The other officers were already sitting when they entered the dining room, but they stood for her.
“Princess Eleanora,” he said, “may I introduce you to First Lieutenant Petit, Second Lieutenant Bisset, Third Lieutenant Paquet, and our doctor, Monsieur Boucher?”
She smiled and gave a slight curtsy. He then led her to a chair on the right of his seat and pulled it out for her. At last, she released his arm and he could breathe again. Gerard took his seat beside her and felt his leg brush up against hers. Had she done it on purpose? Was she plucking thoughts from his head like apples from a fruit tree?
His officers took their seats and Monsieur Charbonneau, the ship’s cook, brought in the first course: lobster turbot and turtle soup.
“You speak Kaulish very well for an Urkan, Princess,” Lieutenant Bisset said, practically leering at her over his pointy nose and mustache.
Elea lifted the goblet to her lips and sipped delicately before answering. “I was taught many languages, Lieutenant.”
“You have been in Sania for the last year, have you not?”
The princess looked like she had been struck again but quickly regained her countenance and even managed a small smile. “Yes, it was an excellent opportunity to practice my Sanian . . . tongue.”
Monsieur Boucher burst into laughter and the other officers laughed as well. Gerard couldn’t help but wonder if she’d meant the innuendo, or if she didn’t speak Kaulish as well as he’d thought.
“Are tongues one of yourgifts, Your Royal Highness?” Monsieur Boucher asked, leaning across the table toward her. The ship’s doctor examined her like a rare species of butterfly that he wanted to dissect.
“I think not. I have studied long and hard, monsieur,” she said, “but I have been told I am gifted at stories. Shall I tell you one?”
“Please, Princess.”
“Once there was a love so great that it caused the daughter of the goddess to fall from the highest of the three heavens. Her name was Eleanora and she fell in love with a mortal, Brendan. Relationships between celestial beings and mortals were forbidden, but Eleanora was Màthair’s most beloved daughter, and instead of punishing her, she blessed her daughter’s island with great riches of gold, then shrouded the water around it in darkness to protect its people.”
The princess pronounced each syllable slowly, but she needn’t have used that trick to keep their attention, as every man in the room was listening raptly. Gerard scooted his chair forward, bumping her knee, but she didn’t even pause.
“They say the entire city of Yakura was built with golden bricks.Yakurameans ‘beloved’ in the celestial language of the three eternal realms. But word of the isle’s riches spread rapidly, and invaders came through the Dark Channel from many lands to steal their riches. Eleanora defended her people time and time again, but she and her husband grew old and she knew that they were about to return to Màthair. So she took each of her three daughters and gave them a mighty gift. To the youngest, Eimhir, she gave the power of discernment—the ability to know a person’s true intent so she could protect their people. To the second daughter, Orla, she gave the strength of ten men so she would be able to lead their people to victory in any battle. And lastly, to her eldest daughter, Aine, she gave a black stone.”
“A stone?” Gerard said in surprise.
“A seer stone,” Elea said, her emerald eyes focusing their intensity on him, “with which she could see the past, present, and future. But—”
“There is always abut,” Lieutenant Petit quipped, and everyone laughed.
The princess smiled and she nodded. “Yes, there is. The daughters were promised protection and power, but they had to be loyal to each other. If they were loyal, their golden city of Yakura and the entire island would never fall to their enemies.”
She stopped and took a bite of the lobster.
“Surely you are not going to end the story there,” Lieutenant Paquet said. “We all know that Yakura fell.”
“Yes,” she said, a note of sadness in her voice. “The Kaulish raiders destroyed the people and culture of Yakura, even changing their name from ‘beloved’ to Urka. The indigenous people became serfs to the raiders and were forced to pay high taxes or work in the mines to exploit the riches of Màthair. This angered the goddess so greatly that she covered the ancient city of Yakura with rock and stone.”
Gerard cleared his throat. “I thought the three sisters were supposed to be invincible. How did they fall to the raiders?”
“Jealously. Disloyalty,” she said, grief marking all of her features as if this story were recent and not five hundred years old. “Eimhir betrayed her two older sisters for the crown. She married the leader of the Kaulish warriors and died in childbirth. It is not a pleasant story.”
Gerard watched Elea take a sip of beer. Her whole body quivered in obvious dislike of the cheap beverage.
“This is a celebration,” Gerard said. “Charbonneau, bring out the best wine.”
The cook bowed. “Your half brother, Prince Alexandre, sent a bottle of chardonnay for you to celebrate your first voyage. Shall I bring it?”
Gerard glanced briefly at Elea and she gave him a small nod. “Yes, please.”
Monsieur Charbonneau returned with a tray of glass goblets and a bottle that appeared to be of a great age. Uncorking it, he poured the vintage into each goblet and then handed the first to Elea before serving Gerard and the other officers.
Like him, his men waited for the princess to take the first sip. They watched her swirl the chardonnay around in the glass before smelling it. He lifted his own glass to his lips and was about to sip it.