The War of Queens

Chapter 31

Raynor

 “Wine?” he offered.

 Sybil collapsed into one of the chairs around the table in the middle of their solar. “Yes, thank you,” she said.

 He poured wine into a cup and handed it to her. “It’s from the mountains around First Landing,” he told her. “They’ve had a good season.”

 She took a sip and smiled. “A bit bitter,” she said after a moment.

 He smiled. “A little,” he agreed. “You looked beautiful today.”

 A blush crept onto her cheeks. It had almost the same shade as her hair when it was bleached. “Thank you, Your Grace.”

 “You’re welcome, Your Grace,” he replied with a bit of humor in his voice.

 She giggled as she put the cup to her lips. “I think most people would look at least a little beautiful with a crown on their head,” she muttered.

 He shrugged. “That’s probably true. Power can be attractive.”

 A knock on the door distracted him, and he turned to the servant who entered. “Lady Mary calls for you, Your Grace.”

 Raynor thanked him before turning back to his wife. She smiled and nodded. “Go. She probably wants to congratulate you.”

 The servant took Raynor to Mary’s chambers, where he found her sitting beneath the window. She had pushed a chair from the table so that she could look out over the city, he suspected. When he entered, she turned away from the view to look at him. “I didn’t always have these rooms,” she told him.

 “No?”

 “No. I asked mother to move me away from my old chambers, the ones that overlooked the gardens. I always felt that the gardens were too… false, somehow. As if the perfect way the trees were grown were lies, just like the lies we tell each other at court.” She looked out of the window. “The city is real. The people is real.”

 “I didn’t know you to be a philosopher,” he muttered with a small smile.

She sighed and stood from her chair. “Please, sit.”

 He did as she told him, resting an elbow on the armrest and supporting his head with it. “Why did you call for me?”

 She looked around the room. “I’ve become a woman.”

 He blinked, confused. “You mean…?”

 She nodded, wordlessly.

 He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.

 She laughed nervously. “Well, you are my King and the oldest man in my family. I suppose you should tell me who to marry.”

 The thought of her marrying dumbfounded him, and he had to force himself to laugh at her joke. “I suppose so.” He took a moment to collect himself. “Do you have eyes for anyone in particular?”

 She lifted her shoulders doubtfully. “Someone handsome and powerful, I suppose.”

 "Powerful?” He chuckled. “Nobody I know of is as powerful as you.”

 Her voice was surprisingly light and careless when she spoke. “I am a princess, brother. Princesses are not that terribly powerful.”

 “I suppose not.”

 She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I suppose I don’t know.” Her smile grew reminiscent as she dropped onto her bed. “Is it stupid that I want someone who loves me? Like in the fairytales that  Evelyn never wanted us to listen to.”