How can you remain, Staring at the rain, Maddened by the stars?
The queen was somewhat high strung. No wonder, Azure thought. It was like grandma used to say, "Put a crown on a person's head and all it does is strain the neck and inflate the ego." She huffed when words meant to tease rather than sting turned the queen's face predatory. Like when a shopkeeper catches you with a hand in her pocket.
There was no helping it. Some people offend easily. Wondering briefly whether there was something about her worthy of study, she dismissed the thought with a curve of the lips, deciding that there was no need to coddle the monarch. Especially now that insults had been exchanged. Granted, Azure didn't know what petite fille meant, but she could translate the look on Maeve's face well enough.
"Pardon me your majesty, I didn't know," you were slum trash too, "about your circumstances." Something in her voice broke and eerie sweetness seeped in, uninvited. Her brows knitted together as she took a breath and felt a shudder softly creep up her arms. What came over her? She got a hold of herself, plucking a small leaf from the tree she sat on and rubbing it between her fingers, letting the motion soothe her.
"You've got-", She took a deep breath and tried once again to push out the words stuck in her chest like thick glue. Her nail began to dig into the leaf in her hand. You've got thin nerves for someone trying to wrestle this jungle. "You've got to be exhausted from wrestling the jungle." Breaking the green meat, the nail dug into her index finger.
Careful that it doesn't trip you up like I did. "Please be careful on the way back."
The vines feed on irate passengers. "The vines are unkind to passengers."
She tried to hold back any reaction as these foreign words sweetly unfolded but it was doubtless that a glimmer of panic appeared in dark hazel eyes.
She didn't care about the jungle-wrangling monarch anymore. She was disinterested in playing in the vines. Something was very wrong.
Azure
