by Jack Whitney
Willow gave her a quick bow and then retreated away from the stage. Aydra placed the circular crown in her curly stark ginger hair and then turned her attention back to the Belwarks who were waiting for her instruction.
“No large escort today, boys,” she told them. “Go home. Get some rest. We have a long day of fracturing niceties tomorrow.” She turned then to her Second, Hilexi, and nodded. “What do you say to a stroll through town today, Lex?”
Hilexi pulled the sharp silver winged helmet off her head and allowed her chin length tawny blonde hair to fall over her eyes. “Any day I am allowed to leave the armor behind and mingle with these beautiful people is a day I will take, my lady,” she said as she tossed the helmet back to one of the men. “Take my things back to my quarters, Jorna,” she instructed. “I have no need of it until the Venari arrives tomorrow.” She striped herself free of the silver plates and revealed the matching long sleeve gambeson tunic to Aydra’s, the only difference being the golden weavings Aydra’s featured on the capped shoulders.
Aydra reached down and brushed her tall black boots of the blood. People were already starting to gather around the bottom of the stage where she stood. She hopped down off it without another glance back at the guard and made her way through the thinning crowd. People immediately grappled to her, thanking her for ridding their kingdom of the Infi creature.
The sight of Aydra and Lex walking through the crowd usually made it part ways. Not only because Aydra was the Queen, but the sight of them would have made anyone think twice before cutting across the pair.
Aydra acknowledged the people she knew, stopping to speak with a few for only a few moments. It was three miles down to the beach from the square they were on. Belwark guards on horses walked by every now and then, none of them in armor, only in their scarlet peplum gambesons to mark their place in the kingdom. Dreamers passed by, their always beautiful faces illuminated by the striking sun well over the horizon now. They were the Second Sun gift’s children: born of the tree in the south, Somniarb.
“Your Majesty,” said a petite blonde woman upon reaching Aydra in the street. Aydra paused, recognizing one of the seamstresses, Maye, coming up to her, a child in her arms. Aydra felt her gaze soften immediately.
“Maye—Sweet Arbina, you were given a child?” she asked, wrapping an arm around Maye’s shoulders. “I knew I hadn’t seen you in a while.”
Maye smiled widely at her. “The Orel found us three weeks ago. Wouldn’t leave us alone so we knew it was time. Packed up immediately and made for the Village.”
Aydra stroked the sleeping child’s cheek, her finger tracing up to its tiny pointed ears. “She’s beautiful. How many were born on the crescents?”
“Three,” Maye replied. “We were the only from Magnice. One went to the Village, the others to Scindo.”
Aydra pulled back and reached out for Maye’s cheek. “I can think of no greater two than to have received one of this cycle’s children.”
Maye’s jaw clenched as though she were tearing up. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Aydra and Lex continued through the streets a few moments later, continuing to greet and speak with Dreamers coming up to Aydra. Lex mostly stood back as she usually did, saying little to add to conversation, but staying supportive of the Queen’s conversations and patient with the people nonetheless.
“The birth of you Sun tree children always amazes me,” Lex said over Aydra’s shoulder. “Born beneath a great tree’s roots as infants. An eagle Orel deciding who is becoming parents of such children.”
“That only applies to Dreamers,” Aydra said. “The Dreamers’ giver, Somniarb, is in the Village of Dreams. Infants are given year round from her roots, not just in a cycle of ten years like Promised children. Promised children like myself are born in Arbina’s waters and raised by the previous kings and queens before us. They are the ones who determine what we learn and do not learn.”
“Nevertheless, infants are bewildering,” Lex said. “To be born without being able to take care of yourself is… not very smart on the Lesser Ones’ parts.”
“So says the one born fully corporeal beneath this great cliff and made of earth,” Aydra smarted.
“Exactly. Grown. Spat from the earth beneath this kingdom a fully grown person with the instinct of an assassin,” Lex mused proudly. “Insides of fire and ash like our land, none of this blood nonsense.”
“And all the urges of us Architect children,” laughed Aydra.
“Mm… and what great urges they are—” Lex plucked an apple from a cart and tossed a virt coin to the farmer with a nod. Her teeth bit into the flesh of it and she made a pleasing noise from her throat “—I love fruit.”
Aydra chuckled under her breath and shook her head. The breeze of the sea filled her nostrils, intermingling with the smell of fire and ash as they passed the row of smithing shops. Aydra’s gaze caught on a table of jewelry. Lex laughed upon Aydra stopping to look at it.
“You never wear any of the jewels you have now,” Lex mused.
Aydra’s gaze landed on a crude unpolished gold ring, three raw black stones sitting on the melted band. She picked it up between her fingers and allowed the sun the spark off the raw edges.
“Tourmaline,” came a voice from inside the shop.
Aydra’s eyes met those of a tall slender man, long white blonde hair pulled halfway up on his head above his pointed ears. His pepper spiced beard sat long on his angular jaw. He stepped slowly out of the shadows and wiped his large hands of the soot on them.
“Your Majesty,” he acknowledged with a short bow, “to what do we owe the pleasure of your company through the smithing street?”
“Where did you get this stone?” she asked, holding up the ring.
“Traders from the south,” he answered. He reached out and took the ring from her palm, then turned her hand over and slowly pressed it onto her ring finger. “If you’re being attracted to such a stone, you’re in need of optimism, relief of stress—”
“Sounds like it was made for her,” Lex muttered under her breath.
Aydra cut her eyes at her friend and then turned back to the handsome man standing in front of her. His wide grey eyes danced deliberately over her figure.
“It’s beautiful…” she paused, unsure of if he’d given her a name.
“Many call me Grey, Your Majesty,” he informed her with a smile.
“Grey. It has been a pleasure to meet you, Grey. Your work is beautiful.” She pulled the ring off her finger, but he closed her fist around it.
“Keep it,” he said. “It calls to you.”
Aydra and Lex continued walking down the streets upon leaving the smithing shops. They paused only a moment for Lex to look at the decorative braces and helmets made by another shop owner. Lex treated herself to new armor pads for her shoulders that looked like sharp wings.
“Fearsome,” Aydra had told her. Lex grinned and paid the man, and then they continued on. They were treated to small chats with a few more Dreamer families on the next level. The families spoke with her about the Infi creature, how they were scared now that there had been two of the wretched men to walk among them after years of their being rid of such filth. Aydra assured them of their safety, on her life.
They stopped in to see the woman who they had found in the street the morning before. Her screams continued to echo in Aydra’s thoughts. She and Lex were welcomed into the woman’s home with a joy Aydra recognized as forced.
“What can we do?” Lex asked as the pair sat.
The girl’s mother, Lyri, sat tea down in front of them, and she shook her head. “You have done enough,” she answered. “We are grateful it was you two who found her. I don’t… I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t.”
“May I see her?” Aydra asked.
Lyri paused a moment, and then gave her a quick nod.
The girl was still shaken when Aydra went into her room. She started to stand, but Aydra shook her head and told her
to remain. Aydra sat down at the end of the bed and grasped the girl’s hand. She was no older than sixteen. A beautiful brunette girl with soft features, apple cheeks, and hazel eyes that had once held in them the sun. Aydra knew this girl from before. Her name was Sonya, and she was a free spirited girl, never known a stranger. She’d taken it upon herself to help the Infi when he’d claimed to be a traveler from the Village.
“How are you?” Aydra asked her.
Sonya tucked her hair behind her ear and avoided her gaze. “Okay, I guess,” she admitted.
“You were very brave yesterday.” Aydra squeezed her hand.
“Did you kill him?” Sonya asked, meeting her eyes.
Aydra sighed and nodded. “I did it myself.”
“Will there be more?”
“I certainly hope not, but… we cannot be sure. It is on us to stay vigilant. I have stationed more Belwarks on the ground and at the gates. If any strangers come through, we will know about it.”
Sonya nodded, but didn’t reply.
“The offer still stands, you know,” Aydra told her. “You and your family could move up to one of the homes at the walls. You’ll be—”
“Can you promise our safety there any more than you can promise our safety here?” Sonya interjected.
Aydra’s jaw tightened and she gave the girl a slow nod. “Okay.”
The girl’s sorrow sat heavy on Aydra’s shoulders as she and Lex strode down the beach a while later. The echo of the crashing waves sounded in her ears, barely drowning out the thoughts in her mind.
“I think I will take my leave of you here, Lex,” Aydra said as they reached the edge of the water.
“No company on your swim today?” Lex asked.
“My mind fills with a constipated ache I dare not press on to you,” Aydra replied. “Besides, I think you’ve more pressing matters to attend,” Aydra said with the raise of a brow. “Like that last baker. She gave you quite the once over, didn’t she?”
Lex ran a hand through her straight hair and started walking backwards. “What can I say? Power is an attractive thing.”
“Have fun,” Aydra called back to her.
“I’ll come back for you later—”
“No, that’s okay,” Aydra assured her. “I will see you at dinner.”
Aydra made around the corner of the cliff out of sight and then stripped herself of the pants and gamebeson, revealing her black high underwear and corseted bra. The sun baked her skin, allowing the golden freckles on her arms and face to emerge at its warmth.
She cracked her neck and stretched her arms above her head as her toes touched the water. Her muscles paused a moment and she allowed her eyes to close, her head to lay on her shoulders, as her flesh adjusted to the cold of the ocean water. She continued to step into the water and it swallowed her body into its abyss before letting her float atop it.
The mock of her kingdom stared back at her as she lay atop the clear water. The castle stood high up on the cliffside far behind her. Arbina Promiregis Amaris, the Sun’s first tree, the tree from which she and her brother were born, roots were wrapped into the edge of the cliff at nearly the top, its large limbs reaching high into the blue sky. They’d built their open Throne Room around it. Water from her poisoned never-ending pool spilled over the edge of the cliff and around the roots. Higher up than that was the main of the castle built behind the tree. The castle grew and grew with more rooms than she could count before it wrapped around to three towers. The tallest tower was the dungeon tower. It curled around and sat high above the tree’s tallest limbs, sitting so that the doorway to death sat above the waterfall, and any who were punished death by its fall would have to plunge themselves into Arbina’s poisoned waterfall from her pool beneath her roots as they dove to their death. It hadn’t been used since three Venari Kings ago, when he’d tried to start a war with Magnice by unleashing Infi in their streets as a protest for their giver, Duarb, being banished into his tree.
She wondered if the current Venari King, Draven Greenwood, had a similar plan.
The water wrapped around her body, and she sank into its depths, allowing it to consume her. Her eyes opened to the clear blue of the liquid. The noise of the girl’s screams radiated in her mind as the water’s cold weight held her beneath it. She let it take her breath. Her lungs began to struggle after a few moments. She allowed it to pull at her breath, pull her into the abyss until she could not take it any longer.
Her head burst to the surface. She wiped her face and inhaled an audible breath. The sun danced on her skin once more.
To feel something.
Anything.
Her thoughts consumed her beneath the waters a few more times before she finally retreated to the sandy beach. She sat herself down in the wet sand to let the sun dry her body. Her eyes closed, and she wasn’t sure if she actually dozed off, or if the warmth of it simply dragged her into a mindless abyss her body had craved for some time now. Before her beheading the first Infi creature, they’d not had a public execution in nearly twenty years. The last she remembered it, it had been the previous king to have beheaded the thief himself. Something her brother would not dare touch with the sword their giver mother, Arbina, had gifted him with.
However long time passed, she didn’t know. But it was some time before her raven circled over head of her and informed her one of her brother’s Belwark guards was approaching.
“You know, I gave command to my brother’s men earlier not to follow me today,” Aydra called as the Belwark arrived behind her. “I even gave my own Second the rest of the day off.”
“Forgive me, my lady,” he said as he joined her. “The King—”
“Do you do everything my brother tells you to do?” she interjected.
The Belwark thought about it a moment. “Yes.”
She took her shirt off her face that she’d been using to block the sunlight, and she looked over at him. His dark toffee skin danced in the orange hue of the waning sun beneath his plum gambeson. The long sleeves of it were snug against the taut of his muscled arms, and his short black curly hair was dreaded around his face, falling just above his ears. She deliberately let her eyes dance over his buff figure, feeling herself bite her lip out of habit.
“My brother outdid himself this time,” she mused at the sight of him. “What is your name, Belwark?” she asked.
“Corbin, Your Majesty,” he replied with a short nod.
She sighed and closed her eyes back to the sun again. “If you’re going to be stalking me the rest of the day, you may as well join me,” she told him. “No sense in sweating in that gambeson out here.”
The man didn’t move.
She looked up at him again. “It’s not really a request, Corbin. If you are staying, you’ll take your clothes off and join me. Otherwise, get on your way.”
“Your brother asked me to retrieve you,” Corbin told her. “The Bedrani Council is arriving in a few hours. He wishes you to be there when they arrive.”
Aydra’s jaw clenched and she sat up. “I am aware of when they are coming. I am aware of the time. I am also aware that you are new—” She stood from the ground and crossed the space between she and the Belwark. “And you have a look upon your face as though you have been struck.”
His weight shifted, and he made a point to push his arms behind his back. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said.
She stopped in front of him, raising a curious brow on her bemused face. “You look frightened, Corbin,” she mused.
“Apologies, my lady,” he said quickly, shifting his feet again. “I… I was told—”
A smirk rose on Aydra’s face and she shook her head. “Let me guess,” she cut him off. “You were told not to get wrapped into me on fear of death. Is that why he sent you to me and not Mord or Bard? Worried of distractions along the way?”
Corbin swallowed hard. “I was not told the reason for my being sent,” he managed. “Only to retrieve you.”
She allowed her fingers to
trail up his arm. “And how’s that working out for you?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“Ma’am, I—” his words stuck in his throat as her fingers mused down his chest. She grasped his hands and placed them around her waist, to which he hesitated at first, but then she felt his fingers squeeze her hips, and she smiled inside.
She allowed her hands to continue to trail, and when she struck a finger below the belt on his hips, she heard his breath shorten.
“Tell me, Corbin… have you ever fucked a Queen?” she asked, tilting her head up to his.
He swallowed hard and stared down at her as she continued to stroke him through his pants.
“Can’t say that I have,” he told her.
A small smirk rose on her face, and she felt him hardening through the fabric. “Would you like to?” she asked.
His eyes lit up with smolder. His fingers gripped tighter into her hips, and he bent just slightly to make himself level with her lips. “If that’s what she wants.”
Her brow raised, and she unbuckled the belt on his waist so swiftly that he nearly fell off balance. His length filled her hand and she stroked it, watching his face as he groaned into the wind. She took his hand off her waist and pushed it between her legs. He grunted a slew of cuss words as his rough fingertips felt of her.
“My Queen,” he whispered into her hair.
She pushed him backwards until his back hit the cliff wall, and just as quickly, he grasped her in his hands and switched, pinning her against the rough rocks, his mouth sucking at her throat.
She pulled back and raised a brow at his boldness, to which he gave her a sultry smile. She rewarded him with a full kiss, her leg hooking around his waist. She allowed her hips to grind into his, feeling his length against her wet suit.
“On your knees,” she commanded him breathlessly in his ear.
He didn’t hesitate. His knees hit the sand, and her thigh wrapped over his shoulder. He kissed her between her thighs, tongue raking the length of her clit. She pushed her hands in his hair, eyes rolling into the back of her head as she relished the feeling of his mouth against her. Her hips bucked. The sunlight warmed her body and she grasped her own hair upon her breath catching in her throat. He sucked her clit hard, and his tongue fluttered against her throbbing sex. Her thighs tightened. It wasn’t long before she could feel herself coming apart on his face. He lapped at her wetness, and she cried out in ecstasy, not caring if it bounced off the cliff behind her.