“Look at this.” Dris pointed to handwriting next to a painting of a dissected person.
“What the hell is that?” It was grotesque and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what the princess thought of it.
“This is the book by Gregory Debaru. It’s his experiment on Fae to test how much of their essence could be taken away before they died. It’s odd, but the princess found it interesting. She wrote here, in beautiful handwriting might I add, that she wondered which tools he used, or if it was his gifts that he used on the experiment, since it wasn’t in his description.”
Gross! Why they hell did she think she needed to know this information? We continued to read and think about the meaning of her notes. It wasn’t adding up. As always, something vital was missing from the puzzle.
A knock on my door had both of us lift our heads. It wasn’t loud like Rune’s booming against my chambers, so it must be someone else. I gently placed the book I was reading on the bed and walked to the door. Dris resumed reading.
“Human Sapphira.” A guard wearing armor stood in the hall, his face completely void of any emotion while he waited for me to fully open the door.
“Just Sapphira. Is everything OK?” It was odd having a guard here, then all the blood drained from my face. They must know we broke into the princess’s chambers last night.
I took a small step back, ready to close the door if he tried to grab me, but he didn’t say anything else as his hand lifted with a folded and sealed letter in his grasp. I wasn’t in trouble. Relieved, I wanted to collapse against the stone tiles. My hand reached out to take the letter and as soon as I held the elegant parchment, the guard left.
“What’s that?” Dris’s attention was solely on my hand as I turned to shut the door behind me.
“A letter of sorts.”
“That’s the queen’s seal.” She pointed with awe.
Slight remorse tore at me as I ripped it open. The seal of Crysia was beautiful in the nearly white wax.
“She wants me to join her for tea again.” I bit my lip to prevent myself from screaming excitedly.
“Oh, that’s so wonderful! When?” Dris was already up and putting the books back into a pile on the ground where they were before.
“Uh, in like twenty minutes.” Crap. OK. I could be ready and out to the waterfall where she requested to meet. I knew my appearance needed work, so I would do the best I could.
“I’ll leave you to it then. Have fun and we will work on this later.”
“You are the best. I’m really glad I have you as a friend.” It was the first time either of us had said anything out loud with the title of friends, but we knew it was true.
“I’m glad you’re my friend as well, Sapphira. We oddballs got to stick together.” She reached over and hugged me. My arms wrapped around her petite form and squeezed. It was so nice having a friend.
“OK. Now get your human butt ready for a tea date with the queen.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Dressed in a nice pair of leggings and a thigh-length tunic with a belt around my waist, I walked out of the palace to the waterfall.
I’d tried to make my hair prettier than the curly mess it was when I woke up, except the frizziness was not working with me. It usually got extra crazy when rain was near, something I’d yet to experience in the Fae realm. I thought about the possibility of rain looking magical on the steppingstones to the waterfall, when I noticed the queen wasn’t sitting on the blanket with her beautiful tea set like she was last time.
I didn’t see any guards, though I knew they were around somewhere.
“Where . . .” I muttered to myself. The queen stood in the middle of the river, her hand reaching into the waterfall, which battered her delicate fingers. A diamond was the strongest of the gems, so maybe it really didn’t feel like anything against her Fae hand.
The beautiful red and creamy long dress she wore was soaked up to her knees. It twisted and struggled against the surge of water trying to rip it off of her. Her attention settled on the falls, like she saw a serene image in the reflection of the water. Her expression was beautiful, like the look of a woman in love seeing her lover. A gentle smile graced her lips, not too bright, but subtle enough to know she thought of something happy.
I liked seeing her like this, even in the odd situation of the moment. The queen stood in the river, her hand in the waterfall like it whispered sweet nothings in her ear peacefully.
“What the—“
Oh, that son of a bitch.
A black snout pressed through the water into her hand. I knew exactly what was on the other side of the waterfall. Or better yet, who was there. Desmire played with the queen incognito. To anyone else it looked the like queen merely caressed the waterfall, the snout was barely recognizable as the dragon’s. I only knew what it was because I’d seen him before.
What was he doing here? What was he doing with the queen? Why was she touching him like she knew him and missed him?
I became increasingly uncomfortable as I watched intimate relations between them. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the waterfall. I glanced around, unsure of what else to do, but just standing there wasn’t good, either. I looked guilty, like I was watching them, and I shouldn’t be. She could get mad that I’d arrived a moment before and stayed silent instead of announcing my presence.
The war waging in my mind tilted on the side of saying something, even though it would interrupt their moment.
“Queen Olyndria?” My voice was louder than I intended it to be but the tone did the job. The black snout disappeared into what had to be a cave behind the waterfall, and the queen still stood there looking at the reflection in front of her.
With haste, I walked over to Her Majesty, ready to help her in case she got swept under by the rolling waters under the falls. She gave me a sweet smile as she walked toward the blanket. The wet train of her dress collected dirt as she stepped onto the bank of the river.
“Black love sees a rat inside the palace.” She sat down gingerly on the blanket, speaking with grace, the soaked part of her dress spreading into the drier spots. I handed her a napkin.
“Here’s this to dry yourself, if you need it.”
She didn’t take the napkin and this time poured the tea for us. Her hands tremored and the tea spilled more on the blanket than into the cup, but I smiled and thanked her.
“I’m so glad you invited me; I can’t explain it but I feel happy to be around you.” My admission brought a pink blush to my cheeks. She continued to sip from her half-filled teacup.
“I’ve been training a lot with Rune and Najen. I’m getting pretty good, too. I think the hatchet is my favorite.” The queen drank her tea while I talked as I did last time, telling her about my stay in Crysia, leaving out all the things I thought would upset her, like her daughter or meeting Desmire.
After our third round of tea and a tasty cheese sandwich with meat inside, a green-headed guard approached in haste toward the queen. “Your Majesty, the king has arrived from his hunt. He’s eager to see you and is on his way.” The guard retreated shortly after delivering his announcement.
I hadn’t been interested in meeting the king after everything I’d heard about the lazy, entitled man. It was bound to happen one day, so I was glad to be near the queen now that the moment had come. Her delicate hands gripped onto my arms and pulled me toward the river. She dragged me, even though her face was still serene.