Princess Carmel; Chapter 5

Princess Carmel; Chapter 5

© 2022 by Amber Wright

SCROLL FOUR

And then Carmel fled, to find a basin of water to cool her flaming red face with. She had met the king Ezron and had even spoken with him!

“My lady, that is not the way into the banquet.” Zara suddenly popped out from behind a large potted white lily plant. “Where are you—”

“I have met him!” Carmel felt her whisper

echo into her ears, drowning the noise of the music in the hall and her thundering heartbeat. She noticed Zara’s confused look. “I have met King Ezron.”

“Is he very bad?” Zara watched her reaction.

“Not as bad as he could be.” Carmel felt her face cooling down and thanked the cool breeze floating through the window. She spied the seat beside it. “Can we sit and I’ll explain?”

“You can explain all you wish to—but not until later.” Zara pushed her along. “Now, you must go to the banquet hall and eat with your family. Your sister’s betrothal is no light matter, Princess Carmel, and you should not make it so either.”

“Truly, Zara.” Carmel tried to reassure her but all the while feeling her disapproving eyes upon her, “I understand the importance of the matter. Only, I…”

“Only—what?” Zara’s eyes narrowed.

“Only, I feel especially merry tonight.” Carmel patted her nurse’s shoulder, her smile stretched like the tide. “Why must I be so serious when this is my sister’s day of betrothal? This is a time to sing and play music!”

“And what about the funeral chants that will come if this King Ezron does not have his wife?” Zara sounded doubtful and concerned.

“I am sure the king will not wish to have a wife that was betrothed to another man. Besides, there is always tomorrow—a new day in which to sing.”

“Or to chant funeral songs,” was Zara’s low-key reply. Then, her tone lightened. “My lady, be sure to behave like your age.”

Carmel turned to give her nurse a hug at the

entrance to the banquet hall. “I shall behave, have no fear! But can we not have a turn in my favorite garden later?”

“As you wish, my lady.”

“Thank you!” Carmel hugged her and as she was stepping back, her rising gaze glimpsed the king of Aram-Damascus stepping out from behind the white lily plants where she and Zara had been talking.

Her heart thudded into a still. He must have had heard everything they had talked about. But why would he want to spy on me? Did he just not have his eyes on Batnoam? She watched him approach quickly.

Darting her eyes from his smirking face as he charged down the hall, Carmel rushed into the banquet hall before King Ezron would be close enough to speak to her again.

00000

“I ignored him the whole eve!” Carmel said proudly to her nurse Zara and her two best maids, Eman and Damali, as they sat under the palms in Carmel’s favorite garden at twilight. “I think I am well rid of him now.”

“Princess Carmel, you must behave.” Zara shook her head. “Remember your king and people rest on you for that Treaty of Peace.”

“But there is no war—is there?” Carmel glanced up at the darkening sky. “I wish the stars would rush their appearance. I am restless.”

“You forget, my lady, that the stars are always there.” Zara chuckled. “It is the dark that shows that they are there.”

“Then I wish for the dark to rush its arrival!”

“Have no fear, my lady.” Damali said dryly. “He has arrived—promptly.”

Carmel sat bolt right from her relaxed pose against the trunk of the palm. “He—who?”

“Your beloved King Ezron.” Eman replied in a whisper behind her hand.

“He is not my beloved!” Carmel hissed back, jerking her veil to cover her face. She had no wish to speak to his highness King Ezron and trusted that covering her face entirely was a way to make him leave her in peace.

“He comes!” Eman whispered excitedly.

“He only wants the princess, Eman, not you. Why should you be so excite—”

“Girls, shh.” Zara quieted their noisy chatter.

Carmel peeked through the slit in her veil and watched as King Ezron boldly walked up to them, his jewels sparkling in the orange sunlight of evening. When he came near them, he stopped and did a little bow.

Carmel nodded politely, but still her veil covered her face entirely. Zara gave her a slight frown but said nothing. The maids looked down at their hands, as if they were invisible.

“Good evening, Princess Carmel.”

Carmel fumed inside and answered in a tone half-muted by her veil, “Good evening, King Ezron.”

“It is quite a cold eve, is it not?” There was a note of half-mockery, half-jest in his tone. “Do you need another veil?”

Carmel let her veil hang and stared blankly into the glorious sunset, its orange glows turning into pinks and purples. “I do not need a second veil, my lord.”

Her eyes did not flinch but kept looking to the western skies where fiery streaks began fading into the bluish nighttime horizon. The dark slowly exchanged the brilliant sunset.

Carmel glanced back to the earth again. King Ezron was still there. Will he ever go? I am here to enjoy the stars, not to make conversation with this king who has proclaimed himself our enemy for selfish reasons. But since he was still there, she would be polite—even if it cost her the gift of an hour that she would usually spend to watch the stars.

“It was a pretty eve, was it not, King Ezron?” Carmel decided the weather would be a safe topic without delving into unpleasant speeches.

“Yes, my lady, very pretty indeed.”

Carmel was startled by his reply and even more unsettled by the odd stare he gave her. She glanced over at Zara, begging her help silently and fiddled with her veil once more.

“If you will excuse my lady, my lord,” Zara stood up and bowed deeply, “the young princess will retire for she has many lessons tomorrow morning.”

King Ezron bowed to Carmel and left as silently as he had come.

Carmel stood on shaky legs and the walk to her chambers was a very silent one. Once inside the safety of her familiar surroundings again, she began to smile.

“I think this is indeed a pretty night!” Her tone was chirpy and as light as ever. She stood still as Damali took the pins from her headdress. “I should like to brand it into my memory to remember forever!”