«Honesty is for honesty! I liked your companion Rebecca, though she was not amiable.»
«Yes, she can’t give hospitality.»
«But at least she set the table.»
«That’s not her.»
«Who is it?»
«They are the servants.»
«But I haven’t seen any servants here.»
«You don’t have to.»
«Are they all covering their faces, too?»
Have they got some kind of epidemic here? It’s time to run away! But Rebecca doesn’t seem to have leprosy.
«It’s embarrassing that I still don’t even know your name.»
«I am Rashelina,» said the princess.
«Are you Rashelina?» Brendan almost fell out of his chair. The same name as the fairytale beauty in his dream! Could he be so lucky to see her in real life, too? His heart fluttered. He was so in love with the girl from the dream that it was time to call him insane and put him on a chain. Barely had the chance to look at her again, he himself was ready to violate etiquette and violently rip the veil from the mistress of the castle.
«I’ll play you on the condition that you show me your face,» he delivered his ultimatum, as if he were the castle’s invader, not a beggar.
«But tonight is not a moonlit night.»
– What has a moonlit night to do with it?
That’s absurd! What does a moonlit night have to do with her veil?
«I usually only take my veil off on a moonlit night.»
«Why do you say that?»
Rashelina hesitated.
«Daylight, like candlelight, is not friendly to me.»
That sounds like a riddle. Brendan didn’t like riddles because he didn’t know how to solve them.
«I thought you’d taken some stupid vow, like a vow of silence or a vow of celibacy.»
But is there any vow that requires one to cover one’s face with a veil?
The lute played itself. Brendan was taken aback by the sight of the strings, as if they were being plucked by invisible fingers.
– I want to dance,» said Rachelina, fretting. – And there is no one to dance with but you.
«Take off your veil and I’ll dance with you!»
«It is very well!» Rashelina gave in and threw back the sliding piece of opaque silk from her face. Brendan was stunned.
Well, there you have it! Such a face was worth seeing. Or was it better not to see it?
And he brought up the subject of beauty. Rashelina was the prettiest she had ever been. But she was a cat! Who could have a cuter face than a pretty, fluffy cat? Except that he had expected to see the girl from his dream, not a human-sized cat dressed in a lavish ball gown.
«Would you prefer an ordinary lady?? Rashelina guessed.
«It is not at all,» Brendan mumbled. «I love cats!»
He would not have insulted the lady of the castle by dreaming that he had seen in her place the beauty of the dream. She was also called Rachelina. Alas, he was faced with a very different Rashelina. Perhaps the first was just a dream spirit, a moon fairy or something like that. Anyway, one could only meet her again in a dream. And now it is not a dream. Rashelina, impatiently waiting for him in reality, is just a regal cat. There is nowhere to go. He led her in a dance.
Invisible guests
The cat’s paw lay on top of his palm very gently, trying not to run her claws over his skin. And lace cuffs froth over the cat’s paw. Brendan had never before in his life seen precious rings even on the paws of a well-groomed Bastard. But the feline princess was wearing many rings: rubies, sapphires, and topazes. The cat’s kingdom is obviously very rich.
Stop! Why did he think it was a cat’s kingdom? After all, Rebecca is not a cat. And he hadn’t noticed any other feline subjects here yet, either. The creepy monsters in the fields were definitely not of feline stock. Which meant the cat was only a princess. Was her pretty, fluffy face a mask? Brendan dismissed the notion at once. The cat lady in front of him was definitely a natural, not a masquerade. Even the tone of her voice reverberated with a purr or a rumbling.
After the dance, the floor was covered in scratches. Apparently, the claws on the princess’s feet had left marks on the parquet.
«You weren’t as surprised as my other guests,» said Rachelina. «Have you seen anyone like me before?»
«I’ve seen a lot of things in my life,» Brendan brushed them aside.
«You’re too young to be a seasoned traveler. You’ve been a vagabond since you were a boy, haven’t you?»
Well, the cat princess had caught him in a lie. What should he do now? He could not tell her that he had only seen the world through Ephigenia’s crystal ball, but that he had been locked up in his uncle’s castle.
«To be honest, I adore cats,» Brendan twisted. «And your feline beauty is beyond all praise.»
«You are flatterer!» Of course, she didn’t blush like a human, but she looked embarrassed.
«I’m not a ladies’ man,» Brendan hastened to object. «I’ve never been a ladies’ man, but cats, in my opinion, are the loveliest creatures on earth. And you are the most extraordinary and delightful cat I have ever met.»
What other words to describe that he was struck by the sight of a cat in a gorgeous lady’s dress and with a tiara between its pointy ears.
«Was that a compliment?» Rashelina guessed.
«It is indeed!»
The cat princess looked strangely at the empty rows of chairs at the banquet table, as if she were waiting for approval from someone. But from whom is it? After all, there were no guests at the table. At least, there were none in sight. Brendan felt sick at the thought that there might be ghosts in the hall. One goblet suddenly tumbled and rolled between the dishes, as if someone had pushed it. And it wasn’t a mouse at all!
«Nearly all the mice in the place must have been captured,» Brendan suggested, just to say something.
«You’re right! There used to be lots of them, but now there are hardly any left. You can never have too many mice.»
