Memory of You

Chapter Ten: What? Are You Checking Up On Me Here Too?

Chapter Ten: What? Are You Checking Up On Me Here Too?

Sitting down at the breakfast table. Alexandra looked over the papers in her hand. With the ball coming up, she had not gotten any time to relax. Instead she was busy deciding on last minute details.

"Sophia, can you please just take care of the decorations?" Alexandra asked, exhausted from all the lists she had gone over.

"No problem. I can do that." Sophia grinned, taking the list from Alexandra's outstretched hand.

"Here you go, Lex. Breakfast is served." Nicholas presented a plate of banana bread and fruits.

"Thanks." Alexandra mumbled. Days had passed since David's departure, and each time she saw Nicholas, she'd start to feel butterflies and her nerves would get the better of her. He was just being nice, she thought to herself, he's still an annoying meddling git!

"Sophia...meet me after dinner?" She heard the older Devereux ask his sister as he passed her. Alexandra had told him that Sophia wanted to speak with him. She had no idea her lady-in-waiting had yet to sit down with her brother. These days there was a lot about Sophia she didn't know, there was hardly any time for her to sit down with her best friend and just relax. I wish it wasn't so busy, Alexandra thought to herself. Life before becoming Queen seemed such a long time ago, and in a different period.

"Yes, Nick." Sophia replied.

"Mark and Valek, you two are working on the list of people coming. I'm not looking over these names again." Having shaken off her thoughts, Alexandra gave the guards the pile of papers containing information of the people residing in Seraphine.

"Nicholas...I'll meet you at lunch. You're going to deal with the menu." She said at last, having divided as much of the duties as she could. Somehow I wind up talking to him, more than Sophia, she realized with some annoyance.

"Of course, I'll get started on that." He told her, with a smile.

Taking a piece of the bread, Alexandra got up and moved for the door.

"Where are you going?" She heard Valek ask.

"I have some more details to tend to, so I'm heading to the King's Quarters. I'll see you at lunch. Don't worry...Aram said he'd check over the room...you can stay here." She told the group, before pushing the doors and walking in to the hall.

With no meetings scheduled for the next few days, Alexandra only had the ball to worry about. As the days got closer and closer to the event, she found her mood become more sullen and broody. She just wasn't excited. She had never thought that by the time she turned 20, she would already have been on the throne for three years.

Unlocking the door to her father's old room, she walked to the desk. A picture frame held a portrait of her family...before her parents had passed away. Looking at it, she felt more miserable. If I had never allowed David in to my life, maybe they would both still be here? She found herself wondering again.

There had to be a way to get rid of David for good, the thought had been going through Alexandra's mind since Nicholas' refusal to bring her wine. Why did she let that man affect her? If she was honest with herself, the time had long come for David to be released from his duties to Seraphine.

When she had first been crowned, she had argued that it would look as though she was taking revenge by revoking his lordship. Now three years on, Alexandra had seen that David had done nothing for her country or the district that was under his care. She finally had a chance to legitimately relieve him of his duties.

"I'd better get to work." Alexandra muttered aloud, realizing how much work was needed to be done before the ball. Putting the thoughts in the back of her mind, she knew she would mull on them later.