The Queen's Maid

seventeen

The Queen was feeling better the next day; I was not.

All night long, I tossed and turned, anger and guilt battling within me, clawing my insides, keeping me awake.

I must have looked terrible, because the moment we were alone in her study, the Queen gave me a peck on the cheek.

"I missed you."

I kissed her back on the lips. "I missed you too, Your Majesty. Is tonight..."

She smiled knowingly. She did not need me to finish the question, and I did not need her to answer.

I had her tonight.

"What would you like to do for the day?" she asked. "Today, we will do what you want."

My heart fluttered. The Queen always knew what to say when I was upset. Shoving my thoughts and exhaustion away, I mustered the widest smile I could manage. "Your Majesty, could you play the zither for me again?"

She lowered her gaze before looking back at me; her eyelashes were the wings of a butterfly. "Of course."

As I got up to retrieve the instrument, the head palace lady crashed into the room.

"Your Majesty!" she exclaimed, her words trembling as much as her knees. "T- Trouble!"

The Queen frowned. "What is it, Sanggung?"

"H- His Majesty, the- the King is here!"

"Again?" I blurted.

The head palace lady did not bother chiding me for interrupting. "Y- Yes, he's here with the... the Bin Concubine..."

My mouth dropped. I turned back to the Queen, but this seemed to be as shocking to her as it was to me.

"Why would she be here?" the Queen asked.

"I... I don't know..." the Sanggung mumbled. I had never seen her look this pale, this frightened. Was it bad for a concubine to visit her queen? Or was it bad for her to be here with the King?

The Queen stood up. "Stay here, Seul-Ki. Prepare my zither."

I nodded vigorously, moving aside as the Queen glided past me.

After the two women exited the room, I scampered to bring the zither out of its storage and over to the Queen's usual seat. I could not remember which direction the instrument should be pointing towards, so I spent the next few minutes turning it, wondering, and turning it again, taking care not to damage the strings.

The zither was on its fourth rotation when the head palace lady burst into the room once again. Her face was even paler than before, if possible.

"You... They..." It seemed to take everything out of the Sanggung to complete her sentence. "They... want to see... you..."

"The Queen?"

My heart sank when the head palace lady shook her head.

"No. The... The King."

And that was when it hit me. Was this because of what I had said last night? Had someone overheard when I yelled at Seul-Na? But that could not be. It had been so late into the night. There had been no one around us. No one that I had seen.

I trudged behind the head palace lady, my heart hammering through my chest, my feet as heavy as my heart. Entering the Great Room, I dropped to my knees and lowered myself to the floor. There were a lot more people in the room than I had expected. The King and the Concubine sat with the Queen, while rows of maids, eunuchs, and guards stood to the side.