Page 42 of Night's Fall
But for everyone else, you could just sort of…bob.
You had to wait for the king or queen to tell you to rise.Butall the rest, you just did your thing and got straight again.
I’d also learned the manners of address.
His (or her)RoyalMajestyfor the king and queen.Yourmajesty would suffice.
His (or her)RoyalHighnessfor the princes and princess.Yourhighness would suffice.
Your grace, for dukes, duchesses, marquesses and marchionesses.
My lord or lady for anyone else, except knights and dames.Theywere sir or dame.
“But those last are old school,”MadamGarwahhad barked, but then, she barked everything.Hermanner of address had been alarming at first, untilIrealized that was simply how she talked. “Ifthere’s a count or baron who expects you to refer to him as ‘milord,’ rest assured, he’s a pompous poppycock.Simplyrefer this matter to the prince, and he’ll see to putting the male in his place straightaway.”
I was kind of hoping some pompous poppycock made me call him “milord” just soIcould see howAlekseihandled it.
We’d moved on to how you entered a room or sat at a table (entering a room: in order of succession, but she informed meIdidn’t really need to worry about this, forI’dbe onAleksei’sarm; sitting a table: once the king, queen andTrueHeirwere seated, it was free for all).
You didn’t eat or drink until the king imbibed (or the queen if the king wasn’t around).Andyou were finished when they were if you were taking a meal with them (“Butnever you mind, bothKingFillionandQueenCalisahave made an art of lingering over meals so their guests can get their fill.”)
It was all ridiculous, of course, but still fascinating.
“So, it’s like a constant reminder that you’re in the presence of your leader,”Istated. “Something, way back when, they had to do, because if someone questioned the leader, things got real, as in assassination attempts, coups and wars breaking out.Allof this was an effort to control even the subconscious, so in every way, from entering a room to how you addressed them to when you had to stop eating, you knew who the boss was.”
MadamGarwahstopped pacing and banging her cane and whirled toward me.
Once she did, her piercing eyes took their time examining me, andIcouldn’t be sure, but it seemed like she was a good deal more interested than she had been for the last forty-five minutes.
“Precisely,” she decreed.
“And now it serves what purpose?”Iqueried.
She squinted her eyes. “Ibeg your pardon?”
I tossed up a hand. “Well, we vote for our representatives atCentral.Andin our parishes.Everyrealm has a monarchy, but we’re all democracies.Thevast majority of people will never meet a royal, or even an aristocrat.”
She rocked back, situated her cane dead center in front of her and placed both hands one on top of the other on the carved dragon head at the pinnacle. “Ah, the world is more civilized, so we no longer need to adhere to the civilities.”
“Is it a civility to expect someone to bow to you?”
“Is it not true thatNight’sFallandSky’sEdgewere locked in brutal war for four centuries?” she retorted. “Andeven during the period ofGreatPeace, those of theEdgepicked at our borders constantly, to the point they eventually broke thatGreatPeace.”
“Our last war ended in 1932,”Ireplied. “Nearlytwo hundred years ago.”
“And do you not think theTrueHeirannihilating their king and much of his castle to end that constant conflict is not something that still burrs under the skin of those that live in theEdge?”
Was she for real?
“Are you saying you think there’s a possibility that some lunatic has designs on harming theRoyalFamilybecause those of theEdgeare still smarting after we ultimately spanked their behinds because they reneged on an agreement after they used our dragons to conquer the trolls who had all but vanquished them nearly eight hundred years ago?”
“I’m sayingtheydon’t believe they reneged on anything at all, hence six hundred years of war and skirmishes between our realms,” she shot back.
“And curtsying keeps that in check?”
“Regardless of our modern weaponry, the dragons would fly if anything happened toKingFillion.”
They absolutely would.
