A Royal Ruse

Chapter 32

Wedding, Interrupted (Continued...)

The chill blowing through Queen Tatiana's study didn't come from the open bay window. The monarch sat across from Zita in her study—silent. Her eyes sliced over the documents in her hands with unsettling nonchalance.

Zita fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve. Her head hung slightly, unsure of whose duty it was to break the silence that stewed between them; awkward and imposing. Shame-faced but with a proud jaw, Princess Zita resolved not to be the first to speak.

She was the one who had been ignored by the monarch. It wasn't her fault Queen Tatiana always had more pressing matters to attend to than Zita's distress. The princess took matters into her own hands, as she should have. She was not indebted to the queen. She owed her nothing.

"I thought you of all people," the queen said, taking off her spectacles, "would understand that careless actions have grave consequences."

Zita, unsettled at the deceptive casualness of her voice, watched the queen from the underbrush of her lashes. Her mouth was still set on remaining sealed.

"What exactly was your plan with this..." she sighed, tensely, "Winnox boy?"

Up until this moment, the queen had never acknowledged Gadrian's existence. Now that she had, Zita could see the queen made no attempt to hide the contempt on her face. His name was a curse word coming out of her mouth

"The Winnox boy has a name. It's Gadrian. And my plan was—and still is— to marry him." Zita's words were steely. She still harbored resentment towards the queen for the cold shoulder she gave her at the Annual Coronation Ball.

The monarch regarded her with a grim laugh. She shook her head ever so slightly. "You are your father's daughter."

A sudden cold zinged through Zita's body at the mention of her father. She felt the same hot soup of emotions well up within her as it did before she cried but that day, instead of tears, seething words came out.

"You don't know me. I don't owe you anything. I can go where I want to go and be with who I want to be with. You may be unused to people deviating from your plans but I'm not your puppet. Thank you for your hospitality but your interference is no longer necessary."

"Interference?" the queen shrugged her mouth. "Interesting choice of words."

"What else would you call sending your royal guard to seize and drag me and my husband back to your palace?"

"Saving you..."

"I didn't need saving," Zita said.

"...From making perhaps the most foolish decision in all of Palendula's history." The queen continued over Zita's words. Her calm veneer cracked. Her voice raised and a vein bulged on her smooth forehead.

Zita sprang up out of her chair. "I don't have to tolerate this."

"Do you have any idea what you almost did today?" The queen leaned forward, her hands clasped together.

"What did you think was going to happen today? You, a princess and sole heir to one of the most influential kingdoms in our realm, were going to wander off and marry some hooligan? A rake and a pauper? You didn't think this would have any consequences. What were you thinking?"

"Oh, so now you care about what I'm thinking? You have been avoiding me for over a week. I figured you had washed your hands off me so I found a way to solve my problems on my own."

"Only you didn't. You went off to make a bigger one. You are a child!" The queen spat. "This only proves how entirely unfit you are to rule a kingdom."

The words stung Zita. She swallowed down a clot of tears. "Be that as it may, it's my right to rule. I am done waiting for permission to possess what is mine. Arnoa is mine! You can't stop me."

"Only fools rush in, my child. What did you think would happen? You waltz into your palace and they welcome you back with open arms? Wake up." The queen barked. Zita startled back. "Your kingdom is a tinderbox, one spark away from burning itself to the ground. And they would burn you and your precious fiance down to the ground as well."

"And what exactly was your plan?" the princess spat back. "Keep me here only to rot in your palace walls like a rat? I might be a 'child' as you call me but even I can see you want me here for your own purposes. Well, I have news for you: I'm not your pet and I'm not your prisoner. I stand here today, meeting you eye to eye. We're even. Consider all debts between us equal and paid in full."

"Do you know what your problem is, princess?" Queen Tatiana leaned back, looking at Zita as if she could see the princess' future mapped out in her eyes.

"You can't recognize when people are fighting for you or against you. You must learn the difference." The queen placed her spectacles back on her face.

"I believe you were about to stomp out in a huff," the queen said, with a dismissive wave. She picked up the document she was previously reading.

The princess turned on her heels.

"Oh and Your Highness," Queen Tatiana called without lifting her eyes from the pages. "In case this wasn't clear enough. You are never to go near that Winnox boy again."

The princess, impassioned by defiance, replied, "I will see who I please when I please."

The queen plucked off her glasses.

"I don't think you understand me, Your Highness. Let me remedy that. Your dalliance with that boy is over. You are not marrying him."

The princess began to object.

"This decision has already been made. The fact that you can't see what is written plain as day..." The queen sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"This...marriage was never your decision to make."

"I don't understand. I was never promised to anybody. How could this not be my choice?"

The queen looked at Zita, her face frowning in pity. "I tried. I truly tried to shield you from this." She opened her mouth but then shut it abruptly. Once again, deciding to withhold what she knew.

Zita's eyes, angry yet pleading, fixed on the queen. "Whose decision is it then?"

Queen Tatiana pursed her lips. "There are certain decisions your crown makes for you."

For all Queen Tatiana's flaws, Zita saw genuine sorrow crease the queen's eyes. Gone was her all-seeing detached gaze. She looked at the princess; woman to woman. Monarch to future monarch.

"You will rule Arnoa. In time you will truly understand just what that means."