Chapter 38
With the response about the meeting sent to Queen Sparrow, Beatryce went out to the garden to sit and think. Merylynn went with her but said nothing. Bea was pleased that her new councilor was astute enough to understand there was a time for talking and a time for keeping silent.
Bea had chosen a spot near one of the smaller ponds. For the first time in her memory, water lilies had appeared. A gorgeous black butterfly landed on one. “They’re very pretty, aren’t they?”
“The lilies? Yes,” Merylynn said. “I don’t recall seeing them anywhere in Malveaux before.”
“Neither do I.” Bea’s thoughts were moving faster than she could process them. The darkness shaded everything, making it harder for her to know what was genuinely her own and what belonged to it. “What if I truly wanted peace?”
Merylynn didn’t respond immediately. “You mean when you go to negotiate with the Radiant queen?”
“Yes. I know what my mother wants. She wants Sparrow dead.” The darkness hissed with delight. Bea nodded. “And I do, too, I suppose. She has caused us so much grief. But after that is accomplished, I would like peace.”
“May I speak freely?”
Bea cast a quick glance at Merylynn. “Of course. You’re my councilor. I expect that of you.”
“If you kill the Radiant queen and not her son, there will never be peace. I would imagine the same can be said if you leave her Grym guard alive. There is no way he will not avenge her death.”
“So I must kill them all or this turmoil continues.”
“You must kill every member of her court that you possibly can and put provisions in place to see that the citizens of Summerton do not rise up against Malveaux, or we will be at war for generations to come.”
Bea sighed. This was exactly what Leda had told her. Leda, who also wanted the Radiant queen dead. The problem with doing that was it was all so complicated. There were so many people who had to be eliminated. The darkness muttered something about her being weak.
She bristled at that. She was not weak. She just did not want to do her mother’s bidding and end up paying for it with her life. In truth, she was starting to enjoy being queen. Marrying Dren and ruling together held greater appeal than she could have imagined.
She’d already begun thinking about what their children might be like. And what sort of kingdom she would leave for them.
“What is your plan for the meeting?” Merylynn asked.
Bea could only answer honestly. “I don’t know yet. It all depends on what Elyra can do. But she knows the entire Radiant court must be dispatched or escape won’t be possible.”
“I don’t like putting it all on her.” Merylynn shook her head. “I fear there are too many ways that could go badly. You don’t even know what she’s capable of, beyond the dream-walking.”
“That’s true,” Bea admitted.
“And we only have her word that she really can do that. It’s not as if you can send Sparrow another letter, asking if she was tormented in her dreams.”
Bea groaned at the truth of that. “Do you think I was wrong to bring Elyra into my employ?”
“No, my lady. Not at all. What she showed you in that sitting room was truly impressive. I did not mean to cast doubt. I suppose I was just thinking out loud.”
“All the same, you make a worthwhile observation. What should I do about this meeting then?”
“What magic of your own do you possess, if I might ask?”
Bea frowned. It was as if Merylynn, even in her gentle way, was speaking Leda’s words. “Very little. I know that is a shortcoming of my own doing, but there’s little I can do in a matter of days to change it.”
A new thought sprang into Bea’s head. “What skills do you possess?”
Merylynn brightened. “I can accurately predict the rain. Not much use when the curse covered the kingdom in gloom and the rain fell almost daily, but since the sun has returned, it’s a bit more useful.”
“But not much help when it comes to conquering Summerton.”
“No, sadly.”
For a while, they both went silent again.
Then Merylynn spoke. “What if you were to present the queen with a gift that carried a potent spell. Or maybe a slow-acting poison. Something that wouldn’t engage until well after we’d left.
You could accomplish exactly what you set out to do with no danger to yourself.
You could take out her entire court, if the thing was right. ”
Bea inhaled as the idea took root. “Yes. That would work. Again, it would mean relying on Elyra. But she must have sufficient magic. For one thing, if she didn’t, Grylan wouldn’t have been silent about her being made Minister.
For another, my uncle wouldn’t have recommended her, regardless of whether or not he desires the throne for himself.
He knows that Elyra would be found out for a fraud in a matter of days. ”
Merylynn nodded eagerly. “I agree. The good news is she’s got time to figure out this delayed spell or poison. If she’s really that good, a few days should be plenty.”
“I agree.” Bea stood. “Let’s go speak to her now. Tell her what I want and ask her how possible she thinks it is. Then we’ll go to the seamstress.” She smiled.
The visit to Elyra’s took almost no time. Bea and Merylynn quickly explained what they’d come up with and turned it over to Elyra. She had loved Bea’s idea for a slow-acting spell and had promised to immediately go to work concocting something.
With the plan resolved, Bea was free to focus on her wedding gown and admire the creation she had helped design.
Unfortunately, as she stood before the mirror, the creation hanging from her body was not bringing her the joy she’d expected. For once, it had nothing to do with the Radiant queen.
No, the reason Bea’s gown was not filling her with the happiness she’d expected was because in the short amount of time since she’d last tried it on, a great deal had happened. It felt as if a decade had passed and not merely a matter of days.
The way she envisioned herself now was completely different. Her style, her taste, her desired image—all of it had changed.
For a princess, this gown was extravagantly perfect. For a queen, it was an embarrassing excess.
Her mother had tried to tell her as much, but she hadn’t listened. Of course, she hadn’t been queen then, either.
With a sigh, she frowned at the reflection in the mirror. “No, this will not do.”
Mistress Finefrock and Merylynn both looked confused. Mistress Finefrock twisted her hands together. “I did my best to follow your wishes, my lady.”
“I understand that,” Bea said. “But I am the queen now. I cannot get married in something this…frivolous. This looks more like a cake than a gown. It’s not fit for a queen.”
“I see,” Mistress Finefrock said.
Merylynn tilted her head. “You know, if you took off the tulle and most of the trimmings, then removed several of the underskirts, while detaching those bows from the shoulders, it might be all right.”
“No,” Bea repeated. “Even that would not be enough. I need something much more regal. Something befitting my status.”
If Mistress Finefrock was upset by the rejection of her creation, she was clever enough not to let it show. “I understand, my lady. How quickly do you need this gown?”
They still hadn’t set a date. “You’ll have whatever time you need.”
“Very good. Perhaps you can give me an idea of a silhouette you’d prefer, and we can begin anew with that.”
Bea gave the woman a hard look. The darkness whirled within her.
She was tired of having to make so many decisions.
What good were the servants in her court if she still had to do everything?
“You are the royal seamstress. Shouldn’t you know what sort of gown would look best on your queen? Isn’t that your job?”
Mistress Finefrock nodded quickly. “Yes, my lady, you are absolutely right. I’ll just get my sketchbook, some new fabric samples, and I’ll find a fresh bolt of muslin so that we can drape something new.” She scurried off, leaving Bea and Merylynn alone.
Bea was still frowning. “Get this dress off me.”
Merylynn hopped up onto the platform and began undoing the buttons down the back. “What will you wear to meet Sparrow?”
Bea hadn’t even begun to think about that, but now that Merylynn had said it, she could think of nothing else. “It must be something impressive. Something that makes it clear I am the queen. But also something that makes me look strong. A little dangerous, perhaps.”
“Like your mother,” Merylynn said.
Bea sighed as she gazed at herself in the mirror. “But I am not my mother. Do you think I could manage such a look?”
“Of course you can. But if I’m being honest, I don’t know that your current dressing room holds such an outfit. I’ve seen your mother in plenty of them, however. Do you think she’d let you borrow something from her—”
“No,” Bea said firmly. “And I’m not asking. Tenebrae changed my mother. She has become difficult. Angry at me, angry at Sparrow, angry at life.”
“I believe she has been angry at Sparrow for some time.” Merylynn came around to tug the shoulders of the gown free.
“Angrier, then,” Bea corrected. She shook her arms, slipping them out of the gown.
Merylynn took the gown with great care, lifting it free of the floor so it wouldn’t drag. “Well, I’m sure we’ll find something suitable for you to wear. Even if I have to steal something from your mother’s dressing room.”
“You’d do that?”
Merylynn smiled. “For you, my lady? Of course I would.”
That touched Bea deeply. She considered her friend. She’d asked nothing of Bea. She was grateful for the job, grateful for the dresses Bea had given her, and had already proven herself helpful to Bea.
More than her lady’s maids or even her uncle, despite his recent discovery of Elyra. And unlike her uncle, Bea could rely on Merylynn to tell her the truth. Even when the truth was hard to speak.
Merylynn might be Bea’s truest friend and most trustworthy ally. A new thought popped into her head, sending a little trill of nerves through her. The darkness growled softly, wary of her idea.
To Bea, that seemed reason enough to go through with it. “I know where we can find something for me to wear.”
Merylynn was hoisting the gown over the dress form in an attempt to rehang it. “Oh? Where’s that?”
“It’s a…vault of sorts.” Bea swallowed. The words were out. What was done was done. “I’ll show you when we get back to my quarters.”