The Queen's Girl

The Queen's Suite

"A ball?" Kal's jaw dropped. "You—were serious? An actual ball?"

"We do have to introduce you to high society after all," Lonnie said primly. "It's not going to be comfortable, but it has to happen."

The Queen took Kal's hand and patted it comfortingly. "Worry not. We will prepare you. You shall not go into this without skill. And I will have you beside me the entire night."

Sage said helpfully, "I shall see to it that your dancing is polished. You already have a mastery of beat, and that's half the battle."

Kal looked at all three of these women. From the Queen, dark-haired and beautiful, to Lonnie, fair-skinned and blonde, to Sage, lovely and darksome with wavy sheets of brown-black hair. Each of them had a genuine interest in helping her succeed, and she felt a fondness for them blooming in her breast. She gave them all a shy smile, and curtsied as neatly as she could. "I am very grateful to each of you for helping me. I really understand that I'm a savage at this point and you're working with raw materials."

The Queen reached out and took Lonnie's hand and Sage's hand. "No matter what, you have brought me great joy in life, for all the times you have shared with me, and the fact that you have chosen to share your lives alongside me. Now that I have Kal, I want to protect her at all costs, and keep her close to me. I want to know if anything is amiss in my palace. Anything at all."

Sage squeezed the Queen's hand, and smiled at her wife, who bowed stiffly in her proper way. Sage said gently, "Our Queen, we are here to help. We care about you. And...if you will permit me, there is promise in Kal. I think there is a clever mind that sees more than she lets on. Keep her close by, as an honest viewpoint in the palace is a treasure."

The Queen reached out for Kal, who came to her, arms wrapping around her waist like climbing vines. She kissed the top of her head. "She is most definitely a treasure."

After Sage and Lonnie left, Kal looked at the Queen with uneasiness. "Are you—sure I can do this? I mean...a ball, a whole ball?"

"Why not?" the Queen asked, smiling brightly. "I should love to show you off in grand fashion. What would you like to see? I would give you the moon."

As Sage and Lonnie left the Queen's Suite, they spoke quietly in Sage's native tongue. They did not trust the palace staff to not listen in. Lonnie knew that slimy maid of Princess Yulia was probably watching them walk away even now.

"What do you think of her?" she asked her wife.

Sage smiled. "Promising and delightful. You should get to know her a little more than you have yet. She seems like there is more than meets the eye. And I do get a petty sense of satisfaction knowing that you-know-who is so slighted."

Lonnie couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh I am ready for her. I am positively gleeful."

Sage held her wife's hand. "I adore you when you're dangerous. Take me home and show me more."