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“Strange. You had no friends?”

“Only Melvian.”

“What about your education?”

“I was homeschooled.”

“You had a private tutor?”

“My mother and father were my tutors.”

Valda frowned. “That’s it? Two tutors? Your father was a soldier, what of your mother?”

“She was a homemaker.”

Valda pursed her lips then dipped her head in acknowledgment. “And yet you do not sound inarticulate.”

“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult to my parents.” Maris raised her eyebrow and turned to Valda, who seemed to be panicking.

“Forgive me. I did not mean—”

Maris chuckled. “It’s fine. I read a lot too.”

Maris leaned to the side and grabbed hold of Argo’s reins. Once again, Maris thought that the smartest thing was to change subjects. Even as she is getting comfortable with Valda, she still didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell her everything. She pulled Argo closer to her black mare and decided to go back to the conversation at the meeting.

“What I still do not get is, you claim to be loved, yet General Arwin talks about a possible coup.”

Valda got tense; her upper lip twitched in annoyance. “And?”

“Are you not scared?”

“There is always going to be a threat of a coup. No one is going to be fully content with how things are going. I do not expect that, yet I am sure that if I go to the south, settle the rebels, purge them, these rumors of a coup would disappear along with them.”

“Or you could also rethink your taxing system,” Maris said, shrugging. “Maybe this coup idea has some roots there? Maybe if you start taking care of the most vulnerable in this society things can somehow settle down.”

“You were raided by Skylians, yet you speak as if you have been hurt by the taxing system,” Valda said. When Maris took too long to respond to her annoyed tone, she insisted, “Well? Have you?”

“I think everyone is angry at the taxing system.”

“But there is something more…”

“My father was a soldier in your army. After his death, me and my mother were pretty much abandoned by the crown. My mother was unable to work, I had to step in and help. I— I was too young,” Maris stuttered, her emotions amassing as a knot in her throat.

“Abandoned? We never abandon our soldier’s family.”

“I thought that too…” Maris wished the conversation was over. However, Maris knew that Valda could get all the answers she wanted, she was the queen after all.

Before Valda could ask her another question, the mouth-watering smell of food filled Maris’s nose. The queen pulled on Argo’s reins and subsequently on Maris’s mare.

“Do you smell that?” Valda asked, breathing out contentedly.

Maris raised an amused eyebrow before inhaling and sighing in pleasure. “Oh, yes I do.”

“Please, tell me we are near Lasmeer’s.”

Maris had heard about Lasmeer’s. Lasmeer’s was a small kiosk near the center of Ophelia Plaza. Melvian had talked about it more than once, and had told Maris that she wanted to take her there to indulge in their grilled meats with bread.

Maris turned enough to see the entrance and the smoke coming out of the kiosk. “We are. Do you want to stop here?” she asked, but the queen was already down from her horse. Maris didn’t waste a second. She jumped down and quickly grabbed hold of Valda’s forearm. “You should wait for me.”