Chapter 10
“It’s appalling what he gets away with,” I muttered over breakfast, watching Prince Alexander hold court on the opposite side of the mess hall.
Tilting my head to the side I tried to see in him what the other girls saw to captivate them so. I could grudgingly admit he was in possession of darkly handsome features, broad shouldered and muscled in a way that would make any woman feel delicate by comparison, but was that, coupled with his sly smile reason enough for those girls to throw themselves at his feet? For I’d realized, over the last week, that Prince Alexander’s nighttime trysts were a common occurrence with many and varied companions.
Simply put, I couldn’t understand it. Didn’t they see arrogance that colored every action he conveyed? The boastful conceit that shone through his eyes and the gloating smugness of his every smile?
And yet, despite such obvious faults, he captured the attention of all those around him with a seemingly unintentional ease.
Even the girls, who, judging from the snorts of laughter and derisive sneers were currently being ridiculed, couldn’t keep their eyes from darting towards him.
It was in complete contrast to Prince Nicholas sitting just one table away. With his sun touched hair and large blue eyes the heir to the throne was the very picture of innocence. He had the lithe graceful body like that of a cat poised to spring, and despite the subtle softness of his features, there was no chance of mistaking his lean frame as weak.
He was a man born to stand out, but acted to the contrary, shying away from attention and content to be overlooked. If they could see his eyes sparkle with mischief as I had, his smile bright with amusement and his face lit up in laughter I had no doubt the girls would fawn over him as they did his brother. Perhaps it was an inherent shyness, but I couldn’t help but feel, not for the first time, that without his brother present Prince Nicholas would simply shine.
“What’s he done this time?” Clara asked with a grin, heaping a generous amount of jam onto her scone.
“Really Clara, the more I come to know him the more I abhor him,” I shuddered in disgust recounting my glimpses of Prince Alexander’s late night revels the past week.
“Surely they only care about his title,” Ella remarked, barely concealing her amusement at my obvious ire.
“Nicholas holds the same title,” She replied, waving off the argument, “You don’t see girls panting over him like dogs in heat.”
“Well, I suppose Alexander does pose a certain temptation…” Ella remarked casually, tilting her head in the same manner I had to examine him.
It was several moments before she noticed our looks of incredulity at the suggestion and blushed fiercely as if only just realizing what she’d said.
“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for him too!” Clara said with a laugh.
“Of course not! But I can see how others might… he can be rather charming when he wants to be,” She insisted sheepishly.
Though it pained me to admit it, I had to reluctantly agree. After all, I’d seen what his unwavering gaze and playful flirtations could do to a woman one to many times to deny their effectiveness.
It was maddening how he could slip so easily from the simpering attentive tease that shadowed us during practice to the haughty unattainable Prince that mocked those very efforts he watched over. He was a man of many masks, draping each guise over his features like a cloak to suit his audience.
I wondered at how he could persuade a Lady to meet him after hours only to show near indifference to their ardor. Like a puppet master he pulled the strings to a performance for his own amusement.
“Do they care nothing for their virtue?” I asked softly, not wanting to be overheard.
Clara raised a shoulder and dropped it in a careless shrug. “He poses no danger in that regard. They know he will go no further than stolen kisses in the night. It makes him almost safe to be so predictable, and Alexander’s never been known to refuse a willing admirer. It makes them feel special, I suppose, to catch his attention, no matter how fleeting the attraction.”
“I feel sorry for them then,” Ella said, glancing around the mess hall with a look of pity.
“As do I. And it certainly doesn’t help our cause, if the girls have so little respect for themselves they would let him get away with it,” She replied with a shake of her head.
“But he’s a Prince of the realm!” I said with frustration, “Not the heir perhaps, but to show so little decorum…”
She shrugged helplessly. “Sometimes I wonder how he can be in father’s son. Did you know the first Lady our King Johnathan ever kissed is his wife?” She exclaimed with a rapturous look on her face, no doubt entranced by the romance of it all.
Laughing at my skeptical face she continued, “It’s true. He hated the women who threw themselves at his feet, desperate for a crown, which is perhaps what drew him so to Queen Celia, the only Lady to ever be unimpressed by his position, in fact, I’ve heard they quite detested each other growing up…” She said, raising an eyebrow in my direction.
“I hope you’re not suggesting the same between myself and Alexander,” I accused, thinking almost guiltily of my reasons for wanting to court Prince Nicholas. Still, the crown aside, there was genuine affection there.
“Of course not,” She laughed, bringing me back to the conversation at hand. “Goodness knows the fool will probably never settle down, besides, he certainly doesn’t hate you. No, it only makes you a challenge,” She grinned, eyes sparkling with amusement.
“I’m glad this is all so fun for you,” I drawled.
“What could be more fun than watching our dear Prince trying hopelessly to get your attention?”
“Sneaking out at all hours of the night can hardly be for my benefit,” I said with a roll of the eyes.
“Perhaps not directly, but while Alex has always been a charmer he never was so shameless in it until you arrived.”
“No doubt he does it only to vex me,” I said dryly.
“That must be true, I’ve never seem him look so pleased as he does when you’re angry,” Ella teased in agreement.
With a last annoyed scowl at the man in question I returned my bowl to the kitchen staff before leading the way outside.
In two’s and three’s the rest of our classmates ambled on to the practice courts until only our instructor was absent from the gathering, a most unusual occurrence.
“I’ve never known the Queen to be late before,” Clara remarked, voicing what everyone was thinking.
The words were barely out of her mouth when the doors of the castle were thrown open to reveal the Queen, flanked by two gentlemen holding large crates.
They made their way across the grounds amid curious whispers, which quickly turned to quiet giggles as the men approached. I found it amusing that these two grown men, handsome though they were, could evoke such a reaction from the same women that treated boys their own age with icy contempt.
“You’ll need your bows for this lesson,” The Queen declared cheerfully, giving no explanation regarding the manly additions to our practice.
Everyone exchanged confused looks, having expected to move on to a new weapon at the start of the week before moving towards the practice shed to collect their equipment.
“Who are those two men with the Queen?” Ella asked as we waited for a space to clear within the shed.
“Sir David and Sir Luke, they were childhood friends of Their Majesties and of my father as well,” She declared smiling, “I wonder what brings them to our practice.”
As the class began to assemble outside I took a moment to examine the Queen and her companions. They spoke among themselves with the kind of ease that only comes from years of friendship, and though I’d never before thought of the Queen as ill at ease, she was noticeably more relaxed in their presence.
By the time order was restored once more Prince Alexander had joined us in his usual capacity, leaning lazily against the surrounding fence, though for once his presence seemed to have gone unnoticed by the class, a fact he wasn’t pleased with if the sour look on his face was any indication. I found myself warming to the two Knights already for capturing the interest of the class.
With a slight clearing of her throat, the Queen had all of our attention. "It seems to me you’ve all grown complacent recently, which is why we’re going to be trying something new this year to improve your skill, moving targets."
"Lovely" Clara proclaimed, turning in one smooth motion towards Prince Alexander while stringing her bow in the same instant to aim directly at his heart. "I'll give you a head start Your Highness, you may want to run."
The Knights laughed loudly, grinning at Clara, and one of them whispered something to the Queen, eliciting a smile in her as well.
"Actually Clara, you have the right idea. At first light tomorrow we will meet at the edge of the Royal Forest. The class will be competing in a hunting game against each other using blunted arrows and colored powder sacs that rupture on contact. The aim of the game will be to take out your opponents before being tagged by another, at which point you will be out. The challenge will last until sundown, whereupon any remaining ‘survivors’ will return to the practice courts.”
And there it was, the opportunity I’d been waiting for handed to me on a silver platter. It was perfect in its simplicity, just the thing we needed to prove ourselves against those arrogant boys, I thought, glancing at Prince Alexander’s bemused face.
The excited whispers that had broken out among the class stopped when the Queen called for attention once more.
"In preparation for the hunt, you will be required to put your classroom knowledge to use packing your own provisions for the day and whatever else you may require, keeping in mind that you must carry whatever you bring. You may also use whatever resources are available to you in the forest to your advantage.”
"If I may, your Highness,” I called out at once, “I'd like to propose the competition be between the girls and the boys."
Complete silence hung over the courtyard, as if even the birds had stopped mid flight to listen, and was only broken by the sound of Prince Alexander snorting loudly from his position by the fence.
The Queen looked thoughtfully around at the class before a faint smile tugged up the corner of her mouth.
“An interesting suggestion Talia. I would be happy to extend the invitation to the boys if that is the wish of the rest of the class?”
There were murmurs of approval throughout, and even Alina exchanged a sly grin among her friends.
“You can’t seriously be considering this mother, they’ll only embarrass themselves!” The Prince blurted loudly, his eyes landing directly on mine as he spoke the words, as if the comment were meant as a personal slight to me.
He flushed slightly as every pair of eyes turned to glare in his direction but maintained his look of stubborn disapproval.
“ALEXANDER JAMES CAVELIER! I raised you to have more respect than that!”
His flush deepened as he ducked his head to avoid his mother’s furious glare and her continued tirade on proper manners.
“It’s still true,” he muttered sullenly amid the sniggers and giggles that had erupted around the class as he was reprimanded.
I’d been told the Lady Celia had had quite the temper in her youth, particularly towards her husband, but I’d never believed it until now. In my short time here she had been nothing but calm and patient towards her struggling students and tended to ignore or be bemused by her sons antics, but it was obvious from the unsurprised looks around me that this wasn’t the first time Prince Alexander had been scolded in public.
Even her companions had to fight back the urge to laugh after sharing a glace that seemed to convey a whole conversation without words.
“I won’t have that attitude on my court young man,” She finished indignantly, pointing him away from the fields.
With a slight pout the Prince pushed away from the fence and sauntered slowly back towards the castle.
“Boys,” The Queen muttered at his retreating back, exchanging a knowing look with the Knights.
I couldn’t agree more, I thought, looking at her with a newfound respect. For the first time, I began to understand what the Queen had been up against in becoming a Lady Knight if even her own son had such an attitude.
“Right. For this lesson you will be working to shoot these out of the air,” The Queen explained, holding up what looked to be a disk of wood from the crates by her feet.
As a demonstration she tossed two disks away from her in a gentle arc, and with seeming ease each of the Knights struck their targets before they’d begun their descent.
Seeing the looks of skepticism from her class the Queen smiled slightly. “Groups of four please.”
What followed these instructions could only be described as pandemonium. Within minutes disks of wood were flying across the field and being chased after by their owners. Arrows rained down from the sky after being shot haphazardly from their bows, long after their targets had hit the ground.
But what should have been a frustrating lesson turned instead to careless fun. Laughter rang out across the field as students ducked under wooden disks flying rapidly towards them or chased them between the feet of their classmates as they rolled away. Teasing words of encouragement spurred on those brave enough to venture into the sea of fallen arrows to retrieve their ammunition, and still more laughter followed each wild shot that missed its target.
“The Queen still seems rather upset doesn’t she?” Ella asked softly, drawing our attention towards her.
While subtle, there was no denying the tense set of the Queen’s shoulders; the tightness in her usually easy smile and the tightly clenched fists half hidden by her crossed arms.
“She’s a rather unconventional monarch isn’t she? Scolding her son like that in public.”
We all turned as one to face the girl who had spoken, and I recognized her at once as one of Prince Alexander’s midnight companions. Joining our group, she cheerfully introducing herself as Isobel.
“She’s a mother as much as a Queen,” Clara belatedly replied to her comment, “And personally I think she held back, he certainly deserved more.”
“Oh, I’m not criticizing!” Isobel declared with a laugh, “Actually I find it rather refreshing, not that he seemed particularly affected by it.”
“Yes, it does take rather a lot to ruffle the Prince,” Ella agreed with a laugh.
“Quite. In fact, I’ve only ever seen it happen around you,” She remarked pointedly, directing her gaze towards me.
I started in surprise at being suddenly addressed, and would have thought her words almost as accusation if not for the laughing sparkle in her eyes as she said it.
“Whatever do you mean?” I asked with genuine bewilderment, trying to recall a time when Prince Alexander acted out of sorts in my company. The only time that came to mind was our short venture into the woods when practicing fire starting, and I was certain we’d had no audience.
“Only that he seems rather… confused when it comes to you,” She replied delicately, eyes still dancing with amusement.
“Is that what he said?” I asked casually, wondering if Prince Alexander made it a habit to ask his ladies about me.
“Not in so many words, it’s just obvious really, if you pay attention,” She explained, “He always looks at you as though you are a particularly difficult puzzle that needs solving.”
“His confusion no doubt lies in the fact that Talia has yet to fall for his charms,” Clara said with a grin, saving me from trying to answer.
“Are you already spoken for then?” She asked curiously.
“Something like that,” I replied with a grin, thinking of Nicholas.
At that point Sir David began heading in our direction and we hastened to attempt the challenge for this lesson, faring no better than the rest of the class as our conversation turned to the latest court fashions.
Try as I might to dislike her, Isobel seemed as innocent in nature as a lamb, and I found I couldn’t fault her for succumbing to the Prince’s charms if he acted the wolf, luring her from the pen with his pretty words and brazen smiles.
The three instructors moved among us making casual comments on how to better our performance, apparently unconcerned that no arrow came near it’s intended mark, which only added to the relaxed atmosphere.
If anything, the addition of the Knights to our gathering only deteriorated the level of performance as girls dissolved into fits of giggles and girlish preening whenever one of the gentlemen approached.
“If the boys didn’t respect us before I can’t imagine what they would say if they saw us now,” Ella remarked with a laugh, stepping back to avoid the disk of wood hurtling towards her.
“I’m more curious as to what they’ll say after the hunting challenge tomorrow,” Isobel remarked merrily taking her turn to shoot at the disk I’d just tossed in the air.
It hit the ground untouched, landing on its edge and rolling determinedly away. I weaved between my classmates to chase after it, ducking down to retrieve it as it came to stop just behind the Queen and her companions, who had taken to watching our practice outside the line of fire.
I lingered near the ground, straining to catch their quietly exchanged words over the noise of the class.
“…Just like a young Prince Blockhead,” One of the Knights claimed, his voice teasing.
“Even John wouldn’t have been so tactless,” The Queen argued bitterly.
“I think you’re underestimating just how thick John was at that age.”
“He’s right Cee, in fact, I daresay John didn’t know the meaning of tact let alone possess any...”
Not daring to dally any longer I made my way back to my friends, thinking on the brief conversation I’d just heard. I assumed the John they referred to was King Johnathan. From what my mother had always said I always assumed the King had been wholeheartedly behind the notion of women being trained in arms. Could it really be true that he’d once shared the same opinion as his son? And if that were the case how had his feelings on the matter been changed? Was it love that made him blind to his wife’s ambitions as my mother claimed or did he truly regard the practice with respect?
It seemed that the more I came to know our Monarchs, the less of them I understood. But of one thing I was sure, and it was that Prince Alexander would rue the day he underestimated Talia of Daera.
With that single thought burning through my mind I fixed the image of the Prince in my mind, and it was his mocking smile I saw on the disk of wood tossed carelessly up by Clara. I knew, before even hearing the slap of the arrow against the wood that I had hit my mark.
Grinning triumphantly I cared not that no one had noticed my success, or so I thought, until my eyes met those of the Queen. It was hard to tell from a distance, but the expression on her face looked to be one of pride.
***
Having been kept up packing provisions with Clara and Ella for the next day I was late setting out that evening for my run, and expecting to see no one in the halls, was careless in my wanderings.
I heard the sound of footsteps only moments before they were upon me and slipped quickly through the nearest entryway into a wide empty room that looked neglected from disuse. This was a clearly a mistake, as the footsteps, which I could now distinguish as two sets made to follow me into the room.
Praying desperately that it was not Prince Alexander who stumbled upon me I stepped hastily behind a set of drapes just as the pair entered the room. I couldn’t even breathe to think of the rumors that would start if he were to catch me out of bed at such an hour.
“Alright love, what is it that couldn’t wait till we got to our room?” A tired voice asked.
I nearly sagged down the wall in relief at the realization that it wasn’t the Prince, but froze a moment later when a voice I did recognize replied.
“You won’t believe what your son said earlier!” The Queen burst out in a furious whisper, and it was clear from her barely contained anger that she had been waiting to express the sentiment all day.
Overcome with curiosity I chanced a glance around the edge of the curtain to see the Queen pacing across the chamber stepping in and out of the flickering circle of light shed by the candle placed upon a stand.
By the faint light I could also clearly make out the regal figure of King Johnathan.
“Don’t you mean our son?” The King replied with a grin, not opting to keep his voice down as his wife did.
“In this he is all yours! What is it with you Cavelier men thinking women can’t compete with men in arms?”
“Am I to be held responsible for whatever thoughtless words come from my son’s mouth? I haven’t said anything of the sort in years,” He replied easily, amusement evident in his voice.
“Well where else would he get it from!” She exclaimed, forgetting to whisper.
“Come now darling, we always knew we’d bungle up this whole parenting business. Besides, Nicholas turned out rather well didn’t he? Granted he can’t so much as speak to a woman without tripping over his own tongue but still…”
“Oh, you can’t take anything seriously!” She said, poking him in the chest.
He laughed, grabbing her hand before she could wrench it away and pulled her back against him, hugging her from behind.
“How can I with you storming back and forth like an enraged kitten?” He teased, tickling her sides.
She squirmed out of his embrace and threw her hands up in exasperation. “You’re insufferable!”
“I love you too,” He said with a wide grin, pulling her back into his arms despite her halfhearted struggles.
She huffed angrily, crossing her arms in front of her, silently refusing to embrace him in return. He laughed deeply once more and pressed a soft kiss at the curve of her neck. I looked away with a blush at such an intimate gesture, grateful that I was well concealed by both my hideaway and the darkness.
“Don’t worry Cece, he’ll grow out of it, just like I did,” He murmured seriously.
“Do you really think so?” She asked worriedly.
“Of course, he just needs a good woman to beat the smugness out of him,” He replied, playful once more.
The Queen fought back a smile and finally relaxed against him. “If that’s the case there is no hope for him at all, I’ve been trying to beat the smugness out of you for years.”
He chuckled softly and rested his chin in the crook of her shoulder. It was so sweet I felt an ache deep in the pit of my stomach of a sort of longing. If this was the love my mother had seen so many years ago I couldn’t image how she’d thought to compete. Something so sweet and genuine as this was not anything close to what my own parents had shared. Truthfully, I was surprised my parents had ever managed to stay in the same room long enough to conceive me.
The King and Queen departed shortly after, leaving the room in darkness as they went, but it was a long time before I left the confines of my hiding place behind the curtains to return to my room, all intentions of a run long forgotten. I was grateful to find the halls empty and quiet on my return, my mind too full of what I’d just heard and witnessed to process much more.
I lay down in bed more confused than I’d ever been.
For perhaps the first time in my life I saw my mother for what she truly was, a pitifully sad and bitter woman who’d filled her heart with so much resentment and anger that she could find no pleasure in life but from her vengeance. And I couldn’t help but wonder if I was destined for the same fate.
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