David laughed. “I should think we’re more than past that by now. Is everything okay? You seem nervous.”
“Ah, s-sorry, uh...”
Thankfully, the Queen’s arrival saved him further embarrassment. Compared to his previous encounters with her, however, she looked decidedly different, thanks in no small part to her midnight blue gown with elaborate swirls of white, silver, and gold. He almost didn’t recognize her, the change was so stark, but after a moment, he vaguely remembered seeing her in dresses on television. Before all this, he’d never paid much attention to what the royals were up to. If he’d ever expected to meet any of them, that might have been different. The King and Lynn both followed her into the room, and all three of their faces lit up when they saw him.
“Hector!” said the Queen. “I was not expecting to see you here! What a pleasant surprise. I have been wanting to speak with you.”
As all eyes turned to him, he had to resist the urge to run out of the room. Instead, he merely flushed crimson.
Garovel floated up next to Hector and addressed Helen as he said, ‘Really? If you wanted to ask him something, you could have just asked me.’
‘Nah,’ said a smirking Mehlsanz, who had of course accompanied her servant into the room as well. ‘This is the kind of thing that should be discussed in person.’
As soon as the Queen sat down at the table, the food began to arrive. Hector pulled down on the brim of his hat and turned away from the door, not wanting to risk scaring any of the staff members. Perhaps the Queen understood this, because as soon as the last dish was set, she ushered the attendants out of the room and told them not to disturb her meal. She returned to a very quiet table, however, and had to throw a curious look across it.
Clad in a guardsman’s attire, Roman broke the silence for everyone. “I think we’re all wondering what you wanted to talk to Hector about.”
“Ah,” said Helen. “If you must know, I wanted to discuss the matter of Hector’s heroism in the preservation of Atreya and its citizens. Specifically, I wanted to ask what manner of reward he would like.”
Everyone looked at Hector again, then back at the Queen.
Helen smiled warmly. “What do you think, Hector? I was thinking something along the lines of, perhaps, a castle.”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
But Hector can make his own castle! He should ask for Lynn, instead.
ReplyDeleteOh man, Hector's reaction to that bomb is going to be priceless.
ReplyDeleteJust finished my first read-through, inspired, awesome, and pretty darn shiny. Thanks for a brilliant story! looking forward to every page now.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Wonderful to have you. :)
ReplyDeletehe vaguely remembered seeing in her dresses
ReplyDeletehe vaguely remembered seeing *her in* dresses
Oh, wow. Thank you for that catch, definitely.
ReplyDelete"and had to threw a curious look across it. " I'm guessing that threw should be throw..
ReplyDeleteFixed now, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAsk the Queen? Why you sexist, if he wants her, he asks HER. Besides, I'm nearly certain she's slated for an older sister relationship for now. Her whole family seems slated as emotional replacements for the family Hector deserves but never got. Nice stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to take him ten minutes to stop stuttering long enough to form a whole word after that...let alone give a coherent answer.
ReplyDeleteUnnecessary word:
ReplyDelete"the change was so stark, but [he] after a moment, he vaguely remembered"
Got it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I believe Hector wasn't the only helping hand before all the hell broke loose, so i presumed other might as well get their reward, especially Roman and Gina; they are the running gears; the bread and butter, so i could see them been rewarded prettily, like what Voresee envisioned; an Empire!!! das Vierte Reich ist hier!!!
ReplyDeleteHAH! YEAH!
ReplyDeleteNO! Don't you spoil the nice fantasies I've got going here!
ReplyDeleteWow! I mean, I said he should be knighted but offering Hector a castle? Just wow. But then, he did help rescue her, rescue her husband, and save the country. Not to mention save them from a craved Harper as well as his deeds in his own city. I guess he more than deserves it
ReplyDeleteOh, that could change in time. Right now Hector couldn't even begin to handle romance anyway. One thing at a time. First, familial love and support, comradeship, all that. Later we can talk sunsets and roses. Remember how incredibly deprived and crippled he's been, emotionally.
ReplyDeleteThink of it this way. Do you feed a starving man rich gourmet food? No - even though he wants it, he can't handle it. He'll vomit it all back up. You have to start him on small amounts of plain food. You have to work up to food that will really put meat back on his bones.
Hector is similar. He's been so emotionally starved, if you threw romance at him he'd reject it, he can't handle it: he'll 'throw it up'. You have to start small - first Garovel, then Colt, then Lynn and her family as, well, family and friends. Once he can really stomach all that, we can try small doses of intimacy.
That said, Lynn is older both physically and emotionally, so she feels like an older sister to me. I figure that dynamic will change at about the same rate as Hector becomes ready to handle the suggestion a girl likes him in the first place.
Ahhh say no more. I can totally understand your frustration, especially if Japanese stories play a part. A lot of Japanese stories seem to have a certain kind of fetish when it comes to that. From reading manga and such for so long, I've become a bit numb to it.
ReplyDeleteThat's not to say other stories don't have it. Why, I remember coming across a Ron/Ginny fic on FFN years ago. Til this day, I'm scarred.
I really wish you hadn't told me that existed...I swear, if fanfiction.com had a bible section, there would be slash fics pairing Adam and the snake.
ReplyDeleteRather than becoming numb, my tolerance has waned over the years. Probably because I keep getting older and the gap and issues more stark to me. But even more I love a really well done familial one - foster brother and sister or mother/father and son/daughter stuff. So the fact that two times out of three they ruin it drives me nuts.
LOL! Adam and the Snake! OMG!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yeah I get why you might be annoyed when a nice family dynamic is destroyed for seemingly no reason. But that dynamic hasn't been established in TZK just yet. Granted it could happen, but so could the romance angle. It's fair game either way for now, which I think is how Frost wants it
I'm the oldest of an eight child family. The attitude of an older brother is in my bones. Hand me an emotionally younger girl - even if it's just a few years younger (I'm 27) and I'll adopt her, not fall in love with her. Big on the equals thing. Right now Hector and Lynn aren't, but they certainly could be long before the story ends.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm actually dealing with a certain amount of backed up frustration from multiple other sources. Story after story, especially japanese ones, that take a familial situation and turn it romantic when it was better off the way it was. It doesn't really apply here but I've developed a short fuse for the idea. Once the whole family dynamic became clear I just wanted it to stay that way a while.
Oh I agree with you on all points (except the age difference). I was just making a joke. I would much rather Frost take his time anyway
ReplyDelete"I was thinking something along the lines of, perhaps, a castle."
ReplyDeleteThe first time I read this I missed that Helen said it and thought someone was suggesting cake.