Royal and Fierce

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Retta

My talk with Alecks regarding his step-aunt filing for custody of Sarah had me wondering, so I went looking for Simon, Minister of Finance. I found him in his office near the Royal Library.

He looked up when I knocked on the door. “Hey. Please come and save me from this eye-crossing budget minutia.”

I laughed, then walked in and took a seat on the other side of his desk. “Do I have a crown?”

He blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“A crown. You know, a piece of jewelry I would wear on my head? Do I have one?”

He thought for a moment. “Three, I believe.”

I shook my head quickly to clear it. “Three? Why would I need three crowns?”

He looked down his nose at me. “You don’t even need one. You’ve been queen for almost four years and in that entire time you’ve never asked about a crown once. Not for Ronan’s naming ceremony, or your second wedding, or Raine’s naming ceremony last week. Never for any of the parties you’ve hosted or meetings you’ve held.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay. I get your point. Then let me ask the question a different way. Why are there three crowns available for the queen to wear – if she wanted to?”

He smiled. “There’s a a tall, super ornate one for high state functions. Then there’s a shorter one, but still quite ornate, for meetings with visiting dignitaries, and other meetings you would take while sitting down – if you actually sat in your throne that is. The third one is more like a fancy hair piece – much less ornate, and designed for every day wear.”

I snorted. “First, the throne is super uncomfortable, and I have thankfully only needed to sit in it a handful of times. Second, a crown for every day wear? Are queens really supposed to be condescending and aloof bitches?”

He laughed. “There is a certain…protocol that queens are supposed to follow, yes. I’m not sure you’ve ever followed even one rule of protocol in the entire time you’ve been here.”

I frowned. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

He inclined his head in agreement. “I apologize, you’re right. However, you have to admit that you only pull out the strict protocol when you’re being, what does Anders call it?”

“Royal and fierce?”

“Exactly. But why are you wondering this now, on a random Wednesday?”

“Cause I want to do some role-playing later?” Which was silly because one doesn’t role-play a role they already have, but I was teasing him. 

He narrowed his eyes, but his blush took away from his mock exasperation.

I grinned and said, “Got ya.” Then I paused before saying seriously, “No, I ask because I have a feeling that there’s someone who’s going to end up at the palace, and I’m going to have to intimidate them.”

He frowned. “That wasn’t vague or anything.”

I nodded. “At the moment, it’s vague because I can’t reveal the details. However, if this person that I’m thinking of does decide to visit the palace, they’ll need to fully understand that I’m the queen and I don’t fuck around when you come after my friends. So a crown would be the finishing touch.”

From behind me I heard, “Going mama bear with a crown?”

I turned around and smiled at Dart. “Less deadly than mama bear with a sword.”

He snorted. “True. I came with the vault key.”

I blinked. “What? How in the world did you know I’d want the vault key?”

He grinned. “Because I ran into Alecks and he told me that you’d be looking for Simon to ask if you had a crown.”

My mouth dropped open. “Of all the things that Alecks and I talked about, he realized I was going to ask about a crown?”

“He knows you.” Dart paused, then looked down his nose at me. “And he was right.”

I shook my head. “Okay, gentlemen. Shall we go to the vault and look at my three crowns?”

Dart’s eyebrow went up. “Three? I missed that part.”

Simon nodded and the three of us made our way to the Royal Vault as I explained to Dart about the three crowns.

When I walked inside, I shook my head once more at the amount of jewelry that took up space in the vault. I walked over to the shelves and scanned them slowly. Necklaces, bracelets, rings…crowns. As it turned out, there were six on the shelf. I snorted and looked over at Simon. “So the king gets three as well? Same idea?”

He nodded. I looked back at the six crowns and sighed. It was obvious which ones were supposed to be the king’s and which ones were the queen’s. I picked up the smallest king’s crown, which was taller than the queen’s every day crown, but not as tall as the queen’s dignitary crown. “I want to wear this one.”

Dart’s eyebrow went up again. “You know that’s the king’s crown, right?”

I looked down my nose at him. “Yes, Captain. I’m aware of that.” I walked back over to where he and Simon were standing and said, “But, looking at it by itself, is it still obvious?”

Dart took it from me and put it on my head where it slipped down to my forehead. “Yes. It’s too big.” He took it back off my head with a smirk.

I stuck out my lip in a mock pout. “But it’s platinum and mine’s gold. I want the platinum one.” I stomped my foot.

Dart laughed at me and put his arm around my shoulders. “You know, if I’d known you were going to get all pouty, I would have brought Anders with us.”

I looked at him and wrinkled my nose. “I’m the queen. I can get pouty if I want to.”

He shook his head. “Not saying you can’t. Just saying you look like you’re expecting someone to kiss it off your face.”

I glanced at Simon and his eyes were wide looking between Dart and me. I burst out laughing. I said, “I think I shocked poor Simon. He had no idea I could get quite this un-queenly.”

Simon smiled. “I knew it. I just don’t see it that often, so it still takes me by surprise.”

I took the crown back from Dart and tried putting it on my head again. It was a bit big, but not too bad. I said, “Are you sure we couldn’t just have it cut a little smaller or something?”

I got Dart’s eyebrow and Simon blinked. I scoffed. “Fine. I just don’t look that good in gold.” I took the platinum crown back and put it on the shelf and picked up the queen’s every day crown. It was quite pretty with a rose and vine design highlighted with alternating small diamonds and rubies in the center of the roses and tiny emeralds on the leaves. There was one rose in the front center that was a bigger and it had an onyx stone in the middle, surrounded by tiny rubies.

I turned around and held it up. “Ooo, look. Black surrounded by red. I haven’t seen that before.”

Dart snorted and Simon said, “That’s quite pretty.”

“It is. And it’s way more reasonable than these ridiculous ones with so many gems you can barely see the gold.” Dart looked like he was going to say something and I said, “And don’t you dare even think it, Captain. I said can barely see it. It’s still gold, not platinum.”

He grinned. “Are you done?”

I nodded. “Yes, I suppose so. I’ll take this one and if needed, I’ll have someone do my hair in some elaborate style and include this.” I walked back over to them and through the door. As I passed Simon I said, “And then maybe I will use it for role-playing at some point.”

Dart burst out laughing as Simon blushed deep red. I smiled and said, “Do you think Berry might want to borrow it?”

Dart bent over he was laughing so hard and Simon just turned around and started walking back towards the main part of the palace. He called over his shoulder, “I do not have to stand here and be teased.”

I called out, “I’m sorry, Simon. I wouldn’t tease you if I didn’t like you.”

He made a dismissive noise, but stopped and leaned against the wall to wait for us. Dart locked the door again, and we headed over to meet back up with Simon.

~*~*~*~

That night, Anders saw the crown on my dressing room table and picked it up.

He met my eyes and asked, “Is this what I think it is?”

“If you think it’s a crown, then yes.”

He gave me a contemplative look, then walked over and rested it on the top of my head. “It’s pretty. But it’s still gold.”

I nodded. “I know. The king’s crowns are platinum and Dart said I couldn’t wear one of those because it was too big.” I stuck out my lip in a mock pout.

He grinned. “Wait, is that why Dart said I’m supposed to kiss you? Cause you pouted that you couldn’t wear the one you wanted to?”

I nodded again. He pulled me close and kissed me, catching the crown as it slipped off my head. Then he pulled back and kissed my forehead. “You’re so adorable sometimes. But why, after all this time, do you even care about a crown?”

I shrugged, and took it from him to put it back on the vanity. “Maybe I want to use it for role-playing once I’ve recovered from birth?” That time I wasn’t trying to tease, but deflect the question.

He reached out and took my hand, then pulled me close again. “We’ll get back to the crown in a moment….Are you even thinking about sex again? Raine is only a week and a half old.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Honestly, no. I know we’ll get there, but now I’m too worn out. It’s getting late. We should probably go to bed.”

I tried to walk away, but he tightened his arm around my waist and said, “Nope, not yet. Now you need to answer the question about the crown. What’s the real reason you cared enough to go to the vault and get it?”

I sighed again. “I want it available in case I have to add a finishing touch to going royal and fierce on someone.”

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“Yes, but I can’t tell you who.”

He looked at me for a long moment. “Alright. Different question. Do you know what’s going on with Alecks?”

I nodded. “Yes to that question as well. But I can’t tell you that either.”

“Are the two related to each other?”

I shrugged, but didn’t meet his eyes. “Maybe?”

He kissed my forehead, then leaned down and scooped me up in a bridal carry. I linked my arms around his neck as he carried me into the bedroom and put me gently down on the bed. When he stretched out next to me and pulled me close, I snuggled up against him. I whispered, “What was that for?”

He whispered back, “Because I know that you’re doing your selfless helping out a friend thing and I thought you would appreciate someone taking care of you for a few minutes.”

I lifted my head and smiled at him, then kissed him softly. “You’re right. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He paused then said, “If you get to a point where you can tell me something, please let me know how I can help.”

“Well, if I do need to wear my crown, I’ll need your help figuring out something fancy to do with my hair.”

He chuckled. “I can do braids – not super fancy, but I’ll help Celeste come up with a style.”

“Okay. I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you too.”