Chapter 10

"You look …." the King started saying but stopped."Would you join these buffoons and me for dinner?"

She was here to have dinner with the King and his men?

After the King helped her with the chair, he sat next to her and grabbed her plate, and started putting food on it. Wait, the King serving her? That couldn't be right. She was supposed to serve them. Him. The other men started filling their plates with food.

Milton, who was sitting at the head of the table, coughed, and Ayla thought she heard him say 'dress' between coughs.

"The dress fits you nicely," the King mumbled.

Ayla blushed, realizing for the first time that the dress came from the King, "Thank you for it! It is very lovely!"

"And very expensive," the Paladin from her left said,

Without realizing she blurted, "I will pay for it! And for everything else!"

The King snorted, "How?"

"I will work!"

"Ohh," Rhobart said and arched an eyebrow. "Do you cook?"

"No, but...."

"Clean?" a Paladin with olive skin, black hair, and hazel eyes and who was seated at the other end of the table asked.

"No."

"Make clothes? Knit? Stitch? Take care of animals? Hunt? Fight? Anything?" another one asked in a playful tone. This one had soft blues eyes, red hair, and freckles all over his face.

Ayla's shoulders slumped forward, "No."

"Then you are useless," the Paladin from her left said. "Better feed her to the wolves. A good Myrthanian is a dead one."

'Useless,' she heard her father accusing tone in her head. He had been right all along. She was useless.

Suddenly everyone stopped eating and joking around and looked at the King. They even seemed to have stopped breathing. Time seemed to slow down. The King kept adding more things to the plate that already had more food than Ayla could eat. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

A soft purr could be heard coming from below the table, and when Ayla looked, she saw Kerra sleeping at Rhobart's feet.

Moments later, King Rhobart put the plate in front of Ayla, grabbed his goblet, and took a long sip of wine. Then he proceeded to put the goblet back on the table, turned his chair to look at the Paladin, and said, in a tone that promised death in a thousand ways, "Talk about her like that one more time, and I will cut your tongue out. Look at her with your eyes full of poison, and I will carve them out. Sa, one more time that she is better off dead, and I will send you directly to Beliar. Do I make myself clear, Godefray?"

When the Paladin said nothing, King Rhobart asked again, "Do. I. Make. My. Self. Clear?"

"Yes," Godefray muttered.

"I didn't hear you!"

"Yes, my King!"

The King looked a few more seconds at Godefray, with eyes full of rage, before starting to put food on his plate. The others resumed their eating.

"Told you not to ruin dinner," said a Paladin with mismatched eyes, the left one black and the right one blue. The Paladin seated to his left looked identical to him, except for his eyes. He also had them mismatched, but his left one was blue while his right one was black. Both had blond hair and were seated across from her.

Ayla kept staring at the Paladins with mismatched eyes. She has never seen someone like them – O'reek, blessed by the gods.

The one with the black eye on the left smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief, "I am Eude. And this one over here," the Paladin pointed at his brother, "is my ugly twin, Hudde."

"Who are you calling ugly?" Hudde asked.

"You, of course!"

"Kiss my ugly ass!" Hudde said to his twin.

A Paladin with black skin and ice-blue eyes sat next to Hudde and grinned at Ayla. She was sure that he was from the Kingdom of Drara – home to unending dunes of sands, oases, and the forty-five nomad tribes.

The one with olive skin and hazel eyes, which most likely was from the Southern Islands, howled with laughter.

"Language!" Milton said.

"Since you already met Dumb and Dumber," a Paladin with blond hair and brown eyes said, "I think it is best if we introduce ourselves. During our journey, someone told us not to bother you. I am Droyn."

"What do you mean by Dumb and Dumber?" Hude asked. "You mean Hot and Hotter!"

"Obviously, I am Hotter," Eude said.

A giggle escaped Ayla's lips.

"And I even made the Princess laugh! Hotter and smarter! Never fail to impress a lady!"

Ayla rolled her eyes, and the Paladin from Drara flashed another grin.

Losing his patience, King Rhobart pointed at the Paladin from Drara, "This one over here is Hewe. He doesn't speak too much."

"You mean he doesn't speak at all," Eude said. "But rumors claim that in bed, Hewe uses his tongue to write the alphabet. What rumors don't say is that I taught him! During a night, Hudde, Hewe, and I and this lady with, " the Paladin explained while he put his hands in front of his chest and moved them to his stomach.

Droyn, who was sitting right from Eude, smacked his head.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Eude asked.

"For the love of Inoss! You never know when to stop," Milton said.

"Enough!" Rhobart bellowed.

Ayla didn't understand what Eude wanted to say, but she wasn't about to ask. Something inside her told her she was better not knowing.

The King continued showing Ayla the rest of the Paladins. Pointing at the one with red hair, he said, "Tizgar."

"Gorn," the King said, pointing at the Paladin with olive skin and hazel eyes.

The Paladin Gorn stood, put his right hand over his heart, and bowed his head, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess."

"There, now you met everyone. Now eat," King Rhobart said to Ayla.