Content warning: mentions of blood

As soon as I make my way back to my rooms, Helena ushers me in. A quick glance around reveals that Evren’s body has been moved, the bed remade with fresh sheets, and the floor scrubbed clean.

“Your Majesty, how are you holding up?”

Helena’s voice is soft, but her grip on my arm is solid and strong. She has the hands of a woman who’s spent many hours working and right now, they’re the only thing working to keep me upright.

“I’m exhausted,” I say, and find that it’s the truth.

“Leela’s running you a bath. After you’re cleaned up, you can sleep for as long as you’d like.”

No suggestion has ever sounded so good in my entire life. She shepards me into a bathroom double the size of my studio apartment, where a marble and gold clawfoot bathtub sits. Steam curls off the surface of the water and the air is heavy with the scent of roses.

Helena holds up a large pair of scissors. They glint menacingly in the light of several flickering candles.

“What are those for?” I ask.

“To cut you out of your dress.”

“I can take it off myself,” I say.

She looks at me like there’s something in my teeth and she doesn’t quite know how to tell me to pick it out. “And risk getting dried blood in your hair?”

“When you put it like that,” I say, holding out my arms.

She snips the dress off and lets it fall to the floor. Rather than either Helena or Leela turning away, however, I have two sets of eyes watching me. Resisting the urge to cover up with my hands, I walk to the bathtub and step in. Clearly, they’re used to attending the queen in the bath, and I need to start acting like someone who’s used to things like that.

It’s hard not to sputter and spit everywhere when Leela picks up a golden pail and pours warm water all over my head though. She massages a sweet smelling soap into my hair and as soon as her fingers find my scalp, I’m able to forget the absurdity of it all.

No one has taken care of me like this since I was a child. My eyelids slip shut, but I’m powerless to fight them as I sink further and further into the tub.

***

The last thing I remember from before I fell asleep last night is a pair of sturdy hands helping me out of the bath and into bed. I wake up in a room with similar decor to the one I’ve been sleeping in, but the bed is different.

Leela knocks on the door and slips in.

“Good morning,” she says. “I figured you’d rather sleep in your private suite, considering...everything.”

Not only does Messalina have a four-poster bed to share with an Emperor, but a giant one of her own.

After I wash up, Leela is by my side, armed with a black, long-sleeved dress and matching ribbons for my hair. I have to hoist the skirt to the dress with each step, otherwise I know I’ll wipe out on the palace floors for everyone to see.

We leave my wing and find the hallways teeming with people. Men and women shout directions at each other, paintings clatter against the wall as they’re shuffled about from room to room, and even more men and women haul giant sacks on their shoulders, moving with a speed that shouldn’t be possible under the weight of what they’re carrying.

“What’s going on?” I whisper to Leela.

“Preparations have begun for His Majesty’s funeral.”

My stomach churns at the thought. Just yesterday, Evren was dazzling at my side. His smile was so beautiful, his eyes so far away and so easy to get lost in that it was impossible to imagine myself doing anything but being his wife for the rest of my life.

And now, they’re preparing to put him in a hole in the ground. The thought is almost too much to handle.

“Their Majesties the King and Queen of Canus sent word that they’ll be arriving within the week,” Leela says.

She looks at me expectantly but I have no idea what I’m supposed to say.

“Are Their Majesties Evren’s friends?” I venture. It’s no shocker that an emperor only keeps other royals in his circle.

Leela frowns at me. “Your Majesty? What do you mean by that?”

“I just mean,” I say, scrambling for the right combination of words that’ll get her to stop looking at me like a failed science experiment. “What was their relationship with Evren?”

Leela comes to a halt in the middle of the hallway and scans me up and down. What she’s looking for, I don’t know. I stand as still as possible, until she’s satisfied and steps away from me. “You don’t seem like you’re hurt, but we do still need to take you to the medical examiner to be safe. Maybe you hit your head.”

“I didn’t hit my head,” I rush to say. “I just want to be ready for our guests.”

“While they are our esteemed guests, I’ve never heard you fret over your parents in this way.”

My brain feels like a bullet train that’s just crashed into a wall.

“My what?”

“Your parents,” Leela repeats. “The Emperor’s parents-in-law?”

I press my hands to my cheeks, trying to stave off the blood rushing into them. It’s a futile attempt. I know I must be as red as the carpets we’re walking on. My embarrassment has nothing on the panic that seizes me at the thought of having to act like nothing is out of the ordinary in front of Messalina’s—my—parents.

“Right, yes, of course,” I mutter. “My parents. Maybe I do need to go see the medical examiner.”