Sins & Virtues

Chapter Seventeen: Starlight

Jeremy

The Drey, Arboreas

The grand parade and fanfare that announced the arrival of Amity's Cleric into the capital of Arboreas was boorish and flamboyant. Lines of Seyeridge soldiers on horseback met Cleric Barress' carriage at the south gate, flags aloft, half bearing the colours and crest of Jeremy's House, the other half bearing the Duchess' family's. Trumpets and bugles sang from the rooftops and citizens from even the outskirts of the city gathered to watch the pristine ivory coach trundle along the earthy roads through the city, and up the meadow to the Drey.

Arboreas was usually a quiet city. The bugle only sounded in times of harvest or attack. Jeremy had never once heard them sound for the latter. He made allowances this time but winced each time they rang out. It wasn't worth the arguments and pouting should he resist, regardless of his disagreement, but he was sure his next citizen's assembly would be filled with hunters complaining that their quarries had fled in fear.

So he stood amongst his stepmother, brothers and her friends, ignoring their simpering and cooing and the wave of curtseys and bows as Cleric Barress disembarked with a smug smile. He took his time to cross the yard from the gates and ascend the steps up to the palace, turning to wave to the crowds who had followed the carriage out of curiosity, disregarding the lack of thundering cheers he clearly expected.

' Why has the Cleric come to visit, mama?' Jared asked quietly. The Duchess waved him away, teetering on the balls of her feet in her excitement.

Benedict shushed him. ' To meet mama and Jeremy, as proxy for the Cardinal.'

' Mama said the people would be excited to see him,' Jared continued, insightful for his age. ' Not all of them are.'

' That is because not everyone celebrates the Carmine Sun as much as your mother.' Jeremy said over his shoulder. The enthusiastic voices around him faltered.

' They don't? Why not?' Jared asked, still ignoring his brother's shushing.

Jeremy looked down at him and offered a quick smile. The youngest blond-haired prince was growing taller by the day, though still much shorter than both his brothers.

' Not all are the same, even if we live in one kingdom or obey one king. Nobody is the same as anyone else, and that goes for their faith as well, little brother.' he explained. He looked around for Cora, but couldn't spot her in the cluster of nobles and palace staff on the steps of the palace.

Cleric Barress finally approached and Jeremy greeted him first, as his duty dictated, slipping away from the crowd as the Duchess descended upon the portly man in his claret uniform like a vulture, kissing his gloved hand and fluttering her eyelashes. A flirtation that had always worked on his father and clearly worked on this man too.

Regardless of their lack of enthusiasm, the people of Arboreas remained in the streets, their minstrels replacing the bugles, the carriages replaced by long tables laden with food lining the streets and squares, and singing replacing cheering, or the lack thereof. Later on, further into the evening, it would come to Jeremy's attention that the joy was founded from the mountains of rich, luxurious food, usually reserved for nobility, that Cora had spread about the city, to every household.

True to her word, Cora had arranged the feast for that evening. She had the ballroom and adjoining feasting rooms bedecked with colourful banners and streamers in meadow and autumn colours, and the long tables laid with floral centrepieces, their fragrances almost overpowering the strong smells of cooked meat, roasted vegetables, fresh mead and wine, and warm, freshly baked bread. The orchestra played hauntingly beautiful melodies never heard in Kingsdown before, upbeat and playful, then slow and graceful.