"I beg your pardon your majesty?!" I exclaim in shock.
Bav places a hand on my hand and turns to his mother to speak. "She..."
Quickly she cut him off, "I asked her, not you Bavarthos."
"No your majesty, I am not." I respond, my back straight and tense as I sit looking to her.
"I can smell Bavarthos all over you. You have been intimate before marriage." She says this with a curl to her lip, like a bad odor was under her nose.
My jaw drops as I'm flabbergasted at her bluntness. Heat flows through me, flushing me with embarrassment.
She can tell that we've made love?! No wonder she asked if I was a whore!
Tears threaten to form in my eyes and I quickly feel Bav's hand on mine. He squeezes it to give me strength, making me glance at him. His eyes are full of warmth with his light, sad smile towards me that quickly hardens turning to his mother.
"I pushed the issue your majesty. She is no whore, of that I know is absolute truth. We are in love and will be married soon enough. Why does it matter, as long as she does not become heavy with child?" His voice is calm as he takes full blame for the matter.
The queen looks at us both and just laughs, cackling cruelly to our reactions, "I care not if she was a whore or not. All I care is whether she loves you, prince Bavarthos."
Her voice becomes breathy, annoyed, and done with the matter. "So dry your eyes, girl, I may have cruel means, but my intentions are for the better of my child."
She clutches her brow, in pain, "I am weary."
I glance to Bav to see what his reaction is to his mothers statement. His firm clasp of my hand reassures me that I have him to protect me, if need be. I quickly dab my eyes with the napkin, and drop it in surprise as I look at his mother changing.
Her hair grows long and rippling from black to silver and grey. Her skin becomes wrinkled, resembling dried fruit and becomes covered in age spots.
She raises her head and I notice her intent stare at me. "Do I frighten you dear?" She asks me noticing the frailty in her voice, but her aura was far from frail.
"A.. I.. Yes, your majesty. A little bit." I avoid her gaze, still startled and confused at what I had just witnessed.
"Good, having a little amount of fear is wise. It will keep you wary." She picks up the fork and begins to eat from her plate.
"Delicious, Anana." She praises Viekar's mother and continues to eat as Anana beams with pride. Bav gestures for me to eat as well, as everyone else at the table has started to do so. However, I have lost my appetite.
I have never had the slightest idea that I would meet his mother of all people and go through such a roller coaster of emotions. She loved me and was so excited for us, to are you a whore... I push the food around on my plate, only taking small bites here and there lost in my thoughts. I still have the phrases are you a whore, and I can smell Bavarthos on you, you two have been intimate before marriage, repeating in my mind.
"Is the food not to your liking, dear? Anana is a wonderful cook, I would have thought you would eat well just like the rest of us?" I look to Bav's mother, Lirael, who's back to the one that loved me before.
"No the food is delicious, I just am without my appetite at the moment." I muster up a smile, which only makes hers fall.
"Did something happen earlier?" She looks around at the others sitting at the table. Everyone is silent at the moment. The silence is too much for me, so I stand to be excused.
"I'm sorry your majesty, please excuse me." I curtsy and hurriedly walk out and up the stairs to Bav's room. I let a few tears fall along the way and by the time I arrive at his bathroom, they've all but dried.
I turn on the faucet letting the white noise of splashing water over my hands calm my hurt heart. Splashing my face a few times, I blindly reach for the towel to wipe my face off. Finding it, I pull the soft fabric over my face taking a deep breath and look into the mirror.
"OH MY ELEMENTS!" I jump back in fright seeing Lirael standing there.
"I apologize my dear, I did not mean to startle you so." She says with a slight frown.
"It's quite alright." I quickly add, chuckling awkwardly.
She approaches me closer and begins. "My dear, I'm sorry for what the other parts of me said, especially the youngest one. I do not care what you and my son have done, you love each other and that is enough for me." She comes closer, opening her arms in a gesture to come closer and in doing so, she hugs me firmly.
"I know that this is an awkward and interesting situation my family is in and goes through. Most likely confusing too." She pulls back from our hug and she rubs my cheek in the palm of her hand. "Don't worry about what those two say, I am the true Queen and Bav's mother. Whatever I say, goes. They are too stubborn or too arrogant to realize it though." She smiles warmly at me and pulls me into another hug.
This time the hug feels familiar and has me relaxing. It feels like my own mother was holding me again. Feeling tears trying to well up in me again, I open my eyes to see Bav, with a small, caring smile watching us while leaning against the entryway.
We pull back from one another and she rubs my arm, "I'll be leaving now, I have some things I must attend to. I will try to see you again before the wedding." She leans forward and kisses my cheek before going to Bav and saying good bye to her son.
She snapped away and I couldn't help but let out a big sigh. "I do not know how to handle your mother's other personalities. You really believe she has no qualms that we have already been intimate? What will your father say when she tells him?" I shudder at the possibilities of our future being full of family quarrels because of it.
"She said she did not, so she does not. Please do not let the Erlking's opinion trouble you. My mother will not tell him anything. She does not speak to him since the curse was cast on her." He pulls me into his arms and kisses my forehead.
"Do you regret being intimate with me now?" His heavy question reverberates from his chest.
"No, but I have no desire for anyone to look down upon me as well." I hold him close to me, using his strength to help center my emotions that have been up and down all day.
"So anything interesting happen today?" Bav asks, making me laugh out in irony.
"You mean other than meeting your mother?" My laughter fades as I think, "Yes, apparently, Mr. Thorn knows someone is stealing but hasn't discovered who it is yet. He seems to be playing innocent to Iris."
"Of course he would." Bav hums in response.
"I'm sorry if my mother upset you, Rakara. She really does like you." Bav moves a curl away from my face, caressing my cheek in doing so.
"It's alright, I like her too. It's the other two that I don't care for." I sigh taking in a shaky breath.
"What's the matter, my love?" Bav looks over me with concern.
"Her hug.."my voice breaks as tears start to try and reform. I take a shaky breath to calm myself, "It felt like my own mother was holding me again. If only for a moment."
Bav pulls me closer to him again, comforting me as I try to center my emotions. I'm feeling silly, sad, embarrassed, and confused. I've let my emotions get the better of me and I needed to focus.
"I'm fine now, Bav." I say pushing away from him. "I need to do an activity to refocus my thoughts." I turn thinking of the book I was reading earlier.
Bav quickly slides up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and breathes heavily into my hair next to my ear.
Huskily, he tells me, "I know of plenty of activities that we can do to refocus your thoughts."
His tone, his breath, it all sends shivers down my body as I release a moan. His hands slide up from my waist to cup my breasts, firmly squeezing them through my bodice.
"Is this helping you to refocus your thoughts?" He purrs down my neck kissing it softly.
My heart flutters as my core tightens and moisture collects in between my thighs, aching to be touched. I reach a hand up to the back of his head and pull his head to meet my lips in a kiss. I pull back from our kiss and whisper to him.
"Oh, they are focused now."