Hailey looked at the queen and waited for her to tell her what she already knew. How was she going to do this job when the people she was supposed to work closest with didn’t believe in her?

The queen watched the doctor with her husband. Hailey waited.

“Are you going to tell me or not?” She felt frustrated.

“Fine. Yes, the king has been dying. It has gone on for a while now, but in the past few weeks, it has gotten worse. The doctors are doing everything they can for him, but I don’t think he’s going to last much longer.”

The queen looked at her husband. “The reason we haven’t told anyone is because we are trying to stop the public from panicking. Can you imagine what would happen if the city knew?”

Hailey swallowed. She could imagine. It could be bad. They could storm the castle and demand to know what was going to happen to the kingdom or set out into the forest to try to make it to one of the other cities.

The queen looked at her daughter with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to the kingdom. I can’t tell the public that the heir is dying and we just don’t know what’s going to happen next. Will the power of the heir pass to my daughter? Will she be able to protect the kingdom while she’s still asleep?”

“I don’t know. Barinon didn’t know either. He had worried about what would happen. He even ignored the dragon in an attempt to free the princess.”

“Look, I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about the Theodric. He has been suffering with this for so long and there was nothing that Barinon could do for him. We just didn’t think that you would be able to help.”

Hailey nodded, still feeling like they didn’t have any faith in her. Otherwise, they would have said something. It was just ‘do this thing right now’ with no real reasons why. Obviously, the princess needed to be freed, but she had had no idea that the king was suffering, that she had a very limited amount of time.

“I’m sorry about being so short with you in the throne room, but maybe you understand now why I keep asking you to work faster. I shouldn’t have lashed out the way I did.”

“Do you know how the power is transferred? Does the heir need to be touching the king when he dies?”

Endolynn shook her head. “Theodric might know, but Barinon was the expert on it. It might be something for you to research when you have a spare moment.”

Queen Endolynn took Hailey by the shoulders. “You have to figure this out before he dies.” She began to sob, dropping her hands to her side. Hailey had always thought of the queen as a graceful, somewhat cold person. It was shocking to see her cry like this. “I don’t want to loose my husband, but I none of us last forever. To lose the entire kingdom and then to know that my daughter will wake seventy years after the entire kingdom has fallen. It’s my worst nightmare.” Then she broke down into sobs.

Hailey felt awkward. Do you hug a queen? Clearly, the woman needed comforting but she was not that close to her. Finally, the queen dabbed at her eyes.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that the princess is sent free from the spell. I am sorry for being angry with you, too.”

The queen hugged her then, and Hailey let the queen of all Taivalon cry on her shoulder.