Hours later, my stomach was a mess of knots as I waited outside the door to Queen Cora’s parlour room. Ivy and I had spent hours crafting the right medicine. Then we took it to the kitchens, found the man’s friend, and made sure to examine the rest of the kitchen staff. Thankfully, there were no other signs of fishpox, but there were a few cases of infected cuts that needed seeing to, burns, sore throats, complaints of aches and pains. The longer we stayed, the more our queue of patients grew.
But it was only when I spotted Mae waiting in the line that I was forced to abandon the makeshift clinic we’d started. With a deeply apologetic look, I left Ivy to deal with the rest and scurried off in search of the Ryntook Queen.
Now I was here, I was resisting the urge to run back and hide in the kitchens.
“Enter,” Queen Cora called from the other side of the door. My stomach dropped, and after taking about ten ‘final’ breaths, I pushed open the door and entered the room.
Inside, Queen Cora was seated at a large round table, surrounded by bookshelves and tropical plants. Evening sun poured in through the huge open windows, along with the distant cawing of sea birds. Sitting beside Cora were the two regally dressed Dalking Queens, and beside them sat a young boy, no older than ten. With his dark, curly hair, warm brown skin, and near-black eyes, he looked strikingly similar to Cora. Her son, I presumed.
He was the only one to offer me a warm smile as I entered.
“Princess Naria.” Queen Cora frowned, lowering her playing cards. “How nice of you to finally join us.” The rest ofthe table offered me quiet greetings while I buried my numb fingers in my skirts.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.
I opened my mouth to apologise but all that came out was a dry squeak. After clearing my throat, I finally managed, “I’m so sorry for missing our morning appointment, I—”
Queen Cora cut me off with a silent raise of her palm. “A young girl came to the grounds to inform me that you were occupied with tending to one of my servants – a man you insisted was gravely ill… Is this true?” The Queen’s tone was cold, emotionless. It made my knees shake as I nodded.
“Naria…” she scolded, and my gaze fell to the floor. But then I was hit by a soft whoosh of ocean breeze from the open windows, followed by the last words I expected to hear. “I understand why you did it and I forgive you for missing your appointment.”
I glanced up. “You understand?”
The anger on her face had settled, replaced by a gentle smile. “I do,” she confirmed, but then her smile dropped. “Although I’m afraid I do not yet forgive you for proceeding to spend the rest of the afternoon in the kitchens.”
I stiffened, suddenly feeling like a guilty child who’d been caught sneaking around past their bedtime.
“I also do not yet forgive you for apparently missing both breakfast and lunch. Your betrothed informed me that he hadn’t seen you since this morning. Have you eaten at all today?” She quirked a brow.
“I… umm.” Now that she mentioned it, I was rather hungry. With a queue of patients out of the door, it’d been a little difficult to find time for a break. As if to further proveher point, my stomach let out an angry growl.
“Sit down, Naria,” she sighed. “You can start making it up to me by eating some of the pastries.” She gestured to a plate piled high with fruit tarts and baked pastries in the centre of the table. “Please.”
Without another word, I scurried to a free seat and sat down, grabbing a pastry and bringing it to my lips. I wolfed the jammy thing down with none of the politeness of a princess, but thankfully, Queen Cora didn’t seem to mind. Neither did her son, who chuckled to himself before gobbling a pastry, too.
“Now that you’re here,” Queen Cora smoothed her skirts, “there are a few matters we need to discuss.”
Helping myself to another pastry, I nodded.
“Firstly, I would like to apologise.” My brows shot up at her words. “I’m afraid there must’ve been some kind of misunderstanding. Your delightful friend, Raena, informed me that a plate of poerfish was delivered to your room after the meeting yesterday.” I didn’t miss the quiet gag from across the table, or Queen Cora’s offended scowl that followed it. “I understand that this fish is an acquired taste so of course I would never have arranged for a plate of it to be delivered to one of my honoured guests, and I deeply apologise that this occurred.”
My eyes narrowed, but before I could consider just how that ended up in my bedchamber, the Queen continued.
“Secondly,” she paused, trying to find the right words, “I know that you are new to this world and that you can hardly be blamed for any ignorance when it comes to prioritising certain duties – especially considering your unusual upbringing—”
“There is nothing unusual about growing up in theforest,” Sadie, the harsher-looking Dalking Queen, cut in.
I glanced her way. The woman’s ashy blonde hair was tied in a tight knot beneath her crown while her wife, seated beside her, wore her hair in long brown waves. With their matching forest-green gowns, there was no denying which kingdom they ruled over. The only confusion I had was why they were both here, playing cards at a table with Queen Cora.
“Of course, forgive me,” Cora chuckled. “It’s easy to forget we are in the presence oftree people.”
I almost choked on my pastry.
“At least we do not share baths and eat manure fish,” Colette, the other Dalking Queen, spouted.
There was a wave of silence. Cora’s mouth twitched. And then, as if a curtain to the rest of the palace had fallen, the three queens were laughing like old friends. I blinked at the scene before me. Of course, rulers were allowed to have friends, but they’d all seemed so formal at the ball last summer, so focused on their kingdoms. Perhaps Lukas could learn a thing or two.
Sadie swiped a pastry from the centre of the table before leaning back in her seat and tossing the whole thing into her mouth. “You are being too harsh on the girl,” she remarked, somehow still graceful with a mouthful of jam. “As if you didn’t miss all our meetings back when you were sneaking around with that guard you now call a husband.”
