REYNA
Todayâs my first day as a Rose trainee. Iâm going to meet up with Sabrina in less than thirty minutes.
Iâm having lunch with Cassandra, then Iâll have to race all the way to the Roseâs Quarters to make it in time. Knowing my mother, five minutes will be more than enough company for both of us.
I sometimes wish I could just shove all my food in my mouth so I finished faster and didnât have to sit and listen to her criticize me for fifteen minutes straight. But that would only invite her criticism about my lack of etiquette and eating manners.
Lunch was supposed to be our bonding time, bringing us together, and reminding us that we are family. But itâs just a daily verbal lashing session for me.
I shake those thoughts away, not wanting anything to ruin my day. I tuck my shirt into my uniform pants and take a last look at my hair, which I had put in a high ponytail before leaving my bedroom for the dining room in Cassandraâs quarters.
My mother and Dr. Elizabeth were already seated at the dining table and in a deep, heated conversation when I walked in. My heart pounded when I caught the tail end of their conversation.
âI want those monsters interrogated soon. I donât care what methods either you or Lydia use. I only want results, and I want them fast,â Cassandra said.
âWe both know Lydia is not known for her gentleness. If she interrogates them thereâll not be much of them left,â Elizabeth replied.
âAm I supposed to care?â Cassandraâs face was a picture of cold indifference.
âNo, but you know whatâs at stake, Your Highness. All Iâm saying is I need more time to study them, thereâsââ
âReyna! Youâre late,â my mother said coldly, cutting Dr. Elizabeth off.
âIâm sorry, I just came back from my training and had to take a shower, wash all the sweat and grime,â I said.
âHmm, I hope youâll get your act together and not disappoint me, donât forget the people look up to you, especially at this time. You need to show them youâre strong enough to protect our queendom and lead them,â she said.
âI wonât disappoint you, Mother.â
âHmm.â Her smile was doubtful, but she didnât say more.
âHello, Doctor. Nice to see you,â I greeted the older woman.
âReyna, how are you today? I hope those monsters didnât scare you yesterday?â
I glanced at Cassandra and back to her. They were both staring at me, always watching, observing me for a sign of weakness.
âIâm good, thank you, and it was nothing. Iâm not that easily scared,â I replied, keeping my face neutral.
âIâm glad to hear that. Come visit me at the infirmary when youâre free. I feel like thereâs a lot you can also learn there as the heir to the throne. And Iâm only too eager to teach you all you need to know about these monsters. Also, if you feel sick or anything at all, come see me,â she said, smiling.
While Dr. Elizabeth had always wanted to recruit me as her apprentice, there was something about her offer today that felt different. âThank you, and I would love to learn from a great mind like yours,â I said.
Her presence always seemed to lessen the tension between us. Dr. Elizabeth was the chief medical director; she was an older woman, in her mid to late fifties.
She and Amara were two women I truly liked among the women that made up Cassandraâs council. I ate slowly, hoping they would continue their conversation so I could learn more about the beast.
After that life-altering dream I had, I felt like my whole life had changed in ways even I didnât fully understand. But I abandoned my curiosity and left for my next appointment.
***
Marlenia in the late evening is a sight to behold. That moment when the sun rises above the queendom and hits it with its light at just the right angle, with the mountains casting their shadows over the castle, the rolling green hills, and lush landscape, makes the scene serene and almost magical. Itâs the most beautiful sight Iâve ever seen.
One of my favorite things about Marlenia is the castle. The castle is a three-story building with four towers; it was built deep into the forest amid cavernous mountains, the largest of which is a backdrop to the castle.
It shielded Marlenia from three sides and dwarfed the castle like a giant monstrosity. Women and girls streamed together in groups of four, three, and six on the streets, all heading in different directions.
They were coming back from a long day of hard work. Some of the family units lived inside the caves of the big mountain.
Others lived in small, family-sized cabins built throughout the years a little distance from the Castleâthat was the village. I waved, nodded, and smiled at some of them.
Most of these faces were familiar people Iâd known all my life, with their grim faces and regimented lifestyle that no one wanted to change. They greeted each other with only a slight nod or a strained smile, just an acknowledgmentânothing more.
Their lives were nothing but hard work; they ate, went to their assigned places of work, did their job, and went back home. Maybe they watched the repetitive history of Marlenia that was always on replay, or the documentary on the outbreak on the only TV in the village hall, also known as the communal room, during the weekends.
On weekdays, most just went back to their homes and to bed. Slept and repeated the same tedious process the next day.
It was an endless circle and a sad existence. I hated the routine. I hated the uniformity, the mountains that prevented us from seeing the world.
I hated the rations, even if Iâd never suffered from it. I wasnât blind; I could see the hunger in Marleniansâ eyes.
I thought it was completely unfair that the people had to give away the food they hunted and grew to the queendom. But Cassandra had told me that everyone had to make contributions, and that the guardians and the Roses needed the food more, in order to better protect the people.
Sometimes I felt like Cassandra was right. Other times, I just didnât know. And the worst part of all this was, though they looked weary, they never protested against the change or unfairness of it.
They followed the rules and regulations without question; they never complained, because they believed the queen was protecting them. That my motherâs words would keep them safe.
Her words were the laws. It might also have been because this was all they knew.
It was all I knew too, but why did I feel like this wasnât how it was supposed to be? We werenât living; we were just existing, merely surviving.
It hadnât always been like this. I remembered a time when Marlenians were fun-loving people.
We helped each other, celebrated festive seasons together, and people protested against the queenâs decisions when they didnât agree with them.
But all that began to change a couple of years ago, when Cassandra refused to allow Marlenians to go outside the perimeters. And the people protested against staying within the perimeters because there was more game to hunt in the forest beyond the mountains than there was inside our barriers.
My mother had relented and given permission for the witches to lower the wards protecting Marlenia. The women who went out to hunt never came back.
They were killed by the beasts in such a way that even their families couldnât identify them. The guards could only bring back their torn remainsâor whatever was left of their bodiesâhome for burial.
I remembered seeing so much blood and gore it made me sick; I had nightmares for weeks after that. My nana was the only one who knew, because she always used to check on me during the night.
She was the one who had hugged me, in her warm, motherly embrace. Stroking my hair, lulling me to sleep with beautiful songs of a world long lost, until my trembling subsided.
That had happened ten years ago; I would be turning nineteen in three days. The body of the man I saw yesterday reminded me so much of that time, bringing with it nightmares that intersected with dreams of the beast.
The sound of a familiar machine snapped me out of my thoughts.
âHop on, Iâll give you a ride,â Dr. Elizabeth said, zooming her bike and smiling.
She was sitting on the back. An old thing that had seen better days and honestly didnât reassure me of my safety if I got on it.
âArenât you going for your Rose training?â she asked, arching her thin brows.
âI donât think your bike can carry us both.â
She chuckled. âI promise you this bike is reliable. Sheâs never given me problems in the long years Iâve been using her.â
I nodded. Choosing to believe her, I swung my leg over the bike and then sat my ass on.
The Rosesâ training quarter was located behind the village hall; you had to walk through the hall to get there. Though Iâd only been there once.
The ride to the village hall wasnât long, so we were there in no time. I jumped down from the bike.
âThank you, Elizabeth,â I said.
She stared at me for a moment, smiled, and drove away.
I frowned as I watched her go.