Ashes of Lost Love

Tardiness at the table

    Auden fluttered his eyes open as the sunlight streamed through his windows, sitting up slowly, clutching his pale forehead. The feast.....what had happened back there? That newcomer, was she deranged? Rebuffing the Crown Prince of all people in such a manner! She was definitely not a creature of court, that was clear to be seen. His gentlemen in waiting rushed to his side, to garb him for the day. Auden stood motionless, as he was fitted with courtly raiment. He looked into the full length mirror, and he saw a conventionally good looking young man, with pale lilac eyes and bed tousled brown hair. The gentleman in waiting next to him looked at him with consternation, and began pusillanimously, "My Lord, you look so grim today. Is aught amiss?You usually are the epitome of ebullience, yet now you seem to be in low spirits. Was the feast not to your liking?"

 Auden stood up straight, galvanised. If such a rumour were to be spread that Auden Camden was not satisfied with the feast, his popularity and rank would sink like a punctured galleon. That could not be allowed to happen. All these years of smiling and bowing and jesting, it would all go to waste if a smidge of disrepute were to be attached to his name. He flashed the gentleman in waiting a brilliant grin, one he had learnt from Ryder, people didn't find it queer the Auden's smile was redolent of the Crown Prince's, after all, they were supposed to be the best of friends, weren't they? It only made sense......It fit nicely into the picture, the pretty portrait of court life.

 He felt like shaking his head at it all. That portrait was disgustingly inaccurate, friendships meant nothing here. It was all personal advancement, he thought bitterly, feeling despondent, yet he kept that spurious smile on his face at all costs. For it was his shield against the vituperative and scurrilous nature of court that sprang up immediately at the slightest hint of gossip and libel. He replied swiftly, before the other man could come up with his own conclusion, "Nothing is awry, I merely had a headache from all the drink last night. Your concern is unneeded, I assure you." He said smoothly and in an equanimous manner.

    The gentleman in waiting breathed a sigh of relief, and finished garbing Auden. "I'm elated to see you back to your usual self m'lord, I was ever so perturbed when I saw you grimace like that!" He stepped to the side and bowed low to Auden, "After you, my lord." Auden was hardly startled by the ease with which he had lied to his servant. After all, if one wanted to learn how to lie with fluency, court was the very place to do it. Auden turned back to his gentleman in waiting, still grinning from ear to ear, "You needn't follow me today, Hanson, you are free to do what you wish with the morning period." The other man's eyes widened at this magnanimity, and swept an even lower bow to his lord, and stammered in shock, "T-thank you, My Lord! You truly are a munificent man! May the Three bless you!" 

Auden carelessly chuckled, waving away the man's thanks, "It's nothing, good day to you." Auden stepped outside the room, relieved at having successfully retained his cheerful and benevolent appearance. A stain upon his character would sully his house's name, and he was heir to the Camden fortune and estates. All eyes were on him, he could not afford to slip up. Yet, despite the fact he had to keep up appearances, he did try to be lenient. Court was a thorny place, a web of connections in which it was all too easy to become prey. If he could bring some genuine happiness and make court a better place, he'd strive towards it. His mother didn't approve of him wasting time in such a manner, checking on servants and such, and often berated him for forgetting his purpose and why he was really at court. 

     He walked down the wide and spacious corridors, lavishly decorated with Legeaven furs, the creamy beige walls familiar as the back of his hand to him, after spending more than half his life at court. A year after his father had passed away, and a year of his mother working tirelessly to manage the Camden estates and codify the accounts and reports of the finances, Auden and his widowed mother had arrived at court. Auden was now a man of six and twenty, yet he was a bachelor, and an eligible one at that. He would be expected to marry soon, and when thoughts of marriage crossed his mind, the lovely image of Radella Cornesse floated in his mind's eye.