58 Dark Caravan (2/2)
He hugged her and bent his head to hers, ”Don't be sad, sister, we will see each other again. I'll visit and I'm sure you will be able to return when she makes some friends of her own.”
Usoa frowned deeper. Esti was not easy to get along with. I have to dress, she explained pulling away from his embrace.
”You didn't answer me, sister,” he held her arm, stopping her.
She nodded and he released her. A moment later he shimmered, gone from her. She turned and hurried into her rooms. Her small apartments, empty save for a napping cat on a chair cushion, greeted her.
She breathed in deeply of their familiar scent before she moved around, opening the curtains to let in some light, the windows for air. She gathered up the remains of her breakfast, long since over, to return them to the kitchen.
It will be time for an early dinner when they arrive, she thought guessing at the true distance, knowing that the eye could see far in the desert. Her day had been spent in service to her sister, a trial for the rest of her days.
She undressed slowly, performing the same motions on herself as she had done for the younger girl. She oiled her skin and then brushed out her own hair but then she twisted it into braids to tuck them behind her scarf. She wore no makeup and picked a plain dress in a pale goldenrod color. Pretty but she would blend with it, with the walls. It would not do to stand out to much, the attention should be Esti's.
She hid her hair under a matching scarf as a messenger arrived.
”Sister!” the girl called swinging her door open without knocking, her dark hair falling in messy curls around her head. Her wide smile showing two missing front teeth. The oldest daughter of the Emperor's third wife.
Izar, you should knock, she scolded gently.
”They're on their way though the city! Quick, quick! They're calling for you and Esti to be ready! They will be here soon!”
Were they closer than I thought or just faster, she wondered as she followed the girl out of the room and down the halls until they came to the throne room where Esti already stood, anxious next to their father's throne.
Usoa glanced at her father, marking their resemblance in their eyes and and skin. He was wide and strong where she and her brother were tall and lithe. His hair and beard both white as the full moon but his face held no lines of age, his body no sign of the years. He smiled warmly at her. ”Come my brave daughter, stand by your sister so she won't be afraid,” he said. Usoa shooed Izar away and crossed the room, passing the attendants and advisers to stand next to the girl on one side of their father. At his other hand stood Edur, her oldest brother, next in line for the throne. He held a frown on his dark face, annoyed to be away from his own training grounds to attend such matters.
The doors opened and the Dark procession entered.
The air changed around them, the prince's guards, pale skin and short brown hair entered first, swords at their sides. Esti squeezed Usoa's hand as the Prince followed them. Behind him stood two women and following them, a man in a hooded cloak. She frowned at his figure, his face covered by the hood, his hands shoved into the sleeves. Two more guards stood behind them.
”Welcome Prince Guifre,” her father said, his voice booming and rich in the room. He spoke the common tongue, strange to Usoa's ears.
The man who stood before them smiled with full lips, his green eyes glittering as he bowed low, golden hair falling over his forehead. Not very tall but well built, his face had a handsome, a boyish quality to it that she thought Esti night like. ”It is an honor to be in your presence, my lord.”
”And what brides have you brought us?” her father asked, striking at the root of why they were all there.
Usoa looked past them and to the women that stood behind them, huddled together. Dressed in the style of the light, the two women were clearly not of their land, their skin as pale as the Prince's, their hair light, like the sun. Still, they were both very pretty.
Darktellers, she thought, excitement boiling in here, perhaps we will meet in the Veil before I leave.
”Abene and Bidane. Two lovely choices, one to be Cainen to my Sorgia, the other to keep her company in your lands. As it has always been,” Guifre said motioning the girls forward so that they could be seen. ”And where is my beautiful bride?”
Esti steeped forward shyly, bowing just so, her eyes downcast.
”How lovely,” Guifre said in a half whisper, stepping forward to cross the distance, grasping her hand and kissing her knuckles. Usoa could not hear the words he said to Esti but the girl's body relaxed and her shoulders moved as though she laughed.
”How did you cross the desert so quickly?” her brother asked.
The Prince smiled, ”That was the work of my servant. He is very talented, his constructs, a work of beauty.”
From the corner of Usoa's eyes she could see the light shift, shimmering it moved half drawing her attention before the room filled with darkness. Thick waves of it covered everything as the court shouted in fear. They swallowed the sun, the world turned to night.
All around them, the once light hidden secret guard stood revealed, like stars against a night sky.
”Lloren, there is no need,” Guifre half growled.
”I am sorry, my lord,” a deep voice answered from within the hood. The man pulled his darkness back and it swirled around the room, growing smaller as he swallowed it back up. Lloren pushed down his hood revealing his face. Usoa stared at him, the touch of his gift, powerful and tumultuous, still on her skin from where it had wrapped around her for a brief moment as if tasting her.
His eyes, gray like a storm, swept the room before landing on her, curiously. He had the face of a solider. Strong chin and jaw, but his nose sat slightly crooked, as if it had been broken once before. High cheekbones and full lips under long, dark hair pulled back into a single braid.
”I sensed something and overreacted, my apologies to all,” Lloren said.