He was charming.
In a moment or two, Elosa began to realize that she was being greatly honored. The royal procession around the room had stopped at her. He was ignoring the rest of the company. Charming--that was the only possible word. His blue eyes and his attentive smile charmed her as he gave forth a stream of compliments about herself and her long journey and her faithful father and loyal family and on and on...
Then she was sitting at his side and dinner was being served. The king and she were the only ones eating. Her father was there in the circle of onlookers around the table, and he smiled when she caught his eye and the conversation flickered to and fro. She thought she was managing to make sense. She made no jokes. She smiled.
The marchioness had not mentioned the possibility of only one companion. Two or three, she had said. So this was very special, and she was getting some dark looks from the younger women.
The king sent back the wine and demanded a better. The talk turned to wine. The king remarked on the excellent vintage produced by someone's estate, and the owner hastily offered to have several hogsheads sent at once and to fly a few bottles in daily until the carts could arrive.
'I must say, Majesty,' the duke remarked, 'that almost any wine on the Range is better than the thin swill we produce at Ninar Foan.'
Elosa agreed that she had never tasted...
Her head was starting to ache.
They were on the eighth or ninth course, and the food kept coming.
Jarkadon was nibbling at some strange-looking meat. 'You know what this is?' he inquired.
No, she could not guess.
'By law and ancient tradition,' he said proudly, 'it is a dish reserved for the king alone. Our father never cared for it, but we had the tradition revived. Taste some.'
He offered her a mouthful from his fork. It was highly spiced and rather tough. No, she still could not guess.
'Eagle comb!' he smiled. 'Here, we shall share it with you.' He dumped all of it on her plate.
'Doesn't it hurt the eagle?' she asked, feeling sick.
'Oh, they're useless for anything afterward,' the king said. 'Usually go mad. That's why it is so rare.'
She set to work on the horrible stuff.
'Talking of eagles,' the king said, 'our cousin of Foan, you breed silvers, we understand.'
Her father said modestly that he had some silvers.
'Our father was a great fancier,' Jarkadon said, leaning back. Having given most of his dish to Elosa, he had plenty of time to speak, and she had to gobble so as not to keep him waiting. 'We could never see the point in breeding birds--I mean, the damned birds get all the fun, don't they?'
With much laughter the company agreed.
'The royal breeding aeries,' the king said. 'You know them?'
The duke said that he had not had the pleasure of visiting those.
'They are not far off. Our father never flew in his later years, so they are an easy horse ride; a few minutes by bird. Vast! Huge! They are bleeding the exchequer dry! There must be some economies we could make there, mmm?'
The subject was tossed around, and everyone agreed that economies could be found.
'Foan!' Obviously the king had had a Good Idea. 'You look into it for us. Go over there and poke around. See what can be cut. I mean improved. Give us your comments and suggestions. You're a knowledgeable bird breeder.'
Her father's face was quite expressionless. 'I shall be honored to do so for Your Majesty.'
'Good,' the king said with a smile. 'Now?'
The duke bowed to the king and to Elosa, then turned and walked away.
'Eat up, my darling,' Jarkadon said. 'It's time for dessert.'
She was being tested! The unfair rush from eagle to royal table, the crude heaping of her plate, the dismissal of her father--they were tests of her nerve. To be queen she must have poise and grace, so Jarkadon was testing to see if she could be rattled. Obviously she had impressed him physically--the gleam in his eyes said that. Now she must impress him with her personality. When she was queen, she would sit by him at table every day.
She decided to risk a joke and show him. Her father was just going out the door.
'I thought I was the only one who could order him around like that, sire,' she said.
The sapphire eyes lit up with amusement. 'It is nice to be king,' he said.
And nice to be queen, too?
'I am sure Your Majesty does it very well.'
He switched his gaze to the onlookers. 'I
The company laughed loudly once more. She wasn't sure she understood that one, but she laughed too.
'How old are you?' he asked.
She gagged, then swallowed. 'I am exactly two hundred days younger than Your Majesty.'
'Terrible!' the king cried. 'Old age is upon you!'
There was more laughter.
'But then, you have a birthday coming in a few days?' he said. 'Your seventh, too! We must find a suitable gift for the occasion.'
Elosa mumbled with her mouth full.
'Meanwhile,' Jarkadon said, leaning toward her, 'here is a small advance on your birthday gift.' He held up a brooch for her to see--two eagles, rubies set in gold. It was large and beautiful and obviously worth a fortune.
She choked down the last horrible lump of comb and made appropriate thanking sounds. She knew that the rings he wore were there to be used as gratuities, but the brooch was worth many rings and was a woman's ornament. He must carry pockets full of things like that around also.
'Allow me,' he said. 'A little premature, perhaps, but we can correct that...Oh! I am sorry, did I prick you? That was careless. Here, let me try again.' This time he slipped fingers inside the front of her dress to make sure that the pin did not prick her, touching her nipple as he did so.
She thanked him again. He seemed amused. She sensed something odd, looked across at the guests, and saw glances being exchanged. There was something more to that little episode than the brooch itself. Another honor?
The meal ended, and the king withdrew. Elosa found herself in yet another luxurious courtyard with him and three men of about his age and half a dozen girls, all of them younger than she. Some looked hardly older than four kilos, yet all were dressed like grand ladies. She noticed that they all wore two-eagle brooches identical to the one she had been given. So those were obviously a sign of royal friendship and probably a great honor, especially when he had just met her. She must ask Feysa as soon as possible. Feysa did not have one.
There was King Shadow, too, of course, in matching gold and mauve and a black baldric. He was a surly- looking young man with an irritating habit of sniffing.
The king's attention was still for her alone. 'Now, what trifle can we find to amuse you, my dear Elosa,' he said, 'while we wait for the rabble to eat? Cockfighting? Do you have cockfighting at Ninar Foan?'
They didn't, and the king conceded that it was technically illegal--but what was the use of being king if you had to obey all the silly rules like everyone else? So they spent an hour watching the bloody business of cockfighting. A couple of the girls seemed to be nauseated by it, but Elosa joined in the cheering and was adamantly not rattled at all. The king was an avid spectator.
Then they rejoined the rest of the party to view the masque. Elosa knew that she should be exhausted, but she was soaring, buoyed up by the excitement as though she were riding an invisible eagle. She was making a good impression--that was certain. He could not keep his eyes off her.
The masque enthralled her. She had never seen professional acting and singing; she gloried in the music
