Chapter 67: The things a queen notices

Naya woke to find Ronan already dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed while he finished fastening his cuffs.

“Did the King forget that he promised not to discuss work during our evenings,” she asked, “or has that rule somehow expanded into mornings?”

“The rule was never intended to cover mornings.”

“Convenient.”

He kissed her before she could argue further. “I have an early meeting with Darius.”

“Did you sleep well?” he asked, pausing at the door.

“I did.”

His expression softened at that, and he leaned back to brush a kiss over her forehead before finally leaving. Naya lay there a moment longer, feeling rested in a way that had little to do with sleep, increasingly certain she didn’t need to choose between loving Ronan and remaining fully herself.

While reviewing the palace’s household schedule with Serena later that morning, Naya noticed several staff members had been working unusually long shifts.

“Preparations for the Moon Court,” Serena said at first, scanning the list.

But the records showed the same servants covering for absent colleagues for weeks, not days.

“Why wasn’t this raised earlier?” Naya asked.

“Staff often solve small problems among themselves,” Serena said. “Rather than risk looking incapable of managing their own responsibilities.”

Naya understood that fear better than she wanted to admit, remembering how often she’d stayed silent in her own family because speaking up had rarely improved anything.

“Arrange a meeting,” she said. “With the steward and several of the staff. Not to reprimand anyone. To understand what’s happening.”

Serena studied her for a moment. “Most people ask who failed to do their job.”

“I want to know why the job isn’t getting done.”

“An inconvenient distinction,” Serena said, “for anyone hoping to blame somebody.”

Naya smiled. “Then we’ll try to inconvenience them.”

The meeting revealed nothing resembling corruption or sabotage. The palace had taken on more ceremonial duties for visiting packs over the past months, but staffing arrangements had never adjusted to match the additional workload. Some staff had missed their regular rest days entirely. Others rushed meals and preparations just to stay upright.

“I expected the extra pressure to last only a few days,” the steward admitted.

“How long has it actually continued?” Naya asked.

When he answered honestly, she didn’t humiliate him in front of his staff. She simply asked what would make the work manageable, and the answers came readily once they understood she genuinely wanted to hear them. Temporary additional shifts. Clearer task assignments. A proper rotation ensuring no one was repeatedly called in on their day off.

Naya approved a temporary plan and scheduled a review after the Moon Court concluded. “The palace can’t expect its people to serve the crown well if the crown ignores their needs,” she said.

One of the older servants thanked her quietly on the way out, and Naya realized leadership didn’t always look like a dramatic decision handed down in a council chamber. Sometimes it simply meant noticing the people everyone else had stopped seeing.

Lyra arrived for their planned lunch not long after, finding Naya still buried in staffing schedules instead of ready to leave.

“Is this what Queens do for entertainment?” Lyra asked.

“Apparently.”

“I’m beginning to understand why you needed a friend.”

Naya laughed and explained the situation, and Lyra listened before offering a practical idea of her own. “Visiting delegations could provide their own attendants for certain ceremonial duties,” she said, “instead of relying entirely on the host palace.”

Naya hadn’t considered that. “Does your pack do something similar?”

Lyra described how her own family handled large gatherings, which responsibilities belonged to visitors and which belonged to the host, and Naya made a mental note to bring the idea to the steward.

“I came here to eat lunch,” Lyra said, “and you’ve turned me into an unpaid adviser.”

“You’re welcome to leave.”

“Absolutely not. I haven’t eaten yet.”

Ronan heard about the meeting later that afternoon, finding Naya reviewing the proposed rotation.

“Is it resolved?” he asked.

She explained the temporary arrangements and the longer-term changes she hoped to see considered.

“Why didn’t the steward bring this to me?” Ronan asked.

“He probably assumed the King had more important matters to handle.”

Ronan grew quiet, something turning over behind his eyes. He’d spent years ensuring the kingdom’s major problems reached his desk without ever considering how many smaller ones people believed they weren’t allowed to bring him at all.

“I don’t think you deliberately ignore the staff,” Naya said. “But a palace can become so focused on the crown that everyone forgets the crown depends on them too.”

He accepted it without defensiveness. “Then we’ll review how these concerns are raised.”

“Look at us,” Naya said, smiling. “Solving problems without arguing.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

As she left the administrative wing, one of the kitchen staff caught up with her, thanking her for letting the staff explain their situation without fear of punishment.

“Honest concerns shouldn’t be treated as disloyalty,” Naya told her.

The woman offered, in return, to have the kitchen prepare Naya’s favorite spiced pastry the following afternoon, and Naya accepted, amused by the informal reward. When she told Lyra about it later, Lyra declared she’d discovered the secret to governing an entire kingdom.

“Make everyone believe the Queen is approachable,” Lyra said, “then acquire pastries.”

“I don’t think that’s an official royal strategy.”

“It should be.”

That evening, Ronan joined her for a walk through the palace gardens, telling her he’d asked Darius to review how household concerns were reported, so smaller problems wouldn’t stay buried until they became serious ones.

“Are you going to credit me with the idea?” Naya asked.

“I might,” he said, “if you stop looking so pleased with yourself.”

She slipped her hand into his. “You like me pleased with myself.”

“I like you.”

The simple answer caught her off guard, no grand declaration attached to it, nothing he needed to dress up further. He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles instead, and they continued walking, Naya leaning into his shoulder as they moved through the quiet gardens.

For once, the day’s work had left her feeling useful rather than exhausted, and she understood, walking beside him in the fading light, that she wasn’t only finding he

r own place at his side.

She was learning how to make the kingdom a place where other people could find theirs too.