Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

It was still dark outside when Drayce woke up and saw his queen sleeping soundly in his arms. Although the sun was yet to be out, Drayce had no choice but to leave the comfort of his wife and get ready to handle the matters related to his kingdom. Before heading to Abetha, he had already been away from the palace for several weeks to oversee the border issue with Thevailes, and after meeting up with Arlan, participating in the rescue and his wedding, he had been away for nearly two months from the center of power. Even without his trusted aide's reminder, he knew he had many neglected affairs related to Megaris, waiting to get his attention. 

Drayce carefully moved away from Seren, making sure not to wake her up. He made sure she was properly covered with the thick blanket before observing her veil-covered face. Though he couldn't see it entirely, he could somewhat guess she's at peace. Pecking on her forehead lightly, Drayce got up and went towards the fireplace inside the chamber. He put more woodblocks into it to make the bedchamber warmer for Seren and then left. He wished  he could continue to cuddle her to help her feel warmer, but he had his king's responsibilities that he could not ignore.

-------

Seren slowly woke up when her face was hit by the early morning sunlight entering her chamber through the glass door of the balcony. The gentle warmth was comfortable against her cold skin. Rubbing her eyes with the back of the palm, she got her sight clear as she sat up on bed. What welcomed her when she looked outside the windows was a bright blue sky with sparse clouds. A sweet and refreshing scent was suddenly caught by her nose.

"Good morning, Your Majesty!"

She heard the familiar voice and looked at the person standing near her bed, holding a bunch of flowers inside a bamboo woven basket. Marie was arranging fresh flowers in all the vases inside the bedchamber. Seeing her queen sound asleep, she kept her movements light so as not to wake her up, but when she saw the movement in bed, she hurried to greet her queen. 

Although nobody could see, Seren smiled at the sight of flowers. Back in Abetha, she raised varieties of blossoms in her own garden, and Martha would also sometimes put them in vases inside the tower.

'I wonder what Martha is doing now. Is she taking care of my garden?' Seren remembered something and looked at the other side of her bed. It was empty. 'When did he leave?'

She sat up in the bed and asked her servant, "Did you just enter the chamber, Marie?"

"I have been inside for several minutes already," she replied as she gestured at the other vases with flowers in them. "Did I disturb your sleep, Your Majesty?"

Seren shook her head lightly and heard Marie continue to ask, "Sleeping alone inside such a huge bedchamber, were you able to sleep comfortably, Your Majesty?"

"Alone?" Seren asked, and Marie nodded. 

'So she didn't know he was here,' Seren thought and gave out a sigh of relief. 'But why am I feeling embarrassed to let her know he was here?' Seren looked at Marie again and thought, 'I guess it's fine if she doesn't know. What's to know about it?'

Just then, Eva entered the chamber. "Good morning, Your Majesty. The weather in Blackhelm is considerably lower than all the places we passed through our journey. Were you able to sleep comfortably?" She asked the same question as Marie. Both the servants were sincerely worried for their queen, as people from the warmer regions of the continent would have a hard time adjusting to the cold.

Seren nodded as she remembered how she fell asleep so fast when he was with her. 

'Am I getting used to sleeping with him? It didn't feel bad, though. As long as he doesn't bite me, it is fine.'

"Your Majesty, would you like to have a bath first?" Marie asked when she saw Seren lost in her thoughts. 

Seren nodded, and Eva and Marie helped her with a hot bath. Afterwards, her servants chose a long pink gown paired with a thick outer robe and matching heeled boots to dress her with.

Just as Seren stepped out of the wardrobe, she heard a loud screeching noise coming from outside, and pleasant surprise registered in her eyes as she recognized the sound. With a light giggle, she raised her skirt and hurried towards where the sound was coming from—the balcony.

Eva and Marie didn't stop her as they knew why their queen was reacting like an excited little girl.

Screech!

With the loud flap of his wings, a majestic brown eagle landed at the top of the  stone railings of the balcony. Seren called out with a laugh, "Dusk!"

Eva and Marie stayed inside the bedroom and simply appreciated the lovely view of their young queen stroking the feathers of the beautiful bird. During the journey, they saw how attached their young queen was to Dusk. Why not? After all, it was a rare animal with human-like intellect and the favorite pet belonging to their king.

Dusk crooned at Seren, who came to him like she had seen her long-lost family member. Ever since the eagle had been injured, whenever their carriages made a temporary stop, she would check on Dusk and see his progress. It had only been roughly two weeks since he was attacked in the borders of Griven, and if he was left to heal on his own, it would have taken him months to recover.. It was a miracle his wounds healed fast, and other than Drayce, no one was aware of how that miracle happened. 

Seren didn't expect Dusk to come to her balcony like this, and she could talk to him like she did in Abetha. 

  Since the stone railing only reached up to her waist, she could easily caress Dusk who had landed on it. "Good to see you here."

Dusk rubbed his head back against her palm. "Is your wing completely fine now?" she asked though she had seen him flying even before. 

Dusk spread both his wings to their fullest, and the delicate queen looked even smaller in front of him. It was the first time she had seen him so closely with his both wings spread widely, and it amazed her.

She chuckled. "You look so big. You can even wrap me in your wings." 

As if Dusk got her words, he was about to try wrapping her in his wings, but something stopped him, and he stepped back while folding his wings. After all, Dusk had an intellect similar to a human. Since he somehow saved one of his wings after the attack of those wolves, he would not do something stupid that would make him lose both. His master was scary. 

When he folded his wings back, Seren's gaze caught the day view of Blackhelm city. She had seen it at night and thought it looked magical, but the day view was not any less impressive. Most buildings were made of limestone, and the roofs of the houses were of various shades of red, and looking at them from her balcony, it was an aesthetic view. The entire capital seemed alive and bustling; she could see countless people and carriages moving on the streets below. She also realized that the temperature during the day was bearable for her. She could somehow imagine her days sitting on the balcony while sipping freshly brewed tea, watching the city below as well as the river with boats and ships traveling on it.

As she daydreamed, Marie approached to inform Seren, "Your Majesty, Lady Tyra is here. Should I let her in?"

Seren nodded and saw Lady Tyra coming to the balcony. Several women in stylish clothes were following her.

"Good morning, Queen Seren," Lady Tyra greeted with an elegant curtsy.  "Forgive us for coming without prior notice."

"We have seen Her Majesty the Phoenix of Megaris!" the ladies behind the old woman curtsied as well.

Accepting the greeting, Seren nodded, although she was not used to the courteous reception she's receiving from everyone. 

"I hope Your Majesty has slept welland found this chamber comfortable," Tyra commented as she offered a light smile to her. 

Seren nodded again. Staring at Lady Tyra and her enigmatic smile for a while, it was as if she sensed something. Seren could feel that this old woman was not ordinary; it wasn't just because she's a distant relative of the royals, nor was it because she's unlike the palace servants.There was something strange about this old woman, but she couldn't put a finger on what it was.

Seren contemplated over whether Lady Tyra could be trusted or not, but as the King of Megaris, her husband himself, seemed to trust her, then Seren had nothing to say. Still, Seren decided to be careful of her as it was her gut feeling. Regardless if it was good or bad, nothing could go wrong from being careful. 

Tyra had seemingly sensed the sudden change in Seren's silence but did not mind it. Tyra could also feel that their new queen was indeed not an ordinary person, and she was sure she would soon get an answer to this. She had heard the rumors about the Third Princess of Abetha being a witch's daughter, but Tyra could sense there was much more to this young lady. 

Tyra continued, "Your Majesty, the reason for me coming to you this early is to introduce to you the ladies-in-waiting given to you by King Drayce. After your wedding in Abetha, His Majesty had already written an instruction for me to make a list of the best ladies to enter the palace. This is Lady Xena, Lady Reya and Lady Leia. From now on, they will be your ladies-in-waiting and will serve Your Majesty for the days to come."

"Greetings, Queen Seren," the young woman in the middle, who looked to be the oldest among the three, smiled. "I am Xena, and I am the head of the ladies under your care."

Xena seemed to be in her mid-twenties, just like Marie, but there was a certain elegance in her movement similar to Tyra. Even the way she stood was elegant, and it appeared like she was trained in royal etiquette. The two younger women with her also gave off the aura of noble women as well.

"But I already have Marie and Eva," Seren countered with a creased forehead. She didn't want more people around her, and she was comfortable with having only Marie and Eva around to serve her. Besides, these ladies looked like they never did a single house chore their entire lives.

The three newcomers all had pleasant appearances, wearing long dresses that looked like they were all daughters of nobility, instead of palace servants. They were even dressed more extravagantly than Tyra. 

Unlike them, Eva and Marie had changed out of their casual travel clothes and were wearing gray-themed uniforms that had no accessories attached to their clothes, other than one single gold badge that she saw on the royal servants everywhere. It was the design of the royal crest, which signified their ranks as well as whether they worked for a particular royal.

Tyra stepped forward to clear the misunderstanding. "Your Majesty, Marie and Eva will always be with you as your personal servants, but they by themselves would not be able to cater all your needs. The ladies-in-waiting are meant to be your subordinates, your right hand people, and are very important ladies that you as the queen need to have especially once you start assuming your duties in the palace. Eva and Marie are commoners, and they will mostly help Your Majesty with personal things and menial tasks. In contrast, Lady Xena and the other ladies are educated women from noble families, and they will help Your Majesty to deal with work errands and matters where they will represent Your Majesty. Of course, they can also help out Marie and Eva in doing small tasks, like brewing tea for you or bringing in food."

Seren studied these ladies. She then remembered that back in the Royal Palace of Abetha, there were a number of noble women always following behind Queen Niobe. Some of them were relatives of the queen from her home, the Kingdom of Othinia, while a number of them were daughters of noble houses in Abetha. She realized they must be official ladies-in-waiting, and not simply bored ladies who simply followed the queen because they had nothing better to do like she initially thought. 

"Fine," Seren agreed.. 'There is no harm in keeping them around as I am not familiar with the people in this place.'