Part 4
949 Words
FOUR
Bianca heard her sisters before she saw them. The sounds of women at dinner when there were no men to command restraint was a familiar song of home. Lesser wives, concubines and their daughters who didn't have the status to be entitled to a private apartment had shared a common table in the harem. Several tables, as her father prided himself on the sheer number of women under his authority.
So it was with a smile on her lips that she entered the dining hall, taking a deep breath to greet her sisters.
Bianca's gaze swept across their faces and stopped dead.
She knew every face but one.
The ruddy face of a man beamed at her from under a hat so fluffy and floppy it looked like he wore a dead puppy on his head. If this was to be a new court fashion, Bianca was glad to be well away from it. "And who might you be?" the strange man slurred, raising a cup of wine to her.
Bianca lowered her eyes, but had to force herself not to incline her head. There could only be two men superior to a princess – her husband, and the king. As this man was neither, he must be beneath her notice. Her sisters didn't deem his question important enough to answer, either.
"This is Princess Bianca," Efe said. "Only just arrived from the palace." He made her sound like some sort of delectable dish, fresh from the kitchen.
Bianca suppressed a shiver. She'd heard children's tales of men who ate human flesh, but surely they were nothing but stories. Yet the way Efe spoke...
"You must sit beside me, princess, and tell me about your father's court," the man said.
As if by magic, her sisters slid up the bench to make space for her. For a moment, she hesitated, wondering what they knew about the stranger that she did not, but she could hardly ask them in front of the man. Better to ask him to talk about himself. Her mother and the other concubines had often said it was a man's favourite conversation topic, for the more he talked about himself, the more he liked the lady who pretended to listen.
But Bianca did not need to pretend. "I would much rather hear about you, sir. We hear little of the adventures to be had in the world outside my father's harem. The women's palace shelters us from such things. But you, I am sure, have travelled very far. How did you come here?"
He laughed so hard he spat out his wine. "By horse, of course! It isn't how I came here that matters, but why. Do you know why I am here, pretty princess?"
Bianca recognised the l**t in his eyes. She lowered her gaze and shook her head. "I am just arrived, so I have not yet heard, sir."
"I am here to get myself a wife, and a palace!" he announced, grinning. The grin vanished when he reached for his wine, only to find Brenna's little dog lapping at the cup. "Wretched creature!" he shouted. The dog took fright and galloped across the table to seek refuge under Brenna's chair.
What appetite Bianca had possessed now vanished at the sight of dog footprints in every remaining platter of food. She waited for a maidservant to remove the tainted dishes, as would happen in the women's palace in the capital, but no one moved except the man beside her, who seized another chicken leg.
"More wine!" he called, raising his cup. "And a fresh cup to drink it from."
To Bianca's surprise, Hazel rose from her seat. "I will fetch it," she said, and headed out of the hall.
"You make my decision a difficult one," the man said. "Which of you will be my wife? If I can only have one of you, should I choose the prettiest, or the most obedient?"
Silence reigned at the table, broken only by the sound of mastication. No one laughed at his attempted jest, and none of them deigned to reply. Was that because they'd given up on the chance of escape from this life?
Bianca refused to give up, so she seized her chance. "You should choose the fairest, sir, the one who will best please you." She lowered her gaze and batted her eyelashes, as she'd seen the maids do to the handsome guards, when they thought no one else was looking. She felt like a complete fool, until she realised it had worked.
"You're as wise as you are beautiful, Princess Bianca," the man said. "I think you will please me very well."
Triumph welled up in her breast, but she did her best to hide it. "I hope so, sir."
Hazel returned with a goblet of wine, which she presented to the man. He drank it off in three huge gulps, then flashed a red-lipped smile at Hazel. "Thank you, my dear."
Bianca held her breath, but she caught the sneer that curled Hazel's lips. Hazel didn't want him for a husband.
He'd evidently caught her look of distaste, too. "But I think Princess Bianca is prettier than you. If she were to fetch me more wine, I think she will capture my heart completely."
"I will show her where to find it, then. Bianca?" Hazel jerked her head imperiously toward the door.
From princess to serving wench? Bianca balked at the thought, but she could do worse things to catch a husband and secure her escape from exile. Resignedly, she rose from the bench and followed Hazel out.
"Good girl," the man slurred behind her.
Bianca gritted her teeth. She would pay a high price for her escape if she were to marry that fool, whoever he was. But weren't all men fools?
- Writer
