“Charlie!” she whispered crossly. “You have to disappear for a bit. Go and do your Carparell squire act and when the Prince is here you can carry messages for me. We will be watched too closely to be able to do much more I’m sure.”
She handed his hands back to him. Charlie melted at the touch of her skin against his and a delicious lassitude fell over him. He had something to do… it was important… what was it? But all he could focus on were her soft pink lips that beckoned him forward.
“Come and find me tomorrow,” whispered the Queen, as she disappeared back into her bedroom, leaving the scent of flowers behind. It wasn’t until the door clicked shut that the spell was broken and Charlie stood shivering in the bathroom, completely confused and mightily uncomfortable. He adjusted the front of his trousers and shook his head to dispel the last of the fog of desire that had gripped him so hard.
Goddess be damned! he thought as he stumbled out of the bathroom and into the secret tunnel in the wall. That woman really is a witch.
Chapter Thirty
“Anticipation is the Fuel for Love’s Fire”
Adele shifted slightly, so no one could kick her in the face, but then accidentally put her hand onto a puddle of drool pooling by her knee and almost gave the game away by groaning in disgust.
Aaron giggled and was quickly shushed by Natalie. Even the three very overgrown puppies lay with their heads on their paws, quiet as mice. Stella burrowed her face deeper into Adele’s neck as the Royal Family all grinned gleefully at each other.
“…and I won’t ask you again!” Tilburn was shouting, thoroughly incensed. “Where are Her Majesty and the children?”
“I don’t know Mr. Tilburn, really I don’t,” replied Lady Olivia calmly. “But I’ll thank you to stop shouting at me.”
“Really, not very gentlemanly, Sir, yelling at a lady like that,” interjected Captain Lucky. From under the table the children watched as Lucky’s boots shifted as he re-crossed his ankles. “I’ve already told you that just as soon as I finish breakfast I’ll go and look for them.”
At this Natalie clapped both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“Well, I never! In all my life! Breakfast! When there is so much to be done…” blustered Tilburn and Adele could almost hear him turning purple.
“You have my word as a Captain, Sir,” answered Lucky.
“Breakfast, indeed! Well you have your breakfast, Captain Lucky,” snapped Tilburn. “I shall find Her Majesty myself and she will hear about this insubordination you can be assured of that!”
Everyone under the table listened hard as Tilburn stalked from the room still muttering threats.
“Is it really insubordination Captain?” asked Lady Olivia curiously. “Can Mr. Tilburn get you into trouble?”
“Not at all, Lady Olivia,” answered Lucky. “No one commands the Queen’s Guard, but the Queen herself. Speaking of: where is our Royal Family? Are we certain they haven’t disappeared altogether? Perhaps they are hiding in the tea cups?”
“No, but I do hear giggling, Captain,” said Lady Olivia. “Perhaps we should try and find the source of it?”
“Hmmm, could they be…” Captain Lucky swung up the tablecloth, surprising the children. “Under the table!” he shouted.
The children screamed so loudly it set the dogs off barking and Adele had to cover Stella’s ears to stop her from wailing in fright.
The family climbed out from under the table, the children ecstatic with the success of their game. Driving Mr. Tilburn mad was becoming a popular pastime with them. Lady Olivia tried to settle the children back down to their breakfast, but with the dogs stealing bacon off the table and Aaron insisting Captain Lucky repeat the “Under the Table” gag, it was an exercise in futility.
Adele smiled at all of the noisy chaos in the sunny Breakfast Room and pulled Stella in for a firmer cuddle. The nannies had already been dismissed to organize the children’s clothing for the big day, so Adele didn’t have to share her baby’s cuddles with anyone else just now. Despite how useful they were, Adele still felt a lingering jealousy that her children had been so happy to replace her affection with the three nannies. She had never had to share her children with anyone before and it always hurt her feelings a little when the baby, in particular, went to another woman.
Adele noticed that Natalie was drawing with a charcoal pencil on her cloth napkin and leaned over to tell her to stop making a mess, but stopped when she saw what her daughter had drawn.
“Natalie, darling, that is beautiful! What is it?”
“It’s the little movie box from Prince Rainere’s labora-tormy,” Natalie replied, looking up at Adele with a proud smile.
“Laboratory,” Adele corrected her as she examined the intricate sketch of the machine from the Grey Palace.
“Yes, labora-tormy,” agreed Natalie. “See, that’s where the Bad Thought goes.”
Adele looked at her daughter with new eyes. When had her little six-year-old started growing up so much? “Natalie, it’s one of the cleverest things you’ve ever drawn.”
Natalie smiled but her expression turned wistful. “I wish I could go back to the Grey Palace again,” she said.
“So you can see the laboratory again?” Adele touched her daughter’s hand.
“So I can see him again,” Natalie sighed and continued with her sketch.
Adele blinked. Obviously Natalie hadn’t forgotten her professed love for the Prince, as she often did with the others like, for instance, QG Leith who had passed very quickly out of her affections for one reason or another.
“Natalie…”
Suddenly, the Breakfast Room doors banged open and General Ohrig came striding into the room, his dress boots clumping on the floorboards. “What’s all this I hear about the Royal Family going missing? Tilburn is shrieking fit to bust up and down the corridors searching for you all.”
He approached the table and greeted Adele’s smile with a bow. “But I can see you are all accounted for, except for Prince Aaron. May I ask if you ate him for breakfast?”
A loud giggling from under the table spoiled the surprise.
“Or is he...?” General Ohrig snapped up the tablecloth and shouted: “Under the table!” making Lady Olivia drop her cup of tea and sending Stella whimpering into her mother’s neck again. But Natalie and Aaron were both crying with laughter as their puppies went berserk. Adele giggled along with her children. Whatever else that could be said about the people of her Court, they all loved children dearly.
The dogs had just about calmed down when Bertie and Pere Raven came bursting in and set them off again. Aaron slipped under the table when he saw the newcomers, but Adele tried to head the game off before it went too far.
“Bertie, Pere Raven, how nice to see you this early in the morning,” she said warmly. She was in a good mood today and could barely keep in her seat with excitement.
“And you, Your Majesty,” smiled Bertie, looking around at the chaos of his Breakfast Room. “I have to say you are some of the noisiest and troublesome guests we’ve had in a while. I’ve only just heard this morning that you’d all disappeared. Yet here you are, yelling up a storm and eating all my good breakfast bacon.”
The Prince and Pere Raven took seats on either side of Adele and General Ohrig sat at the end of the table opposite her. Despite his good humor with the children he looked tense and Adele avoided his eye.
“Uncle Bertie, are we really your worst guests?” asked Natalie curiously. Prince Bertrand II had insisted the children address him as Uncle Bertie when they arrived. He said being called Prince in his own home felt like carrying an umbrella inside, silly and unnecessary.
Bertie chuckled. “Not at all my girl! We had some smelly cowherds from my wife’s family come down from the High Country and stay with us for two weeks. They all smelled of cow poop and refused to take baths. It was disgusting! You all smell quite lovely.”
Natalie giggled and returned to her drawing.
&nb
sp; “So, Your Majesty, I am quite ecstatic that you could be with us on this most momentous of racing days.” Bertie was pink and shiny with glee, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he piled his plate high with bacon and soft rolls. “It’s been almost three hundred years since the Marchant Family has participated in our Carnival. Three hundred! And today we will make legal and racing history by repealing the ban on Marchant royals crossing our borders. It really is wonderful that your presence in our humble home has been the reason for Prince Rainere to finally come out of hermitage and race his famous chargers alongside our own today.”
“Oh, I really don’t think it was me…” Adele protested, but felt her words catch in her throat as General Ohrig’s gaze fell on her.
“But, it absolutely was, Your Majesty!” Bertie blithely continued. “He stated in his letter that he felt that your presence at Belvoir marked a new beginning for the nation of Unisia as well as a new…what was it?... integration of the Marchant Family back into society. Pretty thrilling if you ask me!”
Bertie rubbed his hands together and grinned around the table. “This is going to make the Horse Market so exciting next week. Everyone is going to want to stud my Blue Streak when he beats a Marchant charger.”
“Are you so sure that Blue Streak can win against a Marchant horse, Bertie?” asked Pere Rave doubtfully. “I’ve never seen one run, but I’ve heard of their legendary speed, as everyone has. Apparently dark Magic was bred right into their bones.”
“Pah!” Bertie waved away the very idea. “It won’t matter a jot when they are on Belvoir land. His horses will only have their breeding and training to rely on, just like everyone else.” He held his finger in the air, a proud grin on his face. “And that is how I know Blue Streak will take the prize!”
Adele sat back in her chair. She was still stunned that Rainere was risking so much to come to Belvoir, but a little part of her couldn’t help but feel thrilled that he would act so recklessly just to see her again.
“Uncle Bertie what will happen to Prince Rainere when he comes here? He told me he is a Creature of Magic, won’t the Curse in Belvoir hurt him?” Natalie asked and looked so stricken that Bertie immediately calmed himself to soothe her.
“Oh no, my poppet, I’m sure the Prince will be fine. According to the good doctor, Pere Raven, the Prince will just age like you and me when he gets here. He was such a young man when he received the Immortality Spell that I’m sure a few days won’t matter much to him.”
“But do you know for sure?” insisted Natalie.
“I know for sure, Princess Natalie,” interjected Pere Raven. “As a student of Magic and doctor of health I can tell you that the Prince will be fine. And I’m sure he won’t mind being two days older if he gets to see you again.”
The priest beamed at Natalie until she smiled back.
“He won’t mind,” she said. “He is so strong and clever.”
“Do you like His Highness, Princess Natalie?” asked Bertie curiously. “You didn’t think he was scary when you met him?” Bertie glanced over at Adele to gauge her reaction to the conversation, but she was too busy shoving toast in her mouth to say anything.
“I love him,” said Natalie with a shrug. “He is so handsome and his Palace is full of so many interesting things. Some things he lets me touch because I am big, but other things he says I can study when I’m older. He is very Magic, you know, but he doesn’t scare me.”
A nervous laugh bubbled up and out of Adele and filled the silence that had fallen over the table at Natalie’s answer. Lady Olivia was the first to join in with her and soon everyone was chuckling. Even Aaron, who was still under the table.
“Well, if that’s the case, you must be at my side to greet His Highness when he arrives later this morning, because he doesn’t scare me either,” said Bertie with a wink.
“Yes, but I’m not scared because I love him. You aren’t scared because he doesn’t have his Magic here,” said Natalie with her usual sledgehammer wit.
“Natalie!” Adele was mortified by her daughter’s reply. “Apologize to Uncle Bertie immediately. That was a rude thing to say.”
“But he’s laughing,” protested Natalie, pointing at the old Prince.
“It’s fine, Your Majesty. Princess Natalie has my measure,” chuckled Bertie. “I think we shall make a fine team when we greet the Prince and present him to your mother.”
Adele smiled quickly at Bertie, but shot Natalie a look to let her daughter know this wasn’t over despite Bertie’s forgiving nature. She signaled for Lady Olivia to help her gather the children together. She really needed a minute to get her emotions under control and sitting at the table with General Ohrig watching her so closely wasn’t helping. As the Royal Family hustled from the room Ohrig managed to catch Adele’s eye though she did her best to avoid it.
“Majesty, if we could take a quick meeting?” He kept his voice low but Lady Olivia heard him as she walked past on the arm of Captain Lucky.
“Oh, General, can it wait please? Her Majesty has got so much to do to prepare for the day,” begged Lady Olivia and fluttered her eyelashes prettily.
General Ohrig’s icy blue gaze proved he was immune to the lady’s charms, but Lucky was already bowing, his cheeks pink.
“It’s about a certain issue that we discussed last night,” insisted the General.
“I’m sorry but it will have to wait,” said Adele. “Maybe you can see me before the Prince arrives in a few hours?”
General Ohrig gave a tight-lipped nod and Adele tried not to feel chagrined by his anger. There was too much to do this morning. Rainere was coming and Adele had to find another waste bin before her breakfast could show itself again. Sidestepping the General, Adele hurried out after her children and their puppies, praying she made it back to her room in time.
Chapter Thirty-One
“And Look How it Burns”
Prince Rainere was vibrating. Literally. The power of the portal in front of him was throwing off so much radiation, that he almost couldn’t stand it. He put a hand on the neck of his horse, Titor, who stood beside him and steadied himself. The beast had closed its eyes to the brightly shining portal, but that was the only discomfort it showed at being so close to it.
“Three days, Master,” Grotto was saying. “That is all we have until the next full moon. Three short days to get the marriage ceremony underway and your ascension completed before Empress Ka-kik requires you to bring the Queen before her. You must not dally in Belvoir, but bring her back to the Grey Palace immediately. I got a message to the priest to join us before the sun sets today…”
Rainere didn’t bother to concentrate too closely on what Grotto was saying. He had heard it a hundred times by now. Instead, he flexed his hands into fists and felt a jolt as the power of the Gift surged through him in an intoxicating stream. Grotto had convinced him to take in as much of the Gift as he could the second time, not only to heal after Adele had depleted him, but also to give him the strength to suffer the absence of the Immortality Curse when he stepped onto Belvoir lands again. His little experiment crossing the portal with that urchin messenger had let him know how weak he would become when it had taken a huge effort just to keep on his feet as all the Magic had dropped away from his body. He would need all the strength he could get to last an entire day, and possibly a night, without his Magic.
Rainere examined the portal before him for faults. He’d had to work hard to make it big enough to fit Titor and he still wasn’t sure that it would be able to maintain its integrity as such a large creature passed through it. The spell he had used was from the time of the last great war when portals had been used to move huge warships across the lands of Unisia, and he wasn’t sure he’d read it correctly. He gave one of the seams a cautious poke and it made an angry fizzing noise. Rainere shrugged mentally, it mattered not. He would use the portal regardless of any danger. Adelena was waiting for him on the other side and the two days they had been apart had been agony. He refused t
o be away from her any longer, even if he had to walk to Belvoir from here himself.
His heart ached in his chest and adrenalin skittered through his blood at the thought of her. Ever since their last night together when she had ripped into him so deeply and he had heard the voice of the Goddess whispering words of love to him, Rainere had felt like a different man. He had agreed to imbibe the Gift with a recklessness that had never been his way, soaking it up until his blood was saturated with power. He never once thought of the cost involved as he had always done, but instead only thought of the carnal pleasure it would give Adelena to drink this much power from him when they next lay together. The memory of Adelena’s gasps whispered in his ears, making him shiver and roll his shoulders.
Grotto touched his arm lightly. “Please, Master. Be careful. There will be no wizards at the Carnival but the Queen will still have her Guard to protect her.”
Rainere laughed and the sound was slightly crazed, even to his own ears. “What will they protect her from, Grotto? I’m just a humble man over there.” He chuckled again and the sound reverberated around the deep caverns and tunnels of the Portal Station under the palace. The surrounding archways of other portals, dead from disuse, gaped darkly and returned his laughter back to him in echoes.
“Master,” whispered Grotto and his voice was infused with all the worry and hope that was contained in his old frame. “Just please, bring her back.”
Rainere gave his old manservant a nod and pulled his jacket down firmly. It was old and the fit was slightly too small for him, but it was important that he wear the proper racing attire at the Carnival. Rainere gave the portal another once over. If only he had had Schiss here to test it for him, but the little man-Spider had not been be seen for days.
The Prince firmly grasped the bridle of his horse. The drunken giddiness that threatened to overwhelm him finally passed and he took a step toward the glittering portal, green sparks showering him already. He stepped through, pulling Titor by his side, and was gone.
The Queen Revealed Page 21
