Then a door at the side of the court opened and a herald announced the queen.
Queen Phillida entered dressed in a white dress embroidered with small blue and yellow flowers. She processed to the judge"s chair as the assembled nobility rose to greet her. Her greying hair had been done in an elaborate style for the occasion and she wore the Queen"s Crown. Pettic thought she looked every inch a queen.
The queen looked at the crowd standing in the balcony, then at her five children in the body of the court. She indicated they should all sit, and as they did so, she lowered herself into the judge"s chair.
Whatever was happening here, the queen intended to be the judge, but if it were a trial, why were there no counsels? And why had the nobility been summoned? Pettic frowned.
`Bring in the p
