“My queen, may I petition to you?”

A nervous looking young woman stood in the doorway, dressed in the plain tunic of a servant. Her flaxen hair was pulled up into a tight up do, something that would have taken too much fuss for an everyday style, the young woman had prepared to speak with me. I always appreciated when commoners had the respect to spent that extra bit of effort, it was the least they could do.

“Petition?” I questioned. “If I’m not mistaken you are one of the cooks. What could a cook possibly think they deserve from me?”

The girl hesitated, hand creeping to her chest like she was afraid that I might strike her down with magic at any moment. I had never done such a thing, but I did find delight that the servants had a healthy fear of my abilities. I had been worried that perhaps with Evonia’s iron grip gone, they may have mistaken me as less imperious as my grandmother.

“You may approach,” I acquiesced, “tell me what you think you deserve.”

“Well, I...” she trailed off as she realized that she should indeed approach and not shout at me from the doorway. “I don’t want anything for myself,” she explained, “but my mother is the head cook and she’s been too afraid to ask for something.”

“Your mother needs her fledgling to carry out her whims?”

The young woman shifted her stance, her right foot turning slightly to the door as if she already knew that I might dismiss her.

“No-no, she just worries that you might be a bit like your grandmother and be very intolerant of any commoners speaking before being spoken to.”

I let out a barely audible laugh. “She is perhaps a wise woman then, but I am perhaps slightly different from my grandmother. I do not mind entertaining the blathering of commoners as long as they are respectful and concise.”

I raised my eyebrows to indicate that she had a brief moment of my consideration.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise. “It’s just that the kitchen staff has heard that there may be more people coming to live in the castle and we do not currently have the stores to support many more mouths.”

“I am to assume your request for permission to expand our food stores?”

The woman nodded and I rapped my fingers on the armrest of the throne in thought. I was slightly annoyed that the commoners had any idea of my plan to bring in recruits. If the servants already knew, then it was only a matter of time before the information got back to less than friendly ears, if it had not already.

“That is fine,” I said with an annoyed sigh, “tell your mother she may prepared for at least ten extra mouths to feed. That will be an appropriate place to start.”

The woman clapped her hands together and gave a deep bow before scurrying back out of the room.

“You should have scolded her for leaving without your permission.”

Mistra had entered from the door hidden behind the throne and swayed past to sit beside me in the consort’s chair. Her hair was simply tied back at her neck with a strip of leather, locks left long in their natural spirals all the way down to her knees. It was my favorite style, making her look all the more exotic and untamed. She had also chosen to wear the very form fitting crimson dress that I preferred, obviously there was something she wanted me to agree to. I had to admit that in her current appearance I was much more inclined to indulge her in whatever desires she had in mind.

“She showed more respect than I expected,” I said with a shrug. “I like to think she ran out of here before I struck her down. Perhaps the servants are just appropriately motivated to avoid my wrath.”

Mistra’s ruby lips parted into a soft laugh. “I think you would much rather they be stricken into being motionless before you, ready to execute exactly, and only, what you grant them, but perhaps I am a bit used to the demon philosophy on efficient ruling.”

“Do you really want me to become something like your father?” I asked with a sly grin.

It had taken no effort on my own to investigate the relationship between Rafe and his daughter, they wore their thoughts and emotions regarding each other on their faces. Rafe had no idea how to be delicate or giving with his only daughter and she felt like he was a rigid, illogical oaf. It couldn’t be denied that had a strong familial love between them, but I didn’t think either of them would readily state that aloud.

She let out a disgusted sound and waved the idea away with her left hand. “Never say anything like that again.”

After a long moment of silence between us, Mistra leaned forward and swept an errant strand of my hair away from my face, hesitating a moment with her hand on my face before leaning back with an unreadable expression.

“I will be traveling to my father’s realm,” she said.

“You needed to tell me that?” I asked with a raise of my eyebrow. “You commonly travel in and out for various reasons.”

“Yes, but this time I will be staying for a while,” she explained slowly. “My training demands I spent some expended time in the realm to better my skills.”

I tried very hard to keep a stone face, but I felt the edges of my lips quiver into a subtle downturn. Her eyes narrowed slightly into a knowing expression and her face colored to a beautiful rose gold shade.

“If it is necessary for you to do,” I said as I tried my best to seem unaffected, “then that is what will happen.”

Mistra’s expression softened and she nodded, a faint smile on her face. “I would not think I would be gone for overly long, but Feros is sometimes unpredictable.”

I nodded my understanding, but inwardly frowned at the idea she could be gone for long. I had gotten so comfortable with her next to me during the nights and times when we were both done training, it would be strange to end my day in an empty, cold bed.

“While I’m there, perhaps I can be of assistance with my family as they try to recruit and train their army,” Mistra suggested. “I hardly think that the males in my family have one clever brain between the lot of them. Without intervention I would shudder to think what they would manage to come up with. Perhaps this is a boon with the timing.”

Her dark eyes met mine and I felt like I could see a flash of sadness in them. My heart fluttered at the idea that perhaps she was upset at the idea of having to leave my side. I would not break our wordless agreement not to muddy our arrangement with discussion of emotion, but the temptation was rising.

“With you overseeing them, I feel much better about leaving the bulk of the army up to them,” I said.

“Good,” she agreed, “then I will be leaving in the morning. Feros wanted me to leave immediately, but I felt that it was rather presumptuous of him to think he could dictate the time to me.”

Mistra leaned in her seat towards me, an impish smile on her face. Her left hand moved to lightly lay on my arm, her touch so gentle that it caused the skin to break out into a case of goosebumps.

“Besides, I thought you might prefer to have one more night with me before I go away for a while.”

Her face curled up into a satisfied smile as I failed to keep the exhilaration of what she was implying from showing on my face, not that she wouldn’t have been able to tell by the goosebumps covering all of my exposed skin. I let out a long sigh and turned my eyes away from hers to try and regain some sense of royal dignity.

“Sometimes you make certain things very difficult for me,” I said, leaning back in my throne. “I don’t think I need to say specifically what those ‘things’ are.”

“Not at all,” she purred, rising to her feet. “I suppose I should go pack now, I doubt I will be very interested in it later, best to get it out of the way now.”

As Mistra departed, she delicately traced a finger along my shoulder, so subtly that if it were not for her low, husky giggle I may have questioned it happened it all. She left me feeling struck, a flutter of butterflies in my stomach in a way that made me feel both uneasy and elated. There was always a small part of my logic that warned me to consider that perhaps she did such things only out of a desire to manipulate me to get what she wanted. I would not even blame or think ill of her for using such methods, they were obviously working if it were indeed true. Casting aside the negative assumptions, I regained my composure and rose from my thrown to attend to my own training for the afternoon. Though I doubted how focused I would be considering the implications for what lie ahead in the late evening.