Knowing she'd just suffered a fall, he had thought she didn't come out of the carriage with the other women because she needed assistance to do so. Why was the carriage going away already?
Masking his confusion, the Royal Steward said to Lady Ilse, "Is Princess Hilde perhaps still sleeping?"
The Lady understood what was really being asked but chose not to address it here.
"Is the Queen with the Assembly?" she asked instead, in her turn.
The white-haired elderly man blinked a few times to come to terms with the fact that his own question was being ignored.
"No, Lady," he eventually answered. "The Queen is in her private study."
Lady Ilse nodded. "Good. I shall go to her first. Make my excuses to the Lords and Ladies, please, Lord Steward. I'll be a while to join them." Almost automati
