Ladies-in-waiting

"We can go home right now if you want, Millie, you're really white," muttered Raphael.

Milena couldn't refute him; she was feeling mentally and physically exhausted. Despite the gorgeous scene of a ballroom around her, young people having fun, music in the air and dresses flying, all she dreamed about was her quiet bedroom back at the manor.

"Yes, call our coach, please. I'm really tired, and my back is killing me."

"Can you stay alone for a second?"

"I'll be fine..."

"I'm here," exclaimed Chartiana, stepping out of the crowd to appear by her side. "I'll stay with Lady Milena until you come back, Sir De Crescent."

"Thank you," nodded Raphael.

Her brother melted into the crowd to find someone to call their coach for them. Chartiana turned to Milena, offering her arm to the Princess, which wasn't uncommon for a lady-in-waiting and a pregnant noblewoman. Milena gladly took it, letting the young woman pull her away from the crowd.

"Did your talk with His Majesty go badly?" Chartiana whispered, visibly worried. "You look upset and so does he..."

"I wouldn't call it a talk with His Majesty," Milena scoffed. "More like a chat with a drunkard... Have you seen the Duke De Nova? I was hoping to at least greet him before leaving."

"No, but I don't think he will make an appearance, Lady Milena. Lady Prudence mentioned earlier that the old Duke wasn't expected to come; he may have refused the invitation."

Milena nodded. It wasn't so surprising, the Duke had become even more of a recluse lately, just like her father... She had thought he might choose to come regardless because of the war victory announcement, but it didn't look like it. She only hoped this wasn't a bad sign. In fact, as she looked around, not many vampire nobles had come. There was about one or two representatives per family present, the strict minimum. Even counting those who had gone to the front, it was clear those present didn't have much of a choice. In fact, the ballroom wasn't as crowded as she would have expected it to be. She hadn't realized until then because they had come in early, but there weren't as many people as she would have anticipated.

Was that story about a motion against Ellias real? Such a thing hadn't been presented in decades! Milena sighed. She needed to confirm the vampire faction's stance before leaving. Quickly, she found Briseis, who was standing to the side looking extremely bored, and gestured for her to join them on one of the sofas against the wall.

"My Lady," said Briseis. "Is your talk with His Majesty over already? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Milena shook her head. "Briseis, what about a motion against the King? Is that true?"

Briseis bowed a bit.

"My apologies for failing to report this, I only heard about it recently. I didn't think the King would mention it to you himself... It is true indeed. This very morning, the Count De Tanzan mentioned a motion against the King, although it was in the Merchants Guild's name."

"Count De Tanzan...?"

The Count De Tanzan was one of the leading figures of the Merchants' guild, and Yasina's fiancé's uncle. Milena had good relationships with that family, who respected her as a successful businesswoman. They weren't a vampire family, though, which meant the dissatisfaction didn't even come from the vampire faction! No wonder Ellias was particularly upset about this. This was exactly what Henry De Boreal had warned Milena about; they shouldn't take the human or vampire faction for granted. She had almost made the same mistake just recently, and now, Ellias was the one seeing his own kind turning against him.

"The Guild is pissed about the new regulations?" She guessed, frowning.

"Most likely," sighed Briseis. "They aren't fond of their businesses being slowed down even more because of the King's baseless attempts to keep people safe, or whatever he wants them to think. Not only that, but since most of them support your Federation, they want to pressure the King to leave you alone with it..."

Milena sighed. While she should have rejoiced to have more people supporting her, she was afraid they would only antagonize Ellias more, something no one needed. The King was already rather paranoid when left alone, but now, if people really began to show their impatience, things were only bound to get worse. Ellias wasn't going to bend, and this push and pull situation wouldn't get any better without a third party getting involved... And Milena couldn't think of anyone who would take that role right now. The Church wasn't going to support the Guild, and in fact, pressure on Ellias would be favorable to them, as the King would only rely on them more. 

This sounded like the beginning of another headache-prone situation, which made Milena frown.

"Briseis, I'm going to need to talk to Tiphania and Yasina. We have to..."

"My Lady," Briseis suddenly interrupted her.

Milena was shocked. Never before had Briseis interrupted her while she was talking, which was incredibly rude considering their difference in status. Although they were close and she was her lady-in-waiting, never had Briseis gone one inch over the line with her. She was even the one among her friends who strictly stuck to the rules, and would never dare to take any liberties or relax when Milena was near. It was also her personality and upbringing that had the young D'Artsein lady so serious all the time, but never before had she dared to interrupt someone talking, let alone Milena. However, right now, Briseis was frowning, with her hands held together tight and a very determined expression.

"My Lady," she repeated. "I am guilty for not informing you of the situation of the Royal Council earlier, and I am very sorry about this. I will apologize all you want and atone for my mistake. However, I did this out of concern for my Lady. Right now, your health and well-being is the most important. To me, and to all your ladies-in-waiting. We know how stubborn my lady can be and how hard it is for you to entrust us with such important affairs, but now is not the time for you to worry about those things. I'm sorry for my bluntness, but my lady looks pale, and like you should go home, not worry about the matters of the state."

Milena was rendered speechless by Briseis' blunt stance. Yet, before she could even think of an answer, Chartiana also jumped on her feet next to them, her fists clenched down.

"I agree with Lady Briseis, my Lady! I promise we will do our best here, so my Lady should think of herself first, and go home! You are already very brave to have come here, but we are all very worried for you! Not only as your ladies-in-waiting, but as young women who look up to you, we hope you'll cherish yourself a bit more!"

"Well said, Chartie!"

Behind them, Yasina and Tiphania appeared, followed by Prudence. Milena sighed. All of her ladies-in-waiting appearing at this instant almost felt as if they had coordinated this...

"We will handle the situation with the Guild," nodded Tiphania, crossing her arms. "Or at least, try to stall for some time. I will talk to them, and Yasina will convince her fiancé, too. Nothing is going to happen if you just call it a day, Lady Milena. Alright? You did great with your appearance, so now, we can handle the rest."

"Of course she did!" Exclaimed Yasina, proud. "The Grand Princess wearing one of my creations shall always be a fashion event to be recorded in history!"

Next to her, Briseis couldn't help but roll her eyes, probably thinking they had different conceptions of history...

Milena sighed, and smiled. With just a few words, her ladies-in-waiting had already managed to dissipate her worries, and anger from earlier, or at least a little. She nodded.

"I understand. Our coach should be ready any minute, anyway, so I will trust you Ladies with this... We should reach out to Bella, too, see if she can help us see clearly what the vampire faction is up to."

"I will visit her tomorrow!" Exclaimed Chartiana.

"Yasina and I will handle the Guild, and Lady Prudence can keep working for you here; she's doing a marvelous job."

"She has improved a lot," nodded Briseis.

"Thank you..." Muttered Prudence, blushing a bit.

While the ladies smiled at the youngest of them, Raphael finally appeared, frowning at the wall of young women between Milena and the crowd.

"I'm back," he said. "What did I miss? You all seem very... enthusiastic, all of a sudden."

"We were trying to corner our Lady into going home," chuckled Tiphania.

"Oh, that's nice of you ladies, we are never too many to try and teach my little sister about the benefits of rest, which she seems allergic to."

"You are exaggerating," retorted Milena. "All of you. But, I do admit I want to go home now. My back is killing me..."

"I'll help you out."

Her brother indeed offered her his arm, and escorted her out of the room. All of Milena's ladies-in-waiting followed them, even preventing more people from talking to the Grand Princess and holding her back. With this particularly large escort, Milena was finally able to bid them all good night, and get to the coach.

They departed without much more ceremony, and Milena laid her head back to sigh. After a couple of minutes, she tried to let Raphael know everything she could remember about her conversation with the King, and what her ladies-in-waiting would be up to next to slow down the pending disaster. When she was done, her brother sighed.

"I see... Well, to be honest, I would be surprised if the vampires weren't involved at all in this. Although this isn't a direct attack, most vampire families also have pretty good relationships with the Guild. They know supporting the Guild helps you indirectly, too, so they might have influenced this motion to vote, as well."

Milena sighed.

"I thought it might be the case. I just didn't think they would be so eager to piss off Ellias in order to help the Federation I'm trying to build... I knew he would try to slow me down a little bit, considering this is meant to help the vampires, but I didn't think he would make so many enemies at once either."

"Millie, it's not your fault that the King is a bad politician."

Milena sighed, staring outside. For once, they had a light rain falling down, instead of snow. It did feel like the night wasn't as cold as usual. She even felt a bit hot, and was tempted to take off her coat, but she was afraid she'd get sick. She put a hand on her belly, trying to ignore the new wave of pain that surged from her back. After standing up for so long, she didn't think riding in the carriage would make things worse...

"Ellias isn't a bad politician when he thinks clearly," she said. "But right now, he's terrified. He's probably terrified of Rayan coming back, and losing all those who were supporting him until now. He knows politicians are fickle; they only support their best interests."

"The thing is, he doesn't have much to hold them back. The Queen hasn't been able to appear at enough public events due to her pregnancy recently, so he's even losing the popular vote bit by bit. The few vampires left that still respected him don't anymore, and he forgot that all vampires have a human partner, or most."

"...I'm not that different, Raphael. For a while, I only saw it like this, as well. Preserving the vampires and the humans. I didn't think of them as one population... our people. Because we've been raised to think of it as two different kinds, it becomes so much more difficult to find where the best interest for both lies."

"You're on the right path, Milena," said Raphael. "You looked for a solution and you found the beginning of one by yourself. I know your new venture is going to bring tremendous changes to our society, changes that were long overdue. When your husband comes back, things will probably get even better. He can keep the angry vampires at bay, notably the Separatists, and the Anarchists won't dare intervene either. Things should go back to as peaceful as they were during King Silverius' reign, I hope."

Milena nodded. She hoped so too, but it seemed like a faraway fantasy now. The streets of the Capital had never seemed so quiet, dark and gloomy. She missed the nights she and Rayan would take some impromptu escapades outside the Castle walls, and go on dangerous missions that seemed suspiciously like dates. She missed her husband so much, right at this very moment. If Rayan had been there, she would have been able to lean on him, and let him handle half of the burden. Because he wasn't, she felt like she had to do everything by herself, and could barely handle letting go of anything. She was afraid to make the smallest mistake.

She grimaced, and Raphael moved seats to come and sit next to her, taking her hand gently.

"Don't worry, Millie. You did great tonight, and you did your best. The King making a fool of himself isn't your burden."

"It is. When I am the only other member of the Royal Family able to stop him, it is..."

"You know, I wish the Queen would be a bit more... vocal. I know you said she evolved a lot from being a mindless doll, but at times, she should be the one taking initiative. Now it feels like she's hiding."

"She isn't hiding," grimaced Milena. "Philomenie was prevented from attending the Ceremony by no other than Ellias himself tonight. I really wonder what they argued about..."

"I almost forgot your meeting with the Saint... And the Head Priest."

Milena sighed, and once again, told him everything that had transpired from her discussion with the Head Priest. As she let him know all the events, she was feeling a bit upset again that she hadn't been able to receive many more answers.

"I feel like I've already laid all my cards on the table, and I'm still missing something," she muttered. "The White Ones, the Wendigos, the dhampir blood... We know someone in the Church is behind it, but we can't stop them. The Head Priest is involved, but how many more of those people? And how the hell do we stop them? We don't have the proof of their guilt, the White Ones don't remember much or have their hands tied. Moreover, the Church is still on Ellias' side, now. I'm worried going against them will be the spark to trigger an even bigger fire..."

"I'd be glad if we could do without another fire," shivered Raphael. "...Are you alright, Millie? You keep grimacing since earlier."

"My back has been aching since earlier; I can't find a good position. I think I stood up for too long at that silly celebration..."

"We're almost home now, just a few more minutes," nodded Raphael, rubbing her shoulder gently.

"I know," Milena nodded.

She had never felt so relieved to see the first trees of their domain. The pain wasn't giving her much time to relax, though. It would come without warning, and tighten around her, from her back to around her belly. It wasn't her first time feeling that sensation, but it did feel much stronger than before. It was getting more frequent and regular, too, which worried her.

"That Saint definitely felt familiar," continued Raphael, unaware of her trouble. "I'm sure I have seen him at parties, those masquerades that have very restricted access. Why in the world would the Queen's confidant appear at such places, though? I am sure this guy is about as shady as the Church itself. I'm definitely going to investigate this first thing tomorrow night. I bet our allies in the Society of Vampires know more, and I should be able to get some answers, now that my new position is almost finalized. ...You said White Ones are former vampires, to begin with? Perhaps that's where I knew him, but even if he had a different identity before, a vampire noble disappearing wouldn't go unnoticed... Unless he wasn't a noble? It is rather rare, but there are a few vampires amongst commoners. If he was captured young and trained to pass for a nobleman, then perhaps that... Millie, are you alright?"

His younger sister sent him a glare. No, she wasn't. Whilst busy with his monologue, he hadn't realized her breathing had intensified a bit, nor noticed the face she was making or the pearl of sweat on her forehead. The coach stopped in front of the gates, but Raphael turned to his sister rather than opening the door, panicked.

"...Millie?"

"Call Eugenie," she let out, out of breath. "...I'm pretty sure my water just broke, and... those are definitely contractions."

"Wha-..."

"Raphael, please! I am not going to give birth in this stupid coach!"