“She’s a somewhat distant cousin, but of my blood,” Carnelian told him with a disdainful sniff. “She’s the only option Ruby Court has for an unattached female of noble blood, Emrys. If his majesty has a problemwith that?—”
“No, no.” The man, Emrys, shook his head quickly. “Of course not. I was merely surprised we hadn’t heard of Lady Jacinth before.” He raised an eyebrow at Carnelian before turning to me with a smirk, leaning in like we were sharing a secret. “Treasures such as yourself rarely stay hidden for long, my Lady.”
I smiled demurely at his put-on show of flirting. “You’d be surprised, my Lord.”
He chuckled at my response, “Well then, let’s ensure such hiding is long in the past now, and get you situated here at court, shall we?”
If only he knew how much I wished to go back to hiding from it.
I caught sight of Carnelian’s stern warning glare and managed to nod graciously, “Of course, my Lord.”
“I’ll take her from here, Lord Casaan,” Emrys told the heir of Ruby with a little wave of his fingers that had him narrowing his eyes, but he reluctantly passed my arm to him, nonetheless.
Emrys quickly snaked my arm through his and set off down the hall, forcing me to keep pace with him as I tried to take in the palace around me. It was much grander than anything I’d seen before, as befitting the seat of the high king, I supposed. But my fingers itched to snatch the trinkets we passed, knowing it was unlikely they’d even notice or care they were missing with so many people converging on the palace today.
“Now that we’ve gotten you away from such bores, Lady Jacinth, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Emrys suggested with a twinkle in his eye.
I remembered from Sienna’s lessons that this man was responsible for inter-court relations. He was a ruthless politician according to her, one able to sniff out lies and able to finagle nearly any situation to the king’s benefit. I’d have to be very, very careful with my words.
“I’m afraid there’s not much to really say, my Lord.” I tried, hoping against hope he’d think me boring and leave it alone.
“Oh, come now.” He snorted inelegantly, surprising me. “We all thought Carnelian had no female relatives, yet here you are, crawling out of thin air. A stunning creature such as yourself does not just go unnoticed for years. Not in this court.”
“Maybe that’s precisely why I stayed out of this court.” I countered, raising a brow at him. I nearly cursed myself for my combative attitude, as it certainly wasn’t very ladylike of me. But Emrys, even more surprisingly, seemed to enjoy it, laughing at my response before tipping his head toward me.
“Touché, my Lady.” He watched me for a moment before shaking his head slightly, and I prayed he was only amused and not seeing anything deeper. “A Ruby Court competitor who tried to stay out of court. There’s one for the books.”
I snorted in response before my eyes widened and I brought a hand up to cover my mouth. “Forgive me, my Lord.”
“Nothing to forgive.” He waved it away with a smile. “Let’s say we keep what we discuss between us,” he whispered, leaning closer again. “What Carnelian doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Secrets are best kept between friends anyway, and I think we’ll be great friends indeed.”
His large smile had me shaking my head in amusement, but I knew I had to be careful. That affable smile and shining personality were exactly what made him so skilled in his position, and that’s all this nice act was. He was trying to find information, and I refused to let any slip.
“You’ll be staying in a separate wing with all of the other competitors,” he explained as we turned down a new hallway, but this one was very different from the others. It led to a large dead-end circle, with eight doors surrounding the space, and nothing else. Inspecting the area, I realized each door represented a different court, and it didn’t stop at the door either, with the entire section of wall surrounding it decorated in the colors and gems of that particular court.
I glanced longingly at the door for Pearl Court. The pink door was arched, just like the others, with beautiful white filigree encrusted with pink pearls outlining it. A mosaic of pearls in various shades of pink reached up to the ceiling. Each court had a similar one, but Pearl’s depicted an image of our patron goddess, Erodite. She was said to be the most beautiful of them all, as one would expect from the goddess of love, and they certainly did her justice here. Her form was almost entirely made of pink pearls, but they had used white and grey ones to outline and enhance her features. The only outliers were the two bright sparkling diamonds used for her eyes.
As I admired the other depictions of the gods and goddesses of our Pantheon that were created for the entrances to each competitor’s rooms, I noticed diamonds had been worked into each of them in some small way. While Emrys led me straight to the door for Ruby Court, I examined the red door outlined in black filigree, with the goddess Fortuna being of course, made up of bright red rubies, with black to outline her form and diamonds once again used for her eyes. The biggest difference was that they had placeddiamonds along the arched outline of the door, subtly included between the rubies, and across the dark filigree.
It was clear that a lot of work had gone into creating these rooms, all for a competition held once every few hundred years, if that. I couldn’t imagine having enough space to be able to dedicate this much to such a rarely held event.
Emrys turned the knob, and I was brought into what was, shockingly, a much more tastefully decorated room than I’d been expecting based on the exterior. I’d been thinking it would be like rubies had been thrown up across the room, but instead I was brought into a small entrance hall done in black with a large crystal chandelier hanging above us. Walking further in, we came to the large living area.
The space looked nothing like I expected. The ceilings were high enough to include large arches, connecting each area within the suite of rooms. Ornate silver designs spiraled out across the ceilings from the center point of the chandeliers. While the walls were a subtly sparkling white flecked with red. It made it feel open and airy, not consumed and overbearing with the ruby red of the court it was meant for.
Columns flanked the large windows, with rubies and diamonds added into the designs, while long, velvet drapes in a deep burgundy color were pulled to each side of the windows. The view looked out on the gardens, and I found myself wishing I could explore them instead of facing what came next.
“I hope your accommodations are to your satisfaction, Lady Jacinth.” Emrys’s voice stole my attention, having nearly forgotten about his presence as I took in the space I’d be residing. I turned to face him with a fake smile, nodding pleasantly.
“Of course, my Lord.” I agreed, “More than.”
“Good, good. Then let me introduce you to your guard for the remainder of the event,” he said, spiking my alarm instantly.
“Guard?” I asked, trying to maintain my composure. The last thing I needed was one of the king’s guards up my ass while I carried out my mission. “Is that really necessary?”
“Unfortunately, at this time, it is,” Emrys informed me apologetically, but more seriously than he’d said anything thus far. “It’s for your own safety, as well as to maintain the sanctity of the event.”
I tried not to grind my teeth in annoyance, dipping my head deferentially. “Of course.”
