After a few, very boring hours, Ingrid discreetly touched her shoulder, and Catherine sent a series of polite smiles around the room before she left for what she assumed would be a change of clothes in preparation for an unpleasant meal.
She could not keep back a sigh as they walked down the little street to her rooms. Ingrid made a warning sound in her throat. Catherine rolled her eyes.
As soon as the door was closed behind them, Ingrid's face lit up in something resembling terror. Catherine felt impressed with her acting skills even as panic overwhelmed her.
“This is a disaster. Lady Helena was one of his majesty's favourites. He will be livid when he hears about our failure.”
“Failure,” Catherine asked. “What was I supposed to do?”
“That is besides the point, my lady.” She glanced worriedly at Catherine. “I will speak to him, my lady. I think you might want to stay away from him for a few more hours.”
Catherine nodded, a feeling of dread filling her. She was not at all prepared to receive the blame for any failure, and she was not eager to meet the prince's anger again. She followed Ingrid to the dressing room and allowed herself to be undressed and redressed in a relatively short amount of time. Ingrid was overlooking the process detachedly.
“Ingrid,” Catherine said, in a surprisingly steady voice. “I think it is only fair if you let me hear what the prince has to say about the issue. I'm the one who has to do better after all.”
Ingrid laughed at her poor attempt of convincing her.
“My lady, I would like to insist that you do not meet him right now. He is likely to be rethinking the entire thing, and I do not wish to see him destroy everything simply to be rid of you,” she said in a friendly tone. Catherine felt cold, presented so easily with the possibility of what she assumed would mean her sudden death, but Ingrid did not seem to notice her fear.
She left the room through the bedroom soon after, and Catherine found it very difficult to proceed to have lunch with the group of beautiful creatures she was supposed to get to know without her. She changed her mind when a loud roar that might have come from a large fire escaped through the walls, and quickly made her way outside.
Lunch was just as uncomfortable as she had imagined, but seemed to take forever between the thousand tiny dished and the slow moving conversation. She could not help but notice that two more women had gone, and the fear took away the rest of her appetite.
Just as she was about to despair behind her mask of silence and polite smiles, Ingrid returned to what seemed to be her place behind Catherine's chair, and put a hand on her shoulder. Out of nowhere, a small note appeared in her hand, that simply read “Hand this back to me. I.”
She did as ordered and handed Ingrid the mysterious piece of paper, upon which Ingrid began pulling out her chair. Catherine got on her feet and tried to hide her confusion.
“My lady wishes to retire to her rooms for the rest of the day as she is feeling fatigued after her long journey, and asks you to excuse her,” Ingrid said, then offered Catherine an arm, as if she was really feeling sick. Catherine accepted it, no longer relieved that Ingrid had returned, but yet again admiring the woman's skills.
She nodded and smiled at the well wishes as they left the room. Ingrid's face turned serious as soon as they were out of earshot, and she let her voice sink to a quiet mumble.
“His majesty is not happy, but I think you will be fine. He wishes to speak with you right away, but I think he just wants your opinion of the women that are still here.
The prince's room was messier than before. There were no longer chairs in front of the fireplace, but a smell of burnt leather told her that they might have left their places very recently. What worried her more was the green fire burning on his desk. It did not seem to actually burn anything, but that fact did little to reassure her. She had never, as far as she knew, been that close to actual magic before, and she did not enjoy the experience. There was a strange smell in the rooms, sweet and tangy, like a fruit and yet somehow like incense.
The prince's hair, that had reached his shoulders before, stood around his head like a messy halo. His face was pale, revealing several smaller scars that she had not noticed before due to the large one, now a deep red, across his throat. His dark eyes shone black and his face was so grim, that she could not help but take a step back towards the door when he looked at her.
“Sit down and stop looking so scared, girl,” he hissed at her. She jumped to obey the first command, but stopped when the problem of the missing chairs became apparent again. She decided to do the next best thing and went to stand in the area where she should have been sitting. The prince did not seem to notice.
“Who have you met so far?”
“You majesty, I don't know the names,” she said. His face was suddenly a few centimetres from hers.
“Then you should probably just tell me about them, don't you think?” He spat. Catherine felt the blood rush from her face, but managed to stay where she was, as her fear only seemed to annoy him more.
“There is a tall, very beautiful read headed lady -”
“Lady Marianne.”
“Oh. Thank you. Well, then there's a dark woman with very long hair - “
“Princess Iris.”
“And a blonde woman. Very large, pale eyes?”
“If by large you mean tall, it would be princess Lily Maria. If you mean broad shouldered like a man, it's princess Anna.”
“I didn't notice anyone else that much, your majesty. Except for the blonde woman who left after the brown haired woman went.”
“That would have been lady Helena and lady Gray. I suggest you avoid scaring anyone else off,my dear. This is most unfortunate. I heard that two others left as well. Lady Helena was shoving some potential. And will you stop calling me your majesty, annoying girl! I cannot stand it when people crawl on their knees for me.”
Catherine's face grew warm. A foolish anger rose in her chest.
“I'm not crawling,” she said, before she could stop herself. She closed her eyes and expected something horrible to happen.
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