A Dove's Tale

Chapter 187

The next day was better. Back to normal. My normal was a dull ache in my chest whenever I thought of Mother. I didn't know if that would ever go away, and I was afraid it would become a horrible, stabbing pain again when the anniversary of her death arrived, but I decided not to think or talk about it. It was easier to ignore the problem than it was to address it, and Chevalier seemed to think the same.

A lot had happened at last year's gala, and not all of it was bad. He'd kissed me for the first time that week. He'd told me he loved me, and I'd told him I felt the same.

Mother had died between the kiss and the confession. Flandre abducted and tortured me within an inch of my life after.

Any distraction was welcome, and Jin and Theresa certainly provided that.

Jin had taken Theresa out for dinner following Clavis' prank, and then they'd ended up in his room that night, and they'd missed breakfast the next day. The two had since become inseparable, and the unsolicited accounts of Theresa's love life returned to my life, along with far more details about Jin than I ever wanted to know.

It was cute. At first.

But when Jin began appearing at my door while Theresa was supposed to be working, distracting her with sensual banter I didn't want to hear and giving her simple greeting kisses that turned into passionate scenes I didn't want to see, it wasn't cute anymore.

I was happy for them, but it was clearly time for me to find a new maid. Preferably before Chevalier ran the new couple through with his sword while they were making out in our doorway. And he threatened to do that on multiple occasions.

Leon's new relationship was less explicit and more tolerable. I didn't think it would last, but he was having fun, and after all of his recent trouble, that was all that mattered.

The gala was upon us before I knew it, but several major announcements came in quick succession to further distract me.

Gilbert arrived with extra fanfare as the new emperor of Obsidian.

Luke and Arianna announced the date of their engagement ceremony.

And Jin proposed to Theresa.

That was a surprise. It seemed fast, except they'd known each other for years, and they'd been pretending not to like each other most of that time. Their relationship was long overdue, I thought, so maybe the proposal wasn't rushing things as much as it first appeared. I decided to smile and congratulate her instead of questioning it, and I was doing just that when a shout interrupted us.

"Excuse me, Queen Ivetta!"

A maid was running toward us, and dread settled into my stomach at the sight. Children ran. Clavis ran, and people fleeing him ran. Otherwise, running was improper and not done.

She came to a stop in front of me, face flushed, gasping for breath. "We're having some difficulty with Lord Harrison."

I stifled a groan. Lord Harrison was a rude, unreasonable, unpleasant man whose father had been a friend of the last king, and he thought that connection entitled him to bad behavior.

"What kind of difficulty?"

"He's giving Melanie a hard time."

I frowned. Melanie was the newest addition to the palace staff and a girl of only sixteen years old. She was a hard worker and very competent, but she was also painfully shy. I hadn't assigned her to Lord Harrison.

I left Theresa and steeled myself for an ugly scene.

It wasn't hard to find. Lord Harrison was keeping up a steady stream of insults shouted at the top of his lungs. He was red-faced, towering over Melanie, spittle flying from his lips as she cowered against the wall, and my blood was already boiling. I'd wanted an opportunity to teach him a lesson, but not this way. Maintaining my composure would not be easy in this situation.