Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 44: Flashback: A Different Kind of Father

William was stunned, staring mutely. Surely he had misunderstood. Was that duke actually offering to help him? He wasn’t going to yell at him about how he should be utterly ashamed of his complete lack of skill?

William paused to consider this strange turn of events but then found himself slowly nodding, drawn in by the kindness in the man’s tone. Duke Robert gestured silently for him to pick up another arrow. William did so and then felt the duke’s firm hands on his shoulders, straightening his spine and positioning him slightly differently.

"I struggled with the very same problem at first. The trick, lad," the duke said in his low, lilting voice, "is to always aim slightly higher than your target. The further you are from the bullseye, the higher you need to aim."

"B-b-but - but how do you know how much higher to aim, sir? What if your arrow misses completely and goes over the target?"

"Practice, my boy! You have plenty of time on your side yet. As you get older, your eye will sharpen and your strength will increase. Very soon, what I’m telling you now just becomes instinct. I have no doubt you’ll make a very fine archer in a few years."

William peered at the man’s face suspiciously. Was the duke mocking him? Who even spoke that way to children, especially children who weren’t his own? But looking into Duke Robert’s friendly gaze, William found no reason to think the words of encouragement were anything but sincere.

"Now, take your aim and shoot at the target. Remember my words as you do."

William gritted his teeth and tried to focus only on what the duke was instructing as he lined up his arrow. He took a deep breath and released the bowstring. The arrow whizzed through the air and pierced the second inner ring of the target. His mouth dropped open is disbelief as the stared at the shot. He then had to quickly blink away the tears of pride and happiness that threatened to well up.

Duke Robert stood up, grinned and patted him on the back. Even Prince Malcolm gave him a genuine smile and clapped at the obvious improvement.

"A very nice shot, my boy." The duke congratulated him. "Next time you line up a shot, be sure to keep this moment in your mind."

- - -

That evening, yet another extravagant banquet was held by the king and queen to formally celebrate the Duke of Arlington’s visit. The great hall glowed with a thousand beeswax candles and was decorated in dark green silk hangings, the colour of the Moraigthian royal house. Hundreds of guests were crammed into the hall, decked out in all their finery. William noticed many people were wearing dark green to honour Duke Robert, including Their Majesties themselves.

William absolutely hated being forced to attend formal banquets. It always meant being forced to wear uncomfortable clothing and sit next to his father for hours, feeling like the eyes of the entire court were on him as he ate. The adults would talk about boring topics that he didn’t understand. Some bard would inevitably recite long unintelligible poems or warble some useless songs.

Prince Johan expected his son to sit through it all without complaint and William would feel his father’s iron gaze boring into him, watching and waiting for the slightest mistake.

Banquets only became tolerable after a few hours, when the haughtiest court ladies had retired and the men were too drunk to pay close attention to the children. That’s when William would at last be able to meet up with Tom and some of the other noble boys he was friends with, and inevitably cause a little mischief. Up until recently, his cousin Rufus had always been amongst their fun, though lately Rufus had started acting as if he was above their company.

The hours ticked on painfully slowly. The servants brought out dish after extravagant dish. Numerous toasts were made at the high table. William started feeling queasy from being forced to take so many sips of wine, even if his wine had been watered down as was customary for children.

Eventually, the main courses were finally cleared away and platters of fruit and sweetened nuts were laid out on the tables. Ballads were then sung in the same odd accent the Duke and his children spoke with.

William struggled desperately to keep his eyes open. Duke Robert, however, seemed to enjoy the ballads a great deal, even tipping the singer with a gold coin. After that, the court musicians started playing lively tunes and the evening’s dancing began.

Tom was nowhere to be seen, laid low that night with a sore throat. The same illness had also struck down his friends Francis and Richard. William was in an agony of boredom. In desperation he even cast his eyes around and looked for Rufus, who he spotted trying to flirt with a young lady in a green dress. Clearly, Rufus wasn’t going to be any help whatsoever tonight.

Instead, William found himself awkwardly sitting at the high table next to Prince Malcolm, who seemed content enough to watch the dancing couples while munching on honeyed almonds. Malcolm had hung his formal jacket on the back of his chair and was sitting in only his dark blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up haphazardly.

William found himself intrigued by the Moraigthian lad. He always seemed so cheerful and sure of himself. He also always looked calm in the presence of his own father and never on edge, with no fear that one wrong move would earn him a cuff around the head or having his ears boxed.

William was fascinated by the Duke of Arlington as well, who genuinely seemed to like the company of children and youths. During these last few days, he had seen Duke Robert embrace his son and speak to him kindly on many occasions. He had seen the man cradle his daughter on his lap, covering her face in ticklish kisses until the little girl had screamed with laughter. William didn’t know such fathers existed.

Looking across the dance floor, he could see Duke Robert dancing with a Islian noblewoman in a deep green gown. All night, several of the most beautiful court ladies had surrounded Duke Robert in open admiration and had fought for his attention. Even Lady Briar, Prince Johan’s favourite mistress, had been caught peeking at the handsome duke several times through her lashes. This had caused a drunken Prince Johan to roar at her and Lady Briar had ended up leaving the banquet in floods of tears.

Father didn’t need to make such a big deal about it, thought William sourly. It’s not like Duke Robert had paid any special attention to Lady Briar or any of the other women around him. While he was smiling and courteous, he seemed to keep a polite distance from them all.

William would never even dream of telling his father that, of course. His opinion was never asked for.

On the other side of the dance floor, William saw Prince Malcolm’s sister. She was dancing with the young son of the Marquis of Niarnol. Her long dark hair fanned out around her face as she was spun around by the youth. He could hear her joyful, childish laughter from his seat.

"You can ask her to dance, if you like."

"What?" William looked at the Moraigthian lad next to him in confusion.

"My sister." Prince Malcolm explained, swallowing a mouthful of almonds and gesturing towards the young girl. "You can ask her to dance. It won’t bother me." He had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and his father’s merry eyes, amber in colour.

"What makes you think I want to?"

Malcolm shrugged and snickered. "Well, I don’t know. You keep staring at her, so I just figured."

William felt his face going red and scowled ferociously. "You’re wrong. I don’t even like girls." It was true. Girls were pointless creatures. Despite what Malcolm had just said though, his eyes landed on the little girl again, who whirled around as if she didn’t have a single care in the world.

Malcolm shrugged again. "I don’t really mind if you like her. She gets a lot of attention. All the lords’ sons and squires like dancing with her at home. And the young stable hands pick flowers for her all the time." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Why? What for?"

"They just like her, I guess. Probably because Father says in a few years Camilla will be the greatest beauty on the continent, apart from Mother."

William scrunched his face in disbelief. "Really. You can’t say your mother is the most beautiful woman if you haven’t seen every other woman on the continent to compare, can you?"

Malcolm merely laughed and popped another almond in his mouth, slouching back lazily in his chair. "And you can only say that because you haven’t seen my mother."