Lorenz visibly clenched his teeth.
“Faunus will find him, my brother,” Mars assured and looked to Nyx. “He will find your friend and bring him home.”
Nyx looked away, her lips thin with the effort to stop them from trembling.
“Go home, my friends, have a quiet Miet,” Mars encouraged. “For tomorrow, we have prisoners to interview and executions to plan. Chu was correct, there is much to be done to finish with this Rising. He just does not need to be here to do it.”
“And Queen Ophelia?” Lorenz asked.
“She will be a great loss,” Mars answered. “But I would wager now, with this shift in Serena, whoever she names as her successor, we will continue to enjoy good relations. Thus, if things are enough in hand, Silence and I will journey up to the Great Wohd, take it to the Seil and make Sky Bay for Elena and Cassius’s wedding, which I am certain, considering recent communications, will soon be pending.”
“And the Beast?” Lorenz persisted.
“It is my understanding we are stronger together, so to be in the Bay with Elena and Cassius, closer to True and Farah, Aramus and Ha-Lah, should he surface, we will be in a more advantageous position.”
Lorenz said nothing.
“I cannot imagine, if one dear to me, say…you,” Mars began, “was taken by the enemy, your location, their intention, your condition unknown, how I would feel. Except I would feel fury at my powerlessness. So, I urge you to do things you have power over, Lorenz, until we can find Tedrey, bring him home and beset those who took him with your vengeance.”
“I should have had more than one guard on my home,” Lorenz gritted.
“This is not your fault,” Mars replied.
“He did not only take Teddy, he almost killed my wife.”
“I am right here, amore,” Nyx murmured.
“Do something you have power over,” Mars urged.
“We will call Persephone,” Nyx said.
“I don’t want to fuck,” he bit at his wife. “I want to hurt something.”
“Then we will go to the District, find someone who likes to be hurt, and then we will fuck,” Nyx returned.
Lorenz scowled at his love.
Nyx rose. “The District at Miet is the best place to be.” She looked to Mars. “My apologies, my king. Elpis always hosted a very good orgy. But the District…”
She did not finish that, and she did not have to.
For obvious reasons, from the time he’d come of age to participate in them, he’d always avoided his mother’s orgies and celebrated Miet in the District.
“I’m going to Heden, do you go with me?” Nyx asked her husband.
Lorenz made a noise.
And then he approached his wife, took hold, and with but a dip of his chin to his king and queen, he hauled her out of the room.
When the door latched behind them, Mars took hold on his own wife, dragging her arse across the desk so she sat in front of him.
Before he could do more, however, she caught his wrists, and he looked up at her.
“I find all this talk of the District intriguing,” she murmured.
Mars felt his face softening before he shared, “On a normal day, I fear it would be too much for you, piccolina. So on Miet, it would be overwhelming.”
“If it is, would my king not take me away?” she asked.
“There is much smoke, ashesh, taibac, koekah, spirits, women and men, women and women, men and men.”
“Mars.”
“Tethers, instruments.”
Her brows rose. “Instruments?”
Yes, this would be too overwhelming for her.
“You have great passion, mio ardente, but I fear you are not prepared for the District at Miet. Perhaps next year,” he decided.
“It is your holiday.”
“And I will share it with you, piercing your navel, claiming your body as mine.”
“It already is yours, Mars,” she pointed out. “The Rising and the threat of the Beast and journeys and losses and wedding and quarrels and fathers who are not fathers and friends abducted from homes. Soon, we will prepare to leave for Sky Bay. And after that, we cannot know. But there is always something. There will always be something. In all this, I am your queen. I am the Queen of Firenze. We are here now. This is my land, my home. When it is all done, this will still be my land, my home. Should I not know it? Experience it? Share in it with you?”
He examined her face then noted, “You very much wish to go.”
That pink he adored hit her cheeks again, and she nodded.
She had much passion, his queen. Such spirit.
His brazen wanton.
He nearly smiled.
He did not.
“You will say if it is too much?” he demanded.
“I will always be honest with you, my darling king,” she replied.
“Come here,” he ordered.
She bent to him and offered him what he wished.
Thus, Mars took her mouth.
Then he took her hand as he straightened from his chair and pulled her off the desk before him.
“Do you wish to bathe, arrange your hair?” he queried.
“Do people turn themselves out extravagantly for Miet?
“Most wear nothing at all.”
She grinned. “Then I think I am fine. We can bathe later, together, after we return, before you pierce me.”
“This will be our deal,” he murmured.
She smiled up at him.
He smiled down at her.
Then he guided her from the room and called for their mounts.
The People of Firenze
Heden District, Fire City
FIRENZE
It was coming to be no surprise to the citizens of Fire City when they saw their queen as she was with their king during their celebrations.
They were much attuned to each other, King Mars and his Silence.
And although she looked on curiously, a natural reserve in her demeanor, she by no means looked on with disgust or distaste or any such reactions what they thought a Dellish would have.
Indeed, she seemed quite taken with the proceedings.
And as ever, her husband seemed quite taken with her.
She wore a lovely gown that caressed her body, hiding most from view, but nevertheless enhancing it.
It was much like the gowns many of the other women had made especially for the celebrations and were wearing, or partly wearing or were littering the floors and halls and rooms and stairwells and pavements.
There was one thing many noted was not reserved about their new Queen Silence.
The smiles she shared with their king.
She was openly just as smitten with him as he was with her.
And indeed, she partook of wine and puffs of smoke and witnessing (though not participating in, but that was no matter, there were many who did not do as such) the activities of the celebrations, doing this entirely unashamedly.
Many who observed their king and queen in the District were not in any shape to think much on it at the time.
But as the next day dawned—and as tales were told, the days after and the weeks, those who did witness her there, or her riding to attend her friend, or her about the marketplaces with her guard, would come to the same conclusion.
Silence of Wodell, nay, Silence, Queen of Firenze would do for their King Mars.
Yes, she would do.
Very well, indeed.
King Mars
At the Entrance to Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
“Quickly,” she urged as Mars pulled her from her steed.
It was not he who needed to be told that.
It was she, with her shorter legs who would have to rush to keep up.
Her skirts sailed out behind her, exposing her beautiful legs, as he practically dragged her up the palace steps.
It would be in the entryway that he tugged on her hand so hard, she cried out and flew through the air, only
for him to catch her in his arms, turn right, and stride swiftly down the hall toward his study.
He locked the door behind them.
He did not kiss her.
He did not embrace her.
He positioned her bent over his desk, shoved her skirts up about her waist, and allowed himself a moment to enjoy the pale flesh of her arse as he released his cock.
He then buried himself in his wife’s drenched cunt.
She moaned and arched into her forearms before him, straining into his thrusts.
One could say, the activities in full bore in Heden was not overwhelming to his Silence.
Though, unable to participate in them with her at that location, it was obviously overwhelming to him.
Having to wait, however, was perfection.
He watched her take him, felt her take him, listened to her take him, and knew it would go fast for her.
He was correct.
“Mars,” she breathed and then bucked against him.
He pulled out, turned her to her back, she lifted her eyes dazedly, raising her legs and pressing them to his sides as he drove back in bent over her, now watching her face in climax.
That was, until he planted himself deep and experienced his own.
He had his forehead resting against his desk, his breath stirring her hair, and his cock still buried in his wife when the orgasm released him, only then hearing the familiar whisper of the muted explosions of fire all about them disappearing.
He also had her arms tight about him.
She turned her head his way.
“Can we watch again?”
He lifted his head. “Yes.”
“It is proved. I am brazen,” she mumbled.
He smiled.
Largely.
“Yes,” he repeated.
She took in his smile and giggled.
When she was done, she decreed, “I think I like Miet.”
He pulsed into her, enjoyed watching her lips part at the feel of him and remarked, “I noticed.”
She wrapped her legs around his hips but shifted one hand to his throat.
“This is our lesson,” she whispered.
“What?” he whispered in return.
“That it will always be too much. There will always be something to do. A decision to be made. A responsibility to fulfill. An obligation to be borne. So, when we have the time, be it moments or more, we must enjoy our lives together. Yes?”
“Yes, amore,” he agreed.
His Silence’s beautiful face gentled before it grew impish.
“I liked watching the men,” she shared.
He had not missed this.
“I liked watching the women,” he retorted.
Her expression turned pensive when she said, “I do not understand this.”
He grinned at her. “And I do not understand your preference.”
“We will enjoy variety when we watch,” she decided.
When he agreed with that, he did it with a kiss.
Much later, Mars had closed the windows to shut away any noises that might come from the city.
Though he had ordered his servants to clear out the garden some time ago.
Thus, for Mars and his queen, there was dark and quiet in their chamber.
Or for his Silence, there was naught but dreams, as she was asleep.
And for Mars, the same thing, even if his were in the awake.
For he lay with his wife tucked into the curve of him, his hand open, the cool of the hoop with it’s perfect, brilliant Firenz ruby affixed to her navel resting against his palm.
And he settled into the knowledge that this day, her piercing, that very moment would be one he would call up again and again in the time to come.
For Silence had told him that the tremor of the earth they had experienced some time past had not been of the Beast, not something to fear, but a moment of goodness and joy, even if she could not say what that goodness was. She did feel, quite strongly, that she was learning to read these omens correctly, as the couples fell deeper into the prophecy.
And that day had been full of goodness and joy.
But Mars had a feeling in all they had experienced…
The worst was yet to come.
112
The Exodus
King Aramus
Throne Room, Keel Castle, Nautilus
MAR-EL
It was safe to say Aramus was sitting on his ostentatious throne in his castle watching a slew of pirates sulk out of the room in an actual snit.
He was the Sea King.
He was also the pirate king.
Pirates did not have snits.
However, the ones leaving did.
“They will go to the Mystics.”
He looked down at the lone man who stood before him.
He was a pirate named Magnus. An exceptional sailor, a fearsome buccaneer, and although he had not spent a great deal of time with him, Aramus could call him a friend.
“They will not be told what to do, or what not to do,” Magnus carried on, sharing information Aramus knew at the start, but had been reminded repeatedly of very recently.
“Considering weeks of discussion just broke down irretrievably, I have realized that,” Aramus replied on a sigh.
“I know it is not lost on you, my king, that your decisions are rocking the very foundation of who we are,” Magnus declared. “No whaling? No pirating?”
“We have vast fleets of ships we’ve seized over decades, Magnus. And I have arranged to sell some of these…with crews…to Airen, Wodell, Firenze. I have further offered our pirates opportunities only a fool would turn his back on. Our wares will more freely be sold there, their wares sold here. There is work to be had. There is money to be made. For the men who just left this room, there are opportunities to make enormous amounts of it. There is even employment on offer my citizens know how to do. It is not as vast a change as people wish to think. It is only change. I understand people do not like change. And yet, it is the only constant throughout the millennia. You simply have to come to understand that and navigate it.”
“Yes, but in an attempt to avoid it, they will go to the Mystics,” Magnus repeated.
“As you heard me remind them repeatedly, Magnus, telling them something they very much know, Mar-el pirates are not welcome in the Mystics. They also do not have the might of the Mar-el kingdom behind them there. Thus, they will not find the freedom to do as they will. The journey will be long, and in the end, fruitless at best, disastrous at worst. They would be better to shift their pursuits at home. But that is not my choice. My choices have been made and My Will be done. Now, they make theirs.”
Magnus nodded before twisting at the waist and looking over his shoulder at the long doors.
He studied them for some time while Aramus waited.
He then turned back and took the offer that Aramus had given them all.
“I’ll have a captaincy of a fleet of our merchant ships.”
Aramus smiled. “Considering you are the only one, I can be rather generous with the number in your fleet. However, whatever number you choose, you’ll need to manage it.”
“Twenty-five ships,” Magnus said.
“It will be done,” Aramus replied. He dipped his voice when he went on, “A fool fights the future, the wise man embraces it. I always knew you were wise, Magnus. But I am glad for further proof of it.”
Magnus looked him direct in the eye. “I do not know if it matters whether there is a fight or an embrace. The quakes have stopped, my king, and with them the tidals. But my sense is that the future is more unclear now than it usually is, and it is usually entirely unknown. I take this decision in order to make great amounts of money. I also make it to be close to defend my realm if needed.”
One of the reasons why Aramus could call Magnus a friend was that he admired the man’s crafty mind.
But mostly, his loyalty to Mar-el.
And this was another indication of all of that, not only
Magnus choosing the right path, but understanding the depths of murkiness it held that had nothing to do with managing a fleet of merchant ships as they traded wares on three continents.
“We will persevere, Magnus, we always do,” Aramus said with more conviction than he felt.
“I hope so, Aramus, I really do.”
On that, Aramus rose and moved behind his throne to walk down the steps and meet his friend face to face.
They shook, their fingers grasping the other’s forearm, before Magnus dipped his chin, released his arm, turned and strode from the room.
As he did, Aramus saw Bond entering it.
His other men gathered around him.
However, as they started discussing the breakdown in relations and what it would mean, Aramus kept his gaze to Bond as he made his journey across the long chamber.
Or more accurately, his gaze was on trying to decipher the expression on his lieutenant’s face.
Thus, the men also fell silent as Bond approached.
“Another uprising?” Tint asked when Bondi met them.
“No,” Bond answered. “A ship has arrived with a messenger from Wodell. They’ve discovered the location of the treasury of that Rising. This discovery came with carefully kept accounts. It is in code, but they are at work breaking that code and feel, once they do, all operatives, not just the higher-ups, will be identified. Once this is so, they will arrest them in their lands, and if these men are in residence in the Dome City, demand they are extradited to Wodell to sit tribunal for conspiracy to wage war.”
Finally, some good news.
“This is a great victory,” Aramus noted.
“It is indeed,” Bond agreed. “However, King True also shared that Princess Serena, who was instrumental in discovering the location of their purloined coin, is away to Airen in hopes of seeing her mother before the queen passes.”
Aramus felt his lips thin.
He had received the ravens that shared Ophelia had taken a turn, and that Cassius and Elena were riding to her.
He could not help but think, after his meeting with the seer, with issues finding resolution—right or wrong, onerous or easy—this simply paved the way to the need to confront new ones.
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