Heir to the Empire

26. A Privilege to Serve - Loldirr

"He spent all day searching around Ravenscourt for it, only to find out that they had been hidden in his breeches all-day!"

Loldirr laughed hysterically at Chrys' story from her childhood as they both rested within Loldirr's quarters after an intense day being entertained by the Emperor.

Chrys took it upon herself to start plating Loldirr's red locks, allowing Loldirr to sit, relax and take her mind off the trivial things of her first few days in court.

Their friendship had grown strong in the short time they had come to know each other. Despite their two winter gap, Chrys' abundant enthusiasm was infectious on Loldirr and it had given her the opportunity to have a life outside the stress of being the true Empress and apparent sorceress. Loldirr had grown fond of her, especially after how they both treated each other in public and in private.

Instinctively, Chrys took the role of serving girl to Loldirr in public like a duck to water, yet as the doors to the outside world were closed, their friendship blossomed, allowing them to laugh and joke and talk nonsense in a way that Loldirr had never experienced before.

"Where did you learn archery like that? The Emperor did not look best pleased when you beat him?" Chrys asked.

Loldirr sighed. Despite having a strong bond of friendship, Chrys had not been told of Loldirr's history, as far as she was concerned, Loldirr was indeed the daughter of Lord Fargold.

"Just lots of practice," Loldirr replied as flippantly as possible.

"I wish I could learn archery, sometimes I envy you people of nobility." Chrys smiled as her hands glided effortlessly through Loldirr's hair.

Thinking back to the last few days of truly seeing what the world of nobility was like, Loldirr sighed once more. "Trust me, it's not as glamorous as it looks from the outside. It seems I have to spend a lot of time doing things I do not necessarily want to do."

"I hear you, " Chrys replied, "like marriage, one day you'll probably be told to marry someone."

Loldirr twisted around with a distraught look on her face. "Marriage? Why on earth would I want to do that?"

"We all dream of finding our knight in shining armour, the one who will whisk us away from those of evil. Or perhaps they will storm through the castle keep like a pouncing tiger in their black leather and trimmed beard. In reality, though, someone will tell you to marry someone else because it will strengthen an alliance or something like that. Or least that's what Da' tells me will happen." Chrys responded, her voice all dreamy and flowing.

"Black leather and trimmed beard, that's very specific." Loldirr smiled, "You aren't referring to Ethelston are you?"

Chrys giggled "Lord Ethelston is such a dream isn't he?"

Loldirr laughed as her friend started to stroke her hair with more fervour. "Ethelston just really isn't my type." Her laugh died down as she realised that she didn't know what her type was. "Besides, he snores so loud!" her smile returned.

Chrys instantly stopped playing with Loldirr's hair, "Wait have you...?"

Loldirr's eyes widened when she realised what she had just said, quickly spinning around she instantly backtracked on her previous comment "Good gods no... We had to stay together... on our travels! We've never... I've never..." her whole face turned red like a beetroot.

Chrys looked at her eyes briefly, studying her response, "Oh my gods, you truly haven't." she giggled.

Turning around, Loldirr didn't want Chrys to see how embarrassed she had become with the direction the conversation had gone. As a quiet descended the room, Loldirr eventually asked: "Have you?"