Wearing in the silver dress under a bit of protest, but secretly liking how it felt, Sammy spent the rest of the day mostly doing nothing. Since the queen had declared the day’s session over, there was not much for Sammy to do. Right up until there was.
“Sammy,” Queen Linda said as the four of them finished eating dinner, the princess and countess a bit subdued by Sammy’s obvious melancholy.
Sammy did not have much of an appetite and was currently pushing a piece of meat around her plate. When the queen said her name, she flinched before looking up. “Um, ma’am?” She answered in a hesitant voice.
The queen did not notice her reaction, or at least seamlessly ignored it. “Since we have a bit of time this evening, shall we discuss your education?” She then continued before her question sank in. “I understand my Jerome, ah, I believe you know him by his middle name Dista, has indicated you are interested in learning about glyphinations.”
Sammy perked up. If she had been a dog, her ears would have been pointing directly at the queen and twitching, and her tail would have been destroying the chair behind her. Stars and sparkles nigh leapt from her eyes. Trembling a bit, she said in as calm and dead pan a voice as she could manage. “Yes, I would be a bit interested in such an endeavor.”
The queen nodded and smiled at her. “Good. Now, there are additional areas of knowledge that need to be shored up as well, and some areas that you are woefully deficient in. Unfortunately, it will not do for you to be away from your lands for extended periods, so attending one of our academies is off the table. What I would suggest is hiring tutors. I shall pay for the necessary experts to teach you, and one of them will be an expert on glyphs. Is this acceptable to you?”
Sammy wanted to jump at the offer, but hesitated. Why was this woman being so nice to her? After a moment, she said, “Why?”
The queen let out a sigh and her smile turned a bit sad. “Sammy, I know you grew up where trusting was akin to death or enslavement. Your situation is different now. You need to ponder on that. Meditate on it. Pay attention to your surroundings and those you interact with day to day. I pray that you will someday be able to trust those who you know to be worthy of it.”
She suddenly grinned big, her eyes showing mirth and amusement. “That of course will be a long time coming. Just be aware of it. So, to answer your question where you are at.” She began ticking off her points on her fingers. “First, you relit our royal flame. If that is not reason enough for me to cover this paltry matter, then honor and appreciation are dead in this world. Second, you are a new, powerful Contracted in this world. Being in good with you is nearly everyone’s objective right now. Third, I said I would not allow your state of uneducated glory to stand while I was queen. I am not in the habit of spouting empty words, I’ll have you know. Fourth, your situation came about under our watch. Both my husband and I are quite furious with the noble who failed the family of one of his defeated daring as badly as he did yours. While there were circumstances involved that cannot be ignored, the fact he did not pay tribute and honor to his contracted darings’ children is reprehensible. If I were to not do this and more for you, I would that I be struck down by lightning.” The queen raised a fist toward the dining room’s ceiling.
She then cleared her throat and said, “Where was I?” She looked at her fingers. “Ah, Fifth, I want to spy on you. If I pay for the tutors, no one can complain if they give me regular reports on your doings.” The queen paused and quirked an eyebrow at Sammy. “Shall I start on the other hand?”
Sammy laughed. She could not help it, even though she tried to resist. Once it happened, she could not stop, except somewhere along the line she started crying. The queen shifted over to sit next to the distraught girl. Her daughter and countess looked like they wanted to move in on her too, but the queen gave a subtle shake of her head to forestall them. Sammy lunged at the queen and wrapped her arms around her waist, still partly sitting in her chair.
The Contract-child that had been sitting idly in her lap shifted so she was crouching on Sammy back. She hesitantly reached out both of her hands and patted Sammy’s head, her head turning this way and that as if looking for confirmation that she was doing the right thing.
Queen Linda smiled at the Contract-child and mouthed, “Good job,” to encourage it to keep encouraging Sammy.
Sammy said something several times into the queen’s stomach, the words eventually clear enough to understand. “I did not mean to kill her. That was not supposed to kill anyone. Dad’s instructions didn’t say it would kill her.”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
A sad look crossed Queen Linda’s eyes. She rubbed Sammy’s back between the shoulder blades as she accepted her embrace. “I see we did not convince you. Very well, we shall go over this as many times as you need. You are aware we are recording all of the relight rituals, correct?” The queen paused, but the only response was that Sammy’s sobs diminished a bit. Accepting that for what it was worth, she continued. “Let me assert here and now that you did absolutely nothing wrong. We all reviewed the events meticulously and no one has said otherwise. The marchioness clearly brought down on her own head what happened to her.
“I know that does not change how you are feeling, but just listen. I will be blunt with you because you probably need it put forth bluntly. Don’t spread this information around though. It is better that the vast majority of nobles remain blissfully unaware that such is even possible. So, the marchioness was using a forbidden ritual that bound her Contract Land to submission. There are many reasons why the ritual is forbidden, not the least being it is unethical to override the will of the land. But it also creates immense problems for matters of succession. A Contract so abused rarely, if ever, will pass to the next generation. Entire family lines were extinguished when it was still actively being allowed.
“Further, the ritual creates situations that ought not exist. What we saw revealed there at the end of her life explains a lot of what happened during her life. The most glaring being, how could a noble land-Contract cross royal boundaries? Now we know.”
Sammy had stopped crying as the queen talked and now pulled a bit away to look up at the woman’s face. The queen took a deep breath and patted Sammy’s back. “I know I am being wordy. Just list a bit more.” She waited for Sammy to incline her head a smidgeon. “What I just went over is things for you to think about later. What you need to think about now is this next bit. What happened during your challenge only happened because your Contract is significantly more, er, significant than hers. In breadth, width, height, depth and scope, you utterly outclassed her. When you initiated the challenge, it simply plowed through all of her defenses.”
Sammy sniffled and then asked, “Are you actually trying to comfort me?”
Queen Linda blinked and said, “Of course I am.”
“She is,” Princess Maryl confirmed, the countess nodding but covering her mouth with one hand as she did so.
Sammy nodded. “Just checking,” and buried her face again, though the queen was pretty sure she saw a smile on the child’s lips.
The queen sighed and continued. Still, she was relieved Sammy was already coping again. “So, basically what I’m saying,” the queen said with a bit of pique in her tone, “is that the woman gambled on the risk involved with using that forbidden method. And she lost. Really, she lost the moment her Flame went out. Even if what you did had not killed her, the moment her Flame relit, the Contract would have awakened and broken free of that absurd ritual pattern holding it in submission. The marchioness obviously believed that having you assist would have prevented such, but it would not have. She would have died in front of you even if you had acquiesced and assisted her in the first place.
“But here is the other side of things. The woman had most assuredly destined the end of her line for her arrogance, but you happened. Your actions purified the Contract. There does not need to be a season of fallow ground to restore the land’s balance. The land will surely accept an heir. It has already agreed to do so in fact.”
Sammy pulled away again and gave the queen a suspicious look. “Really?”
The queen met the suspicious look evenly and nodded. “Yes, probably. It accepted you as its guardian, not inheritor. I cannot fathom a different interpretation.”
Sammy blinked then squeaked in outrage, “Wait, did you say probably?”
“Yes,” the queen said, her face neutral. “I would put it at a hundred percent, as long as our understanding of things is correct. I would put that at about eighty percent, by the way.”
“You are not comforting me at all,” Sammy accused.
Queen Linda smirked. “I think I am doing an okay job of it.”
Sammy glowered, but then looked away. She let go of the queen and shifted the distressed Contract-child back into her arms. “Sorry,” she muttered to the bundle of Contract ribbons. “Thank you for petting my head. It helped a lot.” The Contract-child hesitated, but then put a hand on her hip and gave Sammy a smug look.
“So now what?” Sammy finally said after wiping her face with a napkin.
“We are putting some steps into place to prevent such an event happening again.” Queen Linda then confirmed that Sammy had been paying attention previously. “To begin with, did you catch that we are recording these historical relighting ceremonies?”
“Yes,” Sammy said, giving the queen a sidelong look.
“Well, it has been decided to put a bit of fear into the process. Basically, we are requiring any who would petition you to watch all of this morning’s petitions. They are then going to be encouraged to be polite. Well, there are a few more things being put into place, but I think just making them watch what happened this morning will be enough to put an end to a huge amount of shenanigans.”
Sammy turned her head and gaped at the queen. But after a moment, she turned away again and started eating the dinner she had played with earlier. “I have no comment,” she finally muttered.
That night Sammy slept if not well, still better than she expected. She woke rested but still tired. She complained about it to both countess and princess all during breakfast too. “I mean, how the heck can I think I’m well rested and still be tired? Life is not fair!”