The informal throne room near her mother’s chambers was not nearly as imposing as the one used for formal occasions. In the grander room, the queen would greet visiting dignitaries and noblewomen or meet with commoners who had managed to gain an audience with her. A few times each year, Queen Rona would hold court there and decide whether or not prisoners should continue to stay in the dungeons--catacombs and labyrinths of cells beneath the castle--or actually be released. Most of them would have already spent more time in the unsanitary, disease ridden prison than anyone cared to measure by the time the queen saw them.
Kit preferred to meet with her mother in the smaller chamber because it usually meant a more select audience. Though she was certain members of the Royal Council would be present, she didn’t know for sure if it would be all of them or just those closest to the queen by blood or loyalty.
She still wore the same pink gown she’d had on earlier, but Avinia and Isla had worked her hair up on top of her head so that it was more presentable. The pearl tiara graced her crown, and she knew her mother would appreciate it because the diminutive size made it even more clear who was in charge, just as Queen Rona preferred.
Kit proceeded to the throne room accompanied by two members of her guard. One was the second in command, a tall fellow by the name of Galter, with broad shoulders and dark blond hair. The other was a man she’d seen before whose name was unknown to her, but he had kind brown eyes above a rather bulbous nose. His muscles were large and strained against his gray uniform, and while Kit was intrigued by his physique, she couldn’t imagine getting around such an intrusive facial feature. It occurred to her that everyone was a prospect now that her Exploration was about to begin.
The distance from her own chambers to the queen’s was vast. In the wrong shoes, Kit often felt the same way she used to when she would go on long hikes through the forest near the castle. The scenery in the gray marble hallways wasn’t similar but it seemed to take just as long to make the journey to her mother’s rooms as it had for her to find her way through dense woods. Castle Wrenbrook was massive, probably the largest structure ever built in all the world, and the halls meandered for miles with expansive staircases leading up and down to turrets and catacombs such that Kit realized she’d likely never know the full footprint of the structure. What she did know was, if she intended to be punctual when visiting her mother, she needed to leave her chambers with at least a quarter of an hour to spare. Today, she’d left with a few extra minutes, so she didn’t walk quite as quickly, and when she met others in the hallway, be they noble persons who shared the castle with the royal family and council members, or servants, she spoke to them for a few moments, a habit that drove her mother mad and endeared the princess to her sweet father who did the same. Everyone she stopped to speak to also appreciated Kit’s kindness.
Two armed members of the Queen’s Guard stood on either side of her mother’s large golden, intricately carved doors which soared above Kit’s head. They were dressed in similar uniforms to the Princess’s Guard, though the stripes down the side were more of a deep maroon than purple, and the patches on their shoulders identified them as members of the Queen’s Guard. Knowing the princess was expected, one soldier on each side pulled open the heavy doors, and Kit smiled in thanks, though they only scowled in return. She turned to look at Galter one more time. He nodded his assurance that he would wait for her in the hallway, as her guards did every time she was delivered to her mother.
Inside, Kit’s pink satin slippers treaded lightly on a red and gold embroidered carpet that stretched across the white marble floor the same width as the double doors. Her mother was seated on her throne. This one, though slightly smaller and less elaborate than the one in the formal throne room, was made of solid gold with red velvet cushions and jewels across the top of the backrest larger than the ones that adorned Kit’s most regal crown. Her mother sat there now, on the edge of her seat, a golden crown with spikes that reminded Kit of splintered wood atop her dark hair, her face unsmiling, her fingers wrapped around the ends of the armrests.
Kit curtseyed low before her mother, as she and everyone else who came into the queen’s presence was required to do. She recited the same obligatory greeting as well. “Hail Rona, Empress of All the Lands East of the Galacial Mountains and Queen of the Provinces South of the Compazional Sea, my sovereign” adding only, “my mother,” to the end as was her personal requirement.
“You may rise, Princess Katrinetta.” The queen’s voice was deeper, more forceful than her daughter’s, but Kit had grown accustomed to Rona’s direct way of speaking many years ago. Still, she remembered being a small child who visited her mother infrequently and being frightened of the way her speech reverberated off the marble floors and stone walls. Today, she wasn’t afraid of her mother, but she was apprehensive about what the ruler had to say.
Kit glanced over at the lesser thrones to the right of her mother. Smaller, less adorned, and with no armrests, they seated a few members of the Royal Council. Kit bowed her head to her relations. Zora, her mother’s aunt, whose white hair testified to her infinite wisdom, smiled in return. Nill, who was both Queen Rona’s sister and Avinia’s mother, looked nothing like the queen. Her light hair was the same color as Avinia’s, though she was shorter and slightly plump. Two other council members were present as well, both duchesses, like her aunts, both of royal blood, and of some distant relation to Kit which she didn’t quite understand. Their faces reflected kindness and sympathy for what Kit was about to endure while her mother’s expression was nothing but business as usual.
Kit waited for the queen to gesture for her to be seated on a bench at the foot of the dais which raised the throne several inches off the floor. Kit took her place on the seat, brushing her skirts out around her legs and trying not to fidget as she waited for the queen to gather her thoughts. Sometimes, she knew this process was only to make her, or whomever Rona was about to address, nervous--not because the queen didn’t know what to say. Today, Kit expected that was the case, so she began to count, a way to pass the time without letting her anxiety override her.
At thirteen, her mother cleared her voice. “As you know, your Proem Ceremony is to be held the day after tomorrow, the day after your eighteenth birthday.”
“Yes, Mother, my Queen,” Kit replied, swallowing down the fear that threatened to climb up her throat.
“I regret to inform you there has been an issue with the royal physician, Mikali, and the council members and myself have been meeting in order to come up with a fitting solution. Never in all of our years has such an occurrence taken place. It is unprecedented, and we have searched royal decrees to find an answer but fallen short.”
Kit wasn't sure what this would mean for her ceremony, but fear made her stomach twist into knots.
If the physician didn't perform the ceremony, who would?
Kit stared at her mother, her mouth agape, for almost as long as it had taken Rona to speak in the first place. It wasn’t until Zora cleared her throat that Kit was able to look away. Trying to determine what sort of problem it might be, and what sort of remedy they might provide, made her even nervous. She’d already been anxious at the idea that the elderly physician would be performing her Proem in less than two days. Now, that didn’t seem to be the case.Zora’s tone was more empathetic. “It seems the physician’s age prevents him from performing the ceremony, child.” She tipped her head to the side and gave Kit a moment to ponder how that could be. “As you may remember, he had difficulties at the last Proem Ceremony, that of your cousin, Isla.”Of course, Isla had told her how she’d felt next to nothing during the ceremony and how it had been during her Exploration that the true discomfort she’d been e
The celebration for Katrinetta’s eighteenth birthday was the most elaborate affair she’d ever witnessed. Despite her mother’s inability to otherwise show any sort of fondness for her daughter, she had seen that every last detail of both the dinner and the ball that followed were of the utmost regality in both luxury and lavishness.The dinner had consisted of sixteen courses, including Kit’s favorite, a roasted lamb chop that was the head chef’s specialty, though Kit could hardly take more than a few bites by the time the eighth course was served. Likewise, her favorite chocolate mousse had nearly gone untasted. By the time the dancing began, she was quite certain her elegant blue gown, adorned with thousands of sapphires in various sizes, would burst at the seams, and she was considering ducking away for a few moments so that one of her ladies could loosen her corset.That wouldn’t do, however, so she tried to take more shallow brea
Kit seemed to be enjoying herself. Whether or not that made him happy, Eli wasn’t sure, but he supposed it was better than watching her spend the entire night standing in a corner, shaking like a leaf, or cowering from her mother. The queen, on the other hand, had a heavy eye, and too often it bore down on him, despite the fact that he hadn’t so much as approached the princess the entire duration of the dinner or the ball.He had to admit, it was difficult for him to pull his eyes away from her, though. Part of it was because it was his duty to keep her safe, but mostly it was because she was so exquisite. Kit had always been lovely, delicate like a flower or the wings of a butterfly. Her porcelain skin was smooth as satin, and her dark hair and lashes shined in even the dimmest light. Her sparkling blue eyes had a way of making a person feel completely at ease, be it a friend or a stranger, and when they fell on him, he felt like the most important person in the
Despite the warning glare from the queen, who turned her head fully in their direction now, Eli began to lead the princess around the dance floor. The smile on Kit’s face made it all worth it, even if he would get quite the tongue lashing from the queen later—or perhaps an actual lashing. She had threatened as much before.“This is much more like it,” Kit said next to his ear as he held her close. “None of those other gentlemen have any idea how to dance.”“None of them?” he asked, breathing in the warm scent of honey and lavender, an aroma he’d come to associate with Kit long ago.“Not a single one.” She looked up into his eyes, and he caught a twinkle there. For a moment, she looked more at ease than she had been in as long as he could remember, certainly since before the announcement of her Proem. But then, as if thoughts of the ceremony also filled her mind, the spark that was there faded, and
Kit leaned back against the cold stone wall that protected her from a drop off of over a hundred feet. The barrier reached past her waist, so he was certain she was safe, but he moved toward her anyway, just to be sure, and also because he simply couldn’t stay away from her any longer.“Even after the Proem is over,” Kit began, her eyes downcast, as if she were simply thinking aloud, “I’ll begin my Exploration. And I’m not sure… that is to say, it might be difficult to proposition a man, to invite him to pleasure me. Especially one I do not know.”“I should think it would be easier with the ones you do not know.” He knew his own words did him a disservice, but at the same time, he couldn’t imagine being with her and not getting to keep her. He felt that he’d rather never know what it was like to lay with her than to do so and then quietly slip away as she fell into the embrace of dozens of other m
Kit sat on the low stool in front of the mirror in her chambers as her ladies worked on her hair. Already dressed in the simple white gown she would wear for her Proem Ceremony in less than an hour, she tried not to look at her own reflection or look down at what she was wearing as it served as a reminder of where she would be headed next, and she would just as soon be going anywhere else.Her ladies had both assured her there was nothing to fear and even thought the council’s idea of having one of her guards perform the ceremony rather than the feeble physician was a good one. “He will likely be more capable,” Isla had offered in her meek voice.“He will likely be more fulfilling,” Avinia had joked, and both of her cousins had giggled, though Kit had not. She had reminded them that this was a medical procedure, not a pleasuring, and they both assured her that they were aware; they were only teasing.But there was nothing humorous a
The queen stepped forward so that she was standing at the end of the aisle. Kit continued to make her way in that direction. Avinia and Isla were nudging her forward, the guards staying out in the hallway.Once she somehow managed to reach the front of the room and found herself standing next to her mother, the queen began to say a few words, reminding those in assembly of how important this ceremony was and what it meant to their realm that the heir to the throne would be embarking on a journey to find her mate, which would in turn allow her to create an heir. Kit heard very little of it, however, as she stood with her face frozen in a half-smile, half-grimace she could not control and thought about the table behind her.“For the goddesses and our realm, I call upon you now, Katrinetta Ronatta, Princess of All the Lands East of the Galacial Mountains and Princess of the Provinces South of the Compazional Sea, to fulfill your duty as the heiress to the throne. No
Sunlight infiltrated Kit’s chambers as one of her ladies flung the curtains open, and the princess groaned in protest. She’d stayed up far too late the night before, dancing, drinking wine, and carrying on like a silly girl with her friends at the festival that followed her Proem Ceremony, and now that morning was here, her head ached, and she’d rather bury her face back beneath the downy pillows of her bed than acknowledge the day’s arrival.“Katrinetta,” Avinia’s voice beckoned as her shoulder was shaken, gently at first, and then a bit more violently. “Open your eyes. You need to get up!”Kit couldn’t think of a single reason in the world why she would need to get out of bed. She hadn’t slept well these past several weeks in anticipation of the ceremony, and now that it was over, she longed to make up for all of that lost time. But Avinia was insistent, so Kit opened one eye and looked at her incredul