Letters to Abel

Prologue

The Queen Has Fallen and so Does the Rain

The day my mother passed, it had been storming. It was such a strange display, the skies grieving her passing before I was even made aware of it, the birds in hiding with no tune from their beaks, the men and women in the path of this storm restricted to their homes in the earth's way of making them mourn.

We had not seen rain in my state for weeks, it had just been sunny mere hours before. The trees were previously whisking to the subtle, soothing breezes of the wind, the animals drinking from the streams, the children playing in the streets.

I did not know my mother for very long, but I know I loved her. I know she loved me. I know I now stand alone in my kingdom, with no father or mother, no sister or brother, no friend or lover.

"Most Revered?"

I paused, standing in front of a window in which rain still beat down onto, punishing us days later for her death. For being too late. The title would take some getting used to I supposed, "yes, Nala?"

From behind me she muttered in her graceful voice, "your carriage awaits. We will be riding for about an hour."

I turned to face my lady-in-waiting, she had gowned herself in all black, myself the same, her coarse hair in a bun on top of her head while I let my locs fall past my waist, a few lavender hair strings wrapped around some of them.

"I'm ready," I whispered, looking as a few aides added another picture to the room we stood in which had been used as the remembrance room. The day I came to the palace, there had been six pictures up. My grandparents, father, and all three of my siblings.

I cleared my throat looking away before the seventh portrait was on the wall, "and Giusseff?"

Nala smiled softly, "your husband is in the carriage waiting on you, Highest Esteemed. As soon as you are settled, it will be time to go."

With a deep breath and a failed attempt to smile back at the woman who'd been by my side for the past three years, I declared, "we shall go."

We made our way through the halls of the castle, Nala following closely in her place behind me, servants and maids bowing as I brisked past them, not having the courage to look into any of their eyes.

Their murmurs made my heart pound as I walked to the carriage, kingsmen helping me into the ride. Had they known I wasn't enough? Did they too sense that I would never live up to my mother or father?

I slid beside Giuseff, the man I had been betrothed and married to just a few years ago. "Amelie," he muttered, "will you be alright?"

The man beside me had quickly become my friend as years trekked on, but I could tell his heart belonged to someone else from before our betrothment. I had always thought it had been my older sister to whom he had been betrothed to before, but he insisted I was wrong and asked I left it alone.

I let out a shaky breath, he knew the answer. Still, I whispered, "yes, thank you for asking."

The door to my carriage began to close, but I stopped the kingsman, "I would like Nala to attend with me and my husband if that is alright."

The stout man had nodded once, opening the door once again, Nala stepped in, sitting across from us. "I just..." I tried to very quickly form the right words in my head, "you were her own lady-in-waiting before her passing, so I wouldn't want you to miss her funeral is all."

Nala's eyes closed briefly, an expression I couldn't make out drifting on and off her face in a matter of seconds, she opened her eyes, a familiar smile on her face, "thank you, Highest Esteemed. I am very grateful."

The coachman yelled, a whip to horses' backs sounded, and we were off.

"It seems the rain is letting up," Giuseff said, his gaze to the windows. "Yes," I agreed, "it seems so."