The room instantly went silent.
Mother froze.
Not for a second.
Not for a moment.
She froze completely.
The candlelight flickered across her face and for the first time since I had entered the room, she looked frightened.
Truly frightened.
"The dream?" she asked quietly.
I frowned.
"Yes."
Mother swallowed.
"The throne room?"
I nodded.
"The throne room."
Her hand tightened around the edge of the table.
I watched her carefully.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"You said it stopped years ago." Mother asked me. "The herbs worked didn't they?"
"They did." I acknowledged.
Mother went silent.
The silence stretched between us.
I hated silence.
Especially this kind.
The kind that felt full of things left unsaid.
"Mama?"
She blinked suddenly.
As though returning from somewhere very far away.
"What happened in the dream?" she asked.
I frowned.
"The same things mostly."
Her expression tightened.
"The throne."
I nodded.
"The people."
Another nod.
