The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 201: Truce (1)

"Sofia is to come here by noon to be with us. Are you listening to me, Tabitha?" Jeffrey asked as he was speaking to his wife since he returned to the bedroom but did not get a response.

"It is odd. Jane didn’t return after I sent her to the palace yesterday and she didn’t show up to get me dressed. I have been worried about her since the incident with Hazel. What if something happened to her again?" Tabitha asked, fearing Hazel might have spotted Jane.

It was unlike Jane to go somewhere this long and not return with news as yet.

"I am a fool. I hadn’t thought about Hazel disliking her when I sent her there. It would not be surprising if Hazel took the chance to punish Jane again. Punishing my maid," Tabitha said, shaking her head.

"Whatever happened, I’m sure Hazel had a good reason. Hazel doesn’t seem to be the type to just punish someone. Haven’t you heard what is being said about her? The servants love her," said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey missed the dirty look from his wife for complimenting Hazel. freewebnøvel.com

"She would take any reason to harm one of my maids. I will be late for breakfast as I must go see where Jane is. Have it pushed back for an hour," Tabitha said to the maid doing her hair. Before Jane could be punished for whatever Hazel was accusing her of, Tabitha had to go get her.

"Sounds like you are going to cause trouble. I am going to stay here so I don’t have to hear what trouble you create. I say let the queen go ahead with whatever she has done and wait for the maid to return to you. You cannot miss us sitting with Sofia," Jeffrey warned.

They both had all the time in the world so their focus should be on Sofia now. Sofia was at the age to notice and feel all kinds of new things. Before Sofia could start thinking that they favoured Tobias more than her as they had been focusing on him for his coronation and the selection, they had to spend time with Sofia.

Tabitha had to do it more than Jeffrey since she had paid less attention to Sofia in recent weeks. Jeffrey always thought it would have been the other way around as he was the more busy one but Tabitha put more of her time toward Tobias.

"It would be good if you invited Hazel to sit with you and Sofia. She is not going anywhere and will be the mother of your grandson. Start working to fix your relationship now. The small greetings you two do are uncomfortable for everyone else," said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey enjoyed not having to see Hazel and Tabitha smiling at each other when they were both asked a question.

"I have no reason to seek a sit down with Hazel. It is she who needs to come to respect me. If she has done something to Jane, there will be hell. I have not touched anyone around her so she cannot do as she likes with my maids," Tabitha replied.

Jane was special to Tabitha as she didn’t have anyone more ready to do her dirty deeds. She needed Jane back by her side.

Jeffrey sighed. He remembered Hazel said that he allowed Tabitha to do as she pleased and didn’t try to stop her but he was married to Tabitha for so long that he was done with trying to get her to change her mind. His words fell on deaf eyes and the older he got, the less he wanted to waste time telling Tabitha what to do.

"I shall be quick and won’t speak with Hazel- Who is knocking on the door at this time when I said no one other than my maids is to disturb us?" Tabitha questioned, looking at their bedroom door.

"I informed the guards to come to us if something were to ever happen to Tobias or Hazel. Come in," Jeffrey ordered the person outside.

"My son," Tabitha said, filled with worry.

"Good morning-"

"Forget the greetings, what happened to my son?" Tabitha asked in a hurry.

"Nothing has happened to the king. There is trouble in the palace as one of the queen’s maids was found dead last night with an expensive bottle of rum near her. Some of the court has concluded that she stole and got drunk," said the guard.

Tabitha smiled as it was fitting that something like this would happen to one of the maids Hazel picked. Hazel had picked without much thought and now she had to face the embarrassment of what happened to the poor maid.

"Are you certain that the queen wasn’t the one to offer her the rum?" Tabitha questioned as it wouldn’t be unusual to give the maids something. "Then the queen would be responsible for the maid’s death."

"Tabitha," Jeffrey warned as it wasn’t something good to speak of in front of the guard. Now was not the time for more rumours to be added to this. Hazel should not be pointed to for having a hand in the maid’s death. "Where is the king now?"

"He is still with the queen-"

"I can’t sit still anymore and let her cause all of these distractions. I must go to her and teach her," said Tabitha.

"You say that as if she caused the maid to die. You know that it is our stubborn son offering to stay with her now. Don’t place the blame on her. Still, I think that it is time you offer her some help. We’ve thrown her to the wolves. No amount of tutoring has prepared her for what is to come," Jeffrey said, hoping Tabitha would take on the task.

"I offered her my help but she was stubborn. I am not speaking of this with you as you will only try to make me the bad person as Tobias does. I shall help her so she doesn’t need to lean on Tobias for help. This time she will listen," Tabitha said, not willing to back down this time.

"I shall have a small tea party with her and Sofia. I’m told the Henson girl frequents the palace so I shall invite her. Hopefully, I will be able to get some answers about Jane. Will you be fine by yourself? You should go to Tobias to see how he is fairing as king," Tabitha suggested. "Have him come visit us."

Jeffrey considered it as there wasn’t a time since Tobias became king that he had checked in on his son. Tobias was long preparing for this moment so Jeffrey thought he didn’t need to see if Tobias was doing well. He had to stand back and let Tobias learn by himself.

"Get me another dress to enter the palace with and one of the small tiaras," Tabitha ordered her maid. "It was my mistake to stand back and let her fall. The past queens must be shaking their heads at me. I can hear your mother scolding me. Oh," Tabitha touched her head.

"Tell mother I said hello," Jeffrey joked and then left the room with the guard to give Tabitha privacy to get dressed. He didn’t want to witness the madness of her getting dressed to make her grand return to the palace.

In a time like this when Hazel was mourning, he hoped that the two could come together to end their differences. It was only Tabitha’s missing maid that might stop Hazel and Tabitha from becoming close.