Heartrianne.
The queen's mind echoed and echoed. The name was familiar. Did they have a claim to the throne as well? If the queen were to die and her heir were to die as well, would that clear the way for Heartrianne to take the throne? What about someone who was close to the Heartrianne family?
Was it possible?
Or was the cautious queen just questioning the wrong things?
Was Duke Heartrianne just an ambitious man who wanted to be close to the reigning monarch?
The queen hated that she had not checked these things up.
Simply ensuring that the duke could not enter her court did not ban the man completely.
She had done it in an indirect way. Personally, banning the Heartrianne family from court for no reason would make her look paranoid and weak. She could not do that. She never showed weakness. That was the way she ruled.
But now, her indirect approach had failed.
One of the duke's daughters had gained access to her palace while sleeping with her foolish son.
The queen wanted to give the boy a big slap across the face. When he entered her dining table, she would.
"Anything else, Selic?"
"Yes, your majesty," Selic leaned down again to whisper in the queen's ear, "The tournament's winner had been added to our knights. He is going about his regular day. His name is Alaric Stormdew and the captains of the army are beyond impressed by his skills and fighting style."
"He is definitely strong then?" A thrill of excitement went down the queen's spine.
That man was a fine specimen. He was a sight for any woman's body to take an interest. His hair, his skin, his height… and mostly the energy coming off of his body. That of a wild animal hungry and ready to devour its prey.
The queen felt her skin tingle with excitement.
"Good," she told Selic, trying and failing to hide the thrill in her voice.
"Good."
"So has she talked to you again yet?" Elizabeth whispered harshly.
The twenty women had been left alone in a large, ventilated room. They had been given large books to read from. They had precisely four hours to finish the book. Dame Agatha would return to quiz them on the book to see who had the sharpest intellect and could converse the deep concepts on the book only having read it once.
The queen, the bevy of women had been told, had a sharp mind. She was smart and able to capture much at a glance. To be her companion day and night and not have her grow bored, the women would have to possess intelligent minds of their own.
"Are you referring to Dame Agatha?" Cassandra asked.
The women were left to themselves in the room, but the room was quiet so that the ladies could concentrate and read their books.
"Yes," Elizabeth whispered back.
Cassandra shook her head. The dark-haired beauty was quite upset.
She tried to concentrate on the page in front of her but her mind was unable to focus.
Had she messed up already?
It was only Day one of the test and she had been on her way to breakfast before she had slammed headlong into that handsome man. The whole hall had stopped to look at her.
Cassandra felt a small swell of shame in her chest.
That was definitely not allowed in court.
How embarrassing.
Dame Agatha, the other noble ladies and half the knights had stopped to stare. And none of them had said a single word.
Not that she would have noticed of course. Since Cassandra had been ogling the tall man for who knows how long.
Cassandra sighed and her friends turned to look at her.
She felt so embarrassed.
Why had she been so careless.
A lady, especially one that wanted to stand near the queen, had to be graceful at all times.
Her tutors had always drilled into her the importance of posture, grace, the tilt of her head and flow of her language.
What was the hurry anyway? Why had she been hurrying toward Dame Agatha. She should have just walked along behind Charlotte.
Something so out of nowhere would have never happened to Charlotte.
Cassandra was sure of it.
She turned the page blindly. Her eyes adjusted to the text, but she did not read anything.
Dame Agatha had scorned her for the rest of the morning. It was now the afternoon, and the older lady had pointedly ignored her even after giving everyone the assignment of reading the books.
Even the other noble ladies were giving her odd looks.
Cassandra stared at her book for a few more minutes before she made up her mind.
If Cassandra had been disqualified, Dame Agatha would have sent her home by now.
And if she was going to do it at the end of the day, Cassandra was not going to think about it.
The young woman had to win Dame Agatha's approval back and the only way to do that was to impress her more than the other women could.
It was fortunate for Cassandra that reading and discussion was the test of the day. Cassandra would not ruin such fortune.
She was extremely gifted at reading, retention and philosophical debate. It was the favourite pastime of hers and her mother when they were often alone together in their mansion.
Cassandra would use this tool to win.
Straightening up, she turned to the first page of her book and began to read again.
Her focus was returning and Cassandra hummed slightly to herself as she let herself get immersed into the book.
The words were becoming more and more legible to her and her mind took over swiftly.
A small smile began to touch Cassandra's lips.
She had read so many similar books in her life that the book in front of her felt simple and almost too easy.
An image kept interrupting her mind as she tried her best to focus on her book.