Stalemate | A Rise To Power

𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘺

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She sat with Lavinia in the gardens, aware of Theo and Chege standing not far away. They looked very different: Theo, pudgy and pale, with a plain face and blonde hair, and Chege, lean with brown eyes and dark hair falling into his eyes. The ground was still wet from a day of rain before, but Audrey was grateful to be outside, able to feel the cool, fresh air on her face and smell the scent of the flowers planted nearby. She had sent a request to Landon through Chege asking for permission to visit the gardens, and received a single note in response with the word 'accepted' written in cursive, neat writing.

"I kept trying to see you," Lavinia said. She was dressed in a flowery dress with puffed sleeves and a necklace of stones carved into stars hanging on her neck. Lavinia swung her legs, too short to sit properly with her feet touching the floor. "And they kept telling me the same thing over and over." Her voice went an octave lower as she imitated the guards. "'If you want to see her, you'll have to ask the king'." Lavinia rolled her eyes. "Then I went to see the king, but the guards at his door told me I wasn't permitted to do so. So I kicked one in the private bits and then he yelled and called me a brat, then his friend pulled me away. According to pa, I shouldn't have kicked a King's guard."

Audrey laughed lightly, although it sounded hollow. She was glad to be in the company of the diminutive girl with her messy hair. "It's good to see you again, Lav."

"You left me." Lavinia pouted. "Please stop getting yourself into cells."

Audrey shrugged. "It seems to be my speciality."

"Well, it's not a very good one." Lavinia paused. "Your hair is becoming browner."

It was true. Audrey had looked in the mirror that morning and noted the redness fading from her auburn hair, turning it into a browner hue. She did not know how to stop it.

"I know," Audrey said. "I'm not sure why."

"Oh well. That's scholarly stuff, which is boring." A shrug. "I found a spider the other day. So I took it to give it to my maid. I thought she might like him. But she screamed and squashed it with her shoe."

"That was rude of her."

"If I gave you a spider, would you kill it?"

"If it was from you, then no." Audrey tapped her on the nose, and she giggled. "I'd name it Alannal and let it live in my room."

"I can find you a spider," Lavinia offered. "But probably only a boy one."

"Why a boy?"

"Well, I have only ever found a girl spider once. But she died after a few days."

Audrey was amused. "How can you tell?"

"Girl spiders have seven legs. So boy spiders must have eight," Lavinia explained.

She noticed Ethelind in the corner of her eye. She took long strides through the garden, conversing with Jax. Audrey was aware of the brief flicker of emotion on Jax's stoic face before he briefly nodded. The two spent a suspicious amount of time together.

"I thought that all spiders have eight legs," Audrey replied, keeping her eyes trained on Ethelind and trying to read her lips from afar.

"I found a spider with seven legs once. It must have been a girl, because all eight-legged spiders look the same. I checked, but none have a weird stick thing that men have," Lavinia said. She followed Audrey's eyesight. "What are you looking at?"

"Weird stick thing? What, how do you...?" Audrey glanced at Lavinia, bewildered, then shook her head, deciding not to pursue the topic. "You know what, never mind. Will you excuse me?"