Chapter 55

Ayla grabbed a little cake from a table and ate it as she looked around the room. Women and men were drinking or eating, or dancing.

"We should dance!" Eude said.

Ayla shook her head, "I am not a good dancer. I never danced before."

"We will teach you!" Hudde said and pulled the princess to the middle of the room.

The twins showed Ayla a few steps. When Ayla felt more confident, they started dancing, both twins spinning her to the rhythm of the music. Ayla felt free as a bird as she danced and spun with the twins.

Many dances later, Ayla stopped, "I had fun, but I can't keep up with you two. I need to rest for a while!"

"Let's drink some wine!" Eude said.

The three of them went to a table that had goblets of wine. Two young women were sitting next to the table, drinking and talking, and didn't pay attention to Ayla or the twin Paladins.

Ayla picked up one goblet and put it to her lips. The twin did the same.

"I heard the King is here," Ayla heard one of the women say.

"Yes. I only saw him for a moment. He is supposed to arrive at the party any moment now," the other said.

It was only then that Ayla noticed that Rhobart hasn't come to the party. She wondered where he was.

"Is it true that he prefers men over women?" the first woman asked.

Ayla got closer to the women, so she could listen better to what they were talking about Rhobart.

"Unfortunately, it is true. My sister was in the same army as he was during the war, and she entered his tent a few times, you know, wanting to get in his bed. Every time he yelled at her to get out. She even told me she heard some rumors that he is fucking some of his Paladins," the second woman said.

Ayla choked on the wine. The twins chuckled.

"I am one of his Paladins, and it is true," Eude said. "The King fucked all his Paladins!"

"Yes, we are so fucked up because of the King," Hudde said.

"It's true then?" the first woman asked.

"I would not lie about something like this, m'xaitche," Eude said.

"What does m'xaitche mean?" Ayla asked Hudde in a low voice.

Hudde chuckled, "It means love."

Ayla took a sip of her wine before asking, "And t'xoria?"

Hudde got serious. "You mean he still calls you that? I feel bad for you!" he said and drank from his goblet.

Ayla took a look at Hudde. The Paladin looked at her with sad eyes.

"It means something bad?" Ayla asked.

Hudde drank some more, "It means do–"

"It means I am going to cut your tongue if you ever try to lie to her like that ever again!" Ayla heard Rhobart's tone full of anger.

Ayla had been so distracted by the two women and then her discussion with Hudde that she didn't notice the arrival of the King.

Ayla looked at Rhobart. He was looking at Hudde, his face full of rage. Then he looked at Ayla.

"Ayla!" Rhobart said and cupped both her cheeks with his hands. And then he kissed her gently.

Ayla heard the two women gasp, but she didn't care. She was upset. Why was it so hard to tell her what that word meant?

"Dance with me," Rhobart said and grabbed Ayla by her hand.

Rhobart took Ayla to where other couples were dancing and put his hands around her waist. Ayla rested her palms on his chest.

"The first time I saw you," Rhobart said as he looked into her eyes, "you were wearing this delicate white dress. You had some white flowers in your hair and a little dragonfly in a small jar."

Ayla frowned. She was sure that the day her brother gave her to Rhobart, she had a light yellow dress. She had a rose in her hair, and it was red, not white. And she stopped catching dragonflies when her father locked her up in her room.

"My dress was yellow, not white," Ayla said.

Rhobart shook his head, "White. I will never forget that moment for as long as I shall live. In old Nordmarian, t'xoria means white flower or dragonfly, depending on how t'xoria is used. So you are my white flower. My dragonfly. My t'xoria."

Ayla had no idea what to say to him. She often thought about what t'xoria could mean, but she never thought it could mean flower or dragonfly.

As the King kept dancing with her, Ayla felt so happy to be in his arms. Her heart kept drumming and drumming while Rhobart directed her to a balcony.

While the music kept playing and people still danced and danced, Rhobart took Ayla to a bench that was in one of the corners of the balcony, in the shadows. Rhobart sat and put Ayla on his lap.