Gabrielle had somehow made herself become use to her schedule of being a queen during the month. She would sit at court on most days of the week. But she dedicated one day of the week to charity work ,or simply going among the public. She found herself in a swamp of invitations to different parties and events.

She had gone from the girl that nobody wanted anything to do with to everyone wanting her attention and friendship. It was amazing how going from being servant dressed in rags to a queen could change people's perceptions of you, she quietly mused. On her day away from court; she would have to make trips to several places in one day; often making briefer appearances than she liked. However, she made sure to never act like she was too self important, or make the impression, that no one was worth her time.

She kept this rule for talking to both nobles and peasants. She would always ask their names, jobs, and other details about them. She would let children sit on her laps and at festivals let everyone from merchant to blacksmith dance with her. She wanted her people to feel like she cared about them...even if she had limits on how she could interact with them.

She had been surprised that Adrian had taken her advice to heart about the nobles and the loans. Not only did he do, but he also credited her in public for her help. She could only recall a handful of kings who acknowledged their queen's help publicly. It had work. Gabrielle found herself moving more away from fiction and fairy tales and more to history and political books. She would listen as well as she could during the courts and try to remember everything she learned. At breaks, between court secessions, she would discuss everything about what had happened. She would try to apply both book sense and common sense when it came to helping her husband run the kingdom.

Sundays were both her day of rest and the roughest day of the week for her. She still had lessons with Kianda; and they were longer than her lessons than when they were doing it several days a week. Kianda went over several fighting styles with her; from weapons to hand to hand. Of course, even after all her training Kianda could still beat her in sparing. She doubted she would ever be able to best Kianda at sparing. Not that she had a problem with that. Gabrielle would always make an effort to ask Kianda about her life. They rarely spoke casually during the week when Kianda was suppose to protect her. She wanted to keep their friendship alive. The captain seemed to be more at ease during their training secessions than when they were on official duty. For this she thanked Hestia for.

It was now time for the king to make his official offerings to the goddesses of government; Eunomia, Themis, Eirene, and Dike. Gabrielle would not be an official part of the ceremony, but she was still expected to attend. Miss Goose went all out of Gabrielle's ceremony dress. It was a silver skirt with a light shine overlay of see-though purple. The top was silver with some more shiny purple (but not see through, thankfully) middle. There was some sliver embroidery of vines on the purple top. Her sleeves were silver and slightly puffed.

They arrived at the temple before the crowds could arrive. It was a large round building with marble dome on top of it. Inside it was decorated with golds and reds. It was round in the building and it had several layers of stair cases that could be looked down from. Adrian turned to his amazed wife.

"My lady, I am going to have to prepare myself by talking to the priest. As in tradition. Captain Kianda will set out and guard the perimeter with the rest of your guard. You will be safe by yourself, there is no one but priests and nobles in here." Gabrielle gave her husband a bow.

"Yes, my lord, I will stay in here." She wouldn't mind exploring such a beautiful temple. Maybe she could find someone to talk too? She rose back up. Adrian took her hand and kissed it.

"Until we meet again, my queen." With that he left with his guard, leaving Gabrielle alone. It then dawned on Gabrielle that she was now truly alone for the first time a month. She almost always had a constant companion by her side. She took a deep breath. The queen was rather thankful for this break from having to be around somebody. She turned to the spiral staircase and started up it.

The temple was truly a work of art with many tapestries, paintings, statues and all kinds of beautiful things to represent the goddesses. The queen made her way further up the staircase, admiring the beauty all the way. She wondered how Estelle, who was never a fan of the gods, would make of this place. Probably call it a frivolous waste of money. She gave a light giggle at that image. Oh, how she missed her stepsisters sometime. She hoped a letter would arrive from them soon. Gabrielle continued her way, not meeting another soul. They must have been too busy making everything ready for the ceremony.

Then as Gabrielle, went up to the next level she heard the sound of feminine giggles. When she reached the final step she looked out to see a familiar group of girls. At the sound of the queen's footsteps the group turned to her. Then Gabrielle realized that this was the group that usually hung around Annetta. However, Annetta was not here. When her green eyes meet the group of girls she bent into a bow.

"Good morning, my gentle ladies." She politely greeted them and then rose back up. The ladies did not bow, or greet her politely instead the had askance glances in their eyes as they approached her. Gabrielle felt a tightness in her throat at this open display of disrespect. Something was not right.

"Hello, your majesty." One of the girls greeted her, mockingly. Gabrielle tried to take a step back, but she was on the top step.

"Um...hello." She was now nervous.

"A pleasure to see you, your majesty." another girl said, and she offered her hand to the queen. Gabrielle took a breath of relief. Perhaps she had been wrong in her first judgment of them. She was now away from the stair case and with the group. Despite Gabrielle trying to assure herself that everything was all right the tightness in her stomach wouldn't go away. The girls' smiles never reached their eyes.

"So how does it feel to go from country bumpkin to queen?" One leaned in on her. Gabrielle felt her voice caught in her throat and couldn't immediately respond.

"Do you think yourself so beautiful and worthy that you are now King Adrian's wife?" At this question, Gabrielle managed to get some words out.

"No...I don't think like that at...all." Every instinct of hers was now telling her to get away But another part was trying to rationalize. That these girls didn't have enough courage to try anything against the queen...right?

"Oh, really now?" Asked the first.

"We see you on that throne almost everyday. You know a swan doesn't suit you and the king probably knows that as well."

"I don't want to continue this conversation." Gabrielle said turning away. Then she felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, don't leave, your majesty, we didn't mean to offend you." The words didn't sound sincere at all. One of the girls came to her side.

"Oh, we didn't mean any offense at all, your majesty. In fact, we want to help you. Soon King Adrian is going to find a mistress when he tires of you. We want to be there for you when that happens." At this Gabrielle roughly pulled her shoulder from her.

"I am taking my leave, good day, ladies." The queen picked up her skirt and was about to take a step to leave when she felt a pressure on her shoulder. Then she heard a rip of fabric. She gasped and looked over at her shoulder in shock and saw that they had ripped her right sleeve off. Gabrielle immediately pulled away from them. She turned to them and spoke.

"By royal command of the queen, I demand you leave me at once." She had never issued a direct queen's command form her month, as royal consort. But this was the first time it was really needed. She clutched her right shoulder where the tear had been made. Her command was only meant with giggles.

"You know those dirty peasants seem to love you. They go on and on about their beautiful and kind swan queen." She gave a snort at this.

"A queen shouldn't be adored; or that will known by the common people. They are worms beneath us and that makes you queen of the worms." Gabrielle didn't answer the taunts and simply turned away. Then she felt the back of dress being pulled.

"No!" She cried in a gasp. But it was too late as the back of her gown was ripped leaving her slip showing through. Gabrielle turned bright red at the sounds of feminine giggles that were all around her. Then they moved in on her, and Gabrielle reacted by instinct.

One of them graved the front of her dress, but Gabrielle kicked her right in the stomach, sending both the girl and one of her shoes flying. Another came up behind her and ripped the front of Gabrielle's bodice. This caused the rest of her dress to be destroyed. Ironically, the worsen their cause by destroying her dress. This made it easier to fight in. She kicked off her remaining shoe and spread her legs as to cause rips in the sides of the slips so she could move easier.

She immediately reached around and graved the girl by her forearms and spun her so hard she hit the other wall. There were three of them all together. The last one attacked by trying to pull her hair. As hard as Gabrielle could, she headbutted the girl back, causing a cry of pain and a release of her blonde hair. She quickly turned to the remaining girl and graved her shoulders and then she kicked her in the stomach, and let go. The girl cried and hit the banister and slid down. All girls were now on the floor.

Gabrielle backed away from them and assumed a fighting stance. If it was a damn fight they wanted, she would give it to them. Her attackers scrambled to their feet and looked at her and then each other. Then without a word, they turned and fled. For a moment, Gabrielle felt a warrior's pride at such an act. Then it dawned on her that she was wearing a torn slip and barefoot.

She looked at the remains of her ruined dress and sighed. Miss Goose worked so hard on that dress. But right now, she couldn't think of that. She had to try to find someone. She started to go down the staircase, praying she would just find a priest waiting at the bottom step that she could talk too. But her to her humiliation, there were several nobles at the bottom and when they saw the queen their expressions turn to horror.

"Your majesty, what happened?"

"Why is her dress torn to shreds?"

"Who attacked you?" This and many more questions were spoken and there were far too many for Gabrielle to answer. She was still recovering from her attach. Then a priest stepped out among the crown and removed his cloak and gave it to her. Gabrielle thanked him and took the cloak.

"What happened, your majesty?" The priest asked in a gentle voice that silenced the crowd wanting to know what had happened to their queen to cause her to be in such a state. What else could Gabrielle say...but the truth?

"A group of...noble girls attacked me and...ripped my dress." At this the crowd began to mutter amongst themselves. The priest pulled her in and started to walk her through the crowd.

"Can anyone provide her a dress?" He asked as they passed through. A few noble ladies came up with offers.

"Just get one as quickly as you are able." The priest told them. He lead Gabrielle into a backroom and gestured her to sit down. He called a servant over.

"Get Queen Gabrielle some tea to calm her nerves. Also inform the king of what has happened."

"No, wait!" interrupted Gabrielle, "Don't tell my husband, I don't want him to have this over him during the ceremony." She knew that Adrian's wrath was a sight that no one wanted to see and she couldn't see him having a peaceful ceremony with the knowledge of what had happened to her.

The priest gave her a look.

"Your majesty, he'll find out either way." She would not argue that the priest was wrong. So many nobles had seen her in her disgraced state and gossip was spreading fast. Probably even the beggars would know by sunset. However, Adrian was being kept away from the general population until the end of the ceremony.

"I know...but I don't want him going before the Goddess of Peace with a mind full of wrath. Just wait till the end of the ceremony...and I'll tell him. He'll probably ask me why I am wearing a different dress, anyway." The priest gave her a grave nod.

"As you wish, your majesty." The priest granted her wish. They sat in silence for a while until the servant came back with tea and the priest poured her a cup. Gabrielle thanked him as she sipped it. More silence followed and that didn't bother Gabrielle. In truth, she didn't want to talk about it. She was still getting over the shock of what had just transpired between her and those girls. Why had they attacked her? She remembered her confrontation with Annetta over her treatment of Rosella.

However, Annetta wasn't there. But did that mean that Lady Rosesmith was innocent of the attacks, or had she masterminded them? The more she thought about it the more she decided that the answer was no. Annetta was far to clever to put herself in the path of Adrian's wrath like this. If she wanted something done against her, she most likely spread gossip or rumors. Things that couldn't be traced back to her. Gabrielle then thought of Adrian and his reaction to what had been done to her. Her mind flashed back to him breaking the tailor's wrist. Her throat tightened.

She believed the girls should be punished for their actions. But at the same time she didn't want the girls to be hurt. Gabrielle would have to persuade her wrathful husband to have mercy on them. However, could she really smooth Adrian's wrath? He had no problem with killing her stepmother in front of her...after all. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door open and a priestess came in with a pink dress and pair of simple slippers.

"Lady Pricilla, wanted you to have it." It was a pink dress that while plainer than the gown Miss Goose had made for her was still lovely.

"Tell her I said thank you." She told the priestess and took the dress. The priestess nodded and along with the priest left her to change. She quickly change into the dress that hide her ruined slip. She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair that had been mused in the fight. Finally, she got it as straight as she could. Now what to do?

She didn't want to go out among the nobles right now where there was sure to be gossip and questions to be answered. But at the same time she couldn't stay in here during the whole ceremony and not be seen. Gabrielle decided in the end to leave the room when the ceremony begin. No one was suppose to speak during the ceremony so she would not have to deal with many questions. She waited at least an hour before she heard the music that signaled the beginning of the ceremony. Gabrielle took a deep breath and left her haven.

The people had gathered in circular rows around the altar of the goddesses. Gabrielle prayed to Hestia for strength and slowly made her way through the crowd. She felt bile in her throat. Everyone was staring at her; she was not imagining it. Gabrielle kept her head held high and walked to where the altar was and knelt before it and prayed. It was tradition for the queen to pray for her husband's success in his reign. When she finished she got up and stood to the side of the altar, as the priests began their chants.

Finally, the doors swung open and their appeared Adrian in his ceremonial grab and had a host of priest with him. They made their way down the aisle to the altar. The king kept his focus ahead, but she knew he would eventually look at her and see she was wearing a different dress. It then happened, he reached the altar and he happened a glance in her direction. His gaze stopped and confusion was written over his features as to why she was wearing a different dress. The priest then called back his attention. The ceremony officially began.

It was a long and drawn out ceremony with many incantations, prayers, and sacrifices. Adrian swore himself to be a fair and just king and the priests all prayed for his success as a ruler. Gabrielle privately wondered if no one saw the irony in a man who got the throne by the sword was now pledging to uphold the laws of the land. Of course, Gabrielle would make no such comment to her husband. What good would it do? The ceremony last for well over an hour, likely close to two. Finally, Adrian was aloud to raise up and the crowd applauded him. He nodded toward his subjects and then signaled Gabrielle to come by his side. The queen did not hesitate and took his offered arm. She waved to the crowd as they started down the aisle. Then it came. He whispered in her ear.

"What happened?" Her heart fell to the pit of her stomach as she searched for the right words to explain this to her king. She must have been taken too long, for he repeated.

"What happened?" His tone was more demanding now. He knew Gabrielle to know that her silence, or hesitation meant something was wrong.

"Lets get in the carriage...first." She tried to urge him. Adrian then faced her with his ice blue eyes.

"As your husband and king, I command you to obey me and tell me what has happened." Gabrielle gulped. Of course, husbands could invoke the right to have his wife obey him, but Adrian had never done it with her before.

"A group...of noble girls...attacked me...and tore my dress." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Adrian heard every word. He stopped them both in the aisle.

"What?" He said so loudly, that it caused Gabrielle to cringe. She knew every noble had to be looking at them now. Oh the gossip this would cause...

"Who were they?" He demanded. His voice wasn't trying to be quiet. He didn't give a damn if everyone knew he was angry. She could feel the tension grow in the room. Everyone knew that when Adrian was wrathful that it never ended well...for at least someone. If Isodara could she would confirm that fact.

"I-I...d-don't...know th-their names." She stuttered out. Even if her husband's wrath wasn't directed toward her, she was still close enough to it too feel its flamed flickering.

"But did you recognize them?" He pulled her closer. Gabrielle gulped and gave a nod, but no verbal answer.

"Well?" He was losing patience with her at a rapid rate. If he had any to begin with, that is.

"They are the trio of girls who are usually with Lady Rosesmith." Gabrielle finally got out, "But Lady Rosesmith wasn't with them." She quickly added. The king then turned his blue eyes to the crowd and seemed to be looking for them, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Guards!" He called, "I want you to search this entire place for the Bluesparrow cousins. Not anyone is allowed to leave; either by carriage, or foot."

"Yes, your majesty." The guard said and went off to inform the other guards of the king's orders. Gabrielle felt herself grow sick. She was sure that almost everyone was ready to go home and rest after nearly two hours on their feet. She decided to speak.

"My lord," She said in a soft tone, causing Adrian to turn back to her. His eyes still full of wrath, "My lord, I think everyone is tired. Maybe you should change your orders and let them go home." She innocently suggested.

"No,"His tone broke no argument. "I don't want to risk any of the Bluesparrow family, or allies sneaking them out. The queen looked down. She knew there was no further reasoning with her husband. In a way, she was glad that Adrian was with her because no one dared approach her and ask her questions with the wrathful king on her arm. A guard came down with the remains of Gabrielle's dress which seemed to only seemed to further agitate Adrian. Almost have an hour passed until the Bluesparrow cousins were located. When they were before the king they gave faces of regret and sadness. Clearly, trying to earn some of the King's pity, but it didn't work on Adrian.

"Have them taken into my custody. I want them to spend the night in the dungeons before they face my judgment in court tomorrow." The girls started to protest, but was silenced by Adrian's death glare. They cowed in fear of the king, before being taken away.

Once the cousins were out of the temple, Adrian gave everyone permission to leave. Gabrielle wondered if they were more eager to get off their feet, or to gossip. It would be a hard bet. Adrian lead her back into the carriage. Once they were inside, she could feel him start to calm down. He buried his face in his palm.

"I am sorry...Gabrielle." He said in a small voice.

"Adrian, you have nothing to be sorry for." She assured her husband. The royal consort was rather surprised at her king's abrupt change from wrath to regret. But he only shook his head no. He looked back at her with an..almost...sorrowful expression.

"I should have made sure you were safer. I was a fool to think you were safe alone." Gabrielle leaned over to her husband and pressed her body into him. She felt him wrap an arm around her shoulders. He then leaned the side of his head into her soft breasts.

"But I was safe, Adrian. Kianda has taught me combat." She reminded him, "They might have ruined my dress, but I was able to fight them off enough to send them running.". She ran her fingers through his snow white hair. Adrian didn't say another word. He seemed to just want to be by his wife. Gabrielle decided that she would incite love making when they got back to their room. So she did.

The next morning, after breakfast, she felt her nervousness grow with every passing moment. Miss Goose had decided a dark green dress, with a shade darker of overlay along with a high collar would be appropriate for judgment in court. Her blonde hair was half done up, and half down. She could feel the waves of anger that were rolling off her husband. It looks like last night had only distracted him, not entirely calmed him down. She looked out on the court and saw stoic and serious faces. Many were clearly wondering how the Bluesparrow family would change now that their daughters had attacked the queen.

Gabrielle knew she would have to convince her husband to be merciful...somehow.

Sorry, this chapter is later and shorter than usual. I've had a super busy week and I've also haven't been feeling the best.

On some good news. I have a new tumblr that you can follow me on if you like tumblr. Link is in my profile.