Chapter 54

Nicole was biting her lip and tapping her foot out of nerves as she watched Bee servants rush around the room, making sure everything was perfect before the Queen came. When the door opened and Her Majesty stepped in, everyone quickly went to stand under the walls, bowing down. Nicole stood in the middle of the room.

The Queen approached her. "Let’s skip the formalities for now. Just show me what you made for me and my people, except for those dresses you sent me earlier." The tall Bee woman was standing in a beautiful gray gown, almost majestic enough to compete with the woman herself.

"As you wish." Nicole bowed lightly. "First of all, let me show you this."

Nicole turned to a tall object covered by cloth and tugged it down, revealing a big clock. "This mechanism allows you to see the exact time passing. Of course, I am sure Your Majesty is capable of counting or estimating if needed, but with this, you can always know the time." Nicole turned it around to show the gears turning inside the wooden box. Then she approached the Queen and, kneeling on one knee, handed her a smaller watch on a chain. "This one can be taken with you anywhere Your Majesty may need it." Nicole stepped back.

The Queen’s eyes followed the small needles ticking quietly behind the glass. "This could be useful. Next."

Nicole stepped back and gestured for a tall guard in the corner, and he silently came closer. He was wearing different armor than the usual guards – a mix of chainmail and green leather. Nicole unsheathed her sword and slashed a few times, but the guard was unharmed.

"As you can see, the new type of armor grants a great level of protection. Additionally—" Nicole nodded to the guard, and he took a big, dark-green shield and raised it in front of himself.

Nicole took a step back and did a few swings with her spear until it lit up with electric power. Then she stabbed forward into the middle of the shield, and blue lightning and sparks flew, but the guard stood still.

"This material, taken from slimes in the forest, has strong anti-lightning properties."

"This could be useful too, yes." The Queen nodded. "Next."

Nicole stepped to the big window. "Could I ask you to look outside?"

The Queen followed and approached. Through the window, they could see the training grounds of the royal soldiers and guards. Just as they turned their attention to the soldiers, the men outside formed a formation, standing in two rows, the first one on one knee. Everyone had crossbows in their hands and quivers with bolts on them. After a second, twenty meters in front of them, bushes of vines grew out of the ground. The first row fired the first series of shots, and as they were reloading, it was the turn of the second row. The vines were under constant fire and soon all turned into a green pulp, with wooden bolts sticking out like the spikes of a hedgehog.

"Is this a satisfying show of the power of my crossbows?" Nicole couldn’t help but smirk.

"Right. Next." The Queen didn’t seem to be too impressed.

Fuck, is that all she will say? I have only one more thing left. It has to work.

Nicole went to sit on a chair in the back of the room, in front of another cloth-covered object. A second later, she revealed it to be a black fortepiano. Nicole closed her eyes as her fingers fell on the black and white keys.

* * *

"Nicole." The imposing woman said, her dark, cold eyes fixed on the young girl. "How many times do we have to talk about this?"

The girl sat at the table, chewing on the almost cold dinner. "Can you just leave me alone? I never asked for this." She rolled her eyes.

"No. We have already spent a year of our time on you. Be grateful we picked you and not some other kid. And you will do what I and August tell you to do." The woman wasn’t raising her voice, but the annoyance was clear to everyone present.

Nicole glanced at her stepfather, sitting opposite Veronica and seeming to care more about the food than the ongoing talk.

"Listen here, girl. One more time you sneak out instead of attending your piano classes, and I will lose patience." The woman sighed dramatically. "You will grow up as part of the social elite and heir of our life’s work. And as such, having the ability to play a musical instrument is going to make you look better in the eyes of the rest."

"You this, you that…" Nicole sharply stood up. "I am already sixteen, can I have at least a bit of an impact on my own life and decisions?" The girl wasn’t as good as her stepmother at keeping her emotions inside, the frustration was breaking through.

"Stop with this childishness." The man finally spoke, his plate already empty. "Have you already forgotten our last deal?"

His words made Nicole bite her tongue. "N-no." She tried again after a stutter, more confidently. "No."

"You behave and we let you keep your silly tattoo. Though we should have just erased it off your skin a long time ago."

With nothing to say back, defeated Nicole stormed out of the dining room.

* * *

A big room in a mansion was filled with warm, yellow light from grand chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was filled with the chatter of men in suits and women in expensive dresses. A few kids were playing or talking. After a while, a woman in the most expensive dress stepped out to the front.

"Thank you all for coming today, for the 17th birthday party of my son." She started. "Before the banquet and the rest, allow Cedric to show everyone his piano skills."

The boy, wearing a black suit, stepped out of the crowd and sat down at the instrument. He took a breath and started playing. Meanwhile, at the edge of the crowd, there was a girl with bright ginger hair. Wearing an uncomfortable dress, she boredly sat on a chair and chewed on some snacks provided on the tables around the room.

"Man, this is so shit." She mumbled as the boy continued to play. "He chose to play the easiest song out there and thinks he is the best." The second sentence came out louder than she expected. Nicole felt as if all eyes were on her now, but didn’t really care. She was there only because she had to be and hoped to never see any of those people ever again.

"You are Nicole Crestred, right? You were saying something?" Nicole only now realized the guy wasn’t playing anymore and was standing behind her.

She gave him a death glare. "Do not call me this name. I am Nicole Sinclair."

A wave of murmuring went through the crowd.

"Hm, they took you from an orphanage and gave you a better life, and this is how you thank them?" The guy smirked. "By publicly disgracing them, placing them lower than whoever your biological, low-life parents are? Oh, sorry, were." He giggled. Obvious bait, but Nicole couldn’t let it slide.

"Shut. Up. Shut UP." Nicole stood up. Her hands turned into fists, but she stopped herself before she was one step away from breaking his jaw. "If you want it so much, I can publicly humiliate you too." Sitting down at the guy’s piano, Nicole cracked her knuckles.

At first, she started playing ‘Nocturne in C-sharp minor’. She didn’t choose it on purpose, it felt as if her fingers landed on the first keys themselves.

Everyone stood in silence, but Nicole didn’t even look at them. The guy’s words flooded her mind with all the memories of her parents she still had. The routine days. The weekends spent together. The times they went out. The winters when she and Dad threw snowballs at each other. The way her Mom hugged her. The accident.

Nicole’s finger slipped at the image of both of her parents lying lifeless on the road. Her hands froze, and the pressed notes made an unpleasant sound.

People looked at each other and started whispering and chuckling at her mistakes. "She isn’t as good as she thought, eh?" The birthday boy took a step towards her, but then stopped as she resumed.

Nicole didn’t know what she was playing anymore. In that moment, she was just improvising, at least the part of her brain that was still thinking about the present. Happy and sad chords were tied together in a chaotic mix that went on and on…

* * *

Nicole stopped abruptly and blinked a few times, remembering where she was. She looked to the side and saw something she didn’t expect at all.

One small tear ran down the Queen’s cheek before being smudged off.

Nicole, and everyone else in the room, seemed lost and didn’t know what to do. A few seconds after Nicole stopped playing, the Queen sighed.

"This was beautiful. Of course, I have court musicians, but our instruments would never reach this level. And your skill is apparent too. I want you to play for me more in the future."

Well, it’s not like there is big competition for the title of the best pianist.

Nicole bowed. "Of course. Though I have to say I don’t think I currently have time to give concerts."

"Of course. You are already doing much. Now I am sure it was right to hire you." The Queen left, and Nicole took a deep breath, the presence of the monarch was putting a lot of stress on her.

"Good job. Not many can say they made Her Majesty emotional in a good way." Mizirim nodded.

"Yeah, right. Thanks. Music has this kind of impact on people, hm? As I was playing, it reminded me of some things from the past. I wonder if she felt something similar."

Mizirim shrugged. "Maybe. But simple Bees like me won’t dare to question it. Just be happy it made you look better in her eyes and that’s it." He cleared his throat. "Let’s move on. We still have work to do, and I want to see what more you can come up with."