The trip back to the capital was quiet and understated, as the king requested. It was to keep the Queen's last hours with family instead of making it a state affair. To honor his request, she told the statue to make himself scarce unless needed.

Leena made it in long enough to share a brief hug with her mother, and both shed tears about years lost. Then the queen relaxed enough to pass, knowing that her family had been reunited.

What there hadn't been was time to find out what her mother had written her over the years. That would be lost in death.

Andrej wasn't as golden. His hair had thinned some, but not enough to call him bald. In his grief, he gathered his wife into his arms and sat silently on their bed, weeping. Their private physician hovered nearby.

Laszlo was tall and thin, much like Leena was. He didn't stay still long enough for her to take his changes in, like father did. He dropped his pitch to not disturb the king. "Why haven't you written us?"

"I had an interfering servant who kept conveniently misplacing correspondence." Leena didn't see the point in hiding all the history of Iva, as the truth was more convenient. But years of being half-starved, how she won in the end? Those were her own worries to keep between her and her betrothed. Probably half his camp suspected. They weren't here, spreading whispers of demons and madness to the king.

"Well, I hope she was discharged from her duties." Laszlo ruffled his sister's hair. "Let's step out and see that fiancé of yours, leave dad alone for a bit."

Leena nodded, still sniffling. Knowing her betrothed, he waited in the halls, as he was both family and stranger alike. After years of helping lords on the northern borders, she knew that they would start clamoring for dominance soon. Queen Nadia's burial wouldn't stop them. The only reason she wasn't an easy card to play in their gambles was due to one very incompetent husband to be.

Unless she let the statue free.

It was tempting, for her to run away and do everything for herself.

So Laszlo and Andrik spoke of the years that passed, while Leena studied both of them. They loitered until the physician called the duke into their mother's chambers.

Leena let her brother lead her to his favorite hiding place, one he had discovered since she left home.

It was a small, secret room that overlooked what was usually called The Lord's Hall. That is, a petition room, where servants waited on those who had status but couldn't barge into the King's presence.

"Well, this is unexpected," Laszlo whispered.

One loud boor's voice (perhaps Juzny-Vietor) boomed above the grumbling. "Why are you still setting out to petition King Andrej to take on a new wife? Nadia is dying, but he's been stubborn about additional women since his father's murderous ways. It's saved your daughter's lives that he ignored them."

She noticed that he had dropped Mother's honorific, showing his disdain for her heritage.

"Then what do you suggest? We can't wait for the son to grow into a man. Who would marry off a boy barely in his teens to a grown woman more suited for Andrej himself?"

"The daughter..."

"Is the same age."

"Your wife was 13 when you married her!"

"Aye, and she died in childbirth because she was too young! I do not want my sons to endure a child!"

"It's all hopeless. She's betrothed to that young fool, Andrik Vrchovina."

"A lord of no lands. If my informant is correct, the man has no interest in the girl. Perhaps he'd even let a worthy man abduct her."

"You're speaking treason!"

It felt like the conversation took hours, but the hushed whispers were rapid and fierce. They didn't want to be caught making plans on the eve of Nadia's death.

Laszlo whispered, "It looks like dad isn't going to want you to stay and deal with them."

"I think they're going to try something when we leave."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about with Duke Andrik there."

She didn't think that she'd have a problem, even if the duke was the one who died. The thought of having these scheming men as her family did make the negligence of her fiancé seem far more appealing.

Even worse, she was wondering if she should run away with The Cup of Madness. After all, it...he was more open with her than most anyone else in her life.

~~~

They stayed in the castle for 3 days as the embalmers took their time preserving the queen in her crystal coffin. It was a casket, but the lid had viewing ports where she could be seen for eternity.

The king sat wedged between his children, and she, in turn, was stuck between father and future.

A simple reception, afterwords, to feed those who had a long way to travel. Then the nobility would disband for a week to let the family mourn in private.

In theory.

Nobles who had conspired to negotiate over Leena's betrothal spent an inordinate amount of time hovering around Andrej. Some who had not been there distracted Andrik.

But it was the young men who flocked to Leena that made the situation feel so surreal.

Yet again, the negligence of her fiancé felt better than this fawning. She had to escape. The only excuse that worked was to go to the powder room—not that she needed to repair a thing.

Instead, she made it out onto a balcony, but not alone. Yet another one of these motherless noble youths lounged, waiting. If he had not schooled his features, she would have run back inside.

Leena stepped to the opposite side of the balcony, as she wanted space, not intimacy.

And so, he moved closer. "The whole lot of them are acting desperate."

"It matters not." The princess stood motionless, not wanting to give him any interest. She wondered if he would call this move desperate. "Father is hardly likely to change the betrothal for anyone weaker than the duke. If he chooses to dissolve it, that will be without a new husband in mind."

"You're certain of that."

"Trips are long and boring, and my stiff fiancée rode in the carriage with me." She turned to this persistent man and looked his face over. The mark of Lord Smetikakat was heavily ingrained in his fishy face. She felt instant disgust for him. "He is sufficient. I've no interest in finding someone else to connect with."

"Who said a connection was necessary?" The man gripped her shoulders and leaned in for a kiss. It was not a surprise that his breath reeked of alcohol.

Her heart skipped a beat, bugs danced in her stomach, and she felt her face flush red as she pulled away yet got nowhere. Fortunately, this wasn't a world where this was misconstrued as the first feelings of love. She knew it was panic, and fear crept in to replace the disdain.

Before she could figure out a response—as she knew she didn't want her mouth open this close to him—he was ripped away from her.

Leena braced one hand on the balcony and the other against her chest, feeling her heart beat in its cage.

The statue bit into young Lord Smetikakat's skull. The man screamed against the creature's hand shoved in his mouth. The sound was over quickly, as he spat out the top and buried his face in the man's brains. His lewd ingestion was the only sound. Even the night's insects knew better than to make noise in the monster's presence.

While the fool's life was rushed, her savior took forever to feed. It wasted far more time than she could explain, if caught. She was relieved when Andrik was the one who shifted the curtain and strode out onto the balcony. Anyone else would have called for a priest.

"For the love of all that is holy, why are you eating?" The statue refused to acknowledge him. "Leena, why is he eating a person, now?"

"Smetikakat's son tried to force himself on me. It's not the first time he's protected me from that."

The duke shook his head as he pulled Leena's arm into his, but his words were for the monster. "Clean up after yourself. We need to be publicly seen."

It was eerie how her fiancé turned on the false charm as they wheeled around the room. She knew he was upset by the balcony scene. To make matters worse, snide comments about their age gap seemed to be the common attack of the night. It was from people that she knew would place sons hardly any younger in the duke's stead. Her betrothed handled it all with an indifference that spoke of having endured these fools for too many years.

But it was a lot to keep up with, and soon she felt tired instead of smothered.

Instead of the bed that she had hoped for, the carriage waited. She stomped her foot and threw her head back with the strength of a toddler who needed sleep. "Why now?"

Andrik shook his head. "Get in, and don't alert people. I'd prefer to not have to add to the number of men slain today."

He helped her into the carriage and handed her an envelope. "I'll deliver your letters to you from now on. Don't try to read this in starlight. And there will be an attack tonight, so summon your monster if I fail. But I would prefer that there be dead bodies left as witnesses, this time. He cannot eat every person who pisses him off."

To censure their behavior, he went about it mildly.

And he couldn't ride in the carriage with her because there were 3 attacks, of which he was the victor.