone...?”
“Yes. There might be more attackers hiding in the castle. We must get back to the guards and our parents. Hurry!”
Elizabeth picked up her skirts and hurried back to the ballroom where the queen stood regal and terrifying in front of the throne.
The queen’s guards pointed the tips of their swords at two serving girls, kneeling on the dais. There were pearls scattered across the floor.
The queen’s shoulders were bare, as if her pearl shawl had come apart and fallen all over the floor. A dribble of blood on her shoulder was the only evidence that she had been attacked; the blood was dark in the low lighting of the hall.
The air was tense, but the onlookers looked on with impassive expressions. Their postures appeared relaxed, as if they were watching a dramatic play unfold, and not an attempt at treason.
Elizabeth followed Charlotte, weaving through the crowd until they found their parents. Her mother’s eyes were locked on the dais with pursed lips, the only tell that her mother was alarmed. Lady Harrison and her father wore carefully blank expressions.
Scanning the hall, she found it unsettling that everyone seemed so calm. Charlotte, too, had taken her mother’s lead and stood stock still, eyes riveted on the queen.
Biting her lip, she glanced around, and joined Charlotte in directing her attention to the queen.
“Don’t be shy,” Queen Rowena said, her tone mocking. “Tell us where your little friends are hiding.”
The two girls knelt on the hard marble floor, staring forward.
“Rebels, I take it?”
“Yes, mum,” said one of them.
“Don’t you dare tell them anything!” spat the other.
A guard knelt before the queen and bowed his head. “Majesty, the perimeter is secure. From our initial investigation, they came alone.”
“You are from Faina, I presume?” the queen said, strolling back and forth in front of the throne. Her tone was dismissive, bored, as if there had not just been an attempt on her life. “You thought you’d work in my palace for a while, silent as the grave, and then throw a knife at me amidst a ball with over a hundred guards? Foolish. So very foolish.”
The queen looked at each girl. “Any last words?”
“I grew up in Ceres—”
“Take them away,” the queen snarled.
Guards grabbed the two girls and dragged them towards the door.
“My grandmother was a farmer,” the serving girl roared beneath the guards’ restraints, talking fast as she was led away, determined to make every breath count. “Her only magic lay in growing things. You put her in chains, dragged her off to this godsforsaken capital, and I never saw her again! I had a friend named Tilly! She was to become a Healer—”
The girl’s mad tirade was cut short as the guard covered her mouth with a gauntlet. The girl’s angry shouts were muffled, growing faint as the guard dragged her away. The second girl was wise and kept her mouth shut, staring at the crowd of onlookers with wide eyes until she, too, was pulled out of sight.
Chapter 2
The Carriage Ride
Aservant boy swept up the spilled pearls, carefully placing them in a small sack. The queen watched him do it, saying nothing as a servant girl draped another shawl around her, this one made of white linen. Soon, the room looked exactly as before, and all was quiet.
The queen collected herself and faced her audience. Elizabeth would have expected anger or outrage, but the queen just scoffed. “These are nothing but poisoned lies, fed to you by Fainan peasants. They lost the war, and now they can’t bear that we rule their lands. Nothing more than commoner drivel, upset about a hierarchy that does not suit their interests.”
