The Dragon Prince's Consort

Twenty-Four

Blinking, Fang watched him go before she felt the eyes staring at her. She took a moment to fix her face before turning to Prince Tias and Lady Aisana and dropping into a deep bow. "Lady Consort, an honor to finally meet you." She made sure to let her long dark hair spill over her shoulder and bent low enough for it to almost touch the floor, a subtle display of the status she was perceived to have; Aisana's hair coiled into several long braids running down her back, its length caught up in intricately woven loops and rolls and bound with golden chains, rings and netting. After an appropriate pause, Fang straightened and smiled up at the enormously pregnant Drass woman. Aisana's red face was puffy, her forehead slightly creased and her hairline shiny with sweat, her long red ears drooping from exhaustion. "Eyah, you're as beautiful as everyone says." You little ass-kisser.

Tias snorted. "How dare you speak to my Lady–"

"Tias..." Lady Aisana gasped, "if anyone... shouldn't be talking... it's you." She took her hand from Tias's arm and forged ahead, passing Fang as if she didn't see her. The Warden standing guard at Yena's door hurried to let her in, but the moment her hand touched the handle the door swung open on its own and Lady Yena flowed out in a crystal-green robe with darker accents and silver thread.

"Eyah, you're all here! Wonderful! I've just finished setting up the tables, everything is ready – come, come! Not you," she pointed a golden claw at Tias, still skulking behind Aisana. "You go, this gathering is for ladies." Tias threw Fang a dirty look as if to question her presence, but whether he was smart or afraid of what Aisana would do to him if he said anything would remain a mystery. Instead, he huffed and turned away to retreat down the hall to whatever he could find to entertain himself. Passing his daughter he reached out to pat her on the shoulder, but Rashanna sneered and ducked his hand to catch up with her mother. Everyone's pissed at him, Fang noted, watching his shoulders drop as he trudged off. Good, maybe that'll teach you to be less of a prick.

"Lady Fang, come along!" Yen called to her, "don't worry about Valen, he'll come back for you – we'll keep you company so you don't miss him too much." Fang turned, surprised and baffled, to catch the Lady Consort and her maid share a quick look. What's that supposed to mean?

Fang quickly forgot about the incident, however, when she crossed the threshold into the lush, gold-accented rooms that Yena shared with Prince Aeden and their daughter. Unlike the suite Fang and Valen occupied, which now in comparison looked more like a wealthy bachelor's comfortably lived-in apartment than a prince's lavish chambers, Prince Aeden and Lady Yena's stately accommodations silently announced both the immense wealth and power of their station and the gracefully simple life of a small family: Susa's toys stacked carefully in a basket in the corner of the main hearth-room, looking eerily similar to the toys Fang remembered playing with as a little girl (if not of noticeably higher quality) – dolls of cloth wearing beautiful robes in miniature of their owner, puzzles and drawing boards, blocks of wood and stone with their sharp corners rubbed down, a dollhouse as tall as the Drass child furnished with miniaturized versions of the sumptuously-upholstered couches and benches for adults, even a rocking "horse" modeled after a manyu. The little girl popped up from behind the dollhouse, squealing when she saw Fang and hurling herself at the human woman. "Eyah! You came! Mana said you would!"

"Easy, Su," Yena cautioned, "I know you're excited, but you have lessons this afternoon, remember?"

Susa frowned and made sad noises. She looked up to Fang, "Mana says I have to start going to class, even though I can read now."

"There's more to school than just reading, little flame." Yena soothed her daughter with a stroke of her head where two small horns were just beginning to grow. "Us Drassian Ladies have to learn how to make friends, right Lady Fang?"