"Princess Binti, your parents await you at the table for breakfast."
Enado, my waiting maiden informed me, for what was possibly the third time in ten minutes.
The sun had come up a few hours ago, but my spirits hadn't risen with it. The night before, I had lost a bet to Dinga, and I was understandably in a sour mood from that event, so much so that I did not think sitting at a table and eating the first meal of the day with my family would remedy my troubled state. It was the third bet I was losing to one of the boys, and as with the last two, Dinga had not hesitated to remind me that I was losing so much because I was a girl.
"The older we get, the wider the divide will be between us men, and you women. You are of inferior strength and build, do not think you can outrun a man."
It was all nonsense. The idea that I could not beat Dinga in a race at 15, despite winning him at 10 did not resonate with me..I simply refused to believe there was some physiological difference between us that had come about due to aging.
"Tell them I'm unwell and won't be joining them." I replied, suddenly feeling truly sick, from recalling Dinga's smug look after he grabbed the flag at the top of the hill we both ran.
Enado cocked her brow at me, clearly in disbelief at my obvious lie, "What do I say you're down with?" She asked.
I shrugged, unwilling to stress my thoughts beyond the reply that I was sick.
Enado gave me a long stare, like a truly exhausted mother would give their child, "As you wish, Princess." She finally said, just before she left my room to deliver my response.
As you wish Princess.
I longed to hear those words once again. As I walked down the staircase leading to the banquet hall. I longed for the days I could simply skip breakfast, and have Enado relay my message to the rest of my family.
Not for the first time since I was thrust into this repulsive new life of mine, Niasse had ignored my command earlier, when I told her I wanted to skip breakfast. She wasn't Enado. She didn't answer to me. She answered to Hannon, and he had demanded my presence at breakfast.
You'd think a sharp smack to the face would have discouraged him from demanding my presence, alas, that was not so.
I stepped into the dining hall of the palace, to a multitude of eyes. I halted in my movement, momentarily shocked by how many people were seated and waiting for my arrival.
I had not given thought to the possibility of guests at the table, a truly foolish thing considering my last encounter with Hannon's guests.
My eyes traveled over all of the persons seated, each as pale as the Mediran people were known to be. The warrior Khan, was the darkest person seated, and even he was considerably lighter than I was. It was a harsh reminder that I wasn't at my home, surrounded by my people. Marriage or not, these people were strangers and they owed me no loyalty save for what their king allowed.
Speaking of....
Said King, who was seated at the head of his table, sharing words with a brown-haired man I hadn't noticed yesterday, cut short his discussion and raised his gaze to me.
He looked me over, as if assessing my outfit, and I know he was seated a distance away from where I was standing, but I could feel the heat in his gaze, burning through the fabric and onto my bare skin, causing warmth to spread over me. This feeling was so unfamiliar, I instantly pegged it to be the loathing I felt for him.
"Have you gazed upon Medusa's serpentine hair my queen or are you experiencing paralysis?" Hannon suddenly called out.
It was only then I realised Niasse had scrambled away and left me to my fate. And as usual, Hannon hadn't missed an opportunity to ridicule me in the presence of his guests.
The light chuckles I heard were my confirmation that some of these men had only come to enjoy some more comedy at my expense.
"The Medira people are blessed I see, they got a king and a Court jester in one person. Usually, the king doesn't possess the gift of the village idiot." I responded sharply.
His deep frown and the ensuing silence was all I needed to jut my chin in the air and gracefully walk towards the only empty chair at the table- the one by Hannon's left.
I gave him a tight smile, before my eyes took in the spread before me. Nothing looked particularly familiar, and I instantly found myself wishing I could get some meals from my kingdom.
I looked up at Hannon, realising he wasn't making any moves to fill his plate, "You insisted I make it to this breakfast, shouldn't you be making some recommendations for me?" I asked pointedly.
Prior to his insistence that I show up here, I had imagined I would be able to convince Niasse to get me bits of food while I remained in my chamber. I suppose I was Hannon's problem now.
"As long as your mouth is stuffed with food, so, no more insulting words escape them..." he responded, as he reached for an empty plate and, in a rather aggressive manner, dumped different foods on it. Once he was done, he dropped the plate before me so hard, the clash of the plate and the table echoed in the hall.
"Eat." He said.
And then, he dished his own meal, as did everyone else at the table. The table grew rowdy, as random conversations happened around me.
I looked down at the untouched meal before me, and tried to make sense of the combination and what I was supposed to eat first, eventually, I settled on a meaty piece, covered in some sauce.
I don't know what I expected the meal to taste like, but it certainly lacked the spice I was accustomed to in my kingdom. The Adavi people were not known to spare on spices, apparently, in Medira the opposite was the case.
My face must have carried the displeasure I felt at the taste of the food, because one of the people at the table made a comment, "What's wrong princess? Our meals don't match up to your taste?"
I looked up to find a pale male, with stringy hair the color of wheat, he was smiling at me, showing off highly unimpressive dentition that made me wonder if he had spent a good part of his youth drinking corrosive substances.
I glanced over to find Hannon's gray gaze on me, as if awaiting a response to that question, "It could be better, but I don't blame you lot for your lack of taste. Not every kingdom is blessed with culinary brilliance." I stated pointedly, and capped my response with a tight smile.
Hannon's jaw ticked, clearly displeased with my response.
The blonde fellow however, gave a hearty laugh at my response, suffice it to say, his widely opened mouth did not make for a good sight, however, I was quite interested in hearing what caused him this laughter, "My King, if this was the best the Adavi could send to you, I can only imagine what other mongrels can be found in that kingdom of barbarians."
His response elicited laughter from the rest of the table. After Hannon's little show yesterday, I imagined word had gone round that the king's new bride was free game for every upcoming jester in Medira. It was a given that Hannon's disrespect would birth even more idiots, looking to take their shots. I had taken disrespect from Hannon, and it was a folly I regretted since it happened, but even more so now, that this rotten-toothed cretin had taken the stage.
"I can't imagine there are any words with which to qualify the women of Medira, if their king found none worthy of his bed, and had to go all the way to the kingdom of mongrels to find himself a bride. Did your wench of a mother tie her womb after she birthed a creature as repulsive as you, so that you couldn't have a sister to offer your king?"
The words escaped my lips before I could stop myself, and the ensuing silence was all I needed to know that I had possibly touched a nerve. At another time and to someone else, I may have quickly apologized, but considering all of the circumstances before me, it would be an act of folly to retract my words or apologize for them.
