Dark Prince & the Doe

Chapter 6: The Great Feast

Chapter Six: The Great Feast

Calden

Long tables were set up for the Great Feast on the spring grass beneath massive canopies of colorful fabric held up by carved wooden poles wrapped in ribbons. The sun was still high enough in the sky to make Calden's eyes water. How did the Overlanders stand how brilliant everything was? He moved into a shadow cast by a canopy. Most of the Adderians wore brightly colored outfits. One man walked past in a yellow top and striped pink pants. Calden looked down at the reserved purple top the Duke had lent him and immediately rectified his opinion of the man.

Honestly, he would have stood out more dressing like a Remerian in his black hunting leathers and furs. But how was he to have known that? Calden had never traveled beyond the Depths before, at least not to a foreign festival like this. There was even a band playing music with odd stringed instruments he'd never seen or heard before.

Women in mustard yellow dresses with brass animal masks over their eyes were serving drinks and small snacks among a large crowd of people. The entire Adderian royal family was seated at the head table, including the lucky men who would be marrying the elder princesses. He caught Princess Adele's eye, and she gave him a slight smile.

"Oh, you must be Prince Calden of the Dark Depths!" an Adderian lady exclaimed. The thick fabric of her dress was two shades of orange and was adorned with a scrollwork floral pattern. Her hair was down to her waist and done in thin braids, each with a tiny bell at the end. She must have had an entire army to help her get dressed. 

The lady hooked her arms around two other ladies with bells woven in their hair and dragged them over to him, smiling and chiming with each bouncing step. People turned to look at him. He stepped back and bumped into a table, nearly knocking over a man's glass of wine. "My name is Linn Rennon, of the Great House Rennon, and these are my two younger sisters, Aida and Merilee."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said, glancing towards the head table again. Cezanne's yellow eyes met his and she smiled. Like she was glad to see him. He froze. She was the most dangerous person in this entire festival. If he made one wrong move, thousands of innocent lives would be lost. He'd rather face off against a whole horde of tarmanze with nothing but his bare hands.

"Everyone has been talking about how you brought Princessa Cezanne to safety on a tinderhorse! You must tell us the full story. The rumors are utterly preposterous!" Linn exclaimed and the Rennon sisters' bells chimed in unison as they crowded in closer around him.

Calden shrugged. "Honestly, there's not much to tell. I saw an injured woman in need, I enchanted her wounds shut and brought her to safety."

Linn gasped, a hand at her lips. The scrollwork pattern continued from her sleeves onto her brown skin in golden paint. On all her fingers she wore gold full length finger rings with tiny seed pearls and orange garnets. "You can enchant?" Linn asked.

"Is it common for people from the Dark Depths to enchant?" Aida interrupted. "I heard they all can, but surely that can't be true?"

"Most Remerians can," Calden said with a nod. "We're all of the Blue Flame Aria and many can enchant far better than me."

"Wait, you're all born of an Aria? That's incredible," Aida said, starry-eyed. "You know, you're the first person I've ever met from the Dark Depths. Is it true your people worship fire because you live in the dark? Can you really see in the dark too? Are you all descendants of the Larmalee? Is it true you live for way longer than normal mortals? Do you really only eat –"

"Aida," Linn chided, bumping her hip into her sister and murmuring into her ear. "Don't ask so many rude questions."

Aida's face fell. "Sorry," she mumbled down towards her feet.