Chapter Two

As Lilah walked into the Ivory Room, she was first hit by a cloud of smoke and then the smell of blue lotus. The sweet, earthy scent of it in the air made her stomach roil painfully. The burning flower had become inexplicably linked to the cabinet in her mind, as the men were always puffing away at the lavender petals. The habit had almost been enough to make the queen detest flowers all together.

There was a table in the center of the otherwise empty room, and Lilah knew all the cabinet members were huddled around it, but she would not look towards them yet. The walls with carved ivory, as lavish as they were unnecessary, but there was no sound bouncing off them, not even the sound of breathing. Unlike the room with Lilah's throne, the Ivory Room was unadorned by pictures of past royals and there was no carpet or warmth to be found. Although there were windows that reached as high as the ceiling and as low as the floor, there were always curtains pulled across them. Lilah resisted the desire to push the fabric aside and let the sunlight warm the room. Moving as intentionally slow as she could, Lilah poured herself a glass of water and then she finally sat herself into the great seat at the head of the table.

The queen had not yet addressed the men when Boris Moss spoke without preamble. "Your Majesty, I'm afraid there is a very pressing matter to attend to."

The queen looked down the table to the man and her hands clenched the fabric of her dress under the table. "By all means, Sir Moss, please share."

Moss was a plump man who always chose tight clothing, and he had served as head of the cabinet for longer than Lilah had been alive. The man moved higher into his seat as he prepared to speak and it pleased Lilah to see the his dark hair was thinning, though he tried hard to hide it. His chest stuck out further than his nose as he said, "I'm afraid there have been reports of riots throughout our capital city, Vidan, and in a small town to the northeast called Midrouge."

Anger flared through Lilah, but she chose to bite the inside of her cheek rather than roll her eyes. "Sir, I know where Midrouge is. It is the home of the Church of Boneel and a sacred place to our people. I need no lessons about mine own land. Please," She continued, "tell us why these riots have been happening." At the request, the men around the table glanced back and forth between themselves, but not even the pompous Moss volunteered to explain.

"Now." Lilah demanded.

A black haired man with a very quiet voice who Lilah had come to know as Sir Lile, leaned forward and cleared his throat. "It is a subject of the utmost delicacy, Your Majesty. It involves an order that called for the execution of six false Noduvs."

For the first time during the meeting, Lilah felt something more than annoyance. Her chest tightened and suddenly she did not feel like leering at the men. The queen's voice was level when she said, "Sir, tell me what happened."

"As you know, Queen Lilah, there has been a surge of false Noduvs through our kingdom. Most claim they can summon animals for slaughter to feed themselves and their families." Lilah nodded and he continued. "The false Noduvs conjure monstrosities then butcher them and pass the meat as typical livestock. When people eat the meat they grow extremely sick, sometimes even fatally so. All of this is gruesome enough and does not speak to the evil that happens to some of the false Noduvs themselves..."

Lilah raised her hand to stop the man from speaking. She chewed on his words for a moment, aware that every person in the room was regarding her as she did so. The queen knew very well of the poverty which was sweeping through the villages of her kingdom, the desperation it was causing. Delladine was small and always struggled growing crops, as a few bad rains would leave the land too wet to farm. The price of food was always rising and the people were always growing poorer.

Suddenly, the queen remembered that Lile had said the execution of false Noduvs. Her eyes blazed and bore into anyone who dared make contact with them. "The people are desperate, they are not criminals." She said, her nails digging into her lap.

"Th-the act itself sometimes turns the imposters who practice it into unspeakable creatures. We have taken measures to ensure there will be no false Noduvs conjuring in Delladine to prevent this from happening to our people." Lile squirmed as he said the last sentence.

Lilah's eyebrows lowered and she addressed Moss again, knowing somehow that it was he who was responsible. "What measures?"

Moss, with a replenished sense of excitement, bellowed the answer. "We have declared that anyone caught conjuring Noduv in Delladine without the official authority of The Crown or Cabinet will be executed by hanging." His hands tugged at the collar of his jacket with all the pomp of a peacock.

Despite herself, Lilah let her gaze flicker to Bleu who was standing post at the door and found him staring back at her with his eyebrows drawn in concern. She thought about Marian's reaction when Lilah had brought up Marian's Noduv son and now understood it. Her chambermaid was afraid Lilah would have her son executed. The Cabinet had been passing orders right under Lilah's nose, and even worse, it was all in her name. Already her mind was trying to find ways to fix things, turning possibilities over in her head, little pebbles that seemed feeble against the wave of harm these men were causing.

"Noduv magic is a part of our people's belief system. It's sacred." The queen finally said and she tasted blood. No one had the nerve to answer their queen. Lilah looked around furiously but she felt as stupid as she was angry. They had outplayed her, outmaneuvered her. The cabinet had been pacifying her like a child who wanted to sit at the adult table for supper but then was told to leave when the cigars and brandy came out and the real business had begun. Lilah's naivete had led to people being killed and it was in the name of their queen.

"What has any of this to do with the riots here in Vidan?" Lilah asked.

Sir Lile began to speak again, everyone else sat still as stone. "There was a strange occurrence at one of the public hangings, Your Majesty. You see, four of the people condemned to die were hanged with no problems, but the ropes of the fifth and sixth men snapped."

Lilah looked between Moss and Lile as if she was waiting for them to burst into laughter and tell her it was only a joke. "So the rope was of poor quality or the noose wasn't tied properly. This seems of little consequence." Said Lilah.

"When the ropes snapped, the men fell to the ground and a priest from the Church of Boneel along with other believers dragged the men to the church and declared sanctuary, Your Majesty." Lile continued, his voice an eerie half-whisper.

"How did the men get past the guards? I'm assuming there were some posted at the hanging?" Lilah asked.

"That we do not know. Apparently the scene was mayhem. Boneel followers believe it was an act of their god, a miracle if you will, so they helped the men escape to the church. Mobs of people have formed around the church and are chanting their support for the false Noduvs."

Lilah did not think there were gods anywhere, and if there were, she certainly didn't think they concerned themselves with the goings on of man. However, she couldn't help acknowledging the events would seem like a miracle in the eyes of the devout. "It's certainly unusual, but I do not see why the riots have spread to Vidan."

Moss slammed a fat fist onto the hard table and Lilah's hand instinctively touched the blade strapped to her thigh. "Because it's an outrage!" The man squealed. "These heathens who worship a false god and are practiced in some sort of witchcraft cannot evade the law like this. Vidan will not stand for such an injustice!" Several men nodded along to his speech, showing the queen they were not statues after all.

A white hot fire crawled up Lilah's spine and she could no longer see straight. She thought of Marzonna, wise and talented Marzonna, who had practically raised the queen since she was eight years old. Marzonna who conjured flowers to keep in Lilah's room all year round. Marzonna who often created medicinal herbs and serums to help the poor that could not afford doctor visits. She was no heathen and neither were the other Noduvs. Even the false Noduvs were poverty stricken people who were merely trying to feed themselves and their families. Lilah had heard stories about the awful things that could happen to a person if they used Noduv improperly. Marzonna described it as being poisoned from the inside out until they finally perished. No one would risk that fate unless they were living in complete desolation.

"Do not speak of what you do not know." Lilah snapped. Instantly all six men and the two guards standing at the door looked at her with shock on their faces. "If it is injustice you are concerned with, perhaps we should discuss the shortcomings of the people here in the city of Vidan. Tell me, Sir Moss, is it not your proud family who has neglected to send a young man from each generation to serve as royal guards as the law requires from Cabinet members?" Lilah pushed on as Moss raised his chin but did not offer an answer.

"Sir Penwik, if I'm not mistaken, every night after supper there is a particular yellow-haired woman whose company you pay a handsome fee to enjoy whenever your wife is away." Penwik's ears flushed red and his jaw seemed to unhinge. "As for the rest of you, I know there are transgressions not even your vast supplies of money can completely hide. It would serve you all well to remember there are many people who evade the law, yourselves included. As far as these riots are concerned, I and only I, will decide what is to become of the two men in question."

"Your father had laid out plans to further discipline Noduvs of this kind, Your Majesty." A redheaded frail man by the name of Andrew Peaver said and enunciated 'Your Majesty' as if it were a mockery. "Perhaps you should follow his guidance. The law is very hard work and many women have found it to be odious. Allowing us to see to late King Gordon's wishes would be of more convenience to you."

Lilah looked at him with sharp eyes for a long moment until he looked away from her gaze and focused on his hands. "How fortunate am I to have a cabinet so besotted with worry for my well being." The room was in complete silence until she continued, "I am Queen of Delladine and I would rather lay down my life than abandon my duties to the likes of you. I do not know what women you could possibly be speaking of, but no matter is too small, too hard, or too odious when it comes to taking care of my people. Do rest assured gentlemen, life as you know it will soon change." Lilah leaned back into her chair and looked at the men with lazy consideration. Her eyes rested the longest on Borris Moss, who seemed to be angrily quaking from the inside out. "You are all on this cabinet by the grace of my father, your late king, but you will remain here only by the grace of your new queen. It would do you all well to remember that. As for the two survivors in Midrouge, I will pardon them."

Everyone in the room gaped at Lilah as if she had just burned down a village. Many of the men's eyebrows were pressed into their hairlines, Moss regarded her with ill hidden disgust, but it was Bleu's expression that she could not place. There was little evidence of any emotion at all, only the tight line of his mouth and his knuckles white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. Lilah regarded him for only a moment longer before she turned her attention back to the table and found the cabinet members still stuck in place, by either shock or fury.

"This meeting is over." She swiped her hand through the air to illustrate she was done with them.

Many of them blinked a few times and then slowly left the room, none of them talking but they were looking back and forth between themselves. It was Moss who was the last to leave the table. Seated directly across from Lilah, he burned his gaze into the side of her face for a few more moments and then pushed his seat back with so much force that it clanged to the ground. Lilah only spared him a sideways glance before he turned and stomped out of the Ivory Room and shouted "Foolish little girl!" until he was no longer in earshot.

When all the men had left the room, Bleu dismissed Van, who looked quite amused, and took a seat next to Lilah. He did not say anything, but he did regard her as she stubbornly stared at the wall across the room.

"You know we must pardon those men, Bleu." She stated. "We will go to Midrouge at once, and I will pardon them myself. It's the only way I can show the Delladine people that I'm on their side. If it comes from anyone else it will seem insincere."

Bleu nodded once and placed his forearms on the table. "That will be rather challenging, Lilah. Especially considering you will be leaving the palace to six men whom you have just embarrassed and infuriated." He said, casually.

Lilah turned her head to him and said, "I was not out of place."

"Pardoning the two men will not change the law. If you do not want this ruling to stand, you must find a way to control the false Noduvs of your own accord."

"I am the law." Lilah stated, even she could hear the feeble way her voice rang.

Bleu did not say anything for a long while and Lilah finally felt the need to add, "I will think of a way to stop the false conjurers, but I will need to sway the people to my side before I try anything."

"That is wise." The officer nodded.

"We will leave tomorrow. You and I and- and Marzonna."

Bleu stood quickly and so clumsily that his chair almost toppled. "No." It was a quiet defiance, but the man's body was taught with anger.

"She will come. Not only will she demand it, she will also be helpful. We may run into trouble and need her healing work and the people may accept our arrival better seeing one of their believers on our side." Lilah had known that was the case the second she decided to travel to Midrouge. She also knew exactly what she would have to say to sway Bleu. "Marzonna would be safer by your side than in the awful palace alone."

Bleu clenched his jaw so tightly that Lilah thought his teeth would crack.

"Very well."

"We must do this." Lilah said softly and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"You are putting everyone in a great deal of danger for these two strangers." The officer said with acid in his words.

"The events of that execution made those two men the representation of everyone like them. So long as they are prisoners in their own church, their beliefs are imprisoned in their own kingdom. It must be put to an end."