The Adulteress Queen

Chapter 5

I opened my eyes to a sunlit room, the haze of sleep still muddling my mind as I had trouble recognizing my surroundings. I think I was dreaming of times of childhood, because I expected to find myself in my childhood bedroom. Once I recognized the bedroom as mine in the Harrenhal castle, I remembered. Today was my wedding day.

"Princess Katarina! What are you still doing in bed?!" Launch exclaimed, startling me as I jumped in the bed and promptly sat upright. I rubbed my eyes and then brushed my mess of hair back from my face as I glared at my maid.

"I'm in bed because no one came to wake me, Launch." I growled at her. She cringed and stepped back, realizing her mistake too late at the cost of my grumpy morning tone.

"I'm sorry, Princess Katarina! I thought I woke you earlier! I've been very busy this morning!" She cried out nervously. I shook my head. Typical, distracted Launch.

"It's fine, Launch. I bathed before bed last night." I informed her, knowing this would save us time. I hurried and dressed for the wedding with Launch's assistance, with my head in the clouds the whole morning. I was not nervous or excited, simply in acceptance. Today I would become Sebastian's wife as well as the queen of the Harrenhal kingdom.

I finally felt some excitement when my father arrived, his burly figure marching into my room to hug me protectively. With everything happening lately, I was incredibly relieved that he arrived in time for the wedding. I cried tears of joy into my father's chest, as he did the same. It felt like so long since I'd last seen him. Launch, of course, threw a fit over me ruining my makeup, but that was quickly corrected as my father had a raucous laugh about it and he happily reacquainted with Launch and Tien, who informed him in detail about the nobility around here, about whom he was very curious to learn. My father was an excellent king, respected and loved by his people. It hadn't always been that way, but something had changed him when I was just a girl. By the reactions of Launch and Tien, I could see that the people's respect towards him was genuine. It made my wedding day so much better, having him by my side.

The time had come for my walk down the aisle. All the lords and ladies in the kingdom, and many from my kingdom as well were gathered in the cathedral. I looked myself over in the mirror one last time, taking a deep breath. I was impressed with how well Launch had done my makeup, making my skin perfectly dewy and flawless, my lips a lovely shade of red, and my lashes appear longer and fuller than I'd ever seen them, though certainly not overdone. My hair was in a braided bun with two long strands hanging loosely by the sides of my face. My mother's white satin gown was pearlescent and fitted in the bodice, with smooth, billowy skirts. After the ceremony, my ensemble would be completed with a shining crown atop my head.

I took one more deep breath and looped my arm around my father's, stepping into the cathedral with him as the dreary processional music played. The entire standing congregation turned to watch us as my father and I stepped forward together. We walked in pace to the tempo of the music, maintaining regal smiles as I avoided any eye contact. I knew Faustos would be here somewhere, and if I saw him, I might have lost my nerve of going through with this. I instead focused on Sebastian, who to my surprise, was actually not standing with his back to me. He watched us walk, his gaze focused on me. He was dressed exceptionally well, and looked quite handsome with his trademark scowl missing for once. I could do this; it was for the good of our kingdoms.

My father placed my hand in Sebastian's when we reached the end of the aisle, and I caught a glimpse of tears in my father's eyes as he kissed my cheek. I placed my free hand on my father's cheek, attempting to soothe him as he pulled away and a tear cascaded down his face. I knew he wished my mother were here to see this day. Maybe it was a good thing she was not. I could pretend this was a happy day for my father, but I had a feeling that a mother would not be so easily fooled. I sighed as I released my father, turning to face Sebastian when my father stepped aside. We turned together facing Piccolo, hand in hand. Piccolo took a deep breath before addressing the assembly.

"Your Grace, your Grace, your Grace." Piccolo began as he bowed his head to my father and Sebastian's parents. "And lords and ladies from the Starsands and Harrenhal kingdoms. We are gathered here today to unite through marriage Prince Sebastian of House Elite and Princess Katarina of House Mao. Under the eyes of the Gods..." and as his lengthy address carried on and our hands were bound symbolically with ribbon, I found my mind heavily distracted with my worries about the upcoming wedding night, and thoughts about Faustos. It was not until I felt a hard squeeze on my hand that I snapped out of my daydream. I looked at Sebastian whose eyes burnt into mine with annoyance. I worriedly looked up to Piccolo, who also looked annoyed with me, though not as furious.

"Do you?" Piccolo asked me, and by the persistence in his voice, I could tell he was repeating himself. Though I did not hear the whole question, I knew what everyone was expecting me to answer. Hell, it was the one thing I had to remember for the wedding ceremony, and I was failing to say it. No wonder they were vexed with me.

"I do!" I exclaimed, a bit flustered as I issued Sebastian an apologetic expression, which unfortunately did not appease him as he continued glaring at me. He was past the point of reconciliation. I would just keep my mouth shut for a while. He best not say anything to set me off later, or then he really wouldn't like me. Piccolo continued until the coronation began. I paid attention through this ceremony without problems. There was nothing that worried me about being queen; it was a powerful position with relatively little responsibility; the most powerful title a woman could possibly hold. Piccolo placed the king's crown upon Sebastian's head. Then he crowned me, placing the heavy, sleek metal crown upon my head. I was thankful for the fact that mine was dainty, because it was still heavy. I could not imagine how heavy Sebastian's bulky crown felt. Piccolo pronounced us the new king and queen of the Harrenhal Kingdom, and told Sebastian to kiss his bride.

A kiss was not too difficult, and with the desire of impressing the kingdom, Sebastian leaned in and gave me a long and gentle kiss. I was shocked. I never imagined he had it in him to be so gentle. I may have even dared to say it was romantic. His lips were soft and it was different than kissing Faustos. We pulled apart, and the dazed expression on my face must have been apparent, because Sebastian immediately smirked proudly at his handiwork. I glowered back at his smugness in indignation, and with a haughty huff, closed my eyes and turned my face away from him, hoping to hide the blush that had surfaced on my cheeks.

The assembly clapped and cheered, and we turned and linked arms, proceeding down the aisle to the exit of the cathedral. Just outside the cathedral, we joined my father and the now ex-king and queen in a receiving line to thank everyone for coming. We received a long hailing of congratulations. I noticed Rebekah approaching the line, giving me a sham of a smile. She seemed irritable.

"Congratulations, Queen Katarina, King Sebastian." Rebekah said, her voice a higher pitch than usual as if she was stressed. She clasped my hands in hers endearingly, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned to Sebastian. "You have such a beautiful queen, your Grace. I hope you find joy from your marriage." That last statement did not sound like she meant at all what she said, more like the opposite. Sebastian stared at Rebekah and only responded by wrapping an arm around my waist possessively.

"Thank you, Lady Rebekah." I said in an attempt to cut the tension that I felt between the two. Sebastian was eyeing Rebekah intensely, who was watching him with a pleading expression. She frowned and proceeded down the line to Sebastian's parents with tears forming in her eyes. I watched her as she acted charming and kindly to them, but with an underlying sorrow I'd never seen from Rebekah before. I looked at Sebastian quickly, catching him looking after Rebekah as I had been doing, with a forlorn look about him. I no longer had any doubts after that moment. I had always suspected that Rebekah had ulterior motives for befriending me so quickly. I didn't know how deeply involved she was with Sebastian, but they were involved nevertheless.

Not that I would hold it against Sebastian. We were both forced into this loveless marriage, and it seemed he was infatuated with someone else before I showed up. It explained his immediate hostility towards me. No, I would never hold it against him, though I may hold it over him sometime if the need were to arise. After all, if Sebastian should ever find out about Faustos and I, I would need to be prepared to protect us.

Thinking of Faustos, I realized now as the end of our line of guests reached us, that he seemed to be missing. Was he avoiding me now? Was it hard for him to watch us get married like it was for Rebekah? I hid the anxiety I felt as I noticed Sebastian's suspicious gaze on me, as well as that of his mother. I didn't need to explain myself to them right now. I finished thanking the handsome and finely dressed twin of Lazuli, Lord Lapis Gero, the last guest emerging from the cathedral as Nappa and Brolly approached us at our sides.

I marched right into the carriage that would take us for our short ride into the castle ballroom for a grand reception. Sebastian followed me in and ordered the driver to go. In fear of Sebastian's intimidating voice at his order, the driver hastily started the horses. The unexpected start threw me into the back of the carriage and I stumbled onto Sebastian's lap. He shoved me out of the way as he growled insults under his breath at our incompetent driver.

I was livid as well. My hair would need to be fixed after that fall, the driver was as big a moron as Sebastian was saying, and on top of it all, my husband just shoved me off of him like I was the bumbling i***t! I leaned out the carriage window and shouted furiously at the driver, who kept his mouth shut, though I couldn't help noticing him trembling as I spoke. Perhaps 'spoke' was not the right word to describe the way I addressed the driver. But it felt so good to let it all out. I had to control myself so often with all the nobility who incited me. I could release my fury on a carriage driver, even if it was misplaced. I huffed as I settled back into the carriage, sitting very ladylike. Sebastian was staring at me like I'd just grown three heads, which I found very irritating. Had he never seen a lady yell before?

"What?!" I snapped at him defensively. He shook his head as if I was not worth the headache. I could almost swear he called me something derogatory in a tone that was too low for me to hear. But the carriage stopped at that moment, and I was more than ready to get out of there. I climbed out while the driver offered his hand to me in assistance, though I slapped it away. The fool would probably pull me down on my face if I gave him a chance to assist me. Sebastian exited the carriage and beckoned me to his side with a wave of his hand.

I joined Sebastian, linking our arms together as we headed inside for our reception. During the short walk up the stairs leading into the castle dining room where the reception would be held, I was tempted to ask about Rebekah, but decided it was best to pretend I was oblivious to the situation for now. My thought process inadvertently created an awkward silence as Sebastian was very quiet. I felt the need to say something to him before we joined with everyone else.

"So, the ceremony was nice, wasn't it?" I asked, thinking small talk was always a safe choice for conversation. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized small talk was not safe with him.

"You mean the part where you forgot your vows?" He asked in a low, almost threatening voice. "What were they again?" He asked glibly. I frowned deeply at him, just daring him to go any further with this. He, of course, was not one to back down from a challenge. "That's right. Two words. All you needed to say were two words and you couldn't even get that right. I. do." He stated slowly as if he needed to retard his words for my mental incompetence. He laughed at my offended expression cruelly. I was sure my face was red as a tomato at that moment because I was furious and felt the heat rising through my ears. "It almost seemed like you didn't want to marry me!" He exclaimed tauntingly. How dare he mock me! If he thought he could talk to me like that, he had another thing coming.

"That's because I didn't want to marry you!" I screamed, and he cringed at the shrillness in my strained voice. "If I could take back those difficult vows, I would!" I yelled spitefully. Sebastian turned his head slightly, looking past me as his expression became a mixture of fury and embarrassment. I frowned as I cautiously glanced in the direction of his gaze, over my shoulder. We had almost reached the doors to the ballroom, and the buffoon of a driver had run ahead and opened the doors for us in an attempt to redeem himself after that carriage ride. The entire congregation just witnessed me yelling at Sebastian about how I did not want to marry him. Great. Just great. They were all gawking and murmuring. If it weren't for our witnesses, I would have loved to beat the driver's head in with something extremely solid and heavy at that moment. Sebastian growled as he walked ahead of me into the ballroom entryway, until he reached the threshold. He paused and glared silently at the aghast, deeply regretful driver.

"Dungeons." Sebastian said, and just like that, Sir Nappa came out of nowhere, grabbed the shocked man by the arm and dragged him away. I was sure Sebastian would like to punish me much worse. But he couldn't. I was the queen and he needed me. I strutted right past him into the ballroom, set on enjoying myself for the night.

The first thing I did at the reception was set out in search of Faustos. I would not speak with him, it would be too obvious. But I wanted to see him, at least. Of course, I came across many other people in my efforts to make my way around the ballroom searching, and the task was far too tedious. Everyone wanted to speak with me, congratulate me some more.

I needed a break, so I found my seat and was happy when I was immediately served with a delicious dinner. I ate in peace, thankful that no one bothered me. No one but Sebastian, who was already sitting there when I arrived and gave me the cold shoulder for my earlier performance. He only glared when I sat down, then returned his concentration to his meat, never looking up from his plate again with the exception of his occasional swig of wine. He finished his meal while I was still eating, slamming his empty wine goblet hard on the table as if he was staking a claim on it.

I paused my eating and glared at Sebastian, irritated with the unnecessary action. He raised his brows and smirked at me pointedly, then nodded his head to indicate something in front of us. I looked up from my plate and saw all the observers in the room anxiously watching us together. I dropped my mouth in disbelief. He was using our agreement to play nice for the kingdom against me. He was taunting me just to leave me suffering while I had to keep my mouth shut. Did he know me that well already? He'd already figured me out? I would explode if he kept pushing me and my behavior was restricted by our audience much longer.

For me, this was about the worst type of torture someone could instill. I smiled at him hatefully. It is possible. It felt strange, but I knew I was doing it, because while Sebastian frowned with the knowledge of what I was really saying with my expression, everyone else smiled and the mood in the room lightened. I laughed at him, refusing to back down from him as I stood and harshly threw my napkin in his lap, leaving the table in a second attempt to find Faustos. I didn't even bother to gauge Sebastian's reaction. I was sure he was royally pissed off, but I didn't care. What I did care about, as I continued walking through the reception to see the many busied servants, the drunkenly conversing Lord Satan and Lord Towngrin, the giggling and chatting table full of ladies, and the quietly deliberating table of Lord Piccolo and the Lords Gero, all the same faces I had seen already, was where Faustos was.

Of all the Sons, I was only able to find Lady Gine. She seemed content and unconcerned by her family's absence as she sat conversing with Sebastian's father and Kenya. I found it extremely rude that she did not explain to us the absence of the lords of her house at our royal wedding. Perhaps Kenya and the weary elder Sebastian received her explanation. I frowned as the couple I was observing stood from their table, appearing to dismiss themselves. Sebastian looked incredibly weary, much worse off than he had just the previous night. It appeared his decision to name his son king before his death was a wise one. Lady Gine gave a bow to the couple as they absconded from the dining hall, Sebastian leaning on Kenya for support as Sir Nappa followed them out. I missed my chance to address them for tonight, but I planned to ask one of them some other time about the whereabouts of the Sons. I would have to concoct an excuse for my interest first. It was so frustrating, considering the possibilities of why he would be gone. He had promised just last night to see me here. How could he change his mind so suddenly? I would be sure that he was avoiding me, if not for the fact that his brother and father were missing as well. I could not understand it.

Just as I felt I was about to become emotionally unraveled, my rescuer arrived. I felt a huge hand clasp my shoulder, strongly but warmly, and looked up to see my mammoth of a father smiling down at me. I turned to him and gave him an appreciative hug. He did not know what he had just done for me. I already had one embarrassing outburst on my wedding day; a second would have the entire kingdom thinking I was some kind of harpy.

"Would you like to dance with your dear old father, your Grace?" My father asked in his baritone voice, so sweetly that I felt like a child again in his presence.

"Of course, your Grace." I said with a huge smile, accepting his hand as he led me on the dance floor. By the time I finished dancing with my father, my anger was subdued enough to confront Sebastian again. Faustos was certainly not here, I would have seen him by now. I would deal with him the next time I saw him. It was my husband that I had to face right now. "Thank you for the dance, Father. And thank you for coming all this way for my wedding. It means the world to me." I told him wholeheartedly, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he scooped me in another bear hug. I knew I would not see him again tonight, and he would only be here a few days before returning home. I hoped to see him again before he left, but I did not know how things would be for the next few days. It all depended how things played out with my husband. I gazed across the room, noticing Sebastian speaking alone with Rebekah, of all people. Why did this make me angry? I would not get angry again, I told myself as I approached the pair.

"Sebastian, it is getting late. Do you think it is about time we retire?" I asked him pointedly as I reached them and met Rebekah's eyes and draped both my arms around one of Sebastian's. Rebekah gaped at me, and I could not help smiling. If she wanted to play a game trying to make me look like a fool at my own wedding, she should not have expected me to go down easily. "I'm sorry, Lady Rebekah. Am I taking him from something important?" I asked in a voice as sweet and genuine as I could muster.

"No." Rebekah said, looking at Sebastian. "No, your Grace." Rebekah corrected with a very polite smile to me. "Go ahead and take him. He's all yours." Her smile turned mischievous with her last remark, and I could not help feeling there was something she knew that I didn't. I looked at Sebastian, who was wearing his usual hard, unreadable mask. But finally, he spoke.

"My wife is right. It is time we leave this reception. Goodnight, Lady Rebekah." Sebastian said smoothly, grabbing Rebekah's hand and kissing it. He looked at her with a deepness I did not understand. It almost seemed…apologetic. She smiled back at him, looking completely content.

"Goodnight, Rebekah. Thank you for joining us on our special day." I said with a smile as I lightly bowed my head to the other woman, wondering how long the three of us would be keeping up this charade. I felt they could carry on like that forever, but for me, it was tiring. I could play the manipulative games where one lie built onto another just as well as any other. But restraining my temper could prove difficult. Hopefully it would not be my downfall someday.

I sighed in exhaustion. I truly was tired now. I leaned on Sebastian for support as we departed the dining hall with our guards following us, as if we could not make it down a few hallways safely. We reached Sebastian's chambers and I froze in panic. I was so swept up in Faustos's disappearance and Rebekah's behavior that I almost forgot about this. I slept here now. With him. And tonight…how could I forget? I'd been preparing myself mentally for this all day. My heart started pounding as the doors opened and Sebastian excused the guards for the night. Sir Brolly smirked at me mischievously as he slowly drew the chamber doors closed. I followed Sebastian in and sat hesitantly on the plush bed as I heard the doors slam shut with an echoing thud behind me.