The Starry Sky - A Darkling/General Kirigan Prequel

13

The more Anna saw of the Grand Palace, the more she hated it. She'd seen some extravagant buildings in her life; she'd grown up in a house not much smaller than the Little Palace, which was full of Kaelish design trends. But the Ravkans outdid themselves here, seemingly having thrown up gold pillars, massive oil paintings and stiff brocade furniture all over the building. The dining room was no exception. Anna could've run laps around the room it was so big. There was an intricately carved oak table in the middle of it, with 40 matching dining chairs on the sides and two throne-like seats at either end. The ceilings were vaulted, painted with scenes showing the saints, and other people who were unnecessarily naked, again, all framed by borders of sparkling gold.

At one end of the room was King Ivan, wearing military dress, despite apparently never seeing any conflict or apparently even meeting the soldiers fighting the Shu. Then again, the war had been in stalemate for the majority of time since it had been declared, and most people assumed it would die out in its own time. Despite this, all the medals on his chest were glittering like the gold interior around him, offsetting his already sickly skin, and making him look more of a tacky decoration than a king. Aleksander, next to her, was keen to make snide remarks about him whenever he could, causing the pair of them to receive unkind looks from the other dinner guests, almost all of whom were men, Anna was disgruntled to see. The only women were seemingly either wives or mistresses, and kept noticeably quiet throughout the entire meal.

Anna tried not to drag her hands over her face in boredom. She'd been dining for over an hour, stuck still in a heavy silk gown beneath her Kefta, sweating like a pig, and praying that eventually the meals would stop arriving and that they could all move into the hall where she could already hear the low murmur of party goers. Some fucking ball. Aleksander seemed to be in the same state of despair as her, although he was hiding it better. The more he tried to eat or listen to the conversations around him, the more his Kefta began to itch and his knee began to bounce. They gave each other sympathetic looks, conveying their annoyance if they couldn't verbalise it.

As the desserts, chocolate gateau covered in plums and cherries, finally arrived Aleksander felt the need to point out, "The Prince isn't here." They'd been in the room for over an hour, nearly two. Anna had noticed that there was not anyone being doted on more by the King or other guests, so she had presumed that Prince Ivan wasn't there. She loathed that both men had the same name for some reason, it was common enough practice, but lacked originality. That was another thing she'd disdain the King for. However, as she ate her cake, she was aware that she couldn't spend the entire evening finding ways to hate the Ravkan monarchs, so instead she turned back to Aleks.

"Is he meant to be here?"

"He was here yesterday, and I doubt he'd pass up the opportunity to be the centre of attention." Duke Lukashenko, the man who was sat on the right of Aleks, obviously started to listen in at this point. Without turning to check, Aleks knew, and decided to agitate him. "He's probably off in Os Alta bedding another whore. Rumour has it, he already has three children running around in the capital, but then again, that seems to be the Lantsov way."

"It is a shame that he's not here tonight, but we must remember that it is very, very hard being a prince. And he must not be kept from his... duties." Anna conceded, catching the eye of the Duke and giving him a tight-lipped smile. Aleks forked a piece of the rich cake into his mouth, also meeting the Duke's glare and smiling. As if spooked by Aleksander's dark grey eyes, he twisted hastily to face the man next to him. Anna placed a gentle hand on Aleks' thigh, prompting him to take in a weak breath.

"I wish the King would hurry up." Anna whispered.

"Yes, and then I get to do my party trick all the sooner." Earlier in the day, as the girls were scrambling to find Anna a dress, the man next to her confided about how much he disliked displays of his power. Any Grisha's power for that matter. He said it was demeaning and trivial, something to entertain children, except the children were the most powerful men in Ravka. Anna knew she couldn't relate, but seeing his anger towards the situation made her want to throttle the King. More than she already did, of course. She really hated lazy, greedy, spoilt men.