One for Cards

Chapter Five

10/01/20: It's not even really Friday anymore. I've been so bad at updating regularly – somehow after the Lockhart series nothing has really been the same. Nevertheless, I've just gotten over a huge block on this story and stuff is rolling a little better. Here's a double update? Does that help?

TIME PASSED QUICKER THAN ADDIE WOULD HAVE LIKED. NOW ALL HER THINGS had been taken to the Palace and she herself was on the way, the last piece of cargo to be transported over. She would have her coronation the next day; the crown had been prepared already, sitting in a glass case in her father's private study.

    Her mother sat in the carriage with her, reading in silence.

    "Mother?"

    The older woman smiled when she looked up. It was brittle, and Addie regretted that her mother was still walking on eggshells around her. "Yes?"

    "I'm not upset with you. Or with Father," she said. "In fact... I should thank you. You gave everything up for me. It was childish to hold it against you."

    "Oh, darling, I understood your frustration." Queen Anne placed a hand over her daughter's. "I'm sorry we did what we did. It was only to keep you safe, but I feel responsible as a mother for not having a better option."

    "Don't." She smiled a little. "Well—I'll leave you to your reading."

    Reaching into her pocket, Addie pulled out a crumpled letter and read it for the fourth time that day with a stupid smile to herself. She would see her tutor soon enough, albeit in a very different capacity than what they were used to. Now they wouldn't have to be chaperoned; anything they did together, any conversation they had, would be official business. Something about this thrilled her: she would finally stand before Mr Williams as an equal. In fact, he would now be in her service, rather than her being under his tutelage.

    At the end of the carriage ride, the door swung open. The King had come to greet them personally – it seemed to have become a habit now that no small number of nobles knew who the mother-daughter pair were.

    "Katherine, beloved." He beamed, helping his wife down the carriage.

    "Hello, James." She did not smile widely – she never did, Addie noticed, when she spoke in the capacity of queen – but there was something in her eye when she addressed him, something she never showed in anyone else's company. Her exceptional affections for her husband were apparent.

    Then he took his daughter's hand as she disembarked. "Adelaide."

    "Father," she greeted in return with a soft smile. "How are you?"

    "Looking forward to tomorrow's events," he answered. "And you?"

    "Is Earl Arbough here yet?" she asked instead. "He said he'd see me before the coronation."

    King James smiled in amusement. "You'll find him waiting in your study."

    She turned restless immediately. "Has he been waiting long?"

    "Go."

    She had vanished before he could remind her to be punctual for dinner, slipping through the hallways she had become quite familiar with through her frequent visits. Queen Anne turned to him with a troubled expression.

    "James, I don't know that Addie should have Charles Williams as her private secretary."

    He shrugged. "He's a talented young man. He will be of use to her."

    "Have you seen the way she looks at him?" She wrung her hands. "It worries me. It has for a while now."

    "I haven't seen them together," he said carefully. "But you've mentioned it before."