The Broken Crown

Chapter 15

WARNING: some sexual content about halfway through. Not very descriptive.

Adrianne

The chariot moved through the city, slowing as the cheering crowd made it hard to move as fast as outside of the town’s walls. It was a windy day in the late summer, the ocean breeze cutting through the wood that sheltered her with a salty smell. It smelled like home.

The sound of the gulls crying and the tongues of hundreds of nations calmed something deep within her, and made her heart clench. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed it; missed the bright clothing, the dark faces, and the blonde ladies of the court of Tibera.

Adrianne fought back tears that threatened to spill when the wagon came to a halt in front of the magnificent Lionhall Castle. Its walls were built, massive and elegant. The windows facing the city and land had a normal size, but those facing the ocean, she knew, were smaller. It was built to face harsher weather than this.

Once she stepped outside, the crowd roared. A path had been lined by guards so that she could walk from the chariot to the front port, yet wherever there was space, a hand was reaching to touch their Queen. Leaves from bushes and flower petals hung on the wind and landed in Adrianne’s braided hair and she could not help but smile at the faces who watched her.

Her crown was gleaming in the sunshine. It had been place on her head just before they rode into the city. Dreadfully heavy, it was, but her steps felt lighter with it. Just past two weeks ago, she had not known its feeling on her head...

They had ridden for days now, stopping only briefly in large villages and holdfasts. Yet, her lord father and the rest of her family had arrived much earlier. Now they stood at the top of her stairs, smiling and trying to hold composure.

Adrianne looked up, up, her eyes narrowing against the sun until she found the window to her old room. It had been hers in her early childhood, before her parents dared move her further away from their own chambers, to a room overlooking the waters. And there, smiling and crying tears of happiness, stood Miriam.

Raphael joined her, letting her rest her hand on his arm. His smile seemed so authentic, so real. Yet when the sun set, his smile was gone and he left her alone. She hadn’t told anyone, not since Jeffroy. Of course she hadn’t told anyone. It hadn’t helped to talk.

Behind them walked her five newly-appointed ladies-in-waiting, Celeste walking at the very front. Behind them were the rest of the members of court who had decided to join on the tour. Musicians were playing tunes, all of them very different from the ones of the Kingslands. These were lighter, more elegant, seeking inspiration from everywhere.

Finally, she lifted her skirts and walked up the steps to stand before the court of Tibera. They all knelt down at once. It felt so strange, watching her father on his knees, afraid to look up. Raphael quickly made a gesture and they all stood.

“Your Grace,” her father began. “My Queen. If it please you, we have arranged quarters in the eastern part of the castle, overlooking the ocean.”

Adrianne’s heart warmed and her father’s quick glance to see her smile did not go unnoticed. “Thank you, lord Henri,” her husband said.

He stepped aside and let them inside. A servant asked them to follow him, and so they did. The halls were so filled with memories that Adrianne’s heart swelled. She had forgotten things she would never have thought possible to forget. Now they returned, forcefully, and her eyes teared up with the loss of childhood.

“Is anything the matter, my lady?” Raphael was the only one who called her ‘my lady’ anymore. She smiled up at him.

“No, Your Grace. It’s just... I have so many memories.” Her eyes travelled the hallways, seeing the places where Alex and she had thrown balls, or run with the dog they had once owned, or played with things that merchants brought as gifts from faraway lands.