Chapter 13
1336 Words
There weren’t quite three hundred ladies in the front antechamber of Marie’s apartments when she entered it with Elizaveta, but it wasn’t just three ladies either.
A smattering of twenty or so women lounged around the antechamber, chatting to one another, in various poses of languor and leisure. Two of them had been brought a chess set, to which a few other ladies crowded around, offering suggestions and cheers.
The soft buzz of voices stopped the moment Marie and Elizaveta entered, heads turning and necks craning curiously to catch sight of their new princess consort at closer range. They rose as a whole from where they were, a flock of brightly coloured birds in their court dresses, dipping into curtseys, with the exception of one woman who merely nodded regally from where she was, next to Madam Belrac. That must be Princess Aalis, Marie thought, and returned the appropriate curtsey to the room at large.
She was escorted to Madam Belrac’s side, where her tutor immediately introduced her to precisely the three women that Elizaveta had thought she might haul into the introductions.
”Lady Marie Vifort, the new princess consort,” Madam Belrac said to the three ladies, and then to Marie, ”may I present to you Lady Isabeau, duchess of Angsgot, Lady Ibota and Princess Aalis of the blood?”
Marie sank into yet another curtsey, to which the other two ladies received with their own, and Princess Aalis once again only acknowledged with an incline of her head.
”It is such a pleasure to meet you all,” she ventured cautiously.
True to Elizaveta’s description, Lady Isabeau readily came to her side, eager to get to know the new member of court- and presumably to see what gossip she could already glean from this first meeting.
”Oh it’s so nice to finally meet you in person!” she tittered, her hands encircling Marie’s arms warmly. ”You know, we were all so excited when the queen announced the prince’s choice in his princess consort. Another Southlander come to join the court!”
”The Southlanders are certainly under-represented at court,” Lady Ibota agreed, in a faint drawl. ”I hope you don’t feel too much like a fish out of water.”
Marie couldn’t quite decide if that was a sincere comment or a catty one.
”I think it is inevitable,” she answered, ”but I’m sure this fish will learn to walk and dance soon enough.”
That drew amused giggles from the duchess at any rate, and she led Marie to the divan they had been seated upon before.
”How do you find Marimiers so far?” she inquired, after waving over a maid for some renewed tea and refreshments. ”I heard you arrived last night, and saw no one until this morning. And after such a long journey from Vifort too!”
”It is quite a change from Vifort,” Marie returned cautiously. ”People have often called Marimiers the living jewel of Gadilida, and it lives up to that title.”
Princess Aalis smiled, arching a brow slightly at her. ”And Alfons? Is your betrothed living up to your expectations?”
Marie glanced over to Aalis, assessing that look. What was the princess angling at? Marie wasn’t sure why she wanted to know, or why Marie’s opinion of the prince was at all important.
She wished she could ask Elizaveta outright, she was sure the courtier knew what Aalis was trying to imply with that arch, appraising gaze.
”I have only formally met Prince Alfons today,” she said, as neutrally and politely as she could. ”I don’t think it’s fair to make such a quick judgment on my betrothed.”
”Wise you are, for someone so young,” Aalis replied, and pushed a plate of tarts towards her. ”Come, you haven’t eaten a bite since you got here.”
What was with this abrupt turn of her attitude? Bewildered, Marie picked up a tart obediently. Madam Belrac looked pleased, hovering behind the princess though, so Marie was sure at least that she had answered well.
Really, it was so tiresome at Marimiers, people never saying what they meant, and an agenda behind every other utterance.
”Alfons can be reserved,” Aalis continued, idly sipping her cup of tea. ”But I know this nephew of mine well- he is very passionate about his causes. Pity that he is the crown prince, really. The crown calls for cooler heads than his and yet the Divine Harmony has seen fit to give him this position in life.” She tossed yet another careless smile at Marie. ”You seem more aware of your own position in life. One hopes you will influence our dear Alfons for the better.”
”Oh Aalis, you’re too harsh on Alfons,” Lady Ibota interjected. ”He’s barely out of boyhood- you must admit your own brother didn’t settle down as early either!”
The princess laughed. ”True, true. Dear me, I must be giving such a terrible impression of Alfons to his intended. Do forgive me, Lady Marie.”
”Not at all,” Marie returned. ”Your Highness should speak as you wish.”
”That’s what they do at Vifort, don’t they?” Princess Aalis rejoined. ”Speak their minds as they will?”
”... We’re accustomed to forthright conversation,” Marie said, after a moment’s pause. ”But I am told it can be offensive to those unused to the Southlands.”
”Two hundred years of assimilation and still the Southlands differ so much,” Lady Ibota remarked. ”Well I hope you get used to Marimiers quickly enough. It’s no easy task, I’m sure, to not only represent the Southlands, but to have to become an unparalleled example of Gadilidan nobility.”
Was that genuine sympathy or a quiet jab at her?
”I can only promise to try and do my best.”
The smiles of the venerable trio of ladies upon her were unnerving, to say the least.
—
Marie had never sat through such an apparently idyllic meeting with her back so ramrod straight nor with every cell in her body tensed as if poised for flight.
The meeting with the young courtiers in the morning had been nothing compared to the afternoon.
This- well, this was her first real taste of Vermillion Court politics. High on their respective ladders and safe from most repercussions, the three ladies remarked carelessly on various factions of the court, and who they thought were doing what. They invited Marie to share her opinions, ostensibly to get to know her, but she knew she’d have to be an absolute fool to do anything other than say anything of the utmost diplomacy.
She was beginning to understand why Elizaveta, daughter of a minor noble who had risen so high, spoke and acted the way she did.
If she didn’t, then well... She simply wouldn’t be where she was. Most likely Elizaveta and her family would be one of the many nameless, faceless nobility relegated to the smaller buildings of the palace, coming to Marimiers every day with little chance of influencing anything in their favour.
She let Giselle divest her of her court clothing when she was finally back in her rooms after dinner, staring out sightlessly at the late spring sky slowly greying and darkening outside her windows.
Not for the first time, she longed deeply for the straightforward comfort and simplicity of her home, that she knew she’d never live in again.
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