3rd Person POV
Irvette was immensely relieved to have returned to her palace. No matter what George or anyone said it was she who was Queen of this palace.
The moment she stepped down, she was greeted with the sight of her assistant who looked like she had something serious to tell Irvette.
“It would have to wait, Nadine. I just want to hug my son. Wait… my son is alright, yes?” asked Irvette in a panicked tone as the possibility of the problem Nadine wanted to discuss be her son crossed her mind.
“Your son is fine but…”
“It can wait… I need to see him,” Irvette said as she hurried her steps into the palace and towards the direction of his room.
When she opened the door, she was greeted by an unexpected sight. It was her two younger sisters in the room. Even though they had their backs to her she could recognise them.
Had George sent them back home?
They seemed to be fussing over little Harlin who was giggling excitedly at their faces and touches.
Irene suddenly turned and at once squealed, “There she is!”
“It's Irvette or shall I say, Your Majesty?” quipped the other.
Irvette gave a huge smile and hugged them both. She knew they were going to barrage her with questions later, especially why she had failed to reply to their many letters or why she had kept her pregnancy and birth a secret from them. As she breathed in their warmth, she began to cry. She had killed their mother and they had no idea.
“Now, now, there are many things we need to have straightened,” said Irene as they pulled out from the hug.
“They can wait until after dinner. Please, let's eat first,” came Irvette's response wishing to delay the big talk for as long as she could. She was yet to recover from the shock of seeing George and she had no strength to deal with her sisters.
“It cannot wait, Irvette. Did you poison Mother? I need to know,” Alison's eyes narrowed in on hers.
“That's nonsense! I would never hurt Mother,” she returned. How could she possibly tell them that when George had given her the instruction, he had threatened to hurt them? Whatever reason she could come up with would only sound like an excuse.
“Good, good. I believe the rumours are simply absurd but you had better have a good explanation for not responding to our letters especially when so much has been happening here,” said Irene.
“It's been hectic; I needed to clear our name: make sure the Council of Elders knew we were not involved with George. He hasn't tried to speak to either of you since?” quipped Irvette, her eyes darting from one sister to the other.
“And after clearing our names you just go ahead and become queen. Did you even consider the possibility that we wanted the throne?” asked Alison. She was the most ambitious amongst them but was also very naive. They had no idea how hard it was to become queen after the horrible things George had done.
“I'm sure either of you would have made a fine queen but…”
“No excuses Irvette, no excuses. You must reinstate us to court at once,” said Alison.
Irvette wished it were that simple but she did not have such power anymore. She was queen but she had lost certain privileges. If she were to reinstate her sisters in court, she would need the Elders to interrogate them and they would have to win the trust of the people back. It was going to be a lot of work and fake smiles. She knew herself that if it were up to Elder Davis, she would not be queen right now. Besides, the Elders were busy trying to stop a war.
“A lot has happened, I will do my best but for now I can make no promises,” returned Irvette.
“We're not that stupid, we know it would be hard but we just want to help out, okay?” quipped Irene with her sugar smile.
“Will you have dinner now?” she asked them. She wanted to know if George had been in touch with them but she did not want to come off as overly curious.
“Yes… You asked about father… I mean George. We haven't seen him in a very long time. It's been tough for us, you know? We were basically branded criminals after you left. We've been on the run. When we learnt you were queen, we took the first ship we could home,” said Irene. This news broke Irvette's heart.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have been there,” returned Irvette. She had to admit that she had been selfish. She had told herself over and over that her sister was better off not hearing from her but she had just been running away from her guilt.
“It’s alright. Do you think George drugged us? He drugged the minds of the people, did he drug us too? We were horrible too, you know? What was her name? Regina? She was our blood, how could we do those nasty things to her?” Regret dropped in Alison's voice.
Irvette fought back tears. There was a time when the scruffy servant was her best friend. She had taught the girl everything she knew and then had gone on to be horrible to her.
“That must have been it,” said Irvette. She remembered now that her father had always given her some weird substance to drink once every month. The month she killed her mother had been the last time she had taken it and since then she had begun to think more clearly. She had begun to realise that she was doing horrible things and she had started feeling guilt. Had he really done that?
“What if… what if we're not his children?” asked Irene.
“Let's just eat, okay?” quipped Irvette. The discussions about George were making her feel sick.