Surrogate for the Alpha Prince in a Coma novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172

Lillian’s POV

Despite my hopes that things would slow down so that my brother could stay with me longer, life continued on without any regard to him or to me. Days passed. Invitations kept coming, and I continued having to attend events, making small talk with noble ladies while my heart and mind was back in that hospital ward.

Today’s luncheon was a rare event where the Queen decided to grace us all with her presence. When she was there, she was the center of all attention, with everyone trying to gain her favor. Typically, I stayed/back, knowing she disliked me. My presence at her side wasn’t likely to earn me any points in her favor. She’d probably just be annoyed with me, or I would say something to put myself in an even worse position.

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So I stayed back, or at least I tried to, as everyone chose their seats for the meal. The Queen chose Odette for the seat to the right of her, and Josie to sit across from her. Ophelia would typically take the other open seat, but in her absence, all the other ladies were eagerly anticipating if she would choose them.

Instead, the Queen looked across the room at me. “Lillian. Sit beside me, to my left.”

A direct request from the Queen wasn’t easily disregarded, so after a nervous look at Clara, I started forward and took the chair. I had only sat down when the Queen looked at me.

“Lillian, would you get me some fresh ice water.”

I started reaching for the pitcher already placed on the table,

“No, no,” she said. “I want fresh. Who knows how long that was sitting there?”

It couldn’t have been sitting there that long, because ice cubes were still within it, clanking gently against the side. But, again, the Queen was not easily argued with. Her requests needed to be fulfilled, even the ones she made of me.

I stood again and went back to where the servants were disappearing into the kitchen. As I approached, they looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“Please, sit down, Luna Princess,” one said. “We will serve you.”

“The Queen requested fresh ice water,” I said. “She wants me to deliver it.”

“Oh. Of course. Wait here, please.” The servant disappeared into the kitchen, then returned a moment with ice water in a glass pitcher much like that already on the table.

“Thank you,” I said, accepting the water and carried it to the table. The Queen held up her glass for me. Carefully, I poured the water into the glass.”

After, she sipped from the glass without as much as a thank you.

Pushing down my annoyance, reminding myself that a Queen must have felt she didn’t need to have manners, I returned to my seat, placing the pitcher I had just brought next to the one that had already been there. They looked exactly the same.

Things continued on more or less the same after that. Though I was seated next to the Queen, she talked to Odette or to Josie and not to me. Josie tried to include me where she could, but I was just as happy being excluded.

But then, the Queen finished her salad. She looked at me.

“Take this dish away, wouldn’t you, Lillian?”

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I was holding my fork halfway to my mouth, not yet done with my own meal. The servant who had stepped forward to do just the task the Queen was asking of me paused in her step. She looked at me, eyes wide.

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+15 8gnus

Many of the other guests looked too. The water request had been strange but could be chalked up to the Queen’s eccentricities. This was something else.

She was treating me like a servant. And I had no way to refuse.

Begrudgingly, I abandoned my own food to stand, accepting the Queen’s dish.

“Oh, if you are taking dishes, would you take mine too, Lillian?” Odette asked, holding hers out for me.

“And mine,” called another noble lady, from the other side of the table. And after her, a few more.

The Queen looked at me expectantly, and I knew I had no choice.

After that, it seemed as if the floodgates opened. Requests upon requests came my way.

“Fetch the salt, would you?”

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