TWENTY-NINE
"What happened to the queen before me?" Guinevere asked her maids one morning. Melwas' words had returned to her, plaguing her sleep, so that she could not rest until she vowed to seek an answer. "How did she die?"
The two girls looked at one another. "Do you mean Queen Viviana, Princess Zurine's mother?"
Guinevere reined in her impatience. The maids were not at fault for her own ignorance. "If she was the last queen, then yes."
"Everyone thought she loved the King as much as he loved her, but one night when the King was away, she was discovered abed with one of Lord Melwas' sworn knights. Lord Melwas himself caught them, and in shame, the queen took her own life. She buried a dagger in her breast. 'Twas said she could not face her husband, so she killed herself before the
