[b]Ella didn't like Marken's tone very much after she replied to his question, but she couldn't say she could blame him. He was dealing with a woman from a warring kingdom, one that he probably couldn't even [i]torture[/i] information out of.

His comment stung a little when he claimed that she could be betraying her king, but Ella took the comment in stride and decided not to tell Marken that her king might actually find her current position fortuitous. As a future princess she had sway in the politics here, as well as access to private rooms. Marken probably believed that Ella was after battle plans, but really, even something as simple as an accurate map of the country would do nicely for King George's purposes.

The spy was brought out of her thoughts as Marken led her to the lunch table, giving him a small smile and following him over. After the prince kindly helped her into her chair, he sat himself and Ella looked over the delicious food. Before she could grab her napkin, however, a maid came up to her chair and snatched it, gently placing it in Ella's lap. She could feel the young woman slip something into her pocket and forced herself to not react outwardly, but instead give the woman a smile and nod her way. Was it a letter, instructions from her king perhaps?

"So tell me," Ella mumbled as she was given a small portion of everything on the table, "What do you usually do with your spare time, your grace? Do you like to hunt, or perhaps study linguistics?" [/b]