The King's Lover

Chapter 22

           

Juliet wasn't allowed to go to the tax collection, but that was no surprise. 

     She showed up anyway, which was no surprise either.

    She'd banged on Kusy's door at a sinful hour of the morning, and when Kusy crankily opened the door, the queen had already been dressed, her hair loosely braided on her head around her silver tiara. She was wearing her usual outfit of leggings and a shirt, but her top had silver embroidery around the edges that gave her a more official air than she usually had.  She waited impatiently as Kusy dressed, also going for a more formal air than usual. She was in the washroom and had just untied her hair from its usual knot when she heard Juliet gasp.

     "What is it?"

    Juliet took two steps into the washroom and touched the edges of Kusy's hair. "Your hair. I've never seen it down before, gods—"

     "I keep it up for a reason," Kusy muttered, gathering it. Juliet grabbed her wrist. 

     "Oh, don't tie it up again. It's so pretty. Can I braid the top?"

     Kusy looked at the clock pointedly. "We do not have time."

     "We'll be fashionably late. Sit on the tub, please."
    Kusy sighed but found herself complying. Juliet gathered up her masses of curly hair and started twisting at the top, right by Kusy's forehead.

     "I'm only going to braid the top," Juliet explained. "It'll keep it out of your face, but it will still be down and gorgeous."

     "As long as it is out of the way," Kusy said, glancing in the mirror so she could see what Juliet was doing. "I do not want it to obscure my vision if I am trying to throw a knife at someone."

     "No, we can't have that." Juliet pulled more hair from behind Kusy's ears. 

     "You are very good at this," Kusy observed after a moment.

    "I used to braid my mother's hair when I was younger." Her fingers in Kusy's hair paused. "I can't do it to myself, but I can do it to other people splendidly."

     "When was the last time you did it?"

     Juliet snickered. "Oh, only about a month or so ago. I did it to Ryder. He'll deny it to his last breath, but I gave him four braids on the side of his head, two on each side. It looked good. He left them in a full day before a servant frowned at him for a few seconds too long."

     Kusy laughed, remembering the face of the man she'd met in the dungeon. She couldn't imagine him with braids. "I am certain he secretly liked them."

     "Oh, of course he did." Juliet grabbed a tie from one of the drawers that Kusy had never bothered to open and did something twisty with Kusy's hair. "There. Go grab your diadem."

     Kusy rose and picked up her crown from where it sat on the bathroom counter. Juliet snatched it from her hands before she could set it on her head. "I don't want you to mess up your braids," she explained when Kusy raised her brows. "I didn't mean to steal your crown or whatever." Carefully, she set the diadem on Kusy's head and then drew back, grinning. "There."

     Kusy turned to the mirror to see what Juliet had done. 

     The queen had started the braid at the very front of Kusy's head and taken it back to the back of her head, where she'd tied it off with a black ribbon so it melded seamlessly into the rest of her curly hair. Her diadem rested in its usual spot, just below the braided hair.

     "Hm," Kusy said. "It is not bad."

     Juliet snorted, although she was smiling. "Admit it, you love it and you want me to teach you how it's done. Well, too bad. I don't know how to braid my own hair. Anyway, we'd better get going. I don't want to be too late."

    Rolling her eyes, Kusy followed the queen out of her rooms and down the hall towards the theater. Juliet was smiling faintly as she walked ahead. Kusy had noticed that she'd been doing that a lot more in the past six days. She'd gotten four letters from Ryder and had written him back each time, sending the letters with Valin as soon as they were done. The brothers had reported that Ryder was healing, slowly but surely, and that none of the guards had caught on to anything he was hiding in his cell.

    Juliet had also sent him several books from the pile that Kusy had noticed by the closet door. She had guessed that when Ryder was Juliet's guard, he'd slept in that closet, and now that he was gone, Juliet slept in there and made a pile of books for him to read.

     Neither of them had mentioned it.

    When Juliet stopped in front of an ornate door, nodding at the two guards stationed there, only one bowed to her: Krow. When he straightened, he grinned at Kusy.

     She ignored him.

     The other guard, a man who looked to be about their age, kept a neutral expression as he said, "Your Majesty, I'm not allowed to let you in."

     "I see." Juliet smiled brightly at him. "Well, I really need to get in, so I have no choice. What's your name?"

     "Sir Logan, Your Majesty."

     "Sir Logan. Thank you for your loyal service to the royal family, but you are no longer needed. Please gather your things and be out of the palace by tomorrow night." She smiled again, and the guard looked slightly horrified. Juliet waved him away and he blinked, taking a few steps down the hallway in a daze before hurrying away.

     Krow was studying the queen intently. "No disrespect, Majesty, but I didn't think you had any authority over guards."

     "I don't." Juliet flashed him a grin. "But I don't think Sir Logan knows that."

     Krow snorted with amusement and opened the door for them, bowing low as they passed. 

     The theater room was huge.

     Two stories, the main floor held a large stage and hundreds of rows of seating that extended up at an angle. A balcony hung over top, with more seating. There were Trileans everywhere, filling the main aisle, some sitting in the chairs. Clarisse sat on her throne up on the stage, watching as people would approach the stage, drop coins or jewels into the large bowls set out there, and then wave them off.

     Kusy and Juliet had come in the side door, so they were standing a little to the right of the stage. No one had noticed them yet, by some miracle—the hundreds of people were all focused on Clarisse or on each other.

     "I still do not get it," Kusy said under her breath to Juliet as they picked their way across the seats to the stage. "Why are we here?"

    "Clarisse is only in power as long as people think she's still the best person for the job," Juliet replied quietly. "We've already started to shake that image of her with the court, but it may not be enough. We need the people of Amidia, of Trilea, to believe that she's not the best person for the job and that they need me instead."

     "Okay," Kusy said slowly. They were climbing the stairs onto the stage now. "How do we do that?"

     Juliet stepped on the stage, in full view of the hundreds of people of Trilea who were lined up in the theater room. "I have no idea," she admitted.