The Cup of the World Read Online Free Page A

beside her. She was wearing court dress, so she must have followed Phaedra out of the hall.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I saw you leave. I wondered why’
    Phaedra remembered that her name was Maria. She had a pleasing, oval face, with big eyes and heavy cheeks framed with light-brown hair. Perhaps she had hung back when the others had teased Phaedra that morning. But Phaedra was suspicious, and did not want to risk being laughed at again.
    ‘I like it here,’ she said, as if she had been coming to this fountain for centuries.
    ‘So do I. I thought it could be my private little place in Tuscolo. But of course everybody knows about it. I heard someone say it is the centre of the world.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I imagine they meant that it is the centre of Tuscolo, and therefore of the Kingdom. If that means it's the centre of the world, well … I suppose there must be lands beyond the wild Marches, but nothing comes from them. And Father says there are kingdoms over the sea, but only the mariners of Velis know how to get there, and they will not give away their secrets. Whatever the truth of that, it is certain that this court and fountain were built by Wulfram's sons. So they are as old as the world we know, at least.’
    She was not teasing Phaedra for leaving the ceremony. Indeed, she seemed happy to play truant with her. Perhaps she too had been bored and disgusted in there. But Phaedra did not want to be easily won back. So she observed a dark silence, to show how much she had been hurt by the others that afternoon.
    ‘And the world knows you are a woman now,’ said Maria. ‘Or at least, all of the world that matters. Presented before the King and princes themselves. No one did as much for me. You made an impression up there, I could see. What was it they said to you?’
    Silence did not seem to work as well as Phaedra felt it should.
    ‘I – I was remembering that woman we saw today, on trial,’ she said. ‘I think I must have frowned at the King. He wanted to know why’
    Frowned? She had been scowling, she realized: at the King, who was supposed to be the Fount of the Law!
    ‘Oh, Angels!’ Maria laughed. ‘And what did you say?’
    Phaedra shrugged. She felt ashamed of what she had said.
    ‘The others will have fits when I tell them—’
    ‘Please don't,’ Phaedra said firmly.
    ‘Oh dear. Well, I shall not then. And I'm sorry if we upset you, Phaedra. I thought it was all nonsense, too.’
    ‘They said we weren't good enough,’ Phaedra said, hoping she would be told at once how high and noble Trant was and that its wardens were respected throughout the Kingdom (although Father's grandfather had himself been a dog-knight, of course).
    ‘Good enough for what? If they meant marrying a prince, you've no less chance than the rest of them. You have looks. And Trant is a big name: one of the seven, even if it is not your father's of right. Whatever you did back there, I'd say Septimus was quite struck with you. He was looking your way just now, all the while that they were presenting those other girls.’
    ‘I didn't notice,’ said Phaedra, who had.
    ‘I did, and I doubt that I was the only one. But in truth, it is only the most powerful families who can count the odds of an alliance with the crown. They keep their daughters and cousins and nieces muffled away behind lace and locked doors against the prospect – poor things. Prince Barius is an impressive man, but he thinks of little beyond his devotions. He would much rather have been a monk, you know …
    ‘Of course marrying princes is a dream, Phaedra. We have to dream. We have to put a face on tomorrow. You should be sorry for us, not angry. And sorry for yourself, too. Do you know what – or rather who – will be waiting for you when you return home?’
    ‘No one. I'm not going to marry’
    She heard Maria sigh, softly.
    The last sunlight played on the waters at the centre of the world. In the branches of the fruit trees, doves cooed loudly at