7. Polina

POLINA

I t's worse than we've feared. There is a human inside our hive. A real, live, breathing human. This has never happened before. At least, I don't think it's ever happened before. As part of my education, I've had to memorize my people's history going back hundreds of years, and not in a single dusty tome has a human been mentioned.

The humans live in their world, the fae live in theirs. End of story.

Except, right now, I'm staring at one from across the dining room table, and he's… I squint at him. He's young, I believe. But as an immortal being, I'm not a good judge of such things. The man dabs at his mouth with one of the rose-petal napkins and readjusts the delicate jewelry on his face. With the see-through glass covering his eyes, they make his eyes appear bigger than they actually are. I like them, I decide.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the water," he says. Sitting on either side of him are a pair of my knights. Aunt Elza sits beside me, and spoons a mouthful of green dew into her mouth before clearing her throat.

"She isn't the queen yet," she says in a sharp tone.

The man's face falls. "O-Oh. Sorry, then. Your … Highness? I'm Calvin, by the way."

I open my mouth to reply, but Aunt Elza beats me to the punch. Again. Pity she wasn't born a man, so I could fuck her and be rid of her, too. Two. More. Weeks.

"This is the Princess Polina Anthophila, third of her name. And I am Elza, majordomo to the crown," she says, and places her hand on her breastbone. Her mandibles click together, and I grind my teeth at the sound. "And you are our Caretaker. We have many questions for you."

Calvin continues to stare at me, his cheeks reddening by the second.

"Oh, um. Of course," he says. "Of course you do, I mean. Ask away."

I shoot a glare at Aunt Elza, daring her to steamroll me again. But luckily for her, she doesn't. She merely clicks her mandibles and waits for me to ask the first question.

"Why was our hive moved, Caretaker? Is it punishment for something we have, or have not, done?"

Calvin's mouth falls open. "What?" He rubs the back of his neck. Why is he so nervous? Didn't he come down here to speak with us for a reason? "You mean why we took your home from the guild? Sorry about that. That must have been scary."

"Yes. You could say that."

He tugs at the collar of his shirt, which I'm noticing is a habit of his. A rivulet of sweat travels down his face, clinging to the curve of his jawbone. And what a lovely jawbone it is, complete with a bit of dark fur lining his face. "I didn't pick which hive I went home with. Jules said the guild master wanted me to have it."

I continue to stare at him, unblinking. "That doesn't answer the question. Why were we moved in the first place?"

"Oh, because the guild is forty-five minutes across the city even without heavy traffic, so?—"

Aunt Elza interrupts. "What is traffic?" She looks at me, and I shrug.

Calvin's throat bobs. "Nothing. Never mind. It was too far to go all the way across town every night, so Jules got special permission from the guild master to take you guys all the way over to my place so I could learn. Then, in a couple of weeks, I'm going to look after my brother's hive while he's on a trip."

My eyes narrow. "We are not ‘guys.' We are women."

Florian chitters from the other end of the table. "Ahem." He clears his throat and narrows his eyes at me.

Ugh, right. He's here. I had forgotten.

"Except for Florian, my fiancé," I rectify.

Florian flashes me a sickly-sweet grin. It's not genuine. Never is, with him.

Calvin chews his bottom lip as he glances from me to Florian, then back to me. "Wait, he's your—oh. Um." He combs a hand through his hair, which is still damp and glossy from sweat. "But … wait. Don't male bees?—"

"He's aware," I say flatly. Florian shrugs before going back to inspect his nails. "We do what we do for the betterment of the hive, not for ourselves. Florian is no exception to that and understands his role. But let us cut to the chase, Caretaker. Are we to expect another upheaval anytime soon?"

Calvin shakes his head. "No. They said I could keep this hive, unless I decide to give it back. Which I hadn't planned on doing, but?—"

"Good, good. Then we can have the coronation ball in peace," Aunt Elza says, interrupting again. She looks at me and smiles. "Everything will go according to plan. The ball can also be in celebration of our Caretaker visiting us. Wouldn't that be lovely?"

My brows knit as I consider her idea. "A celebration for both my coronation and for the Caretaker?" My nose wrinkles in distaste. It's not as though I don't like the Caretaker. I do. Very much, in fact. Perhaps too much, which confuses me. He's kinder than I thought he would be, and I like the way his jewelry frames his face. And his head of hair … oh, those sandy locks of hair that I've fantasized about running my fingers through. No. No, no, no. A silly, girlish crush is no reason to derail all of my plans.

Absolutely not. This is unprecedented. And while, yes, the Caretaker coming to our hive himself is a big deal indeed, my coronation has been planned for years. Years! I will not simply make space on my day to accommodate something so last-minute. Not even for him.

"No," I say. "I will not share."

"But Your Highness, it will be too difficult to host two balls in the same week," she protests. From the other end of the table, Florian yawns into one of his hands. Then Aunt Elza drops her voice so only I can hear her. "And we wouldn't wish to offend the Caretaker by sending him home without the proper respect, would we? Think of the hive, Your Highness, and what your mother would have wanted."

Sighing, I loll my head to the side as I consider her words. I don't want to share, but I also don't want to embarrass myself in front of the Caretaker by protesting too much. Fine. I can compromise. Besides, Aunt Elza is correct. My mother would have thrown a ball befitting the Caretaker to celebrate his visit, and she would have done so without complaint.

"Yes, yes. Fine. But I don't want there to be any major changes to the plans we already have in place. If the chef can whip up an extra special dessert to commemorate the occasion, that should do nicely."

Aunt Elza brings all four hands together and beams. "Wonderful! I will let her know straight away!"

Florian makes a show of yawning into his hand again. Loudly.

"It's late," I say. "Ser Beatrix, please show the Caretaker to his quarters. The guest room in the petunia wing should do nicely."

Ser Beatrix steps forward from behind my chair, but Calvin's mouth falls open again. "W-Wait. Excuse me, Your Highness, but…"

Everyone in the room goes deathly still. My heart flutters into my throat as he continues. How this human man affects me so much is irritating at best.

"But I'm not supposed to be here. I didn't mean to come down here. You see, I had an incident with my machine and accidentally turned myself small," he says, gesticulating wildly.

Bile rises in the back of my throat as I stare at him in disbelief. Aunt Elza makes a whimper-like sound beside me, and Florian actually sits up in his chair to look over at Calvin with renewed interest.

"You didn't … mean … to come here?" I repeat as my right eye twitches.

He shakes his head. "No. I'm … I'm sorry if that's disappointing. This has been an amazing experience. I had no idea honeybees could talk, but I really need to get home to my shrink ray and turn myself back to normal now."

Aunt Elza lets out a bark of laughter, causing me to flinch. "Return? Before the ball? Caretaker, you do us a grave dishonor by suggesting such a thing! We have never had a Caretaker grace our honeyed halls before, and you wish to leave moments after you've arrived?"

"Aunt—" I begin, but Aunt Elza pins me with a look that challenges me to stop her. I swallow the lump in my throat and steady myself. I am the princess. What I say goes. I glower at her. "He wants to go home. We will let him go back home, if that is what he wishes."

And then I won't need to share my coronation ball and all will be set to rights again. Besides, he says there's nothing for us to worry about, so what is the problem? So then why do I feel so poorly when I think about the Caretaker leaving us already? Infatuation is not befitting of a woman of my stature. No, the sooner he goes home, the better, I decide.

Florian yawns again and waves an arm in the air. "I say let the old boy go home, if that's what he wants. If you keep him here against his will, he could simply gas us when he returns to normal."

I shudder with revulsion at the suggestion. "Why would you insinuate such a thing? He would never do that," I snap.

Aunt Elza arches an eyebrow. "You seem so certain of such things."

Calvin clears his throat again and says, "I'm really sorry for all the trouble I'm causing right now. But I won't hurt you. You have my word. Just the opposite, actually. I want to help you."

With preternatural grace, Aunt Elza floats over the table with the help of her wings and lands beside Calvin. "Caretaker," she coos. "At least stay for a tour of our hive before you leave us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

That does it. He smiles, albeit awkwardly, before saying, "Okay. Sure. I can do that. You're right. I probably won't shrink myself again, so … might as well enjoy it, right?"

Aunt Elza places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. "Delighted to hear. But, you do look worn down. We will escort you to your quarters so you can refresh yourself. Ser Beatrix, please."

I watch from my seat as Ser Beatrix leads Calvin away. He looks over his shoulder back at me, and I nod to reassure him. Something about all of this doesn't sit quite right with me. He shrank … by accident? How is that even possible? I thought humans were all-powerful beings who were completely in control of their bodies. Perhaps I was wrong.

"Collette?" I ask, turning around in my seat to address one of the knights lingering in the corner. She is at my side within an instant.

"Yes, Your Highness?" she says as she bends over.

"Did anyone see the Caretaker shrink?" I whisper. "Who found him?"

"Our scouts did. They were out on their nightly patrol and found him in a spider's web, about to be devoured by the Widow," she murmurs.

So, they didn't see him actually shrink, but rather found him after it had happened. I see. I nod to Collette, dismissing her, and she goes back to her corner. Florian pushes his chair back with a screech that makes me want to peel my skin off, then dips in a quick bow before leaving.

"I didn't say you could go," I say. But it's too late. Everyone who was in the dining hall, save for my knights, is now gone. "Sure, why would you listen to me? I'm only your almost-queen," I say bitterly, and toss my rose-petal napkin down onto the table. This is not an auspicious beginning to my reign. Not at all.