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I’d assumed that King Frederick didn’t want to ruin his reputation and admit an eighteen-year-old girl murdered a prized lord in his court. And I was long gone before I could endure his wrath. My new home was far away from his jurisdiction, but I still lost sleep in fear that he’d risk a war to get to me. I never understood why he simply let me go. Queen Isabelle promised me she’d take care of it all. I just never imagined she’d be so effective.
The queen’s sitting room smelled like a funeral home, with roses encompassing every surface. She didn’t start obsessing over flowers until after my mother died. I supposed it was her way of keeping Mum’s memory alive. The wallpaper was antique and immaculate. The couch in the corner was a stark shade of ivory. Tall windows from floor to ceiling were covered with teal window dressings. In the middle of the room, Queen Isabelle sat at a tea table surrounded by platters of food.
She was wearing a long black dress that looked regal and thick. Her black hair was in curls framing her face, and the flawlessly applied makeup she wore told more secrets than her pristine appearance. Isabelle hadn’t shed a single tear over the death of her husband. Her mascara was too perfect for genuine grief. I couldn’t blame her, but the charade she was playing infuriated me. Why not tell the truth? Why support him even in death?
I sat down at the table, feeling like a child. She used to invite Mum and me to afternoon tea when I was a young girl. Mum would dress me up and curl my hair. She was always happiest when visiting Queen Isabelle. They’d sit in the loveseat and stare at one another. Sometimes I’d catch them cuddling and crying silent tears. The only time I ever saw Isabelle break was the day Mum died.
I remembered playing on the floor at their feet while they discussed my father’s trips with cryptic statements. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized what they were about.
“Want me to send him on another assignment? I see the bruise on your jaw, Hannah.” Isabelle reached across the table and grabbed my mother’s hand.
“Can you please?” Mum said while choking on a sob.
“This room hasn’t changed one bit,” I said before sitting down. I’d changed into a light blue dress with a floral print and scooping neckline. I looked fit for a meeting with the queen. I also managed to wash the smell of her drunk son from my skin.
“Nothing in this kingdom ever really changes. Not if you pay attention, Lady Abernathy.”
I scoffed. “Your devotion to the late king is proof enough of that, I suppose.”
She leaned back in her chair and dismissed the server standing in the corner with a slight wave of her hand. I rolled my eyes at her need for privacy. “You of all people should know that a divorce isn’t always the simple choice. Sometimes we are bound to our status.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, although I knew the answer. I liked to pretend that my parents had a happy marriage and that my father wasn’t an ambitious traitor willing to sell his own daughter even in death.
“You know what that means. Your mother showed up on my doorstep littered in bruises. I did what I could, but it was safer most days for the two of you if she stayed. Your father might have been vicious, but my husband was the devil.”
At least she was being honest. I just wished she wouldn’t whisper about his evil in privacy. I wanted it shouted from the rooftops. I looked down at my hands in my lap. I had threaded my fingers together and was squeezing them tightly, urging myself not to leap across the table and act on the anger I felt.
“Why did he never come after me?” I asked softly. “Why did King Frederick never chase me down and drag me back? He had to have known what I’d done.” It was a question that bothered me. I hated spending my existence looking over my shoulder. It was a relief to know he was dead.
Her answer was immediate. “Because Lord Geralt died of a heart attack.”
I looked quizzically at her. “But…I…”
“The truth is what I make it, Christine. Paid doctors can be very convincing. Autopsies can be adjusted. I sent you away to Harvington because you were a distraction for August. King Frederick didn’t have any more lords waiting to marry you off to, so he allowed it.”
“It couldn’t have been that easy,” I argued.
“It’s more plausible than the truth.” She sipped her tea, then continued. “You’ve always been a tiny little thing. Killing a lord twice your age? It’s absurd. You cried when that blue jay crashed into our stained glass window and broke its wing. You aren’t ruthless, Christine. You aren’t cunning and you definitely don’t defy us. You’re an obedient pet who follows the rules. Sure, you cried when my husband told you of his plans for you. But you still sat on that bed, spread your legs, and accepted your fate. When my late husband walked out the door, he had no doubts in his mind that you’d do what was required for the Crown. It made everything else easier. I know better than anyone. The facade of compliance makes it easier to get away with things.”
My eyes welled up with tears as she so plainly described what happened. “I fought back in the end.”
I still remembered the burst of defiance that flowed through me. The way my trembling hands wrapped around the heavy lamp. The roar that escaped my lips when I slammed it against his skull.
Her lips twitched. “Yes, I suppose you did.”
“I should thank you for saving me,” I said while raising my chin in rebelliousness. I wasn’t feeling appreciative, but she deserved it nonetheless. Isabelle was used to me cowering at her feet.
“I never wanted you to marry that pompous pig. But you caught Geralt’s eye, and Geralt caught my husband’s ear. I promised your mother I would protect you, and unfortunately I failed that night. I never expected you to have your father’s damned determination, though. Such a brutal death. Made covering it up very difficult. Had to convince his mother that a closed casket was necessary because the funeral home messed up.”
I refused to feel guilty for saving myself, and even if I resented the queen, I still appreciated her rescuing me that night and keeping King Frederick from me for the last three years.
“I want Leo reinstated.”
The corner of her lip quirked up. I knew immediately that she saw my request as leverage. “Leo knows too much. It’s safer to send him away.”
“Leo won’t tell anyone what happened.” I was certain of it.
Queen Isabelle lifted her spoon and stirred some sugar into her china cup. “You’re predictably compassionate, Christine.”
