Prince of Shadows by Camilla Vavruch

Author:Camilla Vavruch [Camilla Vavruch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Camilla Vavruch
Published: 2024-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter nineteen

Feast for the Lowers

At least the feast that night was everything he hoped for as far as guests went. Instead of tables filled with nobles, Orson had sent out invitations to a randomized list of people in the Lowers, filling the banquet hall to the brim with people who had never set foot in the castle. He would have invited them all, had there been space, but there wasn’t. Despite the mess of his life, it was a joy to watch their awed faces as they came inside and took in the tall ceilings and the silver decorations, the massive dance floor and the live orchestra, and the mounds of food waiting for them.

In order to avoid standing out like a sore thumb among the people from the Lowers, Orson was dressed in the clothes he often wore when working with his birds. They were cleaner than usual, with no mud in sight, but they were nowhere near the fancy uniforms and suits he usually wore to banquets.

The security around him was irritatingly heavy—no longer the simplicity of having Tobiah shadow him everywhere, but being constantly surrounded by four burly guards glaring at the world in general and people daring to approach in particular. It wasn’t the image Orson wanted to portray to the public. But it wasn’t the only increase in security; there were guards around the entire banquet hall, and also circling among the guests.

He sighed. Before coming here, he had failed to get to talk to the would-be assassin. As he had assumed, his father had given the guards of the holding cells explicit instructions not to let him in.

“Sorry, Your Highness,” the head guard said. “Take it up with the king.”

Yeah, he would rather not.

Orson’s sister sidled up to him, also surrounded by four guards. While her dress was not as glamorous as what she usually wore, she still stood out in the crowd with the crown on her head and the glittering gemstones around her neck. As always, she had flowers in her hair, this time indigo blue ones with pointed petals.

“How are you going to make them actually eat any of the food?” she asked, a half-smile on her lips as she, too, watched the crowd of wide-eyed people coming into the room. None of them were so much as approaching the food table, eyeing it with great hesitance.

“I guess I’ll have to tell them,” Orson said, frowning.

She turned to him. “It’s very nice of you to invite them.”

“They’re our people,” Orson said. “Why do we only ever invite the nobles? They have food and are bored with all of this. These people work harder than any of us, and yet they barely have anything to eat, and their homes are filled with mold and rats.”

She reached out and squeezed his forearm. “It’s good, Orson. You’re doing good things. The whole tournament is a success.”

“If you think so.” It didn’t seem like a success.

A wrinkle of concern appeared between her eyebrows. “It’s not just me who thinks so.

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