His Divine Queen

The Gift

The meeting would be over soon, Arabella told herself as she shifted in her seat and fiddled with the hem of her Royal coats. The day had been far too long already, one meeting after another that all seemed to come back around to the same subject: the raidings and the attacks. Which were, of course, an important subject. But that didn’t stop Arabella from gaining a tremendous headache as she sat through hours and hours of discussions.

Now that she understood how dull these meetings really were, she realized why her father had always been so angry after attending them. The same went for Alaric, she supposed, thinking back to all those nights when he would return to their shared chambers in a mood.

The mystery surrounding his disappearance had only grown more as days passed. It had now been 3 months since his escape, and still they were no closer to finding out how he had done it. Arabella was certain that he must have had help: there was no way that he would have been able to murder 5 guards in the state he had been in. He must have had help, someway or another, and she needed to find out what – or who – it was.

Frustrated with her thoughts, Arabella zoned back into the latest conversation, straightening in her seat as she locked eyes with Lorcan, whom had already been watching her from the other side of the table. Her cheeks blushing a soft crimson, she turned her gaze to the rambling agricultural advisor before his stare unsettled her anymore.

She knew that he must be frustrated with her; confused at the lack of attention she had been giving him the past few days ever since she had found out the news. But, she couldn’t help it – it was like there was this voice in her head constantly reminding her that he wouldn’t want her once he found out about her condition. She knew that she had to tell him, but was just putting it off – and in the process had begun to push him away.

She wished that she could just come out and say it, finally get the horrible weight off her chest, but every time she tried it was like something was stopping her. The words caught in her throat, dried up and lodged there like a sour fruit.

“My Queen…?” The nasally voice of her advisor cut through her clouded thoughts, breaking Arabella from her daze.

“Hmm?” She responded quickly, focusing her attention back onto the less-than-impressed room before her. She flushed, clearing her throat before smoothly continuing, “yes, sorry, can you repeat that last bit?”

The advisor sighed, gesturing to the map behind him and repeated exasperatedly, “I asked your opinion on where we should store out food supplies? The limited supplies we have need to be protected.”

Arabella hesitated for a moment, sweeping her eyes across the map of her Kingdom as she thought of a response. “There is no safer place than in the city, here in the Palace. We shall convert some of the empty rooms into storage, employing some of the workers directly here at the Palace so they may continue their distributions from a safer spot. Merchants may come to us directly for their quotas, so that they no longer need to leave the city walls to find their produce.”

The advisor baulked, standing up from his chair in indignation and spluttering, “But my Queen! You can’t do that! The Palace is sacred – it can’t be used for-”

“It can be used for whatever I say it can,” Arabella interrupted, quiet rage fuelling in her chest as her wolf let out a low growl at the disrespect. She rose from her seat, now level with the old man as the room descended into quietened murmurs, “and this is the safest place for everyone and everything right now. Including our produce that seems to be depleting by the hour.”

The advisor fumed, his face shining a putrid burgundy as he scowled at the young Queen, “You can’t do this! The King wouldn’t have done this!”

As the words left his mouth, he seemed to realise what he had said. His mouth snapped shut immediately, his reddened features turning a pallid colour as he watched the woman glare him down. The rest of the room fell silent, so quiet that any sound would have seemed like a bomb detonating in the tense atmosphere.

Arabella broke the silence, an icy retort chilling everyone to the bone as they witnessed the blaze of fury in the young Queen’s eyes, “The old King is gone, advisor. And it would serve you well to remember that.”

The older man gulped suddenly, slowly sliding back into his chair as the other members of the room turned to look at him with varying degrees of annoyance. None so more than the Prince himself, Lorcan, who shot a deadly glare towards the old advisor.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Arabella continued, iciness removed from her voice as she turned from the table of men, “I have some letters to receive, and now officially adjourn this meeting.”

She didn’t wait to hear their replies, instead sweeping from the room as quickly as her legs could manage. The hallways were quiet, reminding her of how late it was really getting as the Sun had long since departed over the horizon.

As she walked, she thought about how she could approach the conversation of her infertility with Lorcan. She couldn’t just outright say it – no, she would need to somehow broach the topic gently and calmly, but she couldn’t think of the right words to-

“Hey! Bella!” A young, feminine voice shouted from behind her.

Arabella turned, a small smile sweeping across her face for a moment as she spotted the young Princess making her way down the corridor.

“Oh, hi Serena. Long time no see, how have you been?”

The Princess stopped in front of Arabella, sending a big grin towards her older sister, “Good thank you! It’s been great having all this freedom suddenly, being allowed to leave the Palace has been amazing,” she blurted out quickly, as if she was bursting to get the information out of her mouth, “Lorcan has been really helpful too, helping tutor me for my exams coming up in the next few weeks!”

“Oh,” Arabella hesitated slightly at the mention of the Prince, “That’s good to know. I’m glad you’re doing better now, after everything that’s happened.” She paused, looking down at the young girl. She had changed over the past few months; it was not difficult to see. The freedom and new friendships the girl had made seemed to have served her well – jade-coloured eyes shining in the fading daylight as her cheeks glowed a soft rosy pink. She looked as a young child should, full of life and excitement, and it made Arabella’s heart grow warm as she looked fondly at the girl standing before her.

Breathing deeply, the Queen continued, “and how are you coming along with your studies?”

Princess Serena chuckled lightly, “They’re alright, I suppose.” She hesitated, glancing up into Arabella’s eyes before gushing, “Lorcan has really helped - he is very clever, you see – he knows a lot about everything.”

Arabella huffed in response, “I’m sure he does,” sending another forced smile to her younger sister, her cheek muscles straining as the exertion of the day finally caught up to her. All she wanted to do was collapse onto her bed and forget that the day had happened, but the sun had only just set, so she knew it was too early to retire. Starting to walk towards her office, the Princess following dutifully, she answered, “he does seem to know a lot about most things. I wish I could be half as clever as him.”

The Princess gasped in shock, turning to face the older woman as they walked, “whatever are you speaking about, Bella? You are clever, I wish I could be just like you. You are brave, intelligent and strong – everything a woman would ever want to be.”

Arabella nodded in response to the young girl, a knot in her throat growing as they descended into silence. The Princess’ words were nice to hear, but knowing that people thought that of her only made this feeling of unworthiness worse. There was a constant pressure on her to be perfect, to get everything right, when really – what did she know at all?

Eventually, Serena dismissed herself, fumbling an excuse that she had to study in her room before her supper. Arabella agreed silently, wishing the girl a good evening as she skipped down the hallway. Now alone, Arabella appreciated the silence and continued glumly to her office. The quietness of the hallways were really a Goddess-send today, and she was glad of its stillness as she arrived at her door.

Entering the darkness of her office, Arabella let out a small sigh. She shrugged out of her thick Royal coat, hanging it on the back of her door as she leant her forehead against it. The thought of a quick nap on her sofa sounded great, but she knew it would be futile to even attempt it before supper. Instead, she told herself as she turned around with a spring in her step, she would power through the evening and go to bed early.

However, when she turned, she spotted something that shouldn’t have been in her office. A questionable white box, placed neatly on the top of her desk.

Arabella frowned, a feeling of dread growing as she approached it cautiously. She sniffed the air, not noticing anything that seemed amiss, so grabbed the box gently and brought it closer to her. Lifting its lid, peering into its dark depths, she spotted something that made her falter in surprise.

What was this?

On top of the object, a note – one with handwriting that she recognised immediately, its writer obvious as she grew giddy.

Wear this tonight, come alone, and meet me outside the front gates.

All my love, your El

As she read, a grin overtook her features. An expression that had not appeared on her face for a long time, but one that she was grateful to finally show again. It wasn’t a small grin either, not like those that she had offered to people to be kind, no, but a grin for herself. It was one that showed genuine happiness in its movement, and made her cheeks ache in their pleasure. It was a feeling that she would hold onto for as long as she could in these dark times.