This is a rewrite of a previously published work. There is a lot of new content in it, but it is not wholly new content. There will be new chapters coming.
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Emilia stayed the night with me again, but I didn't dare try anything. Or that morning.
When I woke up, Emilia was curled up against me. She was still naked as the day she was born, but there was nothing I could do to convince her that clothes were probably necessary for sleep. I wore my small clothes, which she seemed disappointed by but did not mention outright.
In the early morning light, I did not want to move. It was warm and comfortable and I was sore from yesterday. But I knew I had to. I allowed myself the indulgence of watching the little maid sleep for a time. Eventually I slipped out of the bed. The Head Maid whined and rolled over to look at me, pouting. "I was comfortable."
"Yeah, me too." I replaced my underclothes and pulled on some breeches. I sat down to put on socks and boots. Emilia sat up and hugged my head to her chest. Her bare chest. I tried to escape, to continue clothing myself, but she wrestled me to the bed, managing to keep my face pinned to her breasts. Meryl walked through the door and quickly closed it behind her, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.
"I can't leave you alone at all. Every time I come in here, you're molesting my lovers." She said with a mock chiding tone. I extracted myself from the tangle of Emilia's embrace, who graciously allowed me to do so, and looked up at the queen. She was joking about it, but I think there was a hint that she was a little bit upset in her expression. I got up and pulled her close and swallowed, memorizing every detail of her face. She stared back at me. "W-what are you doing?"
"Testing something." I said breathlessly. I kissed her, holding her head in my hand. She gasped and kissed back, wrapping her arms around me after a moment. After a lot of heartbeats and only a few moments we broke apart. She motioned off to the direction of the courtroom.
"We, um... Court is doing... Dressed." She closed her eyes and gathered herself a little bit more. "What was that?"
"It's nice for you to be the one off balance for once," I replied, grabbing my tunic and pulling it on, before tucking it in. She glared at me, but the effect was ruined when she could not keep a straight face. I looked back to Emilia who was considering me. The Head Maid nodded her approval, a smile spreading across her lips. I turned back to Meryl and offered her my arm. "Shall we, my queen?"
She took it and leaned into me. It was hard to walk like this but it was also nice. When we got to the court, she did not separate from me, instead pulling me to stand next to her and only departing when she sat down. She had me stand within arm's reach of her for the entire procession. I caught sight of Sir Reginald, who had definitely seen that. His expression was hard to read, but I imagined there would be another investigation into my motives soon.
Today was going to be a busy day, full of her doing what was in her power to fulfill the needs of her subjects. Truthfully, I did not understand much of what people were asking for. A lot of the time it seemed as though they were speaking another language. Sometimes, they were literally speaking another language and Queen Meryl responded gracefully in the same language. It was amazing. A powerful mage, someone able to balance all of these queenly duties and fluent in at least four or five different languages.
After several hours of me trying and probably failing to understand much of what was going on, a petitioner in fine clothing bowed to her but not nearly as deeply as most of the other petitioners. He also came closer than most of the others had dared. Something in the way that Meryl shifted in her seat told me that this was unusual.
His clothes were well-made silks and the fashion was strange. There was also something in his face that poked at my memory, but I could not quite place it. He was tall and broad shouldered, with a sword at his hip and was wearing very expensive clothes. The sword stuck out to me. It's well-made, I thought. At least not until he spoke. He had a slight accent, but his voice and affect drove it home to me. "My queen, I am here to seek two arrest warrants for enemies of the nation."
It fell into place. My stomach dropped down into the pits. He has to be the brother to that Babryckian merchant, the governor from the duel the day before. I did not look at the queen directly, but examined her from the corner of my eye. I was sure she had picked up on the same thing that I had.
She straightened her back, doing her best to loom over the man who was on one knee twenty or so paces in front of her. "Oh? Typically a judge can issue a standard warrant and it is not my place to undermine their authority. Unless this case is special, something to do with the security of my lands. Or an issue that the lower courts cannot resolve."
"These... persons' actions led directly to the death of a lord," The man said. He was not fully able to keep the spite out of his voice. A lord. I did my best to keep my worry from showing on my face.
"Oh, that is quite serious," Meryl laced her tone with feigned interest. How she could keep her face neutral was beyond be. It took all my strength to not sway with the rapid beating of my heart. "Pray tell, which is the lord that was killed and... By whom?"
"Lord of Babrycg, Governor Jonathan Sharcaol, may he rest in peace, was murdered in cold blood by the man at your side, who sources say is a blacksmith, Johann. No last name available." The man said, having regained control over his tone. "As a direct result of the actions of one Emilia Mia'Valur, supposedly a maid in the castle and possible spy of Wyefalls. I am here to demand that both of them are put to death."
The queen sat there in her chair, still as any statue I had ever seen. I bowed my head and gave her a few beats and as I was about to step forward and speak, she put out her hand and spoke. "You claim that Lord Sharchoal was murdered. Witnesses say that it was the result of a duel that broke out after he made treasonous statements. The blacksmith in question was doing a duty towards defending the kingdom and its citiz-"
"With all due respect," the Babryckian nobleman cut in, with no respect apparent in his tone, "the citizen he was defending is an enemy of the state! An elf has no place in our society and -"
"Am I an enemy of the state, sir?" Meryl asked in a voice that I swear could have frozen water. I didn't quite shiver, but it was a near thing.
"You are allowing potential spies and miscreants run about in the capital." He said in as even a voice as possible, after his explosion. "That woman provoked Lord Sharcaol and afterwards that blacksmith goaded him into a figh-"
"A duel," Meryl corrected, without heat but also without any remorse or room for argument. "A challenge which the lord issued himself, of his own fre-"
"That duel was a farce! None of the rules of engagement were followed!" The man rose to his feet and shouted, pointing at me. It took more will than I care to admit not to take a step back. "No seconds were chosen, the timing and space of the duel was chosen with too much haste, never giving a chance for tempers to cool! Even the weapon standards were too lax! For all we know, you planted both the elf and the supposed blacksmith in the court to murder the lord of Babrycg!"
