Irah of the Seven Dominions

Chapter.5: An After Meeting

Irah tapped her fingers on her office desk impatiently. She had arrived in her office only a minute or two ago and was now awaiting the arrival of Mr. Wilder, a man whose reckless driving could've easily gotten them both seriously injured or even killed. If anyone ever found out about the incident, Mr. Wilder could face six months in jail for endangering the life of the Queen.

But pressing charges wasn't why she had instructed Reeves to bring him to her office. Oh no. She intended very much to reveal that she had indeed been the horse-rider he had so blatantly insulted and therefore expected him to offer her a full apology. That and it would be oh so much fun to see him fret over why she summoned him to the office in the first place.

He had definitely been nervous during the meeting as she saw him glance quite a few times in her direction, a tensed look on his face, no doubt because he had sensed her gaze on him. She had planned her expressions and glances in such a way that he would be intimidated by her, though carefully enough not to draw the attention of the others in the room.

Just as Irah began to wonder what was taking them so long, the sound of Reeves's firm knocks resonated in the room. Pulled out of her thoughts, Irah immediately adjusted the expression on her face to be that of disdain before allowing them to enter. Reeves opened the door and waited for Haynes to walk in, nodding at Irah and leaving immediately afterwards.

Seeing the disdain on her face, Haynes felt cold dread seep into his stomach as he sank into a bow, rising a moment later to see the Queen watching him intently.

"You wished to speak to me, Your Majesty?", Haynes managed to say, trying his best to keep the apprehension from his voice.

"Indeed, I did, Lord Wilder.", Irah replied gravely, her hands instinctively opening the file in front of her. "I was reading up on the people who were to attend the meeting today, and might I say, you were by far the most interesting."

Interesting? What did she mean by that? Did she know something?

Haynes's mind raced with these questions, his apprehension giving way to pure fear over the prospect of her discovery of his past. A past that he had worked so hard to bury. But he had buried the past, so discovery was impossible. Impossible, unless that file of hers was some sort of report on him. As Haynes wrestled with these thoughts while struggling to compose his facial expressions, Irah pretended to look through the file, which contained nothing more than a recipe on how to bake the most fantastic Chocolate Lava cake, the actual file related to him lost; lying somewhere among the disaster that was her desk.

Needless to say, Irah was enjoying herself immensely. The poor man before her just about ready to cry. The battle to compose his face lost as he eyed the file with dread.

Glancing up and seeing his expression, Irah decided to break the silence that had stretched over them after she had last spoken.

"Given your origins, you seemed to have worked quite hard to reach such a high status. I merely find that  interesting given that most high-ranked nobles are born wealthy and have to make no such effort." At her words, Haynes visibly relaxed and managed a weak nod.

"Do you know why I asked you here?", Irah asked in a somber tone. Haynes merely shook his head, his expression wary.

"Well, sit down and I'll tell you."

Haynes took a seat on one of the chairs in front of her desk, as Irah closed the file and picked up an envelope from a pile in front of her. "It has come to my attention that the roads near my palace are no longer safe for travel at night. Would you know anything about that?", She said as she turned over the envelope and began to open it.