The new queen looked down at the latest candidate for the role of her consort. “It’s an original tactic I suppose. A repulsive one, but original.” Her words wiped away the kneeling man’s smirk, he twisted his head to shoot a glare at the next man in line. The smirk had settled on his face.
Queen Xanthe raised a brow. “Am I to understand it was Lord Mercer who prompted your choice of clothing, Lord Edstrom?”
The first man nodded, and she spoke to the aide at her side. “Remove both from the list. My consort cannot be gullible or…” Xanthe paused to look over the now unsmiling Lord Mercer. ” … nasty.”
The aide made a show of drawing his pen across the open book in his hands. As the two men left the great hall, Lord Mercer encouraged by a couple of guards, Xanthe added. “Do something nice for Edstrom. Gullibility is fixable and this lesson will hopefully be good for him.”
The aide nodded.”I’ll see to it. And I’ll have someone keep an eye on Mercer. Nasty is a lot less fixable.”
Xanthe wondered what the Royal Council would do when she told them she intended to marry her aide.
The DNA of Stories 