The Troll's Trove Ch. 06

Chapter 6 - Princess Pout

Ada stretched, yawned heavily, stepped to the window of her boudoir and opened it. She smiled sleepily at the late morning sun.

The sky was cerulean, save to the east, where the blizzard still lingered above distant mountains. A breath of wind caressed her.

Her lungs seized on the chill air and she coughed. The air tasted of the smoke that curled up from the chimneys in the town below.

Smoke. Fire. She pressed a hand to her stomach. Her brother. His message. She leaned against the windowsill.

Below people lined the streets. Teal-clad solders pushed against the swell. A black column moved in their midst.

Black-Blackrock! The King's carriage was already at the causeway. Eluf. I'm not ready! Her stomach roiled like a witch's cauldron at full boil.

The curtains fluttered in a draft as her boudoir door opened.

"M'lady!" her maid, Brynis, scolded, "You'll catch a chill." The brunet reached around Ada for the window and shut with a snick. She ushered Ada towards the bureau.

Ada's other maid, Olina, waltzed up. "Isn't it exciting?" She did a quick dance step with a hairbrush. "A Prince is visiting. A real live Prince!" she said as though King Trygg hadn't merely been prince a few seasons prior. Olina nudged over a low stool with her foot, climbed it and began to unsnarl the Princess's tawny hair.

The visage in Ada's mirror scrunched her nose and turned her lips down in a heavy pout. "No."

Brynis retrieved a teal dress from Ada's wardrobe.

"Oh, not that one, Bryn. Ada's a Princess—" Olina giggled. "—not a soldier."

"I happen to like soldiers, thank you very much." Brynis smoothed the dress's skirts.

"You mean a soldier."

Brynis turned snapdragon pink.

Ada's thoughts flitted to Jorn. Wide shoulders. Tall.

Olina cocked her head at Brynis. "Is that where you were last night? With Jannar?"

"No, I was putting out the fire, like everyone else."

"What about before the fire? Where were you then?"

Brynis shoved the dress back into the wardrobe. "Okay, no teal. How about this?" She removed a pretty pleated thing of green-chartreuse and pine. She matched a green bodice to it so dark it was almost black.

"Oh, Bryn, where were you?"

"Olina, focus. We're supposed to be dressing the Princess. For the Prince? Remember?"

Olina stamped her foot. Her stool rocked. "Brynis!"

"You'd better tell her, Bryn." Ada shot Brynis the look. "She'll just make something up if you don't. The truth is less painful than Olina's stories."

Brynis ignored them both. She held the ensemble to her breast and twirled such that the hem dusted the floor as it fanned out before her. "What do you think?"

"Don't get it dirty!" Olina scolded.

"And whose job is it to scrub the floors?"

The blond maid rolled her eyes. She went back to Ada's braids.

Ada pointed past Brynis. "I want that one."

Brynis lay the chartreus dress aside and stripped Ada of her nightclothes. "It's a day for courting, not a fox hunt."

"I want to go riding."

Olina wove braids and piled them atop Ada's head. "Not in this weather, silly. It's freezing. Wherever would you go?"

"Away from here."

"He's a prince, Ada. You're a Princess. It's supposed to happen like this."

"I know he's a Prince, Olina. How could I forget with you reminding me every few heartbeats?"

"Princes and princesses are meant for each-other," Olina said. She entwined a forest-green ribbon in Ada's hair. She stepped down.

"We're not. I hear he's ..."

"Is a little easy with the ladies?" Brynis nudged the stool aside with a foot. The voluminous folds of the selected dress fell over the Princess's svelte frame. "They say that about all Princes. I'm sure that's just rumors."

"That's what my brother said."

"Then I'm sure it's true. He was a prince, after all."

"And Trygg is such an expert at relationships, is he? I mean, I practically had to shove him at Elva."

Silence.

"Exactly."

"What about the treaty everyone is talking about? Doesn't it require you two have to marry?"

"That's just it. Why us two? It doesn't make sense."

"Why not? It happens all the time with your kind. Just foul luck that Whitewall will have the lesser claim when Eluf becomes King."

"Yeah and I'm just a posy on his bed-stand. Thanks, Bryn."

"I didn't mean—"

"But that's just it, Bryn. I mean, I was already born. So must've been Eluf. The outcome was a forgone conclusion. Why would Father just give up Meadows? He went to war to keep it out of Magnar's hands."

Olina selected a string of gray pearls from amongst Ada's jewels. She clutched the strand to her breast. It looked as though she might start waltzing again. "You'll be Queen."

Ada crossed her arms. Her gaze obliterated the flighty maid's smile.

Brynis cinched down the Princess's bodice. "That might be why."

Uh-ow. Ada thumbed her lowest rib. The taunt garment creased. "Bryn?"

"You'll be Queen beside Eluf. Perhaps King Wilhelm, in all his wisdom, thought his daughter might bring peace between two Kingdoms."

"Bryn?"

"Yes?"

"Ow."

"Huh? Oh."

Brynis let out a little tension out of the garment. Laces slid through eyelets and Ada breathed easier. Olina stepped forward with the gray pearls.

"I don't need those."

"They match your eyes." She wove them about the Princess' throat.

Brynis turned Ada around by the shoulders. Her gaze traveled Ada's length. Brynis tapped her chin. "Something's missing. Try smiling."

"I don't feel like smiling."

"Princess."

"Fine." She grimaced. "How's this."

"I know what's wrong," Olina said. She plumped her bodice. "She's too flat. We should stuff it for her."

Ada jerked away from Olina. "No. No. And No!"

Brynis' chestnut locks rocked as she shook her head. Ada glimpsed the hard stare she shot Olina. Brynis slashed across her throat with a hand.

Olina ignored it. "Why not? You'll be pretty. Eluf will love it."

Ada shoved Olina. She knocked shoulders with Brynis as she marched for the window and Brynis staggered a step. "I don't want Eluf to love me! Don't you get it? I don't want to marry Eluf!"

"Forever why not? He's a Prince, Ada. A Prince," Olina argued. Brynis slashed her hand across her throat again.

Ada's voice dripped with disdain. "I think you said that once already, Olina."

A knock sounded and the door opened without invitation. "Ladies, may I please have a moment with the Princess?"

A startled look blossomed upon Olina's heavily freckled face. She bumbled her curtsy.

Bryn's greeting was more graceful. "My Queen," she said, "of course."

Elva motioned her head towards the door and the two maids fled. Ada crossed her arms. She glared out the window.

Silence reigned. Heartbeats pounded past. Ada sucked in an abrupt breath. "Why do I have to?"

"You don't."

"But the treaty—"

"Is just words on paper."

"But ..."

Elva strode up beside Ada. "But there might be war? People might get hurt? Men might die?"

"Yeah, something like that." A tear stung Ada's eye. "It's not fair."

"No, it's not."

A gentle hand alighted upon Ada's shoulder. Ada sniffed. "First you and Trygg-I mean-you got-you know. Then Mother and Father-Trygg's King. You're Queen. It's like-It's like you're gone. And Trygg too. And now I'm supposed to ..."

Elva folded her arms about Ada. Ada buried her head on the Queen's shoulder. Tears erupted.

A firm knock sounded against the door. "My ladies?" a man's voice called.

Ada hastily scrubbed her eyes. Elva gave Ada a moment before calling out. "You may enter."

The door cracked open, hesitated, then opened further. Jorn poked his head in.

"My Queen, Princess, the delegation is here. The King is on his way down to greet them."

"Thank you, Jorn. Inform my husband we are on our way." The door shut.

"How do you do that?" Ada asked.

"Do what?"

"Sound so-so queenly?"

Elva blew a very unqueenly snort from her nose. "It's easy. Trust me. You'll learn quickly."

"I'm not ready."

Elva laid a fair hand on her sister-by-marriage's shoulder. "Some things," she said, "you're never ready for. That doesn't mean they can't be wonderful." She wove her fingers over her belly.

"I don't want to marry Prince Eluf."

"Then don't, if it comes to that. But don't make your mind up now. You haven't even met him. You might like him."

"I won't"

"Now you're pouting. Come, I have a King to meet and you-you have a Prince to greet."

Ada stuck out her tongue.