The Mearsmaine Chronicles 1 - The Return of the Queen

Chapter 19 - Long Live the Queen

The first thing Nathaniel saw when he woke up was Elizabeth leaning against the wall near the bathroom, her hand covering her face while she tried not to stumble over her own footsteps, and the first thing Nathaniel thought was that he was completely and utterly screwed. He had promised Lawrence that he would be responsible: he would protect her, not let her get drunk and get her to the castle in the morning. By the position of the sun, it was already past noon, Lizz was with a hangover and he himself couldn't remember much about the night before.

The black haired boy rubbed his eyes and tried to keep his thoughts clear: they had to leave and get to the castle immediately. There was no time to lose: first, because Elizabeth could not, under any circumstances, arrive late for her own coronation ; second, because he was not going to lose his precious head that day and any time near. With a sigh and a determined expression on his face, Nathaniel sat up on the bed, but the dizziness took over him and he almost fell back: maybe there was still time for a coffee before they started their journey. The boy got to his feet, trying not to stumble, and approached Lizz.

'Are you alright?' He asked her as she gazed up at him, her face still a tad sleepy.

'I can't remember last night.' Elizabeth answered.

Nate gave a low chuckle. 'Me neither.' He said, moving his neck slowly. Somehow, he knew that there was something about last night that he should remember... But there was no time to think about it at that moment. 'We need to go.'

Elizabeth gulped and he knew what the girl was thinking about. 'Okay.' She said, sitting on top of the bed where they had slept to put on her shoes.

They left the room and the Inn quickly, not having any time to lose. Both of the friends were wraped in a state of numbness towards everything, almost like they were under water and separated from the real world. They didn't speak to each other in their way back to the castle, both because they didn't find anything interesting to say and the heaviness of their heads did not allow them to think. However, Nathaniel was still trying to extract from his broken memmory what had happened last night: there was definitely something that he should remember. What was it? He had no idea.

It didn't take them much time to get to the castle. There was a big ammount of people waiting to get through the main gates: apparently, they had come to see Elizabeth's coronation that would be held public. So, the elves had to go inside through one of the back gates, being greeted by the guards who found it a bit weird that their second in command was coming in with the Queen at the afternoon of the coronation day. Nevertheless, they were clever enough not to annoy Nathaniel by spitting out their thoughts.

Once they were in the castle's enormous garden, Nate took a turn to the left instead of following the road until the main entrance, which led Lizz to get suspicious as she asked: 'Where are we going?'

The black haired boy frowned, grabbing her hand to drag her behind him. 'We're going to ask Lilith for a remedy. You can't get to the castle with a hangover.'

The girl shrugged. She would do anything to stop her head from exploding, a situation that was soon to happen as her brains were begining to go dumb. They got to Lily's house in a heartbeat and Nathaniel stopped, staring at the door. The boy was already in his grumpiest mood and knowing that he had to face the Visionaire and tell her what had happened didn't make the situation any better, but it was either that or presenting a hangovered Queen in front of her uncle. Not the best choice. So, taking a deep breath, Nate knocked at the door, and, as soon as the sound came out of his fist, the black haired woman was standing in front of them, scrutinizing their faces as if they were completely unknown to her.

'I see you got drunk.' She observed, making both of the friends narrow their eyes on her. 'Don't give me that look just because I'm right.' Lilith snapped, stepping away from the entrance to let them come inside the house. 'So, what are you about to ask me?' The Visionaire asked when both the young elves were already standing in her livingroom.