I heard both Sir and the guards suck in their breaths and Sir murmured to me,
“Almostno oneis privileged to call the Sovereign by her true name!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty—er, Splendara,” I said, bowing my head to her again. “You honor me greatly.”
“You are very welcome, Elli. You have earned the right to the honor, and to personhood as well,” the Sovereign said to me. “But first, I wish to hear Sir Gra’multh apologize to both you and Sir Barinthian for his treachery during the duel the three of you fought.”
Gra’multh sucked in a breath and choked it back out again.
“Your Majesty!” he protested in a dry, hoarse voice. “Surely you cannot mean for me to humble myself to a merepet!”
“Do not speak so of Lady Elli,” the Sovereign snapped, narrowing her eyes at him. “She is much more than that—she has proven herself to be both valiant and brave and also extremely Mentally gifted. She deserves an apology from you and she shall have one or I will strip you of your title and give it to another!”
“Very well then.” Gra’multh turned to face me and Sir, his face twisted into a bitter mask. “You have myformalapology,”he snarled, biting off the words and spitting them at us like bullets. “For my behavior during the duel. It was…unsporting of me.”
“Unsporting?” Sir growled, glaring at him. “To attempt to have me assassinated? That seems like an understatement.”
“The Sovereign has told me to apologize and I havedoneso,” Gra’multh bit out. He looked at the Sovereign on her golden throne. “May I go now, Your Majesty? I have pressing business to attend to on my own continent.”
Splendara frowned at him.
“You would do well to remember, Overlord, that you rule at the pleasure of the Sovereign and of late I havenotbeen very pleased with you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Gra’multh said woodenly but I saw the bitter twist of his thin lips.
Clearly his angry look wasn’t lost on the Sovereign either.
“I see the look on your face and I know you’re longing for vengeance, Sir Gra’multh,” she said. “Before you go, I want to make it clear that Lady Elli is now and forevermore under mypersonalprotection. If you attempt to harm or kill her, you will be answerable tome.Am I understood?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Gra’multh snarled, glaring in my direction. “I swear my oath as an Overlord that I will not lay afingeron her precious hide.”
“Thank you. Then you are dismissed.” Splendara nodded her head regally and Gra’multh limped heavily back to his two personal guards, who were waiting for him. They each took him under the arm and the last I saw of him, the three of them were slowly descending the hundred golden steps that led to the very top of the pyramid.
When Gra’multh was out of sight, I turned back to the Sovereign.
“Er, thank you very much for protecting my life, Splendara,” I said, bowing my head.
“I thought it was important, considering how vengeful Sir Gra’multh can be,” she told me. “But I have more to say to you, Elli. First, though…I have heard many reports that you make an Earth delicacy called a ‘chocker ship coolie?”
“Oh, you mean achocolate chip cookie,” I said, smiling at her. “Yes, I made them for the staff of the Healing House a lot.”
“Would you make some for me?” Splendara asked hopefully. “I have a Matter Synthesizer for you to use right here.” She gestured and one of the guards rolled up something that looked very like the nutrition cart at the hospital, except it was made of gold.
“I’d be happy to make you some cookies,” I told her, stepping forward to take the control band from the guard, who was holding it out to me with a neutral expression on his face.
I put the band over my temples and thought of a platter of hot, gooey cookies…and with ading,there they were. Unsurprisingly, Splendaralovedthem. I thought her a glass of ice-cold milk to dunk them in as well and then she asked if I made anything else and I nodded.
I wound up making her all kinds of cookies including almond-orange shortbread, pecan fluff balls, peanut butter blossoms, and even some double stuffed Oreos, because why not?
The Sovereign was delighted with everything. It turned out she had a sweet tooth and was heartily sick of nutritional gel cubes, which didn’t surprise me a bit. I just wondered how people who could make almost about anything they wanted with their minds, decided to just eat flavorless Jell-O for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I mean,yesit was good for you. But tasty? Not so much.
After just about every spare surface around the throne was covered in batches of cookies, the Sovereign at last put a hand to her stomach and moaned.
“Oh, no more! I have never felt so full in mylife.”
“Yeah, you don’t have any tolerance for junk food, yet,” I told her. “You’d probably better go easy for a while.”
“I will have these put away until a later time,” Splendara said. “But I thank you for making them for me—the fact that you can operate the Matter Synthesizer so masterfully and the Mental Abilities you showed during the duel have persuaded me that what I am about to do is the right thing.”