Chapter 26 Whatever Choice I Make? I Call Bullsh*t!
Maeve wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, or how she let the Queen convince her to do this— but somehow, accidentally, she did not mean to be here by the way, she was seated at the dinner table with the Queen, Cassian and Adrian.
The Queen— The devil herself put more food in front of her plate, smiling at her, “I hear you have been unwell. Here. Eat. I personally made sure every dish was imbued with mana stones to help increase your vitality. Go ahead, please. You look quite lean, my darling,”
She heard? Maeve had used all of her resources to make sure the first poisoning went unnoticed— and now, once again, they heard that she felt unwell?
ANC Darling. Darling, she said, as she pushed something that looked dangerously like ice cream to her. Darling, she said as Maeve tried to ignore the treacherously good looking food with the roasted pig at the center. Darling, Darling—
Maeve picked the bottle of wine and leaned close into her. “You know me so well!”
Eldoria smiled— no, grinned. And for a split second, it seemed as if the two of them bonded and became one and the same person bearing the same mark of evil. “Want me to pour you a glass?”
Maeve made a face. “Would you mind if I drank from the bottle?”
“Yes,”
“Really?”
“Without me, dear child,”
Eldoria picked another bottle, popping off the cork with such ease that Maeve ‘oohed’ at it.
Now, the servants and guards who were all around the table couldn’t exactly believe what was happening, because see, lunch was a very solemn affair and the Queen… well, the Queen was not the sort of person one would like to upset at any point in their lives.
The food eating process was cold… and strange. No one spoke. No one smiled. It seemed almost as if every second they were only seconds away from ripping into each other's neck.
They all began to pray that this woman would never leave.
“I did not think…” Cassian paused, as if he was trying to fight the right words. Maeve paused her digging into the food in front of her to stare at him as he said with a small chuckle, “I did not think that you would be in a… good enough mood to sit with us,”
Maeve looked slightly confused. “I’m sorry?”
“You threw up on me,” He was still smiling, always smiling, but it seemed as if whatever held both sides of his cheeks up were slowly losing their grip, “So I was… certain that your tolerance of me had dwindled. Especially with what I—”
“Cassian,” The Queen started, flashing him a soft smile. “Not at the table, my darling. Do you need anything?”
Maeve took another spoonful of her rice as she watched Cassian raise his wine glass and move it towards her, “Can I join you both?”
“Always,” She said, then turned her attention to the Duke. “Nephew? Would you like a glass?”
Duke Adrian had not spared Maeve a glance since she had been brought in, nor had he said a word. All he did was shake his head, his entire focus on the dish in front of him. Eldoria sighed softly and turned her attention to Maeve, saying ever so kindly, “He has never been friendly to women, so excuse his lack of decorum. Tied to his mother, I believe,”
The second time she mentions it.
Maeve did not act like she cared. “This… cream looking thing, what is it? Looks quite good,”
“Elun-fala,” The Queen said, her smile not dampening for a moment. If anything, she looked quite fascinated as she said, “An elvish dish I had when I once went to their land. Very exquisite. Of course, this is nothing close to what they have over there, of course. Beautiful place,”
It was always going to lead up to that, wasn’t it? You sneaky witch.
Maeve knew the Queen knew she wouldn’t mention anything about Amir. She couldn’t risk it. In this place, she wasn’t sure who her enemies were— and Cassian and Adrian looked completely under her thumb, for good reason she assumed, but they both did not like Amir and she wasn’t sure she wanted to go toe to toe with them in a space like this.
Especially when she didn’t know what the woman wanted.
“I thought you would be visiting again,” Maeve cut in, slicing the steak in her plate, “My Vessel mentioned you made a… promise? To his people? Where is he anyway?”
“In the dungeons,”
Maeve let out the loudest possible gasp, “Oh, by the heavens, I had no idea! I was just told the Prince took him away for a private conversation here and I was going to join him,” Then she turned her attention to Cassian, “Is this because I threw up on you? I can assure you, it was not my intention—”
“He had a hand in making you ill,” Whatever happiness Cassian had been wearing all this time vanished. His face looked like he had never shown a single emotion in his life, his eyes centering only on her, “And there was the poisoning before which we have been investigating for quite a while, but of course, we could not pinpoint it if he wasn’t within our reach. You might say this is none of our business, but as a high noble, we must treat it as important and take anyone we believe is a suspect,”
Bullshit. You’re just acting like every annoying male lead in male lead history!
She didn’t like this. She didn’t like where this was going.
“I would like to see him then,” Maeve made sure her smile stayed on her face as she said that statement, then turned to Adrian. “Would you escort me below, Lord Adrian?”
“Yes, Adrian. Take her,” The Queen’s excited voice was gone, back to the posh respectful one that made it clear she was done with frivolities. “She would need her protection going down there so make sure she is very safe.”
Adrian bowed his head and rose from his chair, “As you wish, your majesty,”
The second Maeve stood, Eldoria’s hand found hers. The Queen’s hand was nothing as cold as her son, but it was filled with life and warmth as it squeezed hers gently, “Whatever choice you make, Miss Montague, I want you to know that I fully stand behind it a 1000%,”
... Maeve smiled back. "Thank you, your highness, you're so kind,"
Curse me, curse my life, and curse all of the good foods these people have deceived me with!