Chapter Ten: Embracing the Madness

WITH THE CORONATION of Ericia Charlotte Avington as Queen only five days away, there is a hustle like there has never been in the palace. Ericia is forbidden from leaving the palace –even to go outside for mere moments to enjoy a bit of fresh air. Vynierian and Montien soldiers are posted all around, patrolling the palace grounds through endless shifts.

It’s a lonely process for Ericia, but she doesn’t feel very much of it.

Ericia stands before the picture of her mother. It is a portrait framed in gold and hung in a corner of the Queen’s Study, just above a mahogany desk holding a vase with the departed Queen Olivia’s favourite flowers –pink roses- and a jar made of Jade, holding her ashes.