A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughtful stupor and I went to answer it; smoothing down the front of my dress before pulling on the golden handle. Rowan’s eyes lingered on my dress for a while once we’d said hello. I smiled as he swallowed and gave me a weak exasperated smile. “I keep thinking I’m going to get used to being around you.” He muttered to himself quietly.

“Aren’t you?” I asked and he laughed at my puzzled expression.

“Barely, it hits me just as hard every time.”

“What does?”

“You do. You’re stunning.” I could feel the blush rise as I looked at the floor, but he put his hand against my cheek and lifted my face back to his, gently kissing my lips. It was a brief moment later that he pulled away and linked my arm through his, “Come on or we’ll be late for dinner.”

As we walked through the corridors I remembered how I had been received and treated last time and felt myself slipping back into the self confident façade that had kept me safe from the men of the court that had wanted to break me.

As we walked through the huge oak doors, the room fell into an audible hush but I didn’t stop our conversation, carrying on as if I hadn’t noticed. After a while Lord Rico and a woman, came over to join us. He smiled at me rolling his eyes at the others. “They’re so hypercritical.” I raised a quizzical eyebrow. “All of them said that if you remained to be the sharp, aloof young woman who held her head high in the presence of men they would teach you your ‘rightful’ place. Yet here you stand, sharp and aloof and they’re all too afraid to even approach you.” He laughed.

“That is the way they have been acting for generations,” I paused and looked around the room, “I was very rude last time as I did not comprehend; the customs of lords are not taught to mere orphans,” a humourless smile twitched on my lips, “But I now understand and I will show the correct respect, however if they think they can tame me like a dog they will find that things become,” I paused with a small smile on my lips, aware that everyone in the room was hanging on my every word, “Problematic.”

There was a mischievous glint in Lord Rico’s eye as he smiled, the woman on his arm looked at me with admiration that I could tell she was trying to hide. As I looked closer at this woman I noticed she had the same eyes as Lord Rico and that her slim nose was set at exactly the same angle as his. “Lord Rico, I’m afraid you have let me down sir.”

“How so?”

“Not once did you tell me on our journey that you had a daughter.” He smiled.

“In that case I must beg your pardon and introduce you at once to my particularly radiant daughter kaye .” she bowed her head to me, slowly raising her eyes; when they met mine I let a warm smile spread across my face and was pleased to see that, although tentative, her returning smile was just as warm.

I heard the large doors behind me open and noticed everyone turn to look at who had arrived, all of the ladies in the room cast their eyes to the floor but I turned around to stare. It was Orion and as I caught his eye I smiled; there was not a chance I would lower my eyes, and he knew it.

“Welcome home Ilea.” He said smiling back at me. It was not a smile I trusted; it was the type I could imagine on the mouth of a cat whilst it was playing with a mouse. There had also been too much emphasis on the word ‘home’ which seemed to strike a note in my head as he said it.

“Thank you Orion, it is good to be back, even if only for a short while.” He nodded at my reply and then walked over to me as the rest of the people in the room continued with their conversations in a low murmur; it did not fool me and I knew each one of them were hanging onto our every word.

“I see that your journey back was a short one.”

“Yes, I travel a lot quicker on my own or with only one person.” He nodded.

“Well at least it will give you a few days to practise here and show us what you have learned in your year away. I understand you are now competent in the Tingure?” A tight smile crossed my lips.

“Senkrad gave me a sword to commemorate my proficiency in it.” He smiled the cat grin again.

“Yes, I commissioned the sword to be forged and sent to Mount Cadavain, then given to you at Senkrad’s discretion.” I watched his eyes closely as he spoke and didn’t like the way his pupils watched my own like a hawk watching it’s pray; it felt as if we were playing mind games and I did not know the rules.

“Thank you.” Was all I could say.

“Perhaps later you could dance for us?”

“Pardon?”

“I think everyone in this company would enjoy watching you dance the Tingure.” I watched him closely trying to read the expression on his face and resisting the temptation to break the self-made boundary and search into his mind.

However, I did not and simply nodding at him said “Of course Orion, anything that would please you would be my pleasure.” I smiled deeply; I may not have known the rules of the game, but I had no problem adding a few of my own.

I had not noticed the other’s reactions to our conversation, as I was too caught up in the intensity of what was happening, so when I looked around it was slightly unnerving to see many eyes on me. Orion walked to another part of the room and I tried to continue my conversation with Rowan, Lord Rico and his daughter. They had wandered away slightly during my conversation with Orion to be polite and as I looked over I saw a strange intensity in Kaye’s eyes as she looked at Rowan. I did not like it.

I walked across the room to them and placed my hand in the crook of Rowan’s arm, smiling strongly at Kaye and trying to send the message with my eyes that Rowan was mine. She blushed slightly and looked to the floor. A cough came from my side.

“I couldn’t help but overhear yours and Orion’s conversation; how did you manage to progress through the Tingure so quickly?” I looked up into Lord Rico’s slightly amazed expression and felt quietly proud of myself for achieving so much in the year that had passed.

“A lot of hard work. I know I had the advantage of elfin agility but it was still difficult, Senkrad is a hard teacher, he wants the best.” I could feel the gleam in my eye reflected in Lord Rico’s as I talked about Senkrad. I was surprised how much I missed his guiding hand; it would have been helpful to have had him here this evening.

A bell rang and everyone seemed to gently glide through the doors at the opposite end of the room, into another, where there was a huge gilt table with about forty seats around it. I suddenly realised that the room we had been in was similar to a holding pen; the thought made a smile dance around the edge of my lips in amusement.

The meal which was set in front of us was like nothing I had ever seen in my life. There were huge roast birds set in the centre of the table, their plumage re-attached after they had been cooked, to create a similar ostentatious appearance to the one that they had once had in life. There were a multitude of gold and silver dishes filled to the brims with so many interesting types of food that I didn’t know where to begin.

Each guest around the table had their own servant, who went around the table and put their guest’s selection of food onto their plate; so the people sitting down did not have to move. I mainly used mine to try and decipher which food had meat in and which didn’t. Unfortunately only a select few dishes did not have meat and, in comparison to the splendour that was laid out in front of me, my plate consisted of only four dishes. Each dish was delicious, so I could not complain about the cooking at all, but I felt a little disappointed at the amount I had to choose from.

I was sat about five seats away from the head of the table where Orion was and he picked up on my lack of food. “Ilea, why aren’t you eating more?” He smiled at me in what I assumed was meant to be a charming way, but it did not meet his eyes.

“I do not eat meat, but the vegetable dishes are truly delicious.” I replied, remaining polite. I heard a few people along the table gasp and I tried to convince myself that he was asking out of concern rather than pointedly trying to embarrass me so forced my cheek muscles into a smile.

“I am sorry Ilea, I was not aware that was the case. I will try to make sure that there are more dishes to your taste for tomorrow night’s meal.” I could feel a blush rise to my cheeks but was not sure if it was due to embarrassment or anger.

“Thank you, but there is no need to pamper me; I am more than satisfied with the dishes that are already on the table.”

“Nevertheless as our esteemed guest you should be pampered, I know how hard you have worked whilst you have been away.” I would not have minded the conversation had we been alone and it been sincere, but I could feel the taunt in his words, and due to the forty other guests around the table I was unable to respond to it. I felt like a puppet on strings; only allowed to resist to a certain extent before I was brought back under control.

After the meal had finished and people were simply sat along the table talking Orion’s servant touched my elbow. “My master asks would you be able to dance yet or are you still full from the food?”

“Please tell your mater that if I am to dance I will first change into a different attire so not to ruin my dress.” The servant went to relay the message and Orion and he nodded at me, I walked out of the room, despising the feeling that he had given me an ‘order’ to do something.

As I marched through the many corridors back to my room I thought about what had happened so far this evening and realised I was actually disappointed with Elmira. I had thought about being able to return to the city and had hoped for so much fun and frivolity, away from my training, but I had come to realise I had become a pawn in a game of power that I was only just  beginning to understand.