A Tale Of Queens

Doubt

Vileytna flinched when yet another pin pricked her.

“Please hold still, Princess,” the seamstress said with false politeness dripping from her words. She was standing behind Vileytna as she tried to take her measurements.

Vileytna sighed and stood as still as she could.

This was the fifth time a pin was pricking her and her patience was running out. Judging by the tone of the seamstress' voice, none of those times were accidental.

She slowed her breathing down in an attempt to quell her growing annoyance.

Just as she was cooling off, she felt a prick.

Vileytna abruptly turned around and flung the woman's hand away.

“Do you have a problem with me or are you just a clumsy dunce?!” she snapped.

A smile that was intended to seem pleasant spread on the woman's face. Vileytna saw that she was very satisfied with herself.

“Please be patient, Princess, I just need to be sure of the measurements. You see, this could have been easier if your waist was a bit trimmer. This style of dress requires a –” she paused to size her up “– smaller  woman to wear it well.” Her voice still managed to harbour that disgusting sweetness.

Her assistant giggled from across the room, not even bothering to hide it.

Vileytna looked at the seamstress with her double chin and pudgy arms. She smiled very politely indeed.

“Do you make your own dresses?”

The seamstress looked puzzled at the question that seemed to have come out of no where. Finally, she answered. “Why yes, I do,” with a touch of pride.

Vileytna's smile grew even wider as she said in the kindest voice she could muster,

“Then making dresses that aren't for smaller women should only be too easy for you, shouldn't it?”

The woman looked as though she had been slapped. Her assistant gasped dramatically, clutching at her chest for good measure.

Rolling her eyes, Vileytna turned away from both of them. She was contemplating whether to send them away or not when the Emperor entered the room.

Immediately, the women bowed and excused themselves, leaving Vileytna alone with him.

“Your subjects are incredibly mannerless,” she immediately said, not bothering to hide her disdain.

She was not lying. She'd been, more times than she was bothered to count, disrespected by one servant or the other. She did not want any preferential treatment. She only wanted the common courtesy extended from one person to another.

The man chuckled lightly.

“Oh no, you have it wrong. My subjects just aren't very kind to outsiders.”

“Then why don't you send this outsider back where she came from?”

His eyes squinted. “You would love that, wouldn't you? Back to that miserable husband of yours. And your son. I say, how old is he now? Should be running around and breaking things already.”

He was trying to get a rise out of her and Vileytna would not give him the pleasure. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

“What do you stand to gain by marrying me?”

“Teaching Sa-Alti a lesson.”

“And what role do I have to play in that?”

“I owe you no explanation.”

Clearly, he refused to explain the massive hit his ego took when Sa-Alti rejected him. Xhante. Did she know who he was? That she would rather give up her married sister than accept his advances was more salt in the wound.

But she would soon learn. They would all learn.

He studied Vileytna for a moment before smiling at her. “You do have quite the family, don't you? A sister who uses you as a pawn and a mother who is all too happy to give you up.”

“Alti is not my mother!”

“Oh? Sore spot?” He chuckled, eyes shining with enjoyment.

Vileytna said nothing else, trying to rein in her anger. She knew exactly what he was trying to do.

“What about that sister of yours then? Blame your mother all you want, but the reason you are even here in the first place is Sa-Alti.”

“What?”

“You do know that I asked for her hand in marriage, right? But I guess she was too self important to marry me. Then she sent you, the consolation prize, to hold the fort, doing nothing at all to get you out of here all these months. She readily accepted the wedding invitation I sent, not even trying to negotiate on your behalf. Maybe your mother and your sister are not so different after all.”

He had to be lying! Sati had mentioned no such thing. She'd only told her that the Emperor wanted to marry a high born woman and that their mother thought that she was the perfect choice.

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Maybe I don't, maybe I do. But my dear Empress, for your own sake, when people show you who they truly are, believe them.”

He turned and sauntered out of the room with a smile on his face.

And Vileytna was left alone to battle the seeds of doubt that were beginning to grow in her mind.