The Queen Revealed (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

“The Carnival Begins”

The hot sun beat down on their heads as Adele pulled her children close and surveyed the huge crowd spread out across the green fields of the Belvoir Estate. She could just about make out the racetrack between the raised, open-sided pavilions that surrounded it. The colors and flags of each Royal Family decorated each pavilion in a gaudy show of family loyalty and wealth. The pavilions of the lesser families were behind their richer cousins, at ground level, but Adele could see that the parties under these canopies were already in full swing. Music drifted on the breeze as it ruffled the pennants and brought the scents of popcorn and roasting meat, boiled sugar and horse manure.

Hundreds of aristocrats mixed with the landed gentry and the wealthier merchant families from the capital, Concordis, and other nearby towns. Money and connections spoke louder than bloodlines and crowns when it came to the horse market at this all-important carnival.

Bertie held Adele’s arm in the crook of his own as he introduced her to the most famous horse traders and husbanders in the Kingdom. He bored their audiences again and again, telling the story of his reaction to Queen Adelena choosing the Belvoir Estate stables to provide horses for her Royal Sojourn later in the year. At the time she had chosen the beautiful chestnut striders Adele knew she was granting an honor to the Family of Belvoir, she just had no idea how seriously Bertie took the appointment. By the time the Opening Ceremony was due to start, she was almost convinced these Belvoir horses would be the backbone of her new Court, as well as the beasts that would pull the carriages.

The Royal Family settled with relief under the Belvoir pavilion when the time came for the parade to start. The heat of the day was becoming stifling as the breeze dropped and the dust in the field sat in a hazy cloud over everything.

Up on the high stage of the royal pavilion Prince Bertrand opened the carnival with a longwinded speech about the competing horses and the more technical aspects of the coming races but the crowd listened politely enough and laughed graciously at Bertie’s more pointed comments about the superiority of the Belvoir breeds. He held by his side a boy with rusty red hair and a serious expression. Adele recognized him as Lance, the young man Bertie had chosen to succeed him as the Prince of Belvoir.

Personally, Adele knew nothing about horses, but the pageant before her was very beautiful. Both horses and riders were dressed in colored silks, trotting in a well-organized parade before the crowd. Her own children began bouncing in their seats, cheering and choosing their favorites based on the color of the horse’s socks, or how tall the riders’ hats were. Behind her, Adele could hear her Queen’s Guard swapping tips and hints for bets to be laid later, and as always QG Owens held the book. Surprisingly, though, it was the youngest QG—Pepper—who sounded the most knowledgeable about what to look for in a winning horse and for once, the other men listened to him closely.

“The betting should be fierce this year, Your Majesty,” said Bertie gleefully as he rubbed his hands together and eyed the horses going past on their second turn. “My rider this year is a young girl from the Blue Hills, and she is a natural on Blue Streak. She handles him beautifully. Truly, they could be one animal when you see them ride together. But she’ll be underestimated by the punters, I just know it!”

Adele could only smile wanly as the smell of horse manure under a hot sun had her fanning herself with a scented handkerchief.

“Shall we go down to the Yards, Your Majesty?” asked Bertie, extending his arm to Adele as he stood. Adele fought not to grimace at the idea of heading out into the heat again and closer to the fresh manure. “We can look at all of the horses more closely and I’ll introduce you to our rider on Blue Streak. I imagine Golden Pride, the St. Lucidis stallion, will be down there too, which I suppose you have an obligation to look over as well.”

Adele did smile this time at Bertie’s feigned indifference to the St. Lucidis offering. She had no doubt at all that he was already very familiar with the pride of the St. Lucidis’s Family stables.

The children begged to come with Adele to the Horse Yards where the champions were all tethered. A thick crowd had gathered at the bottom of their pavilion and Adele had to ask QG Pepper to carry Aaron and QG Leith to hold Natalie so the children wouldn’t get stepped on. She took Stella herself as the baby was getting fussy having to miss her nap and only wanted her mother.

The crowd cleared a narrow path for the Royal Family as they made their way over to the horse yards, cheering good-naturedly and calling out to the children, forcing Adele to nod and smile in return, despite how uncomfortable the celebrity made her.

In the yards the horses had been lined up, facing the crowd and their trainers were perched up high on chairs with long stilt-like legs. Each trainer had a metal megaphone which they used to great effect haranguing each other and trying to drown out their competition. The language and the humor was slightly coarse as the ritual shouting and bragging of the horse trainers whipped the crowd up into a competitive fervor, but it was very amusing.

Adele was so preoccupied with the entertainment that she didn’t really register Stella struggling to get down to her feet, and then pulling her hand out of Adele’s. It was only when she heard a loud scream that Adele realized her baby was gone. It had only been a matter of seconds.

Frantically, Adele searched the crowd of people packed in around her until she saw that all eyes were on the enormous stallion Golden Pride, who was stomping and snorting in the ring, her tiny Stella standing directly beneath him. With a shriek, Adele threw herself under the fence but before she could take another step Adele felt herself pushed out of the way as Captain Lucky stepped in front of her, and slowly approached the horse. “Get back, Your Majesty,” ordered Lucky in a low voice. “I’ll get her.”

“Careful boy, he is going to rear if you spook him,” said the trainer from up on his perch. Adele noted the man’s white face and felt her heart contract with fear.

Captain Lucky ignored the advice and advanced on the horse as its eyes rolled to the whites and its tail flicked aggressively. Lucky crooned quietly, keeping his stance relaxed and calm as he reached out a hand to let the animal catch his scent. Still crooning, he reached under the horse, his shoulder sliding against the horse’s neck, and quicker than the eye could follow, he had snatched the little girl up into his arms. Lucky leaped back, rightly anticipating that the motion would startle the already-nervous stallion and Golden Pride reared, whinnying in fear at the strangeness he’d just encountered having a little girl crawl under him.

Adele was pale and trembling with fright as Captain Lucky brought her baby back over to her and they all climbed back through the fence. Incredibly Stella was giggling in his arms and trying to hold the face of her rescuer in her little chubby hands. When he bent his face to hers she planted a wet kiss on his cheek. It was only when Stella saw Adele’s stricken expression that her bottom lip began to tremble, and she put her arms out for her mother.

“And the Princess has awarded her brave Captain with kisses!” shouted Bertie to the silent crowd. A cheer started to swell, until the sound of a thousand people shouting for joy was all Adele could hear. Unfortunately, her heart was still frozen with shock. She looked at Lucky, and saw sympathy in his clear blue eyes.

“She is alright, Your Majesty.” He kept his voice low and caught her arm gently, as she started to sway a little. “The children will never be in any danger when we are here to protect them, I swear.”

Adele cast her eye back to the rearing horse as three stable hands tried to get him under control. Captain Lucky had risked his own life to save Stella just now.

“I can never thank you enough,” she whispered and gripped his hand, but Lucky only bowed in response and stepped away as Adele was suddenly enveloped by a flurry of hysterical Royal ladies, all excited beyond words by Stella’s near death experience. Whether it was the multitude of perfumes that surrounded her or the horrible fright, Adele started to sway again and see dots before her eyes. She pulled Stella tighter to her chest as a hundred hands stroked and petted the both of them.

An arm went around Adele’s shoulders just as she was starting to panic, she turned quickly and looked into the lavender blue eyes of Lady Olivia, who gave Adele’s shoulders a squeeze before turning back to the jostle surrounding them.

“Let’s move this crowd!” cried the young woman in a very un-ladylike voice. “The Queen needs air. Move away, for the love of the Goddess! People, please! Stop gawking and move!”

Still shouting, Lady Olivia managed to pull along Adele and shepherd the other two QGs, Pepper and Leith who were still carrying the older children, out of the fields and back through the gardens of the manor. The further they got from the horse yards the thinner the crowd became and the smell of horse manure finally abated.

Back in the house, their group was joined by the General and the rest of the Queen’s Guard who followed them to a quiet courtyard room. The Queen’s Guard waited as Lady Olivia settled Adele and the children with hot tea and biscuits and after checking that Stella was indeed healthy after her incident, they left the room to give Adele some peace.

The room was light and airy and Adele finally felt the cold fear melt its grip on her insides as she watched Stella playing happily with her older siblings. Her baby really was okay despite the terror of just a few minutes ago. She took a deep breath and let the giggling of her children soothe her.

Adele looked over at Lady Olivia, who sat holding her cup of tea and smiling at the children playing. She was younger than Adele, maybe no more than nineteen or twenty, but she seemed older than the other young women of the Court because of her poise and confidence. Normally, Adele found women as beautiful and glamorous as Lady Olivia intimidating, but there was something so fun about Olivia. Her quick wit and sweet laugh made Adele feel like perhaps they could be real friends one day and not just servant and Queen.

“Thank you for your help just now, Lady Olivia. That crowd was getting just too much for me,” Adele smiled shakily as Lady Olivia gave her a pat on the shoulder, and poured her more tea.

“Oh, it was nothing, Your Majesty, where I’m from we are used to being loud and obnoxious!” Lady Olivia laughed. “Back home on the farm.”

Adele realized suddenly how little she knew about the people who worked for her. Lucky’s bravery today and Lady Olivia’s care made her feel ashamed she had never inquired more closely about who they all were, and where they were from.

“How long have you been at the Court of the Golden Palace, Lady Olivia?” Adele asked.

“I had only really just arrived before you yourself, Your Majesty,” she replied. “I had been invited to stay with my Aunt Oliphant in the St. Lucidis quarters. My aunt is the Lady of Templeton, on my Father’s side, of the St. Lucidis Templetons.”

Lady Olivia saw Adele’s eyes glaze over as she recited her pedigree and smiled. “It doesn’t really matter! Anyway, I was working as her lady-in-waiting for just two weeks before I met you at the Coronation ball and you invited me to apply for the position of dress designer in your entourage.”

Adele scrunched her forehead, trying to remember actually doing that. “I did, did I?”

“Oh, yes, Your Majesty. You said you needed help with your Unisian fashion sense, and you liked my dress, the purple one?” Lady Olivia didn’t seem to mind Adele’s confusion. “I took my portfolio and approached Mrs. Ollenby for the job. She is quite a formidable lady and I was so nervous in the interview. I believe you hadn’t mentioned our previous conversation, so I had quite a bit of convincing to do, let me tell you.” Lady Olivia giggled. “But I won her over in the end!”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” said Adele firmly, putting any doubts to rest. “Now I’ve got someone to help me with all of those massive gowns that were sent from the palace. Not all of them were your choice I imagine.”

Lady Olivia laughed and the sound reverberated around the room. “Are you thinking of that hideous pink one with the puffy roses across the shoulders?”

“I am,” nodded Adele with a grimace.

Both women laughed in easy comradery.

“I’ll fix it for you I promise, Your Majesty.”

Just then Aaron started dancing a little jig and chewing his bottom lip in what Adele called his “Wee Dance”. “Sweetie, do you need to go?” she asked him and sighed at his vigorous headshake. Why did her son always have to deny his need to go to the bathroom?

“I’ll take him, Your Majesty,” offered Lady Olivia, getting up and taking the little boy’s hand in her own. “We’ll be back in just a moment, won’t we, Aaron?”

Adele settled back in her armchair. It was so rare for her to be left alone with just her daughters for company these days and she soaked up the moment of peace before someone came in to ask something of her or insist on her leaving the girls with their nannies.

The girls were happily tracing patterns from the carpet onto sheets of paper with pencils, and Adele was relieved to see Natalie sharing so nicely with her baby sister. Looking out the bay window Adele could see the roses in full bloom climbing over the walls and mossy stone of the outside courtyard. It was so pretty here at Belvoir Estate. The shade of the trees outside sheltered the room from the worst of the afternoon sun and the open windows let in a cool breeze. The room was so private and quiet that as the girls fell silent, concentrating on their work, Adele could hear the murmuring of male voices, outside her window in the courtyard.