During this grace period, those who needed to could answer calls of nature and attendants could serve everyone last-minute refreshments and food that could be eaten standing up.After partaking of only a cup of water, the Queen looked towards the top of the entrance steps, where her son stood along with his attendants and four of her own Guards. She beckoned for him to come down. After blinking and hesitating for only a moment, Prince Luca hurried to her.
"Did you not wish to see your Uncle?" she asked the young Prince. His eyes slid to the casket past his mother"s shoulder. He looked frightened. "It would be for the last time."
Hearing this, the boy visibly braced himself and nodded. He walked up to the side, but because of his small stature, he could not see over it without help. At the Queen"s nod, one of her Guards lifted the Prince by the waist.
Studiously, Hilde avoided looking at the dead. Instead, she watched the living with half of her attention. The other half focused on getting as much fuel into her body as the remaining minutes would allow. The last time a royal funeral took place, she had still been too young to partic.i.p.ate, much like Luca was now. It was only through others" accounts that she knew how physically taxing it could be. Even if she were at full strength, she didn"t expect it would be that much easier.
A few seconds pa.s.sed. The Prince seemed to have had enough of looking at his uncle"s remains, but the Guard did not deposit him back to the ground before his mother gives her consent. Seemingly preoccupied with speaking to the Captain of her Guard, she did not nod again until the boy was practically squirming.
After being put down, Prince Luca glared, but the expression was directed towards the soldier who"d been holding him.
"Prince," Queen Heloise called. He turned his attention back to her, trying to school his scowl back into a more respectful expression but failing to smoothen his young forehead. His mother released him by saying, "I leave the Royal Palace in your care."
He nodded in quick succession, then the Prince tried to climb back up the entrance steps with dignified haste. He failed at that too. Pretending to focus on draining a cup of water, Hilde saw the impa.s.sive mask hardening over her sister"s face.
"He"s a Prince?" she suddenly heard Lady Ilse hiss. From the way the Queen"s eyes flashed, barely managing to stop from whipping her head towards the speaker, Hilde knew she heard it too. They both slowly turned towards their aunt, who had been speaking to one of her attendants and was currently squinting at the bier in front. "What"s that old spider thinking?"
It quickly became apparent whom she had been referring to.
"Perhaps the same thing you were, Lady?" interjected the Queen, now displaying a hint of humor.
The jab found its target – looking chagrined, Lady Ilse glanced at Hilde. "That ended well, at least. I"d even say very well indeed." She next trained her unflinching gaze at her older niece. "Some things we simply need to face head-on. If nothing else, to get past them sooner… or before they get out of hand. Don"t you agree, Queen?"
Queen Heloise met that gaze just as steadily. Smiling wider, she answered, "I do."
The ready acquiescence caused Lady Ilse to frown in confusion – how did the Queen interpret what she said that she"d agree just like that? On the other hand, Hilde nearly choked.
The Queen faced forward. Hilde couldn"t see where she was now looking, but she could guess when the original topic was brought up again. "Daring, isn"t he?" she said to no one in particular.
Past her sister"s shoulder, Hilde could make out the scene ahead. After being whispered to by his attendant, Lord Alfwin looked sideways, staring hard at the son of his bitter rival whom he"d just welcomed into his family"s midst. He spoke a few words to the young man, who bowed slightly as he answered but did not otherwise do anything else. At the end of the brief exchange, the Lord General faced forward and the Lysean Prince stayed where he was.
"Quite," Lady Ilse answered after the scene played out. She then glanced towards Hilde again, this time much more pointedly, and went on, "He reminds me strongly of someone."
"Princess Hilde?" the Queen said, sounding genuinely surprised and amused. She looked at her younger sister. The amus.e.m.e.nt just fell short of reaching her cool, gray eyes. "But she"s become the soul of discretion."
"Yes, well," answered their aunt in a dry tone. "She might still recover."
"If that"s the case, we now know where we might send her."
Lady Ilse laughed briefly before facing forward again, taking the statement as nothing more than an offhand jest. Hilde wasn"t so sure, but… that"s not all up to the Queen, in any case.
She glanced at Gisela. Her cousin had been so quiet all this while, she might as well have been somewhere else. The last couple of times Hilde sought the attention of the other girl, she found her eyes staring at the ground. She did ask once what the matter was, but being the type to dislike burdening others with her private concerns, Gisela merely smiled and shook her head, claiming fatigue.
Hilde recalled the hundred pairs of eyes trained on the beautiful young woman at any one point since earlier. That would indeed drain anyone"s energy.
This time, when she looked, Hilde found her cousin"s eyes raised and focused on whatever she was now staring at. Following Gisela"s gaze, she found that it led to a certain young man beside the bier directly ahead of them.
Hilde blinked, and before she knew it, she found herself saying, "I wouldn"t advise that."