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She felt a rolling sensation in her stomach, like it was tied up in a neat little bow. One that twisted and wrenched. Her face scrunched a bit as she let her hand gloss over her belly. She turned away from the stone walls and headed to her throne. She gave gentle nods as she passed by townspeople, on her way. The queen pulled the bottom of her dress, taut, as she slowly sat herself down. She could feel the hardness of the wood against her arm. In this moment she was grateful for it. She felt her body sink right in. People were smiling, chatting, and some were even singing the anthem of Bachusa.
The queen picked at the ends of her long braid as she continued to scan the room. There was the king. He nodded at Sir Harris, a lesser noble, and she watched as the king turned. In that moment he met her gaze. She took a few gulps to moisten her throat, as the king meandered across the room toward her.
He put his hand on her chin, lifted her head up, and smiled sweetly. “Dearest, what’s the matter?”
She could sense his gaze on her like a bug under a magnifying glass.
“Nothing,” she insisted.
“Evalyn,” he whispered. She could feel the heat from his words tickle her left ear.
“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?” He asked while he backed up a bit. “I always know when you are being a little less than truthful with me.”
She could hear the lowness of his voice and see the concern in his eyes. Then he grazed his warm hand over hers and she couldn’t hold back. She tried. She grabbed his hands and clung to them, tightly.
“Really, what’s bothering you?”
“It’s Alzerion,” she blurted then bit her lower lip. “I fear that I made a huge mistake.” She swallowed and closed her eyes. She could feel a slight burning.
“What do you mean?” The king shifted his stance to keep his view partly open. “Evalyn—”
“It’s a long story, and it might amount to nothing. No use for both of us to be worried.”
“Evalyn, it’s hard for me not to worry when you look like you may burst into tears.”
The queen stared at her feet and then looked at her husband, trying to compose herself. Finally, she sighed.
“I paged Alzerion late last night. It was practically morning. I felt something was wrong. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but it was this distressing feeling, so I was going to have him do a quick check about the palace. However, he never came when I paged him. Since it was so early in the morning, I thought maybe he went to visit his family or was just busy. I even thought maybe he was just asleep after the excitement from the day before, but anyway, I didn’t go to his room to check.”
She paused for a moment. She saw his brows furrow and his head bend inward toward her.
“Like I was saying,” replied Queen Evalyn when she noticed her husband was not going to reply. “It was late, and I eventually went back to sleep. Just a little bit ago, Isabella told me that Alzerion wasn’t in his room. So, that’s why I’m worried, because what if he has been gone this whole time?”
The queen couldn’t hold back the pain any longer, and she let out a slight whimper as tears pricked at her eyes and started to slowly roll down her cheeks.
He patted his wife on the back. “Evalyn, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know that he would have gone somewhere. Right now, we have something greater to worry about.”
“What could be worse?” She tried to wipe away her tears.
“Well … remember how Alzerion acted last night? He—”
“Oh, Francisco, I forgot! How could I have been so foolish?”
“Now, dear, I wasn’t trying to get you more upset. You can’t blame yourself. However, we do need to find him.”
“Do you think that maybe he went to visit his parents?”
“I don’t think so, no matter how upset he seemed yesterday. Remember, Alzerion and his father don’t get along. In fact, his father basically left his upbringing to his mother. Now, Alzerion likes his mother, so he might visit her, but it’s unlikely because she’s here.” The queen steered her vision to the short woman sipping what looked like cider as she swayed back and forth to a man playing the violin.
“Maybe all we need to do is relax,” replied the queen, who was slowly calming down once more. “I mean, Alzerion is responsible and will probably be back soon.”
“I hope you’re right,” said the king. “You know what’s at stake. We should stroll around, no matter our worries. We don’t want the people to think us rude, or worse, that thereissomething wrong.” Queen Evalyn nodded as she took a deep breath and descended from the throne.
The king wrapped his arm about her waist and escorted them toward the middle of the room, by the rugged looking man playing the violin. As King Francisco spun her around and they waltzed with the other couples in that area, she couldn’t help but to let her mind wander. She couldn’t forget how much Alzerion really meant to them, and the future of Bachusa. She let out a sweet smile as she glanced at the golden crystal chandelier. The lights shimmering against the stone walls reminded her of the impression of water glistening in the sun.
Once the song ended the king was stopped by a landowner. He wanted to discuss growing patterns so she split up and watched a cheery bunch discussing the latest play they saw. The queen was feeling her spirits return, but she still had a small part of her mind on Alzerion. She was talking to a noble woman when someone tapped her shoulder. Queen Evalyn turned around and saw Isabella. Isabella looked a bit pale and kept diverting her gaze down.
“What’s the matter, Isabella?”
