“Let us see what our rings will do,” said Gai, glancing at her twin, and they turned the pale green tourmalines into the light.
“Oh look, now and again they glint blue,” said Joie.
In the sunlight, Lisette’s ruby burned with fire.
Colette’s opaque sardonyx ring did not transform the light, though the stone was quite elegant and different from the others, its bands of brown and tan and white clearly beyond the ordinary. “Oh, my,” she said, “how striking. Perhaps I’ll pretend that it came from some mysterious suitor and make Luc jealous.”
Maman, unable to resist, pushed her red-and-green bloodstone across the table and into a sunbeam streaming onto the walnut wood, but her stone was opaque as well, and though the red flecks within the dark green stood out brilliantly, the stone itself did not break the light, and she huffed and returned to her rashers and eggs.
“Where did you get these, Camille?” asked Felise.
“From Alain,” replied Camille. “When we decided that I would come for a visit, the prince asked me what birthdays each of you had and then selected the gifts specifically to match the months I named.”
Aigrette’s eyes widened, and she reached out and took up the bloodstone ring. “These are from the prince himself?”
“Yes, Maman.”
“Well, then.” Aigrette slipped the band onto her finger and held her hand up so that she could see it. Then she resumed eating.
Camille sighed heavily, but Giles said, “Maman, when you believed the gift was from Camille, you thought it quite insignificant; but a gift from the prince himself, well now, that was different. Yet, in between your assumption and the revelation of the truth, the ring itself did not miraculously transform. Tell me, Maman-”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” snapped Aigrette.
Giles fell mute, but he turned to Camille and grinned.
A silence descended ’round the table, but finally Camille looked from sister to sister and asked, “So you have suitors?”
A babble broke out, all sisters talking at once:
“Luc and I are engaged, and-”
“I’m married, Camille, to Allard-”
“I believe that Javert is getting quite serious, though whether to me or Gai, I cannot-”
“Oh, Camille, you should have been here when the men first began to come to call. They would take us out to the wishing well and toss in coins and-”
“They still do,” called Gai, her voice rising above the others. “Just last eve, Philippe tossed in a gold coin and wished for a kiss from me and-”
“-and she gave him much more than just a-” interjected Joie, suddenly breaking off and glancing at Aigrette, even as Gai jabbed an elbow into her twin’s ribs. Amid quiet titters, conversation stilled.
Maman cleared her throat and said, “As to Phillipe, his prospects are quite dismal. Instead I suggest that one of you consider Lord Jaufre-”
“Maman!” cried Gai. “He’s old and fat and always trying to slobber a kiss on me.”
“And all he speaks of are his hounds,” added Joie.
“And he pants and sweats,” added Gai, “and whenever he gets a chance he presses against my bosom.”
“Well,” said Lisette, first glancing at her mother, then looking at the pair, “you let others kiss you, and, I suspect, caress you as well, perhaps even fondle.”
“Lisette!” cried the twins.
“Maman,” interjected Felise, “Lord Jaufre is an old roue. I wouldn’t wish him off on even one of his dogs, much less a sister of mine.”
Aigrette glared down the table. “I will not have you speaking this way of our houseguest; why, Jaufre could come down the stairs at any moment and overhear these slurs.”
“He knocked on my door last night,” said Colette, “and asked me if I was in bed. I didn’t answer. I didn’t let him in, either. After a while he went away.”
“The old seducer,” growled Felise.
Maman rapped a spoon against the table. “Now listen and listen to me welclass="underline" by one of you marrying Lord Jaufre it will increase our fortune considerably.” She gestured at Camille. “Besides, having another royal personage in the family will raise our status as well.”
“Maman!” cried the twins and Colette. Camille shuddered in revulsion as she remembered her dance with Lord Jaufre, and she could not imagine anyone desiring him as a mate. Lisette also shuddered at the prospect of being wedded to that old roue, but she nodded in agreement with Aigrette.
But then Papa said, “Aigrette, it will not happen, not only because our filles will not have it so, but neither will Lord Jaufre. I think he is here to eat our food and drink our wine and seduce anyone he can, and nothing more.”
Aigrette seethed in fury and through clenched teeth said, “Henri, be silent!”
None said aught for a while, but then Felise asked Camille, “What does Prince Alain look like?”
“Well, he’s a head or so taller than me, and slender, yet quite well built, with black hair and grey eyes and full lips and gentle hands… he plays the harpsichord.”
“Is he handsome?” asked Colette. “My Luc is quite beautiful.”
“Beautiful?” said Joie. “I would not describe him that way.”
“Well, I think it so,” snapped Colette.
Papa smiled at Colette and said, “That’s all that matters, Letty. If you think him beautiful and let him know, it will fill his heart.” Henri then glanced at Aigrette.
Aigrette huffed, and spread butter on a biscuit.
Colette smiled at her father, then turned again to Camille. “Is he handsome: your Prince Alain?”
“My Allard is quite handsome,” said Felise. She smiled at Colette. “Do you remember how splendid he looked at the wedding?”
Gai clapped her hands and turned to her twin. “Oh, and what a grand wedding that was.”
Joie nodded in agreement and said to Camille, “There were spring flowers and guests galore, and a heirophant came from Rulon to bless the union.”
“It was quite lovely,” admitted Lisette.
“Oh, Maman, when it is my turn, I do hope to have a wedding just as beautiful,” said Colette.
“And, for me, a groom as handsome as Allard,” added Joie.
For a moment silence fell, all but Camille remembering that day. But then Colette said, “I wish you had been here, Camille. Still, you did not answer my question: is Prince Alain handsome?”
Camille shrugged. “I don’t know. I have never seen him without a mask.”
“What?” cried several at once. “ A mask?”
Aigrette dropped her knife aclatter to the table. “You mean you have never seen his face?”
“No, Maman.”
“What prince would wear a mask? Why, he could be a robber, a thief, an outlaw, to always go masked like that.”
“No, Maman. He is no outlaw, but truly is the Prince of the Summerwood.”
Frowning, nevertheless Felise came to Camille’s defense. “Maman, mayhap he is simply disfigured-a scar, a wen, a gape, the aftermath of pox, or some such.”
“Perhaps a birthmark,” added Papa.
“ Ooo, ” said Giles, his eyes wide in speculation, and he peered ’round the table and whispered loudly, “What if there’s nothing under the mask but just a bony, skeleton skull?”
Now the twins’ eyes flew wide in alarm.
“No, Giles,” replied Camille. “Not true, for every eve I see his lips and his eyes, and although I have never seen his visage, I have felt the contours of his face, the flesh of his cheeks and jaw, brow, nose, chin, and, of course, his gentle mouth. No, Giles, there is no”-Camille grinned and raised her hands in mock fear-“ ooo, bony, skeleton skull under the mask.”
“Oh,” Giles said, his face falling in disappointment, underneath which hid a grin.
“This mask, does he never take it off?” asked Lisette.
Camille blushed. “He does not wear it in bed.”
“And still you have not seen his face?”
“The room is quite dark, Lisette.”