The Lady of the Hive has Arrived

Chapter 4: The Lady of the Hive has Arrived

We had received word of the Goldwell heir's impending arrival in the afternoon from a rider sent from a watchtower outside the city walls. The heir's carriage was being escorted by a small troop of 25 soldiers. The watchtower rider also reported that the soldiers were dressed in shabby chainmail armor and carried cheap swords. Which was odd, considering the forge of the Goldwell Walls was under the charge of legendary blacksmith, Haymond Greer. And without a single soldier carrying a banner bearing the family's crest, a depiction of a swarm of bees encircling a parrot lily, identifying the party was nearly impossible had it not been for the presence of Sir Mard Maddox, a famous knight in service of the Goldwell house.

Even more strange was that their arrival should have been long before the sun had set. According to the report, the carriage should have arrived after an hour after the rider's departure, yet it had been three since then. We sent scouts, but they only found a few eyewitness claiming to have seen the group wandering within the city walls.

Prince Byron was seething. He and I had waited at the palace's main doors with a welcoming party of sorts for an hour after the estimated arrival time before he surrendered to an empty stomach and retreated into the palace. I was to wait at the doors with the servants and honor guard for them to arrive.

The honor guard stood in two lines facing one another and led from the road to the door, all dressed in the Armors of Opulence; sleek gold plated armor of which a roaring golden lion's head protruded from the chest piece, eyes made of diamond pieces and fangs of pearl, at their backs billowed red velvet capes lines with fluffy white fox furs, and from the scalps of their golden visored sallet helmets plumed a thick, long mane of white feathers. The Armors of Opulence sets were forged purely for decorative reasons, and to be donned in times of holiday and celebration.

From the sides of the main doors spanned four rows of the most pleasing female servants, dressed in matching dark red maid dresses designed by the castle's seamstresses.

My hair was ordered to be worn in loose curls again, and again my dress was not of my own choosing. An elegant crimson red dress with a low bearing neckline that left my shoulders exposed and a parting down the skirts of the dress that revealed golden frills, and beneath my dress I wore a cage crinoline to give the dress its spreading shape.

Prince Byron had meticulously planned out every detail of the heir's arrival in advance. It was drastically different from the receptions of the other noble families of Midowa. They had been received by me, my ladies, and my personal guard and met with the prince at the supper after their arrival. These families were secondary to Prince Byron's primary goal of securing the Goldwell house's wealth and strength, so the first impression we made on the Goldwell was crucial to Prince Byron's success.

The son of Lord Abelard Goldwell, Lord Aron Goldwell, was to arrive to the city and be welcomed by an honor guard awaiting him at the palace doors. The honor guard would serve to both demonstrate respect to the Goldwells and the Armors of Opulence would be a display of the royal family's vast wealth. Byron also thought it prudent to also appeal to his base desires as well by assigning him and his knights the most attractive of our servants. The king to-be's presence and attention is another honor to be immediately bestowed upon our important guest. Prince Byron would then personally lead the heir on a tour of the palace as well as of its beautiful gardens, and then they would feast on a decadent six meal course.

I was strictly under direct orders of Prince Byron to not speak with the son of Lord Abelard Goldwell unless spoken to, and in that event my replies were to be polite but short. I was reserved for the foreign leaders, and needed to avoid enticing Lord Aron, an unmarried man. If he were to ask for my hand in marriage, it would put Prince Byron in difficult situation. A marriage between me and a native family would decrease Byron's ability to form alliances with the foreign nations.