Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [86]
The ballroom was hung with long banners bearing the isbjørn and jagged sword symbol of the trolls. Musicians played their strange music in a high gallery opposite the dais. On the dais stood the troll queen, her yellow curls shining, dressed in a blue gown trimmed with isbjørn fur and embellished with diamonds and silver embroidery. She held out her arms to her daughter, who strode through the crowd and embraced her mother. The lass and Tova took up positions on one side of the dais, and all turned to wait for the prince.
He marched in with a dozen young male trolls. It wasn’t clear whether they were his attendants or his guards; probably both. He wore a white tunic and scarlet cloak, and on his head was a circlet of gold.
Prince Asher took his place beside the troll princess on the dais, not looking at the lass or Tova. The lass’s heart squeezed at the nearness of him, and his apparent indifference, but she told herself that it was only an act. The bridal pair clasped hands and turned to face the queen. They made a ridiculous couple: the troll with her long nose and bulging eyes, standing head and shoulders above her young, handsome bridegroom.
The troll queen raised her arms. “Our people, rejoice! After languishing alone for a dozen years, our beloved princess, the beauteous Indæll, has at last found a prince worthy of her!”
Monstrous howls rose from the troll court. They stamped and slapped their huge hands together in awful cacophony. Or at least, most of them did. The lass noticed that those trolls who were clad in skins and moss only scowled.
“And now, in the sight of those assembled, the most magnificent of our magnificent race, I shall join these two together.” The troll queen placed her hands atop the clasped hands of the prince and princess. “In the manner of our people you shall be joined together until one of you shall pass into the darkness below,” she intoned. “Until that dark day, Prince Asher of the humans, what do you offer Princess Indæll?”
“I offer all that I can offer: myself, until the day I pass into the darkness below,” the prince said in a monotone. “I shall protect her honor where it is challenged. I shall love her, and worship her, and submit to her until the end of my days.” It was plain that he was reciting a memorized speech.
There were more howls from the trolls, though the lass noticed that these were not as hearty. A few appeared bored, and the grim, old-fashioned trolls scowled even worse. Perhaps this was the speech required of all the princess’s husbands over the years.
“And now, Princess Indæll of the lands of ice and snow, what do you offer to Prince Asher?”
“I shall be a good wife, and shall love and cherish him all his days,” she simpered.
The lass shuddered, hearing the emphasis on “his days.” The princess, and everyone here, knew that she would long outlive Asher, but it bothered none of them. Well, none of the trolls, at least. The prince’s jaw tightened, and Tova clasped the lass’s hand again.
“But as an assurance of her wifely skills,” Asher said, “I wish for my bride to perform a task for me.”
The whole room froze. The lass felt cold sweat trickling down her spine beneath her satin gown. Then the trolls began to babble in low voices. It seemed that this had never happened before.
The prince lifted his hand and a centaur pushed through the crowd of watching trolls. It was the same centaur who had carried Asher to bed. He held a copper washtub full of water, and there was a small basket hanging from one elbow. With a flourish and a bow, he set his burdens down on the dais.
“Even when there are servants to do such work, a good wife should be able to wash her husband’s shirts as a gesture of fidelity,” the prince announced. “Or so it is said among my people.”
Tova snorted softly, and the lass gave