Chapter 8 Ariah #2
“How about your apothecary abilities? Do you take after your father?”
“I know very little. Chemistry is something I struggle with.”
“And your use of a blade?”
I hesitate. How am I supposed to answer that? “Normal? Mainly just for cooking.”
“Archery?”
“I skipped those lessons as a kid.”
She begins circling me again, like a bird waiting for their prey to die. “And how about sneaking in and out of places undetected?”
“I…don’t…know. I’ve never tried. Why are you asking these questions?” I spin to her as she passes between me and the desk.
“Have you ever killed someone?” she continues, ignoring my question entirely.
“What? Absolutely not.”
She leans against the desk and stares at me, her eyes drift from the hem of my dress that brushes the wooden floor up to my dangling earrings.
“Your father’s hands shook when he poured my tea.
” My eyes draw close together, not understanding what she’s getting at.
“And all your mother did was talk about her children. I didn’t think time would make them so fragile. You see, Ariah, I came to collect.”
“Collect what?” Her words are not aligning for me.
“Your parents were once a part of my Foxes. Your father could mix the kind of concoctions all other kingdoms were envious of. My favorites were his poisons, though. He once created a mixture that slowly burned a man from the inside out. His flesh began to boil and melted straight off his bones during a coronation. And your mother, well, she was something special. She moved with the night and could track down anything I asked of her. I reckon she has a body total that’s more than all the workers in the brothels in Haymel combined.
Though I suspect they brought a different kind of pleasure. A different kind of lust.”
Bodies. Poisons. Blades. Is she mad?
Instinctively, I step away from her. I’ve thought about what it would be like to meet the Queen before, but never something like this. Slowly, the questions and her little monologue set in, and the more it all saturates, the more I’m disturbed.
“Are you calling my parents murderers?” It takes a few attempts to conjure up any kind of coherent sentence, but finally I get it out.
She smiles. “I call them loyalists. You seem to be taking a little longer to get this than I’d like. Your parents are older and have lost some of the qualities I look for in my Foxes. Yet, they still owe me. Instead, I’d like to make a deal with you.”
“Me?”
“I promised your parents a safe life here in Foxhead. The chance to live out their love.” She looks like she’s going to be sick when saying that word.
“Under the condition that at any time I could come back and ask for a favor. I didn’t think that favor would take nearly thirty years, but here we are.
” She pulls something from the pocket of her dress, making her ensemble even more desirable.
Holding up a letter, she continues. “Ariah Tyddle, I am giving you the opportunity to pay off your parents’ debt.
If you come back to the castle with me, train under my Foxes, and serve me in court for the next year, I’ll consider their debt paid. ”
“And if I say no?” I ask, trying to get a better glimpse of the paper in her hand.
“Then I say yes to this letter, which will then grant the council of Foxhead permission to marry you off to the highest bidder, which I assume is something you don’t want since you denied them.
” Dammit, she knows. Moving closer, she draws a finger and points it at me.
“Better yet, I’ll make it a law. Everyone in Haymel shall be forced to marry for the convenience of their village councils.
A way for all to serve the crown.” She pulls back, thinking of her own words.
“That’s actually not a bad idea though…”
That’s a terrible idea, and to know my “no” would set the new law in motion is sickening.
“Alright, what if I say yes and fail at being one of your so-called Foxes?”
“Then you keep trying until you succeed, or until you or your parents die.”
“I want to make conditions of my own.” She stays quiet and almost a little too still.
“If I do what you ask, you not only make their debt disappear, but you make this absurd practice vanish. No more elders intruding on another’s life.
And…” I really have nothing else but might as well see what I can get.
“And I get to make a dress for you to wear to your most attended event.”
“Is that all?”
“You clear my best friend’s parents’ debt so she doesn’t have to marry Beetlerum.”
“That one isn’t possible. I’m going to attend her wedding tomorrow.
It would cause too much of a fuss, and since I have no real reason to end their union, it’s a waste.
However, I will agree with your previous terms. Your parents’ debt, erasing strategic practices, and you may design a dress for me.
The two extra promises come with two extra years. ”
Three years in servitude to the Queen, I should have known she would counter with her own stipulations.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get to meet Queen Cayleen, nor did I think our meeting would result in finding out my parents were in some kind of a cultish group that served her and potentially lead them to do unspeakable things—things the Queen might ask of me.
She makes her way to the door, but before she knocks for her guards, she looks back at me.
“No need for an answer right now. You can give it to me tomorrow at your friend’s marriage ceremony.
Your demands are high and could cost my kingdom a lot, especially that marriage clause of yours.
” She knocks twice before a guard opens, and she slips away.
And just like that, I must make a choice again. This time between two options of which I have no desire for either.