Chapter 308: Owena is half naked.
"Your Royal Highness, you should have told me if you were coming over." Numia started, with a familiar tone, as if she had been friends with the queen for centuries. "Sienna, is very sick, she cannot host you, but I can. My son--"
Elias cleared his throat very loudly, sharp gaze focused on Numia, warning her to shut up if she knew what was good for her.
The queen’s gaze hardened. She already knew this woman’s reputation, knew how the woman would have offered her son to the king’s bed if given the chance.
The air froze, the queen’s spoon suspended midair. Sienna’s breath caught in her throat. The audacity of the unfinished statement hung heavy, a spark threatening to ignite yet another firestorm. The queen’s eyes narrowed, her regal calm replaced by a steel edge that frightened everyone.
She set her spoon down with a deliberate thud and leaned forward, saying to Numia in a blunt but controlled voice. "Listen carefully, you will never seek me out again. If I am sitting at a table, you will never be within twenty feet of me. If you do, you will suffer consequences so severe you will regret ever knowing me. And if you were not pregnant right now, you would be suffering untold pain this very moment."
Numia’s bravado shattered instantly. Tears welled in her eyes and she rose, stumbling over her feet. She slunk backward, her shoulders hunched, her lips trembling. She muttered apologies that no one cared to hear, then fled, her footsteps echoing like the retreat of a defeat soldier.
Sienna exhaled. "You know how you apologized for Lina, I have to apologize for Numia. Everyone else knows better than to invade your space except her. I have long gone given up on advising her and I was waiting for your guards to give her a beating."
The queen laughed. "I--"
Before she could finish her sentence and the ladies could return to their gentle conversation, chaos erupted. From the backyard cane the unmistakable shuffle of bare feet. It sounded like an ongoing chase. Sienna turned, and her heart dropped.
Owena, whose mind wad been wiped, wandered into view wearing nothing but her undergarments. Her eyes were vacant, her expression one of a drunkard in the midst of confusion. She stopped and stood in the courtyard, blinking and smiling like a clown.
"Oh, I know you." She said, pointing at the queen. "Have we kissed before?"
Sienna screamed, her voice sharp with both shock and fury. "Guards! Take her back to her room! Now!"
Owena had been assigned a bedroom in one of the cottages on the property. The same one Mija was living in currently. For some reason, the pampered snake beast woman had no problem living with hurricane Owena.
Liman and Linera rushed forward, their faces a mixture of embarrassment and urgency. They wrapped Owena in a cloak and guided her away, their movements brisk but careful, as if handling a fragile vessel.
"Mama, that looks like fun." Ali shouted from the porch. "Can I run around in my underwear too?"
"No." Sienna and Elias barked.
The queen doubled over in laughter. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched her stomach, her regal composure shattered by the absurdity of the scene. "Sienna," she gasped between fits of laughter, "I never leave your home without witnessing something absurd. That must be your aunt Owena Miller."
Sienna’s eyes widened while Elias clenched his fist.
The queen rolled her eyes. "Oh, don’t give me that look you two. My husband and I knew of her connection to Sienna long before your family discovered it. I just didn’t think it was my place to bring up your mother’s past. Your relationship with Paris Rocland was a surprise, but not the Miller connection. Why do you think I always give your mother an extra smile when I visit or chuckle around her?"
Sienna answered with a frown, "I thought you were being nice or queenly."
Elias raised his voice, ordering all the servants and guards away.
The queen snorted and lowered her voice. "More like amazed. She holds the record for the highest number of cars stolen by a twelve year old. She is also the youngest horse thief in this empire. I and the king have always wanted to give her a trophy for her accomplishments."
Sienna pressed her hand to her forehead, torn between mortification and reluctant amusement.
"My advise is that you use your mother to advance the fox tribe. You have many technology industries that could someone with her skills." The queen said suggestively, "The palace could also use someone like her--I could use someone like her on my team. Her past is not a problem for me. But it did make us wonder if she targeted by Paris because of it. Maybe the rebel movement wanted to use her skills as well."
Sienna grimaced.
The queen wiped her her eyes. "Talk it over with Elias and decide. As for Owena, don’t send her to me and don’t employ her. She is a mess. Her reputation precedes her. The stories that reached the palace on her prison time were....colorful."
Sienna shook her head, her voice weary but tinged with humor. "Colorful is one word for it. I don’t want to know about what she was up to. I caught her having sex with another woman’s husband in the bathroom of a dingy diner after she was released from prison! She was not ashamed of it at all. In fact, she was smug."
The queen leaned back, laughing again. "You have quiet the family, Sienna. Fierce, foolish, ambitious, and absurd--all in one household. It is no wonder you carry yourself with such strength. You have to survive them."
Sienna allowed herself a small smile, though hr eyes still flicked toward the path leading to the backyard where her aunt had disappeared. "Survive them, yes. And sometimes, endure them. If they push me too far, I will throw them into the sea."
The queen’s gaze softened. "You are stronger than you realize Sienna. Even in the midst of all this, even in your fever and fake grief, you stand tall. That is is why I am worried for you, Sienna. Not because you are weak, but because you bear too much alone."
Sienna’s throat tightened. The queen’s words pierced deep enough to make her look around. She saw her aunt Linera on the roof, keeping watch. She saw Elias on the porch, holding Ali with one hand and watching them with sharp eyes. She saw her grandparents carrying baskets from the green house. Their constant presence was a reminder that she was never alone.
"I do not bear it alone." she said quietly.
The queen nodded, her smile lingering. "Then hold on to that. And when the fruits sprout, I will be ready. Perhaps they will help me, perhaps not--but I will trust you with them. I will trust that you can bear my burden too."
"Your burden is my burden and your crown is my crown." Sienna joked.
The two women put their heads closer once more. The porridge in their bowls had long cooled, but the laughter had not faded.