’Tis pity he’s an elf | Jen Williams #5
Just then, a cacophony of trumpets rent the air.
As one, every guest turned to the east to see the prince arriving on an enormous black unicorn.
Eianor was wearing silver plate armour with a cloak made of autumn leaves; the visor on his helmet was pushed back to reveal his handsome face, his silver hair braided down his back.
Under one arm he was carrying a lance, and as the unicorn picked its way through the crowd he raised his free hand and waved.
Spontaneously, many of the crowd cheered him.
“A lance?”
Tristaine looked as surprised as she felt.
“He must have had one brought into the palace specially. It’s a good sign, right?
This is a special effort he has made for Lady Amber.
” He eyed the unicorn, and the prince in his knightly costume, warily.
He seemed especially unable to look away from the pointy end of the weapon.
“We should get people to stand back, if we can.”
Molly, though, was more concerned about the Lady Amber’s reaction.
Once, a young woman in her service had brought Amber a pot of tea while she had been attempting to seduce a visiting diplomat – the diplomat had thanked the girl for the tea a little too enthusiastically, and the girl was never seen again.
Yet, as the prince reined in his steed at the centre of the dance floor, Lady Amber was all gentle smiles, her eyes shining up at the prince as though he truly were a knight, intent on rescuing her from a loveless life. Despite everything, Molly felt a tiny flicker of hope.
“Come on,” she said to Tristaine. “Let’s get these animals out of here before one of them takes a dump on our nice clean dance floor.”
* * *
That hope only grew as the evening passed.
Amber and the prince were immediately inseparable.
For every piece of music that played, the pair danced together, staring deeply into each other’s eyes.
At a normal ball, everyone would be vying for the opportunity to dance with either of them, as famous and as distinguished as they were, but all of the guests understood the importance of the alchemy currently happening on that marble floor, and none of them attempted to peel the couple apart.
Instead, the guests danced with half an eye on the glamorous pair; some with expressions of relief, or envy, or anxiety.
When the servants brought small platters of food to circulate around the dance floor, Eianor selected each appetiser personally and then offered it to Amber; by the second round of canapés, she was letting him place delicate little parcels of pastry or fruit directly onto her tongue.
Their eyes were locked on each other; no one else in the room seemed to exist.
Tristaine and Molly watched this with mounting excitement.
“Is it me, or is it getting hot in here?” asked Molly.
They both laughed. They were outside, underneath the night sky, and the autumn air carried with it the ghostly promise of winter, but there was no mistaking the heat between the prince and his lady.
The pair were dancing again, their bodies close and their temples touching; Prince Eianor’s hand was pressed to the small of Amber’s back, his fingers gently stroking the space where the blue silk parted to reveal a small section of skin.
All around them, the mood of the other guests changed too.
Where before there had been tension and the beginnings of anger – plenty of delegates from both sides were ready to blame the other if this didn’t work – now there was laughter, and a giddy kind of joy.
Perhaps disaster had been averted. And who didn’t like to see a young couple falling in love?
“Molly.” Tristaine held out one hand. Around them, the dancers were whirling and dipping to the music, the prince and the Lady Amber lost in their midst somewhere. “May I have this dance?”
When he held her close, the chaos of the ball seemed to drop away.
It existed on the edge of his perception as a faint rumble of chatter, the smell of a hundred perfumes intermingling, but with Molly in his arms, it felt as though his whole world had reduced down to a single, wonderful point.
There was nothing but the human girl, her dark hair bobbing in time to the music, the bare skin of her arm pressed against his neck – the sweet, warm presence of her.
“Molly,” he murmured. “What is it you want? From life, I mean.”
He felt her smile against his chest. “Amber came up from nothing, you know. She was a street kid, a guttersnipe. Everything she has now is something she fought for, raced for, scrambled for – everything she has, she’s built herself, or torn from the hands of someone higher up the ladder than her.
She might not be the most… likeable person, but I respect her grit.
She’s ambitious, and has a taste for the finer things in life, but she hasn’t completely forgotten where she came from. Which is why I’m part of her retinue.”
He leaned back a little to see her face. The smile was gone, and now her eyes looked far away, as though gazing on some distant horizon.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Amber picked me off the streets,” she said. “Gave me a wash, gave me an education, a stable home. I thrived. I look at her and I see how far I could go, Tristaine. I think I could go further, actually. I want to get as far from those streets as I can, you see. I’m never going back.”
They had employed both fae and human musicians for that night’s entertainment, and in the background Tristaine could hear two different tunes rising and intertwining as they tried to outdo each other.
It should have been a cacophony, a clash of noise and style, yet somehow, it worked.
He could feel the joy of the musicians as they realised just that, and the music grew louder, livelier.
“What about you?” Molly asked. “What do you want from life, Tristaine?”
This, he thought. Just this.
“I want to make things better,” he said.
When she laughed, he shook his head, grinning.
“No, really. The prince is occasionally a challenging person to serve, with any number of odd requests daily, but it pleases me to make things better for him. Smoother. When things are smooth for him, everything within the palace ticks along – people are happier.” He frowned slightly.
“In truth, the prince doesn’t really need me.
He was born into the most important family in the realm, touched by royal magic.
He’ll never want for any thing – well, nothing much beyond a sugary dessert and a compliment.
There are other people though, elves and humans both, who I could serve, and make a real difference.
I suppose that is what I most want from life. ”
“Very noble,” said Molly, smiling. “If you kissed me right now, it would make a real difference to my life, I can tell you that much.”
Tristaine hesitated, just for a moment. After all, they were the most trusted servants in their respective households, both tasked with making tonight a success.
Would the prince consider it unseemly for his manservant to kiss a human woman in public?
Would the Lady Amber be unimpressed with such informal conduct?
And then he decided he didn’t give even the tiniest shit.