Queensmen

Chapter 98

~A Guard In Employ~

If not for her maids, Oris would have slept through the dinner.

In Keziah's words, because she had been ogling Mikea Oris had missed that little announcement. A celebratory meal of some sort. Everyone crammed in one room with Hermes at the head.

Oris had a headache just thinking about it. The history she had with dinners did little to help, but she couldn't deny that she was ravenous. I will be surprised if no one gets poisoned, and I'll risk poisoning if it means I get to finally eat something other than dried rations.

With her lips pulled into a smirk, she looked over her shoulder at Keziah. "Isn't that why I have you?"

"Of course, Mistress. We are only here to serve," Andrea answered—ever the peacemaker—while the girl only scowled in response, the most visibly stressed Oris had ever seen her. I should stop teasing the poor girl.

"Look this way, Mistress." Mayree grabbed Oris by the chin and repositioned her head so that she was looking directly at the mirror.

"Why do I need makeup if I'm wearing a veil?"

"Because Keziah is ripping it off," Andrea grumbled. She was the one who had to reengineer the veil so it came apart prettily... so that it didn't smug the makeup and ruin her chances of seducing Hermes with her carefully plucked and darkened eyebrows.

"Ah. Keziah the spy." Oris pursed her lips. "I had forgotten about that."

But she hadn't. Not really. It was hard to forget about an elephant that massive in a room so small, and she could tell that none of the girl were really pleased about, not even Keziah herself and she had been the one to set it in motion.

"I am looking forward to your performance," Oris told the girl, and being Keziah could reply with something snarky, Seline burst into the room with a cloak bundled in her arms.

"It's time."

"Alright, Mayree." Oris slapped the older maid's hands away. "Nothing else you do will save my face. What is, can't change."

Mayree frowned but obediently set down her powders and glitters. "There's nothing wrong with your face, it's just..."

Oris touched the scar on her neck and watched herself in the mirror. It had healed quite nicely, but it was still there and obvious. She hadn't ever wished for it to disappear and now that she had doubts about what her goals truly were, she'd decided to stop covering it up.

Let him see me for what I am. Let them all see. She rose to her feet slowly, examining each moment in the mirror. A queen, even without my crown.

But she had never needed a crown. That, she had left for her sister, placed in the hands of her headless corpse.

"Mistress." Mayree grabbed the cloak and draped it over Oris' shoulders. They had all decided that jewelry was too risky. It could go missing and somehow become evidence that she killed them or something equally sinister.

Oris might not have been raised to struggle in a harem, but she had been taught how to manage one of her own. If I'm to become his woman, if I am to bear his child, I have to be untouchable, starting now.

There was no longer any room for being pushed around. If she started now then it was up to her whether to go on with it or quit, but if she didn't and changed her mind later on then even a million tears wouldn't be able to make it happen.

And I guess this dress is how I do it. Oris ran her fingers over the soft material as Mayree adjusted the pins holding up her freshly curled hair.