The Matter of Heirs - Preview 5 (Patreon)

Last update was August, and I didn't get very far since then. As mentioned in other posts, life has been pretty heavy lately. I've been glad that there's been Mini-Comms to at least keep some work flowing, but especially this December, with how things started, it was pretty rough.

That said, Tahu's mini-comm was requested as work on Heirs, with a preview. The story is still in its heightening climax, but this has been a good week or so of buckling down and getting good work done. It probably won't be finished for a while yet, but it's shaping up how I wanted it, which is more than I can say for some prior projects. Without further ado though, the preview of the beginnings of voted girl Ermina's courtship with the queen:

"The breakfast table was lonesome the following morning. Worse, the queen could not find her appetite, stirring the specially prepared meal with her utensils and a blank stare across her features. This had not gone to plan, was the entire venture a matter of futility? “I cannot do this”, the words were still echoing in her mind, amidst a silence so prevailing one could hear the movements of the kitchen staff from the dining table.

“I heard Lady Nataliya fled the castle?” a voice came from the hall, not her staff, but familiar enough to have Queen Severina turn her head.

It was Ermina, done up what such nobility as them would consider lazy; just a simple dress over her chemise to appear presentable. Speaking fairly, Lidia was not wearing much better. She had sheathed her weapon after sating her needs, and not bothered to sit and be dressed beyond her first layers.

“You heard correctly, Lady Ermina,” the royal returned her gaze to her plate, finding her cup in her fingers and swirling it just to feel the wine move about. “Are you wanting to depart as well?”

The olive-skinned prospection walked forward, pulling out a seat for herself close to the queen. “No,” she answered, laying her hands in her lap, “I have more conviction than that, your majesty.”

“Please,” Lidia sighed, “I am hardly worthy of that title this morning.” Her gaze turned, to meet the woman sitting at the table with her. “Is there something you needed, daughter of house Cesarina?”

The dark-haired girl kept her chin high, even in the face of the queen’s pessimistic tone. “No, I simply heard Nataliya had left,” beneath the table her fingers curled into her half dress, her look drifting away, “and wanted to ensure that you were well.”

After a day analyzing her blonde flight’s shyness, it was odd to recognize it of her west-born suitor. Through their initial meeting Ermina had exuded confidence, even defiance. This was something of a new side of her, and after the events of last night, it was not inspiring to see.

“Your courtship begins tomorrow, Lady Ermina,” Queen Severina informed her flatly, “I will be well enough then.”

She went pack to her morning meal, rolling spiced vegetables over one another with her spoon, to shine from the still juices seeping into the plate. She certainly did not expect an olive hand to come up and stop her with a tight grasp.

The very notion was shocking, taking Lidia aback. No one touched her like this, so forceful with the sovereign. It brought her head back up with a start, with more energy than she’d had for this entire morning.

She was met with Ermina’s well-bred features, the same determination in her eyes as when she’d first met the queen; that mixture of challenge and measure. “I would see you well today, Queen Severina,” she told her, pulling her chair closer that she could reach the plate as she stole the royal’s utensils. “You need to eat, you would be doing me a disservice not to be at your best for our courtship.”

Without permission, she began to slice the well-spiced meal, making a bite that she cradled with her hand, awkwardly, and brought forward to the bronze beauty. “You see to it your concubine eats properly. If I have to, I will ensure you do as well.”

The queen sat in stunned silence. The brazen audacity of it, as this girl sat before her, staring her dead in the eyes with a spoonful of diced vegetable in her face. Yet, in spite of this, it was respectable.

Lidia came forward, her chin touching her suitor’s hand as she took the bait, feeling the spices on her tongue at odds with how cold the meal had gotten. Still, she chewed, and swallowed before opening back up to let the burn off her tongue. “I seem to have waited too long,” she breathed out, “This is not to my liking without a good reason to stomach it.”

Ermina got to her feet, hands flat on the table. “Then I will ask the chef to prepare something else. What would you prefer, your majesty?” she asked.

“You do not-“ the queen began, only to lift her head and see that gaze once more upon her. This was happening, regardless of any protest she had. “Bread, cheese,” she mused, mulling over what her stomach was calling for after two days of catering to her guests, “and some eggs,” a common food, but she was craving the simplicity.

Her olive prospective did not judge her for it. She simply gave a nod that tussled her dark locks, and turned towards the kitchen door to relay the queen’s word." - The Matter of Heirs by Madam Materia