A Court of Wolves and Witches: Rockwell Pack, Book One by Rose Gravestone

Author:Rose Gravestone [Gravestone, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

My morning is spent tending to Leisel—who, surprisingly, was kept occupied just fine by Greta in my absence. I’m starting to realize that Greta’s accustomed to playing nanny to any children in the palace, and Leisel seems to like her. While I’m hesitant to trust anyone other than myself with my sister, I understand that I can’t supervise Leisel around the clock and get work done, so I need to somehow ensure Greta’s loyalty lies with me. If I can trust that she’s my ally above Camden’s—quite the difficult undertaking considering the difference in our very species—I can breathe easy leaving Leisel with her.

In Aesara, Mariketa and Parker were my go-to for when I needed to leave Leisel somewhere for a few hours while running errands. In Kinrith, I have no one, and that’ll quickly become problematic.

So, I decide to take the familial approach—try to bring Greta into the fold, so to speak. I ask if she wouldn’t mind joining me for tea in my room while Leisel does her morning lessons, and she hesitantly agrees, muttering about breaking etiquette.

In one of the corners of my bedroom, a servant brings in a rolling teacart upon my request—I pay attention as Greta undertakes an elaborate ritual of picking out a selection of tea leaves from the offered dish, enclosing them in an oval porous metal device, and pouring hot water over it into a beautifully painted, rose-patterned teacup. I follow her motions in making myself a cup, much less gracefully than her, but functionally nonetheless.

“I assume there’s a reason you extended an invitation to join you, Your Majesty,” Greta murmurs, taking a sip from her steaming cup. “How may I be of service?”

Her posture is stiff, shoulders tense, neck corded, hands tightly folded over her lap, and her eyes are narrowed in speculation. She may have taken a liking to Leisel, but Greta is quite obviously not yet sure of me. If I seek to recruit her to my team, I need to solidify my intentions in her eyes. She may view me as an ignorant human for all I know; I need her to view me as an aspiring hardworking queen—which I fully intend to be.

I offer her a shy smile. “If you’ll forgive my boldness, Greta, in the last days I’ve found myself utterly lost in the ways of the palace—I feel as though my head’s spinning from the drastic changes in both scenery and custom. One thing I have managed to observe is that you seem to be very seasoned and versed in palace life and are something of an expert in guiding young royals. While I am by no means a child in need of round-the-clock care, I know very little of royal etiquette as I never received appropriate education, and you strike me as the best person to ask for a few pointers on how to conduct myself properly.”

I see Greta soften slightly at my words, relaxing in her seat and taking another sip of her tea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.