The General's Daughter & His Majesty Book #1

Chapter Forty Seven: Judith

Judith's POV
We are still in silence, probably each one of us is deep in thought about what happens now that the queen knows about me and my brothers. This morning, Dawson kept us from entering her chambers. He said she doesn't need us and we should stay away until she asks for us. She must be scared of us. When we were being dragged to the king, I had come to terms with a bad ending. They say he slayed everyone who was against him in Cray Thera. I wish for my head and my neck not to be separated.

"How upset do you think Her Majesty is?" Nerea broke the silence. "Will she ever want us back?"

"I told all of you it was wrong to keep it from her. We should have told her as soon as we found out!" Farrah had been frantic about being labeled treasonous. She is clear that she doesn't want to die and she will not be dying for anyone.

"Her Majesty was on her honeymoon." Paula spoke up. She is in charge of us. If anything, this silence falls on her shoulders. She will be questioned for not reporting me. "We're we supposed to hop on a plane and chase after her?"

"She came back and we still said nothing!" Farrah pressed on.

"Because that night the Queen Mother had endured a terrible ordeal! It wasn't the time to say anything!" Paula told her.

"And the next day? The very next day at the crack of dawn when she opened her eyes we should have told her!" Farrah is clearly losing her calm.

"Oh! So we say "good morning your majesty! Judith's brothers are in the TRA! Would you like to have your breakfast in the sunroom?" Something like that Farrah? Is that what we were supposed to say at 7am in the morning? You can't just drop bad news that early in the morning more so when she was in the king's chambers! Are you insane?" Paula spoke quickly.

"Ladies, keep your voices down." I urged them. "Please. Perhaps I should come clean. There's no need for all of us to lose the privilege to serve the queen."

Being a lady in waiting is a high privilege. Our only duty is to attend to the queen, serve as her companions and closest allies. Not everyone qualifies. We were handpicked by the Queen Dowager. We don't come from privilege but it's an honour on our Houses that we serve the Queen. A reward of being a lady in waiting is to matched with nobility as gratitude from the queen. It does happen to at least one lady in waiting in each generation. All of Queen Everleigh's ladies in waiting were married off to nobility.

"Are you stupid? It won't end well!" Paula exclaimed. "You saw how she spared us! She will protect us."

"For how long?" Farrah questioned. "It's not us Paula. It's her!"

"Stop pointing at her!" Paula slapped her hand.

"She didn't want us this morning! Can't you ladies see that she's in a state of alarm? She doesn't trust us anymore! It's only a matter of time before he reports us to-

Sudden knocking on the door silenced us. Panic ensued as we huddled together like we did when Queen Nesrin ordered that we get dragged to the king.

"Open in the name of the king!" A man announced in a authoritative tone.

"Paula!" Nerea pushed her. "Go open. You are in charge!"

Paula straightened her dress and walked to the door. She turned to look at us before she opened the door. Crassus, the head of security walked in, accompanied by eight royal guards. Two for each one of us. This is not good.

"Paula, the king has ordered that Judith is taken in for interrogation. Immediately." He gestured two men in my direction. "Submit yourself to a patdown."

"Crassus! You can't have your men touching her! The Queen won't be happy about this!" Paula protested.

"The Queen has no say in this. It's the king who is in charge. Shut up or I'll tape your mouth shut. Pat her down."