The sun had set and the Lanhami still hadn’t arrived. Still, the entire complex—save for the guards that remained posted through the castle—lined the bailey to receive the foreign royals. The servants were placed closest to the gates to the city proper, the nobles closest to the castle entrance itself. The Orlanas had been under the archway that opened into the receiving hall, but when night fell, they moved inside along with their personal entourages.
Bristol had already done Kallia’s makeup when Prim returned from her lessons. The princess’s face was pale with powder, her cheeks and lips dark with rouge. It was the fashion of Lanham, Bristol had assured her when Prim raised a brow.
Prim elected to apply only the usual makeup they donned for special occasions—a bit of kohl along the top lash line and a color on her lips that was only slightly darker than her natural shade. Bristol did the same, and Prim wondered if she had applied all that mess to Kallia as a joke.
But the makeup remained as they dressed the princess together in a white dress with a lace and pearl overlay, very wide skirts, and a very low neckline. They finished the look with a delicate crown adorned with diamonds and pearls.
Once the princess was fully dressed, Bristol and Prim retired to their own chambers to dress. Prim had kept her hair in the functional style--gods, Bristol could be so rude sometimes--that Dante had configured for her, but changed into one of her more elegant blue dresses. The skirts were no wider than her usual ones but the neckline was certainly lower, and there was a beautiful embroidery pattern set in shimmering thread.
Dante had stared when she emerged from her room. She’d enjoyed imagining the fantasies that flit through his mind at the sight of her. When she handed him a necklace asking him to fasten it for her, her stomach had flipped as his hands lingered around her neck and he’d whispered in her ear that her tits looked amazing.
Sarasha had smiled politely, saying she looked very pretty, though the fae had given the same compliment to Bristol when she emerged in a similar dress, her hair half-up and curled. Tuck had said nothing while Blukke had practically drooled at each of them.
Now Prim stood in the center of the great hall next to Kallia, Bristol on the princess’s other side. The king and queen had left, their escorts and the queen’s handmaidens with them, leaving instructions to have them fetched when the Lanhami finally made it. The only other people in the hall were their six escorts standing close instead of against a wall, four guards posted at each corner of the room, and servants attempting to keep the food that overflowed on the several long tables fresh.
Kallia took a deep breath. “This is torture. I wish they’d just get here already.”
Prim put a comforting arm around her. “You know they’re not doing it on purpose.” Prim was trying to stay positive, but she would be pissed if the message that had set the castle into upheaval this morning turned out to be wrong and they had to redo Kallia’s hair and makeup and dress again tomorrow.
“Of course I know that,” Kallia said sadly. “But it doesn’t make it any less nerve wracking.”
Prim squeezed Kallia tighter. She couldn’t imagine what must be going through the princess’s mind right now, what with her entire future on the line and all.
Prim stared at the door that led down the hallway to the castle entrance as if Prince Egan would stride through just this moment. A figure did appear.
Roan took purposeful steps toward a nearby servant and the woman hurried away after he relayed a message. Then he approached the princess. “They’re here.”
Prim was certain Kallia had stopped breathing. She gave her another squeeze, Bristol adding her own arm to circle the princess.
“Stand here,” Bristol commanded, guiding Kallia up steps and to the center of the platform at the back of the room. She positioned her in front of the horizontal table on the higher ground where the royals would sit. She stood back, looking the princess over. “Move to the left about four steps. You’re in shadow here.”
Kallia obeyed, and Bristol nodded, smiling. “Perfect. The light hits you in just the right places there. Egan’s going to love you.”
Prim was more concerned about if Kallia would love Egan, but she let Bristol play the doting matchmaker.
The two handmaidens took their places next to Kallia and their six guards lined up behind them. Roan remained in front, standing to the side of the center walkway that separated the long vertical tables into two sets of three.
A moment later, the king and queen arrived. King Achrod wore an impeccably tailored white suit, a heavily jeweled golden crown atop his perfectly combed dark hair. Queen Mallis wore a fancy white dress with golden designs, and a similarly jeweled crown sat atop her unbound golden locks. She wore dripping sapphire earrings and a matching necklace. Prim had never seen her look so stunning.
They took their places on the ground level in front of Kallia, only coming to her waist. Achrod reached up to take both of his daughter’s hands in his own, kissing them and offering her a supportive smile. After he turned to face forward, Mallis did the same. It squeezed Prim’s heart to see such parental love.
The escorts and handmaidens that had entered with the king and queen stood off to the side, and every eye in the great hall focused on the open doors.
A procession of men and women, humans and mith, flooded through a moment later. First, two rows all wearing the same dark red uniform with swords at their sides, then others in a much less orderly fashion, all in lovely suits and dresses wearing that same ridiculous makeup Bristol had slapped onto Kallia. Even the men wore the white powder and rouge, though theirs was a bit less pronounced. Another batch of red-uniformed men and women followed, and finally, the royals.
Like the Orlanas, all five Lanhami royals wore white. The older couple at the front were obviously King Evarist and Queen Voliner. Neither wore that heavy makeup. The king’s hair was short and grey, the queen’s was long and dark fiery red; both wore heavy crowns. After them followed their three children that had made the journey. None of them wore the heavy makeup, either, though they all wore crowns. First strode a handsome dark-haired man with a smooth gait, then a smiling woman with the same dark fiery red hair as her mother, lastly a sandy-haired man who kept his eyes cast on the floor.
The Wassalian nobles and the rest of the receiving party followed after.
The Lanhami party filed along the sides of the room to leave the center walkway clear for their royals, who walked gracefully toward the Orlanas. The kings and queens of each country clasped forearms and shared words of greeting and welcome.
King Achrod’s voice then boomed across the entire hall. “Your journey has been long. Let us not delay our feast a moment longer so you may retire. But first, I would like to introduce my daughter, Princess Kallia Orlana, future Queen of Wassalia.”
Kallia curtsied low from her place on the platform without saying a word, keeping her trained smile in place.
All five Lanhami royals looked over her with keen eyes, though Prim noticed the handsome dark-haired prince’s eyes linger on Kallia’s perky cleavage. The Lanhami king didn’t bother to introduce his own children, and Achrod offered his arm to Queen Voliner to guide her up the stairs to the royal table as King Evarist offered his arm to Mallis and followed.
No one moved until the four monarchs took their seats at one end of the table, then the three younger Lanhami royals sat in a row on the other end. Only then did Kallia move from her spot to take the second seat from the end, across from the other princess, allowing her handmaidens to flank her as she always did. Prim sat on the end seat, across from the prince that had stared at Kallia’s chest.
With the royals seated, the rest of the hall erupted in noises of motion and talking. Dante and the other escorts took their place on the wall just behind Prim, Kallia, and Bristol. The red-uniformed Lanhami guards took similar positions around the hall. Important nobles from each country filled in the remaining seats at the high table, while others filled the lower tables. Servants bustled around, filling drinks and answering requests for other items or where the traveling party could relieve themselves. Roan took an advantageous position just at the top of the stairs to the platform where he could easily attend to any issue above or below.
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The hall was now loud enough and the seats spaced far enough apart that Prim could hear Kallia and Princess Torra speaking, but she couldn’t make out their words. Just as she was about to lean over and holler at them to talk louder, the handsome dark-haired prince lifted the corner of his mouth at Prim.
He kept his eyes on her as he filled his own goblet from a pitcher of wine, then reached across the table to fill hers. “Are you Lady Primrose or Lady Bristol?” His accent was smooth and rolling, unlike any of the accents Prim had heard around Wassalia.
“Primrose,” Prim returned with a smile. “Are you Prince Neros or Prince Egan?”
“Neros.”
Any other unmarried woman in here would be dying to have the chance to speak with the eligible prince, but Prim would have had no interest even if Dante weren’t in the picture. It’s not like she would leave Kallia to follow a man back to his home—prince or not.
Prim flicked her eyes to the prince on the other side of Princess Torra. The sandy-haired prince was cute, but Prim wouldn’t call him handsome like his brother. Though she thought that had much to do with his still-boyish face. He’d likely fill out and sharpen a bit with age and could very well turn into quite the handsome man.
Neros chuckled. “So you are aware of our true purpose in visiting.”
Prim smiled coyly. “So you are aware. Don’t you think your brother would disapprove of how you looked at his potential bride?”
Neros’s lips twisted. “I’ve heard of the beautiful trio, but I was expecting them to be just that. Beauties only. Quiet and submissive.” He swirled his wine, then took a long drag.
“Sorry to disappoint.” Ass.
Neros shook his head, that half smile still on his lips. “I did not say I was disappointed.”
Perhaps not an ass, then. Just a womanizer. Prim took a drink from her wine, then began eating.
“That is an interesting hairstyle you wear,” Neros said, gesturing toward Prim’s hair with his fork.
“It’s a style from northern Wassalia, above the Bartoq Mountains.” Prim glanced around the room at all the white faces. “Your people have interesting choices in makeup.”
Neros laughed. “Luckily, that fad is on its way out. We stopped outside your city to dress for our reception, and Mother decided it would not do to bring it here.” He gestured to his own makeup-free face. “Unfortunately, she didn’t share that with the others. I’m sure after seeing our fresh faces, they won’t be wearing it again.”
That was good for Kallia, at least, though Prim wanted to roll her eyes that their arrival had been delayed just so they could get dressed.
Prim offered a polite smile and returned her attention to her food.
“What’s your gift?” Neros asked casually.
Prim blinked. Like she was going to tell him that. “What’s your gift?”
Neros set his fork down and held his hands out in front of him, his fingers and thumbs curved and pointing towards one another. Bright blue lines of light stretched between each corresponding finger.
Well, shit. He was rather forthcoming.
“It’s most useful for lighting candles in chandeliers. The servants were overjoyed when it manifested and they no longer had to climb ladders to do it.”
Prim couldn’t help but smile imagining servants bossing around a wee prince to light candles for them. Prim looked around the room until she spotted an unlit candle. “Show me?”
Neros followed her gaze, then turned back, smiling again. “My pleasure.”
He pointed his finger toward the candle and the blue light buzzed across the room to ignite the wick.
“Impressive.”
Neros took a bite of lamb, then patted his face with his napkin. “And your gift is?”
Prim finished her glass of wine, and Neros reached across to refill it. She thanked him before answering. “I do not give myself away so freely.”
Neros’s smile remained as he licked his lips. “You wouldn’t be giving it away. I’ve already paid for it by telling you my gift.”
Prim laughed. “Is that why you did it? And here I was thinking you just wanted to show off for a pretty girl.”
He raised a brow. “Can’t it be both?”
Yep, womanizer.
“Tell me about Prince Egan. What is his gift?” Prim swirled her wine, taking another drink. Lunin, she was nearly halfway done with her second glass already.
Neros shook his head, making a knocking noise with his tongue. “I offered my information first last time and you didn’t reciprocate. Tell me about Princess Kallia.”
“You already know she has great tits, what else matters?”
Neros’s smile widened, then his body shook with laughter. Princess Torra gave him a look, then leaned over to say something in his ear, but he batted her away, keeping his eyes on Prim. “Is she like you?”
“Not at all. She’s kind, brilliant, loyal. She’s everything anyone could ever want in a woman. In a ruler.” Prim drank the last of her second glass of wine.
Neros looked at her suspiciously. “And you’re not?”
Prim ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “What do you think?”
“I think I would very much like to find out.” Neros lifted the pitcher to pour her a third helping, but Prim flattened her hand over the top of her glass.
“Your turn. Tell me about Prince Egan, please.”
Neros sat the pitcher back down, chuckling again. “We’ll be here for a month. You have plenty of time to get your intel, Lady Primrose. No need to rush it. Though I will tell you he doesn’t allow people to see his gift.”
Prim sighed, returning her attention to the feel of the smooth glass as she circled her fingertips around the rim again.
“You have a lot of guards,” Neros said in an attempt to keep the conversation going.
But Prim was over it. She just wanted to go to bed. Wanted Dante to be in there with her, too. “So do you.”
“Yes, but we were traveling. We’re in a foreign land.”
Prim raised her eyes to see him watching her curiously. “And we have travelers from a foreign land visiting us. What’s your point?”
The prince’s smile faltered. “Have I offended you?”
Prim blinked. “No, of course not.”
Neros sighed then leaned into the table, placing his palms on either side of his plate. “Okay, Lady Primrose. What would you like to know about Egan?”
Time to see exactly how forthcoming the prince would be. “Is he nice?”
Neros looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Prim felt her lips curl up in incredulity. Did the Lanhami not have the concept of nice? “Is he nice? Kind? Would he cheer Kallia up if she was having a bad day? Would he bring her chocolates or flowers just because he was thinking about her? Would he be nice to her friends, and dance with her, and cuddle with her at night? Would he listen when she talked about things she cared about, even if he thought they were silly?”
Neros’s half smile returned. “Is that the kind of man you want?”
Isn’t that the kind of partner everyone wanted? Prim pursed her lips. “It’s the kind of person I want for Kallia.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Neros purred.
Prim rolled her eyes. That wasn’t an answer.
Kallia leaned over, placing a hand on Prim’s arm and speaking directly into her ear. “Do you think we’ve been here long enough that we can leave?”
Gods, yes.
Prim stood up and curtsied to Prince Neros. “My princess is tired and must be escorted to bed.”
Neros’s gaze travelled to Kallia, Bristol, and the six escorts behind them that had straightened at Prim’s movement. “By eight people? Surely she can spare you. I have plenty more information to trade.”
Prim forced a smile. “You’ll be here for a month. No need to rush, remember?”