Page 34 of Crown of Draga

The light dress she wore still felt too heavy. Adelina tried not to make the tugging obvious. Her grandmother would snap at her if she noticed. The maid handed her a cup last, as was the custom. Adelina murmured her thanks and then patiently waited for the maid to pour the tea for each of them per their rank.

Elara was technically not royalty and attended the queen as a female guard, or a lady-in-waiting. She never drank tea. Elara sat in a corner of the solar as usual and gazed outside as if she wasn’t listening. Her courtesan training made sure they were all safe and Adelina secretly liked her quiet presence.

The ritual of the tea was interspersed with talk of the last royal wedding and how fashion had changed since then. The dowager queen only glared as she fixed her tea, choosing to stay silent on the matter.

Finally the maid curtseyed and left the room.

There was a moment of silence as the Queen tapped her simulcast and the small light in the corner of the room went from blue to red. The solar was sealed and no one would be able to hear them. No device or tech could eavesdrop. There was nothing but quiet as they each fixed their tea. Adelina kept her eyes down on her cup and waited until her mother and Raena had the first sip.

Their mother held her tea carefully in her lap and sighed. “I am so sorry, Raena,” she said, switching over to Ilashyan. The language of females kept their secrets even safer. “I know much has fallen on you since your father fell ill. I wish you did not have so much to deal with so young. You should have the time to properly study before taking the throne.” The queen shook her head with regret.

Adelina blinked back sudden tears. She hated that their father was ill. She would have thought in this day and age the healers could fix him when they could so easily grant long life. Their medicine was good, but it wasn’t good enough. She kept her eyes down and refused to look up. If her grandmother saw the sheen of tears she would be in for a punishment and the last one three cycles ago was gruesome enough she did not wish to ever repeat the experience.

Raena briefly touched her mother’s hand in comfort. “I know, Mother, but I have studied hard and even Father believes I am up for the task.”

She hoped Raena would bring up what was discussed in the council meeting soon, but as the lowest ranking and least dominant it wasn’t her place to interject, not until someone asked her to speak. They all had to follow protocol and wait so she sipped her tea and ate a tiny sandwich that did nothing to sate her hunger.

Protocol was everything. Protocol and culture was what separated them from their ancestors and their barbarous ways.

Unfortunately Giselle didn’t follow protocol very well. “Aside from the arrest on Treon, is there anything else you would like me to take care of?” Giselle asked. Adelina wanted to know more as well, but she wasn’t brave enough to test their grandmother.

For once there was no backlash. “Examine their seat from top to bottom, arrest them and bring them here for their execution. Make sure there is nothing on Treon that can be used against us. If there are signs the Neprijat are within our borders send me an emergency cast,” Raena said. “The Neprijat wouldn’t make promises without taking something for it, whether it’s the loyalty of Treon’s soldiers, or the use of their planet to hide Neprijat forces. Either way I want you to be extremely careful.”

Raena actually look worried, only the safety of the Queen’s solar allowed her to show any real emotion at all. “The recorders will be on you constantly, but redirect them long enough to inspect the underground manor. Choose only those you are sure are loyal to assist you.” Raena acted as if she was already queen and Adelina preferred it, but it unsettled her when their mother sat there next to them.

“Giselle is not a real warrior,” their grandmother spat, practically throwing her cup and saucer on the table.

The old crone would outlive them all, Adelina was sure of it.

The dowager queen had no real power anymore and she hated that fact. The only power she still held was in their mother, Queen Adele. The dowager had trained her. Their mother was a lower noble from the outer rim, but Grandmother had trained her in the old ways, the stifling sexist culture they’d had before equality was fully put in place. Mother could never truly deny the dowager queen after the cycles spent as her shadow.

Outside the Queen’s solar her grandmother was nothing but the King’s mother. She kept to her own suite of rooms for the most part, opting out of any and all public appearances since ‘no one appreciated her.’ But during the weekly tea she held Queen Adele in her grip and used her to make them all obey.

The second Raena was queen the dowager would be sent to live on her own estate and their mother would become the dowager queen, or the Queen’s Mother. Thank the three-faced goddess. It was all so complex and obnoxious Adelina was glad she would not have to deal with it or be the one to send their grandmother away.

“Mother,” Queen Adele warned. “Giselle is a real warrior whether we like it or not. It has been decided by your king.”

The tension in the room spiked and Adelina let her eyes rove along the black-wood bookshelves that lined the room. She studied the small desks set up for sending a cast, or some personal hobby a lady might have. Despite the long-standing equality some things were simply preferred by one sex over another, but if Adelina had been born of the merchant class no one would care if she suddenly decided she would like to become a warrior or a miner. No, because she and Giselle were princesses there were expectations of them. That Giselle had finally forged her own path frightened the dowager and her old ways.

“I have more training and skill than most males ever will,” Giselle snapped. “I am more dominant than you grandmother, and you better watch your tongue. Times are changing and if you cannot accept them, then you too will become obsolete.” Her sister’s nostrils flared in outrage.

Even though Adelina agreed with Giselle she knew it was not the time or place. Not with the way their grandmother watched them with the eyes of a galina, ready to pounce and tear them to pieces.

“You forget your place, second-born,” the dowager queen snapped. Her teeth practically clacked together with the force of her words. “You are a princess and not a general. You will never be one. Get that through your thick skull.” She slashed her wrinkled hand through the air as if beheading all of Giselle’s hopes and dreams. “How dare you speak to me so?”

Oh goddess – Giselle was in a rage. She wasn’t going to let it go this time. Adelina set her cup down and made sure she would be able to move as quickly as possible if necessary.

“I dare, grandmother, because it seems as though you have forgotten that we are built to protect our people and simply because I was born female I am somehow considered less able to protect them despite all the contrary facts. I may never be general, but I will fight to protect, what we’ve been designed to do as Dragans. The time of a male-dominated society is over. Perhaps you should read more casts on the issues of our galaxy and less concerning how to properly fold a tablecloth,” she snapped.

The silence that followed was as fragile as real glass and Adelina winced when her grandmother slowly rose to her feet with all the grace and poise of her two hundred and eighty cycles. “Adele, discipline your daughter before I do.” Violating protocol had harsh punishments. It didn’t matter if Giselle was right, or not.

Adelina was on her feet the second their mother moved to obey the dowager and placed herself in front of Giselle before the strike could land on her sister. Adelina didn’t have the courage to speak her mind the way Giselle did, but she could protect her for saying everything she wished she could. Adelina’s face whipped to the side so hard and so fast she stumbled to the floor.

Their mother gasped in horror at what she’d done, hands flying to her mouth.

Adelina stayed on the floor but moved to her knees quickly and knelt in front of the queen. “Please mother, Giselle is only speaking the truth, however incorrectly. If she must be punished, please let me share in the punishment.” A strike across the face was only the beginning. It wasn’t necessarily the pain, but rather the humiliation and embarrassment that was supposed to remind them of their place.

Adelina had only been physically punished the once, but she had seen Giselle suffer punishment far too many times over the cycles for fighting against the restraints of their rank. Adelina could no longer stand to watch.

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