The Mad Queen

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Castle

When I sat down, their eyes were still on me. In the room where the five high council members, my brother, grandmother and a few other nobles. My grandmother had a smirk on her face when I caught her eyes. It took everything to not give her a smile back but to keep my face still.

"My Queen," the Master of Coin began to speak. I held up my hand quickly and he stopped.

"Did I give you permission to speak?" I had asked. He gulped and shook his head.

"My apologies, your highness," he said, quietly. The room had fallen into another, dangerous silence. I thrummed my newly painted nails against my chair. The little tapping only adding to the tense atmosphere already in the room. I then made sure to look over each council member slowly. I stared directly into their eyes, unflinching. Not stopping until they looked away first. Finally, I spoke.

"For the last few years," I began, my voice coming out so clear and cold that it even surprised me. "I have been taken advantage of. As I struggled to get control of my Gift, you all plotted and manipulated behind my back. Using my troubles to grow your wealth and positions within my court." They shifted uncomfortably. "Instead of trying to aid your queen, you tried everything to keep me in a state where I was unable to do anything against you. You stopped me from being able to learn how to control my Gift. You hid valuable knowledge from me and went behind my back to instate new laws in these lands," I told them. They looked away from me nervously. "You took advantage of my unstable mind and my fear of my Gift." I stood up and began to walk around the room. "One of you, in particular, took to scheming and manipulating in my times of weakness." I walked slowly behind each of them, my heels tapping against the marble floors evenly. I came to a stop behind the Head of the Treasury also known as the Master of Coin.

"It took a while to be able to understand my visions. I saw so many and they all moulded together. I couldn't tell who I was seeing or when. But now, I see clearly. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw a vision with you in it." I saw him visibly pale before me and sweat broke out across his skin.  "In my vision, you were talking about me. You were saying how I was weak and couldn't do anything to stop you. That I had no idea what was going on and never would. You also discussed how to steal money from the taxes being brought in. You instructed those working for you to deliberately miss count the money and write the wrong amount in the books so that no one would notice it even gone. The paperwork had you covered. Even your tax collectors were in on it." He said nothing and I sighed. "Right now, at this very moment, the Red Guard are arresting everyone involved in this scam. They are searching your rooms, your houses across Vivelle and your offices. Your scam is over," I said, putting my hand over his shoulder and squeezing tightly. I looked around the room again. "I know that hundreds of thousands have been stolen right beneath my nose. That a lot of that money has gone to those in this room. Don't think it has escaped my attention that a lot of you are buying properties all over Vivelle which cost more than you are being paid." I unclenched my hand from the shoulder of the Treasury Master. The doors opened then and the head of the Red Guard walked in. The Military commander frowned and stood up slowly.

"Why does this man wear the badge of the commander?" he asked.

"Because he is the commander," I replied coldly. The Military commander looked at me with wide eyes.

"You can't just replace my men without consulting me!" he had shouted.

"Your old commander was arrested for aiding the Treasury Master," I told him. "I took it upon myself to fill the new role, seeing as you didn't notice your own man breaking the law." The cold glare I sent him made him sit straight back down.