Queen Eleanora gently sets the letter beside her porcelain teacup and lifts her gaze toward the four women seated around the garden tea table. The afternoon sun filters through blooming rose arches, casting soft patches of light across the neatly trimmed lawn, while the scent of fresh jasmine and lavender drifts lazily through the royal garden.
Silver trays of warm pastries, delicate finger sandwiches, and untouched desserts sit between elegant porcelain teapots, transforming what should have been a peaceful afternoon tea into a meeting filled with quiet tension. Sienna-Rose Miller's four wives sit across from Queen Eleanora, their expressions unusually serious and their teacups left untouched as concern overshadows every other courtesy.
Ordinarily, the visit of one of any other nobles' wives wouldn't have been enough to interrupt the queen's schedule. One of Sienna-Rose's wives, perhaps she still can ask them to wait.
