Killing Softly ✞ (gxg)

20 | war is coming

Leather boots thudded rhythmically down the stairs, their steps confident and aligned, as if the slender, feminine body being carried by them was making sure every step was charged with her electrifying presence.

This was something she needed to focus on during those times where her rule was being challenged—commanding with her presence. It was never a challenge for the Queen to do that; her aura was naturally governing, so everywhere she went, every eye in the room followed her. This was true even before her grandfather gave her the crown, and her supremacy only added on to her weightily assertive attitude.

But in those times, when a war was brimming on the horizon and threatening to bubble over at any given moment, she needed to be especially on-guard and especially authoritative in order to protect her kingdom from the civil uprising that her cousin was fatefully leading.

Nevertheless, her feet may have sauntered diligently down the corridor, but a goofy smile rest on her face, her head tilted a bit sideways as her brain replayed the glorious malefaction that she and that golden-haired girl had committed moments before. Of course, her superior senses were still on guard to any threats that could have been near, but that left leisure to her mind that chose to dwell on the way the blonde had felt nakedly, desperately, gloriously arching up against her as she—

"Get that disgusting smirk off your face, you vile animal," Holden, who had jumped out from his office right as she was walking upon it, muttered to his Queen as he saw the dazed look on her face. "We've got a war to figure out."

"Don't be so crude, Holdie," the Queen lilted, her lips spreading into a dazzling smile that was too joyous for Holden to be comfortable with, and his discomfort was only propelled by that vomit-inducing nickname she only ever used to patronize him.

Rolling his eyes, he flew back into his office, the tall woman coolly walking in after him. "I believe you reign supreme in the act of crudity, Your Majesty, considering I let you sleep in this morning since you nearly died in my hands last night, yet I walked in to find you and Lily going at it like rabbits." He sighed stressfully, walking behind his desk and foraging through the layers of papers scattered atop it.

The Queen leaned against his doorway, crossing her arms and smirking at the guard whose brain was obviously riddled by whatever paper he was looking for. "When's the last time you got some, Holdie?" She broke out into a grin, crossing one leg over the other and tilting her head mischievously. "I can hook you up, you know."

"Your devil-may-care attitude is making me sweat, Your Majesty," Holden snipped as he held a paper up to his face, pretending to read it to hide the blush that formed at her words. "Especially when our castle is on the verge of getting ransacked by idiotic anarchists." He put the paper down and murmured something about that not being the right one, brushing his curls out of his eyes as he continued, "Stupid fucking capitalists."

Sighing, Queen Rose uncrossed her arms and walked to his littered desk, picking up a paper that was sitting on the very edge and bringing it to her face. "Is this the one you're looking for?"

Glancing up, Holden's eyes brightened as he grinned victoriously. "Yes, that's it!" He snatched the paper out of her hands, looking at it excitedly while the Queen eyed him curiously, her hand that was holding the paper still raised in the air. "It's from Lady Landau. She writes that she is aware of the—"

"I am literate, you imbecile," the Queen quipped and plucked the paper back out of his hands, glaring at him before turning her head to read it herself.

Chuckling nervously, Holden went back to the other papers on his desk. "There's several royals swearing their allegiance, Your Majesty." He slid his hand across the letters. "Lords, Ladies, Dukes, Duchesses. There are many who are informing you that they are still on your side."