The King's Lover

Chapter 6

           

    The queen regent had been sitting on her throne when Kusy had walked in, and she suspected it was because she wanted to look down on Kusy.

     "Thank you for coming," she said, a sly smile on her face.
    Kusy raised her chin a few notches and raised one of her eyebrows at the regent. "What did you summon me for?"
    She'd barely made it out of the dungeons when a servant had come running and told her that Clarisse required her presence in the throne room.

     Clarisse leaned back and inspected her nails, which were colored a bright red. "I understand you paid a visit to the jail today." She looked at Kusy and narrowed her eyes. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't visit it. It's not a good place to be spending your time, especially for a princess."

     "I am just doing my best to understand your country," Kusy replied, forcing herself to keep her voice light.

     Clarisse smiled. "I know, Kusy. But please stay out of the dungeons, unless you'd like to spend all of your time there."

     The room was completely silent for a second. Clarisse was still smiling down at Kusy, thinking she'd won. Then Kusy snorted, and the smile slipped.

    "Are you threatening me?" Kusy asked. "You, the queen regent of Trilea, just threatened the Crown Princess of Brind. Need I remind you, Clarisse, that I am here on an alliance that does not include throwing guests into a cell because they took a wrong turn."

     Clarisse's eyes were icy. "I am well aware of the terms of our alliance—"

     "Then do not threaten me." Kusy opened her hands and shrugged. "Is there anything else?"

    "Actually, yes. I was informed that you sent a letter to Brind this morning."

     "I did."

     "As a security precaution, the palace is required to read every letter that comes in and out of this palace. But yours was written in Brind."

    "Do you have no one in your palace that can read our language?" Brind spoke the same language as Trilea, but they had a written language that was completely different. 

     "I have several people who can read Brind," Clarisse replied. "But once they translated your letter, they found it also to be encoded."

     Kusy almost laughed outright at the irritated expression on Clarisse's face. Instead, she shrugged again. "Your country is full of rebels and spies. One cannot be too careful. Did you need anything else?"

    Clarisse scowled and flicked her nails offhandedly. "No, Kusy. You may go."

     Kusy itched to tell her that she couldn't dismiss Kusy like some servant, but she decided to save it for another day. She'd seen Clarisse annoyed enough that the victory would last her several days. So she simply turned on her heel and stalked out.

     Juliet was pacing in the sitting room where Kusy had left her, and she looked up anxiously when Kusy shut the door behind her.

     "Did you see him?"

     Kusy nodded and leaned against the door. "I saw him."

     "Well?" Juliet crossed the room to stand in front of Kusy, her hands clasped in front of her chest tightly. "How is he? Are they feeding him? Can we get him out?"

    Kusy held up her hand. "He was beat up and bloody," she started, almost deciding not to tell Juliet the truth. But she deserved to know. "Looked like he had not had a decent meal in weeks. And...we can try to get him out, but it will be difficult."