The Queen's Girl

Yulia

"She WHAT!" Yulia threw a vase at her maidservant, who ducked it admirably by falling to the floor in a bow.

"Please don't be angry, Your Ladyship!" The maidservant cried, bowing low.

"SAY IT AGAIN!" Yulia commanded angrily.

"She—Her Majesty—she has—a Girl," came the trembling reply.

Yulia screeched angrily and threw another vase, just to hear it shatter against the stone wall. "GET OUT!" She yelled to the maidservant, who got up and scurried away as fast as she could.

Yulia's heart pounded. The Queen was finally back, and she had prepared to visit her, even, to possibly smooth things out between the two of them. It had been enough time that surely the Queen wouldn't hold her past misgivings against her.

Except—now there was a Girl. A Girl occupying the quarters Yulia should be occupying. She fumed with rage. How dare the Queen do this to her! How dare another Girl reside in that Suite!

"LIANNE, COME BACK," she bellowed.

The maidservant came hurrying to her mistress, her hands folded meekly before her.

"I'm going to write a letter to the Queen. Make sure it is delivered into her hands. Make. Sure. Of it."

"Yes, You Ladyship," the girl replied. "Only..."

"What! What is it? Spit it out!"

"They're on honeymoon."

Yulia was silent.

"Your Ladyship, I—"

"I don't care if they're literally on the moon, Lianne, you will deliver this letter into her hands! I will not be left in the cold like this, and the Queen will know it!"

"Your Ladyship, is that really...a good idea? By law, no one can disrupt them! This might work poorly in your favor."

Yulia stood and paced back and forth. "What do we know about this Girl?"

"She is...from the more uncultured towns on the fringes of the countryside, or so I hear. The gossip is that the Queen is bedding a commoner, but that this is no ordinary Girl. The Queen is besotted."

"Puppy love!" Yulia scoffed.

"Enough of an interest that she brought her home in style."

Yulia groaned and huffed and put her hands on her hips. "We'll see how long this lustful attraction lasts," she said haughtily. "How long is the honeymoon?"

"Two weeks, the longest stretch a monarch can have."

Yulia harrumphed. "Two weeks? I can plan a lot in two weeks."

Lianne smiled coyly. "If Your Ladyship wishes to vent your anger, I may have a solution."

Yulia narrowed her eyes at her maidservant. "You? What does a bedchamber maid know?"

Lianne bowed her head modestly. "I am lowly in stature of course, but what I lack in stature, I make up for in thoughtfulness."

Yulia sat down, and motioned for Lianne to pour her a cup of tea. "Go on, then. Tell me. And it had better be good for me to bother listening."

Lianne poured her mistress a cup and handed it to her graciously. "All it takes is a little reminder that you're here. A push for the Queen to go in the right direction, so to speak. A common Girl would be easy to trap in any stupid game."

"Game? What kind of game?"

"Your Ladyship, as you know I am a keeper of secrets. Finding out hers would be simple as eating a delicious dessert. She's common and stupid and probably easily swayed. Whatever her fancy, we find it, exploit it, and reveal her as a sham to the Queen with you at the helm of this revelation."

"Lianne, do it." Yulia made a dismissive hand motion. "Whatever you have to do, see that it gets done. I want to be back in the Queen's Suite in less than a month."