Isaura was actually enjoying herself for a change. She had been feeling better in the last week, the exhaustion of the past months seemed to have partially departed and she had actually accepted the invitation to dine with the other members of her husband’s family. It had been a bit of a struggle to ready herself for the engagement, the mere act of pulling her dress over her head made her breathless. But Lochan had helped her, combing her long thinning hair in such a way as to hide the bald patches. With careful hands he had fastened the necklace he had given her when they first met, kissing her softly on the back of her neck.

And now she was having a lovely evening, conversing with her friends. She thought it was a shame that her husband obviously wasn’t. She stole a quick glance in his direction and saw his face wrinkled in distaste as he watched Garrick shoveling his food into his mouth. She thought the Baron was being a little less than polite this night, but it was probably due to the large amount of wine he had been consuming steadily since they had sat down.

Not that he was the only one, the King had been matching him drink for drink and she could hear him slurring his words slightly. Her husband had barely touched his drink, he had never been one to join in on the drunken revelry his friends often participated in. She was glad though, she thought it would be unpleasant to have a sozzled husband pawing his way into her bed after a long night drinking.

Garrick sat up straight his mouth full and his eyes glazed. She noticed small breadcrumbs clinging to his beard, and a red stain on his shirt where he had spilled his wine earlier. She felt a bit sorry that Cindra had to share a bed with him later the night. And every night for that matter, Lochan had told her that lately Garrick was drunk most evenings. Then again Cindra probably didn’t mind, half the time she was tipsy herself.

She daintily lifted the fork to her mouth to hide a smile when Garrick began to converse with her husband, his mouth still partly filled with food. She had to admit to herself she was slightly shocked at his behaviour, as far as she could remember he had always had good manners before. He really must have drunk a great deal, perhaps he had already been drinking before they arrived.

The door opened and Cindra waddled in, lowering herself ungraciously into the chair with a thump.

“What did I miss?”, she asked, pulling the chair towards the table. Isaura thought Garrick should have stood and helped her but she did not comment on it.

“I can’t stand the way this baby is always making me rush off and miss what’s happening”, she said grinning, “but he seems to think that putting his foot where he really shouldn’t is a rather good joke”.

Isaura thought it rude to discuss such things at the dinner table, especially when the men were around. But Cindra had always been gauche and that probably wasn’t gone to change now they were so far removed from the rigors of high society.

“Not much actually my dear”, Garrick slurred stifling a belch, “actually I was just going to ask her highness how her figure stays so fine while you’re starting to look like a little pudding?”

“So, Your Highness, whatsh your secret? Becaush you should really impart that knowledge to my wife I think. Perraps she’s just carrying a bigger baby than you”.

“Wouldn’t you agree my dear”, he said turning to Cindra with an unpleasant leer on his face.

Isaura was speechless. She did not know where to look. With that one stupid sentence the Baron had managed to not only insult his poor little wife, but also the Queen. Isaura thought it obvious that Madlenka was very concerned about the health of her baby. She had felt that way too in the beginning, now she was too tired to feel anything anymore.

She looked up to see Garrick and Cindra staring at each other. Cindra looked as though she had been struck, her lower lip quivering slightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

Isaura thought it was odd. Garrick had never been so tactless with his wife, as far as she could see he absolutely adored the little woman and it was often he who came to her aid when she had said something stupid. But you never knew how people were when they were alone, perhaps the two were having problems and only now they were coming out in the open.

“Steady on there Garrick”, Eallair said with a concerned look, that was suddenly very sober, “you know women don’t like to talk about these things with us silly old fools around”.

“What! Why are you all looking at me like I’ve kicked a puppy? I didn’t say anything wrong”, Garrick said his voice raising belligerently, as he struggled to defend himself, “I was just making a comment to my friends”.

“And one of those friends you are possibly forgetting Garrick, is the Queen”, she heard her husband hiss between his teeth, “and perhaps it isn’t so appropriate to be commenting on her figure, don’t you think?”

She looked over at Lochan’s face, and saw his jaw was tightly set, his eyes half closed. She knew this was the face he made when he was trying to reign in his anger. He had never used it against her but she had seen it often enough.

Actually perhaps she wasn’t feeling so well after all. Her head was begin to throb painfully, and a desperate urge to cough was building within her. Maybe she should just excuse herself from the room, so she could be alone in the dark and the quiet, away from the anger, away from the people.

She stole another glance at her husband and saw that his eyes were resting on his cousin. Cindra sat opposite him her little head bowed as she stared fixedly at her dinner plate, pushing a piece of meat around with her fork.

“And another thing!”, Lochan suddenly barked from beside her, “Do you think it’s right to upset your wife like this! She deserves better than that”.

Isaura was suprised at the severity of her husband’s reponse. She knew that Lochan had been very fond of his little cousin when they were children. But she had thought he now looked upon her as a silly, tactless girl who was always making trouble in their small court. Perhaps his feelings had changed. He had not mentioned that to her though.

“Come now Lochan”, Eallair said with a forced smile on his face, his tone congenial, “this is just a misunderstanding. Perhaps Garrick did not think about what he was saying before it left his mouth. That happens to all of us at times. Can we just settle down… there’s no need to get angry”.

Isaura really was not feeling well. Her head felt so heavy on her neck she could barely hold up the weight of it. Her stomach was restless and she wished she had not eaten so much food. The urge to cough was now becoming unbearable. If she could just sit through Eallair’s reconciliatory speech then she could leave.

“Isaura dear”, she heard Madlenka’s voice interrupting the King’s monologue.

She looked up at the Queen’s, concerned face, confused at this development.

“I think your nose is bleeding”.

She gasped, humiliated, the sharp intake of breath almost letting the cough forming in her lungs explode from her mouth. Her hand flew up to her face, where she felt a thick fluid coming from her nose. She drew back her hand staring at it and saw it was smeared with dark red blood.

She stumbled to her feet, so quickly she almost passed out her head spinning uncontrollably for a few seconds.

“I… I’m so sorry. I must leave. Sorry”, she croaked from behind the cough.

She heard her husbands chair scraping against the floor, as he leapt to her assistance. His strong arm was around her frail waist, and she leant heavily against him as he led her from the room.

Murchadh, Tadhgar, The Royal Family