The click of dice and the slap of cards intermingled with the shout of triumphs, groans of defeat, and murmurs of conversation in the palace hall. Nobles young and old gathered around gaming tables to entertain themselves, to gossip and flirt, and to see and be seen in each other’s prestigious company.
A small group sat at a corner table, ostensibly playing a hand of Knave and Fool, but the game had not progressed in hours. Lord Évrard de Bretel absently swirled in wine in his goblet, his eyes scanning the room, searching for something, anything, to hold his attention because his opponent certainly wasn’t. He turned and glanced down at the stack of coins in front of him on the table, then up at the woman who sat across from him. She sighed and gave him a bored look.
“Why are we still sitting here?” she whined. “We aren’t playing and I don’t even like this game! You said we would only be here for a few minutes to mingle and we’ve been here for hours, Évrad! Hours! I’m so bored I could scream.”
Lady Oudine de Fhirze was known as something of beauty, but her pinched brows and angry pout ruined the image she worked so hard to maintain. Oudine was also known well as something of a spoiled brat, an image she need not work to maintain. She came from a family of wealthy vintners in Namarre and her father had doted on her for her entire life, giving her anything and everything she asked for. As a result, she expected everyone else to do the same. She surrounded herself with only the richest and most influential young people in the City – like Évrad and the other young lady who shared their space.
Marion Basilisque was completely oblivious to her friends’ bickering as she sat, her back to the wall, her eyes fixed on a beautiful towheaded woman sitting at a table across the room.
“Isn’t she just the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?” she sighed.
“What? Who?” Évrad asked, looking around, completely confused.
“The young Tiberian girl!” She pointed toward the blonde. “The one with the famed golden hair! You know her; she is one who has come to be presented to the King!”
Marion lowered her voice and looked and gave her friends a conspiratorial look. “I have heard about the city that, among the ladies coming here, she could be the most likely to win the King’s hand.”
Oudine rolled her eyes and snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, Marion. She’s a senator’s daughter. She’s a commoner. She may be gentle on the eyes, but Queen of Terre d’Ange? What a preposterous notion.” She raised her voice, then continued pertly. “No foreign woman would make a suitable Queen.”
It was no secret that Oudine and her family supported King Gustav taking a D’Angeline bride and Oudine took every opportunity to reinforce this opinion.
“Must you go on like this every single time someone brings up these suitresses? It’s tiring,” Évrad glared at her. He didn’t care much who the King wed, so long as it took plenty of time, giving him much to discuss amongst his friends.
“It’s just not appropriate for all of..” she waved her hand vaguely at the room, “..them to come and parade themselves in front of our king like a bunch of sheep before a shepherd.”
“I don’t know why you care so much. It’s not as though any of this affects you,” Évrad pointed out. He swallowed the wine in his goblet and motioned for a passing servant to bring him another.
Oudine tossed her hair and gave him an arch look. “There’s just no reason for the King to take a foreign bride. There are plenty of perfectly respectable D’Angeline noblewomen who would make far better queens. And it’s not like Terre d’Ange needs alliances. A marriage to some foreign girl would just lead to meddling in D’Angeline affairs by some other country.”
Évrad gave her a wry grin. “Respectable D’Angeline noblewomen, hm? Offering yourself up, Oudine? Think you’d make a good queen, eh?”
Oudine scoffed. “Well, I would certainly be better than what’s coming in from across the borders. Not that I would want to be queen. It’s far too much work. Besides,” she reached across the table and smiled condescendingly at Évrad, “when would I have time for my friends?”
Marion had stopped paying attention as soon as Oudine had begun her rant and gone back to gazing at the Tiberian girl. Marion didn’t particularly like Oudine, but being seen with her opened doors to Marion that might have otherwise been closed. Plus, when Oudine grew tired of fancy clothes and baubles, Marion was all too happy to scoop them up.
Évrad tapped Marion on the hand with a card, grabbing her attention. “So, dear, what is it that you have heard about this Tiberian lovely? Should I go and introduce myself?” He waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“Oh Évrad, you’ve ‘introduced yourself’ to half the men and women in Terre D’Ange. Must you be crossing the borders, too?” Marion giggled. “Besides, I don’t think it would wise to have a liaison with one of the most rakish men in the City of Elua when you have come to be presented to the King as a potential bride.”
Oudine made a disgusted sound.
“Come now Oudine, we’ll go over together. I’ll introduce myself to the young lady; we’ll all go off and you can…entertain her gentlemen escorts.” He winked. “You are so skillful at entertaining the local gentlemen. I’m sure Tiberian men would appreciate those same talents.”
Oudine’s jaw dropped. “Évrad, you pig! How could you suggest such a thing?!” She snapped open her fan and furiously fanned her face.
Évrad turned away from teasing Oudine. He knew he could only push her so far before she would throw a tantrum and ruin the whole afternoon. He didn’t particularly like Oudine, but Marion somehow picked up the best tidbits of gossip and Marion was always tagging along behind Oudine. Why that was, he could not fathom.
“So, Marion, the Tiberian girl?”
“Well, I don’t actually know much about her, but you know I will!”
He gave her a pointed look. “Marion, love, you know I depend on you for my best morsels of information.”
Marion touched his hand. “Oh Évrad, don’t worry. I have much else to tell you.”
“Yes? Well, don’t hold back.”
Her eyes shone with excitement. “When I was last home, my family was housing the Skaldi girl – Gisilia, I think her name is – and her delegation. And Évrad, you won’t believe this – she’s traveling with birds! Birds, Évrad! It’s like something from a carnival!”
“BIRDS?!” Oudine screeched, her voice so loud that several people turned to see what the commotion was. She noticed and cleared her throat before continuing at a more normal, though still high volume. “What is she, a circus performer? Perhaps she’s a falconer? I suppose a falconer would at least be useful. Perhaps she is not here to wed the King, but one of his stablehands?” She laughed loudly at her own joke.
“That’s quite enough, Oudine,” Évrad snapped at her. “You are being cruel and it’s uncalled for.”
“No, I’m not,” she continued primly. “I’m being honest. I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking, but is afraid to say. We don’t need a foreign queen. We need a D’Angeline queen. Perhaps King Gustav could marry his Dahlia lover, hmm? Has anyone thought of that?”
In fact, many had not only thought of it, they had whispered about it. Many had wondered – and whispered – what would happen to Odilia once the king wed, particularly if he took a foreign queen who was not familiar with D’Angeline ways?
Évrad turned back to Marion, who, as usual, had shrunk into herself when Oudine grew bombastic.
“So, this Skaldi girl, eh?”
Marion immediately perked up. She was a little in love with Évrad and preened at his attention. “Well, aside from her…pets…she is traveling with two quite large, formidable men. They seem to be, perhaps, soldiers of some type? It’s difficult to tell with the Skaldi; the men all look fearsome to me.”
“Savages,” Oudine muttered, sipping her wine.
Marion ignored her and continued. “She seemed kind, I suppose. She was very quiet, very polite. More than anything, though, it felt very much as though she simply did not want to be here. I almost felt sorry for her.”
Oudine opened her mouth to speak but Évrad held up a finger to stop her. “Don’t start, Oudine. We all know how you feel about the Skaldi and how much you would agree that this young lady doesn’t belong here. No need to say it yet again.”
Oudine harrumphed. “Well, at least this whatsername and I can agree on something. Besides, aren’t there Skaldi men who need wives?”
“I’m sure there are many Skaldi men who need wives. I bet you would make a perfect Skaldi bride. After all, you do love draping yourself in fur in the winter,” Évrad countered acidly, then quickly turned his attention back to Marion before Oudine could start ranting again.
“Anything else? You must share everything with me.” His eyes sparkled and her heart melted.
“Um, well,” she tried to think. Évrad loved gossip, so she listened for even the tiniest rumor she could find, just to have an excuse to talk to him.
“Well, as I said, it would appear that she has come at the strong urging of someone else and, if she had her own way, she would have stayed in Skaldia with her, um, animals.” She said the last word quietly, so as not to set Oudine off on another tirade.
“You traveled with her from Camlach, yes? Did you get to know her?” Évrad was greedy for gossip like a child for sweets and Marion was desperate to feed him.
Marion shook her head. “No, I only met up with her for a day or so. I do not think her to be meek, however much she is here against her wishes.”
Her paused and her face suddenly lit up. “Oh! I almost forgot! It is said that she could be the great granddaughter of Waldemar Selig, himself.”
At this Oudine gasped. “Waldemar Selig?” she hissed, leaning towards her friends. “The monster who almost destroyed our country? One of his descendents comes to wed our king?? This is another plot by the Skaldi to rule us!”
Évrad guffawed. “Oh Oudine, the conspiracies you imagine! A young lady, thrice removed from the man, is presented to our king in a legitimate offer of marriage, but it’s not, in truth, an offer of marriage, it’s a secret plot to undermine our government? How? Let me guess,” he sputtered through his laughter, “by birthing a half-Skaldi king? And then what? Marrying him off to another Skaldi girl? Until eventually, the entire D’Angeline royal line is just full Skaldi blood hundreds of years from now?”
Évrad wiped tears from his eyes and took a deep breath. He gave Oudine a sympathetic look.
“Oh, you dear girl. I do wonder sometimes how that mind of yours manages to get you through every day.”
Oudine sputtered. Marion covered her mouth to hide a giggle.
Évrad shook his head and stood up. He brushed off his trousers and straightened his jacket. “Ladies, we have been here far too long. I’m off to Night’s Doorstep, if you’d care to join me.”
Oudine pouted. She hated Night’s Doorstep.
“Night’s Doorstep?” she whined. “Why do we always have to go there? It’s dirty and foul-smelling!”
Marion touched Oudine on the arm gently. She had anticipated this turn of events and planned for it. “Don’t worry Oudine, I have an extra pomander you can use. We can peruse that jewelry stand you loved so much the last time.”
“Oh alright,” she relented. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind some more jewelry. I haven’t bought anything in a few days.”
Marion gave her a bright smile. She loved Night’s Doorstep. Évrad always underestimated the strength of the wine and became more and more affectionate the more he drank. He never seemed to remember anything the next day or, at least, he acted like he didn’t. But Marion remembered.
Évrad clapped his hands. “Let’s not dally, ladies! I’m sure there is someone at The Cockerel who has news of these suitresses! And someone who has that delicious tsingani wine!”
He winked at Marion and held out his hand to her. She blushed as he led her out of the gaming room. Oudine trailed behind them, her grumbles and complaints following the group through the hall.
