The Queen Revealed by A. R. Winterstaar

Crown, he wouldn’t shut up,” she blathered before shutting herself up.
    “Shall I wake Caitlin for you, Your Majesty?” asked QG Pepper, a little too eagerly. Adele caught Captain Lucky rolling his eyes and hid a grin. Perhaps there was more romance than just hers going on in the Royal party.
    “No, I can do it. I’m sure she’s in with the children by now,” she explained, but felt mean when she saw Pepper’s face fall. With a quick ‘goodnight’, she hurried away to her room before her friendly façade could crack.
    Fortunately, Caitlin was too sleepy to notice anything wrong with Adele’s dress or hair. She only yelped when she broke a nail on the too-tight lacings that Rainere had done up for her with Magic.
    “I’m sure I didn’t tie them this tightly, Your Majesty,” Caitlin grumbled, but said nothing else. Adele kissed her three children in their sleep and lay down in the enormous bed amongst them all, finally resting after an exhausting day.
    As she lay there, Adele stared through the holes in the ragged curtains at the dark night. The stars seemed so much lower in the sky here in Evendaar than at home on Earth. The wind howled and rattled at the French doors, making Adele shiver at the memory of its biting chill in the blizzard today.
    How fortunate the storm had hit right at the moment they had turned into the forest and that their wrong turn had led them right to Rainere’s home. Adele thought of Ripenzo Shale’s warning about a storm in his letter this morning.
    Well, if that was the worst of it, we should be alright now, thought Adele. It was a terrible storm, but Rainere saved us from freezing to death.
    Aaron made a little squeak in his sleep and nestled closer to his mother. Adele gently stroked the hair off his forehead and pulled the covers up to his chin before turning back to the window.
    Adele wondered how she could be so lucky to have the love of such an incredible man like Rainere. She smiled when she recalled his earlier jealousy of Captain Lucky. But he didn’t scare her at all with his glares and dark frowns. His anger had just made her feel more cherished. No one had ever wanted her with the intensity that Rainere wanted her. No man had ever made her feel this special. Adele closed her eyes and re-lived the memories of the night while she waited for sleep to come.

 
    Chapter Ten
    “To Curse the Lover of the Beloved”
    Down deep in the bowels of the Grey Palace, Schiss stared up at the ceiling of the dusty little office room where Grottonski had taken him. He knew the Queen was somewhere in the Grey Palace tonight, but to his sadness, he had yet to see her. He directed his attention back to Grottonski, hoping to dissuade him from his current action.
    “But Mr. Grottonski, sir, should you sign it in the Prince’s own hand? Won’t he know what you have done?” asked Schiss as he watched over the old man’s shoulder as Grotto scratched out a letter, replicating the handwriting of Prince Rainere perfectly. Though Schiss wished he could read the Human language better, he could tell the letter was about the Queen and her children.
    Schiss quailed under the sharp glare that Grotto sent him, but he was feeling uncomfortable for more than one reason. Grottonski was writing to the Spider Empress and Schiss had no desire to act as a delivery boy tonight.
    His mother, the Empress, was probably furious with him for leaving the Nest to follow the Queen on her trip to Sandar. It is true that the Prince had not given Schiss much choice in acting as his personal spy, but the Empress would not care about that. She was as unreasonable as she was insane. He could only hope she would still be too preoccupied with grieving the death of Oki, her favored son, to be too concerned with Schiss right now.
    Still, any journey into the Nest would be dangerous. His brothers and sisters continued to battle over the position of power on the Nest Council that Oki’s death had opened up. Any conversation