The Silver Crown

24.

The slaves brought out the next course: pastries. I looked at the young slaves, no pity in my gaze but pity in my heart. I had been one of them, a slave, for four months. If the man who had purchased me hadn't died mysteriously and I hadn't taken that opportunity to escape, I would be in their same position or worse.

I picked one of the pastries and took a big bite. It was delicious. The flakes from the pastry dropped in my lap and few people gave me disapproving stares but I just continued eating. The food was amazing!

A boy sitting next to Arak turned to me and spoke, "I heard the commotion yesterday around the walls. Can you explain to me what that was?"

I took a breath, "That was a good friend of mine trying to bring me back to my old life and it was also some people drastically overreacting."

The boy opened his mouth but someone else interrupted. "Don't bring it up again, Arak," a boy about fifteen with black hair and brown eyes said. This boy was sitting next to the queen and he glanced at me but did not introduce himself. Daivon leaned closer and whispered, "Crown prince Marek." He paused and then said, "Well, maybe not crown prince anymore. You are older than him."

Before I could fully process the enormous weight of those little words, the queen finally spoke. "Alyssandra," Queen Dionisa said. Everyone at the table looked at her. "We are glad to have you back in our company. It is apparent that you do not remember your time with us before but it is my hope that you will quickly remember and fall back into your life in the palace. You will resume where your lesson's left off as we want you to be a well-rounded noble woman."

"We hope to see you joining in more parties and court functions and soon we will introduce you to the kingdom as the lost princess," The king continued. "Now, seeing as how you do not remember everyone, we shall introduce ourselves. Daivon has already done so..."

There was an empty chair on my left but beyond that there was a girl. She smiled at me and said, "I am Cynthia, your sister. I am thirteen." Cynthia had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was very pretty and seemed like a well-behaved girl. I would have glanced right past Cynthia if I hadn't caught her barely discernible wink and realized that beneath the surface, she might have been more like me than she appeared.

A boy with blonde unruly curls and blue eyes was Jovian. He was Cynthia's twin.

Next to Jovian was Arak and then the girl who had stopped him earlier. They were brother and sister. She had really dark brown eyes and shoulder length straight black hair. Her name was Milica and she was a year younger than Arak, sixteen.

Elric was a distant cousin from Laer Province and he was the same age as Arabelle. Elric was related to the royal family through the king.

Joyce was ten and the sister of Alyssandra. She was cute with her curly black hair and the light blue dress she had with a bow at the waist.

An eleven-year-old boy with long white blond locks to his chin introduced himself as Gavin. He was the princess' brother. Next to Gavin was a cousin named Dain and then Arabelle. Next to Daivon's sister was Marek. He was fifteen and only a year younger than Alyssandra.

By the time the introductions were made, the main breakfast course had come out. Eggs and ham were put on platters and presented to the diners by silent slaves. Whenever I took food I offered the servers a word of thanks.

Since Arak's direct insults hadn't worked, he employed a new tactic. He started conversations about politics and philosophies and the fluctuation of the market. Unfortunately, his new scheme worked; I had no idea what everyone was discussing. So I stayed quiet and busied myself stuffing my stomach full of the delicious food, but Arak had other ideas. He asked my opinion on the drought in Orcrest and what affect the wheat shortages would have on the market. He commented on the bridge that was out on the river Saban. He drilled me on the pros and cons of the new idea of the One God that was coming from the neighboring country of Selia.