Spirits and Crowns (The Shadow Series, Book 1)

Chapter 6 - Tea

She didn't even hesitate. She picked me up right then and there. "We'll go to my parent's house. It's right down this street."

I balled my fist in her jacket and leaned my cheek against her chest. I could feel her muscles under the jacket tense up, but she didn't look the least bit bothered by carrying me. She stopped in front of a small brown house and put me down on my own two feet again but pressed me to her side. Making sure I wasn't falling anywhere. The second she got the door opened, she picked me back up again and carried me inside.

"Mamma?" she yelled out through the house.

A tall woman... A very tall woman came out from what I guessed was the kitchen, wiping her hands in a rag.

"What-"

"This is Al. She felt a little tired, so can we make her some tea?" Dy interrupted and walked through another door into a small living room. She put me on a brown leather sofa. She put a soft woollen blanket over me and sent me a smile. "I'll go get that tea."

I nodded dumbly. Her mother was standing in the doorway, staring at me. I plastered on a weak smile, and it looked like she was about to say something, but was again interrupted by her daughter. Dy came back with some tea and sat down in a matching armchair.

She had called me 'Al'. Only Quinn did that. I had always imagined that's what my friends would call me, but I didn't have any besides my brother. It squeezed in my chest to even think about him.

"Dy, sweetheart, what is the queen doing in my living room?" her mother asked, rather stiffly.

"I'm terribly sorry. I got unwell." I took a sip of the tea. It was very spicy. I liked it.

"Please, don't apologise." Dy's mother bowed and hesitantly came further into the living room. "I am just... Surprised. To say the least."

"I was just showing her around. I think we both overestimated her condition," Dy explained. "So, I brought her here." She shrugged a shoulder and motioned me to drink more of my tea. I obediently took another sip, only to hide my smile.

"If it is a bother to you, I'll take my leave-"

"Gods in heaven, no! No no. It would be an honour to have Your Highness stay for dinner." She bowed again, and it was starting to make me feel uncomfortable. I was a guest in her home. I should be the one bowing.

"Please, just call me Alvina. Or Al. Both are fine, Madam."

Her cheeks darkened. "Then I insist you call me Makaja. I haven't even properly introduced myself. I'm Makaja Brandt. I'm Dy's mother."

"I bet she had guessed you weren't just some random woman we had running around the house, Mamma," Dy said.

I tried to strangle a laugh in my tea, but I accidentally spurted tea over my borrowed trousers instead.

Both Dy and Makaja couldn't help but laugh too, and it was if the tension vaporised like the tea. Makaja came and sat down next to me on the sofa.

"Too spicy?" she asked with a giggle.

Her daughter took after her. Though Makaja had grey streaks in her dark hair and wrinkles around her eyes, she was just as brutally beautiful as Dy. Her dark eyes had the same shape, the outer corners ending in an up-going point. She had painted dark lines on her eyelids, making them seem even darker.

And she too had tattoos. Half a flower on top of her hand. The rest was probably hidden by the long sleeves of her cardigan.

"No, it's quite good. I like it."