The Queen of the Night

Chapter 26

I hadn't had time to wake up yet. Staying up so late the night before drained my very being of energy. Yet, before I even settled into my chair, Matthew gave me a stack of files, color coded, each with different papers about different things. One file contained pictures of vampires I recognized but didn't immediately place them until I read their names. I had met each one only once, when Nexus was on trial. "What's this all about?" I asked before he sat down.
Servers scrambled to run out food and disappear behind the kitchen door again. Matthew acted as if the food had been there all along. "If you are to be queen in the future-hopefully the far future-you will need to start taking on responsibilities of a queen." I continued to shuffle through the papers. There were files of creatures and clans we were allied with, others that we were enemies with. One file was coded in what appeared to be random symbols in a language that pricked at a memory, but I couldn't place the memory or the language. "One file contains information on each head and their successor, including the Giovanni clan, another is on our allies beyond vampirism and enemies, and another file is coded. You cannot ask Jillian for help because she will not know the answer. None of the staff knows the answer. And don't go asking your gargoyle friends either." He took a bite. The shock must've shone on my face because he added, "I'm old, I'm not stupid, Amelia, nor am I deaf. I can hear you talk to them in the early evening hours."
I couldn't recover my face very quickly, I continued to gape as I said, "I'm more surprised that you admitted you know."
"I've been alive for centuries, of course I have seen them move and change. It's hard not to notice, yet the staff are too busy to notice a thing. I used to be young like you, I spoke to one for a time. I distinctly remember he was called Harry. I suppose he hardly moves now."
I could only stare at him for a few moments more as I unconsciously flipped through the papers, not taking in a single word. "So, do I get a hint about the coded pages?"
"Oh, yes," he took another bite as he thought carefully. "All the secrets a Necrarch is to know. That is all you need to know. I am the only one with the answers, and any answers that are revealed to you through the pages, Amelia, you can never tell another soul outside of our family. There is a reason why we have been the ruling family for centuries, uncontended by the other clans who outnumber us." He stood. "I have some meetings, so I must take my leave."
I nodded and watched him leave before I took the lightest folder and opened it. He hadn't been kidding when he said it was coded. Every single letter wasn't a letter, it was a symbol. "Everything a Necrarch is to know." I repeated to Tisha, Gerald, and Denis early that morning. "Some hint. It doesn't tell me anything!"
Tisha shrugged. "I don't know, hon, he always speaks in riddles from what I could tell."
I sighed dramatically and looked through other files, never taking in a single piece of information beyond the titles of each file. By the time the sun had come up I was back to the cryptic codes, and the tingling memory. Finally I set it aside. "Sleep, that's what I need." However, dreams never came, and I continued to see the symbols under my eyelids.
The next day I stared at the encrypted papers, leaving Jillian to her own devices, in this case planning for a party I really could care less about. Every now and again she would interrupt my staring to ask a question, but I hardly paid attention only waving her away and agreeing to whatever she asked. The desk in my room was littered with papers and writings, inkblots where I never lifted my pen, and my hand was covered in ink.
"You should take a break." Jillian finally insisted, tearing me away gently by my shoulders. "You'll only drive yourself mad. Come help me with a few things."
I nodded with a sigh. I guess she was right.
Her arm came around me and she guided me to my feet and out the door. "Come, take a look." She urged. We walked down the long flight of stairs, my mind still racing over the letters and symbols. I knew I'd seen them before somewhere, but I couldn't pinpoint where, nor could I recall anything I used to know about them! It was driving my mind mad!
I barely registered the place that Matthew's son had died, until after we were beyond the tall orchards, which were in desperate need of trimming. "I'll get that trimmed up real soon," Jillian moved one of the branches out of the way. Beyond them, however, the entire area had been transformed! The veranda sat overlooking hard wood panels that servants were still trying to piece together, lights without plugs, tables decorated with small candles, which dropped wax onto different colored plates.
"Obviously it isn't finished," Jillian started almost immediately. "What I'm thinking is stringing up some simple decorations, like flags or something. I don't know. What do you think?"
"I think, Jillian, we should keep it very simple. I don't think anybody will be noticing if the decorations have gone missing." I laughed. "But I do think stringing up some lights. You could probably use one of the orchard's overgrown branches or...or maybe the tree over there."
Jillian nodded in agreement. "Right, I'll get right to it. It's just in a few weeks, we don't have much time to prepare."
"I'm sure we will all be as prepared as we can be."
"I suppose you're right." She paused, her eyes looked far away. Then, she looked at me. "Are you ready to even be engaged?"
I shrugged. "There are worse things, I suppose."
"That's not a yes, dear."
"That's also not a no." My tone rose unexpectedly. I closed my eyes and stood still for a moment, and only after I was calm I spoke more evenly, "I don't know what I'm ready for, Jillian. Only months ago I was just a human...barely an adult human. Now, I've got bigger responsibilities. I've got a lot of...of noise, and doubts, and..."
Jillian only smiled.
"What?"
"You just sound like a true queen-to-be. Nobody is ever ready to take on everything, but you do have a voice and therefore you've got a say, Amelia. If you don't want to go through with this whole idea of an engagement you need to confront Eden about it before the party. Matthew can't be with you either if you decide to take this path. Eden is very traditional and won't listen to what a woman has to say, Queen-to-be or not. I'm sure your dragon friend will be happier for it too."
I nodded. She was right, and now I smiled. "What would I do without you?"
"Probably sit up in that room all day reading that dusty old file." She laughed.