NIGHTS OF HALLOW

”My Lady, it is time for breakfast. Let me walk you to the dining room?” Emily asked once she was done helping Perdita bathe and was now helping her with her dress.

Oh, that was true. Perdita thought. She wanted to quickly reach out to Sthena and tell him what happened. Seems like she would wait until after breakfast then.

Perdita smiled lightly at Emily and responded to her suggestion, ”You don’t have to escort me to the dining room, Emily. I am fine on my own.”

”Okay, My Lady,” Emily bowed when she was done with Perdita’s dress. She stepped back and inspected the yellow dress on the Lady, taking note of how the Lady always looked beautiful in every dress she wore.

Looking at Perdita now, there was no hint of her coming from the village. Even while in the village, there was a way they behaved that did not match the village life they lived. It was as if they were born with the etiquettes that those in the higher class paid lots of gold coins to acquire.

”Is anything wrong with the dress?” Perdita asked with a slight frown while she looked at herself in the mirror.

Emily nervously smiled, having been caught staring at the Lady. She apologized, ”Forgive me for staring, My Lady. It’s just that—” She paused, contemplating if she should complete her sentence. Perdita cast her a side glance, prompting her to continue speaking. ”—it’s just that you always look stunning in every dress.”

Perdita fully turned to look at Emily. She smiled at the maid whose eyes were on the ground. She said as she walked forward, ”Oh, Emily. You do flatter with your words, but thank you for the compliment.” As she spoke, she slipped her legs into her shoe one after the other.

Perdita felt the shoe comfortable on her legs. She was grateful it was a flat shoe and not one with heels that would have been painful to walk on.

”I should be at the dining room, ” Perdita announced and began to walk towards the door.

Emily followed Perdita, two steps behind her as they made their way out of the room.

Emily paused in her steps to create a good amount of space so Perdita could walk ahead of her as it was rude to walk past the Lady.

Perdita hastened her pace, and once she stood in front of the door of the dining room, she could hear the voices coming from inside the room. She paused when she remembered that the green-eyed people were still in the castle, and they must be the reason behind the voices she was hearing. But the many voices she heard sounded like there were more people which she confirmed when she opened the door of the dining room.

There at the table sat the King on his usual head seat, Rosamonda and her children, her brother Marco, the three green-eyed people, and then three other people she didn’t know. A man in his middle age, a young man appearing to be in his late thirsty’s, and a Lady looking between 16 and 17.

”How rude,” Lady Rosamonda remarked while one of the maids placed a napkin on her lap. ”Arriving after the king and still showing no respect to bow.” She snorted with a hard glare directed toward Perdita.

Perdita blinked, realizing her mistake. She bowed at the king and greeted, ”Good morning, Your Majesty.”

”Hm, morning,” Sthena responded, and while Perdita made to sit beside her brother who this time the grey-haired witch was smart enough to leave after she glared at him the night before, she heard Sthena question her,

”I hope you had a good night’s rest?” As he asked the question, he subtly rubbed his hand where Perdita had sank her fangs the night before.

This subtle action was enough to cause blood to rush up to Perdita’s face. Not because she had bitten him, but because of the dream she had of him.

Perdita subtly cleared her throat, her voice cracking at the end, ”I had a good night r...rest, Your Majesty. What about you?” She returned the question.

”Oh,” Sthena’s lips were marred with a wide smile, ”Mine was fabulous, all thanks to you.”

The last remark of Sthena was enough to make heads that were not initially looking at them turn to stare at Perdita. Of course, they didn’t dare look at the King.

Perdita like the rest was speechless and baffled. She glanced at Sthena and saw him give her a sly smile.

Once everyone had settled in their respective seats, and the maids had helped place napkins on the lap of everyone, they began to serve the meal freshly prepared from the kitchen.

On Sthena picking his cutlery to eat, everyone followed suit, and soon the silent clatter of knives and forks on the plates filled the quiet room.

”Seems like there are many guests of the King,” The unknown middle-aged man commented with a measured chuckle that only he and the young man next to him found amusing.

The young man responded to the middle-aged man’s words, ”Mind introducing us to them, Your Majesty.”

”Or should I do the introduction?” He added with a smile as he stared at Perdita he hadn’t taken his eyes off her since she came into the dining room.

Seeing that the king nor anyone responded to him, the young man continued, ”Well, it would be rude and inappropriate if we eat at the same table without at least exchanging our names. Isn’t that right, Father?”

”Hmm,” The middle-aged man addressed as father hummed an answer.

The young man began his introduction as he focused more on Perdita before moving his eyes to the other people seated around the table. ”I’m Nicholas Gilberto, this man here is my father, George Gilberto, and this is my little sister, Gilberto Bethany.” He finished with a smile, ”So let’s begin with you, My Lady. May we know your lovely name?”

As expected, it was Perdita he was referring to. Perdita spared him a glance before she continued to cut on her food.

Taking her time to swallow her food with the glass of wine helping it glide down her throat, she finally spoke, ”Ms. Kartar.”

”Oh, Ms. Kartar,” Nicholas called the name while taking note of the Ms. before her name to know she was single.

”How about you, young man?” Nicholas continued to be the parrot present in the room. Even Lady Rosamonda was irked to the point that all she wanted to do was to stab the man’s mouth. But considering they came from a very highly influential family, she could only keep her thoughts to herself.

”Marco,” Marco replied in an obviously disinterested voice, but this didn’t stop a particular person’s face to be flushed which Perdita caught.

Lady Bethany? Did she like Marco? Have they met before?

Where had she seen her before? Perdita wondered while trying to remember where she had seen the face.

The introduction continued until the green-eyed people said their names which stopped at Serena sitting in the last chair. Lady Rosamonda and her children didn’t need to introduce themselves as they were well known in the kingdom.

”It is nice to meet you, wonderful people.” Nicholas continued to blabber, his eyes constantly peeking at Perdita once in a while.

Sthena who hadn’t spoken another word since he exchanged greetings with Perdita saw the way Nicholas was looking at Perdita. His lips curved upward in annoyance. For once he wanted to be a cat and scratch someone’s throat out.

Talking about the talkative man, Nicholas continued to speak even when no one responded to him. It was his father who responded to him with either a hum or a nod of his head when he asked for his opinion.

The next words of Nicholas had everyone stop eating. ”Ms. Kartar,” He called bringing Perdita’s attention to him and he went on to say, ”If I didn’t know better, I would have said that you and Lady Serena looked alike.”

Everyone stilled, the dining room suddenly becoming quiet as everyone now turned their gazes on Perdita and Serena, but more especially on Perdita.

”Someone is courting their death,” Princess Sarah muttered under her breath. The last time someone tried to hurt the Lady left some person with frozen hands that haven’t healed yet. The someone she was referring to was none other than her mother.

If Sthena’s nails initially wanted to scratch out the throat of Nicholas, he now wanted to cut his tongue.

”You may be right on that, Nicholas,” Mr. Gilberto said with a nod of his head, agreeing to the words of his son.

Nicholas’s smile widened as if excited to have discovered something. ”Of course, Father. I never make a mistake when it comes to things like this one.”

’But you are so useless in things that are of importance.’ Lady Bethany who was irritated by her brother’s rattling thought and inwardly rolled her eyes at her brother’s lame way to woo a Lady.

As if what Nicholas had spoken earlier was not enough, he added with the smile still stretched on his lips, ”If you look at them at a glance, you would say that Ms. Kartar is Lady Serena’s daughter.”