The meeting between Nalia and Queen Esmeralda did not happen in the grand halls of the palace as one might expect.
Instead, it happened in the royal greenhouse.
The winter outside had painted the palace gardens in pale frost and sleeping branches, but the greenhouse remained warm and bright beneath its tall glass ceiling. Sunlight filtered through the panes and settled across rows of flowering plants that had been carefully preserved from the cold.
Nalia stood near one of the long stone tables, slowly running his fingers across the leaves of a small herb plant while his round stomach pressed gently against the edge of his cloak.
He had not expected to find the First Queen here.
Yet there she was.
