Mysterious Warriors: Alone by T. N. Hayden

“Princess Tara has accepted a suitor: Baron Stefan Graem.”
                  The words were like music to her ears, and Queen Margaret knew she’d been right to introduce them. She was overjoyed, and she leapt from bed. She didn’t need to be sick anymore. She needed to party and rejoice. Her daughter finally accepted a suitor. She was courting the baron!
                  “Let me meet with him.” Queen Margaret looked at her maids. “Patrice, Lacey, Terena, make me presentable.”
                  Patience stepped forward and brushed the queen’s long dark hair. Queen Margaret closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the brush through her locks. She opened her deep blue eyes and stared at herself in the mirror. She was forty, and she couldn’t believe how old she was getting. She still looked young and beautiful, but that beauty would fade within the next twenty or so years. She screamed, and Lyssa and Terena rushed to her side.
                  “What is it my queen?” Lyssa asked.
                  “What is this?” Queen Margaret gripped a long strand of grey hair. “Get it out; get it out!”
                  Patience pulled the grey strand of hair free, and the queen felt exhausted. She didn’t ever want to go through something so terrible. She shouldn’t have any grey hairs. She’d given any kind of worry over to others. Terena had raised her daughters, and Queen Margaret only focused on parties, planning, and joyful gaiety. Her only worry was peasant diseases.
                  “Don’t fret.” Patience assured her. “I’ll pull any more I see.”
                  “There are more?” Queen Margaret gasped and spun to face her maid.
                  “I don’t think so.” Patience answered.
                  “Look what I found your majesty.” Lyssa pulled a beautiful cobalt gown out to show the queen.
                  Queen Margaret ran a hand across the fine fabric. “That is very beautiful.”
                  “And it makes your eye stand out more than usual.” Terena added with a cheerful grin.
                  “I do want to look beautiful when I meet with my future son-in-law.” Queen Margaret nodded as she sat back.
                  Patience finished pinning Queen Margaret’s hair up, and Lyssa helped her in the new gown. Queen Margaret eyed herself in her mirror, and she smiled. “Let’s go visit this baron.”
                  Terena led Queen Margaret down to the first floor of the palace and into the library. The queen had never understood her daughter’s desire to read so much. Tara had practically lived in the library when she was a little girl. She cared more about books than dresses and hairstyles. Tara enjoyed stuffing her beautiful long locks into a decorated hairnet, and she wanted to stay in the dusty library and read dirty books all day. It was insufferable.
                  Queen Margaret stopped short when she saw the handsome baron speaking with her daughter. He truly was handsome with his dark brown hair and brown eyes full of knowledge. He had a sharp, strong face, and his expression when he looked at her daughter was full of love and longing. He looked at Tara almost the same way King Warren looked at her. The queen would just have to make sure Stefan’s love for Tara would continue to grow. Tara would only choose a man she loved, and who couldn’t love a man who looked at her like that? Of course the queen didn’t love her husband, but she was different than her daughter.
                  “Her majesty, Queen Margaret.” Terena announced.
                  “Mom.” Tara closed the book in her hand. “I didn’t expect to see you up. I thought you were ill.”
                  “I heard you accepted the baron’s invitation to court you.” Queen