Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 407: Weary Traveler

Chapter 407: Weary Traveler

"Please, please, sit down." Queen Lavinia gestured eagerly to the dining hall, where a veritable feast lay on the table. "Cordelia has informed me about your taste in food. I hope you’ll find something you like. Xahan’s food might not be what you’re used to, but I hope you’ll be able to find something to love after the end of this meal."

Daphne’s stomach lurched, leaving her confused. A spread like this should have incited hunger, especially after a long journey where she ate nothing but dried plain food, yet all she felt was nausea rolling in her stomach as the various smells entered her nose. She covered her mouth as her stomach heaved.

"Queen Daphne? Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I’m fine. I was just tired," Daphne said quickly, gathering herself together. "The food looks amazing, please give my thanks to the chefs."

Perhaps her body simply didn’t feel too well after the long month of travel, and the weather took some getting used to. No matter what, that was no excuse for her not to be a grateful guest.

It was the height of impoliteness to not.

Was she suffering from motion sickness due to the travel? Either way, she had to feign enthusiasm, since Cordelia and her aunt had gone to so much trouble to make her feel welcome.

Daphne could spot many of her favorite dishes on the table, courtesy of Cordelia’s attention to detail. There was a delectable pork roast with potatoes drenched in gravy, plates of spaghetti and bowls laden full with a variety of soups, along with helpings of wine.

So why wasn’t Daphne feeling well enough to enjoy it? She plastered a bright smile on her face, but could barely muster the energy or appetite to eat more than a few bites of each dish. She had to cover her mouth as the urge to retch grew stronger with every dish.

What was wrong with her?

"Hey, are you sure you’re well?" Cordelia demanded as she noticed her friend’s less-than-stellar appetite. "Are you trying to lose weight? Why are you eating like a bird― hell, even your bird friend is eating more than ten of you put together!"

Zephyr turned to them, his cheeks stuffed full of spaghetti and sausages and sauce all over his lips. Empty plates were stacked in front of him at an impressive height. His face looked more like the young twins who were sitting at their own table, under the strict watch of their nanny.

"Zephyr, table manners," Daphne chided gently, and Zephyr hurriedly wiped his face clean with a napkin, embarrassed. "If you keep eating like this you’ll get indigestion."

Zephyr frowned. After a month on the road with army rations for his daily three meals, finally getting a buffet of food was tantamount to giving a dying man the elixir of life. But Daphne had a point; he couldn’t afford to fall ill now, since he couldn’t trust Sirona not to harm him when treating him.

So he sighed and put down his knife and fork, staring pathetically at the grilled sausages that were calling out to him.

Cordelia narrowed her eyes from the uncharacteristic behavior. From Daphne’s letters, this griffin was an insatiable glutton. What was this control?

Meanwhile, a glint appeared in Queen Lavinia’s eyes. "Queen Daphne, if your appetite is less than stellar, I may have just the right food to help matters."

She clapped her hands and maids arrived, with plates of fresh fruit laden on silver platters. Zephyr immediately perked up and helped himself to a grape, only to cough it out.

"What the hell is this? Why is it so sour?" He gagged dramatically, and the twins caught sight of him and followed suit.

"They are sour plums, they are meant to help with indigestion and nausea," Queen Lavinia said, "Try one, Queen Daphne. You should suck them, for the best taste."

Daphne took one to be polite and did as the queen suggested, expecting to dislike this sour fruit. To her own astonishment, she felt it was delicious! This was probably the only thing she had tried at the table that had not turned her stomach. In fact, her stomach was settling already, the nausea she tried so hard to keep at bay finally receding enough for her to relax.

"This is delicious. May I have more?" Daphne asked politely, but her hand had already reached for a second.

Queen Lavinia beamed at her and said, "Have the whole plate, darling. I’m glad to see you finally looking better."

Cordelia raised an eyebrow and met her aunt’s gaze over her cup of wine. It seemed like her aunt already had some idea about Daphne’s condition.

After all, sour plums were many pregnant women’s favorite fruits. Yet it seemed that Daphne had no idea about her own condition.

The sour fruits did wonders for Daphne’s mood, and soon she eagerly joined in the dinner conversation, updating Cordelia on most of the new happenings in her life, taking care to completely skip over her recent discoveries of Atticus’s hidden goals. She needed people to help her figure out Atticus’s plans, but she couldn’t fully trust Queen Lavinia and her husband yet.

Friendly as Queen Lavinia was, Daphne knew that she wasn’t only listening to her to be a dedicated host.

If Queen Lavinia detected the slightest hint of Atticus’s true agenda from Daphne’s words, they would be thrown out of Xahan before morning arrived.

So instead, she talked about the terror of the bloodthirsty creatures, how it felt to see her younger brother lose his mind and threaten to drain her of her blood, and how they all thought he was gone for good, only to scream when they realized his decapitated head could still speak.

Cordelia had enjoyed that tale very much. On the other hand, Queen Lavinia was horrified, especially when Daphne started to talk about how she offered herself as bait to catch Alistair. She had made the nanny send the twins to bed when the tale got bloody, much to their disappointment.

Daphne had no idea how much young children liked to be scared, but that was useful. Hopefully, Queen Lavinia and her children would regale Daphne’s tales to King Calarian― and she hoped that King Calarian would quickly figure out what Atticus was up to and stop him.

She had no idea what ritual would require the iron meteorite so badly, and she didn’t want to find out when it was too late.