Consort (Beyond Ontariese 6) (8 page)

“
Of course.” Indric quickly
returned to her side and pressed her hand between his. “There’s
about two hours until dinner. Relax and stop worrying. Palace
security is extensive and the boys are strictly supervised. Terez
can take you to see them on your way to dinner if you like.” He
looked at the older woman and she nodded in response to the
directive.

“
Thank you,” she whispered.
“For all of this.”

He kissed her hand then resumed his
trek across the spacious lobby.

“
Your rooms are this way,
dear.” Terez prompted.

Cinarra followed her in the opposite
direct from where the men had gone. This all felt so needlessly
formal. Indric was her friend. But her friend was also a king with
myriad responsibilities and hordes of people vying for his
attention.

Terez walked at her side, three staff
members hurrying along behind them. The corridors became a blur
long before they arrived at the rooms reserved for Cinarra. The
suite was on the third floor, overlooking a courtyard. She pushed
open the doors leading to the railed balcony, awed by the beauty
before her. A stone footpath meandered between flowerbeds and
potted trees on its way to the fish pond at the far end of the
courtyard. It was charming and tranquil, a private oasis few would
ever experience.

“
Come, child. We’ve a lot
to accomplish and not much time left to get it all
done.”

Annoyed by Terez’s condescending tone,
Cinarra closed the doors then turned around. “I’m older than I
look. Please don’t call me ‘child’, and I wasn’t aware I was on a
deadline.”

“
King Indric generally
dines at eight and he’s expecting you,” Terez reminded, her dark
gaze cool and assessing.

“
Will it be just the king
and I?”

“
I don’t know, Madam
Mazodie. I was only told to prepare you for the
evening.”

Cinarra sighed. The welcoming warmth
Terez had shown since Cinarra’s arrival was suddenly gone. “I
didn’t mean to snap at you. My name is Cinarra and I really do look
much younger than I am. I have a daughter who is
thirty-three.”

Terez looked skeptical, but she
managed to smile. “I didn’t mean to offend you. May we please begin
again?”

“
I’d like that.” Cinarra
returned her smile and took a deep breath. Palace life was sure to
be different from her isolated house on the outskirts of town and
Terez held the key to Cinarra’s success. “What do I need to know so
I don’t make a fool of myself tonight?”

“
I’ve ordered a full spa
treatment for you tomorrow, but we don’t have enough time for
anything elaborate tonight.”

A full spa treatment? She’d never set
foot in a spa. Rather than make herself seem even more backward,
she just nodded and produced an occasional smile.

“
Several designers have
already sent over garments, hoping their styles will catch your
eye, but the king wanted me to stress that all wardrobe choices are
entirely up to you. If you’re more comfortable in your own
clothing, the designers will have to try again once they’ve gotten
to know you.”

Walking from the foyer to her room had
been enough to make Cinarra anxious to explore other clothing
options. The staff uniforms were more elegant than anything she
possessed. Then a niggling thought burned away her excitement. “How
did these designers know I’d be visiting the king?”

“
There are simply too many
eyes and ears inside the palace for anything to be truly private.”
Terez took her by the hand and lead her through the suite. “But
don’t let that upset you. Everyone knows gossip is seldom
reliable.”

Cinarra thought the living room was
luxurious until she saw the bedroom. The bed was low yet thickly
padded and situated upon a rounded dais. Bed hangings of sheer gold
had been drawn back in dramatic swags and the wall behind the bed
had been sculpted to form the headboard.

Terez motioned her onward. They passed
through a lavish bathroom, complete with floor-to-ceiling mirrors
and an oversized jetted tub. Their final stop was an extravagant
dressing room, the likes of which Cinarra had never seen. A
combination of shelves and racks lined three of the four walls,
while a vanity with matching bench nestled against the far
corner.

“
This is larger than any
room in my house.”

“
It seems overdone now, but
most ladies don’t wear a garment more than once. It will fill up
fast.”

“
That seems so wasteful.”
Cinarra glanced at Terez, afraid her outspokenness had offended the
older woman.

Terez’s serene expression didn’t
change. Instead, she motioned toward Cinarra’s luggage, which had
been placed near the adjacent door. None of the garments had been
unpacked. Had there simply been insufficient time for the task, or
had everyone presumed that none of her clothing would be
appropriate for the situation.

“
Take a look at what the
designers sent over,” Terez guided her attention to the neat row of
garment bags hanging near the vanity. “Or if you have something
specific in mind, I might be able to send a runner for
it.”

“
I don’t think there will
be a need for that.” She’d never put on airs for Indric in the past
and she wouldn’t start now. She didn’t want to embarrass him, but
she wouldn’t reinvent herself either. “My tastes are pretty
straightforward.”

Cinarra quickly realized that nothing
in her life would remain “straightforward” if she decided to become
a part of Indric’s world. He’d been a part of her life since she
arrived on Bilarri, but she’d never really seen him in his natural
environment. The designer gowns were far more extravagant than
anything she’d ever worn before and the entire time she looked
through the garments Terez rattled off the fundamentals of palace
protocol.

“
People really wear things
like this to dinner every night?” She held up an especially garish
gown, decorated with an incomprehensible combination of blinding
sequence and feathers.

A soft chuckle escaped despite Terez’s
obvious effort to hide her amusement. “D’ Savoy is an acquired
taste.” She took the garment from Cinarra’s hand and returned it to
the rack. “Clearly your tastes are more classical, more
understated.” She checked the names on the garment bags until she
found the one she wanted. “This might be more your
thing.”

The strapless bodice was a pale
silvery blue while the slim skirt was several shades darker.
Cinarra had no idea what the material was called, but it had a
faint iridescent sheen. “It’s beautiful, but this is just a meal
with an old friend.”

“
Your ‘old friend’s’ family
has ruled this region for three millennia. Trust me. This dress is
not too lavish for a meal with King Indric.”

“
All right. You understand
how all this works. I’ll bow to your experience.” The comment had
Terez beaming and Cinarra couldn’t help but smile.

“
If you’d like to take a
shower, I’ll have the stylists set up in here.”

“
That would be
lovely.”

There was simply no reason to resist
the extravagance. Cinarra returned to the bathroom, struck again by
the opulence. Continuing the ivory-and-gold theme present in the
other rooms, black accents had been added to give the bathroom a
little more drama.

Cinarra started to undress then
realized she’d neglected to ask about undergarments. Terez was
speaking with a dark-haired woman via holocom when Cinarra opened
the door. The stranger motioned for Terez to turn around and
Cinarra realized she must be in range of the
transmitter.

“
How can I serve you?”
Terez asked.

The phrase made Cinarra cringe. Too
embarrassed to ask in front of the stranger, she just said, “Never
mind.”

Terez paused the transmission and
crossed the room. “I’m sorry. That was rude. What did you
need?”

“
I forgot to grab my
undergarments.”

“
There’s a dressing gown
next to the shower and I’ll lay out everything else for
you.”

Cinarra took a deep breath and
confessed, “I’m not used to people waiting on me. This feels really
intrusive.”

“
I’ll do my best to
minimize the intrusion, but King Indric wants you to feel pampered.
He made it clear to everyone that you are special to
him.”

With a shaky nod, Cinarra retreated
into the bathroom and closed the door. She was special to Indric?
Joy and disbelief twisted around each other, making her feel giddy
and confused. Why would he find her special? She was Charlotte’s
sister and Betaul’s guardian, but she was no one
special.

Lost in the emotional muddle, she shed
her clothes and stepped into the shower. There were no visible
controls, so she tried a voice command. “Moderate spray, warm.”
Expecting the multipurpose foam used by the vast majority of
cleansing units, she gasped when actual water rained down upon her.
Water? In the middle of the desert?

She tilted her head back and smoothed
her hair away from her face. She couldn’t remember the last time
she’d taken a real water shower. Feeling decadent and guilty, she
nearly forgot to enjoy the extravagance.

Her reflection greeted her
as she stepped out of the shower enclosure. It had been nine years,
why did these features still seem like someone else’s? Perhaps the
transition might have been easier if the Mystic had looked anything
like her, but she was so tiny, light and
young
. It always made Cinarra feel
even more out of place and old.

When she returned to the dressing
room, she found a team of stylists waiting for her. So much for
Terez minimizing the intrusion. But the stylists worked hard to put
her at ease and make her feel at home. One went to work on her
hair, another her makeup, while still others focused on her hands
and feet.

The hairdresser was particularly
talkative, so much so that the makeup artist frequently rolled her
eyes in response. Cinarra found it all a bit overwhelming but
entertaining none the less.

By the time they finished with her,
Cinarra was relaxed and ready for the evening. The dress clung to
her torso and supported her breasts, making her waist look even
smaller. She turned this way and that, fascinated by the subtly
changing colors in the skirt. The fabric skimmed her hips and
thighs rather than displaying every dip and swell.

“
Are you pleased?” Terez
asked hopefully.

Cinarra could barely recognize the
woman in the mirror, but she was undeniably beautiful. The makeup
artist had skillfully accented her features rather than creating
artificial drama. Her short hair had been left loose, but the messy
waves were now perfect spirals.

“
Thank you,” she said to
Terez and then turned to the others and added, “You all did a
wonderful job.”

They erupted into a chorus of happy
cheers and clapping as Terez opened the door and motioned Cinarra
out into the suite’s main room. A guard waited in the corridor and
Terez told him to escort Cinarra to the children’s wing on the way
to King Indric’s private dining room. The guard nodded but looked
straight ahead, not daring to look at Cinarra directly. The staff
would not speak unless spoken to and eye contact was only allowed
once a conversation had been instigated. It was one of countless
rules Terez had listed during the past two hours.

Cinarra tried to keep track of where
the children’s wing was in comparison to her quarters, but the
palace was simply too large. One of Dravon’s mentors told Cinarra
that the boys had already departed for the evening meal, so she was
surprised to find Indric alone when she arrived at the dining room
a few minutes later.

He pushed back his chair and stood as
she entered. “You look lovely,” he said as she was seated across
from him.

“
Are we dining alone? I
thought Betaul and Dravon would be here.”

“
If you require a
chaperone, I can send for Terez.” His smile was nothing short of
dazzling. He tended to dress in ivory and gold, and tonight was no
exception. His tunic was long sleeved now, the front panels boldly
embroidered in gold. He also wore several rings and a decorative
dagger that she’d never seen before. His hair had been pulled back
and bound at the nape of his neck, making the masculine angles of
his face all the more striking. He always had a regal air about
him, but tonight he looked like a king.

“
I’m not afraid of being
alone with you.” As the words passed her lips, she realized that it
sounded more like she was trying to convince herself. “I was just
hoping to see Betaul.”

“
I’ll take you to him after
we’ve eaten or I can holocom their dining room if it will put your
mind at ease.”

“
You never allow children
in your private dining room?” It seemed odd. He’d always been so
patient with Betaul. She’d thought Indric enjoyed
children.

“
My father and grandfather
often entertained visiting dignitaries while they dined, so it was
necessary for their children to dine elsewhere. Tonight, I simply
wanted you to myself.”