*Nymeria's P.O.V*
I left the room with my heart racing. That had been the most nerve-wracking experience of my life especially when they found out how old the books I had were. Never had I been asked so many questions and put under so much scrutiny. I bit my bottom lip as the doors shut behind me, looking at Castien with a small smile.
"I take that it went well?" He questioned as he raised an eyebrow, reaching an arm out to steady me. His touch calmed me slightly, he was helping to ground me and he knew that,
"I think so, I hope so," I said honestly. I leaned against him with a soft sigh of relief escaping me. "I fear our kingdom is farther behind than I had thought," I admitted with a whisper.
"Well let's hope it did and let's hope we can catch up. There's no way they advanced that far," he said as he patted my back reassuringly. I nodded as I stepped away after a moment and leaned against the wall slightly. My eyes widened when I realized that I could hear them if I concentrated hard enough.
"So what did we think?" Asked a familiar voice, I was pretty sure it was the king of werewolves Ariston. I was terrible at matching names to voices when I just met people.
"I liked her, she's young but she knows what she wants and she's not full of stubborn pride like most humans," the elven queen Riniya said. I smiled slightly at the slight compliment, preening under the praise. Her words were soft and sweet to my ears.
"I'd like her more if she didn't eavesdrop," Elvira, queen of witches, said simply. My cheeks darkened with a blush as I hurried away from the door. Xentha smirked slightly from where she was standing against the wall.
"I'll show you to your room," Xentha stated to which I nodded my head in agreement. I followed her quietly as I tried to ignore the fact I had been caught eavesdropping. Queen Elvira didn't sound upset with me, she sounded amused at the fact I was listening in.
"My room is down towards the guards barracks here, so if you need me you'll probably have to go pretty far to find me," Castien warned me with a whisper. I nodded my head as he gently grabbed my hand, holding it to offer some reassurance. I had always had Castien's rooms by mine, it helped since he was always close by if I needed him so it would take a bit to adjust to the fact he would be farther away then usual.
Xentha led us up a long flight of stairs, leading us off to the right side of the castle. I assumed the right side would be the guest quarters and I was proved right by the long empty hallway. Xentha stopped at a white door that had delicate flower engravings on it. "This was the room that your ancestors used long ago," she informed me as she opened the door.
I stepped into the room, noticing that it was rather plain and boring. The walls were cream and the floor was covered with a dark type of wood. The bedsheets were a muted gray color with soft fluffy pillows at the head of the bed. My heels clicked silently as I walked farther into the room, noticing that my stuff had already been deposited in there.
"Is there anything you need? I was going to show Castien the training grounds if not," Xentha said as I turned to face them both. I shook my head mutely as I went back to looking around the room. "Okay well if you need anything ask one of the guards and I'll be back to fetch you for dinner," she informed me. Castien and her left my room rather quickly, leaving me in the silence.
I headed to my trunk, opening it carefully as I propped the lid up against the foot of my bed. I dug through my dresses carefully until my hand hit glass and I pulled out a whiskey bottle. I sighed softly as I pulled the lid off, putting the bottle to my lips and taking a swig. The burning sensation made me splutter slightly as I sat on the floor, my back to the trunk.
I wasn't old enough to drink in any of their kingdoms, I knew that much. Even if I was, laws dictated that I had to follow the law of my own kingdom which normally wouldn't be so bad. However, one of my ancestors had raised the drinking age for the royal family to 25 after he had gone out on his 21st birthday and gotten drunk enough that he slept with some girl. Apparently raising the age for the entire royal family somehow fixed that in his twisted mind. I didn't care for following the law at the moment though, I cared about taking the edge off of my nerves.
I sat on the floor for a while, taking sips of the whiskey every once in a while. I would never drink enough to get drunk, only enough to dull my nerves and not impair any of my functions. I put the lid on the bottle quickly when there was a soft knocking on my door, turning to bury the bottle under all of my dresses before I stumbled up. Standing in heels after sitting on the floor for so long was hard.
I made my way to the door, opening it slightly as I peeked out. I shrank back slightly when I realized it was Queen Belladonna. I opened the door farther as I dropped into a deep curtsy before straightening up.
"May I come in?" she questioned. I found it a bit odd that she was asking me that since she lived in this castle so she didn't really need permission to go wherever she wanted. I stepped to the side to allow her in, leaving the door open as I followed her farther into the room.
"How may I help you?" I asked softly, noticing that her nose twitched slightly when I spoke. Her eyes turned to me for a second before she looked around my room for a moment.
"I just wanted to see how you were settling in and I wanted to ask if you had a ledger of the laws you had, makes it easier if we know how limited things may be if we agree to restart trade agreements," she said. I nodded my head as I headed to my trunk, focusing on the paperwork side.
"I am settling in well," I informed her as I pulled the ledger out of the trunk, a few loose papers paperclipped to the top of it. I straightened up and went to hand it to her, hastily shoving it into her hands when she stared at me for a moment. A few papers slipped out of the paperclip and my cheeks burned as I scrambled to collect them all. She crouched down in front of me as I held the papers out to her.
"Slow down sweet girl," she said softly as she took the papers from me, her fingers brushing against my hand and sending a jolt of electricity down my arm. I shrank back as she smiled softly, her hand moving to cup my face before she left the room with a soft goodbye. I buried my face into my hands as I thought over what had just happened.