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Trinity

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  The excitement, if that's what you want to call it, died down pretty quickly following the demise of Grier. It's funny how fast an execution can stall a party. Now we were all left wondering what to do next.

  Queen Gloriana, surprisingly, didn't have a drop of blood on her after what she had just done. I thought for sure she would have been soiled somewhere, but I was wrong.

  I watched as she stood there, looking a hell of a lot more dangerous and powerful than I had thought possible. She looked around the room and spoke to the gathered crowd in a loud, firm voice that was sure to send shivers down many of their spines when they heard the sinister undertones in it.

  "I hope that this will act as a lesson to all of you. I will not tolerate baseless accusations or idiotic displays of revolution. If any of you ever decide to truly try and overthrow me you have better come up with something better than this pathetic scheme. And whoever put poor Grier up to this had better change their plans, and quickly. I will not take this lying down."

  There was a thrumming of power in her voice as she spoke. I had noticed something similar when Reece and I had spoken to people with our full timbre of authority. It was definitely something else when you heard that, and I could only imagine what it felt like to have to obey a command like that.

  "Now, all of you may leave. Get out of here. Leave my sight at once." It was easy to tell that Gloriana was in a bad mood. She wasn't speaking politely like she was earlier. She was letting the dark side of the Fae Queen out to play right now. That was both exciting and scary. I was glad at that moment that I was not part of her kingdom.

  Having no way to refuse her Queen, Acacia was forced to leave the hall with everyone else. Though I did notice her looking over her shoulder as she mouthed an apology to me.

  'I am so sorry, Trinity.'

  Great, now I was being left alone with the Fae Queen. I wonder what will be happening to us now. Was she going to go back to the nice Queen that we had met earlier, or was she going to stay this rage filled goddess that I could see before me right now?

  Once the room was cleared of everyone except for those of us that had been on the dais Queen Gloriana turned to look at me.

  "I am sorry for the interruption to our lovely dinner, Trinity." She was talking like the nice Queen Gloriana now but I could still see the angry glint in her eyes. "Please, won't you come with me to my private study? I wish to talk to you some more." I saw that she had her hand extended toward me, beckoning me toward her.

  "I believe that will be a most wonderful idea, Gloriana. Thank you for the invitation."

  At those words Gabriel came forward and pulled my chair back for me. At the same time Vincent pulled the chair back for Reece while another attendant guard pulled back the consort's chair. Once we were all on our feet I let Reece escort me down to where Gloriana was waiting for me.

  "Please my dear, follow us." I watched as Goriana wrapped her arm around her consort's arms and let him begin to guide her. "Curtis, my darling, will you do me the honor of escorting us to my private study?" Well, I guess I finally learned the nameless consort's name. That made him the named consort now though and that just didn't have the same ring to it. Oh well, I would have to get my internal laughs elsewhere.

  Hey, I needed something to keep the humor going or I would lose my mind in this place. I wasn't used to acting so serious all the time, I usually only kept up the serious stuff when on official pack business. This day was already so draining and exhausting. I just couldn't wait for it to be over.

  Curtis led us out a side door on the opposite side of the banquet than the door the others left through. He then guided us down a very long and empty hallway. There were no servants in sight and no other residents either yet there were several doors that were shut along the way.

  Eventually Curtis had reached a door just before the end of the hallway. This door, and almost every door we passed along the way was very elaborately decorated. There was a pattern of vines and flowers engraved into the heavy looking oak door. The wood was old and aged and looked beautiful with not a drop of a wood stain or gloss coating anywhere to be seen, it was just polished until it could shine. There were however, several gemstones and what looked like real flower petals emblazoned into the carved design.

  An attendant guard stepped forward and opened the door just as we had reached it. I watched as Curtis let go of Gloriana's hand and stepped aside and she entered the room.

  "Come, Trinity, come speak with me while my men get your husband and guards situated."

  I could sense the apprehension that was coming off of Reece when he heard those words, but I wasn't afraid. I could tell that despite all the worry and tension, Queen Gloriana was not going to do me any harm. If that was her intention, then why did she put an end to what that man was saying. She would not have killed one of her own people for me if she meant to harm me herself. At least that was my reasoning anyway.

  "That would be wonderful, Gloriana, thank you. Reece, you and the others settle in. I will have someone come for you when we are done here."

  Oooohh! I could tell that my Fido didn't like that very much at all. He didn't want me leaving his side. He had actually told me that before we left. Oops. There wasn't much I could do about it right now. Did you really want to piss off a Queen who just made vines shoot out of someone's ass? I don't think so.

  'Go Reece. I will be fine.' I sent the message telepathically through my mental connection to him. I also offered similar words of comfort to the others. After a moment's worth of hesitation they all took their leave.

  With the others gone, Gloriana pulled me into the room behind her. I saw that there was a large, ornate desk that was made from more aged oak, this time the wood wasn't just polished, it was trimmed with gold. That beautiful desk was sitting near a large fireplace that seemed to be burning magically, since there was no wood and the colors of the flames kept changing from pink to blue to green, then purple and back to pink. 

  Aside from the desk the room contained a large lilac colored chaise lounge and a few comfortable looking armchairs that were in the shape of and colored like butterflies. There were a few different tables, several display cases, and shelves built into the walls that were filled to the brim with books that seemed to shine in the light. Most of those books were probably trimmed in gold as well. I desperately wanted to look at some of them.

  "Please, sit Trinity." Gloriana indicated one of the butterfly chairs, it was made with shades of blue and black and it looked like a Crowned Hairstreak butterfly. The chair that Gloriana sat in had a slightly greenish hue to the primary color and it was shaped like a Queen Alexandra's Birdwing butterfly.

  Once we were both seated Gloriana shook her whole body as if she were a dog or something. It was like Gloriana was shaking away her anxiety or something. Only when she spoke next I saw she was actually shaking away her Queen persona.

  "Hahh, this has been quite the exhausting day already, hasn't it." She was smiling at me as if she and I were the best of friends just having a friendly chat.

  "That it has." I smiled at her, accepting her invite to speak like friends.

  "Seriously, Trinity, I wish I could be more like you. I imagine you don't have to deal with the same level of politics that I do. I envy you for that."

  "While that is true, I also know that I need to act like a proper Queen as well."

  "Oh phooey, what is a proper Queen anyway. It's your kingdom and your people, you get to set the rules. I would change mine if I could but my people have had the same rules for eons." I watched as she rolled her eyes. "Now then, let us get on to some proper girl talk."

  I was surprised to see and hear Gloriana giggle then. Her laugh was musical and it lit up her whole face. I would tell that deep down she just wanted to be herself more. I was really truly glad I didn't have this lifestyle all the time. It was hard enough already. Though I also knew that eventually it would probably get to that point, once the entire shifter world knows about the Luna Queen. They will all raise their children and then their children's children to respect me and my children.

  The real kicker though was that I didn't even know how long I was going to live for. I mean, Gabriel said my life would be longer than average. What did that even mean?

  Now that things were calmer, though, Gloriana and I got right down to talking about the fun side of being a girl.

  "Oh please, tell me you do not actually call him Fido." Queen Gloriana was laughing so hard at the moment. "That is too perfect. And he really calls you his little bunny? Where did that even come from?" She laughed repeatedly as I told her harmless story after harmless story.

  There hadn't been quite as many funny stories from Gloriana but she did tell me about her life. I guess being a Queen made it so you didn't get to have as much fun.

  Curtis, the current consort, was Gloriana's fifteenth consort. She had never married any of them but she would spend at least a hundred years with them before she swapped them out for a new one. Apparently the selection process was very rigorous and she could spend years looking for the next one.

  She indeed did not have any children. She also expressed sadness about that. I could imagine her depression. To go that long with so many different men and not find the one meant to be yours. That had to be hard. And the fact that you are the queen so you basically know every single person in your kingdom so it's not like she was missing a mate opportunity, unless her mate was not a Fae. That was a possibility too, I guess.

  There was a lot we talked about over the course of approximately two hours or so. It was fun, and really nice, getting to know the Fae queen. It was nice to see that even if I do become a true regal queen I could still be myself when there weren't any unfamiliar people around. As long as I was around those close to me I could be the real me.

  When our chat was finally over I connected to Reece mentally.

  'Little Bunny? Are you alright? What's taking so long?'

  'I am fine, Reece, we just chatted for a while. I am ready to come to our room for the night though.'

  'I will come get you right away.' I pictured him jumping out of a chair to come rushing toward me.

  'Someone is one their way to get you, he should be there soon.'

  When Reece saw me, safe and unharmed, she seemed to let just a little bit of his emotions slip. I could tell that he was relieved for sure.

  "Let us go, Reece. I am tired and wish to retire for the rest of the evening."

  "I will send someone to your room with a light evening snack, Trinity. You need to keep up with your food intake, for those babies you've got in there."

  "Thank you Gloriana.

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