The next day Callen was up quite early, considering she had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Yawning, the woman stumbled to the kitchen and made herself a cup of strongly brewed tea. The staff knew by now that until she had gotten her tea, Callen had a tendency to snap at people. They had avoided her in the mornings once they found out.
"I heard the Kings were going to kill that Cullen boy and the Queen was the only thing that stopped them. I wonder why she did it. Maybe she's having an affair with him or something." A woman's nasally voice interrupted Callen's morning thoughts. Despite hating eavesdropping, she silently moved closer to the sound. The woman seemed to be standing just on the other side of the wall separating the kitchen from the cafeteria. Suddenly another voice piped in.
"That's probably true. Who is she anyway? Some tramp that waltzed in from nowhere. Now she's whoring herself out to all three kings? What a skank. She'll never be a good Queen." The second voice also belonged to a woman but it was terribly high pitched and grated on her nerves. Keeping her face blank and unreadable, Callen took a few steps and leaned against the doorframe.
She could see the two women now. They were standing shoulder to shoulder with their backs to her, sipping large lattes. Allowing one corner of her mouth to tilt up in amusement, Callen stayed silent as the women continued bad mouthing her. They had no idea she was standing there and they didn't even bother looking around. There were a few other people eating breakfast in the cafeteria, various employees of the castle that could obviously hear the women. A few looked too tired to react at all but the rest were shooting dark glares at the pair.
Everyone in the room was human which was probably the only reason the women were so bold. One of the workers, a young man who couldn't be older than 23, suddenly stood like he was going to say something. He noticed Callen standing in the doorway and stared at her. Noticing the look on her face, he sat back down and waited for her to say something.
Then, as if sensing her presence, everyone else except the gossipers stared at Callen. She didn't typically spend much time with the replaceable human workers. They usually saw her as she got her tea or as she wandered the castle with a guard. Callen always looked regal and dressed for formal business, taking full advantage of the luxurious dresses and skirts given to her. Nobody but her mates ever saw her dressed in anything but her best. Seeing her now, standing among them like she couldn't have them all killed with just a word, was somewhat of a gift.
"Yeah, you know I hear the Queen is a bitch. An icy bitch that could have anyone disposed of for even looking at her the wrong way." At the sound of Callen's voice, the two women stiffened and slowly turned to face her. Looking exquisite in a navy blue peplum dress and black heels, Callen looked every bit the part of an ice Queen. Fear showed obviously in the two women's eyes as they realized what Callen had heard. Without another word she raised her cup in the women's direction, tipped her head slightly, then turned and walked away.
She didn't plan on punishing the women, people were entitled to their opinions after all. But she figured a healthy dose of fear and anticipation would do them some good. As long as she didn't catch word of them talking about her or her mates again, things would be left alone. If she did, then the women would find themselves on the deadly end of a vampire's teeth.
A.N. Sorry it took me a bit to update, I had a lot of projects to finish at work. I'm sorry these chapters are so short but I can't seem to make them longer without feeling like I'm just rambling or coming up with useless sub-plots. Please please please review!