26. Rahzlyn #2
But his words to me were gentle and warm. “Princess. An honor.” He bowed his head. “I oversee this queendom’s defenses, managing the royal guard and enforcing patrols. I hope I get to serve you well.”
“Incoming,” Felaf voiced mirthfully.
A woman burst into the room behind me. “I’m here!”
“And this is Vesperah,” Alekko introduced the flustered woman with a smile. She was a fearsome warrior, decked in shiny black armor with golden skin and beautiful tawny hair. “Our chronically late captain of the City Guard and second in command, should anything happen to me.”
“Apologies for my tardiness.” Vesperah took a seat in the empty chair beside Alekko. “A riot of looters trying to break into the Baron’s District required my attention.” Her gaze slid up to the commander’s. “And nothing could happen to you, you big brute.”
Alekko winked, surprising me with his open affection in such a formal setting. I instantly decided I liked them both. “A pleasure to meet you,” I said sincerely.
Vesperah’s answering grin was one of wariness, but kind nonetheless. Scorpions were not very trusting, it seemed.
Two advisors introduced themselves next, both female in the event another queen regent should ever need to be elected. They gawked at me like vultures waiting to devour their prey.
“Thank you for those introductions, Vesperah and Alekko.” Maryn dipped her head.
Interesting. Maryn regarded them more highly than she did Gregorios, Raithe, Felaf, and even myself.
“Now, as for your attending ladies,” she continued, “I’ll select a personal team to tend—”
“I’ve already selected someone,” I said. I was ready to be done with this. My head was spinning, and from the icy-hot flashes crawling up my neck, I suspected I had a fever. “Letti. And she can assemble her own team.”
Maryn chuckled. “You can’t be serious. She’s fit for a maid, not a queen’s lady. She has a degenerate leg and dyes her hair purple, for stars’ sake.”
“Neither of which should have anything to do with her ability to assist me.” I didn’t have an initial opinion on Letti’s assistance before, but I did now.
“It certainly speaks to her judgement,” Maryn said. “Or lack thereof.”
Letti proved trustworthy enough for Gregorios. And I hardly trusted any of the people Maryn decided to place near me. “I’ve made my decision.”
Maryn’s tongue flicked over her pearly teeth. I stood my ground.
“The queendom will not be pleased to hear their new Chosen has no proper education and does not hail from an Academy,” one advisor said.
“There will be concerns once they learn a second princess has been Chosen this year. We must do our due diligence to assure everyone, especially the barons, that she is being educated properly in the ways of Scorpion royalty.”
I resisted the urge to toy with the communica necklace hidden beneath my loose dress. So long as I wore it, no one would suspect my Geminian background.
I still couldn’t fathom being Scorpion. My whole life was, to an extent, a lie. As my mind flitted through every interaction with my grandparents, a swell of panic rose within me again. I attempted to shove it down. Now was not the time nor place to lose my shit.
Just a little longer.
“Enlist tutors from the Scorpion Royal Academies,” Gregorios suggested. “It has been done before for educated princesses.”
“Excellent thinking, Seer,” the other advisor praised.
“We’ll ensure she’s educated in the ways of all courtly affairs, true Scorpion history, economics, politics, and the like.
Her mornings will be spent with tutor sessions followed by afternoons learning royal etiquette, with evenings seeking hudro with our seer.
We’ll need to get her fitted appropriately.
Our prized tailor will take months to produce an entire wardrobe—”
“Wait to call upon the tailor,” Maryn said. “No sense in having him waste his time if she’s to perish like the others before you.”
I suppressed a snort. I had little confidence in my ability, but her boldness was off-putting.
“Er—certainly.” The advisor nodded quickly. “As for her grooming—”
“My grooming?” I repeated.
“That hair of yours needs taming, your nails need polishing, and your brows need waxing.” The advisor blinked behind thick spectacles. “Among plenty of other things.”
“Shadowing you would be wise, too, Queen Regent,” Gregorios suggested.
“If she survives her trial, I’d be happy to advise her. More importantly, we must plan a welcome celebration here at the palace. A ball for all the barons and their families, as is tradition. We must do all we can to assure them this is no trick and the curse is on its way to being broken.”
“Once she is fully healed, of course,” Gregorios said. “As is the expectation for all new princesses and princes.”
“The drought has decimated our lands and economic stability,” an advisor countered. “Time is not on our side. She must—”
“The glyphs will take time to heal. After some rest, I will teach her the ways of water so she can find hudro.”
“The queendom does not have time for rest, Seer. Nor do we. Our people are suffering. Our economy is in shambles.”
“I’m well aware—”
“The apostai have taken advantage of our penury,” Maryn said calmly.
“They’re running rampant throughout our cities.
Our curse has sparked fear across the skies.
On the upcoming Equinox, the courts are rumored to call for a vote to incite a marriage decree between our next queen, or myself.
If that were to happen, we would be forced to enter into a union with another royal, granting them the ability to exert their powers in Scorpio whenever—and however—they pleased. ”
Silence blanketed the room.
“Would that be so bad?” I blurted. “If it meant another queen could wield their water magic here?”
I was met with incredulous stares. One advisor chuckled into her hands.
“There is a reason why it’s never been enacted before,” Maryn chided.
“We would lose our sovereignty. They would be free to exert their power however they wished. Their people would be allowed to cross our borders and overrun our queendom without need of a travel stone. Our culture, our way of life, will be forever changed.”
“I see, I only meant—”
“Not to mention,” Maryn interrupted. “Neither of the water queens have an interest in such a union. The king of Aries, however, has been quite vocal about nominating himself.”
“He only wants more power and land. He doesn’t care about our queendom’s welfare,” Alekko voiced as though this were a common troublesome topic. The room hummed in agreement, forgetting my humiliating question. This was why I kept my mouth shut. Nothing intelligent came out of it.
“The marriage decree states that all royals must vote in unison,” Maryn said.
“If we do not have a queen representing Scorpio to vote against such a blasphemous occurrence, then only eleven royals are needed to enact it.” Maryn studied my face.
“It may sound like a difficult feat to see all courts united, but fear invokes volatility. They would do anything to see our queendom tamed.”
My temples pounded. The Equinox was the twenty-first of March, less than eight months away.
Not my problem, I wanted to scream. None of this is my problem!
“Everyone knows the threat this curse poses on our people, including our new princess,” Gregorios said.
“Next year, the Equinox coincides with us entering the Age of Sagittarius for the next 2,000 years. Once Novah is fully rested and healed, I have no doubt she will successfully lead us through the era of nihilism.”
“Then she must find hudro at once,” Maryn rebuked. “The sooner her trial, the better.”
My trial. To prove if I was capable of wielding magic—capable of being a queen.
A queen.
My panic crested, incapable of being quelled. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think—
“Respectfully, Your Highness.”
All eyes turned to Raithe, allowing air to return to my lungs.
He squared his broad shoulders at the queen regent. “I wanted to inquire about the status of Baron Ionis Condor.”
“Now is not the time,” Maryn said dismissively.
“Surely now is as good a time as any?” he pressed.
I observed their exchange carefully. Most people in this room avoided eye contact with Maryn. Raithe appeared emboldened, which seemed to be the case whenever the apostai were the topic of conversation.