Annifer

Chapter 4: The Moon Locket

I was woken a few hours later by a soft cooing from my balcony. I climbed out of bed and opened the balcony door.

"Hello you!" I greeted the pure white dove who sat waiting for me on the ledge. He'd been coming to me regularly for a few months now, only when Sasha was out of the room, and I always kept a few breadcrumbs in my pocket, gathered from the dinner table, to feed him with.

I put the crumbs in the flat of my hand and he cooed appreciatively as he pecked at them. The sun was getting lower in the sky. Soon it would be time to dress for dinner. At least at dinner I'd see Kriston and we could talk properly.

I heard footsteps hurrying up the stairs and smiled. The door flew open, Poppy was panting from running up the stairs, talking ten to the dozen, her brown eyes stretched open, her arms reaching out towards me.

"Will you take us with you Annie . . . when you go to Crosstain? Will you take me . . . and Mum and Daisy? And if you take us . . . you'll have to take Petros too, so Daisy has someone to play with . . . and Davin and Kriston too . . . You won't leave them alone, will you Annie?"

"Poppy!" I laughed, grabbing her arms and trying to stop the tide of questions flooding out of this thirteen year old girl. "I can't take Kriston with me. He'll be king here in a few years. But don't you worry; I've no intention of marrying Larnick and going to live in Crosstain. Now stop panicking and brush my hair."

Poppy took a few deep breaths, calmed down a little and picked up the bone-handled brush.

"Oh Annie, you'll never guess what! Mabel who works in the kitchens with Daisy just got back from visiting her mother who works in the Palace in Jamain. Ooh, you wouldn't believe it! She says Queen Griselda has a whole room, just for shoes!"

It never ceased to amaze me how Poppy could swing from hopeless despair one minute to excited chatter the next. I listened quietly while she arranged my hair into a long plait and tied it with silver ribbons, ". . . and the biggest, most sparklingest jewels, they say her tiaras are so heavy, when she first became queen, she had to practise wearing them for a few minutes everyday day to build up her neck muscles . . . " She helped me into a purple velvet and silver brocade gown with an unnecessarily wide skirt. ". . . rings and bracelets and necklaces, she even wears jewels in her nose . . . "

At this she raised the lid of my jewellery box and squinted inside with a pondering expression. Next thing I knew, she'd grabbed a drop-shaped amethyst which I normally wore as a pendant, pulled it off its chain and was trying to stuff it up my left nostril.

"Poppy! Stop!" I shouted, pulling her off. "That's not how you do it! You have to pierce the skin and wear it on the outside like an earring. Honestly!" I said rubbing my poor nose.

"Oh yes, that makes sense." She rummaged in my jewellery box and extracted a necklace of deep blue stones. "Sapphires today," she held it high so the light glistened off the gems' many facets. "to match your eyes, Princess."

Wednesday was High Feast Day so everyone had to dress up. When I was adorned to her satisfaction, I kissed her on the forehead and sent her away. I squeezed my feet into my purple satin high heels and started awkwardly down the stairs, holding the skirt in both hands so I wouldn't trip. These clothes are designed for sitting and looking pretty in, not for actually moving anywhere, I thought with a sigh.

Kriston and I always sat at the Royal Table at the head of the Banqueting Hall, under the west window, facing the rest of the room. There was a long table down the right-hand side of the room where the ladies of the court sat according to rank, Lady Beatrix at the end closest to the Royal Table. Down the left-hand side was the men's table at the head of which sat Uncle Ivan.