"You want me to do WHAT?!" Ophelia snapped at Alarico. Her rapidly risen emotions caused her magic to surface against her will, and the table shook without her even touching it. Her glare pierced Alarico like a thousand daggers, and Achilla let her hand hover near her sword. Tania, always the peacekeeper, stepped between the two monarchs.

  "King Alarico, my sincerest apologies for Her Majesty's outburst bu-"

  "Please, apologies are... unnecessary. I saw this coming when I got here. Please, Ophelia, listen to what I have to say." Alarico looked at Ophelia pleadingly, begging her to listen to him just once since the war started three years ago.

  "I will do no such thing." Ophelia growled as she stood, set her tea cup on the table, and eyed Mateo and Bellum as they too, reached for their weapons. "King Alarico, General Bellum, Arch Mage Mateo, you three are hereby banished from the Opal Palace, and all of Opheil from henceforth. Leave the castle peacefully, and you shall be escorted by the Magic Knight of the Royal Guard out of my kingdom. I do not wish to speak to you ever again, King Alarico of Kearlye. IF you ever see me again, it shall be on the battlefield with your surrender." As if responding to the finality in Ophelia's voice, a wave of magic was sent  towards the three Kearleans, shoving the two standing all back a step.

  King Alarico growled, and stepped forward before getting a wicked grin on his face. "I tried playing nice like I did when we were younger, but I see that didn't work. It'll be an absolute joy to see you grovel at my feet in surrender. Such a shame really, you Opalians have such wonderful architecture, it'll be sad to decimate it all.”

  “Get. Out.”

  “Fine. Bellum, Mateo, we’re leaving.” Alarico stood, and turned to walk out the door as his aides followed. When the three left, Ophelia sunk back into her chair and took a deep, calming ( )eath. She laced her fingers together in her lap, before looking up at Tania.

  “My friend, could you-”

  “Say no more, my dear. Your wish is my command.” Tania smiled before gesturing for Achilla and Isabella to follow. “Come along you two, Her Majesty wishes to be alone with Adelaide a while. I’ll handle the rest of your duties for the day, my Queen.”

  The two women left with Tania, as Adelaide stood from her seat to walk over to Ophelia. She knelt down in front of her queen, and placed a hand on Ophelia’s knee.

  “Ophelia? What do you wish to speak about?”

  “I… Am I a good queen?”

  “Why, of course you are Ophelia! Then again you don’t have much competition considering the last queen I was ruled by tried to kill me, so, you know. The bar is set very low for you.” The deadpan stare Adelaide received from the queen made the empath flinch back, and laugh nervously. “Right, not the time for jokes, I know… However, I am being quite serious when I say you ARE a good queen. I mean, you were coronated into a war for Bijou’s sake! That snake named Alarico and his father gave you the coronation gift of declaring war and decimating Topaz City on the eastern border. You are doing the best you can for what you were prepared for.” Adelaide smiled and stood as she pulled her queen into a hug. “You are the best queen Opheil could have under these circumstances, and you are definitely my best friend.”

  “Thank you, Adelaide. Your words mean a lot to me.”

  “I would hope so, otherwise my position as your therapist-guidance-counselor-best-friend-empath would be in jeopardy! Now, let’s go down and have a relaxing spa day, yes? Tania and Achilla can handle the pressure of being Queen for half a day! I'll have dear Isabella join us to make tea.”

Isabella belongs to @Viva-la-Luna