The King's Lover

Chapter 9

           

    Kusy waited a day to request a tour of the grounds.

     She knew if she'd done it the day before, the same day she'd gone to the dungeons, someone might get suspicious. So she'd forced herself to wait, at least a day, and then she'd asked Clarisse for a tour of the palace gardens. 

    There was a lot of grass around the palace, and a few gardens dotted around the east side. The dungeons were near the back, a few hundred feet away from the library windows. Clarisse kept the group a ways away, but Kusy was focused on the small, barred windows that were barely visible and counted them, four times to be sure.

     "Kusy?" The queen regent's sultry voice snapped her from her thoughts. "Is there something that's caught your attention?"

     Slowly, Kusy turned to look at the blonde woman. About half of the court had joined them, clad in frilly dresses, useless suits, and half of them sporting silk parasols. Kusy was wearing one of her usual outfits, this one in dark green, and she'd worn her diadem today, to make a point.

    She smiled at the regent, exposing brilliant white teeth that contrasted her dark skin. "No, Your Majesty. I am simply fascinated by your explanation of the fourth palace garden. Truly, you are inspirational." Clarisse held her gaze for a moment, and Kusy let the expression drop a millisecond before the regent looked away. The court tittered, but that was all they ever did.

     Truthfully, the only thing getting Kusy through the tour was the fact that she'd requested it for a reason and the repeating daydream of throwing Clarisse out of the palace. Preferably through a window. Preferably Juliet's tower window.

    Kusy took a deep breath through her nose as Clarisse resumed her droning commentary, counting the dungeon windows one last time before the group was led around the corner of the palace and she lost sight of them.

     She wished Juliet had been able to come, but the queen had told her that if she had to listen to Clarisse talk about the rosebushes one more time she'd light the plants on fire. Instead, she'd opted to curl up on her bed with a book to wait for Kusy. 

     When they'd gotten back the day before, a servant had been waiting in Juliet's room with a scowl and her medication. Juliet had taken it without question and, once the servant had left, run straight for her washroom. Kusy had heard the sound of retching, and when the queen came back out, there had been a new determination in her eyes.

     It took almost twenty more minutes for Clarisse to finish, and once she did, Kusy barely managed to express her eternal gratitude before running off. 

     Juliet looked up when she walked in and put marker in her book. "How was it?" She asked. "Exciting as you'd hoped?"

     Kusy hadn't told Juliet the reason of the tour, in case it was futile. So she simply shrugged. "I now understand your drive to light the roses on fire."

     Laughing, Juliet tossed the book aside and sat up. "I did tell you, you know."

     "I know." Kusy shook her head and perched on the arm of the couch at the foot of Juliet's bed. "I should have taken your advice."

     When night fell, a guard came to Kusy's room and asked for the queen. When Juliet had appeared, he'd told her he had been sent to escort her to her room. She had bid Kusy a quiet farewell, but Kusy had seen the anger in Juliet's eyes—the regent must have been suspicious of Juliet's disappearance the day before and sent this guard to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn't leave again.

    Kusy jumped out of the window alone after re-securing her knives and setting her diadem on the bathroom counter. The palace grounds were dark as she crossed them, rubbing the indent the jewel had left on her forehead.