"I've thought of a way to help Millie."
"Good morning to you, too," replied Gorogon with a skewed smile. He rose and pulled out Luvenia's chair for her.
She kissed his cheek. "Sorry, thanks, good morning."
"Now have something to eat before you reveal your master plan to me."
He signaled to a servant, who laid out Luvenia's breakfast and promptly left the room.
"Also, I want to know how everything went yesterday."
Luvenia had just taken a sip of tea. It took a great deal of effort to swallow it when Gorogon kept grinning sidelong at her.
"It was fine." She tried to sound casual about it. "We talked a little. We kissed a lot."
Gorogon choked on a bite of food and started coughing. Luvenia thumped his back until he caught his breath again.
"You aren't allowed to die like this. It's unbefitting of a king."
"Don't worry, I won't." He took a gulp of water and cleared his throat. "I refuse to give anyone an opportunity to frame my wife for murdering me."
A chill crept along her spine. "It's inauspicious to joke about that sort of thing."
"Really? I usually feel better about the possibility of something bad happening if I can laugh about it."
Luvenia considered this briefly. "If it helps you, then it's fine—but I don't like it."
"Well, I wouldn't want to upset my lovely wife."
He changed the subject, running through the day's schedule while she caught up on breakfast. They had a lot of administrative tasks to go over together before his meeting about the proposal from Alatir.
"You're welcome to attend the meeting, of course."
"No, thank you, but have fun with Lord Neulen!"
Gorogon looked faintly ill. Luvenia laughed and set down her fork.
"Ready to go be queen?"
She smirked. "Darling, I was BORN to be queen."
***
Being queen involves more paperwork than one might think. As Middewold accorded equal power to both king and queen, Luvenia was responsible for half of what Gorogon had been managing alone since his ascension.
By lunchtime, Luvenia had a slight headache and a cramped hand, and she and Gorogon had debated, argued, bickered, and sniped at each other passive-agressively about nearly every item on their mutual agenda.
"I can't believe this is my life now."
"What I can't believe is how much you're enjoying it. I'd never before seen anyone grin from ear to ear while discussing adjustments to the tax assessment code."
"This is the first time in my life that I've actually been important. My judgment, my opinions, my knowledge—they all matter!"
"Mad with power already?" He let Luvenia drag him down the hall. "Perhaps I ought to be worried. You might decide I'm in your way."
"No—no, that's the best part!" She looked over her shoulder at him, glowing with excitement. "You and I are equals, so when we disagree you don't just ignore or ridicule what I say—you tell me why you disagree, and we talk and fight and compromise—because we're on the same level, we can work together and decide the best course of action together!"
Gorogon laughed, not unkindly. "If you're happy, then I'm happy. You're already a great queen."
"Thank you, darling. You're a wonderful king." She bounced lightly as she led him into the dining room. "I'm actually looking forward to the next council meeting!"
"All right, now I think you're just strange."
***
Instead of relaxing over lunch, Luvenia, bursting with energy, pelted Gorogon with questions and ideas. He took them all in stride, only pausing when necessary to forestall speaking with his mouth full.
"What if we had one of our knights make contact with Millie's husband?"
"That's a thought... but there's no guarantee he'll be among the knights sent to the border. Try the salmon, dear."
"We could have Millie write a letter to him. Then, even if he's not there in person, our knight could give the message to one of his colleagues."
"The letter would have to be carefully composed to get the message across without being obvious to anyone but the intended recipient. If you're not going to eat that croquette, would you mind if I took it?"
She impaled it on her fork and held it out to him. "I think we could do it. We're brilliant, you know."
"Thank you, my dear."
"We can talk it over with Millie after your meeting. Now I wanted to ask you about the midsummer festival."
"Already?"
"It's only eleven days away!"
"Very well. Ask away, but have some asparagus."
"I want to give the maids the whole day off, if I won't need them. Do we need to make an appearance?"
"Traditionally, the king and/or queen opens the festival with a brief ceremony. I remember it being longer when I was young, but for the past few years it hasn't been long at all. At least finish your soup!"
"If there's a choice, brief is better. No one is coming to the festival to listen to the monarchs."
He laughed and tossed her a roll of soft white bread. "Fair point. We'll just ride over to Forester Square in the morning, say that we hope everyone has a good time, and leave."
"I'll have Millie help me prepare, then let her take the rest of the day. Do we need to work on midsummer?"
"I think we can leave all but the most pressing matters for the day after. My father usually finished his work early on festival days so we had time for a leisurely supper and a few games after."
"Games?"
"Chess, noughts and crosses, charades... whatever we felt like doing, really." His smile was tinged with sadness. "He always made an effort to spend time with me on festival days. I don't know if I ever told him how much I appreciated that..."
Luvenia had no response for this. She had no fond recollections of her father, and even her mother's warmth and kindness were only distant memories.
To alleviate the awkwardness, she applied herself to her lunch. Everything Gorogon had recommended to her was delicious, but the dishes had cooled while she had been talking.
Gorogon stirred from his nostalgic reverie when she set down her fork. "Pardon me, my dear. We were discussing our plans for the festival, weren't we?"
"Yes." She had to brace herself to say what was on her mind. "I'd like to spend as much of the day as I can with Hanna. Midsummer is her birthday."
"Is it? Lovely! Of course, you ought to be with her for the occasion. I can take care of anything that needs to be done on the day."
"Thank you, darling."
Even when they were alone, she found it easy to speak affectionately to him. It was almost like a private joke between them.
"Now that I think about it, we didn't celebrate your birthday while you were in Alatir."
"I was there from the beginning of summer to the end of autumn. My birthday is in spring."
"Really? Mine's the fifth day of the first month of spring!"
"Mine is the fourth of the first!" He looked positively giddy with delight. "Thank the gods, I'll never forget my wife's birthday!"
Luvenia burst out laughing. Gorogon smiled fondly at her across the table.
"Speaking of birthdays..." He looked away, cheeks reddening. "I suppose we ought to talk about... having an heir."
"Yes." She couldn't meet his eyes, either. "I've thought about it, and... I think... we should talk to the doctor."
"Really? I'm not exactly her favorite person since... our first night."
"I've actually taken that into account. We can use her opinion to our advantage."
Gorogon didn't look terribly pleased at the prospect, but he nodded, still avoiding eye contact.
"When should we consult her, my dear?"
"Let's wait until the envoy from Alatir departs. One crisis at a time."
"Good thinking." He pushed away from the table. "Ready to get back to work?"
"Absolutely. Ready to meet with Lord Neulen?"
His answer was just a defeated sigh.