The King was pretty...what? Alethea blinked, puzzled, at Torram’s trailing description. She had read very little about other worlds, and spent her whole life under Arthur’s rule – and so the notion of a selfish king was elusive. His shrug drew her smile, but it was clear it did not generate any comprehension, and she was about to ask for further explanation when he complimented her eyes.
Her mouth hung open a moment before she managed to thank him, and Leto snorted somewhere in the dimness of her peripheral vision. What was it about this boy that caught her so off-guard? He was not the first to tell her she had pretty eyes. They were pretty – a hazy dawn blue, with thin lines of midnight circling the irises – and they were convenient to compliment, whereas many of her more attractive attributes were not. But something about his sincerity, and the compulsiveness of the compliment, made him compelling. She smiled shyly, noticing his blush, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Your eyes are very nice, too,” she countered, studying them: bright silver, with a touch of moonlight. “I’d love to draw you.”
There was a beat of awkward silence before he hastily answered her question.
“Oh! Have you met Princess Morgana? She’s the leader of the Olive Grove, and the King’s sister. Well, half-sister. She’s amazing.” momentarily distracted by the subject of Morgana, Alethea lost some of her tension and leaned toward him animatedly. Morgana was the little lady’s hero, in so many respects – she was brave, riding into battle alongside the King’s soldiers to rescue Tristan (and her, by proxy) when the Menekhtites stormed the beach, and she was kind, the perfect embodiment of the gracious princess. She was also beautiful, but Thea was convinced that she would like her even if she weren’t. Beauty was nothing – it came upon you by chance – but courage was something else. Hard to cultivate, and harder to keep.
She was finding she had very little of it, herself.
“What is a Grand Tour? I don’t think we have those...I’ve lived here all my life – my mother was a friend of the Queen’s, before she passed away. I only know about other worlds from books...and mostly just Earth, to be honest.” She pulled up a chair opposite him at his table, folding her hands on its surface with a bright smile. “What kinds of places have you seen?”
|
|
