Markus stood quickly, rising to attention.
"Sir, Her Highness has requested to see you sir I gave her a cup of coffee while she waited"
Laurent nodded, but his face was still tense. He turned to me and I noticed the deep bruises under his eyes and a swelling engorging his already large nose. His nose must have been broken. Laurent looked around the deck and I followed his gaze. The sailors watched our conversation intently, not bothering to hide their prying. I knew they were listening to every word we spoke.
"My lady, I'd be happy to grant you an audience belowdecks. Its much warmer down there."
And more private. I added to my self
"Thank You, My Lord" I curtsied again and let him lead me to down into the hull. At the last moment, I braved a backward glance at Markus, but he wasn't watching us, he had sat back down over the kettle nursing another cup of coffee in his hands. My heart stung but I wasn't quite sure why.
Laurent had been right. The belowdecks were much warmer than I anticipated. The floors were covered in thick red carpets and heavy tapestries hung from the walls. Trapping the heat. Despite the low ceilings and cramped quarters the place still managed to hold onto a sense of regality. Whether it was the polished wood on the walls and doors, the shined golden doorknobs or the great armoured statues, standing at attention in every alcove. Laurent led me passed a circular foyer with a snow-covered skylight and down through a narrow corridor.
"These are the imperial chambers, the staff sleep on the floor below us, they have a different entrance," Laurent said, gesturing to the line of doors. "I have this whole ship to myself but if need be another guest could stay in the chambers on the stern side. I nodded mutely. There must have been at least a dozen rooms. Just for him. I knew Orinth was rich, but, this amount of luxury spared merely for traveling was astounding. I had briefly wondered why Laurent and the Emporer hadn't expected Father's suggestion to take up rooms at the palace but now I knew why. If this was Laurent's rooms. The Emporer's would be 10x as grand. But which one was the Emporer's ship? Laurent's was the only one marked with the imperial seal.
"Where does His Excellency reside then?" I asked,
"He has an unmarked ship, disguised as a carrier, it's for his own safety, My ship is unmarked too while we are on the water," Laurent replied, he stopped at the second door and began to fumble with a chain of keys at his hip.
"But your sails are marked with a seal. That's how I found you after all."
"We change them once we get into the harbor but the Emporer never reveals his whereabouts."
"Why bother changing them in the harbor then?" I asked, more confused than ever,
"Well, so people would know where I was." Laurent smiled, swinging open the door,
"How would you have been able to locate me if I didn't broadcast my location to you?"
I flushed, he was right of course, but I didn't want to admit to such a useless process being reasonable in any way. I followed Laurent into the room. It was a study. The walls were lined with mahogany cases and a great black writing desk took up the attention of the room. The only light came from the many oil lamps scattered about the room. The room was strangely warm, despite no fireplace in sight.
"Wouldn't the Emporer have more important messages than you? How will anyone find him?" I questioned, I was unwilling to let this go. Laurent sighed, sinking into the plush leather desk chair behind the desk. In this crumpled state, his lanky limbs were more apparent than ever, making him resemble a squashed spider more than an Emporer to be.
"I am the Emporer's liaison, I get the messages, see what he needs to get delivered and it is delivered to his ship by a trusted messenger," he explained impatiently.
"I believe I said all of this at the tea party the other day Your Lady but I must admit I don't believe you were paying the slightest attention to what I was saying then." His voice grew sharper, more annoyed than I'd ever heard him. I knew I'd messed up.
"So tell me Lady Eira, " He said, not bothering to change his position he met my eyes from across the room,
"What was on your mind that day?"
In the dim light, his bruised eyes and swollen nose looked even more gruesome. The port-wine stain across his face looked almost black. His dark eyes were tired and unreadable. I was struck by the notion that I'd seen his face a hundred times before. So unremarkable, there must be a thousand other men who shared his face. I wondered what I'd thought when I'd seen a look-a-like of his out on the street or serving in the palace. What had I seen? A soldier? A page boy? Certainly not my future life-partner. My mind jumped again to Makus. His broad shoulders and beautiful eyes. The way he crossed his arms when he was trying to look tough and the way he half-smiled when he was trying to hold out a laugh.
"I- I confess I do not remember" I lied, cursing my wandering thoughts. Laurent smiled and shook his head.
For a split second his face seemed to be at war with itself; torn between annoyance and forced acceptance, but before I could fully register it his expression softened, "I know you're lying but I'll let it slide for now My Lady, for now, I'm happy you came"
The soft look in his eyes made me want to shrink away. I suddenly regretted coming here. I knew I had to apologize...but. His careless tired smile made my insides turn into butterflies and my ribs crush them all with guilt. He had no idea, how could I ever tell him? It would ruin everything.
You don't have to say anything. He'll never be the wiser. It's not like he can prove anything.
A voice echoed from the back of my brain.
Doesn't he have the right to know?
I pushed back the voice.
It's none of his business who you're looking at, this isn't a love match, after all, you have no commitment besides outward faithfulness. There are no restrictions on your thoughts.
I gave in with a sigh and slumped into a chair in the corner.
"My lady? Are you well?" Laurent asked, hesitantly. I looked up to see him still seated at the desk, hands resting on the arms of the chair ready to leap up at a moment's notice. But something held him back.
"Your Highness- I'm am deeply sorry for embarrassing you last week. It is not my mother's place to correct you. You are our guest, after all, we should be accomadating to your customs. Please, do not act differently for dignity's sake. It really does no harm"
Laurent slowly relaxed back into his chair.
"My Lady, I'm thankful for your graciousness on the matter but I must stand my ground. I am visiting a foreign country, after all, it is my duty to respect the etiquette of that region."
"If you must follow our rules," I huffed, "Then only do so publically, I hate to see you torn as you just were. How am I ever supposed to get to know you when you are measuring every word?"
Laurent cracked a smile, "Then if I am to be myself in private"
I blushed deeply at the insinuation. Who was this man? He certainly wasn't the shy prince I met at the ball or the timid boy at the tea party.
"then I must insist you stop with the title. Laurent is just fine"
"That seems reasonable," I said, that is what beloveds did right? Call each other by their first names? It still felt a little off but I supposed I'd have to get used to it.
"Well in that case," I said,
"Hello Laurent, I'm Eira," I said,
from across the room, Laurent smiled back.
"Hello Eira, it's very nice to meet you"
I was suddenly aware of how hot the room had gotten. Of course, when I came below-deck it seemed much warmer than outside, but I had attributed that to good insulation and the shelter from the wind. But now I realized that it wasn't just tolerable in the cabins. It was actually warm. I could feel sweat beading on my brow and sliding down my back.
"How on earth is it so hot in here?" I said, shedding my winter garments on the chair and fanning myself. Laurent laughed again, it was dark and deep not like the nervous chuckles I'd heard before. I liked it.
He stood and crossed the room to a small metal box I hadn't notice before. Now I noticed there was a pipe coming out from it into the wall. He beckoned me closer.
"This little guy is a fireplace of sorts." He explained,
"It runs on coal, but having a fire in a room with all these books is dangerous"
I nodded, studying the contraption more closely, it had a large grate at the front and now I could feel the hot air coming from the darkness behind the metal bars.
"There is a big heater at the bottom of the boat that pumps hot air to all the rooms. It is manned day and night to make sure not so much as a spark gets out from it. Its called a furnace. We picked it up from an inventor in the East."
I thought back to all the times I'd huddled in bed for hours during the long winter months. With the fire gone cold and I didn't want to bother any staff to come and light it again. And to think, all this time the rooms could all be heated constantly? No matches or kindling needed?
"I must say, when Markus said you traveled around, I expected vacations, not expeditions."
I laughed,
"So that's what you and Markus were talking about?" Laurent's face brightened,
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could have shown you around the map room" he exclaimed,
"The map room?"
"It's just an oversized closet filled with all the maps and journals we used to record our travels. As a prince, I spend the majority of my time on conquest, so I take it upon myself to explore the new territory."
I winced at the world conquest. I knew we were being taken over but I never really thought of us being conquered. The word left a sour taste in my mouth. I couldn't stand just being another dot on the map in the great Orinthian Empire.
Laurent noticed my expression and came quickly to my side.
"I'm so sorry, I used the wrong word to describe it!" and just like that he was back to the other Laurent. Nervous and apologetic.
"No its fine, I know what's happening, there' s no need to sugarcoat it," I said, straightening, Laurent still remained close.
"Well let me explain how the empire works." He said quietly, hesitantly he placed a hand on my shoulder as if scared I pull away. I didn't move.
"Orinth covers a vast amount of the North quarter of the continent and a share of both the East and the West. But they conquer they do not pull the countries into their mass. The countries remain independent of each other and free to do as they please as long as they pledge allegiance to the Emporer. This is actually beneficial to many countries because of Orinth's mass. They see increased trade and more military backup in case of threats. For these reasons, many nations submit to Orinth peacefully, or with only a slight bit of squirming. All of them, except Anthea" he finished,
I looked up, trying to read his face. He was no longer panicked. In fact, he was grinning wryly, looking down at me.
"What are you looking at?" I whispered, afraid to speak.
"You were one tough nut to crack Eira, you know that?" He mused,
"50 years of war and we've finally won you over"
"Don't get too cocky-" I started but then he gestured down. My hand subconsciously grabbed the bottom of his shirt during his little speech, and I was leaned into him, almost bushing my head against his chest. I lept back in surprise. Laurent only laughed. He pulled his eye down with his index finger and stuck his tongue out, still laughing.
"Kooties, I know" he smiled, I tried to smile back but I didn't really know what I was supposed to be smiling about and my face was hot enough to heat the whole Royal Palace.
"Aw don't get to worked up about it Eira, give yourself a break" he chided, dropping all sense of formality.
I shook my head, a real smile finally tugging at my lips.
"If you say so" I muttered to myself, the room was warm and soft, and so was he. For the first time since I'd gotten on this frostbitten boat, I let myself relax.