Iris did recognize a few of the women's faces from previous court sessions she had sat in on, but there were a number more she didn't. The noblemen who had been forced out of the way all seemed perturbed by the situation, some of them chattering in each other’s ears and glaring at the women, but the women themselves seemed unfazed.
"What is this?" Iris whispered to Ember as she walked in at his side, holding onto his arm for support. Ember did not answer at first, but a knowing look spread across his face.
"You’ll see."
He led her up the steps of the dais and escorted her to her throne, bowing his head to kiss her forehead before he moved to stand before his own.
"Welcome!" he bellowed, throwing his arms open to everyone in the room. He then turned his attention to the lady at the very front of the group standing before them and said, "Lady Talgarth."
He bowed his head to her, offering her the floor before sitting down on his throne. Birds sang outside the window as the noble lady stepped up with a curtsey.
"Thank you for inviting me to speak, Your Majesty," she said gratefully. Though Iris recognized her as one of the wives of a Spring Isle noble, she did not know the woman very well and she couldn't have expected where things were about to go.
"We have all come here today," the lady explained, gesturing with a wave of her hand to the women behind her, "to give thanks to our savior, Her Majesty, Queen Iris!"
Shock gripped Iris as Lady Talgarth turned in her direction and dropped down onto her knees on the bottom step of the dais. A wave of movement followed as every other woman in the room dropped to their knees. Heat blazed in Iris's cheeks, and she gulped past the lump that had formed in her throat.
I am no savior, she thought even as she asked out loud, "What could you possibly have come to thank me for?"
She glanced at Ember who sat beside her, a devilish smile upon his face.
"Did you know about this?" She mouthed silently to him, but Ember simply shrugged and held up his hands, palms out as if he'd had no involvement in the matter.
"You are modest as always, Queen Iris," Lady Talgarth announced, rising back to her feet to explain, "If not for you every single one of us would still be imprisoned by the foul creatures who named themselves our husbands and fathers."
All of them? Iris gulped, unable to believe what she was hearing. There had to be at least fifty women kneeling before her. The tradition of trade brides had clearly spread further than she had ever imagined.
She opened her mouth to speak but didn't get the chance. Lady Talgarth was already gesturing the other women forward.
"We come bearing gifts of thanks," she announced, and Iris's face drained of color watching the women lay gifts upon the steps of the dais at her feet. There were jewels, colored silks, baskets of fruit and berries, even a pile of books held together by a golden ribbon. Wherever she looked, she found more presents and they seemed to continue to pile up until Iris could no longer see the stone steps beneath.
"This is too much!" she gasped, "I do not deserve all of these gifts!"
"You deserve these and so much more," Lady Talgarth responded, and the other women began to nod in agreement, "If not for you, some of the women you see before you may have perished at the hands of their so-called husbands."
Iris cringed at that, remembering several times when she had feared for her life at Perivale's hands. The occupancy of the dungeons had certainly doubled since Iris and Ember had been married.
Feeling slightly embarrassed at their praise, Iris found herself reaching for Ember's hand. When she found it, she squeezed his fingers and pointed out, "I was not the only one responsible for the change in the laws."
She glanced in her husband's direction to find him shaking his head.
"I may have changed the law, but without you I fear I would have remained blind to the whole situation," he admitted with a sigh. The shame was plain on his face and Iris gave his hand another comforting squeeze.
"All that matters is you did the right thing," she pointed out. Ember's eyes met hers then and the love and affection she found in the depths of his charcoal eyes made her heart swell.
When Iris looked back around at the women before them, they were all nodding in agreement.
"Queen Iris is right," Lady Talgarth said. Turning to King Ember, she added, "We offer you a great many thanks also."
Ember shook his head and waved her gratitude away with a hand, "I need no thanks. I have all the reward I need here."
Iris's heart squeezed with joy when he lifted her hand in his and pressed his lips to her knuckles. She then turned her full attention back to the women before her and said, "I can't possibly accept all of these gifts. There are far too many."
"My lady, might I make a suggestion?" A small voice sounded from the back of the crowd of women and Iris was surprised when Melia stepped forward, her head bowed and looking unsure of herself next to lady Talgarth. Iris was shocked to see her among the women, more so because she had grown so used to the girl's company that she had almost entirely forgotten the ordeal that had brought them into each other's lives.
"Go ahead, Melia," Iris encouraged with a nod. She waved the girl forward.
Melia took a step toward the dais, bowing her head respectfully to the king and his queen, before raising it again to suggest, "Maybe these gifts could be donated to the women still going through the system to free themselves. So many of us have already been freed, but I am sure we all know one or two women who have still not plucked up the courage to start the process yet."