The War of Queens

Chapter 1

 Evelyn

 The court was full of jovial lords and ladies and music was playing from one corner, but Evelyn felt none of the joy. You would not have been able to tell, so well did she disguise her anger beneath her near flawless smile and twinkling blue eyes. Several men turned their heads to look at her, eyeing her so eagerly that any other woman would have been scared.

 “Andrew Travis is looking at you,” Theodora remarked eagerly. She was from the house of Monette, a little younger than Evelyn and still without husband.

 Evelyn sighed. Her mother had grown tired of the tradition of ladies-in-waiting, replacing them with ordinary handmaidens. Still, a harem of women always followed Evelyn where she went. Theodora was one of the more obnoxious ones.

 “He’s third in line,” she pointed out coldly, not even baring the man a glance. She was a princess, not to be the wife of a man whose line was not safe.

 “But he’s handsome.” Theodora’s voice had taken that of a young girl, dreaming of the princes that never came. “And, you need a husband.”

 Evelyn glared at her so-called friend. “I do not.”

 “You do.” The younger woman was as always ignorant to anything beyond the tip of her nose and blabbered on in spite of Evelyn’s glaring. “You might have been married once, but that does not give you security, nor does it give your son any. What is he to inherit?”

 “I am a princess,” Evelyn hissed. “I will not settle for a man like Andrew. There will be no more for my son to inherit even if I do.”

 “What about Timothy? He is sole heir to First Landing.”

 “Perhaps.” Evelyn glanced to the man. He was strange looking, with black hair and protruding blue eyes. She could not imagine spreading her legs for him. Still, the Valior inheritance was no small thing - even if it was no crown.

 She was sure Theodora continued blabbering, but Evelyn zoned out. Her eyes met with the deep brown ones of her brother and she smiled. Quite frankly, he was the only one in the entire court she could bear speaking to for more than five minutes at a time, even if he was the reason for her particularly bad mood on that day. When her husband had died, she had been relieved to be able to return.

 “Let us rehearse our steps,” Evelyn burst out suddenly.

 Theodora looked baffled and she realized she must have cut her friend off. She found she did not care. “We rehearsed them yesterday,” Theodora objected. “You know how I hate dancing. I would rather avoid it.”

 For a second, Evelyn wished she was less mannered and could roll her eyes at her friend. Instead, she pulled out a pleasing smile. “But you know how I love it. Would you not – just for a little while, for my sake?”

 Theodora glanced in the direction of the Valior heir. It was no big secret that she had foolishly loved him since childhood. A stupid girl she was, for thinking that a man would ever marry beneath him. “I cannot.”

 Evelyn sighed. “Excuse me, then.”

 She did not wait for Theodora’s reply before leaving her. It took a great deal of effort to keep from marching; instead, she kept her steps as light as possible. The beam that she usually calculated so carefully came naturally when she saw Christian.

 “Sis,” he said when she came closer to him. From his lips, the word sounded like a caress.

 “Brother, please, liberate me,” she exclaimed as she wove her arm through his. “If I am to stand another second of Thea’s thoughtless ranting, I might faint.”