|When Two Worlds Collide - Book III

The following day, Miriam woke up to a knock on the door. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned before getting out of bed, putting on her dressing gown and slippers and walking towards the door to open.

"Mrs. Hughes?" She questioned sleepily. It was the head housekeeper that had knocked on Miriam's door.

"Good morning, your highness. I just came to make sure you got up before they stop serving breakfast. The king asked me to make sure of it."

"How kind of you. Where is the king may I ask?"

"The duke offered to show him around town, they left early this morning."

"What time is it?"

"Twenty-five to nine, your highness. They stop serving breakfast at nine o'clock."

"I can't believe I overslept. Just give me a second to get dressed and I'll be out." Miriam closed the door again and hurried to get dressed. It stressed her a little that she overslept, and that she didn't have much time left before breakfast stopped being served. She made a note to herself to ask Mrs. Hughes if there was any chance she could have someone wake her up in the morning the remaining time of their visit as she didn't want to oversleep again and she didn't want to burden Caspian with her request. At home, her lady's maid would wake her up and help her get ready for the day but here she had no one.

Miriam had met Mrs. Hughes last night when the head housekeeper showed her to her chamber. They had conversed for a bit before supper and Miriam took a liking to the older woman. She was kind and understanding when Miriam explained how she felt. Mrs. Hughes said that the duke was a peculiar man, not particularly friendly towards those he did not genuinely like – which were not very many. The fact that he appeared pleasant before the king was only because he wanted to do business with him. Creating a friendship with the king was good for his business and looked good from the outside. But he hadn't expected that Miriam would come along, and that put a damper on his plans. Just as Miriam had understood, there was an ulterior motive to Caspian's stay from the duke's perspective. The duke wanted to see his only daughter married and had chosen Caspian as the best candidate. His wish was to see his daughter become Queen of Narnia and his daughter was totally on board with that idea. Much to Miriam's dismay. Her reservation towards the young duchess grew even stronger and she couldn't wait to leave this place.

She felt her stomach growl and hurried out of her chamber. Mrs. Hughes waited patiently outside and once Miriam joined her they walked side by side to the dining room.

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After breakfast, Miriam decided to take a walk around the Duchy. She passed several people on her walk, many of whom were men who followed her with their eyes. She recognized their behavior from after she was first crowned queen. Men from all over would stop and stare or approach her whenever she walked by. They all wanted one thing, but Miriam refused to give them what they wanted, she couldn't out of respect for them and for herself. So, after years of learning, she now ignored their praying eyes. She was happily engaged and would remain so until her and Caspian were married. Unless he wanted differently, something Miriam didn't dare to think about too much.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice was heard further down the corridor. It was the duke's daughter and her friends who laughed when the duchess said something Miriam couldn't hear. She searched for an escape route when the same voice called her name.

"Queen Miriam, come join us. We'd love your company." The duchess' fake sweet voice made Miriam roll her eyes but since she couldn't escape or come up with a good reason why she couldn't join them, she took a deep breath and walked over with a pretend smile on her face. If the duchess could pretend so could Miriam.