Page 10 of The Cursed Queen

Yes. Yes, there were a lot of things wrong. My kingdom kept shifters as prisoners while stealing and manipulating them and their magic. One of them in question deemed me as his fated lover. On top of that, I still felt heavily warm, and I wasn't sure if it was from my encounter with Andriel, or the curse spreading since I'd forgotten to take my medicine.

"I'm fine," I lied. "I'll go see my mother now."

She knew I was lying; I could tell. Rather than call me out, she took back her hand and nodded. "If you're sure, but you know you can talk to me about anything. I'm here for you."

I wasn't so sure of that anymore, but I kept that to myself. Stepping onto the walkway, I strolled back towards the castle, preparing to put on a stoic face and act as if my mind wasn't a whirling vortex of chaos.

"Oh, Princess, I forgot to ask. Did you see the dragons?" Vivienne asked me.

I froze mid-step, not even bothering to look back at her. "I did."

"And? Was it everything you hoped it would be?" Vivienne sounded delighted about the prospect of achieving my greatest desire.

It should've been, but the happiest moment of my life was tainted by the crimes committed by my people. I wanted to speak up, to ask whether she knew about Andriel and the other dragons. That wasn't what I ended up saying, though. "It was more than I was expecting."

With that, I continued walking, feeling my heart turning to stone, but the growing flames inside me continued to burn.

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Though my facial features did well to hide my growing ire, my steps toward the throne room echoed with fury on the tiled floors. I had the rolling gait of a bull seeing red, ready to charge. I tried to remain calm, but all I could think about was Andriel—how he was forced to stay in his dragon form, shackled and confined in a cage like a common animal. My body vibrated the more I thought about it, the internal heat rising.

Calm... I needed to remain calm.

I was just around the corner before I forced myself to halt. Taking a few seconds, I shut my eyes and eased the growing anger inside me. I imagined a tranquil field of flowers, the singing of birds, and the trickle of water from a nearby river. Anything that would help my mind relax. It was working. Littleby little, I felt the tension in my body relaxing. Despite my rage, I couldn't help noticing how livelier I was this morning. While there were moments of frustration and depression towards my weakened state, and my inability to work and act as a princess should, I never felt this much energy before. Usually, I'd feel sluggish and cold. Today, it wasn't like that.

I felt...alive.

Maybe from meeting Andriel? Or possibly a side effect of the medicine I forgot to take.

As wonderful as it felt, I couldn't show my mother how well I was. She would ask questions about it, which could reveal my recent activities. Keeping that in mind, I folded my arms in front of me, rubbing them as if there were a chill in the air. Feigning exhaustion, I turned the corner and nodded to the guards to open the doors for me.

When they opened, The sight of servants and maids frolicking about greeted me, frantically cleaning while others were moving furniture. All while Mother orchestrated everything, pointing to sections of the dining hall and demanding tables and chairs be moved to that location. Purple and Royal Blue banners were draped over one table, which would soon hang all across the hall. If there was one thing my mother excelled at, besides being a cruel tyrant, it was party planning. Another medium to showcase her perfection.

I stood there, gazing at the woman responsible for imprisoning dragon shifters, wondering how this could be my mother? Once upon a time, I used to feel insulted when I heard the snickers and quips of knights and servants who claimed I couldn't have been her real child since we never looked alike, but now that I was seeing her under a different light, I had to wonder if they were on to something?

We truly looked nothing alike. Where my complexion was relatively darker, hers was the color of sunlight, with blond hairthat looked spun from gold, and eyes as bright as crystals. Her cheeks were sunken, and her nose wasnarrower than mine. Unlike me, she had poise and charisma that matched someone of her stature.

Maybe I took up more of my father than I realized, but I'd never met the man, so it was hard to tell. My mother never talked about him to meor described him to me. To me, he was a faceless phantom who was watching over me from the cosmos. I wondered if he was a more compassionate ruler, or did he, too, enslave dragon shifters?

Mother had yet to notice me, but that wasn't saying much. To her, I was nothing but an inconvenience. Still, she wanted to see me, and there was no point in delaying. Continuing my weakened façade, I took a deep breath, then coughed before weakly calling out to her. "Mother."

Mother whipped her head in my direction, a fake, widened smile plastered on her ruby-red lips. "Daaarling, there you are! Come, my dear. Quickly."

Inwardly groaning, I stepped closer to her. She embraced me with a hug that omitted the warm sensations that came with a loving gesture. It wasn't like when Vivienne or Andriel hugged me. Mother's was all for show with no substance.

"You sure you took your sweet time getting here. You know it's not becoming of a princess to keep people waiting," Mother scolded me when she pulled back.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, or to remind her how she often had people waiting for over an hour, just becauseit was imperative for the queen to make a dramatic entrance. Fucking hypocrite. Instead, I curtsied, eyes glued to her like a good little princess. "My apologies, mother. It won't happen again."

"I'm sure it won't," Mother replied in a tone suggesting that she knew it would again. "Now, on to business. As you know,we have quite the number of important events happening this month."

"I do. The Dragon Crowning ceremony, and my birthday, yes?"

"Exactly! Now, normally, your birthday would come first, followed by the Dragon Crowning Ceremony, but since this is your twenty-first birthday, which means you'll finally be of age to take my place as queen, I'm doing something extra special to commemorate the occasion. Oh, I'm so generous; always giving, and giving, without expecting nothing in return."

"Where are you going with this, Mother?" I asked, the corner of my brows quirking inquisitively.

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