Page 31 of Dragon Fight

“Oh, you needn’t,” Kay started to say.

“Well, if you could spare the time…”

Ada and Kay looked at each other then laughed as they essentially contradicted each other.

“Of course, if you feel the need–” Kay started to say.

“I’m sure I’m a little rusty on my napkin folding,” I replied, “but hopefully I can be a help, not a hindrance.”

I returnedafter giving Glimmer her bacon. Cloudy cooked it to crispy perfection with a delicate curl of flame that he breathed out and my dragon fell on the meat before it was even cooked, tearing each strip apart and crunching it with gusto, which was enough to reassure me she would be fine. She told me she was, too, just to make sure I understood this. Duly dismissed, I walked back to the house to find the two women busy in the dining room.

“You said you knew how to fold napkins?” Ada asked, adjusting a floral centrepiece at one of the side tables as several maids skirted the dining table, flicking out a beautiful jacquard tablecloth between them. “I know it's a tedious job but—”

“Say no more,” I said. “Though, I beg of you, please don’t ask me to fold them into swans. Mine always ended up looking like sad ducks rather than graceful swans.”

Ada laughed at that.

“How about a simple crown fold, yes? That will be the most appropriate with Prince Draven attending.”

I nodded. “Let me go and wash my hands first, and then I’ll begin.”

The monotonous workdid exactly what I’d hoped it would, settling me after the tumult of the morning. One of the things that was never really mentioned was the fact that so much of a lady’s life was focussed on tasks of mindless tedium, but sometimes there was a benefit to it. Once the tablecloth was laid out, the maids worked in tandem to add all of the requisite crockery, cutlery and glassware. Ada oversaw each step, sending some flatware back in preference for a different design, and then supervising the careful addition of the centrepiece to the table. Once that was done, she sat down beside me to help work through the pile of napkins, creating perfect crowns with expert precision.

“Lady Pippa, may I ask you what’s it like being married to Brom?” she asked, once the maids had bustled out in response to a request from Kay to help her elsewhere in the house. “I’ll admit we never expected him to return home with a wife.”

“Why not? Because he’s a Royal Rider?” I asked.

“Ah… yes.”

My fingers fell still for a moment as I considered her question, then I sighed. “It’s glorious actually.” I almost felt some guilt in making that statement, as if I was snatching at a pleasure I didn’t deserve, but I didn’t regret what had happened. I was living every woman’s dream, having four men dedicated to her every pleasure. I just needed to make sure to stop it from going to my head. So when I smiled at Ada, it was genuine. “I don’t think I could’ve dreamed of a better marriage.”

“Really?” I saw nothing cruel or mean in Ada’s tone or face, just naked surprise. She smiled, belatedly, as though trying to cover her amazement, and I wondered a little at her reaction. “Well, that is a good thing to hear. So many of us women are married off to whoever is convenient.” She let out a little huff of air. “I’ve come to appreciate my Charles, but it took some time.”

“Oh! Well, I’m glad you’ve been able to reconcile yourselves to each other,” I said, feeling a little bad for having waxed so lyrical about married bliss in front of her.

“Being next in line to inherit all of this definitely helps that process.” She shot me a cheeky wink and I couldn’t help but laugh in response. “But, I have wondered, is Brom still very…close with His Highness? We three were as thick as thieves when we were young. Couldn’t tell any of us one from the other—we were all usually covered in mud, grime and leaves. Drove my mother mad, but I would refuse to stop at home, not when the boys were off adventuring.”

“So what scrapes did you get up to?” I asked, looking up from my folding. “Didyouclimb all over the ruins not far from here, alongside the boys?”

“Brom took you to our castle?” she asked and I nodded. “We used to love that place. Draven stole Lady Kay’s velvet cloak one time.”

“The one that belonged to a former queen?”

“The very one. Her ladyship’s aunt many times removed, but she was so damnably proud of that thing and Draven…” She smiled guiltily. “Well, he wanted to be king, in this little corner of the world anyway, even though he knew that his brother, Felix, would rule the country in actuality.” She placed her crown folded napkin on her head with a giggle. “I was his queen, of course.”

I grinned at that.

“And what was Brom?”

I expected her to say his sworn knight or sergeant-at-arms, or some such arcane courtly position, as Brom’s role in Draven’s court.

“Brom was Draven’s too.” She said the words carefully, meeting my gaze hesitantly. “That’s the way he is. Well… was. It’s been a long time since the three of us were able to ramble around the moors with stolen cloaks, but back then…” She paused, then began again, “He might be Crown Prince Draven now, destined to marry whichever noblewoman his mother handpicks, but then? Then he was just the fostered spare heir, growing from a boy into a man. And as he grew into a man, Draven discovered he had appetites, ferocious ones, that neither Brom nor I could satisfy on our own, so…”

Ada paused for a moment, a small crease forming between her brows, her beautiful brown eyes flashing as if she was revisiting the past, the first time I’d seen real passion in her expression since we’d started talking.

“Ada? Ada, are you there?” Kay came bustling in and paused when she saw the two of us. “There you are.” She beamed as she looked the table over. “Oh, this looks beautiful. Thank you, both of you. But Ada, darling, I’m going to have to prevail upon you again.”

“Of course, Lady Emberly.”

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