5- A Good Start
"Guards!"
His voice was a deep baritone but Daria didn't have time to think about that as guards started pouring into the hall, through entrances that would otherwise have been left unnoticed.
Daria stood there dumbly as Jerrold; his arms empty of the girl who he now stood bravely in front of, gestured hurriedly to the figure cast in shadow above them.
He wondered why the unwelcome guest had not made a move; surely he must've had weapons. From such an obvious vantage he could murder the Prince of Kyrria and the next in line.
Daria let out a short yell as two armoured men seized her by her upper arms. She fought them angrily; dismayed at the way she was being treated.
"It's a woman!" One guard retorted in his deep voice, lifting his visor.
"What a revelation," Daria said sarcastically. "Now let go of me this instance!" she snapped, resuming her unyielding fight.
Jerrold frowned. A woman?
"Bring her down here before me," Jerrold ordered, he exchanged frowns with the girl beside him.
Daria tried shaking off the guards but they were much stronger than her. Before she knew it, she was downstairs, standing in front of the Prince and his lover.
The guards let go of her and she stumbled slightly and then straightened herself. Now that she wasn't as far away, she could assess him. His hair was thick and black, falling messily onto the nape of his neck. His grey eyes were hard and cold; Daria shivered mentally. Stubble had begun sprouting onto his chin. In the back of her mind she realised he was a head taller than her. His lips were too full, she realised; they didn't belong on a man's face. He was wearing breeches and a white shirt, a sword was at his side.
"You do not bow before royalty?" He asked almost curiously, his eyes like knives.
Daria clenched her teeth, reminded of their last meeting.
'Royalty? Ha! I'm surprised that crown is big enough to fit on your unworthy head," Daria snapped.
'You know…you shouldn't be jealous that I took an interest in Lady Eleanor rather than you," Prince Jerrold drawled, that hateful smirk once again on his face.
'I'm jealo-'
'No use denying it-'
'I'll kill myself the day I become jealous of you and Eleanor, who, I might add, doesn't even like you in the least.'
Someone cleared their throat and Daria jumped, coming back to the present. The guards stood in a tight semi-circle around her, their swords drawn. Jerrold followed her gaze.
"You are all dismissed…I think I can handle one woman on my own." The guards laughed. Daria saw nothing funny about the situation. She fumed silently. She noticed that one guard remained, lurking in the shadows while the rest filed out. She smirked mentally.
"Helena. Leave."
The young girl behind him opened her mouth to protest.
"Now."
She pouted, but left quietly. Daria looked after her; Helena (if that was her real name) positioned herself behind a coat of armour, looking on in interest.
Jerrold sized her up, his arms behind his back, before he started circling her. Her gown was heavily creased. Her hair was messy. She looked pale and it was obvious that she had been crying recently because her nose was runny.
"Do you have a name?"
He didn't remember her. After all he had done, he didn't remember her! Now, that was funny.
Daria laughed mirthlessly, though she was slightly nervous.
His forehead creased in confusion.
"I could have you hung," he growled threateningly.
"Lady Daria."
Daria saw something cross his face; maybe he did remember her after all.
"How informative. You do not have a surname I suppose?"
"Antranig. Lady Daria Antranig."
"Antranig. The name is familiar to me," he said quietly. He ran a hand through his long, dark hair.
Voices could be heard coming from outside. Daria, Jerrold and the solitary guard looked in the direction of the front doors. Servants let in a petite, slender woman who was talking rather loudly to her husband, who was no doubt, the King. The King was a large, round man. His face was slightly red and hairy. His beady black eyes were unfocused as he staggered in after his wife. The only reason why Daria had known he was the King was because of the crown that was perched precariously on his ginger head.
Daria felt quite overwhelmed. She remembered her manners and curtseyed as best she could (not that anyone noticed).
Jerrold, who had been standing beside her all this time, rolled his eyes at his parents, before crossing his arms over his chest.
"Jerrold. Jerrold, why are you standing out here in the hall?" The Queen asked. Her hair was strawberry blonde and fell in waves around her, her eyes had a faraway look in them.
"I found this intruder lurking around. We should question her. She could've been sent from any one of our enem-"
"What nonsense!" The Queen laughed. "She is a debutante, don't you remember, they were to arrive earlier today, look; you've frightened the poor little mite."
Daria was not frightened.
"You're Majesty. Your highness," Daria said respectively before turning away and making a quick (and possibly rude) exit.
---------
"…And then he went as far as to say that I was an intruder. Imagine that. First he was being improper in public and then questioning me. The nerve of him! Lucky the Queen has some common sense otherwise I might have found myself in an interrogation chamber! You know, the Royal family is slightly…bananas. I mean, the King was absolutely-"
"Drunk. Yes, I think he's famous for it by now… Now that I think about it, Jerrold is slightly cautious. But I suppose he has to be, he's the Prince of Kyrria. You don't know how many people want to kill him-"
"Me for one."
"Daria, don't talk like that. Anyway, Queen Esmeralda, I agree, is slightly…not there, but she's lovely once you get to know her… What made me laugh though Daria was when you said Jerrold has a lover named Helena!"
"What's so funny about that? He's a dirty, little sc-"
"Really cousin, you're too behind on the times. Helena is his sister," Christine smiled, but it dropped once Lucy tightened her corset an extra inch.
"Sister?"
"Well, half-sister. Jerrold's mother died after his birth and the King remarried, they had a daughter; Helena. Daria, please, you need to be a bit more attentive to current affairs."
Daria reddened. "I see…That's the reason she was so young and it's not my fault they're affectionate towards each other…Christine, you must not speak of this to anyone. I would die if anyone knew of my ignorance."
Christine promised as she sucked in a breath as Lucy tied up the strings to her pale green gown.
"I can't believe you can't see the difference between sibling affection and a pair of lovers. It's laughable!"
Daria glared.
"Lucy?" She asked.
"Oh ma'am, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone. You can count on me," she said, her eyes wide and a hand on her heart.
"I'm ready," Christine said finally looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"Oh, you look beautiful!"
Her hair had been curled and it fell in magnificent ringlets around her small, heart-shaped face. Kohl darkened the edges of her eyelids. Powder made the roses in her cheeks stand out. She was adorned with a small amount of jewellery around her neck and wrists.
"You do not look unsightly yourself," Christine said to Daria with a small smile.
Daria was wearing a simple dark blue gown.
"Come then. You don't want to be late on your first day," Daria said. An excitement mixed with nervousness churned in the pit of her stomach. The two girls exited the room quietly, following a Madam Blythe who led all the gathered debutantes down a set of wide staircases and into what she said was the North wing.
They entered a large room and sat down as they were told to. A hush settled over the large group. Daria, who sat at the front beside Christine, was suffocating from the smell of scents, soap and sweat.
"Ladies. I, as some of you may know am Madam Blythe," here she took a pause, as her hawk-like eyes skimmed over the attentive girls.
"These will be the four most gruelling months of your life. You will be picked on and prodded, pulled into shape and pampered… Kyrria has the most accomplished women in the whole of this continent. They are social butterflies, they are respected ladies of the court, they are gentlewomen, they have strode ahead and you will be damned if you do not do the same."
Daria gulped audibly. She had not been under Madam Blythe's tutelage. She had only come to the Presentation at Court the week after the season started. From what Eleanor had told her about the woman, Daria had counted herself lucky to have not met her. Madam Blythe was pacing the hall at a leisurely rate as she watched the nervous faces of the young girls.
"Do not come to me if you want a shoulder to cry on, do not come to me for advice and certainly don't expect me to be a friend or a mother like figure," Madam Blythe finished quietly, spitting out the last phrase. She had no reason to shout, every one of the girls were listening to her closely.
Daria looked over Madam Blythe through her spectacles. Daria thought the middle-aged woman resembled a bird. Brownish red hair that was greying was knotted tightly at the nape of her neck. Her long nose was almost like a beak. Her small eyes glittered in the light. She was a short, plump woman with a large chest.
"You."
Daria jumped.
Everyone in the room looked in her direction.
Daria's face resembled a tomato.
There was an awfully long silence.
"When I address you I expect you to reply 'Yes Madam Blythe.' Is that clear?" Madam Blythe told the room at large, her voice curt.
"Yes Madam Blythe," Everyone chorused. Daria rolled her eyes at an over-enthusiastic mousy-haired girl who sat in the front row, centre. She was practically falling off her chair; she couldn't sit still.
Madam Blythe raised her eyebrows in Daria's direction.
"Yes Madam Blythe," Daria croaked.
"Now. Up here," Madam Blythe ordered.
Daria, who felt rather numb, got up and shuffled across to stand beside Madam Blythe. She felt self-conscious in front of all the girls. She looked to Christine for reassurance. Christine smiled concernedly.
"Recite the poem on 'Ladies Etiquette'," Madam Blythe ordered.
Daria's mind was blank. Ladies what?
She looked from one expectant face to the next and felt the embarrassment creeping up on her. She didn't know any poems on 'etiquettes'!
"I- I don't know-"
"Stuttering," Madam Blythe interrupted, her nose pinched as she said the word. "Is despicable."
"I don't know the poem," Daria said quietly.
There were astounded gasps all round.
"You don't know the 'Ladies Etiquette'?" Madam Blythe questioned, shock and horror filling her eyes.
"No."
"No, what?"
"No Madam Blythe."
Madam Blythe looked her over. "How old are you?"
"Twenty two, Madam Blythe," Daria answered obediently.
There was a silence. "Then what are you doing here?" The mousy-haired girl interrupted their conversation rather rudely.
"I'm here with my cousin," Daria murmured.
"Anyone can see that she's twenty-two, I mean look at those wrinkles," a girl said pompously from the back, and Daria had a nasty suspicion that it had been Porpentina (who'd kept quiet for a remarkably long time for someone so stuck-up).
"I see," Madam Blythe said, ignoring the background noise. "I do not seem to recall you from my class of four years ago."
Daria wondered if she remembered any of her past 'Ladies'.
"No, that's because I didn't come. Health reasons," Daria lied.
"Well you seem all well now. You are part of the class as of now."
Daria's worst nightmare had just come true.
"Sit," Madam Blythe instructed.
Daria sat.
"I suggest you learn the poem. It is very important," Madam Blythe said as she gestured to another girl to stand and recite the poem.
"To stand and walk like she owns the place,
To walk and talk at a natural pace…"
Daria's mind wondered off. She came back to the present when chairs were being scraped against the wooden flooring.
"What's going on?" She asked Christine stupidly.
"Time to mingle," Christine replied.
All over the room, little groups of girls were conversing in high-pitched tones.
Daria didn't feel like mingling.
Christine pulled on her cousin's hand nervously.
"Come on now ladies. This will probably be the only time I'll allow you to make friends these four months. So hop to it," Madam Blythe said slapping Daria and Christinehard on the back.
A/N: Abrupt ending? I had minor writer's block on this chapter. I really wanted the meeting between Jerrold and Daria to be special but it came out as nothing special (in my books at least). Sorry for the long wait, it was because of above mentioned writer's block. This chapter was longer though, is it any good? I'm hoping sooner or later I'm gonna edit the whole story throughout (that's a lotta chapter replacements!)
Thanks to my wonderful (a little flattery never hurt anyone)reviewers:
li'l bling bling: She was standing behind the grandfather clock and then it struck the hour and Jerrold and Helena looked up, and she was there. Thanks for reviewing!
bribeluga : Funny? Are you sure you've got the right story? I don't do funny! Thanks!
iloveme2815: Thanks for reviewing:)
Tami:Thanks:)
breathless74: Yes, he is!Thanks!
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If you've read this please review because feedback would be appreciated:-)