Chapter 15: The queen maker

Larissa looked at the slender smiling face of the brown eyed tall girl who stood at the other end of the table and then back at the letter in her hand

She drops it on the table with a sigh

“I guess father still does not trust me to protect myself” she cocks her head looking the other over “what’s your name then?”

“My name is Nambi”

“You’re a soldier”

“You can tell?” the girl whose smile didn’t leave her face asked astonished

“The letter said so, plus your aura is quite stronger than that of an average girl”

“Actually my lady” Nambi began as she boldly looked back into the queen’s eyes “I watched your fight with the king that day and up until now, I’m still amazed at how well you fought, it was awesome”

A light pink hue dusted over Larissa’s face at that.

Hardly does anyone other than her father compliment her for anything, hence it had taken a lot of effort not to show that it was a pleasant surprise to say that to her, to hear someone praise her.

She cleared her throat and faced the girl again, her expression stern

“Did my father make you say those words to win me over? if so don’t bother, I have no use for flatteries”

“I have never spoken to the king before and I speak genuinely from my heart, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to learn from you, the way you spar” Nambi smiled

Larissa studied her, she wasn’t given off any bad energy and her words sounded sincere.

She sighed

“Leah!” she called and her young maid came rushing to her side with the usual ‘my lady acknowledgment “here’s a partner for you since the others left, see to it that she settles in”

“Yes my lady” Leah said and looked up at the taller lady who beamed at her “please come with me” she said and was already walking away when Larissa’s words reached her again.

“Wait” they both paused “if Nambi is not the queen maker then who is?” Larissa asked

Nambi turned to look at Leah extremely confused, moments ago, when she had just entered the queen’s quarters, Larissa had welcomed her gently and was even speaking calmly until she had handed her the letter with a seal from Windfall.

“She would be here any minute now…”

The door banged open before she had the chance to complete her sentence and walked in a buffy woman in a beautiful green silk dress and a Japanese fan in hand as she strode slowly towards the three

“Who’s the bear?” Larissa asked with her hands folded over her chest annoyed, showing her obvious dislike for the woman who curtsied

“Queen Larissa of Evergreen” she greeted, Larissa frowned at her deep voice “I am Nicole Huggardton, the woman assigned at your service to make you into a proper queen”

Larissa gave her a once over look; her overtly blond and curled hair, maked-up face and shouty colored clothes. Everything about her screamed attention looker and not in a nice way.

“I see” Larissa answered slowly still skeptical of everything

“Then shall we get started, I have heard you have not a single bone of royal behavior in you my lady, shall we try to correct that…”

“First of all…” Larissa fumed, imaging that last bit in Patrick’s own words “every bone in my body is royal, secondly, you are not correcting Nicole, use good speeches that doesn’t leave room for misunderstandings, you see…” her eyes gleamed a transcient green and the aura around the room darkened “I really hate words that makes me misunderstand”

The place was silent for a few seconds after that as Nicole just stared at her dumbly like she had grown two heads. Nambi had an awestruck look on her face while Leah had her head down silently with a bored look on.

None of them however, showed fear.

Larissa retrated, slightly confused at the lack of reaction or that of the one they showed instead.

“Ooookaaay~” Nicole drawled and then claps her hands once “let’s get started my lady” she added as she walked past the queen so she could drop her small boxed luggage on the table “you two” she pointed at Leah and Nambi, “get the queen’s attire ready while she takes a bath, we only have a few days to make this a success ladies”

“I’m actually a fast leaner, a day or two should be enough…”

Leah heard the queen begin just as she bowed and turned to leave, Nambi in tow.

Once outside and safe from the hearing of the queen, Leah felt herself slipping as she gets dizzy and was about to fall when Nambi caught her by the waist to steady her.

“Hey what’s wrong with you all a sudden?”

“I lose my wits every time she does that”

“I for one think it’s cool though, it’s not that scary”

“That’s what I always tell myself, but I can’t help it, I feel like I am in the presence of a deity whenever she does that” Leah pouted looking overtly miserable

“At least you held out up until we left like nothing was happening, that must have taken a lot of courage out of you” Nambi patted her short black hair with a proud smile like a mother would her child.

Their eyes met and they held each other’s gaze for a few seconds too long, before Leah cleared her throat loudly.

“Let’s keep moving”

-} {-

“One two three, one two… Do not look up my lady, that would only make keeping the cup on your head even more difficult”

Larissa despite the gracious tip from Nicole, struggled with her pose in order to keep the tiny tea cup on her head as she flayed her arms and eventually lost balance

The cup broke with a crashing sound. Leah quickly swept it into a bin that was almost full with the same type of cups; all broken.

They were hardly making any progress, and that was just another failed lesson of the queen for the have been through the lesson of sitting still gracefully and thinking good thoughts to help you get by when in public or in the presence of the king and his officials.

Larissa had of course complained that it was unnecessary that one, but Nicole insisted.

Then came the reading lessons to take her time and not have useless thoughts, the eating lesson and then the walking lesson.

“Hah, I can’t do this anymore” Larissa huffed and flops down unceremoniously to the floor, her gown spreading out about her “I feel like I’m about to die”

“No offence my lady, but that should be me talking. It is way easier to teach a child how to take his first step than you anything”

“Well Nicole, offence taken” Larissa glared, and Nicole glared right back.

-} {-

Your majesty, we did not see this coming, wasn’t princess Melissa the princess promised to you? Whoever this is…”

“Speak ill of my queen and I’ll make sure you never use your tongue ever again”

The court tensed knowing very well that if they pushed their luck any further, the king would actually carry out his threat. He was after all still a savage who became a king through his savagery acts.

“What we are trying to say is the queen wasn’t who we discussed to…”

“Discussed?” Patrick’s voice thundered “Larissa is king Obed of Windfall’s first born child and the agreement between my father and him was his first daughter so what is wrong here”

“People are talking my lord, rumors of the queen being a savage is making the people feel uneasy amongst themselves”

“Well isn’t the union perfect then? A savage queen for a savage king”

“My lord…”

“Quell the rumors you started and put the people at ease if they are all you care about sires, my queen has done nothing wrong”

“But it’s not just rumors my lord” a tremor of a voice rang in the halls and everyone fell quiet at that, the warfare general Donald Craig was speaking up for the first time that day and his words usually contended with that of the king’s “the people who had come back with you from Windfall shared a lot about how you procured her, apparently, there was a devastating fight between you both physically and she held off against your strength”

Patrick leaned his elbows on the table and leaned forward as he stared at them, his eyes zeroing more specifically on the tall, slim and well built general who despite his age still stood very tall and firm.

“Seeing as you believed all that, would it then have been okay if I left such formidable strength that can be used as a weapon of destruction in the hands of someone else when I can get them for myself?” his amber eyes flamed “Who do you think they would target first when they’ve honed her skills?”

John’s eyes had flown to him when he first uttered the word ‘weapon of destruction’ and they stayed fixed on him wondering through his hard face whether he meant it or not. He was mostly a hard man to read

The officials cleared their throats as they looked away with no answer to the question

Patrick furrowed his brows at them for a good amount of time, and when they said nothing but mumble incoherent words, he leaned back on his seat and got up.

“If that is all for today, I hereby declare it close. You are all dismissed”

“My lord…”

“What is the queen up to?” Patrick interrupted John who had started once the officials had grumpily filed out of the room. He was not really in the mood to answer the question he was sure John was going to ask.

Whatever he had said earlier just came to mind at that moment, but then again it might as well stand for the truth. Since it wasn’t a lie.

“Madame Nicole arrived the palace this morning and has been with the queen in her quarters since then” John answered

Patrick glanced outside through the open window to see the sun preparing to set.

“I wonder how she is faring” he wondered aloud a bit and John heard him

“I will take a look and return to tell you my lord”

“I will go see her myself John, get ready” he said without looking back at the other man, he had a small amused smile on his face as he watched the sun disappear behind the tall buildings of the palace

~} {~

“I am going to see the king” declared Larissa as she glared at the undisturbed face of Nicole who stood with her arms crossed over her chest while she looked down at the tired queen.

“No you are not my lady, and for everyday that you fail to pass the tasks I give you, you will not see the king” Nicole answered ignoring Leah pleading look from behind the queen “the king’s orders”

“You think you can stop me?”

“Want to see me try?”

Larissa with  a look full of annoyance and hatred grabbed her skirt and stomped over to the door and pushed, it did not open.

She closed her eyes and threw her head back with a tired sigh, when she opened them again, they were transient and she stretched her left hand towards the door like she always does when she wants to expel some kind of powerful strike

Yet the door remained firm

Her eyes widened in shock making her use both her hands instead.

Her eyes widened even more as it still did not show any sign of moving.

She continued to push and push for quite some time, letting out short puffs of annoyed mutterings until she lets out a loud anguishing sound of defeat and collapsed to the floor.

Nicole lets out a sigh and turned to the shocked ladies whose eyes were almost disconnecting from their socket in shock

‘what power was Nicole wielding?’ they both thought. Leah visibly jumped a bit and gulped down her fear when the buff woman met her eyes

Clean her up and put her to bed, we have a long way tomorrow” she ordered and left the room. Easily opening the door that had been a problem to Larissa.

Once it closed behind her, she turned and peeled the huge talisman she had hung on the door of it.

“What is that Madame Nicole?”

Startled Nicole turned around to see the king standing there with his hands held together behind his back as if he was taking a casual stroll. John behind him

“It is a talisman” Nicole curtsied in greeting and walked over to show it to him “it counters demon energy and renders it futile. I used it just now on the queen, or else she would have come barging to you when we achieved nothing today”

“I see” Patrick replied, failing to hide his amusement at the sudden information while he inspected the golden coloured paper with a few writing in a language he did not understand; apparently something could dull out Larissa’s power “it does no harm to the queen right?” he asked with a smile, his voice inquisitive but with a speck of warning that says ‘it better not’

“Of course not” Nicole laughed “it probably had an effect on her today because she was very tired”

Patrick nodded and he walked past her to stand in front of the door

“Fine then, I’ll see the queen”