As I looked on, a host of functionaries from each of the Realms had begun taking their places at the massive table we had constructed for the occasion. Obviously, a union such as we had just formed would require a great deal of structure, not to mention the dictates of the Imperial Charter that would have to be signed by each nation that came under my control. A rather daunting project, and one that I wanted no part of beyond ensuring that the tenets of my Realm were included. So, with a smile curling up the corners of my mouth, I passed the responsibility on to my dear friends.
“Ambassador Broda, Chief Minister Venna,” I practically beamed at them. “This tremendous honor seems to fit under your areas of responsibility.”
“But…” I heard Venna protest as I walked quickly from the room.
You handled them well, my Sintári. Bane sent to me as he followed closely behind me. I only wish that you would have shown them your magnificent eyes.
‘Yes, well, not everyone feels that way about them.’
They know nothing.
I led Bane through the Palace, towards the closest exit where he could take to the sky. At his size, navigating some of the passageways had become difficult, so it was easier for him to fly upstairs, rather than walk the corridors. As soon as Bane lifted off, I turned to resume walking to my chambers, but Aiva and Karina redirected me.
“We’ve got a slight detour, Empress,” Aiva almost smirked. “But don’t worry, Bane knows where we’re going, so he’ll meet you there.”
Despite my repeated demands to know where we were headed, the two little… wenches refused to answer any of my questions. I was about stop in the middle of the hallway and throw a tantrum when Tási’s patience finally wore out.
“Stop it already!” She admonished me. “You’re acting like a child. I know where they’re taking us, now just shut up and let it be a surprise.”
Her scolding left me sufficiently rebuked, and I followed along meekly as they led me higher and higher up the stairs until we reached a floor that I recognized.
“This is the barracks, the real barracks,” I noted as I looked around and saw that every single one of my guards were present. “Why would you bring me here?”
“We didn’t bring you here,” Tási replied in amusement. “We’re bringing you to the next floor.”
The level we were on was designated as the home of the Imperial Guards, and only a single staircase led to the floor above, a floor that was completely dedicated to a single purpose; to serve as the permanent residence of the leader of the Empire.
“It’s ready?”
“Yes, it is,” Tási replied with a broad smile. “It was the best thing we could think of to offer as a gift in honor of your success today.”
“I have to see it now!” I shouted in excitement as I ran up the stairs and left them all behind.
Aiva and Karina rushed after me, and I heard Tási’s laughter echoing through the air between their shouted calls for me to wait for them before I burst through the heavy double doors and into the residence’s grand entry. My original thought was to hurry through each of the rooms and get a quick peek at everything, but the sheer grandeur of that first chamber stopped me dead in my tracks.
Like the Grand Hall below, the walls had been carved by both the dwarven and elvish masons, each lending their particular style to the work. A high, vaulted ceiling rose from the top of the walls in graceful arches that were highlighted with veins of metal and precious stones. Even the floors had been polished to a high shine, rivaling the finest marble, on top of which the room was lavishly decorated with furnishings of fine wood and soft carpets.
“An Empress must make a good first impression, don’t you think?” Tási said as she calmly slid up beside me.
“This is amazing,” I replied in awe.
“The rest is done in the same way, Empress,” Tási added, but this time she uttered my title as a term of affection, not in the subtle mocking fashion that she sometimes used.
“I could get used to you saying it that way,” I said as I took her hand in mine.
“Come, let me show you around,” Tási smiled as she pulled me farther inside.
My new home encompassed an entire floor of the Palace, and in addition to the rooms that made up the formal residence, it also included my official offices, several meeting rooms, and even a full guest suite, all of which were finished in the same exquisite fashion as the formal entry. It was almost too good to be true. The sheer beauty of it all was simply amazing, and the amount of labor that had to have gone into it boggled my mind.
“They did it for you, Dreya,” Tási said as she recognized my thoughts. “They did it all to repay you for what you’ve done for them. You’ve earned this.”
“Not yet I haven’t,” I replied softly. “Someday I will, but not yet.”
“I know that there is much more left for you to do,” Tási conceded. “But don’t diminish what you’ve accomplished already. Just founding this Realm alone is an incredible thing, and bringing four Realms together is simply unheard of. You are already a world-changer, just like Thola said.”
She was right in a way, and I couldn’t deny it, but deep inside I still felt like it was too early to start congratulating myself. Every day, all across Arrika, bands of goblins and orcs raided the Kingdoms and murdered their citizens. Worse still were the other bands of marauders, the humans, elves, and dwarves who preyed on their own, pillaging and abusing any who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with them. Sadly, those vile bastards would be the last that I finally turned my attentions to, as uniting the Realms and conquering the Dark Lands had to be accomplished first before I could wipe the filthy criminals from the face of this Earth.
“I know that look,” Tási said, reading my thoughts. “Come with me, there’s one more surprise for you.”
She led me back through several rooms of my private chambers and into the large study that was off the massive master bedroom. One of the walls was nearly completely covered by massive drapes, but when Tási parted them, she revealed a huge set of glass doors that offered a perfect view of the expansive balcony outside. From its towering heights, I could see the entire breadth of the valley laid out before me, with the towering mountains off in the distance. Yet what drew my vision most was the sight of Bane patiently waiting for me just beyond the wide opening.
Welcome home, Sintári, he greeted me as Tási pried open the doors.
As Bane had grown, he’d retained his graceful form, but could no longer get into my temporary quarters downstairs and had been effectively banished from me for some time. But with the huge balcony just outside, he could not only land right outside my window, but easily stride inside through the massive double doors.
I thought it was odd that this lone room had been left nearly unfurnished when Tási first led me through, but the reason for the sparseness became clear when Bane entered and curled up on the floor beside me. This wasn’t my study as I had assumed—this was his room, Bane’s own refuge right next to where I would sleep at night.
“Can we sleep in here together tonight, like we used to?” I begged Tási.
It felt like it had been forever since the last time we had all curled up together for the night. Even though we still saw each other and spent time together almost every day, it just wasn’t the same. Back then, it had been my body that Bane fell asleep on, and even though those roles would be reversed, I had an almost desperate need to hear his purr and feel his heart beating beneath me once again.
“That was the plan,” Tási smiled back at me.
“Shall I have them bring up the pillows?” Aiva called out from just inside the doorway where she had been observing from a respectful distance.
“Yes, please do,” Tási replied.
“Tási,” I responded when Aiva’s presence triggered my memory. “Didn’t Ella promise that she was going to make sure that we no longer had need for the guards to be so intrusive once we moved in here?”
“Yes, she did,” T
ási replied, forcing me to ask the next question.
“Then why was Aiva following us around up here?”
“Because we left everything open for you to see during your first tour,” Tási responded.
“Will you stop dragging this out and just tell me already!”
“Alright, alright,” Tási finally relented as she strode back to the large glass doors.
When she reached the doorway, Tási pulled closed a pair of gates that were secured to the outside walls. But these were no ordinary shutters—the gates that Tási drew in were worked from pure Khelduin and fashioned into the shapes of curling vines and leaves. With the gates shut, the entrance from the balcony was completely sealed off from any intruder, but the effect was far from oppressive, as the light and air still filtered through almost unobstructed between the shimmering silver strands and foliage.
“There are identical ones on every window of the entire floor,” Tási revealed. “No one is going to get through them without creating a great deal of noise. And while these do make things much safer for you, I’m afraid that there will still be guards posted in every room, even inside your chambers when you are not in residence. The risk is simply too great for us to do otherwise.”
“You promised me that would end!” I protested.
“Yes, we did,” Tási replied firmly. “But things have changed, and so has the level of danger. We thought these barriers would be enough, but Khorim’s men recently discovered another assassin, and we just can’t rely on passive measures to protect you anymore.”
“Why wasn’t I told about this assassin?”
“With the summit so close, we didn’t want to worry you. He escaped outside the Garrison wall before we could apprehend him,” Tási confessed. “We’re pretty sure the archers wounded him before he fled into the forest, but they lost his trail and we never discovered the body.”
Yet another assassin, even after we’d killed the first three. And this one had obviously not arrived among one of the caravans, but had managed to sneak into my Realm anyway. The level of skill he must have possessed to do so made me understand Tási’s decision to go back on her word. And while I did understand the need to keep the intrusive security measures in place, I was still disappointed by it.
“Fine,” I replied, accepting my fate. “But my guards will not be mere fodder for some assassin, I’m going to lay traps around every window and door in my residence as well. That will at least give them a fighting chance should someone that dangerous actually make it here.”
“Thank you, Empress,” Aiva replied sincerely as she returned from her errand.
When I turned to face Aiva, I saw that the ‘pillow’ she brought with her was no simple cushion. It was larger than a mattress, and she and several other guards were ferrying four of them into Bane’s chamber.
“They made those themselves, you know,” Tási informed me as they lined the heavy mattresses up along the far wall. “When I told them that we were converting this room into Bane’s residence, Aiva and the others insisted on making their own contribution to it.”
As the last one was put in place, Bane got up and crossed the room to lay in the middle of the huge cushion that the four large mattresses formed. I could almost feel his sense of contentment as he nestled his tremendous body into the soft bed, and I looked forward to snuggling up on them together with him and Tási later that night.
“We may give you a hard time, Empress,” Aiva explained. “But it’s only because we care about you. You’re more than just the person we’re here to protect—you’re even more than just our Empress. You’ve been so good to us, to everyone really, and we knew how much you missed Bane. So, we wanted to give you back at least a little something in exchange.”
Damn it. How did everyone around me seem to know exactly how to push my buttons in order to make me shed my tears? Aiva’s eyes shot open in surprise as I pulled her into my embrace.
“Thank you, Aiva,” I whispered to her as I hugged her tightly.
“Y-you’re welcome,” she hesitated.
“Remember what I told you about knowing when it’s okay to drop protocols?” I whispered back to her.
“Yes, I do,” she replied stiffly.
“This is one of those times, Aiva. Now hug me back.”
She wrapped her arms around me hesitantly at first, but then gripped me fiercely after just a few seconds, and I was shocked when I felt the first of her tears fall against me.
“I’m sorry, I—” She started as she tried to draw away from me.
“Shut up, Aiva,” I whispered as I pulled her back in.
We held each other for a few more moments before letting go together. Neither of us could see clearly as we pulled away, and we both had to blink away the mistiness from our eyes.
The other guards who had brought in the cushions had already left, or I might have done the same with each of them. But since only Aiva remained, I asked her to convey my thanks to them.
“Please let everyone else who helped with this know how much I appreciate their efforts,” I told her.
“I will, Empress,” she replied, but her words lacked the stiff formality she typically imparted to them.
She left the room then, and I was alone with Bane and Tási for the first time in ages. The second Aiva closed the door behind her, I practically dove into Bane’s side and curled myself against him. Tási wasn’t far behind me, and once she wriggled herself in place between us, I wrapped my Cloak around the two of us and we snuggled together for a while. Even though I still had a full day ahead of me before we could spend the night together, I cherished the few moments of pure bliss I had for our brief reunion.
Sintári, there is something you should know, Bane’s words echoed inside my head.
‘Can it wait, Bane? I’m so happy right now, and it sounds like I’m not going to like what you’re planning to tell me.’
I am sorry, but it cannot. I have already kept this news from you for too long.
“Go ahead,’ I sent back to him with some reluctance. It seemed like everyone had been holding out on me lately, and even my dear sweet Bane was no exception.
I have lost my fangs, Sintári. They are solid teeth now, and with that change, I no longer have any venom.
Okay, that was a big deal, but not exactly tragic. As a tiny Rhastoren, Bane needed his venom as a weapon to even up the odds against the larger foes we often faced. But now, with his huge size, his formidable bite would be more than enough to rip almost any opponent to shreds. Hollow fangs might have even been a disadvantage at that point, so his revelation, although somewhat remarkable, wasn’t really all that bad, and I told him so.
‘I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing for you, Bane,’ I replied to him. ‘You’re big enough now to handle things more directly.’
That was my thought as well, Sintári. I was only concerned that you might be disappointed in me.
‘Bane! Don’t you ever think that,’ I shot back instantly. ‘There is nothing that can happen to make me feel that way about you!’
As I spoke, he craned his neck around and stared me in the eyes. Since Tási was snuggled up against me with her eyes closed, I channeled my emotions into a controlled rage and let my eyes flare with their green light back at him.
‘Show me,’ I sent to him.
Bane opened his mouth for me, and I ran my fingers over his thick canines. The vicious fangs that he now had were quite impressive, and I was actually able to wrap my entire hand around one of them, and the tip still stuck out from beneath my fingers. As I let go of his tooth and Bane closed his mouth again, I gazed into his eyes and gave him my honest assessment.
‘You’re magnificent, Bane. Perfectly magnificent.’
My praise seemed to drain away his concerns, and he lay his head down gently over both Tási and me as we settled in once more. His purr thrummed through my chest as I nestled against him, and the powerful beating of his heart echoed in my ear when I rested my head on his chest. Far from
being a distraction, the sounds of Bane’s contentment lulled me into a state of relaxation that I had been missing ever since he had outgrown my chambers below. With Tási lying next to me, and Bane beside me as well, I found a sense of peace, and the momentous events of the day no longer troubled my mind as we lay together on top of the soft cushions. But all too soon, Karina quietly roused me to let me know that it was time for one of my appointments.
“Which one is it?” I whispered once I had extracted myself from the tangle of Tási and Bane’s mutual embrace.
“King Nerec today, Empress,” she replied as we snuck out of the room carefully, to not wake the sleeping pair.
While the summit had a somewhat open-ended schedule in deference to the need to draft the necessary accords, a series of meetings had been arranged in advance for me to meet with each of the individual monarchs. Karina’s reminder made me recall that his had been scheduled first, followed by Broda’s uncle and then Queen Líann. Nadiel had obviously not been included in our plans, so I inquired whether or not she had been accommodated.
“Yes, Empress,” Karina replied as we made our way downstairs. “Since we have no idea how long the negotiations will go on, Ambassador Broda scheduled you to see Queen Nadiel tonight over supper.”
Each meeting was meant to be a more informal affair—a simple session to get to know each other over a shared meal. So today, I would apparently be sharing my lunch with the King of Lorida and having dinner with the halfling Queen. It was quite a step up from where I had started in this world just a short time ago.
When I arrived at the suite we had provided for Nerec, Karina escorted me inside, where we were joined by one of Nerec’s guards. The two then stationed themselves outside the door to the side chamber where our food had been laid out for us, and Nerec and I were able to talk privately for a while over our meal.
“I understand that you started your grand journey in my Realm, Empress,” he began. “I have even been informed that it was you who was responsible for taming the Bloody Heart mess that had been plaguing my people.”
Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3) Page 58