Chapter 3 - part two

All the attention of Liara's sister was on Queen Morgana as they took their seats in the great hall. The Queen was seated at the top table with King Edric. Liara felt a pang of embarrassment as she noted her father talking animatedly to the Queen as she impassively surveyed the hall, paying him no more heed than she might an annoying insect. Liara could not help but wonder, not for the first time, why this woman was helping them. She knew that her father believed she wished to marry him but he was a vain man who believed his good looks were enough to recommend him even though he had little in the way of charm, power or fortune.

Liara felt shamed too by her sisters who began indiscreetly discussing the Queen but their chatter soon turned to which of the young Lords they would dance with.
"Oh, doesn't Lord Garrett look so handsome in his blue tunic?" Clara sighed, clasping her hands together in delight. "I do so wish he would ask me to dance."
Liara smiled at her. "Of course he will, Clara. Everyone knows he is quite besotted with you."
"Look, there's Sir Gregory at the table with all the other knights," Ava said to Liara.
Liara looked over and winced as she saw Sir Gregory slapping one of his thick thighs with his meaty hand and throwing his head back in a laugh that was far too loud.
"Won't you dance with him tonight?" Ava said. "He's been following you about like a puppy since we were children. Sir Gethan says you are all he ever speaks of."

Avoiding her sister's eye, Liara looked up and blushed as she met the Queen's gaze directly. She saw a small smile of amusement play across Queen Morgana's lips as she inclined her head at the Princess.

"Your daughter is quite lovely," Lady Morgana interrupted King Edric's tangent. She had not been listening for quite some time.

"Wha-? Why, yes, Ava was always the beauty but Clara is very pretty too and you should hear Ida sing and play the harp."

"I was speaking of the one with the golden hair. Lyra, I think? Quite different from her sisters..."

King Edric raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you mean Liara. Well... she takes after her mother. Her name was Lyra."

"Ah yes, Liara," the Queen mused, still regarding the girl.

Keen to change the subject the King said, "I do wish you would have let me make all the arrangements for the banquet and the ball. I so wanted to honour you and the great gift that the kingdom of Impiorum has granted to the people of Tenuis."

Queen Morgana uttered a little dismissive laugh. "My dear, Tenuis is hardly well regarded for it's... culinary arts. No wonder you all look so famished. I will not be served gruel and pretend it is a feast."

Although the ball was supposed to be hosted by King Edric in honour of Queen Morgana, she had insisted that her personal chefs would provide all of the food.

Liara watched in awe as an army of servants trooped into the great hall with salvers piled high with all manners of decadent delights. She had not seen such delicious looking food since her childhood in Andipos where every meal was treated as a celebration worthy of a feast. As the people of Tenuis believed that food was merely a fuel and not a pleasure the nation was a gastronomic wasteland of bland foods cooked simply and in small quantities.

Liara felt a deep longing as the servants placed an array of roast meats glistening with fat, vegetables galzed in cream and butter and sweets and chocolates than shone as tempting as jewels. However, the whale bones of her corset stabbing mercilessly into her ribs served as a cruel reminder that she must not indulge.

Her sisters were barely concerned with a table groaning with food. They pecked indifferently with the appetite of birds at the food and were mostly excited to be allowed to drink wine, drinking far more than their father would have allowed while all his attentions were diverted towards the Queen. They became drunk quickly on empty stomachs and became giggly and silly.

The Tenuis nobles became quickly bored of the feast and soon handsome young Lords began claiming each of the princesses to dance until only Liara remained at the table.

Liara listlessly pushed the few bits of food that remained on her plate around. As delicious as the food had looked, it had all turned to ash in her mouth as she had borne the critical looks of the other nobles and her dress had become tighter with every bite. She rose from the table to slip away from the great hall for a while but suddenly a plate of chocolate truffles caught her eye. They were just like the kind her grandfather would give her as a child while he read her stories. Impulsively she snatched up a handful of them and concealed them in the folds of her skirts. When she looked up a wave of panic and embarrassment hit her as she saw the Queen was once again watching her.

Liara quickly turned from the scene of her folly and tried to make her escape from the hall but in her hurry to leave she crashed into one of the other guests.

"Princess!" A familiar voice said. "I'm such a clumsy oaf, I hope I didn't hurt you.|

"Oh... Sir Gregory." Liara felt her blush of mortification intensifying. "No, of course not. I am quite unharmed. Besides, you are too gallant to take the blame. It was I who was being careless."

Sir Gregory laughed good naturedly. "Shall we both agree to being a pair of fools then."

Liara smiled a little. "Agreed."

"Actually, you're just the girl... I mean... lady... Princess I was looking for." He said, sheepishly brushing a lock of his blonde hair from his forehead.

"Oh...?" Liara could feel the stolen chocolates beginning to melt against the heat of her body.

"Well I wondered if you might care to dance." He reached out his hand to hers.

"Ah," she smiled weakly. "Perhaps in a bit? I wish to take some air."

Unabashed, Sir Gregory gave her a knowing look. "You're always too shy to dance when there aren't many couples on the floor but I will hold you to it, you know."

"I know," Liara said.

She grimaced as he reached down to his plate and took a big bite out of a glazed bun and sent crumbs scattering down the front of his tunic. She could see by the way his gut strained against the belt of his breeches that he had been indulging in the banquet with great gusto.

"Boy, they really know how to live in Impiorum. No wonder no one ever wants to leave," Sir Gregory said through another mouthful of food. "You've got to try one o these." As he spoke he sent a spray of crumbs and spittle into the air that hit Liara on the cheek.

It took all of Liara's royal breeding to fight down the wave of nausea and maintain her composure. "No thank you, Sir Gregory."

Sir Gregory's round face was red with mortification as he reached out his chubby fingers to clumsily brush the crumbs from Liara's cheek. "Princess, please forgive me."

Liara could feel the eyes of the other nobles upon them and hear some of the Ladies begin to whisper and giggle behind their fans. Tears of fury pricked at Liara's eyes. "Can't you ever just leave me alone?" she hissed at Sir Gregory as she pushed past him and out of the ballroom.

Liara felt a familiar pang of guilt. Sir Gregory was a good man and his parents were so keen on a match between them and yet she could barely stand to be near him. She could not stand to have a husband who wore the shame of an out of control appetite in his round belly and soft moobs. He was a reminder of her true nature, the part of herself that she fought every day to suppress and she hated him for it. Yet he was the only man in this whole kingdom who showed her any interest or kindness.