Chapter 38

The servant walked into the queen’s room with Marchelle's lunch and dropped it on the floor, along with her open mouth, at the sight of the two women at each other’s throats.
The crash of the food tray made both of them look at the servant. They slowly let go of each other. Iris continued eating her food as if nothing had just happened, and Marchelle composed herself before sitting at the small table by the window.
The servant fell to the floor and picked up the mess, and left to go get yet another tray of food.
Iris ignored Marchelle’s eyes on her, not aware that Marchelle was studying her every move.
The servant arrived back in the room with Marchelle’s food and took a deep breath before entering the queen’s room.
She slowly approached the table at the window and then she saw what was missing from princess Marchelle’s tray, ‘the small vase with a flower in it.’
“What is the matter?” Iris questioned, looking at the servant that had frozen in her place.
“I forgot the vase with a flower in for princess Marchelle’s tray,” the servant said with her eyes averted.
Marchelle gave out a sarcastic sigh that was matched with a chuckle from Iris.
“Just put the food down,” Marchelle spat.
The servant placed the food tray on the table and, with shaking hands, set it in front of Marchelle.
“Can I bring you some wine, your majesty?” the servant asked.
“No thank you, just some freshwater please,” Iris said.
“You can bring me some wine,” Marchelle ordered.
The servant bowed her head and knees and hurried off.
While they ate in awkward silence, the queen’s (Iris) lady-in-waiting presented Prince Remington, “Prince Remington here to see you, my queen.”
Iris rolled her eyes with a sigh, “show him in.”
Prince Remington entered the room. “My apologies. I didn’t know you had company.”
“I have not yet had the opportunity to thank you for saving my life,” Iris said with a kind smile.
“I am just happy that you are still with us,” Prince Remington said, putting one foot out with his one hand across his chest and bowing his head.
“You don’t have to be so formal around me,” Iris chuckled.
“I came to inform you that my parents will arrive soon and I am sure my mother is eager to see you again,” Prince Remington stated.
“As I am her,” Iris said, hiding her worry, wondering just how close the real princess was to Remington’s mother, a queen herself.
“Good. I will bring her to your room then. I have two of my servants here to fix up the sitting area,” Prince Remington said, signalling towards the door for the servants to enter.
“Thank you,” Iris said, hiding her shock, wondering, ‘just how high are the queen’s standards?’
“I will leave you then until later,” Prince Remington bowed again before leaving.
“Was he this formal with Cerena?” Iris whispered to Marchelle.
“How should I know? I never actually saw them together,” Marchelle said without care, and took a sip of wine.
Marchelle pressed her napkin to her mouth and stood up without a word.
“Where are you off to?” Iris questioned.
“I can’t spend my whole day with you. I have to help the king entertain his guests and oversee everything is perfect for tomorrow,” Marchelle said and walked off.
‘Can’t believe they are getting married on the same day that my son is being introduced. I wonder if I should suggest putting the wedding off today, if he will? He seems pretty much in love with me again and maybe it will be easy to bend him just a little?’ Iris thought, feeling sad that he was not coming to this conclusion by himself.

Prince Evander, the fifth, woke up and cried.
“Should I bring him over?” One of Prince Remington’s servants asked, just as the queen’s lady-in-waiting walked into the room.
“I will do it,” she said, and picked the little prince up.
“Give me some privacy,” Iris requested them to leave.
The servants bowed their knees and their heads and left the queen’s room. The lady-in-waiting shut the door and sat across from Iris, “Prince Remington is taking over the place.”
“Let’s not speak about such things, lady Nina. The walls have ears, as you know,” Iris said, and put her baby to her breast.
“I admire you so much. You must be the only queen in the world to breastfeed her own child,” Lady Nina said with a smile.
Iris looked down on her son, his complexion darker than hers. ‘Princess Cerena would not have liked your complexion, which is more like the King’s, but I am glad, as it makes me feel you are more mine,’ Iris thought and wondered if his complexion would have been even darker if he came from her own body.
“Your majesty?” Lady Nina questioned, the tears rolling from the queen’s eyes.
“I am going to miss him so much,” Iris cried.
“Then don’t go. Let the king break his word. Why should you suffer?” Lady Nina questioned, angrily.
“Keep your voice down,” Iris said, wiping her tears.
“Forgive me, my queen. I speak out of turn only because I hate the way the king has been treating you. You should take your son with you and never come back here,” Lady Nina said in all seriousness.
“You are right, you do speak out of turn,” Iris warned her, as she didn’t like what she was getting at.
“Should I send for your servants to get the bath ready for you so that you can wash up to receive Prince Remington’s mother?” Lady Nina asked, standing up.
“Yes, please,” Iris said and positioned her baby to wind him.
“I suggest the royal blue dress?” Lady Nina confirmed.
“Also bring the wine red one and then come watch at the window for their arrival. I want to know the color of her dress,” Iris said.
Prince Remington’s servants entered the room again and finished up as the queen’s own servants arrived to prepare her a bath.
“We will return to oversee the room one more time as the queen arrives,” one servant said, and left.
“The water is ready, your majesty,” the queen’s servant said.
Lady Nina returned and left the two dresses on the bed before taking the prince from Iris’s arms.
Iris’s servants helped her out of her dress and lend an arm to get her to the bathtub; Iris hopped on one foot.
Halfway through her bath, Lady Nina notified her that Prince Remington’s parents had arrived. “They are here. She is wearing blue,” Lady Nina said.
“Then I will wear blue as well,” Iris said, and signaled her servants to help her out of the bath.
“I will go put the red dress away and come back to help dress you,” Lady Nina said, and picked up the red dress.
As Lady Nina opened the bedroom door, Prince Remington’s servants walked in. “Queen Reina Spencer and King Remington Spencer have arrived.”
Both servants averted their eyes to the ground when they saw the queen was naked.
Iris’s servants helped her to her bed and dried her off.
“Put on the red dress,” one of Prince Remington’s servants suggested.
“Red is queen Reina’s favorite color,” the other added.
“Then why is she wearing blue?” Lady Nina questioned.
“She only wears blue,” one servant stated.
“It is King Remington’s favorite color.
“I see,” Lady Nina said, and waited for her queen to decide.
“Red is also Prince Remington’s favorite color,” one of his servants said, thinking that Queen Cerena would want to please him.
“Blue it is then. It is King Evander’s favorite color,” Iris said sarcastically.
Lady Nina walked away, not too happy that her queen was so in love with King Evander since she felt he had no respect for her and did not like the fact that he was sleeping around with his stepsister.
When Lady Nina returned to help her queen get ready, she was not too happy to discover that she was just about done and ready to receive Queen Reina.
“Fetch some wine,” Lady Nina ordered one servant.
“I will take Prince Evander the fifth for a walk in the garden,” Lady Nina said, about to pick him out of his crib.
“No, let him sleep,” Iris insisted.
“You two can go. The room is perfect,” Iris said, sending Prince Remington’s servants out.
Lady Nina was about to leave when Iris stopped her. “Lady Nina, please stay.”
“Yes, my queen,” Lady Nina said and stood aside, near the open door.

"The king himself receives us," Queen Reina remarked at the sight of her nephew.
"I want no trouble," King Remington said, putting her in her place.
"Maybe if you had a back bone, our son would have been married to princess Cerena and her parents wouldn't have had to hide under our roof," Queen Reina said
under her breath.
"Why dont you shout that out the top of your lungs for everyone to hear?" King Remington said before opening his arms to his nephew.
"Evander, or should I say King Evander?" King Remington greeted, embracing King Evander.
"Evander is fine uncle," King Evander recepicated the embrace.