Alliance

Chapter 37- Experimentum

Experimentum

Latin

Proof

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stand and face me, my love,

and scatter the grace in your eyes

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This is honestly a completely filler chapter, and has only one scene and two characters and it's very mature (whispers: sexy scenes) so if you're uncomfortable, please skip to the end of this chapter and I'll summarise it.
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Tritonia had done a lot of dumb things in life (the scar on her left cheek was proof of that), but this was quite possibly the stupidest of them all- and that was saying a lot.

"What-" Queen Susan was saying sternly, "do you think you're doing?"

Tritonia scrambled to her feet quickly, and looked everywhere except at the frowning Queen. "I was enacting a scene from a book Aeseus lent me."

"And that involved climbing up to my balcony and sneaking in?"

"Well, it involved climbing up a tall tower to rescue the most beautiful woman in all lands from an evil sorceress, but since there's a dearth of tall towers and evil sorceresses, I had to choose the balcony attached to the chambers of the most beautiful lady I know, who, fortunately enough- lives on the topmost floor of a castle with many towers." Tritonia said honestly, not seeing why she should mislead. "I thought it would be impossible, but I was proved wrong."

Susan willed the blush to disappear from her cheeks. The number of times she had been called beautiful was staggeringly high, but she'd never been called so in such a casual and relaxed manner, as if it was a simple fact of nature, and definitely never had the compliment been accompanied with such sentences.

"So you climbed like a monkey up till here- one of the highest floors, as you said- for research?"

"Indeed, Your Majesty. I'm good at climbing, anyone with a considerable amount of fae blood in their veins is- why, I've seen the young Prince climb trees better than a monkey- actually, that is probably why I managed to climb up here, which means the book was wrong- er, never mind that. I was just going to leave, not peep or anything, of course not, but- well, I guess I hadn't thought this as thoroughly as I thought I had."

Susan crossed her arms and surveyed the sheepish look on the soldier's face. "You ramble a lot, don't you?"

"I talk a lot, if that's what you mean- usually, young faes are taught to control their tongues, but since I had to run away from home when I was a child, I wasn't taught- of course, my mother was human, and I never knew my father, so I don't know who exactly would've taught me- anyway, yes, I talk a lot, and I tend to go off on tangents."

"You ran away from home? Why?" Susan was tempted to invite the soldier- Tritonia but she preferred going by Tree, she remembered- in for a hot drink.

"Oh, I used to live in Calormen. My mother was a noblewoman- she met my father when she'd gone for a picnic in the Dancing Wood- it's a very pretty place, and she knew a fauness who lived there- and well, I was conceived. Father died before I was born- or perhaps he went back to the Faerie Realm- so Mother raised me till I was around ten, though she was ostracised by the rest of the Nobility for having an illegitimate child- when Prince Rabadash- I'm sorry, was it something I said?" Tritonia was observant and she instantly noticed the tight look on the Queen's face.