It was unanticipated,
Marlowe stirred awake, disoriented.
Her hands rubbed her sleepy eyes repeatedly to make sure of reality.
One moment, the massive dragon pet of the icy Lord was staring at her with eyes she could hardly fathom, but a shade that pulled strange strings in her heart.
And now, the other moment, she was just getting up from bed, with a feeling of lethargy and a heavy dose of confusion scaring her to death.
Tugging at her hair furiously, Marlowe immediately raced for the window. Surprisingly, the shutters were closed.
Yet recalling vividly, she was standing just there, just a few…
She couldn't even remember!
Doing the work of opening the shutters, the brilliant shining sun of dawn greeted her sight, it shone so bright, she had to squint her eyes to adjust it to the daylight.
It was unambiguous, with no sign of a floating, enormous dragon, flapping its large wings in the air, and staring at her with those chilly eyes.
Brows drawn together, with wrinkled lines on her forehead, Marlowe inspected the veneer once again, but there was nothing.
To her disappointment, a bleak sigh slipped past her lips. Letting go of the shutters, she strode back to bed.
"Could it be a dream?" she mused aloud, her brows furrowing in confusion and fright that she couldn't quite lay her hands on.
'Knock' 'Knock'
She jerked with her lips widening to produce a gasp.
"Your Majesty, may I come in?"
Marlowe recognized the voice to belong to Merkin. Chafing a hand on her chest to soothe her terrified heart, Marlowe voiced out a shaky reply, "Y—yes, you may,"
Without a second wasted, the door made a soft creaking noise and was immediately opened by Merkin.
"Lovely morning, Your Majesty," she greeted, walking towards the mini chair and table situated in the Queen's Royal chamber.
"Morning, Merkin," she softly reciprocated with her line of sight tracing Merkin as she lowered the tray of hot meal on the table.
"Breakfast, Your Majesty," Merkin stated, with a smile, seeing the young Queen's confusion painted so apparently in her eyes.
Marlowe recalled requesting for a late night dinner last night because the whole previous day, she had only had breakfast.
And once again, Merkin do not serve her breakfast by this time, instead readied her bath before meal, but today…
Her eyelids fluttered, blinking her inner turmoil to a corner, the line through her throat worked as she bravely questioned,
"Did something happen last night, Merkin?"
Merkin ceased from unliding the covered repast, standing up to look at the Queen with a slightly narrowed expression.
"You mean…the third Princess taking you out yesterday?" she puzzledly asked.
"No, not that," her hand gently swayed left and right in response. "I mean last night…when I got back," she ascribed.
There seemed to be an expression of thinking on the maid's face, before her eyes shone with clearity.
"Oh, you were injured on your right leg with a swollen heel, and bruises on your left,"
"After that?" not satisfied, she pressed for more.
"After that… Yes, after that, you had a bath and ordered a meal since you were hungry, and by the time I left for the kitchen, when I got back you were already fast asleep, I decided not to wake you because you looked tired, Your Majesty."
Marlowe nodded with hazy green eyes still plunging in thoughts.
"I hope I have done nothing to offend Her Majesty?" Merkin asked with uncertainty, judging from the Queen's lost expression.
"No, you didn't," Marlowe softly mumbled.
Her tongue ran against her dry lips when she looked at Merkin again. "You didn't notice anything else?" she probed, her eyes begging for clues.
Confused, "No, nothing, Your Majesty," Merkin denied.
Exhaling breathily, Marlowe nodded, before slowly strutting back to her large bed to sit.
Ignoring the breakfast on the table by the corner while her mind was drowning in introspections.
Seeing the Queen was disturbed, Merkin reluctantly left to go get her bath ready.
Meanwhile, all this added up to Marlowe's once shallow suspicion—something is definitely wrong in this Castle. Not the Castle alone, but her personal Royal chamber as well.
***
After cleansing with a bath, Marlowe then decided on having the untouched meal which definitely went cold after all the vapor had vanished from it.
The hunger she ignored inevitably made her regret it. She scurried the food to the extent the maid was scared for her.
"Your Majesty, please b—" Merkin hadn't even landed her statement when…
"Cough, cough"
Fits of coughs broke through the silent room, and of course, it belonged to the Queen.
Merkin hurriedly served her water and warned, "Do not rush it so, Your Majesty. It's very dangerous."
"Cough—I'm sorry—cough…" her glassy eyes leaked with shiny beads of tears.
Merkin sighed and let her finish off.
After that, Marlowe was escorted to her Royal class.
To her amazement, it was said that the tutor couldn't make it for no explicit justification at all.
It surprised her, but she couldn't mask the fact that she was happy about it.
A day's rest will go a long way as it was duly needed.
Not until, Berkel's hurried strides were caught approaching the garden where she was seated under the beautifully decorated gazebo.
"Your Majesty," she bowed, her breath hurried, evident that she half sprinted all the way to find them.
"What's wrong?" with concern ringing in her words, Marlowe polled.
She couldn't deny the fear the maid's expression instilled in her heart.
"News has reached the Castle, Your Majesty—" she paused intermittently, catching her breath and leaving Marlowe in a much dreaded suspense.
"the reason why the Royal tutor couldn't make it, is because she was attacked by a group of deranged mages."
"What?!" Merkin shook with a bewildered gasp.
"News of the mages infiltrating into Valcresh has spread across the Kingdom, the situation has become so rampant in the entire continent."
Saucer eyes casted with dread, Marlowe was struck speechless by the unexpected information.
She couldn't believe it…her fears had finally come to life!