The War of Queens

Chapter 17

Adrianne

She supped with the rest of the court that night. Asha and her Yaguars had left two days before, intending to go north. She wondered how they would like the climate there, seeing as they had been freezing in the capital already.

Evelyn had seemed suspicious of them. “Why would she bring her jaguars with her if she was just travelling? And all four of them at that? It seems like a lot of trouble to go through if they were just passing through,” she had said.

Adrianne had pushed her suspicions aside. “Doesn’t your father bring his hounds with him when he travels? And what other purpose could she have had?”

“I don’t know,” had been Evelyn’s answer, “but did she say anything about visiting Wolfsbane?”

Adrianne knew the implications of her daughter’s question, of course, and she could not help but think them over as she ate her dinner in the Great Hall. The duties of a Queen had long since grown into a habit for her; she knew without thinking what lords and ladies should be sent the best dishes, whose jokes it was most profitable to laugh at and which people she should send smiles and talk to once they had finished eating.

So it was easy for her to slip away into the back of her mind, only surfacing once in a while for a few seconds to perform her duties. Asha had not done anything to show her dissatisfaction with Raphael’s rule over her lands for the decade and a half that she had ruled. In fact, she had been so quiet it had seemed like a rebellion of its own kind. Raphael and Adrianne had agreed to let their control slip a little, to give Asha the freedom they both knew she deserved.

The warmth of her husband’s hand on top of hers drew her back. She looked up at him and smiled to show him that he had her attention.

“Are you alright?” he asked, leaning over slightly. She nodded. “You seem very thoughtful,” he added then, giving her the chance to not answer the implied question.

“I was just thinking about something Evelyn said.”

“Is it… private?”

“No, it’s…” She had to search for the right words. “Evelyn suspects that Asha might have other motives for travelling the kingdom.”

Raphael leaned back to get a serving girl to refill his cup. “Such as?” he asked while holding the cup behind him. Adrianne waited until the cup had been filled and Raphael had taken his first sip with speaking.

“She implied that Asha might be going to Wolfsbane.”

Raphael choked on his drink in laughter. “Asha and Caterina?” He sputtered some more, resulting in the fleeting glances of the court. “That’s ridiculous. Not only does Caterina think far too highly of herself to include anyone but her own family in her schemes – if she were scheming – but Asha would never go to war.”

“Are you certain?” Adrianne agreed with him on all his points, but she needed his certainty if she was to sleep tonight.

Her husband’s eyes softened and he smiled a little. “I am certain.”

She was about to turn back around when she saw a small, white spot at the edge of his mouth. She removed it with her finger and inspected it. “What is this?”

When he did not answer, she looked up, only to see that he was rubbing off more of the white, foamy substance. Without thinking, she took hold of his arm and raised him up. He kept the napkin to his mouth, thankfully, as they descended the steps of the dais. All she could do was to make it appear that he was leading her while getting him out of the room as quick as possible.