Love, Tea & Scones

Midnight Interagation

Terra made it to her room without running into anyone. It was safe to say that what she had just witnessed was enough to sober anyone up. Now that Terra had time to worry about anyone but herself did it finally sink in, Princess Ruby was dead. Terra kicked off her heels and made her way over to the bathroom. Terra hugged her arms close to her chest as she took deep breaths. She was making out with a guard not even ten feet away from where a friend of hers was being murdered. How was she ever going to not blame herself for Princess Ruby's death? How did they not hear them? Oh if only they hadn't been so distracted they might have been able to save her. Terra scrubbed off her makeup as tears slid down her cheeks. Who would want to hurt Princess Ruby?, she had been nothing but nice to everyone since she arrived. Two were now dead, the first was May and now Princess Ruby. Terra's heart felt weird. What if May's father thought Princess Ruby had something to do with May's death? He might have sent that orc assassin for revenge for the death of his daughter.

Terra had just about managed to get her dress off by herself and had changed into a nightgown when the doors of her bedroom burst open and a furious King Gael stormed into the door. The two guards who were stationed outside of Terra's room hastily slammed the doors closed. Terra quickly retreated to behind her desk to put some distance between herself and the King who looked like he was about to murder her right then and there. He stopped just short of the desk as he glared down at the cowering Terra. "You failed to mention when I asked you about May's enemies that her and the dwarven Princess where not on good terms!" He stated in a low menacing voice. "I didn't know!, everyone seemed to get along greatly at first, there was no way I could have known, honest!" Terra tried to plead her innocence quickly. She knew she had to convince the King that Terra she was innocent of what he was accusing her of, withholding information from the king.

Terra backed herself up against the wall as the King cornered her in a corner of the room. He brought his face close to her's and said in a dangerous low whisper. "And why should I believe you?". Terra felt like she couldn't take enough air into her lungs and was slowly suffocating. "I haven't lied to you before!, what reason would I have to lie to you now?" Terra siad truthfully. King Gael grabbed Terra by her shoulders and pinned her to the wall. "To save your own head!" The King said in reply. "I swear by the gods that I have not lied to you, not even once!" Terra pleaded desperately, his gripped on her shoulders were tight and painful, he would only need to increase the pressure a small bit more and he could have cracked the bones in Terra's shoulders. He stared deeply into her eyes, they stayed like that for a moment. Finally he released and he walked out of the room without another word. Terra sank down to the floor and just put her head in her hands.

Luckily King Bratin didn't blame King Gael for his sister's death. However tensions amount the orcs and the dwarfs was at an all time high. Lady Willow seemed delighted that there was now only four in the competition and all the women were elves. She annoyed Terra and just about everyone else who had to listen to her about the importance of the future heir to be of an only elven bloodline. Terra wanted to tell her to keep her mouth quiet but knew that would only bring more trouble in Terra's direction. King Gael hadn't even looked in Terra's direction since that night, not that she was complaining about not having to talk to him. It was more she was worried what he was going to do once his attention is back on Terra.

The royal painter finally finished all the paintings and the girls were allowed to see them. The staff lined up the paintings and Terra's was in the middle beside Lady Willow's painting. Lady Eileen's painting seemed the most like her, all the paintings were accurate to what the girls looked like but to Terra Eileen always just seemed like royalty compared to the rest of them. Lady Aylin's portrait just didn't give off the feeling that you would normally get when you looked at her. The portrait made her seem more gentle than she ever was in person, there was also no authoritive presence that Terra could see in the portrait.