Page 92 of The Forgotten Queen
Sydria shook her head. “Just a few. Nothing helpful.”
“I think the flashbacks are a good sign that eventually everything will come back.”
Marx felt a rush of relief. “That’s excellent.”
Sydria smiled, but her smile was unconvincing.
What was she hiding behind those dark eyes?
“Now, since this is the first time that I’ve had the chance to meet with the queen since she arrived in Cristole, I want to get a feel for how everything else is going.”
“Okay.” Marx nodded.
“How are the marital relations going? Any problems there?”
Was Doctor Moore also trained in marriage counseling?
Marx raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry. What marital relations?”
Doctor Moore glanced between the two of them and cleared his throat. “You know, the consummation of the marriage.”
“Oh.” Marx laughed, though nothing was funny.
Sydria pointed back and forth between them, shaking her head. “We haven’t—”
“We haven’t mastered things yet, but we’ll be sure to ask if we have any questions,” Marx said, his tone a little too high.
The doctor tried to keep his face expressionless, but if Marx had to guess, he would say he’d lost some of Doctor Moore’s respect because of this conversation.
“If there are any problems in the future with that area of your life, please feel free to address them with me.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Sydria said graciously.
How was she not mortified?
Marx was.
Doctor Moore didn’t say it out loud, but the look in his eyes said that he questioned Marx’s manhood.
He stood, ready to leave the doctor’s tiny office that seemed to be closing in on him by the second. “I think that’s all we had.” He escorted Sydria out. He couldn’t leave the medic hall fast enough. He made a mental note to tell Elsbeth to hire a new doctor to examine him from here on out so that he wouldn’t have to face Doctor Moore again.
They walked down the hall. He didn’t know where to go, but he didn’t want to leave her.
“Would you like to go for a walk?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Marx led Sydria through the castle and up a back stairway until they were outside.
“Are we on the roof?” she asked.
He nodded, leading her to the east side where the view of Cristole was the best. Beyond the lush trees surrounding the castle was a never-ending view of the kingdom.
“Wow,” Sydria exclaimed. She rested her hands on the limestone barrier that surrounded the roof. “I’ve been so busy looking back at the ocean, I’ve never seen what’s out beyond the castle.”
“It’s easy to focus on what’s behind us,” he said. “I’ve been guilty of that.” He watched her every expression, waiting with bated breath for her dark eyes to fall on him.
“Me, too. I’ve been so wrapped up in my past, I haven’t thought about the possibilities of my future.” Her gaze slowly met his.
