Chapter 9: The Abbess

The Abbess of the Quiet Book was a small woman in a grey habit, with a face.

She stood in the middle of my solar at midnight with two Sisters behind her.

She held a lantern, and she did not sit when I offered her a chair.

"Daveth Marrowen," she said.

Daveth had come out from behind the screen where I had hidden him.

He bowed his head.

"Reverend Mother."

"You have spoken a queen's name to the queen."

"Yes."

"You have broken the Silence."

"Yes."

"Then you know what follows." The Abbess's voice was dry as a page. "You will come with us now."

"He will not," I said.

Her eyes moved to me.

They were pale and very old, and they did not blink.

"Majesty. This is a matter for the Abbey."

"He is in my custody, by my seal, under the Queen's right of sanctuary."

I put the ring on the table between us.

"A Keeper who stands before the Queen cannot be taken from her without her leave."

"It's in the Abbey's founding charter. I read it in my second year."

One of the Sisters coughed.

The Abbess did not look surprised.

"You are well read, Majesty."

"I am bored, Reverend Mother. It's different." I held her gaze. "I don't give my leave."

A silence stretched, thin as wire.

"The right is real," the Abbess said at last.

"It holds until the new moon. After that the charter lets me take him, and I shall."

"Seven days."

"Seven."

I thought she would go then.

She did not.

She turned and looked at me.

"You wish to ask me something, Majesty. You have wished to ask for eight years."

My mouth had gone dry.

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Was the Perfect Queen, But He Forgot My Name from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.