"Ursula," Mariana called. "Come back."
Ursula looked over her shoulder, but Mariana was across the field, almost too far to see. The children were lying on the ground. Their clothes were on fire.
With a cry, she tried to stand up but the woman blocked her way. "You can't fix it. They're all dead."
"No. I have to get to them. George Evan will be mad if his children are dead."
"All the children are dead. All of them."
"Come back, Ursula. Come back." Mariana's voice was louder but she was still so far away.
"I'm trying," Ursula called. "But the children."
Now a man's voice said, "Take your time. Don't rush."
"What?" Suddenly, pain ripped through her body, and she screamed.
"Doctor?" Another man, a voice Ursula had never heard before.
"Give it a moment," the first man said. "It will work."
"Where are you?" Ursula said. "I can't see you." The pain began to lessen, washing away as though it was flowing out of her skin.
"Your Majesty?" The second man's voice was gentle. "Can you open your eyes?"
"Of course I can," she said. Why did her voice sound so weak? "My eyes are open."
"No, Your Majesty."
"That's ridiculous. I'm standing right..." She wasn't standing. She was lying on the ground...no, wait. That wasn't right.
Frustrated, she shook her head, and pain caused her to moan.
"Careful, Your Majesty. Slowly. Open your eyes." This was the man who had been referred to as a doctor.
Her eyes were closed. She could tell that now, but they didn't want to open. She had to struggle, and when she succeeded, she closed them again. The room was too bright.
"Your Majesty?"
"Don't call me that." She carefully opened her eyes again and saw two men standing next to her bed. The older one was closer to her, and he smiled.
"Welcome back, Your..." His voice trailed off. "How do you feel?"
"Where am I?"
Now the second man stepped closer, and she realized he was familiar. This wasn't George Evan, though.
"What do you remember?" he asked, and everything came flooding back to her.
She wasn't married to George Evan, nor was she the mother of his children. This wasn't the Selwyn Estate.
Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. "I'm in Heyton."
Prince Gideon nodded. "Anything else?"
"Everything. I'm a widow and still a virgin."
He took her hand. "Do you remember the viewing? Princess Yamina?"
"Of course." She tried to sit up, but pain shot through her again.
"Stay still, Your Majesty," the doctor said. "You're lucky to be alive."
"Lucky? What are you talking about?"
"You almost died," Prince Gideon said. "Well, I suppose technically you did die for a moment, but we got you here to the infirmary in time."
"What are you talking about? I'm not dead." She peered around the sparse room. "This certainly doesn't look like my idea of the Elemental Paradise."
"You were dead for a moment." The doctor rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. "I honestly don't know how you survived."
"What happened?" No one in the room was lying. She could feel their confusion and their honesty. If she had died, how was she there?
Prince Gideon sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand. "Princess Yamina must have stuck you with a pin covered in poison when she took your arm at the viewing. That's the only thing we can figure out."
"We? Who's we?"
"Damien, Josiah, and myself. They got you out of the throne room when the crowd started yelling, and you fainted in the hallway. By the time you arrived here, you weren't breathing."
She looked at him, the reality of what he said hitting her hard. "I was dead."
"That's what the doctor says, but it can't be, can it?" Gideon grinned at her. "After all, I'm holding your hand and you seem pretty alive to me."
"Gideon, I don't understand."
"I got here as Damien put you on the doctor's table. Josiah sent soldiers to get Yamina and find out who started the riot."
The tears started again. "They all want me dead."
"Oh, no, no. Ursula, they don't." Gideon rubbed her hand between both of his. "It was one man. Someone Yamina had hired. He got a group of his friends to help, and while it seemed like the whole crowd was involved, it was just those few. They're all in the palace prison until you're well."
"Until I'm well? Why?"
"Josiah wants to leave their fate in your hands as, well, you're the Queen, and you were the one they threatened."
She closed her eyes and sighed. If Veronica was so set on her son being King, why didn't she tell him to handle those people? Hadn't they disrupted Killian's viewing? That had to be treason or something?
Her head hurt, but she had to know the rest. "Yamina? Is she in prison, too?"
Gideon hesitated. "That one is a little more difficult. She was the King's Mistress, so her position here is nearly equal to yours. Any accusation of attempted murder against her could lead to war with Ibiran. Josiah's trying to figure out a way to get her sent home, but it's proving more problematic than he thought."
"But if she tried to kill the Queen?" Someone was hammering rocks inside her head, and it was getting hard to focus on what Gideon was saying or any single thought.
"He keeps telling the Ibiran ambassador that, but they are being obstinate. Apparently, she's been sending messages to them saying Killian was just days away from marrying her and joining the two kingdoms."
"I thought she wasn't a true Princess." Ursula rubbed her forehead. "I don't understand any of this, and I'm in so much pain."
"She needs another dose of the strawberry milk, Your Highness. We've let her go too long because you wanted to talk to her."
"Strawberries?" Ursula asked. "No. I can't. My stomach."
"The poison she gave you was mixed with some essence of strawberry to mask its odor. You're reacting to the scent." Gideon squeezed her hand. "This will help the pain."
She kept her eyes locked on his as the doctor tipped a cup of some thick pink liquid into her mouth. Fortunately, it had no smell and little taste.
In a moment, the pain in her head became to fade. "Now, how would Killian's marriage to Yamina..." Her eyelids grew too heavy to hold up. She'd close them for a second but she had to know.
Then nothing.
The guards lurched to attention as Veronica stepped into the hallway that led to the Yamina's rooms.
"Grand Princess," one of the guards said. "We didn't expect to see you."
"I am here to see Princess Yamina."
Now the two men fidgeted as they exchanged glances with each other.
Finally, one of them said, "Exarch Josiah gave explicit instructions that she was to have no visitors until after King Killian's funeral."
She gave them a look that caused stronger men to cower. "Clearly, my son didn't mean to include me. I am soon to be the Queen Mother, and I can go wherever I please. Now step aside. I must talk to the prisoner and find out why she would want to kill our beloved Queen Ursula."
The words tasted bitter in her mouth, but better a little bitterness now than years of listening to Ursula's name spoken with the reverence reserved for a martyr.
"We'd better do it," the first guard said. "When Exarch Josiah is crowned King, Elements help anyone who disrespected his mother."
"You are a wise man," Veronica said. "What's your name?"
"Humphrey, Your Highness." He bowed while the younger man rolled his eyes, but fished the keys out of his belt pouch.
"Thank you, Humphrey," Veronica replied, but she would remember the younger guard and see what she could do about having him removed or sent on some dangerous mission.
She took the keys he offered. "I would like some privacy with the prisoner. We have some important political things that need to be discussed." She smiled and tipped her head. "I'm sure you gentlemen understand the need for disc
retion in these sorts of things."
"But, the Exarch—"
Humphrey cut his companion off, grabbing his arm. "Of course, Your Highness. We'll be right outside if you should need us."
"But, Humph," the younger man said. "What if she lets Princess Yamina escape?"
This earned him a slap on the side of his head. "Does the Grand Princess look like someone who would help a prisoner escape? You idiot. Just close the door."
Veronica watched them leave, then let the smile slip off her face. Pretending to care about each and every person in the kingdom was exhausting, but it paid off. At Killian's viewing, more people came to express their affection for her than she had anticipated, meaning the peasants still saw her through the lens of her mother's accomplishments.
Soon, once Josiah was on the throne, she'd be able to evolve that affection into a call for her to rule beside her son as Queen, in reality, not just in secret.
She walked through the antechamber to the sitting room and gasped.
What had once been an opulent chamber reserved for the King's Mistress had been stripped of its furniture. A blanket on a pile of straw in the corner. A bucket for her private needs. A rickety wooden chair brought in from somewhere.
"Grand Princess," Yamina said, standing as though she were in the audience chamber, even though her headdress was askew and her clothing showed evidence of rough handling by the guards. "I am honored you would come to see me."
"You should be honored. You should be ashamed. What were you thinking, attacking Killian's wife like that?"
Yamina stared at her, mouth working as though she couldn't choose the right words to say.
Veronica continued, "She is the Queen and the King's Widow. Attacking her is an act of treason. Surely, you're aware of this."
"I should have been his wife."
That old argument. The Grand Princess shook her head.
"It didn't happen, and you knew it wouldn't. You're not of royal blood, and marrying you would have had no political advantage. I told you a year ago to be happy with what you had, his...affections."
"You told me you would help me get what I wanted." Yamina grabbed the ratty blanket in her fists. "I taught you everything I know about poisons that are undetectable by the untrained. Without me, your sapphire mines would give you nothing more than a supply of pretty necklaces and earrings. In return, you promised to get me an official place at court."
"You had an official place. You were Killian's Mistress."
"That wasn't enough, and you know it. I was to be Queen. You were supposed to make it happen."
Veronica studied her fingernails. "I may have made a few promises that were impossible, but I did try."
"You are a liar, Veronica. You could have convinced him to marry me."
"Oh, Yamina, you have lived in Heyton long enough to know he would never have listened to me when it comes to his personal life. If he had, he wouldn't have married who he did."
"You could have persuaded the Council of Ministers I would have been a better choice."
"But you weren't. You brought nothing of political value to a marriage to my brother." Veronica raised her hands in surrender. "But what is there to be done now? You tried to kill the Queen. You will never be taken seriously in this court again."
"You could save me. You could talk to Josiah. Tell him to pardon me." Yamina stood and walked toward her. "After all, you want her dead as much as I do."
"That's where you're wrong, my dear Yamina. She is loved by the peasants. They believe some story that she and Killian had a grand love affair. If she were to die before Josiah takes the throne, the people would demand she be made a national hero. For the rest of our lives, we'd have to celebrate her once a year. Is that what you want?"
"What are you planning, then?"
"Well, my plans are my plans, aren't they?" Veronica fussed with the gathers of her skirt. "I don't see how they concern you now."
"You ungrateful, Element forsaken witch," Yamina cried. "After all I've done for you, helping you clear the way for Josiah's position as heir to the throne. Without me and what I taught you, Charlotte would have had a son that lived. Where would you be then, Grand Princess?"
Years of remaining passive in the face of these kinds of angry attacks from her enemies served Veronica well. She allowed no emotion to show as shook her head. Yamina's face grew pink then a darker red.
"I believe this imprisonment has affected your memory, my dear Princess. I have no idea what you're talking about. Poor Charlotte and Killian suffered more than their share of tragedies with the deaths of their children. The Elements were not kind."
"The Elements had nothing to do with all of those deaths."
Again, Veronica shook her head and sighed. "I must leave you now. You've become delusional. Perhaps the Elements will see fit to give you a swift death so you won't have to be hanged in front of all the kingdom as a traitor. What would that do to Heyton's relationship with Ibiran, I wonder?"
Yamina chuckled. "You'd never let the kingdom's reputation be affected by rumors Charlotte's family was responsible for the attack on Queen Ursula."
"Oh, Princess Yamina. You overestimate my influence with the King, I'm afraid. If you go to trial and are found guilty of trying to poison the Queen, you will hang as a traitor. There's nothing I can do about that. If it causes relations between your kingdom and ours to deteriorate, well, that will be unfortunate."
Yamina's expression shifted from anger and confidence to uncertainty with a touch of fear. "You can't let that happen. If there is a trial, I will tell them about our time together and how you asked me to teach you about poisons. I will tell them about the mines and your search for the Chaos Stones."
"Which I will deny, of course."
The younger Princess took a deep breath. "Have you considered what will happen when Valborough realizes you were the one who killed your brother?"
Veronica laughed. "Killian died of a heart attack, and regardless, that has nothing to do with Valborough."
"I wonder if the Chaos Sensitive Queen would agree if she knew you made her sister a widow."
"You're insane." Veronica straightened her shoulders and reached into the pocket hidden under her skirt, pulling out a small bag of tea. "I've created a special blend of tea you might want to try."
Yamina stared at the bag but refused to take it. "You want me to take my own life?"
"I'm offering you a way to save your image in the view of both Heyton and Ibiran. Instead of dying as a traitor, you can die as a woman distraught over the death of the man she loved. Surely, that would be a better legacy for you."
"But what about the Queen's poisoning?" Gingerly, Yamina took the tea. "Will you tell them I did it?"
"Oh, you don't need to worry." Veronica waved the concern away. "The poor woman was overcome by the emotions of the situation, and possibly she was never strong to begin with."
"Why are you doing this? Why do you want me out of the way? What happened to your plans to gain Chaos Sensitivity and take the throne?"
"My goals have never changed, Yamina. You just overestimated your role in them."
The Grand Princess left the room. When the guards closed the door behind her, she spoke to Humphrey.
"Please keep an eye on dear Yamina. I believe she has been blamed for something that was no one's fault. She is despondent over this and the King's death. I fear what she might do to herself."
Chapter 23
"I will recover just as well in my own quarters," Ursula said as the royal physician fidgeted at the end of her bed in the infirmary. Rebecca and Felecia had come with a change of clothing for her, but for the time being, he wasn't allowing her out of bed.
"It is imperative that I be able monitor your condition."
"Monitor my condition?" Ursula was going crazy from boredom. She'd been here for almost a full day after she'd regained consciousness, and while she was weak, otherwise, she felt fine.
Unfortunately, the doctor had, so far,
forbidden her to do as little as sit up so she could read or speak to visitors. He was concerned that she would have a relapse and the royal family would blame him for not taking care of her.
"I assure you, Raell," Felecia said. "Rebecca and I will be with her every minute until she is recovered. If you're needed, we will send for you."
Every minute? Ursula feared that might even be worse than lying here, staring at the ceiling. Rebecca already treated her like a child, insisting she wear a coat at the first sign of a breeze, watching everything she ate, and keeping away anyone the Wardrobe Mistress thought was inappropriate.
If that was how things were in Valborough when she was healthy, how much worse would Rebecca be now?
Add Felecia into the mix, and Ursula would never be able to take care of her most personal needs alone again.
"It's out of the question," Raell said. "Neither of you are trained in medical matters."
"Are you suggesting that we won't know if our Queen starts to feel worse than she does now?" Felecia took a step toward the physician. "Nothing in this world is more important to either Rebecca or myself than the well-being of Queen Ursula. We won't let anything happen to her."
Faced with the resistance of the two Ladies, Raell wrung his hands. "I don't know how wise it is to let my patient out of my sight before I am sure she is out of danger."
"If you ask me," a male voice said from the doorway of the infirmary, "you're out numbered, Lord Doctor. You're not going to win against them."
Ursula looked at the speaker and gasped when she recognized Traren.
"Traren, what are you doing here? Rebecca, help me sit up."
"Your Majesty," Raell began but she interrupted him.
"I'm perfectly fine. Either you let me sit up now, or I'm getting out of this bed and walking out of here." She was bluffing. There was no doubt in her mind that if she tried to stand, she'd fall on her backside. Wouldn't that give Veronica a good laugh?
"As you wish, Your Majesty." Raell hurried over to the side of the bed to help her into a sitting position, while Felecia and Rebecca arranged pillows behind her.
"Traren, get over here and hug me," Ursula said as the doctor moved to the side of the room, where it was clear he was going to continue to hover regardless of what she said.
Questionable Queen Page 22