Minerva batted her eyelashes at me and pushed her shoulders back. "Do I look lonely?" she said.
She looked like someone I wanted to push onto her back right then and there. Like someone I wanted to kiss until we were both dizzy. But there were things you didn't say to a princess, not when your station was so far below hers.
***
On her first day working as a maid, Eve finds the king dead on his throne. His murder kicks off a cascade of intrigue, and as the plots of the nobility come crashing down around her, Eve is torn between hungry princes, the ever-watching eyes of the royal court, and a mad princess who seems to know far more than she lets on. Complicating everything further is the Imperative, a magical curse through which the Andan nobles have bent the world to their whims. If she is to survive, Eve must learn what it means to find strength in the face of overwhelming power.
The Maid and the Monarch is created by EOK Gifford-Smith, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The Maid and the Monarch

The next morning, a full three hours of sleep later, I was in my own chambers again, half-heartedly munching on a warm sweet roll. Chava sat next to me, practicing her letters on a chalk slate. It brought me quite a bit of joy to realize that she was wearing clothes very similar in design to my own. Men's trousers and a more feminine top. I wondered if other servants--other noblewomen even--might start to dress like that.


"This one is..." Chava pointed to a section of her work. I made a small correction and she buried herself in it again, scratching away eagerly at the board.


I motioned for Chava to stay at work and slowly rose to my feet. Spending all night with a princess was wonderful--but the morning after had... some challenges to it. I half-staggered to the door and pulled it open.


Waiting for me on the other side, I found Lady Meredith Thorn, Leon's mother. 


Chapter 46: The Old Queen