Dance, Marionette #2
He played music this time too. Until then, I had only danced to his counts, so the music and his proximity threw me completely off. And his feet seemed to always be on mine, no matter where I put them.
All in all, it was a disaster, and I prayed to the gods that dinner with the queen would go better than the dance lesson.
Not that the gods seemed to care about mortals or our lives.
We grew up learning about them and praying to them.
We were told things like, “Rathion protects the innocent and smites the guilty, so keep your nose clean,” or “Aeraphine influences who you marry. Pray kindly to her or she’ll fate you to a hag. ”
It was all bullshit. The god of war didn’t protect innocent mortal children when fae came to town, nor did the goddess of love even give a damn if mortals married or not, much less to whom.
We began dinner as on the previous days. The queen looked almost impressed by the time we started on the main course, with no criticism thus far.
“You’ve improved tremendously. You may scrape by in a few days after all. Now that you’ve got the fundamental dinner etiquette down, we’ll discuss with whom we shall dine, so that you can properly address anyone that may speak to you.”
I did not think I could possibly care less about who each fae was, but I supposed if rule number fourteen was as serious as Malvina said, addressing fae correctly was life or death for some mortals.
And all eyes would be on me.
“Our royal court holds seven positions, with the king overseeing them all. I will send you back to your cell tonight with a dictation of each, their names, and how you address them. I expect you to know these for our dinner tomorrow.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Gods, I sounded more and more like a puppet of the throne every day. “But there is next to no light in the dungeon to see by.”
She contemplated a moment, clearly caught in a bind. “Very well, I will arrange for the guards to escort you to a private corner of the library to study tonight. Remember, Naci, no mishaps, or the king will hear about it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
My heart sank. I hadn’t been to the library since…I’d been there with Varyn.
Dumb walked me to the library after we finished dinner. It was insulting that they felt one guard was enough to keep me in line. They didn’t see me as a threat. And they knew I would be compliant.
They had my hands tied with no cuffs.
And of course, the guard led me upstairs and lit the same lamp on the table that Varyn had lit that night and sat me at the same table where I had given him my heart and body.
It was poetic in a depressing sort of way that he had apologized to me in six ways that night.
In a way, he might have been apologizing for the betrayal that was already brewing.
No, he didn’t care. He hadn’t been apologizing at all. He had been using me as the king had said. One of these days, maybe that thought wouldn’t hurt so bad. But that day wasn’t today.
I returned my thoughts to the paper in my hand, listing the seven royal court positions, and began reading.
1. High Priest, His Eminence/High Priest/Lord Malchior Arkan - spiritual authority, keeper of prophecies, omens, and rituals
2. Commander of the Royal Guard, Lord Commander/Lord Draven Corvath - head of the royal guard and all royal armed forces
3. Lady Chancellor, Lady Chancellor/Lady Lyria Draevor - manages law, taxation, and borders, runs the castle bureaucracy
4. Court Mage, Magistra/Lady Eirathe Othrel - keeper of magical codes, grimoires, and experimentation, leads magical training
5. Master of Coin, Master/Lord Fenric Vale - oversees the kingdom’s wealth, budget, and spending
6. Royal Chamberlain, Chamberlain/Lord Luceron Vanthe - day-to-day castle operations, oversees servants, supplies, and scheduling
7. Royal Ambassador, His Excellency/Ambassador/Lord Zareth Corvalis - political advisor, relations with the continents, represents the crown
I had so many questions that I forgot all about Varyn and our library escapade. Prophecies? Grimoires and experimentation? I couldn’t help but lose my focus and let my mind wander to what magical training would entail.
I wondered if the rebellion knew about all these positions and who these fae were. Were they targets? Were any of them dangerous enough to be targets? Were any of them not dangerous?
Thinking about the rebellion made me refocus. If this could someday be useful to them or to us, I had a reason to commit it to memory—more than just not slipping up at the dinner and ball and getting brutally murdered for it.
So I read it over and over until I could recite the whole page, top to bottom, without looking. Once I had done that three times without a mistake, I told Dumb I was ready to leave.
Ordering him around felt fantastic, on top of learning something useful for when I got out of here. So by the time I got back to my cell and laid down on the ground to sleep, I did so with a smile.
And that smile was still there when I woke up.
* * *
Day five was my best performance yet. I earned a small smile from Thalen, which he quickly covered up and pretended never happened, when I got through all three dances without being stepped on.
The queen was more outwardly pleased with my ability to recite any position of the royal court at any point in the meal without forgetting the rules.
“You’ve done well. I think you’re ready for dinner with the king tomorrow as a final test.”
My breath caught in my chest as the beast in there perked its head up. I had forgotten that I would have to dine with the king before the ball.