straight. You can’t just take a baby. I know that. We tried to find her, but it was if she’d vanished. We asked around, and no one knew whom we meant, she disappeared.”
“So you did as she asked. You took me and fled.”
“We had no choice. If she was right, we didn’t want harm to come to you. Can you see how this is an impossible story to tell your child? You were abandoned, how could I tell my child that? You were also wanted. So very much.”
Sophie fell silent. This wasn’t a story anyone would want to tell. It clearly pained her mother to give the explanation now, so many years later.
“I’m so sorry. I wish I knew more, but I don’t.”
“Where did you live? Before here?” Sophie asked.
Henri exhaled with relief as Sophie asked the question civilly. If they worked this out, perhaps she would stay.
“We lived in the Province de Seconde . I grew up there, so did your father.”
“So near the Palace Royale?” Sophie asked. Province de Secondé neighbored the King’s city of Éclat . Also, the city farthest away from where they dwelled.
Sophie’s mother nodded her head, as if remembering a different life.
“Well, it’s settled. I’m going there,” Sophie said with finality. “Tomorrow.”
Henri shook his head, “No, don’t do this to your mother. Don’t do this to me.”
“It’s alright. If you fight to keep me here, I’ll hate you for it. You wouldn’t want that girl to stay. That girl would be very different than me.”
Sophie left the room, leaving the two people who knew her best grappling with the fact that she was leaving them.
In hopes of finding herself.
10.
Queen Cozette
Palace Royale, Éclat
Cozette sat upon the throne with a straight back, gentle smile, and patient eyes. She listened to the representatives for an entire day and a half, but still, she maintained composure. She listened diligently to each request delivered by a man on bended knee.
The King’s Counter stood next to her advising when she wasn’t sure if she should answer with a yes or a no, but she dutifully considered each request. Provence de Frontiére needs more uniforms for school children. Provence de Extérieur has had a bumper crop of juniper berries and needs to know where they should be sent. Or the less pleasing appeal, for more jobs to be offered to the people scared to work the mines.
These were simple requests in comparison to the one repeated over and over again, representing every region in her country. The one request she couldn’t grant. Kind words and condolences mattered not when lives were on the line.
A debilitating number of countrymen came to her, begging for more treatment options. The Coffre au Trésor had no cure. No hospital facilities were big enough, not enough trained nurses or doctors were on call to help. The measly reparation of a few gems given by the Palace was no longer enough to compensate for the death toll continuing to climb.
Cozette leaned back after she answered the last delegate, her heart so heavy for having no solution for the men in his Provence who were dying. She offered him compensation for travelling so far and his shoes clicked against the stone floor as he exited and Cozette felt some relief at being done with this task for the next month.
She enjoyed helping the people of her country, but the work demanded much. Work that grew more difficult as she had to deny villagers the items they believed they needed. Even with all their wealth, there were still rules as to how much each person could have. Rules that as queen, she had no choice but follow. No gem, no matter how generous the offering, could save a man dying the Coffre au Trésor.
She had given away enough gems over the years during her charity work to be called a bleeding heart, but it wasn’t the worst thing she’d been called. She remembered her youth, her early years of marriage, how she sinisterly called others fools and clowns for their approach to politics. Her
“So you did as she asked. You took me and fled.”
“We had no choice. If she was right, we didn’t want harm to come to you. Can you see how this is an impossible story to tell your child? You were abandoned, how could I tell my child that? You were also wanted. So very much.”
Sophie fell silent. This wasn’t a story anyone would want to tell. It clearly pained her mother to give the explanation now, so many years later.
“I’m so sorry. I wish I knew more, but I don’t.”
“Where did you live? Before here?” Sophie asked.
Henri exhaled with relief as Sophie asked the question civilly. If they worked this out, perhaps she would stay.
“We lived in the Province de Seconde . I grew up there, so did your father.”
“So near the Palace Royale?” Sophie asked. Province de Secondé neighbored the King’s city of Éclat . Also, the city farthest away from where they dwelled.
Sophie’s mother nodded her head, as if remembering a different life.
“Well, it’s settled. I’m going there,” Sophie said with finality. “Tomorrow.”
Henri shook his head, “No, don’t do this to your mother. Don’t do this to me.”
“It’s alright. If you fight to keep me here, I’ll hate you for it. You wouldn’t want that girl to stay. That girl would be very different than me.”
Sophie left the room, leaving the two people who knew her best grappling with the fact that she was leaving them.
In hopes of finding herself.
10.
Queen Cozette
Palace Royale, Éclat
Cozette sat upon the throne with a straight back, gentle smile, and patient eyes. She listened to the representatives for an entire day and a half, but still, she maintained composure. She listened diligently to each request delivered by a man on bended knee.
The King’s Counter stood next to her advising when she wasn’t sure if she should answer with a yes or a no, but she dutifully considered each request. Provence de Frontiére needs more uniforms for school children. Provence de Extérieur has had a bumper crop of juniper berries and needs to know where they should be sent. Or the less pleasing appeal, for more jobs to be offered to the people scared to work the mines.
These were simple requests in comparison to the one repeated over and over again, representing every region in her country. The one request she couldn’t grant. Kind words and condolences mattered not when lives were on the line.
A debilitating number of countrymen came to her, begging for more treatment options. The Coffre au Trésor had no cure. No hospital facilities were big enough, not enough trained nurses or doctors were on call to help. The measly reparation of a few gems given by the Palace was no longer enough to compensate for the death toll continuing to climb.
Cozette leaned back after she answered the last delegate, her heart so heavy for having no solution for the men in his Provence who were dying. She offered him compensation for travelling so far and his shoes clicked against the stone floor as he exited and Cozette felt some relief at being done with this task for the next month.
She enjoyed helping the people of her country, but the work demanded much. Work that grew more difficult as she had to deny villagers the items they believed they needed. Even with all their wealth, there were still rules as to how much each person could have. Rules that as queen, she had no choice but follow. No gem, no matter how generous the offering, could save a man dying the Coffre au Trésor.
She had given away enough gems over the years during her charity work to be called a bleeding heart, but it wasn’t the worst thing she’d been called. She remembered her youth, her early years of marriage, how she sinisterly called others fools and clowns for their approach to politics. Her
Similar Books
