Chapter 14: Revelations
(6,3k words, futa, size comparison, character focus, plot chapter, exposition, dialogue focus, character development, worldbuilding)
"People... please listen up! I will attend to any other urgent issues tomorrow. We all should get some rest now, stressful but productive days are ahead of us," Margaret said before hastily retreating into her bedroom.
She shut the door before anyone could word another request and let out a deep sigh while hearing the commotion outside slowly subside.
"Finally... alone," she exhaled and rested her head onto the wooden door that separated her from the entourage following her throughout the whole day.
Margaret only planned on accompanying Alexia on her way to the hospital wing and making sure 'kingmother' was put into the dungeon that day. Both tasks shouldn't have taken her longer than an hour at most - and certainly not far into the night.
Yet, she basically had to hide in her old room, exhausted and annoyed by a crowd of courtiers and nobles already positioning themselves for the upcoming power struggle surrounding the newly "crowned" king.
What spineless bootlickers they were. All of their open disdain appeared to have vanished and was replaced by warm words masking their cunning schemes. They were the type of people that wouldn't even spit in Margaret's direction a year ago.
Now they fought over her attention to further their own political gains. This is what she would have to deal with from now on Margaret thought.
Being king will turn out to be a burden, that she always knew. Still, there were a few things she genuinely looked forward to. Returning to her room, her own personal sanctuary, was one of those.
The blonde walked towards her bed, which now looked positively tiny for someone of her current stature. She sat down on the sheets and heard the bed creak in agony but it held firm, yet the sound brought a smile to the king's face. Her gaze explored the familiar four walls and a wave of nostalgia hit her - even more than that. It felt almost like a déjà vu.
Nothing had changed. Almost literally nothing in her room had changed. Even the dresses she dropped onto the floor when she rushed to get ready for her birthday "celebrations" all these months ago still laid where she remembered them.
Wouldn't it have been for the dress from 'queenmother' she ordered to be brought to her room and the vase she just spotted on the window ledge; she would have thought that her room was frozen in time until her return. Even the panties she nonchalantly tossed behind her mirror that morning peaked out from behind it. Without even a layer of dust on them or the mirror.
One could tell that someone took care that every small detail in the room remained untouched throughout her months of absence. Excluding the new addition at her window.
Margaret got up and curiously observed the flowers dangling over the porcelain vessel. White orchids, her favourites from the royal gardens.
The blonde lifted them up and inhaled their scent for a moment. Smelled like 'home', although she rarely ever felt like that, even in the gardens.
"Who could have put you here, I wonder?" Margaret whispered to herself.
She was about to put them back down and noticed the dried-up rings on the ledge, like the flowers were watered and swapped every now and then.
The king sighed and eventually put them down after the realisation hit her. Her family always expected her to come home, or at least never lost hope that she would return. Maybe even anticipated that. Just like her sister told her.
"Why would they try to kidnap me then?" she said.
Margaret shook her head and stared into her reflection in the window and just like with the mirror before, her reflection only reached up to her bulging breasts. She didn't need to see her face to know how that grim expression on her face looked like though.
"Tomorrow better should be an informative day," she sighed before heading to her creaking bed.
Margaret woke up early after another restless and highly frustrating night. The bed she slept in for years proved less comfortable and inviting than the damp and musky mattress she shared with Alexia. Maybe it was less the bed that bothered her, but the absence of her girlfriend, who might have experienced the same on her sickbed at the other end of the palace. Nevertheless, she had to talk to her mothers - she needed answers. Preferably before she would be pursued by over a dozen people surrounding her like the day before.
"My king!" the guard said, standing before the iron door leading to the dungeon.
"Good Morning, Larissa. Did anything of note happen during the night?"
"No, my king. Just the highqu-... pardon, your mother accompanying the prisoner."
"She stayed the whole night?"
"Yes, my king. She insisted on keeping her wife company."
"I see. I guess I better look what they are up to now, then," the king muttered.
"As you wish, my king."
"Oh... before I forget it: If anyone asks about my, or my mothers whereabouts... well, feel free to get creative," the blonde mused.
"I will assure you won't be bothered, my king."
This was the first time she had the displeasure of visiting a prisoner at the royal dungeon. Margaret was immediately surprised upon entering on how well illuminated that place was. Usually if someone thought of dungeons, someone would have pictured long dark corridors, riddled with rats and guarded by grim overseers. This place was none of those things. It looked like even when it came to be put in chains, nobility and royalty fared much better than the common folk.
The red stone shone in the light of the early morning sun and all cells were clean and empty. All but one at the end of the hallway.
"Good Morning, Margaret," Euridike said as she sat on the floor while holding her wife's hands through the iron bars separating the two.
"Queenm-..." the blonde said and cut herself off before willingly not calling her mother by her title anymore. "Mama. There was no need for you to stay here all night as well."
"No, but I wanted to," the former queen said.
She smiled at her chained wife and almost sensually rubbed her fingers before getting up and going to hug her daughter.
"Looks like you found something that fits you," Euridike said with a warm smile.
