The Ashen Queen

by Sidney Gray

“Yes don't worry Sofia, Lord Sutton will make a fine husband,” Evelyn smirked pulling on her elbow length gloves.

  Sofia’s eyes widened, and she had to press her lips together to stop herself from laughing out loud as she realized that Evelyn and Chelsea were both going after the same man. She turned away before Evelyn noticed, she didn’t want to spoil the surprise, she wished she could tell Bree, she would find it hilarious.

  “Does his fiancé know that?” She asked innocently.

  “She's nothing but a farm girl, why he would choose to marry her is beyond me,” her mother snapped, “Evelyn would make a much more suitable wife.”

  “Maybe they’re in love?”

  Evelyn and their mother burst into laughter and Sofia rolled her eyes at Lucy behind their mother's back, Lucy stifled a laugh. Sofia pulled Lucy into her side squeezing her tight as they followed their mother out the door.

  “Don't pay her any mind; just have fun with your friends,” Sofia whispered.

  “Do I have to get married,” Lucy asked, suddenly frowning.

  She hesitated before she replied, “no of course not.”

  “Good, boys are gross,” Lucy muttered.

  Sofia laughed quietly, “just don't tell Mother that yet. I don't think her heart could take it.”

  CHAPTER 6

  They arrived at the party precisely on time, despite their mother's worrying. The party was to celebrate the start of summer and was held in the gardens, which were full of lights, they were covering every bush and dangling from the trees above, and there were ribbons of every color spilling down from trees and over bushes as well. The huge fountain in the center was actually glowing as if filled with tiny lights and there was an abundance of food being flown around by a couple of telepathic servants.

  The gardens were Queen Marianna's pride and joy, and they were filled with every type of flower and plant imaginable, during one of their lessons the Queen had taken her down to the gardens and taught her the name of every flower and plant in the gardens. Sofia could, unfortunately, barely remembered any of the names, she did not have a green thumb like her sister, Lucy. Lucy absolutely loved plants and spent every free moment roaming the gardens, she had even tried to smuggle plants into her bedroom. She looked down to see Lucy staring around wide-eyed and was glad she had been allowed to attend.

  Father led them through the throng of guests, all dressed in bright colors and sparkling jewels, toward the King and Queen, occasionally stopping to greet someone of importance.

  “Your Majesty” He greeted the King, bowing while they all curtsied. King Edward Dalton was a large man, mostly from all the wine he drank, she had heard he had been a handsome man in his youth, but as he grew older, he had spent far too much time drinking and less and less time training. Two of his guards stood at his back, as always, one of which was Blake's father. Blake looked so much like his father it was uncanny, she quickly looked away before he caught her staring.

  Lucy wobbled a bit while curtsying but luckily their mother was too busy gushing over the Queen to notice. Although Queen Marianna wasn’t the true Queen, their mother still liked to be in the Queen’s good graces.

  Alex’s mother, Queen Juliet had died when he was very young. She always thought it must have been hard for Queen Marianna, following in the late Queen Juliet’s footsteps, she had been incredibly beloved by the people, she had been kind and gentle and had always cared a lot for her people. Of course, Sofia barely remembered her at all but people still talked about her often enough that she had heard many stories over the years. It seemed like the entire city had been in mourning after her death.

  The King, however, never talked about her, Sofia had once mentioned her name at a dinner with the King and had been punished afterward by her father and told to never mention her again. It had always seemed strange to her in a land of magic and healers that the Queen had been able to get sick at all. It was rare for people to die at a young age in Arandale unless they didn’t have access to a healer.

  She did remember seeing Alex after the funeral, she hadn't been allowed to attend, her mother thought her too young, so she had been in the gardens hiding from her nanny when she found him, punching a tree. He had been so angry, almost breaking his hand, before he suddenly collapsed with tears streaming down his face. She had sat with him holding his hand while he cried, they had never talked about it since.

  Sofia often wished she could have had a chance to talk to Queen Juliet, to be able to speak to someone else who had been in her position and understood what it was like for Sofia, growing up knowing she would be Queen someday. Queen Marianna had at least been able to have a normal childhood; Sofia had been practicing her curtsies before she could walk.

  “Sofia my dear, you look lovely as always.” The King greeted her warmly, taking her hand, he had always treated her like a daughter, and Alex often said he had a soft spot for her. They moved on quickly so the King and Queen could greet their other guests.

  However as soon as they had finished talking to the King and Queen, Sofia was surrounded by girls. The Hallewell twins each grabbed one of her elbows and guided her toward a table, talking over each other as usual. They considered themselves Sofia's closest friends and always situated themselves at her side during parties, she would have found it incredibly annoying, but they talked so much no one else could get a word in so it actually made it easier to get through the endless stream of parties and small talk.

  In the group, there was also Janet, who was a cousin to the twins but her father had married down, and so she was only tolerated. Hannah and Kennedy, both from lesser noble families but had somehow managed to get in the twins good graces and Jennifer Hanley, she wasn't as bad as the others, she was smart but she rarely showed it, her parents were trying to arrange a marriage for her, and she suspected Jennifer wasn’t too happy about it.

  Chelsea asked her a question, and she opened her mouth to answer but was distracted by the sight of Alex and Olivia, alone in the corner talking, their heads bent close to each other. Olivia was Alex’s Priestess; well she was training to be. All of the Kings of Arandale had a High priestess to guide them in the way of the gods. Sofia had spent many lessons learning about the gods growing up, but she had never put much trust in them, she supposed that was her grandfather's influence, and her father's, neither of them cared much for the gods. They often said it didn't matter how much the farmers prayed, the rain came and went when it wanted to, unless they had a weather mage, so why bother.

  However, a lot of people put a lot of faith in the gods and sent their young girls to be trained at the temple of the gods. The temple was built on a small island off the coast of the city, and once a child was sent to the island, they rarely returned. The King’s High Priestess had selected Olivia a couple of years ago, Sofia had disliked her ever since they first met when Olivia had decided to inform her of all the ways she should be serving the gods and Alex.

  It didn't help that she was undoubtedly beautiful and Alex seemed so enamored with her. They would have made a perfect couple, she thought bitterly. Not for the first time she felt a twinge of envy and sadness. Her mother said the High Priestess was just another advisor but Sofia heard the rumors and whispers of the servants, all the late nights the King and his Priestess spent together. She wished she could ask the Queen about it, but even after all their time together she still didn't feel comfortable enough to talk about it.

  Ever since Olivia had arrived, she had felt like an outsider. The only time she really spent with Alex was during their training sessions, and Mal kept them working too hard for much talking. It was hard to find Alex without Olivia, and since she tried to avoid Olivia as much as possible, they didn’t spend a lot of time together.

  Chelsea caught her looking at Alex and Olivia and frowned.

  “Honestly I don't think a priestess should be allowed to attend parties,” she said glaring at Olivia. “Shouldn't she be communing with the gods or something?”

  Sofia could always count
on Chelsea to take her side, she hated Olivia almost as much as she did, although she wasn't sure why.

  “Especially in that dress,” Evelyn commented snidely from behind her, she half turned to see Evelyn at the table behind them, with her group of friends.

  “She looks like she should be standing on a street corner,” Evelyn added, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

  A couple of the girl's gasped but Chelsea laughed loudly, and the others soon joined in. At this rate, her sister was going to turn out just like the Hallewells’, she thought.

  “Besides isn't it against their beliefs anyway?” Rebecca asked looking to Sofia for confirmation.

  Sofia shrugged. She had no idea and didn't care to find out; she made it her mission to avoid anything at all involving Olivia.

  “Well, it's not like she’s a real priestess anyway, she's still in training,” Jennifer said dismissively, “I wonder if they have to pass a test to become a Priestess?” she asked narrowing her eyes at Olivia.

  Sofia shrugged again, in all honesty, she had no idea, nobody did, the priestesses were a mystery to everyone, apart from the High Priestess and Olivia, the others mostly stayed locked away in their temple. Doing the work of the gods, as they were told, but nobody actually knew what that work was. Sofia had always found the High Priestess an intimidating woman, she was so stern and serious and would never be seen attending a party of any sort, she had more important tasks to attend too.

  The other girls continue to talk amongst themselves about the mystery of the priestesses, Sofia occasionally adding something so as not to appear rude but as soon as she could she excused herself, faking a need for the bathroom.

  Once there she locked herself in and sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the wall with a sigh. She just needed a break from it all. After a couple of minutes, she walked out of the bathroom with a fake smile painted on her face only to run straight into Olivia.

  “Oh there you are Sofia; your mother is looking for you,” Olivia said, looking her up and down like her mother did when she was inspecting her for any trace of dirt or dust.

  “Really? and she sent you to find me?” She asked sarcastically, her mother wouldn't be caught dead talking to a Priestess, she thought.

  “No. I just overheard her asking your sister.” Olivia stepped closer, reaching her hand out and Sofia backed away, Olivia had this look in her eye, the one she got when she was about to spout some wisdom about the gods and their plan for Sofia, and she was just there to help. She had heard it all before, many times and she was not in the mood for it.

  “Oh, so you were eavesdropping?” She snapped before Olivia could say anything else.

  “Calm down Sofia,” Olivia said placatingly, “I’m just trying to help before you get into trouble, again,” she added, “the gods expect great things from you Sofia, you can't keep behaving like this.”

  “Olivia stop, just stay away from me!” She snapped before she turned and walked away as fast as she could without actually running. Once she turned the corner, she slowed, reluctant to face her mother. She had been disappearing a lot from parties lately, and she knew her mother would be furious; unsurprisingly she couldn't understand why Sofia didn't love parties and gossip as much as she did. It was going to be a long night, she thought.

  She arrived back at the party to find her sister and her friends had joined her table and they were all laughing at something Evelyn had said. She immediately turned in the opposite direction, she spied a tray of drinks floating nearby and quickly grabbed a glass of wine, she needed it. There were a couple of councilmen speaking nearby, and she skirted around them hoping they hadn’t noticed.

  As she took a sip of wine, she noticed Kelsie sitting on her own at a table and headed towards her. Out of all the girls her age at court, Kelsie was the only one she could actually have a conversation that didn't involve gossip, dresses and who they were going to marry. She knew Kelsie's mother put a lot of pressure on her and Kelsie had never lived up to her expectations, that much was clear, so they shared that in common. Kelsie had never really fit in at court and been accepted by the other girls but if Sofia weren’t going to be Queen, she probably wouldn’t either.

  “Is this seat taken?” she asked when she reached the table, indicating to the chair next to Kelsie.

  “No of course not, please have a seat.” Kelsie startled and started to rise to her feet.

  “It’s fine, Kelsie, I'm not Queen yet, you don’t need to stand.” Sofia waved her back down.

  Kelsie just nodded and stared down at her hands, knotted in her lap.

  “What’s wrong, if you don’t mind me asking, you don't seem yourself,” Sofia asked concerned.

  “It's nothing really, I, I don't want to bother you,” Kelsie replied, shaking her head.

  “It’s no bother Kelsie, maybe I can help.”

  There was a long pause before Kelsie took a deep breath and spoke, “well I don't know if you are aware, but I have an aunt who lives in the city.”

  Sofia thought back to that morning in the Hallewells’ room, they had mentioned Kelsie’s aunt. As far as Sofia knew, she was considered the black sheep of the family because she was a healer and had decided to set up a shop in the city to heal the poor. Sofia thought she was brave.

  “Yes, she's a healer right?”

  “Yes that's right,” Kelsie lowered her voice and leaned in closer. “Except… she's sick.”

  “Kelsie that's not possible, healers don't get sick. They can't.” Sofia replied immediately.

  Kelsie nodded vigorously, “I know, I know it doesn't make sense but a couple of nights ago I went to visit her in the city, and I found her collapsed on the floor of her shop. She was white as a sheet and barely breathing, I called for a healer straight away, and they brought her to the palace, but I haven't heard anything since then, no one will tell me what's going on.” She said, she looked close to tears. “I don't even know if she's alive.”

  Sofia was shocked, she couldn't imagine a healer ever getting sick, but she couldn’t imagine Kelsie lying about something like that either, as far as she knew Kelsie had never lied about anything.

  “I’m sure she's fine Kelsie, perhaps she just hit her head on something, and she was knocked out,” she said trying to come up with a plausible reason for a healer to have collapsed, “healers are the strongest of all of us, I'm sure it was nothing.” She said, trying to comfort her.

  “You didn't see her. It was awful, her hands,” Kelsie shook her head as if trying to shake an image from her mind, “they were completely black and... well I don't know how to explain it, but it looked like it was spreading, like some kind of rash.”

  Sofia didn't know what to say, she put her hand over Kelsie's but before she could come up with something her mother interrupted them and dragged Sofia away, her fingers digging into her arms. She winced and mouthed sorry to Kelsie as she was pulled away.

  “Honestly Sofia, of all the people you could find to talk to at this party, you chose her.”

  Sofia groaned inwardly and plastered a smile on her face as she was herded around the party to greet each of the guests her mother deemed important enough to talk to. She didn't see Kelsie for the rest of the night, but she couldn’t shake the memory of the look of despair Kelsie’s face as she told her about her aunt’s hands.

  CHAPTER 7

  The party dragged on and the questions about her upcoming birthday and the wedding after were endless, not to mention everybody prying her for information on her guards. She smiled at the appropriate moments and let her mother do most of the talking until someone mentioned children, and it was all she could do to hold it together, she could feel the weight of her dress dragging her down, the corset was digging in and making it hard to breathe. Finally, it ended, and she managed to make it into her room before she collapsed in a heap on the floor, the quiet hit her like a brick wall, and all she could hear were her quick gasps of breath. She leaned forward and pressed her head to her knees, rocking back and
forth until her breathing finally slowed. It felt like hours, but it must have been just minutes, the servants hadn’t arrived, thankfully, but they would be soon to help her out of her dress. She had to get herself together. If they saw her, it would get back to her mother. She stood shakily, just in time because there was a knock on the door and she quickly dismissed the servants before they saw her shaking hands. Once they were gone she struggled out of her dress, after a lot of cursing, she finally managed to get it off, and she threw it on the ground in frustration and shakily changed into some plain clothes. The pressure was getting too much; she felt like she was suffocating. The thought of children made her sick to her stomach, she wasn’t ready to be a mother but the way the women at the party were talking, she would be expected to bear children as soon as she was married to Alex. She almost screamed in frustration, she needed to get away from it all, if only for a couple of hours.

  She took a moment to compose herself before she made herself invisible and left the room, there would be more servants than usual in the palace, and she needed to be careful, or she would be caught. As usual, she snuck out through the servant's entrance to their wing, the main entrance was guarded, but the servant's entrance never was. The ability to make herself invisible definitely came in handy when avoiding the guards pacing the halls. She moved slowly to avoid the servants still rushing about, but when she reached the gardens she broke into a run, finally reaching her escape route, she squirmed her way through the small tunnel in the wall, wincing at the smell and trying to ignore the many bugs crawling around.

  Once outside she scaled the side of the nearest building and breathed in deeply, taking in the view of the city spread out below her. The city of Selinus was built on the side of an enormous hill with the palace almost at the very top. One side of the palace was overlooking the sea while the other side looked out across the city as it spilled down the hill, stopping at the ocean on one side and spreading out across the land on the other. If she went to the very top of the palace, she could see the whole city and the green countryside stretching out beyond.