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“How quaint. I really thought you would have set your sights a little … higher.”
Cha
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, I’ve been thinking more about Earthen politics, lately. Rather against my will, I admit. It’s impossible not to when all the families go on and on about this biological warfare they’re pla
“You are a model of patience,” Levana deadpa
“Well, I’ve been seeing pictures of the royal family from the Eastern Commonwealth and … I’m rather intrigued.” She tried to take the child’s bottle away, but baby Selene whimpered and reached for it, pulling it back into her mouth.
“The royal family? Isn’t the prince only a child?”
“A toddler, yes.” Cha
“Unfortunately, I do believe he is already married.”
Cha
“I think it is nice every time of year, depending on the hemisphere.”
Cha
Sighing, Levana shook her head. “Never mind. That baby is going to spit up all over your dress, you know.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sick of this one. I’m sick of all of them, actually. Nothing in my whole wardrobe fits anymore, and I know it will just get worse if I end up pregnant again. It will be a full-time job for my seamstress. I’ve been thinking I might have her feet removed, so that she has nothing better to do.” Her eyes sparkled, like it was a joke.
But Levana had seen that sparkle before. She was not so sure that Cha
* * *
Queen Cha
Five months after their conversation, she did indeed have her seamstress’s feet surgically removed, and the seamstress had not even recovered enough to get back to work before it was all for naught.
At the age of twenty-five, Queen Cha
It was a disease that commonly afflicted those in the outer sectors, due to a lifetime spent breathing in the dust from Luna’s caverns, but it was so unheard of among the aristocrats—and certainly among the royal family—that doctors had never even considered it a possibility, even when Cha
The mystery was never solved, but Levana had a theory that her sister had been sneaking away to the regolith caves under the city for some of her romantic rendezvous.
The funeral was similar to that of their parents, and Levana’s feelings were rather the same.
Princess Winter and Princess Selene attended, dressed in royal garb as befit their stature. Selene, now one year old, received kisses from a lot of strangers, but between the two, it was Winter who received the most compliments. She was indeed a very pretty child, and Evret was right—she was taking more after her mother every day.
Evret offered to work, guarding the queen’s casket as it was carried through the streets on its way to be buried in a crater outside of the domes. Levana asked him not to. She’d hoped he would agree to stand by her side. To be her husband. But it didn’t work. To him, duty came first.
The little boy who belonged to Sir Clay was there too, almost four years old now and pale blond as ever. He tried to teach the wobbly-footed girls how to play hide-and-seek among the pews, but they were still too young to understand.
Levana pretended to cry. She was assigned the role of queen regent until her niece’s thirteenth birthday, at which time Selene would take her throne.
Twelve years.
Levana would be queen for twelve years.
She tried very, very hard not to smile until the funeral was over.
* * *
“Head Thaumaturge Haddon is retiring at the end of this month,” said Venerable A
“I’ve been thinking I would recommend Sybil Mira.”
A
“Sybil has thus far excelled at the responsibilities given to her regarding gathering shell children.”
“Oh, no doubt. She is very capable. But her inexperience—”
“And I believe that she earned a second-tier rank at only nineteen years old. The youngest in history. Isn’t that true?”
“I … am not honestly sure.”
“Well. I appreciate her ambition. She is motivated, and I like that. She reminds me of myself.”
A
“We will see. I have a month still to consider.” She smiled, but then she spotted Evret down the hall. He was one of the guards waiting outside the conference room. Seeing him, she felt herself deflate. No matter how confident she became in her role of queen regent, every time her eyes fell on her husband, she felt like that same love-struck sixteen-year-old girl all over again.
She hoped to pass a smile his way, but Evret did not look at her as he and his comrade pulled open the doors.
Wetting her lips, Levana stepped inside.
As the doors shut, the family representatives stood. Levana approached the dais where the throne stood.
The queen’s throne.
This room was among her favorites in the palace, and her appreciation for it had increased drastically the moment she’d first taken her seat in that magnificent chair. The room glinted and shimmered, all glass and white stone. From her position, she could see all of the members of the court seated around the intricately tiled floor, and directly opposite her was the magnificent view of Lake Artemisia and the white city.
Sitting there, Levana truly felt like the ruler of Luna.
“Be seated.”
Chairs were still shuffling as she straightened her spine and gestured leisurely at Head Thaumaturge Haddon. “You may proceed.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I am pleased to report that your experiment regarding strict work hours in the outer sectors is going well.”
“Oh?” Levana was not surprised, but she pretended that she was. She had read a study from Earth a few months ago about how efficiency and productivity dropped without regularly scheduled breaks. She suggested that they program chimes to sound at regular intervals in the manufacturing domes, to remind workers when to take mandatory breaks, and then extend the workday to cover that lost time. The court had not been sold on the strategy at first, worried that it would be too difficult to enforce such a drastic increase in the workday, and that there were already complaints of the people being overworked in the outer sectors. But Levana insisted that, with this new schedule, the days would in fact go faster, and the solution would benefit everyone, the workers most of all.