Queensmen

Chapter 52

Oris paused for a moment before answering. There was no harm in saying it if it was a whisper. "I might have had some intention. . . to kill your son."

Hermes' mother sighed. "At least you are honest."

"You are not worried?" Oris frowned. "I expected you to be a little more. . . angry? Betrayed? Murderous? I don't know. . . You love him so much, after all."

"There is a reason why kings seek Naritan princesses as their wives and it is not only because of their beauty or wisdom. Our sons are blessed by Sūn, they gravitate towards battlefields and excel in their art. They are the perfect heirs.

"I know that Hermes has done horrible things in the name of conquest. I know this without ever having a chance to witness it because I am his mother. It is in this way that I also know that despite his actions, he is not a horrible man. I know that he must have done a terrible thing to you for you to think that he deserves death but I would rather have an enemy like you beside him than that woman he calls mother."

"You are not going to stop me?"

"You are the only ally I have, why would I?"

Oris didn't know what to say to that. This conversation only served to remind her of how much she didn't miss being a queen. It was too much work making yourself seem magnanimous, wise and stern at the same time. Even in a prison cell, you couldn't take a break. "You must really hate the Empress Dowager for what she did to you."

"If she was a good and honest mother to my son, I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life in this cell. After all, I am not the first Naritan queen to be disposed of after birthing a powerful son. But she loves power more than she loves him and that is something I cannot tolerate. It is only a matter of time before she tires of motherhood and decides to rule the world in his stead."

"Even now, you think for him."

"When you are a mother, you will understand."

"I. . . am not pregnant," when Oris said this now, she was overcome by a different feeling than before. Even though she had always suspected her cellmate's identity, having it confirmed gave the words a lot more weight. Who wanted to admit to a mother that they had laid with her son?

It was horrifying just thinking about it, especially when said mother happened to be a queen.

"I know," the queen chuckled and patted Oris' cheek. "I have checked."

"Can I. . ." Oris began after a decent moment had passed, "ask for your name?"

"May I ask for yours?"

Now, it was Oris' turn to laugh, or at least attempt to. Her coughs cut her amusement short.

"Names are powerful things, you are smart not to give yours out," Hermes' mother said. "On the night of my maidenhood ceremony, my father bestowed upon me the style name Aella."

"I never met my birth parents and I have only heard of such ceremonies in folk tales. In your son's palace I am nameless. I am addressed simply as The Lady of Inqa."

"How mysterious."

"Not as mysterious as you, Your Majesty."

Aella clicked her tongue and took Oris' hands in hers. "There shall be no formalities between us. If your plan truly works, then I will owe you a debt of gratitude."

"I should be thanking you," Oris pulled away to press her fingers over her lips as she coughed. "I thought I had to spend my married life with a mother-in-law that hated me."

"You can open your eyes now, the spell has lifted," Aella told Oris suddenly. "You should be feeling better now."

Despite her confusion, Oris did as she was told. Her eyelids parted easily this time around and she was faced with the familiar darkness of the cell.

Her gaze landed on Aella. "You. . ."

"Yes?" The woman raised a brow.

"You are beautiful," Oris reached out towards Aella. All the wrinkles had vanished from her face, though the dirt remained. She looked decades younger now. "Your hair is a cloud."

"It is also filled with soil and oil," Aella patted her hair as well. "The spell on you has been lifted. You can now see my true appearance."

"Spell?"

"It is better to be beaten than raped," Aella said by way of explanation. Her words didn't reveal much but they were enough.

"You do want to escape. Or you wouldn't have cared so much for what happened to you," Oris pointed out. "If you truly wanted to die, you wouldn't take such precautions."

"To be truthful, I have been waiting for an opportunity." Aella explained and Oris' gaze drifted to the keyring in her hand. "I have the keys but no safe way out."

"I am that opportunity."

"I know," Aella said softly and tucked the bundle of keys beneath Oris' dress, into the strips of cloth wrapped around her chest. "You must survive. If you die, I would need to steal another set of keys and I might be beaten to death for it."

Oris laid her hand over the scarred one laying on her chest. "Why do you trust me? I have told you that I want your son dead. You know that my plan to escape depends on your identity. So why. . ."

"Your eyes do not lie, child. Looking at you, as strange as it may sound, is like looking at myself. Everything you do now, I might have done the same if I had been in your position," Aella said as their gazes met. "And your plan does not depend on me, you changed it because you want to take me with you. If I was not in this cell with you, you would still have a plan, would you not?"

"You are so kind." Oris shook his head, overwhelmed by the woman's nonchalance. "Hermes doesn't deserve a mother like you."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I am not kind. I just have a feeling that by crossing you the Empress Dowager has finally found her match," Aella chuckled and snatched Oris' veil from where it was tied on the chain holding the bed frame to the wall. "I wonder how she will explain how all this poison got into you."

"I wonder how she will explain how you ended up in my cell." Oris took the veil when it was handed to her. "Thank you."

Aella nodded and got off the bed to walk back to her corner. "You are welcome, child."

~

Yay! I need to sleep now and prepare my fingers to write the next chapter (which will be tomorrow!). You guys know that I write on my phone right?. . . No? Whatever :')

What do you think about this chapter?

I had to slip in a little piece of Bren in there so you wouldn't forget him. I can't let you guys forget who you're supposed to be shipping, am I?

As you guys can see, in this story men don't just throw themselves at my main character/always help her when she's in trouble! We've already seen the reason why Magnus has helped her those two times! And we know why Bren helps her too!

If anyone is helping someone, there's going to be a clear reason.

And I'm not going to pull that card where somehow Oris and Hermes were playmates as children and then they were separated, or that they met once in their youth, fell in love and somehow forgot each other (because they look different/amnesia). That's just so ugh. . . clichè. (No shade at all the wonderful Chinese Dramas out there though)...

Those sort of troupes are the sort I avoid because it dampens the intensity and the genuineness of relationships.

Thanks for reading!