Bride of Kalathan

6: A Man

The next days were unpleasant, as Hellis' hopes faded, as the fact that the king would not be sending any messages and she would not be going on carriage rides or having tea with the queen slowly sunk in. At the next party he barely glanced at her, and paid attention this time to an auburn-haired girl from Paristia, a girl who giggled so loudly from the sofa where they sat entwined that Nuria wanted to slap her. Hellis was steely-faced, brushing off expressions of sympathy from the other girls. She stayed with Nuria this time, and when Fashti and Rexar joined them she cheered up considerably.

"They are Drahm's cousins," she whispered, when the two men left to fetch a plate of cakes for them. "He is a high noble, a relative of the king. We would do well to get to know them."

Nuria was quiet, thinking of the note she had received the previous day from Drahm, asking her to join him for a carriage ride. She had politely refused, not wanting to encourage him, but she had not mentioned it to Hellis. When he arrived later, Hellis was thrilled to find that they had already met, and spent the rest of the evening flattering him, asking him questions about his education and his military training and his home near Sundtar. Nuria stayed out of the conversation. As she watched Drahm warm to Hellis' attention, she thought about what she had said about entrapment. She was starting to understand, a little, what that meant.

Once she left the sofa to stretch her legs and look at the musicians, and on the way back had to turn down no fewer than three invitations from three different men to take a walk with them. Afterwards, she stayed close to Hellis and Drahm, trying not to catch anyone's eye.

"Not interested, Nuria?" asked Drahm, as she sat down again. "You just turned down Argas, the king's cousin."

"Did I?" she asked, looking back at the very pleasant-looking young man she had rejected. "I just don't know him, that's all. It's not how we do things at home. Maybe I need some time to get used to how things work here. I don't want to be rude."

"You can have time," said Drahm, smiling sympathetically. "When you are ready there will be plenty of others who will be happy to meet you. Perhaps during the day, at a picnic, where there are no dark corners to make you nervous."

"That sounds much better," she said, grateful that he did not seem to hold her rejection against her. "I really don't like the dark corners."

Hellis and Drahm both laughed at that, smiling companionably at each other. A picnic during the day would be so much better. She had no objection to meeting these young men, and she did rather like the look of Argas, but these parties, where the arak seemed to flow freely from the depths of the men's pockets, unnerved her. On the way back to their room later, she and Hellis passed Rexar, who was leaning over some bushes retching, clinging to the hand of a wobbly, giggling woman.

"Don't worry, Nuria," said Hellis, amused at her alarm. "It's only the arak. If you have too much you feel a little sick. It's nothing to worry about."

But Nuria worried. She didn't like the wild look in the eyes of some of the men when they had been drinking, or the blank, sleepy faces of the ones who had had too much. She refused even a taste of it, the smell making her stomach turn. And she wondered, for the thousandth time, why the king thought it was all right to behave as he did. Almost a week had passed, and she thought often how much she would like to go home, but she knew she had to stay. There were some noblemen who did not seem to drink arak, and perhaps when she was used to things she would try to meet some of them. Just because the king broke the rules didn't mean everyone did.

Sabine was busy the next day, preparing for the arrival of two new girls at the palace. "Find your own amusement outside this morning," she said to the girls at breakfast. "The weather is pleasant enough, for a change. Just stay out of my way and listen out for the bell for the midday meal."