The herald took a huge breath and cried, ‘Presenting Her Majesty Queen Renata Octavia, ruler of the House of Amentia.’ Renata stepped forward and dropped into a low curtsey which she held for several moments.
Where were our lengthy titles? Something like Presumptuous Ones from the Poorest Nation in the Land, or Desperate Ones of the Freezing Country would be fitting.
‘Princess Lilith Oriana, First Daughter of the House of Amentia.’ Lilith stepped forward to stand beside Renata and dropped into a very graceful curtsey. All eyes were on her, but she kept her serenity.
‘Princess Zeraphina Hermione, Second Daughter of the House of Amentia.’
Oh, golly. My turn. I checked that Griffin was settled securely on my wrist and that Leap hadn’t wandered off and together we stepped forward. Carmelina’s eyes grew round as saucers when she saw my animals. I curtseyed, wobbled, and Griffin had to flap her wings to keep her balance. Leap was staring at the king and queen with big green eyes. I hoped he wasn’t about to disgrace us by climbing the tapestries or, worse, washing his rear end. As I rose from my curtsey I saw Rodden Lothskorn raise an eyebrow, looking at my black hair. Then he glanced at Mother, then Lilith, then back at me, a question in his eyes. I felt my indignation rise. I could tell exactly what he was thinking, and even though I wondered it myself, he had no right.
‘What a pleasure it is to have you all here,’ King Askar boomed. ‘We hope your stay with us will be to your liking, and you will have many, many reasons to return.’ He smiled meaningfully at Lilith, and I saw the prince duck his head to hide a blush of pleasure.
Was it really to be this easy? Were we simply to arrive, and the deal was done?
In the midst of all the pleasant, smiling faces I caught sight of Lothskorn’s. He wasn’t smiling. I saw the muscles bunching in his jaw.
‘Thank you, my king,’ Renata said, curtseying again. Lilith and I hastily followed.
‘We are to have a little supper in your honour,’ trilled the queen, ‘and I do look forward to hearing all about you, my dears.’
Everyone broke rank and relaxed. Everyone, that was, except me. Even Lilith looked calm, gazing at Prince Amis like she’d never heard of Lester of Varlint. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rodden Lothskorn regarding me, looking like he’d swallowed a lemon. I wondered if he was about to have a quiet word in the king’s ear – call off the betrothal due to the suspected illegitimacy of the queen’s youngest daughter.
My cheeks burned. If he said one word about me to the king I would sic Griffin onto him, court be damned.
The doors to the dining hall opened. The court musicians struck up a fanfare. Again, ‘little supper’ was a gross understatement. The high table was festooned with brass terrines, towering monuments of fruit, meats in aspic, and loaves of bread that resembled sculptures. The trestles below all but groaned under the weight of similar dishes, plus rows and rows of golden cups filled with wine and mead.
I saw Amis offer his arm to Lilith. A man in a sea-green jacket and fingers filled with gold rings approached me, ready to lead me to dinner, but to my annoyance, Rodden Lothskorn cut in front of him and offered me his arm.
‘Your Highness,’ he murmured.
I hesitated for a second and he cleared his throat meaningfully, insisting that I take his arm.
I fumed, but Renata was watching me so I threaded my hand through his proffered elbow.
As he led me through to dinner, I sneaked a closer look at him from beneath my lashes. His dark brows were drawn down in a most unpleasant expression, introspective and somewhat displeased. It was clear he took no pleasure in my company. Why offer his arm if he didn’t want to, and didn’t seem to have any intention of talking to me? It made no sense. Then I remembered what Renata had said about protocol. Maybe it was written in stone that arrogant jerks had to lead the younger sisters of future queens of the nation through to dinner.
It was rather hard on younger sisters, I thought.
Wordlessly, he led me to the high table and seated himself beside me. Amis was on my other side. Leap had already wandered off but Griffin settled herself on the back of my chair so she could glower at the room in general. The court took their seats at the lower table, and a buzz of chatter started up as the first inches were drained from the wine cups. It felt very strange to be at the dinner table with a crowd seated below us, as if we were actors in a play. I was aware that, while Lilith was drawing most of the stares, I was getting a few as well. I could well imagine what they were saying.
Look at the little bastard with the animals.
Servants began dishing out food from silver platters. A girl offered me something that looked like a big roasted chicken.
‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘Peacock, Your Highness.’
‘What is peacock?’
The girl looked at me strangely.
‘A peacock is a bird with a big fancy tail,’ Rodden Lothskorn said, helping himself to the roasted meat.
I was reminded of the bird we had seen coming into the grounds. ‘Not . . .’ I said hesitantly. ‘Not the ones that have all the eyes on their tail and sound very sad?’
‘That’s them.’
I shook my head at the serving girl. ‘No, thank you.’ They eat them? I thought they had just been to look at. I wondered if it could have been the same one I’d admired, and felt a little sick. After that, nothing at the table looked particularly appetising, but I helped myself to something leafy to give the pretence of eating.
‘I’m afraid we don’t have any mice,’ said Rodden, ‘but would you like to try some quail?’
I turned to him in surprise. ‘I beg your pardon?’
He was holding out a platter of tiny roasted birds to Griffin. ‘I was talking to your eagle.’
Griffin’s eyes blazed, and then she snatched a quail in her beak and flew off into a dark corner.
There was a trill and Leap jumped into my lap. He’d twigged that food was on offer and he wasn’t getting any. I got a bit of miscellaneous meat for him, hoping it wasn’t dolphin or unicorn.
Rodden stopped eating and looked at Leap. ‘Where did you get a Verapinian drain-cat?’
‘A what?’
‘A drain-cat from Verapine,’ he said.
‘Oh, that’s much clearer,’ I muttered.
He was smiling, looking at Leap, but his eyes flashed to me for a second. The smile changed his whole countenance, and I found myself wishing he’d looked at me the way he was looking at my cat when he’d offered his arm. I might have been rather more disposed to accept it.
‘Verapine is very far away,’ he said. ‘It’s a slum country, and drain-cats live in the city’s sewage pipes.’
‘Sewerage?’ I looked at Leap. ‘No wonder you left.’
‘You can tell by his eyes that he’s used to being in the dark,’ Rodden continued. ‘And water would run right off that silvery coat of his.’ He gave Leap’s cheek a scratch and, traitorously, Leap purred and closed his eyes.
What an odd man. Not three words to me, but he goes all gooey over a lady’s pet. The look that had come into his eyes as he’d spoken of Verapine had been one of true affection, as if he knew the place well. There was something foreign to his countenance; the planes of his face were broader and more sculpted than the narrow, soft faces of the northern Brivorans, and the combination of dark hair and olive skin made him stand out in a room full of fair-skinned blonds. It seemed Rodden Lothskorn, as close as he was to the king, wasn’t Pergamian at all.
‘Where did you get him?’ Rodden asked.
I shrugged. ‘He just turned up one day. I’ve had him ever since.’
After regarding me for a moment, he stood. ‘Please excuse me,’ he said, inclining his head. ‘I hope you have a pleasant evening.’
I watched his broad back retreating. He stooped to murmur in the king’s ear. My heart leapt into mouth, certain they were speaking of me; but the king merely toasted Rodden with his goblet, and the dark-haired man
left the hall without a back- ward glance.
I had an uneasy feeling that I’d just been subjected to a test, and I wasn’t sure if I’d passed or failed.
Next to me, Amis was engrossed in Lilith, and everyone else was too far away to start up a conversation with. Even the serving girls skipped over me, and I spoke to no one for the rest of the dinner.
‘He’s falling for you,’ Renata said to Lilith as we made our way back to our rooms. The two walked side by side, hands clasped in excitement.
‘Do you really think so?’
‘Oh, yes, darling. He didn’t talk to anyone else all night.’
I rolled my eyes. Tell me about it.
‘I’m going to bed,’ I said as soon as we entered our apartment, not that they noticed. I closed my door on their twittering and stood on my balcony. I could feel the blood-hunger humming in the recesses of my mind. My eyes searched the northern sky, yearning for something, like a bird with her wings clipped.
It was a clear night, but very dark. I watched the stars, too keyed-up to sleep. I was looking at a constellation when I saw, from right to left, a group of stars wink out, and then reappear.
That was strange. I studied the sky harder. I saw nothing for a few minutes, and then I saw it again: a group of stars disappeared and then reappeared. It was a while before I realised what was happening. Something was passing in front of the stars, blocking out their light. Whatever it was moved too fast to be cloud. Leap had his paws up on the ledge and was staring at the sky. He saw it too.
The wind picked up and then all over the sky stars were winking on and off. A whisper of song reached my ears. It grew louder, and I recognised it as the same keening I had heard in my not-dream the night before we left Amentia. I leaned out from the balcony, craning my neck for a better view. From below and above, I heard running feet and hushed, urgent shouts: soldiers. They seemed to be reacting as if to an attack, but as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the sleeping castle. I saw the outline of an archer atop a wall, his bow and arrow trained on the heavens.
Moving to my chamber door, I listened. There was no sound from without so I inched it open. All clear. I sneaked out of the apartment and into the corridor, intent on getting to the northern parapet. I slipped along the landings, keeping to the shadows. Leap paced beside me, silent on his velvet paws.
I searched for a doorway that would lead upwards. I found one, and hurried up a spiral staircase that I hoped led to the battlements and not up a turret. After a few turns I came out into the parapet. I kept to the shadows, not wanting to attract the attention of a soldier with a loaded bow.
I could tell from the alignment of the stars that my sense of direction was right: I was at the northernmost part of the keep. Forty yards away was the turret closest to Lharmell, the topmost arrow slot gleaming with a sickly orange light. I wondered if it could be a beacon of some sort for the Lharmellins. But that would make whoever was responsible for the light a traitor to Pergamia.
The wind dropped suddenly and the singing died away, replaced by the earthly mutterings of soldiers. The sky had emptied and they were going back to their posts. I peeled myself out of the shadows and left the parapet, casting one last longing look at the stars.
Back in my room, I crawled under the mosquito netting that hung over my bed, Leap burrowing in with me. From a chest of drawers, Griffin ruffled her feathers in her sleep. She, stuffed full of quail, hadn’t woken.
Long into the night I watched for the twin blue glows that would announce my ghostly visitor, but they never came.
FIVE
‘Good morning!’ Lilith cried, flinging my bedroom door open.
I knew that tone: she was unbearably, infuriatingly in love. I threw the bedclothes over my face. ‘You didn’t take long,’ I muttered.
‘To what? Get up? It’s nearly mid-morning, sleepyhead.’
I heard her go to the window and, with relish, take a deep breath of Pergamian air.
‘Had sweet dreams about princey, did we?’
Lilith flounced over and sat on my bed. ‘Oh, Fina, he’s perfect! So handsome and so charming.’
‘A handsome and charming prince. How very original of him.’
She poked me in the side. ‘Why are you so grumpy this morning? Look, it’s gorgeous outside.’ She ran to the balcony again.
‘Ow,’ I said, rubbing my side and emerging from swathes of netting.
‘Amis is going to take us on a tour of the grounds this morning.’
‘Oh, goody.’ I would have to watch while they canoodled in the arbours.
At the breakfast table Renata poured me a glass of something orange.
‘It’s orange juice,’ she said.
‘I can see that,’ I muttered, swiping my hair out of my eyes. ‘What if I want red juice, or blue juice?’
‘It’s not named for its colour, you silly girl. It’s named after the fruit. Oranges.’ She pointed at something round and, funnily enough, orange, in the fruit bowl. ‘Now drink up. Carmelina can’t wait to get to know you.’
I drained my glass. Carmelina. That would be the cheerful blonde girl from the night before. She looked perky and excitable, two things I wasn’t in the mood for. What on earth would we talk about? Boys? But then again, Carmelina might know something about Lharmell.
They were waiting for us down in the courtyard. Amis offered Lilith his arm and they smiled at each other with sunny faces. I walked beside Carmelina, a girl whose step was as bouncy as her hair.
‘Wasn’t last night absolutely boring?’ she asked, as the four of us strolled out the gates and into the grounds.
‘Very,’ I said.
‘Being at high table is like being an animal in a zoo. Everyone always stares and it puts me off my food. I thought I might get to sit next to you, which would have been fun, but then Rodden took you away to the other end and I had to sit next to your mother. Not that there’s anything wrong with your mother! But Rodden’s as stiff as a corpse, so I was thinking, poor you. Did he say anything?’
‘Not really. He said more to my eagle.’
‘Ugh, that’s so like him. He never has time for girls.’
We were both holding parasols as the sun was very fierce. Carmelina crossed her eyes to try to look at her nose. ‘I think I’m getting freckles. It’s not very fashionable to have freckles right now. I wish I had skin like yours. It’s like that white stone, what’s it again? Ala-something.’
‘Alabaster?’ I asked.
‘Yes, that’s the one. Not a single freckle.’
The grounds were even more beautiful on foot. We were following a little winding path and the grass all around was springy and emerald green, dotted here and there with flower beds. We didn’t have flowers at our palace. There had been daffodils and bluebells in spring when I was young but they hadn’t flowered in a few years. They’d been killed by the frosts.
We passed an idyllic spot with a large sundial bordered with yellow flowers and garden benches. Then there was a fountain spraying jets of water into the clear morning air, with creepers growing up its basin. Amis gave Lilith a coin and she tossed it in, making a wish. Carmelina made a gagging sound. I was inclined to agree with her. There was something distasteful about watching your own sibling court.
‘Where are your cat and your bird?’ Carmelina asked.
‘Eagle,’ I corrected. ‘Leap is asleep on my bed and Griffin is hunting.’ I shaded my eyes against the sun and looked up. There was a speck in the sky over a distant part of the grounds. ‘There she is.’ The speck suddenly dropped, falling from the sky at an alarming rate. Carmelina gasped, probably wondering if Griffin had just had a heart attack. Then she reappeared, flapping her wings and carrying something in her claws.
‘Is she dangerous? I’d be worried she’d peck my eyes out.’
‘Certainly not. I’ll show you.’ I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled, making everyone jump. Lilith looked around sharply.
What? I mouthed at her. If she was goi
ng to bill and coo like a demented dove, I would make my own fun. Everyone watched as Griffin flew towards my raised arm and settled on my gauntleted wrist, a mouse dangling from her claws.
‘Ick,’ said Carmelina, eyeing the sharp beak that was presently tearing the little mouse to shreds.
Amis came over. ‘Isn’t she a beauty!’ he said. ‘Some of the soldiers hunt with falcons but I’ve never seen one like this before.’
‘She’s an eagle,’ I said, not even trying to keep the smugness from my voice.
Lilith hung back, grimacing at the gruesome spectacle of my bird gulping down strings of intest- ine. She glared at me behind Amis’s back, so I gave a soft whistle and Griffin flew off.
Patrols were marching through the gardens but they kept their distance from us, being as discreet as soldiers in clanking armour could be. Archers stood atop the surrounding walls, eyes on the horizon.
I waited until Lilith and Amis were a safe distance away before asking, ‘You’ve certainly got a lot of guards. Is it always like this?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Carmelina. ‘Rodden’s orders.’
‘Rodden Lothskorn? What has it got to do with him?’
‘He’s the king’s advisor. And Amis’s best friend.’
That explained his place at the high table. ‘But he’s so young,’ I protested. I had imagined the king would surround himself with a lot of stuffy yes-men, not take advice from a young man.
‘He’s twenty-two, I think. But he’s very smart. He knows all about the war.’ Here, Carmelina coloured up.
‘The war?’ I asked very casually, admiring a shrub.
Carmelina gave a little laugh. ‘Oh, nothing. You know. Grown-up stuff. Very dull. Would you like a peppermint?’ She offered me a sweet from a little paper bag.
I sucked on the lolly for a moment, thinking. ‘Carmelina, what do you know about Lharmell?’
Carmelina’s eyes widened in horror. ‘Shh! We’re not supposed to talk about that place. They might hear you.’
Blood Song: The First Book of Lharmell Page 5