Icarus mulled over the question, his arms still around Ingrid. He was just about to answer when someone entered the kitchen.
There she was… The Little Mistress.
Icarus knew her name, but she was worse than Basila! He didn't want to call her by her name, but he still didn't want to get a whipping.
So, he bowed.
"My lady," he said, as he kept his eyes locked on the floor. Admiring Ingrid's simple but colorful boots.
"Ingrid! Where are my cookies?" She asked. She never responded to anyone. Barely spoke with anyone but Ingrid and her family.
The latter out of necessity.
"Lady Mei, I was just preparing the platter! I need but a moment, and then…" Ingrid began. She was an experienced actress who knew that she had to do what she had to do to survive.
And if she had to pretend to be a kitchen maid, then so be it.
Mei didn't let her finish. The girl stormed up to the counter, frills ruffled, fists balled.
She saw it. Missing places on the tin.
Her blazing blue eyes met Icarus' green ones.
"You ate my cookies!" She yelled, as she hit him weakly with her fists.
She had almost no strength, that Little Mistress. That was why Icarus called her so. And because it didn't hurt, Icarus just let it happen.
If him hitting a common woman would result in a whipping, then hitting the Little Mistress would result in a beheading! Of that much, he was certain.
"Quit it, you brat!" But Basila, apparently, was not as well versed in the art of survival as Ingrid and he.
"Basila, it's ok! I did eat the cookies, so I deserve the pain. I am truly sorry, my lady!" Icarus said, making his voice high-pitched.
So, as if he were in pain.
"Darn right!" The small girl yelled, as she stomped him on the foot. Icarus had to pay attention to her, or else, he wouldn't have known to jump up and hold his foot!
Man, was the girl made from air?
"What are you going to give me for the cookie?" The lady asked. Icarus started to blink.
The hell was this girl on about? She had seen him with Ingrid more than once! She knew full well that he was poor!
"I…"
"I think I will have a slave rune put on you! And then you can be my personal eunuch!" She proclaimed with a self-satisfied smile on her lips.
Icarus froze.
"Eunuch?" He asked. This time, not needing to force his voice to get all trembling for it to come out that way.
"Yes! Because… because…" the lady turned around, the tips of her ears turning red.
Icarus finally understood why her hits never hurt. He saw his chance.
"My lady, if you turn me into a eunuch, how will I ever marry you?" He asked so, as if he was speaking of the weather. He was certain that he knew the Little Mistress' type.
She was just a spoiled princess who dreamt of a prince. But her father, Lord Oswel, was just a minor lord. Not even a lord of a region.
What sort of prince would ever marry that brat, unless they were poor and had only a tittle?
Like Icarus?
"Marry you? But you're poor!" Mei said, stomping a delicate foot.
Ingrid bit her bottom lip. Oh, she wanted to tell her husband to stuff it. That it was too big of a risk.
Icarus wasn't looking at her.
Or even at the elven lady, who looked so, as if her world was ending.
No, he was looking at Lady Mei. Just at her. Ingrid wanted to hit the little girls. Before they had come around, Icarus used to look like that only at her!
But then, even after a year of marriage, she had not… he had not wanted to…
They were too young, he had said. He didn't want to risk her life, he had said.
The Viking woman forced her heart to become stone.
Icarus took off a pendant which was worth more than the silver it was made from. It had the mark of the Dulo clan. The two lines surrounding the Y symbol.
"My name is Icarus Dulo, son of Isbul of the Dulo clan and princess Irina Angelic! And if you marry me, we will live in the Palace of the Pearl of the World! As it is my birthright!"
Basila gasped.
This was the clan head? The one who disappeared as the horselords fell?
The prince from the other branch? The cursed branch?
Ingrid sighed.
Well, so much for being the one to get to wear a crown. She was sure that the Little Mistress would get the honor.
"Guards!" The lady yelled, as Icarus stuffed his pendant back inside of his tunic. "You stole my cookies! You must have stolen that pendant! But if you have, then the Dulo prince is here! Papa will find him!"
"Stupid girl!" Ingrid did something she had been meaning to do for a very long time. She hit lady Mei over the head and rushed down a dimly lit corridor. "After me!"
Icarus ran after his wife without a second thought.
But Basila was rooted to the ground.
Icarus wasn't related to her.
His branch was full of imposters who were so far away from being heirs to the throne that it wasn't funny.
Or, at least, that was the story her father had told her. But the truth was, that princess Irina Angelic had been the granddaughter of Emperor Basil!
The Horselord Slayer!
And if the horselords had been desperate enough to accept her as their Empress, then… what had happened over there?
"Basila! Come on!" Icarus wasn't using any of his imperial aura. The lady believed that he didn't even know he had it!
Now it was clear to her why she was just a lady. Why her father had been just a lord.
The purple had chosen the horselord heir over the elven ones.
And now…
Now there was only one way for her to get her birthright back. One where Icarus realized his potential…