Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 54: Rubies

Dark red gems glittered inside the box, which had been lined with cream coloured satin. Camilla carefully picked up a flawless jewel. It was actually one of several round cut rubies that had been strung on a ribbon of gold lace. There must have been half a dozen such ribbons carefully laid within the box.

Camilla stared at William with eyes full of questions. This was the last thing she had expected from him. She opened her mouth but the sound refused to come out.

He shrugged back at her, completely unruffled. "You seem to like wearing jewels in your hair. So I had a few threaded on ribbons for you." His eyes then flitted away from her, as if giving someone a small fortune in jewels was a common occurrence for him.

The room was completely silent and everyone stared at William as if he’d suddenly morphed into someone no one recognised. Even King Edward scanned the gift with his razor sharp gaze.

"Rubies..." the king mused in his gruff voice. "The gem of a virtuous woman."

"They are beautiful. Thank you." Camilla swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling a little guilty she’d suspected the prince of gifting her something awful. Then again, she had never met anyone as unpredictable as him.

Queen Celia spoke up. "They will look lovely with your colouring, Princess. Would you like a hand weaving them into your hair?"

Camilla smiled at the queen, who had always treated her so kindly. "I appreciate the offer, Your Majesty. But I think I’ll wear them for Twelfth Night."

"Alright then." William’s eyes were focused on the floor and his tone of voice suggested he really didn’t care whether she wore them or not. He leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat bored.

"Hmph! Why didn’t you think to choose something thoughtful like that for me, husband?" Princess Violet hissed, seemingly forgetting the many gifts she had already received and gloated about.

Prince Leo’s jaw dropped in disbelief and he let out a bad tempered roar. "If you’re not satisfied with the stole I spent a fucking fortune on for you, please feel free to throw it in the fireplace or give it to one of your maids. The same with your other gifts. I swear, there’s no way to make you happy, is there?"

Princess Violet burst into tears. No one tried to comfort her. Prince Rufus even yawned, which made the princess cry even harder.

Camilla glanced around, feeling very uncomfortable with the sudden turn of events. She was shocked to hear a married couple speak to each other with such blatant disrespect. The rest of the royal family however, ignored the exchange between Leo and Violet as if it were a common occurrence.

Camilla could feel Princess Violet’s hostile glare on her. She locked eyes with the elderst princess, whose catlike eyes were narrowed with angry tears.

Unphased, Camilla returned her gaze, refusing to be blamed for something that wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t even wanted to attend the gift giving in the first place.

She was aware however, that everyone’s gaze was still on the box of rubies. Only the queen looked completely unsurprised by the gift and continued to smile serenely. No one spoke.

Sensing the tension and the many unanswered questions lingering in the room, Prince James finally broke the silence by picking up another gift to present it to the correct recipient. Camilla aimed a grateful look in his direction.

- - -

The next morning, her ladies-in-waiting tumbled into Camilla’s bedchamber after her bath but before she was even properly dressed. The oldest of the maids frowned in displeasure but knew to keep her mouth shut.

Camilla merely laughed and had to lift the mug of warmed ale in her hands out of the way, to stop from spilling it as Meg flopped down onto the bed like an overexcited puppy.

"How was the gift exchange with the royal family last night, my lady?" Meg asked with enthusiasm as the other two ladies perched at the end of the bed.

"Oh, that. It was fine."

"Really? It was just fine, my lady?" Katerine’s disappointment was obvious. "Surely something interesting must have happened!"

Camilla was unsure how much to tell them, given she was still mulling over what the unexpected gift from the prince actually meant. William had seemed his usual cool, emotionless self when he’d given her the ribbons so perhaps the gesture hadn’t really meant much to him.

However, Camilla knew that was definitely not how her ladies would react to it. To distract them, she instead described at length some of the other gifts that had been exchanged within the royal family. The three ladies screamed with laughter as she described Princess Violet’s tasseled fur stole.

Elizabeth wiped tears from her eyes, still laughing. "No one will be able to keep a straight face when Her Highness is strutting around the court like a peacock in that monstrosity you’ve described, my lady."

Meg turned to look at Camilla a moment later, her eyes bright with curiosity. "Did you happen to receive any gifts, my lady?"

At first, Camilla said nothing but then nodded slightly, not trusting herself to lie convincingly to her friends. Besides, one of the ladies might be able to work out the meaning behind such a gift, because it was beyond her own understanding. She gestured towards the box she’d left on top of the chest at the end of her bed.

Being closest to it, Elizabeth grabbed the gift box and removed the lid. Upon looking inside, she gave a little cry of shock. "My lady," she breathed slowly. "Who gave you this?"

"Uh, it was...Prince William." Camilla was now second guessing her decision to tell them the truth, given Elizabeth’s reaction. Meg and Katerine hovered over Elizabeth’s shoulder to peer into the box. All three ladies then turned to stare at her in astonishment.

"The prince gave you these?" squeaked Meg.

Camilla nodded and felt herself blushing under their scrutiny. "Princess Violet was rather upset when she saw them." she admitted.

"Well of course she was!" Elizabeth replied tartly. "What lady wouldn’t be envious? Especially when you’re stuck being married to a man who sneaks whores into his chamber almost every night. But enough about her." She pointed a finger at the rubies. "We need to talk about this gift instead."

"Do you know what rubies even signify, my lady?" Katerine held a ribbon up to the light, admiring the fiery red of the stones.

"Well, yes, I think so. King Edward said they represent virtue..." Camilla mumbled, feeling extremely awkward.

"Not just that!" Meg made a dismissive gesture with her hands. "They also represent love. Rubies are considered drops of the very lifeblood of one’s heart."

Camilla gave a short laugh and shook her head. "Is that so? Well, I doubt the prince knew that either, otherwise he would’ve picked something else. It didn’t seem like the stone choice was anything very significant to him. He probably just chose a colour he thought I’d like."

The ladies gazed back at her sceptically.

"It’s true!" Camilla insisted.

"Or maybe this is his way of making a grand romantic gesture." Katerine was practically swooning with delight.

Camilla started to laugh harder. "Oh Katerine! You can’t mean that! Can you imagine the prince making a grand romantic gesture? That man loves no one. He won’t have the faintest idea of what a ruby means and more to the point, he won’t care."

"Mmmm. I don’t know, my lady. I mean, the prince has never been known to give anything like this to a lady before." Katerine’s voice was thoughtful. "And there’s other things..."

"What other things?"

"Well...he watches you."

The last comment struck Camilla as rather sinister. "What do you mean by that, Katerine?"

"Exactly that, my lady." Elizabeth said. "His eyes are on you almost constantly."

Camilla gaped at these words, which painted a completely different picture of William than the one she had in her own mind. As far as she could tell, the prince seemed to take pleasure in ignoring her. The very reason she had stopped speaking to him unless he initiated conversation first, was because of his habit of looking right through her. She found it humiliating to try and make conversation with someone who often pretended as if she wasn’t even there.

"I don’t think that’s right, Bess." Camilla finally said, wishing she could just end the awkward conversation. "Prince William has never liked me. Something about my presence makes him uncomfortable. I don’t know what I did to offend him but almost since the the day we met, he has mostly avoided me." She then clamped her lips together, making it clear she wasn’t interested in discussing William any further.

Meg shrugged and glanced one last time at the gems. "What will you do with such a gift then, my lady?"

"What else? Wear them for Twelfth Night. I gave the prince my word."