The King's Lover

Chapter 23

           

    Kusy suspected that Clarisse had only four moods: Slightly amused, irritated, very irritated, and livid.

     She was somewhere around very irritated when she turned around to glare at Juliet. People had been whispering and pointed, so she'd turned in her throne to see what they were all looking at.

    "Dear cousin," she said through gritted teeth. "What are you doing here? I was under the impression you weren't well enough to attend."

     "Well, you had the wrong impression then." Juliet flashed Clarisse a grin that, if Kusy hadn't known Juliet as well as she did, would be mistaken as something sweet. Kusy knew it was anything but. The queen's smile was that of a sharks.

    Frowning, Clarisse slowly turned back around to watch the people depositing their wages in the bowls.

     "What now?" Kusy whispered to Juliet.

     Juliet's eyes were hard as she stared ahead. "Now, we wait. The taxes are outrageous for many citizens and I'm sure someone will protest."

     Kusy glanced around the room. There were guards stationed at the exits, but no servants. The members of the court were noticeably absent, too—although Kusy supposed that the tax collection was too boring for them to bother with. Clarisse herself looked like she was suffering, and the line of people was stretched out of the door, spilling onto the palace grounds.

    It took over two hours for Juliet to get her chance. A woman limped forward, clutching her raggedy shawl around her, and dropped two coins into the bowl. Juliet had been informing Kusy about how their taxes worked, and Kusy knew the woman owed four coins, not two, since she looked to be around 30 and probably had children and a husband who worked.

     "Wait." Clarisse's voice rang out, and Kusy could have sworn the people all winced as the woman paused, halfway between turning around. "What is your name?"

     The woman's throat bobbed as she swallowed, tightening her grip on her shawl. "Lena, Your Majesty."

     "Lena." Clarisse sat forward slowly, letting her fingers trail over the arm of the throne. "You don't seem like a child of under 18, Lena."

     The only Trileans who payed a tax of only two coins were the children who lived on their own. Kids could get jobs in Trilea, if needed, which Kusy found hard to comprehend. They let their children work, live, and pay tax on their own?

    "No, Your Majesty. I...my family is unable to pay full taxes. I beg your pardon, and I promise that we will pay in full as soon as—"

     "You claim to be unable to pay?" Kusy could only see the side of Clarisse's face, but she saw the regent raise her brows. "Without any proof? For all I know, you are lazy and your husband is a drunk and you think you can weasel your way out of paying taxes."

     Kusy could hear Juliet's angry breathing beside her, quick and agitated, but the queen was waiting for now.

     "N—No, Your Majesty, I would never..." Lena blinked several times. "We have six children, Your Majesty, and it is very hard to support for them all."

     "You shouldn't have had so many children."

     Kusy saw a teardrop roll out of Lena's eye, but the woman stood straight, even as her body trembled. She was much to thin. "We cannot afford birth control, Your Majesty."

     "Then you and your husband shouldn't be performing intercourse if you can't afford another child, Lena."

     Most of the people in the room looked horrified. Others just looked away, their faces carefully blank.