Kingdom in The Sand

Zaydan Rais

It was a week following the letter to her husband that Marie-Fey glided out of her apartments one morning to find the palace in uproar.

It was a form of organised chaos as people raced through the corridors, slaves cleaning everything desperately, the kitchen staff hauling huge orders of food from wagons.

Fresh flowers appeared on every surface.

The girls who excelled in music were dragged away to lessons.

Girls who excelled at dancing vanished soon after.

Everyone looked a startling degree more beautiful that morning as well.

Marie-Fey was still for a moment in the centre of the grand entrance hall as she watched the girls race back and forth then frowned.

"What, exactly, is going on here?" she said, pursing her lips.

"He's coming!" one of the younger girls shrieked in excitement, running passed.

"Excuse me?" Marie-Fey said, raising an eyebrow.

"He's on his way! His letter arrived earlier! He'll be here this evening!" someone else cried.

Marie-Fey just stared at them until she spotted Nabeela running towards her.

"I find myself a little uninformed," she said.

"We must get you ready!" Nabeela gasped, grabbing her arm, "We have not had time to prepare you to receive guests! We must hurry!"

"Who is coming?" Marie-Fey snapped, though she could feel her stomach going cold with a sense of dread as Nabeela dragged her away from the hall and on into the depths of the palace. "My husband?"

"No, not Our Lord," Nabeela said.

Marie-Fey couldn't decide if she felt more disappointment or relief.

"His brother," Nabeela continued, "His younger brother is arriving in mere hours!"

"How does that concern us?" Marie-Fey said, no longer very interested, "Why are the girls in such a tizzy? They belong to the man's older brother, what are they expecting from the younger one?"

"That remains to be seen It entirely depends on the reason for his visit," Nabeela said as they entered the grand bathhouse. Marie-Fey grimaced as she looked around.

The bathhouse was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. With white and golden walls, waterlilies and candles drifting across the surfaces of the baths. The air was perfumed with numerous scents that made the head dreamy and relaxed.

And Marie-Fey hated the place. She had her own private chamber was bathing.

She did. Not. Share.

Nabeela, like most of the girls in the palace, did not much care for Marie-Fey, but she also had the good sense to not try and aggravate her by pushing her towards one of the main baths. She opened one of the smaller, private rooms, shooing her inside as other girls who worked in the department raced in to help undress Marie-Fey have her prepared. The whole process made the hairs on her arms rise. She couldn't stand that girls other than Mannah and Gharam were allowed to see her in a state of undress. It had taken her long enough to build trust in her own personal maids and they weren't prone to gossip and judge what they saw but she could see there was a rush. Nabeela was fidgety and harassed, the other girls seemed too worked up with excitement to care about what Marie-Fey looked like, so she left them too it, letting them rub oils into her skin and scents across her hair, scrubbing at her face until it shone flawlessly.