Palace Walls

Part Eight

Skinny, gray-haired Lord Kingfisher brushed a finger along the oil-painting of his mother. The Cyclops dougeggi had a large brown eye and black hair braided in piles atop her head. She was a full-figured woman who resembled the Princess Clotilda-- rosy cheeks, square jaw, thick black brow. She dressed in garish red and black, what the few believing humans called a "combination of a chesspiece and a playing card." Her red lips were only painted at the corners, as the old dougeggi were, three azure dots painted the eyelid, and the forehead was dusted in rouge. She looked proper, stiff, almost proud-- but the glint in her eye was reflected from the bronze band on her forehead.

"This is Estrilda Hedfann, the woman unfortunate enough to bear me." He laughed nervously. "Trained in all ways of seduction, as the dougeggi are. They didn't educate her. 'She should only be educated in matters of the Act,' they said. To think...this was an unread, cave-born Cyclops with man-eating parents.... She was well-spoken for her species, and look how far that got her!"

"She was the grandmother of Princess Clotilda," remarked Lady Kingfisher, "Does that not count for anything?!"

The Lord snorted and shook his head, like she told an unfunny joke.

"I know you miss her, Queenie, but come on! This is the business! You knew what would happen!"

"I was told we would only sell a few babes for profit! This is going beyond our agreement!"

Lord Kingfisher touched the moving portrait of The Princess singing at the Alliance Feast. Her soft high voice captured the hearts of both Cyclopes and Neo-Jotuns, who ignored their steaming plates to watch her.

"Whatever. The girl is turning out more foolish than we imagined. Can you not see that?"

"I think she's very...sweet. A product of the Palace, yes, but I believe, deep-down, she has my heart." Lady Kingfisher shook her head. "Like me and Estrilda, she forgets her humble roots, but are ultimately good folk."

"My mother was stupid enough to die after a...performance! Like the coddled Palace Cyclopes understand anything of humility! And Clotilda...do you really think being Princess will help her? Thank Goddess she has a brother, or else the brat would be Queen!"

Lady Kingfisher backed away and massaged the nape of her neck with a callused hand.

"Sometimes I wish we would've never gotten into this business, my pearl. It's made you bitter."

"Would you rather have stayed my housekeeper?!"

"Well...no."

"Then shut up!" The sharpness of his voice froze everyone's blood. "I gave you everything, and this is how you repay me?!"

Lady Kingfisher nodded slowly, her face turning a sickly gray-white

"I...I understand."

"Now, when we are to die," said Lord Kingfisher, "Clotilda won't remember us, who conceived her, but the greedy royals who raised her. Isn't that right, Cecilia?"

The fat Asian woman looked up with eyes glossy with tears, and a mouth shivering with a thousand stories. But all she could do was nod.

--from Baby Farmers: Old and New by Penelope Oltu

That night, the Queen called an emergency meeting in the Parlor Hall. Lady Salmon shuddered. Her Majesty had sobbed until her eyes burned red and gritty, retiring to bed without supper; it always made her heart race whenever the Queen showed this much emotion. She understood why, of course, Anyone would in such a horrendous circumstance— but she had grown accustomed to the flat glassy eyes, the unmoving brow, the mouth that never curved. The fact that Her Majesty was rising from bed to speak made her stomach churn. Maybe it soothes Her Majesty to be up and doing, she thought, Maybe— in some way —she hears her parents urging her on, as they always did. But something about this feels a bit like...she dug their graves with ancient gems.