Her Royal Highness

Chapter 36

"Queen Mal!" An attendant rushed down the hall with a stack of papers in their hands. "Before you leave for the Isle of the Lost, you need to complete these for the kingdom of Dun Broch."

Mal frowned at the person as they held the papers out. Her Isle jacket was in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She was clearly about to walk out the door but evidently hadn't managed to escape Auradon in time. "I'm on Isle time," She shook her head, continuing to step away towards the door. "It's on my calendar. I've had it blocked since Tuesday. My other country needs me today."

"Well, Auradon needs you right now," The attendant insisted, trying to hand her the papers. "These have to be submitted tonight. If you can do them right now, then I can send them out before it's too late."

"Where were these yesterday when I was in Ben's and my offices until half past midnight?" Mal demanded. She had so many new bruises and cramps were surfacing in muscles she hadn't used since she left the Isle. A new callous had formed three times over one top of the area her pen would rest when she wrote, and her fingertips had been stained by pen ink to the point she couldn't even scrub it off. "Listen, I'm leaving right now. I'll be back at nine and I'll complete them then."

"Here's a pen," The attendant replied flatly. "And these were in Ben's file holder on his desk. I had to go find them because Dun Broch paged to ask about them." He shoved a pen towards her hand and Mal dropped her phone, which fell to the floor with a clatter. They both winced and, as she started to bend down for it, he held up a hand. "Let me, your majesty."

He reached down, scooped up the phone and examined the screen with an expression that quickly began to fall. Mal stared at him and then sighed. "It's broken, huh?" She asked.

"I'll let Doug know it needs to be repaired and he'll take care of it." The attendant assured her. He reached out for her Isle jacket and Mal deflated as she handed it over.

"Fine," She exhaled, trading him for the papers. "But I have to go after that, otherwise I'll miss the boat for the Isle. I don't have time for Auradon to hold me up like this."

"Well, Auradon doesn't have time for you to leave us as much as you do," The attendant retorted. "Don't forget you're supposed to be in the Moorlands next week, but Arendelle might start a war with Weselton if you don't come up with another solution to their trading dispute."

"I'll deal with it tonight," Mal replied through gritted teeth. She uncapped the pen lid and began scanning the papers for keywords and statements, along with anywhere she needed to sign.

"With all due respect, your Highness," the attendant mumbled in a low voice, "You've said that about nine other things already."

She knew she had. And She knew, vaguely, what they were as well. Something for Arendelle... something for Oceania... A couple of things about the war... She shook her head and growled as she shoved the finished papers back towards the attendant and snatched her jacket and phone away from the attendant.

"I'm leaving now," She announced, shoving her phone into her pocket. "If anything else comes up, drop it on mine or Ben's desk and I'll deal with it before I go to bed tonight. You don't chase Ben around the castle, so I don't understand why you're trying to do it with me."

"Your Majesty, the King can aptly balance his workload without skipping four meals in a row," The attendants pointed out in a nagging tone.

Mal snarled and felt a bit of steam waft up from her hair and her horns appeared past her locks. The attendant backed off, looking afraid. "Ben isn't balancing three countries!" She snapped and then turned to storm out. Did she have everything? Her jacket was slung over her arm, her now-broken phone was in her back pocket, that should be every-