Northern was alone in the room with the Queen now, every other person waiting outside. He had taken the precaution for two reasons: one, he didn't know how this was going to go—what was most likely to happen while trying to extract the Chaos Heart. Two, they were going to cause quite a ruckus once they discovered his methods.
He studied the Queen for a few seconds, taking in the slight tremor in her hands, the way her fingers kept smoothing the bedsheets.
"How do you feel?"
The young lady—granted she was in her sixties but looked like her late thirties—was caught slightly off guard by Northern's question. She was nervous, that much was obvious, though she was trying to hide it behind the composure expected of royalty.
Instead of answering directly, she laughed—a soft, uncertain sound—and looked at Northern.
