Kings and Thieves

Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

"Lyla, stop that pacing. You're upsetting my nerves."

Lyla stopped. An automatic reaction, and she was about to wander into the throne room fountain. She halted her foot just before it plunged down into the water, and sheepishly glanced down at the small pond. Orange and black koi fish circled the pool aimlessly, occasionally poking their spongy mouths up through the surface to snatch at imaginary food. Lyla blushed and awkwardly stepped away from the pond, trying not to make too much noise stepping on the expensive marble floors.

Lyla Quincy had lived in the large palace of Apreuna for her entire life. As daughter of the Grand Duchess and the late Grand Duke, she dined often with the royal family and had grown up playing with the palace children. She knew the palace very well; knew every nook and cranny where she could easily blend into the background (as if she didn't anyway).

She scooted closer to her mother, who sat near the end of the table, only a few seats away from the Queen herself.

"Mother, it's half past nine," She whispered pointedly, her gaze skimming over the Grand Duchess's ageless features.

"I've realized the fact." Her smooth, unblemished face showed no emotion.

Her mother was attractive for her age. Refined, fashionable. Her long, pale leg peeked surreptitiously through a moderate slit on the skirt of a wine-colored dress Lyla suspected she herself couldn't pull off. Lyla was all torso, like a plant. She absently rubbed her side, wincing.

"Perhaps they aren't coming," Lyla suggested tentatively, watching her mother's reaction.

"Of course they're coming," The Grand Duchess said calmly, snapping back a layer of dark curls. "People of their means won't turn down a handsome reward." She looked towards the the royal family, each sitting primly at a large table surrounded by courtiers, and then back to her daughter, a new grimace pulling on her cheeks. She gestured to an empty chair near the end of the table. "Sit."

Lyla slowly walked to her chair and did as she was told. She squirmed a bit, trying to mimic the straightness in her mother's spine, and delicately crossed her legs at the ankle.

Queen Rowena was as magnificent as always; her blonde tresses pulled into a coiffure that highlighted the sharpness of her cheekbones. She wore a deep shade of blue that matched the tapestries in the throne room. There was an empty space in the chair next to her that no one acknowledged.

The crown prince- snub nosed and serious, with freckles- perched regally on the chair on the other side of his mother. The younger princes were too small to be joining their mother yet, and the only princess had already been married off to some Nuellian prince. Lyla planned to visit whenever she could, though she hadn't ever been close with the princess, who was a few years her senior. Lyla just wanted to leave. Apreuna's dry, empty climate bothered her immensely—the arid heat itching her skin and tugging loose all the moisture from her body, emptying it into its sizzling desert kingdom.

No sooner had she arranged her skirts comfortably than one of the palace guards pushed open one of the stone doors and peeked through. "Your Majesty, your guests have arrived. A Lord Carondelet and Lady Dimitri?"

The Queen rolled her eyes. Lyla straightened in her seat. Many of the courtiers began murmuring excitedly, several pairs of interested eyes straying towards the door. Even some of the royal family lost their glazed expressions and quirked their heads inquisitively towards the entrance.