Ageless

Chapter 30

One thing nagging at the back of my mind was that when I first accepted the position of Queen, I knew almost nothing about what was to be expected of me.

After I graduated from college and started taking job interviews, I would sometimes spend more time grilling the interviewer about the role than answering questions about myself. So when several days passed and nobody came rushing to me with urgent matters of governing, I began to do my own investigating into the specifics of the position.

In doing so, I learned much about the last Queen of Lentempia: mostly that during her reign, her title was entirely honorary.

Queen Isabelle Urias had little desire to assert herself into the tumultuous fray of politics dominated by Father Caollin, and was consistently ignored by her estranged husband, which left her with a lot of free time. Most of the servants were quick to fill me in about the late queen's day to day activities, which involved attending parties and galleries, making appearances at public events, reading in the library, stealing off to the highest balconies to admire the views, and modeling new fashions and designs that she wished to deem 'Royal'.

"You are the face of the Kingdom," Mia told me one day. "To be loved and admired, this is your duty. The King and Church handle the rest."

The Queen of Lentempia did not appear to be involved in any of the actual ruling of the Kingdom, as it turned out, so more than a few heads turned when I started appearing at the daily Royal Council meetings without an invitation. "My queen," the high councilman with the mustache- whose name escapes me- said, the first time he entered the room and found me sitting at the long rectangular table. "Are you sure you wish to attend these meetings? We would not want to bore your holiness with the mundane matters of the Royal Council."

I had smiled back at him with all the saccharine sweetness I could muster. "On the contrary sir, I find the day-to-day issues of the Kingdom quite fascinating. Please carry on, pretend I am but a shadow on the wall. If my tiny little brain becomes over-encumbered with boring semantics I will step out for some fresh air." He had coughed nervously and continued with the minutes, although it was clear that my presence in the room was less than welcome.

On days when Malcolm was away, the council started varying the times and rooms where the meetings were held, in an attempt to conduct business without me to distract them. Through it all, Hendrik remained loyal, always tipping me off whenever the location of the council meeting had changed at the last minute. Perhaps he did it because he relished the disgruntled looks of the council members, and their attempts to pretend my attendance did not fluster them. Either way, I was grateful, because each meeting detailed a fascinating tapestry of connected issues that- when woven together- created a picture of a Kingdom on the brink of disaster.

By attending the meetings, I learned about the agriculture of the Kingdom, the majority of produce and livestock coming from the fertile soil down south, especially in times of drought, as was expected to be the case this summer. The handful of Barons that protected the farmlands in the South had been gouging the prices of their exports, and now severe food shortages were not a question of 'if', but 'when'.

I learned about the Cult of Klay, a secret enclave as old as the New Church itself. The clan had remained dormant for thousands of years but had risen back to prominence as recently as ten years ago, the main headquarters of operations located within fifty miles of the Capital. The fortresses of the cult resembled giant ant hills, massive brown mounds of earth dotted with dark misshapen windows, hiding a massive network of underground mines and narrow tunnels that extended for miles underneath the earth's surface. Members of the cult were said to kidnap unsuspecting travelers and put them to work as slaves in the mines below, digging deeper into the depths, until the day they perished, although what exactly they were mining was hotly debated amongst many of the council members.