This being, he did so until Tril veritably stumbled down the stairs into the entryway.

“Silence!” she cried. “There you are. I need a moment.”

Angelo’s expression turned beleaguered.

I stopped at the foot of the stairs amongst them both.

“I need to get to my study, Tril.”

Although, what I’d do there, I had no idea, for I had very little idea what I was doing a’tall.

“You didn’t…” She gazed down the hall, then at me, down the hall, and back to me. “Did I not catch you before you saw King Mars?”

“No, you didn’t,” I told her.

She examined me.

She then turned to Angelo and asked for, “A moment.”

His gaze came to me. “My queen, we really must—”

He did not finish for Tril took my hand and was dragging me up the stairs.

“A moment,” I said to Angelo, following her.

She only went as far as the landing before she stopped us, facing me, and took my other hand.

She then began babbling.

“They wanted you to know, the staff that is, that it was nothing. It happened. It was over. It meant nothing. In fact, from what they could tell, he didn’t even like her.”

I shook my head in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“That chit in with King Mars.”

My stomach dropped.

“She causes troubles,” Tril went on. “This why they warned me to be sure to warn you. She’s the opposite of Farah. There was even talk about how some witch somewhere broke the dawn to separate the dark and the light, for they were born on the same day, nearly at the same time, this being at the dawn. That one down there first, then Farah. That one down there the dark. Farah the light.”

I barely heard a word she said.

It happened. It was over. It meant nothing. In fact, from what they could tell, he didn’t even like her.

“Silence,” she shook my hands, “are you listening to me?”

I focused on her.

“I really need to know what Miet is.”

She stared at me.

“It’s crucial, Tril,” I continued. “What it is. How it’s celebrated. What has happened in the palace at Miets past. Can you ask the staff?”

This had not yet occurred to me.

Then again, I did not think they would share such things openly with Tril, not to mention, I was drowning in all things queen.

“Yes, Silence, but…” Her head tipped to the side. “You are all right with that woman down there?”

I.

Was.

Not.

My husband was entertaining an old lover in his study.

And he’d “required” my presence in order to introduce me to her.

“I can trust Mars,” I said.

“Of course you can,” Tril agreed. “But, she’s trouble, my lovely. And I do not know if you know what that means. More, you are not getting on with King Mars very well in the now.”

I did not need that reminder…

In the now.