(Morning after the coronation, The Queen's palace)
At exactly five o'clock in the morning, Emily walked in Her Majesty's chambers to wake her up and get ready for the day. She did this every morning, exactly at the same time, just as she was instructed on the first day of the job. It was rather simple, the first step was going into the drawing room and opening all the curtains and windows. The next step is preparing the morning tea while letting Her Majesty sleep a little longer. That required her to go downstairs and take a silver platter with the tea set that she had already prepared before coming upstairs. By the time she had done that the other maids and staff were already getting to their position and slowly started preparing to do their job for the day.
The staff of the Queen's palace always started their work early, it was not because they had a lot of it, actually the Queen's palace had the least staff assigned of all the other palaces, but they always started working first and also finished with work first. Last week was an exception because of all the preparations for the ball and guests, so most of them worked in other parts of the palace and not just here.
Today a banquet will be held at the main palace dining room so they will also need to help with preparations and cleaning afterwards. The laundry room will also be stuffed with endless piles of dirty sheets that need to be washed. Emily usually helped with that regardless of her duties for the day. It was a part of the job she enjoyed, a task that she was no longer required to since becoming Her Majesty's personal maid. But she started with laundry duty when she first came to work at the palace, so it has a special place in her heart.
The chef had started preparing breakfast in the kitchen, she was a middle aged woman thin as a stick. Emily greeted her when she came down to take the tea and hurried back upstairs to wake her mistress who was probably already awake and waiting in the drawing room for her to come and serve her morning tea.
In all the years she had been doing this job, Emily didn't have to actually wake the Empress up a single time. At first she was worried that perhaps she was too loud while airing out the room, but later she realized that the Empress just woke up on her own much before she even came to do her job.
Emily entered the drawing room with the tray in her hands and set it down on the usual spot next to the window by the chair in which the empress always sits.
She stood in front of the door of her bad room and tidied up her uniform before entering.
"Good morning Your-" She stopped with the door wide open and covered her mouth in order not to scream. The white sheets of the empress's bed were covered in bloody spots and stripped down from the bed. "Your Majesty?" Emily whispered with her voice shaking.
She carefully entered the room while looking around. The bed was empty and all the windows in the room were closed.
"Your Majesty?" She called out, this time louder. On her tiptoes Emily went deeper in the room and saw the bathroom door wide open. The voice came out of there.
She couldn't understand what it said, Emily came closer, a sound of water splashing was caught by her ears.
One more step and she saw Her Majesty in the bathtub, sitting with her knees close to her chest.
"Emily." The Empress said quietly.
Her heart sank when she spoke. "Yes- Your Majesty." Those words almost got stuck in her throat.
The Empress wasn't looking at her, she was looking down at the water. Emily didn't need to come closer, she saw clearly from where she was standing.
The water was red, a soft, bland shade of red, a shade of washed off blood.
"Burn the sheets." Her Majesty said.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And the nightgown." Emily only then noticed the beige nightgown sitting on the bathroom floor, she didn't need to look in order to know its back was covered in blood.
Emily took a deep breath and took the gown into her hands. "Should I call the High priest, Your Majesty?"
This is not the first time this has happened, Emily already knew the answer but she still needed to ask.
"No, I will get ready on my own."
"Yes, your Majesty." Emily bowed and quickly went out of the chambers, she picked up the bloody sheets and wrapped the night gown in it.
It is easier to explain it this way.
Emily's heart never stopped racing, the image of the Empress in the bathtub, sitting in red colored water was still playing in front of eyes, her pale body curled up and her white hair still stained on the bottom where it came in contact with the wound that now wasn't there.
It happened again.
Emily clenched the sheets closer to her chest, she couldn't hide the blood no matter how she folded them. And in this hour she can only pray not to bump into anyone who will ask questions.
Unfortunately gods don't usually listen to her prayers.
*
"Emily, what is that?"
Princess Neftali, wrapped in a robe over her nightgown, just entered the hallway leading to the staircase to her mother's chambers. She bumped into a maid just as she came around the corner. It was Emily, a personal maid of her mother. She was holding a messily folded bed sheet with bloody spots on it. And the direction she was coming from was that of her mother's chambers, nobody resides there besides her mother.
"Why is there blood?" Neftali dug her heels into the ground. She could only see the blood splattered over the white fabric and Emily's face white as a ghost.
"You Highness, Good morning." She bowed and looked down. Neftali was just about to repeat her question when she got up with a soft smile on her face. "It is nothing to worry about."
"What happened to my mother?" Neftali got a step closer to her. Her hands were starting to shake. Something happened last night, she got sick again, that is why she left so early, it must be. Could it be that thing again? The same thing that happened just two weeks ago? Could someone have hurt her? There are a lot of strangers in the palace now, when someone is determined to commit a crime nothing can stop them.
"Her Majesty got her monthly." Emily smiled again, this time more natural. "Are you on your way to visit her?"
Neftali looked at her for a long time, not sure if she could believe the words the maid said. "But mother-" She stopped herself, Neftali wasn't even sure if it were true, but from what she knew her mother hadn't had her menstrual cycle ever since she gave birth to her. At last she answered. "Yes."
Emily was patient, calm. "I would let her rest a little longer, but perhaps you would like to share a cup of tea with her? I have just brought a hot teapot to her room. I can prepare some light breakfast for you too if you would like that, Your Highness. "
Neftali got lost in her thoughts, barely listening to what the maid said to her. She was almost sure her story wasn't true.
"I will visit her, there is no need for all of that."
"As you wish, Your Highness." Emily bowed and quickly continued her way down, probably to the laundry room.
Neftali hurried to her mother's chambers. The door was closed but she didn't knock, it was like fear and calmness were fighting in her. She didn't know what to think.
Slamming the door wide open with her heart in her throat, Neftali saw her mother sitting by the powder table and brushing her hair. The room was filled with the scent of bath oil.
Mother stopped brushing her hair and looked at her. "Good morning Neftali." She had a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?"
Neftali took a deep breath and closed the door behind her. It is best not to tell her what she thought. But she also felt too uncomfortable to ask and confirm what the maid had told her.
Her solution was to come and hug her mother. Like a child after a bad dream.
"My dear is everything alright?"
Neftali sat in her lap, even though she was already too grown to do that. It was needed in order for her to check something. She hugged her again, taking the chance to look at her mother's back while her hair was out of the way. There were no marks like the last time.
Neftali felt like she could finally breathe again.
Embarrassed, she got up and sat on the sofa. "I had a bad dream, that is all."
Her mother kept silent for a few moments, not sure what to say exactly. "Would you like to talk about it?"
Neftali shook her head. "I have already forgotten what it was about."
The truth is that she did have a nightmare, just a few minutes before she came here, Neftali was sitting in her bed covered in cold sweat and not sure if she should get up or not. Just thinking about the nightmare she had woke her up and made it impossible for her to fall asleep at this early morning hour.
She heard her mother's slippers dragging across the floor until she sat beside her.
"Are you sure?" She took Neftali's hand between hers. Her touch was warm, very warm.
"Yes, mother are you alright?" Neftali looked at her with seriousness.
"Me?" Mother smiled, "Of course I am alright."
Before she could even think, the words came out on their own. "Emily told me you got, your monthly."
Mother stayed silent for a moment, almost as if she didn't understand what her daughter had just said.
"I thought you could not get it."
It was like it clicked in her head. "It came back not too long ago. Abigail's tea managed to heal me."
That sounded like the most truthful lie Neftali had ever heard. It made sense why it could be true, but it did not sound true.
"I see."
Neftali chose not to believe her, but also not to play dumb. There was no possible way she could have been cured and not tell her. Neftali knew the story well. While giving birth to her, mother suffered from severe blood loss, she lost so much blood that both the doctor and midwife knew she would not survive. After she managed to recover they said she will never be able to have another child, that her womb was too damaged to ever carry a child ever again.
With that and mother's flare up, that Neftali saw for the first time, she just couldn't believe that story. She is sick and they are hiding it from them, both her and Iyan. Neftali had no doubt in it. How else can one explain all of this?
Just two weeks ago Neftali saw her mother trembling from the pain in this very room, she saw the bruises appear on her back in real time, she saw them change colors within minutes. It was like she felt the pain on her own skin from how vivid that sight was.
And still she got no more explanation that, 'that happens' and 'it is normal', a thing like that cannot be normal, it must be caused by something. Sickness of some kind. Her mother is sick and nobody wants to admit it.
Neftali's heart started racing again. But the warmness of her mother's touch quickly calmed her down. She felt it around her heart, the comforting warmth.
"Shall we have breakfast together?" Mother asked to break the awkward silence.
"That would be nice."