The Heir Apparent - a historical why choose, rh, poly, MMF, spicy romance ✅

Chapter Fifteen

Penn

The queen was not looking well.

It was the first small banquet since she had taken the throne. The massive dining table was flanked with important townspeople as well as other ambassadors such as myself.

It was, as much as I attempted to assure her it was not in the hopes of easing her nerves, an important evening.

Thus far, she had been a bit shy and quiet, allowing others to do the majority of the speaking.

I could not fault her for that.

It was I who had first instructed her to do so to ease the awkwardness of her first ball.

I could not imagine a first ball.

I had been going to them since I had been but a small lad, still unable to read or write, but enjoying the music, the glamor, the general frivolity to be found when large masses of people got together to laugh and dance and drink.

Having been allowed to attend from such a young age with my parents, I had always been comfortable at balls. Even thrived at them.

It was clear, however, that this was not the case with Anevay, the new queen.

Little was said about her past.

The story being spun by her councilman, Tolliver, was that she had been tucked away in a private estate in quiet preparation for the off chance she may need to serve the throne.

While the masses seemed to accept, even rejoice, in this idea, I did not believe it.

She seemed wholly unused to the manners of a city. Which she would have learned had she been studying her whole life.

And then there was the fact that she would have little need for all the lessons with Tolliver had she been studying her entire life.

I understood, however, the importance of a tale spun convincingly.

Deaths of rulers made for precarious times. It was pivotal for the people to be assured their new sovereign was capable.

She was doing a satisfactory job at the banquet.

She smiled at the right times. She asked the right questions. She remembered the names of people from the ball that I did not think she would recall.

Yet as the meal dragged on, she was looking less and less like a calm, collected, even charming ruler.

And more like a woman about to be quite ill.

A glance around the room told me that while the strangers to the queen did not seem to notice anything amiss, those who had grown accustomed to her were getting, if not worried, then curious.

The councilman, Tolliver, and her personal guard, Riven, seemed the most concerned, their gazes almost fixated on her as she seemed to lose color by the moment.

Her breathing was off as well, her short, shallow breaths making it appear like she had forgotten how to breathe properly.

Suddenly, she rose to her feet with the kind of urgency that nearly made her overturn her chair.

"If you will excuse me for one moment," she said.

Again, those who did not know her, did not seem to notice.

But to the three of us who did, her speech was slow and strange as she addressed her guests.

They seemed to give her smiles and nods, then go back to their conversations as she moved around her chair.

Her guard moved with her.

Before she was even around the bend, both Tolliver and I were following suit.

I made it around the corner in time to see her stumbling gait just a moment before she collapsed.

She was saved from cracking her head against the floor by her quick-moving guard as Tolliver stood back, body stiffening.

"Call Casimir!" he barked, voice urgent as he addressed the queen's lady's maid, who was standing nearby. "Get her to his exam room," he added as Riven lifted the queen into his arms, making her look more like a doll than a sovereign. "Now!" he barked, making Riven turn and rush off.

Turning to me, Tolliver's gaze was what seemed to be a mix of concerned and guarded.

"Not a word of this," he demanded. "Do you hear me? Not a word, or I shall have you hanged for treason."

With that, he charged off, following the path blazed by Riven and the unconscious queen.

After a moment, I followed along as well, needing to know if she was simply overheated or overwhelmed, or if it was something much more catastrophic.