After the banquet came the ball, and we were supposed to have the first dance.
“I am told you practiced this dance at home,” Countess Noria said, coming up behind me while the ballroom floor was readied.
“Yes, with my brother.”
“Good,” she said. “You will dance with the prince first, and then the prince’s brothers, and then…” She gave me quite a list. “Remember,” she said. “You are now the highest ranked woman in court. No one can speak to you until you speak to them first.”
“I have to speak first…? But I don’t know them. How will I know who they are? They know who I am already!”
“My dear, that doesn’t matter. You’re the Crown Princess. You will know them at your bidding. I, or one of the members of your family, will introduce you.”
“Oh.” This was the first suggestion I'd had that it wasn’t just Augustus having power over me. I also had power over everyone else? Well, that was a welcome development.
“Of course, you should greet everyone,” the Countess said. “But the speed and the manner with which you greet them is within your control, and you may want to make it clear where some stand.” She looked at a group of young women in the corner, including the girl I liked, as if she didn’t want me to be too friendly to them.
That figured. The only person I really wanted to be friendly with was the girl who smiled at me and tried to reassure me about wearing the grand corps.
Augustus offered his hand to me to lead me to the floor. We hadn’t had a single moment alone since the wedding festivities began. All throughout, his face was a handsome mask, and I never knew what he was thinking, just like the letters he wrote.
He drew me close into the first step, the cage of my skirts quivering, exaggerating every movement I made. My dress was so heavy, my ribs aching from hours of strict compression. I heard people whispering about my beauty and grace, as always.
“You’re about to be thrown to the wolves,” he said, with a smile. “There isn’t much for the court to do but gossip. They want to find a flaw in you, and visually you give them nothing… They must be so chagrined.”
“I’m sure that won’t last long,” I said. “This is a very different world for me…”
“You really are nervous, aren’t you?” he said wryly. “You won’t even pretend you’re enjoying the fanfare? You’re very honest.”
“I thought it was a virtue. And aren’t faeries always honest?”
“We don’t lie. That’s still a far cry from honesty. You’re a human. You can lie if you like.”
“Do you want me to lie?”
“I want you to be aware of what powers you possess. There are reasons I chose you, but the court is not especially pleased to have a human queen. For now, try and stay above the rabble.”
As he turned me in a slow circular promenade, I saw Madame Bariel standing in the crowd, beside the king. On her fan was a painted bird with many colors of feathers. She was already looking at me like she hated me.
“When we’re finally alone, if we ever are, it will be very different,” he said. “I can’t free you from this prison, so I will just have to make sure you yearn for your lock and key.”
“So far, your highness…” I bit my lip. “I have never encountered a lock and key like this before.”
“Do you yearn for more?”
I looked down. “It’s a strange thing for the future king to say, isn’t it? That your kingdom is a prison? Do you yearn for your own lock and key?”
His eyes jerked away from me. I had touched an unexpected nerve. He whirled me around more quickly, until I was gasping and it took everything in me to keep going and not pull away and claw myself out of my clothes. Not that I could!
Why should I ever yearn for this?
The dance was over, and I stepped aside, allowed a rest while others took center stage. I took some water from a passing tray. I had no one to talk to because no one could speak to me until I spoke to them.
Sofia, the Lady of Towers, made her way to me. She seemed a little looser than when I first met her, like she was happy to catch me alone. “Princess,” she said. “My compliments to your endurance. I know it’s not really an enviable position you’re in. So many eyes on you… I always hated it as a girl. I never wanted to be the Lady, and yet…” She shrugged. “Sometimes there’s no one else for the job.”
“I would never know,” I said. “You look exactly like I imagined.”
Sofia was probably considered ugly, as faeries go. She was tall, plain, stately, and strong-nosed, in stark contrast to all of the lithe beauties surrounding us. I wondered if she’d ever been in love.
“I saw the way Madame Bariel looks at you. You’ll have to watch that one. She’s not the highest ranked woman at court in the absence of my mother. I am. But you’d never know that, the way she goes on…” Sofia sniffed. “I’m a little too old to be putting her in her place, though.”
“I don’t know why she keeps looking at me. I just got here. I’m not trying to get in anyone’s way.”
“Oh, dear, you should get in her way. She has her sights on your man, you know. Father? Please. She wouldn’t stop with him. She knows she’ll outlive him by a hundred years.”
“Would Augustus be interested in his father’s mistress?” Just thinking about Augustus with a mistress brought a lump to my throat.
“He’s a man. She’s a beautiful woman. And…” She paused. “Right now, he is enamored with you, but time is not always kind to a man’s feelings. Of course…” Sofia tapped the jewels at my throat. “You are so beautiful yourself. If you please him enough, maybe he won’t need a Favorite.”
“What do I do?”
“I’m sure it has already been well hammered into your head that you must do everything possible to please him and submit to his will. That has been written into the destiny of the Crown Princess since before either of you were born. But I also think you should remember, the Queen Who Bowed bowed to the king. Not to anyone else. She was a great ruler in her own right. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a queen like her since.”
“Did that king have a mistress?”
“A perceptive question. No, he didn’t. Back then, the Mistress of Many Loyalties truly lived up to her name. She was a powerful woman as well, a woman of royal blood who had been granted the power to seduce anyone she wished without consequences and was never expected to marry. Over time, the position shifted and became just another possession of kings. But that is what the Queen was supposed to be for, to be the king’s most treasured possession. The Mistress was supposed to have no master. Both of you would have kept a certain balance here… Well!” Sofia sniffed. “Madame Bariel would never live up to that. She isn’t even of royal blood. She’s a street rat who worked her way up.”
“A street rat! Really? That’s a mean thing to say, isn’t it?”
“Well, you’re too kind. Look at how shameless she is with our father. She makes an ass of both of them.” Sofia flicked her fan.
Bariel was hanging off the king’s arm, tapping his chin. “When do we get to dance together, pupkin? I’m bored of all this. All this to celebrate a human. I want to dance with you.” She walked her fingers down the ruffles at his neck.
He patted her head. “Soon, my little snowdrop.”
“And her gown is an insult to you,” Sofia said. “She didn’t even put on the proper dress for the royal wedding, and he lets her get away with any breach of etiquette, while you will be held to the highest standard. No need to feel sorry for her. She was a prostitute when he found her, and the only reason he likes her company is because she is such a shameless flatterer.”
I did envy the dress Madame Bariel was wearing. Her corset wasn’t tight and clearly her skirts were supported only by a stiff petticoat. I hadn’t realized it was an insult to me, but now it seemed obvious; other women of the court were elaborately dressed. I couldn’t believe she had so much animosity toward me without even knowing me.
“Should
I not speak to her? Would she then not ever be allowed to say a word to me?” I was fascinated by the thought.
“Now you’re getting the picture,” Sofia said with approval. “Maybe we could have a proper Mistress here someday. Not a Favorite for Augustus, but a woman who would give you counsel without being beholden to a husband.”
I wasn’t sure this was what Countess Noria wanted, but Sofia was higher ranked and I liked her better too. She seemed sharp and savvy whereas Countess Noria liked bossing me around way too much and I had the feeling she would flatter anyone just to get the result she wanted.
We chatted for a little longer, Sofia introducing me to more ladies and telling me stories of how the court had been when she was my age, and then the girl I was already starting to think of as a friend meet my eye.
I smiled back at her and made my way over carefully. No movement was subtle with my skirts. “Hello,” I said. “Thank you for your kindness earlier.”
“Oh, it was hardly a kindness,” she said. “Just a warning. I can’t really save you from the grand corps. How are you faring?”
“I feel like I’m developing actual bruises…”
“I’m sure you are. Likely your husband will rub ointment on your wounds later…so it isn’t all bad.” She smiled mischievously.
“Faery courtship is very strange,” I said.
She laughed. “I hated wearing it, but that’s the entire point of it. At the end of the day he knows you suffered just for him and he has to make it up to you.”
“That doesn’t make any more sense.”
“Maybe you just have to see,” she said.
“So you’re married?”
She nodded, pointing at a handsome young man with light brown hair talking with friends in the corner. “That’s mine, there.”
“He’s pretty. He doesn’t look as intimidating as Augustus…”
“Augustus wasn’t always so intimidating. He used to be cripplingly shy!”
“Really? I can’t imagine.”
“Yes, the king was in despair when Augustus came in line for the throne. No one expected him to clean up this nicely.” Her beautiful blue eyes sparked with mischief. “He avoids the palace as much as he can. Always outside. He’s not expressed much interest in the ladies of the palace either, but he seems smitten with you.”
“I’m glad to hear that! Still, I can hardly imagine Augustus was ever a child,” I said. “My brothers are older than him but they still tease me and act ridiculous sometimes. Was he always so composed?”
“Yes, he was always serious,” she said. “Since he took the weight of the crown on his shoulders, he didn’t get much time to enjoy himself. We thought he was peculiar. He was always obsessed with locks.”
“Locks?”
“He had a workshop constructed out of the old tack shed just for making all sorts of things. It’s the only time he’s ever alone. We used to think he was soft but then he took to hunting and he’s a better hunter than any man in the palace. He can take out any animal with one arrow, a clean kill, every time. I suppose if there’s one word for the prince, it’s precision.” Now she sounded admiring. “Aren’t you lucky?”
I hardly knew what to do with all this information. These faery women seemed so much more knowing. “You haven’t introduced yourself,” I said. “I just realized.”
“I have to be introduced,” she said. “I’m Julia, Duchess of Poligari.”
“Why didn’t anyone introduce me back at the picnic when I first came here?” I asked.
“Oh…” She winced. “Dear, I’m poor.”
“Are you really?” She looked quite well dressed.
“Poor by court standards, oh yes. I am not highly regarded enough to be introduced.”
“Duchess Poligari…you are the only girl who tried to reassure me before the wedding, so I think you must be rich in kindness.”
She smiled. “Just…call me Julia, when you can get away with it.”
“I don’t know when I can get away with anything.”
“Here’s a hint. When she’s not around,” Julia said, stepping back as Countess Noria came sweeping over, with an expression of chagrin.
“If I may say so, Your Highness, she isn’t the best company for you…,” Noria said, pulling me away. “She is high born but you must choose your company very wisely, and her sort isn’t it. She’s a wild girl. I believe she has goblin blood.”
Poor Julia really was on the wrong side of the hierarchy, I guess. I knew some faeries and goblins got along well, but I think that was a grave insult in this court. I’m not sure it was true either. I sighed as she nudged me into a new social circle with people who were a little older than me and talking about the fabric trade. I hoped this didn’t have anything to do with me and my curse. Maybe they were worried spindles would be banned after all, despite the king’s promise. Of course, as soon as Noria foisted me on them, they started showering me with compliments, but I could tell they would rather get back to it.
And the moment came when Madame Bariel walked up to me. The king stood a little bit behind her, but he was talking to someone else. Still, she had a smug smile on her face, like she was going to get something out of me. I was very glad I’d spoken to Sofia and knew I had a powerful ally if I didn’t want to acknowledge her. She bowed her head to me, the plumes on her head shivering.
I smiled back, and then I turned away.
Immediately, I heard a little gasp surrounding us. The entire court paused for one moment. Just one moment, where every ear turned our way.
I didn’t need to look at her to know this wasn’t what she expected. It probably wasn’t what anyone expected.
Maybe I’d made a terrible mistake.
But no. Besides that I saw Sofia smile at me, Augustus had walked toward me and he beckoned me with a hand. Even if I didn’t have to obey him, I think I would have been drawn irresistibly toward him.
His eyes had a gleam. “You look tired,” he said. “I know you can hardly even sit down in this dress. I wonder if my wife is ready for the rituals of the bedroom?” He stood behind me, and put his hands around my waist. They almost circled it entirely, where the grand corps held me. He slid his hands up my chest, and I barely felt it through the boning—
No, that wasn’t true. Despite the boning, I felt it very much. I could feel desire in his touch.
Certainly I had never thought of the bedroom as a place for rituals. And now I was thinking of Julia telling me that my husband would have to make it up for me. All the terror of Caroline’s letter came rushing back to me.
Anticipation sent quivers down my legs. I didn’t know what would happen next. I knew it was my duty to do whatever was asked of me.
“I am very tired.” I hoped he would go easy on me.
“You will be yet more tired before the night is over,” he said. “Our wedding has been such a long-anticipated affair.” He took my hand and brought me to the king.
“Grandfather, we must retire,” he said.
“All the blessings upon your union,” the king said. “The Crown Prince and the Princess will now proceed to the bed chamber to consummate the marriage!” he announced.
I flushed crimson as the crowd applauded and cheered.
Madame Bariel was still staring at me, her face red. She’d probably been saying things about me, but I wasn’t sorry for making her stew. She obviously knew I would be nervous coming here, a human girl plucked away from her family. If she showed me a little kindness, I would be certainly speak to her, but there was none of that in her eyes. She gave me a cruel smile as if to say, Good luck playing this game with me, child.
The King, Countess Noria, all my attendants, and an entourage of nobles followed us to the bed, and even the high cleric.
I had not expected any of this. I realized my mouth was gaping open as Augustus led me to the bedroom, his hand at my waist.
Will we ever be alone? I was starting to be terrified that all of these people were going to watch. I thought A
ugustus would be the one to undress me, but when we reached the bedroom, the entire room was a blur of activity. The ladies pressed in around me, their wide skirts jostling against each other as they helped me out of my dress, stripping me down to my thin chemise and corset so all the curves of my body were visible, and the men removed Augustus’ coat and vest, while servants lit candles. Some men of the court gathered behind a balustrade—I have never seen so many balustrades, holding back the audience that followed us everywhere we went—while Josef, the Master of Delights, carried a heavy ornate box embossed in gold with more scenes of mythological lovemaking. He presented it to Augustus.
At this point I was feeling completely bewildered and just going along with everything.
Augustus opened it to reveal four golden cuffs, each one ornate with decoration. Of course, at this point, the ornate decoration was a given. And each one had a tiny loop with a long silken cord attached, with a little golden hook tied to the end. He took one out with the air of something well planned and presented it to me.
“Your bonds, my lady,” he said. “This will assure that even at night, while the palace sleeps, you will not be able to touch a spindle. They are enchanted so that I am the only person who can touch them.”
“My bonds,” I repeated, a bit stupidly.
“There is always a risk that you might be lured in the night,” Josef said. “To be compelled to touch a spindle. Not only did we promise that you will never be left alone, but we also will assure that even at night, you are kept safe.”
Somehow, this didn’t feel like the only way to accomplish that goal. Was I really just being kept safe?
Augustus locked one of the cuffs around each of my limbs, holding ends of the long silken cords in his hand. I felt a hot rush of desire flood out of me between my legs and was terrified that some of it might stain my chemise and all the court would somehow see. I didn’t understand why my body kept responding with traitorous arousal.
Two of the ladies pulled the bed curtains wide and turned back the covers. An empty bed had never seemed so naughty. The high cleric came forward and he offered a small flask to me and Augustus. “Drink the wine of the Wicked Revels and be blessed with many heirs,” he said.
The Surrender of Sleeping Beauty Page 5