The Madame did not grow quiet in her old age, but obstreperous, signaling her least dissatisfaction with a noisy defiance. Two marriages, three bouts of plague, and a humpback hadn’t weakened her, but forged her angry determination in the fire of life’s cruelties.

So fierce was she that even her adult children still came to her for help. They rarely had to ask, only to tell her of their troubles. She would then stand from her chair, ride from her castle, and challenge the most powerful duke, bargain with the fiercest dragon, send undead back to their graves.

All nine of her children felt like fools every time they asked anything from her. Truth be told, though, they feared if they stopped asking, having nothing to do might kill her before anything else.

See the author’s published work here.

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