The Queen of Stones

Chapter 9

Alene starts to talk about some girl's dress, and I go back to hold my head with my hand, wondering when I will be able to lay in bed. At least people seem to be having fun, focused on their conversations or drinking and eating. I look at my plate, half-filled, and decide to eat before I have to announce the Naming Season.

Alene delicately raises her hand to a waiter passing by.

"Excuse me," she says once he reaches us. "Could you bring me some food?"

"Of course, Lady Alene," he responds. "Do want anything in particular?"

"Just a little bit of everything."

"I'll bring you that." He looks over to me. "Anything for you, Your Majesty?"

"No, thanks."

He leaves and comes back shortly after with her food. I watch as she eats. I try to join the conversation happening in our table but have to face the fact that my mind is somewhere else. A few minutes later, Vincent Wardwell approaches me.

"Your Majesty, it's time," he says. "I must remind you that this is being recorded and will be played in the news."

"I know, thanks."

I fix my dress while I watch him going to alert Davi, who walks over to where I am. I and Davi walk together to the stage and the music stops playing as we sit side by side in the Halvard table. We wait as the members of the five families take their places in the tables around the stage and the rest of the nobles stop talking and, also, sit in their table to watch us. A cameraman raises his fingers to Wardwell, who walks on stage and stops in front of the microphone placed in the front of it.

"Here to announce the Naming Season, Her Majesty, Queen Adelaide Halvard," Vincent Wardwell says.

People clap while I stand up and walk to the front of the stage.

"I hope you all are having a pleasant night," I say, adjusting the microphone to my height. "I'm pleased to say that this year we have 3.739 young people being named, seven of them, inside the palace. In these next two weeks, I ask of you to think about which name best defines your friend or family member and make sure to vote for it, I'm sure it will mean a great deal for them.

"Without further ado, let's begin," I continue. "Because I can only imagine how excited they are for this."

I make a sign to the guards in front of the door, who quickly open it, allowing for another seven guards to walk in, each one carrying a transparent vote box. They place the boxes side by side in the middle of the ballroom, forming a long line. Each box has a last name written in it, being the first two boxes bigger than the others, since they belong to members of the five families.

The seven nobles walk to their respective boxes, standing in front of it and placing their right hands on their pockets, touching their stones. It is common for the people who are about to be named to ask for a determinate name to their stone, in hopes of receiving the name they want. While they ask for it, everyone is in complete silence. I look at the camera and notice that it is focused on Clementine, placed between Grinald's daughter and Huseth's son, completely ignoring Grinald's daughter.

"May your stones grant all of you deserving names," I say.

I wipe my sweaty palms in the back of my dress hoping no one will notice. This is almost over.

"Who will volunteer to be the first to vote?" I say already looking at Allerick Grinald, thinking that he would stand up right away, since the privilege to vote first is given to the father of highest name, which, this year, is the Grinald name.

However, Allerick Grinald remains still, working on eating his dinner. I see Sebastian Coldwell looking over to the Grinald table then looking at me, asking for my permission to vote. I nod and he stands up.

"Sebastian Coldwell, The Duke of Morwen," I say presenting him.

A guard hands Coldwell seven pieces of paper and one pen, he then walks to Grinald's daughter's box and writes something in a piece of paper, using the box itself as a table. After inserting the paper in the first box, he moves on to his daughter's box, smiling at her while choosing a name. Sebastian Coldwell then repeats the same action five more times.

"Thank you, Your Grace," I say as Coldwell sits back in his table. "This year's Naming Season has officially started."

Everybody begins to clap and cheer. The son of Tobias Huseth, who is on Clementine's left side, clenches his hands above his head, making people cheer even more. I feel relieved. All of the tension I was bottling up because of this moment finally leaves my body, leading me to smile. Even though I have opened the Naming Season four times now, I always feel an enormous pressure before it, mostly because is one of the few times of the year in which the population actually sees me. And, in my mind, they won't like what they see.

"The boxes will be available in a determined room at the palace," I say as I see the guards starting to carry the boxes out of the ballroom. "The nobles who wish to vote should obtain the information of where the boxes are being kept at the time with a guard."

That's it. It's over. I walk back to my family table and sit next to Davi, who holds my hand down the table. Vincent Wardwell quickly walks on stage, standing in front of the microphone.

"Now, I believe that Apollo Van Coren, the son of the Duke of Haven, would like to play you something to make this lovely night even more special."

People clap again as Apollo stands from his seat at the Van Coren table, grabs his violin from a guard at the entrance of the stage and stands in front of the microphone.

"Thank you. First of all, I would like a round of applause for the palace staff, who put all of this together. This party, along with our daily lives, would be impossible without them," Apollo says, making people clap. "Tonight, I will be playing one of my newest compositions. I hope everyone enjoys it."

He starts to play a sweet harmony, that is soft and joyful, being perfect for this moment. Every time I hear Apollo play something, I feel like my ears enter a perfect state as if they were made to listen to him play, which leads me to wonder if he is using his power on the audience, changing our perception. However, I never asked him that. Mostly because it would be incredibly rude to ask if he is using his power in public, but also because it would be to take away his credit on being an amazing violinist.

After Apollo finishes playing and people clap for many minutes, with his father even standing up to praise him, the camera stops filming, and the nobles go back to their conversations.

"Your Majesty, do you want food to go today too?" Vincent Wardwell enters the stage and asks Davi.

"Yes, please," he answers.

"I'll ask a waiter to bring it to you," Wardwell says leaving.

I remember when I noticed Davi would always bring a plate of food to our room to eat after diner. For months, I thought this was extremely rude of him and even told him to stop, claiming that the nobles would assume he was impolite. However, with time, I realized he would never eat anything at diner or in any situation in which I was not the only person present. So, I took back what I said and just hope for no one to see him taking food away.

I start watching the five families' tables. The Bonavich's, Van Coren's and Coldwell's family tables are cheerful, with their occupants eating or talking in a joyful way. I see Alastair Bonavich hug Alene, who is sitting next to him. In the Grinald family table, a heavy expression is present in all of their faces, with all of them looking down at their plates while silently eating. In the Hawthorne table, the only occupant is Agnes, who is happily eating while talking to Vincent Wardwell, who is standing next to the table.