Chapter 185

“What can I do for you?” I asked Queen Yarrow.

She folded her hands primly on top of the desk and stared me straight in the eyes. “The first thing I need you to do is to believe me,” she said.

“I’m listening,” I replied.

She sighed and sat back, still upright but leaning onto the back of her chair. “Very well, then. I have a question for you before I begin rambling.”

“What questions exactly did you need me to answer?” I pressed my lips together. Unsure how to tip-toe around such sensitive subjects. Because if I implicated her husband and they were actually a unified front against me, then I would have thrown myself into danger.

“I don’t know if you’re aware that I published an article that suggested the king is doing a less than stellar performance in ruling the country,” I said slowly, carefully choosing each word.

She grinned. “I have read your work. I found it to be the best article of truth I’ve seen printed in Packhaven and Orlune, for that matter, about the king. I think it might be the best in pretty much my entire life.”

I eternalized a huge sigh of relief. “Needless to say, the king was unhappy about what I reported and felt that I had misrepresented the situation. So, he took me to the palace and explained things.”

She made a face. “Let me guess. He blamed everything on me?”

I nodded. “Yes, he did. But I refuse to condemn anyone until I have all of the facts. And the only way to get to the truth here was to interview you.”

She gave me a slow smile which I couldn’t tell whether it held admiration or approval or both. But it was clearly a good thing.

“You must have had to draw on some seriously good contacts to find me. I’ve made myself extremely difficult to locate. I only choose to come out and show my face for a handful of public appearances scattered throughout the year—at random. I never do anything annually so that I cannot be found.”

She leaned forward. “Do you know why that might be?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Not the truth of it. If I believe what the king says, you’re in hiding because you are trying to avoid getting caught and punished for your misdeeds.”

She gave one loud crack of laugh, then pressed her lips together and started whatever she was going to say again, much calmer this time. “Somehow, it does not surprise me that’s the spin he decided to put on things,” she said. “But I’m gathering by the way you’re hedging your words and tone that you don’t believe him. As well, you shouldn’t.”

A grim expression sat across her face. “All right, Miss Laurentia. I will tell you everything. I believe you’ll listen with an open mind and just. Judge me based on facts.”

“The truth?” she started, settling into her storytelling. “The bald truth is that the king is a horrible man. And, like most residents in Packhaven and Orlune, I did not want to believe it. When poor Queen Rosemary passed away, and the king was looking for a new wife, I happily scrambled at the opportunity.”

“I’m the youngest daughter of an alpha. I would have been lucky to marry a gamma on my own. But because I was the daughter of an alpha, I was a good enough match for the king to consider. There are only so many alphas to go around for all the daughters. You know?”

She smiled to herself. “Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t know, seeing as how you snapped one up. But I can see he landed in good hands. Probably far better than our lot. Alpha daughters can be… Somewhat snobby. Anyway, I digress.

“At first, the king treated me tenderly, and I fell in love with him. But it quickly became apparent that he wanted only one thing—a son. Oh, believe me, I tried. I tried every herbal remedy, doctor’s suggestion, exercise, and diet. If I could find the information out there for the promise of a son or even a daughter, I tried it. Some of it made me quite sick.”

“Eventually, we discovered that I had a hostile uterus and so bearing any children for the king was going to be impossible. Even if we did that in vitro fertilization, I wouldn’t be able to carry the baby to term. My womb simply wouldn’t accommodate it.”

“It was after that that the physical abuse began.” She raised an eyebrow and looked at me. “I don’t suppose you told you that he likes to beat his wives?”

I shook my head. No, but I found plenty which points in that direction. There aren’t many who can speak against him, so I haven’t had a chance to confirm it, but I have seen the records in the Alpha Archives.

“I like to see you using your resources,” she said. “Those Alpha Archives are probably the only source of truth surrounding King James out there, aside from what you printed. You seem to have done an amazing amount of research.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time,” she continued, “before he had me killed. So that he could take another wife without facing the scandal of a divorce. He took off to do what used to be an annual visit to all of the alpha families just to make sure that everyone was keeping in line. I’d been feeling sick on and off for weeks before he left, and I promised myself that if he left and I started to get better, I would leave.

She fidgeted in her chair. Something. I never thought I’d see a Queen do, but it was an indication of how dire the situation really was. “You see, Miss Laurentia. I firmly believe that my husband was slowly poisoning me. And sure enough, immediately after he left, I began to feel better. I knew he’d be gone for a few weeks. So I took as much money as I could, a trusted bodyguard, and I fled.”

“You see, I haven’t been living across the country to escape my misdeeds. I haven’t been doing anything against the king aside from surviving. My appearances have nothing to do with him and everything to do with showing the nation that I’m still alive a couple of times a year before I go back into hiding.

“What about this place? It’s huge. Wouldn’t it be easy enough for him to find?”

She laughed at that. “Not a chance, Miss Laurentia. This place belonged to the family of an alpha who turned me down long before I met the king. He’s since been disgraced, his assets are in permanent holding in the name of the King, and all of this stands empty.”

“And so as far as my husband is concerned, this place is abandoned. I snuck in here. It’s far enough away from anything, where no one can see. I haven’t told anyone where we live. So, there are no comings and goings for them to remark upon. And my husband is too involved in his own personal debaucheries and scandals to bother researching something he thinks has been taken care of.”

“And so, I’m as safe as I can get staying within the confines of Orlune. But a wayward Queen couldn’t even find safety outside the country. So, there’s no point in my running. I either have to hide, or I have to face him and my fate.”