A PLEASANT smile lined the former queen’s lips, but her hands were clenched tightly, nails biting into her skin. she was growing tired of the act, answering the endless onslaught of questions from the gathered nobility, reassuring them that everything was just fine, nothing to concern yourself over when they all knew she was lying through her teeth. “will you excuse me for a moment?” she said, cutting off the person she had been speaking to, rising from the table hurriedly and entering into another, presumably empty, room. her eyelids fluttered closed as she rested her head against the cool wall, savouring the brief moment of solitude before a sound broke the peacefulness.














