The room was a small, private living room where the Queen probably relaxed with her best friend. The French-windows opened onto the royal garden and the walls were covered with tapestries. Another triclinium made an L with the Queen's, and a low table was in the center of the carpet with a bowl of fruit and a tray with three goblets and a jug.
Briella bowed deeply before offering the folder with her portfolio to the Queen who sat up to look at the sketches and watercolors, with Amore stretching his neck to have a look too. Then Briella gave her the two canvases where she had portrayed Amore, and Queen Doriana gasped at the sight of them.
She put one down to observe the other more closely, then switched them. Amore watched her, obviously amused by her reaction.
"You have a gift, Briella," the Queen said, putting down the paintings and looking the Artisan in the eyes. "I have never seen such realistic portraits."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Briella bowed again.
"Please, sit." The Queen pointed at the other triclinium and put the two paintings on the floor against it, so she could see them while she spoke.
Briella sat like she would on a bench. She wasn't used to lying down like the Aristocrats.
Queen Doriana lay down again, her eyes still locked on the paintings.
"Can you paint on walls?" she asked at last.
"I followed a course for frescoes when I arrived in Maadre, Your Majesty," Briella answered. "There was nothing of the kind at the Art School in Fianna."
"So you come from the northern province."
"Yes. My mother was a potter, but she thought I should study painting."
"Your mother was wise. I'm sure she sacrificed everything for you."
"And I sold it all when she died." Briella looked away. "But I felt my future was in painting, not pottery."
"I'm glad you came to Maadre to look for work and further your education. You may actually end up teaching at Maadre Art School one day."
"Oh, no, Your Majesty! I can paint, but I wouldn't know how to teach it! Teaching takes another set of skills I don't have!"
Queen Doriana chuckled and Amore smiled.
"Fine, I shall keep you busy painting, then," the Queen said. "But let me tell you a story first. You're an Artisan from the provinces, what do you know of our political situation?"
"I know that your sister, Princess Miria, married the Varian Emperor twenty-five years ago and her sons are entitled to inherit the Varian Empire, which covers most of the continent of Varia..."
The Queen nodded, thoughtful.
"Miria was a Huntress and one day she decided to participate in the Gladius Games. Eventually she got to meet Vario and accompanied him on his southern campaign to subdue rebellious tribes. That's when they became very fond of each other and started thinking about marriage. I don't think it was ever a political thing for my sister, she really fell in love with Vario."
Briella had heard about Princess Miria in Fianna, so she nodded, urging the Queen to continue.
"When the negotiations with the Varian Emperor started, Miria often consulted with me and the Varian ambassador was an old noblewoman of the Varian court who came to Maadre with her son. He was dashingly handsome and he had his own way of dealing with women. Not the way we've been taught foreign men behave, mind you. He was very charming, and he loved singing and dancing. The parties at the palace were very lively when he organized them. His mother used to say it was his gift, and that Vario XII often let him take care of his own court parties, since he wasn't much of a party-goer. Vario XII was an enlightened emperor and a fighter who spent most of his life on horseback, trying to secure his vast empire."
Briella nodded again, thoughtful. She guessed the dashing foreigner was probably Amore's father.
"Then Miria married Vario and Henry went back home with his mother who was quite sick by now and wished to die in her home country. I begged him to come back as soon as he could, but he didn't show up again until a couple of years later, to announce Miria had given birth to Prince Vario. His mother was dead and he stayed here as ambassador for a little more than a year."
"A male ambassador?" Briella was quite surprised. Queen Doriana and her sister had gone against all of Amazonia's laws. Only women had been allowed in the presence of the Amazon Queen until Doriana had bent the law for someone she obviously still cared for.
"He had a special dispensation, of course." The Queen grinned. "The rest of the court might not like him, but I think it's because they were jealous. Because he was a married man in his country, so he made an exception only for me. He thought his wife couldn't blame him if he slept with the Amazon Queen."
"And she didn't?"
"I don't think he ever told her. He went home because she was pregnant. He kept writing to me for a few years. He knew he had a son in this country, and since his wife had given him a daughter, he often suggested he should come and get Amore," she caressed her son's head, "so he could inherit his title and lands, but I begged him not to. If I couldn't have him by my side, I wanted at least to keep the fruit of our love."
Amore smiled at his mother and she quickly kissed his hair.
"Then his letters stopped. I got word from Miria that Vario had died in a hunting accident that had involved some of the hunters as well. I assumed Henry was among them. That was eight years ago. Vario became emperor, with his mother assisting him."
"A sixteen-year-old emperor?" Briella wondered.
"Apparently that's the youngest they'd have. At sixteen they can inherit, before it would have been Miria's regency until he turned sixteen. You'd think with all the magical beings they have on Varia, the emperor would be quite safe, wouldn't you? Two years later Miria died too, another accident. There wasn't much I could do from here except tell my nephews to call me if they needed anything, and then I stopped receiving direct news from Varia. Three years ago the Varian ambassador came to me and told me Vario had been killed. Dario had vanished and was probably hiding with his magical friends. The Varian Empire was no more and the Blackmore were now in charge of Vario's lands. Therefore she couldn't stay as a representative of a country that had changed leaders. The Blackmore never bothered sending an ambassador. I have considered invading them, but that country is much bigger and much better armed than ours and it would have been a useless waste of lives. Besides, Miria was the warrior among us. If she didn't make it, how could I?"
The Queen sighed. Again she caressed Amore as if she was happy to have him by her side.
"All this upset me to the point I forgot Henry had given me a son. And then Maressa showed me the portrait and I saw Henry by her side and thought, how is it possible? So I realized Amore had grown up, and now he's just like his father. I had completely forgotten him."
"You may not be a warrior-queen like your great-grandmother Jessamine, but you are a busy queen, Your Majesty," Briella said, touched. "I would probably have forgotten my children too if I were worried for my sister and nephews."
Queen Doriana smiled briefly.
"This doesn't really excuse me much. I loved Henry and forgot the baby he gave me. It may also be because I'm the Amazon Queen and everybody around me keeps saying men don't count and sons are worthless and things like that. And then my nephews were murdered or vanished in a foreign land and I wondered, what's the point?"
"So my cousins are dead?" Amore asked.
He looked puzzled. He probably hadn't heard the whole story before. He'd been brought back to the palace with no explanation, and being the well-bred young man that he was, he hadn't asked questions. But now his mother's tale had awakened his curiosity and since she'd showed she cared about him, he'd dared voice his doubts.
"Yes." Queen Doriana nodded and stared mournfully at him. "Well, Vario is. I have no idea of what happened to Dario, who was your age."
"Oh." Amore lowered his eyes.
Briella wished she could caress him like his mother was doing. She felt a little like an intruder, since the Queen was revealing things to her she hadn't told
her son yet.
"So, Briella." Queen Doriana smiled again and tried to sound more lively. "I would love it if you could paint a room with Henry on every wall. Of course you'd have to use Amore as a model, since you never met his father, but I don't think that's a problem, is it?"
"Certainly not, Your Majesty. I had gone back to Maressa in the hope of being allowed to portray him again. I will happily try my hand at frescoes with him in them. What kind of scenes would you like me to paint?"
***
Briella was given a room near the Queen's apartment. The room Doriana wanted painted was her own bedroom, where she used to bring the men of her Apartment – before Henry. Since she couldn't sleep with her son, she wanted him on her walls and she suggested various situations to the painter.
Thus Briella started her biggest work, that took up most of the winter. Only one wall was all white, and the Queen requested a romantic scene in the garden. The model for a younger Doriana was her daughter Julianna, who playfully posed with her brother as if they were lovers.
The other three walls had openings. One had a door that led to the balcony and a window, so Briella painted Amore as if he were standing between them, ready to go outside with the Queen. Another had a door that led to the bath chamber, so Briella had the siblings stand on both sides of the door as if they were walking towards each other. And the third had the door opening on the ante-chamber, and again Briella put the siblings on both sides of the door, seated but looking at each other.
Julianna was impressed by her skills as much as her mother. When the room was done, she asked for a portrait of herself with her brother, of whom she'd become very fond. The frescoes allowed the siblings to rekindle their relationship and Amore looked even happier than in the Temple of the Goddess.
He still went there to dance for celebrations and festivals, but he lived at the palace now, in a room all for himself on the other side of the Queen's bedroom. He was very grateful to Briella, since her portraits of him had changed his life for the better, and he liked watching her paint, especially when he wasn't the subject matter.
When the portrait of Princess Julianna and her brother was done, the Queen called the painter into the same private living room where she'd first met her. Outside, the royal gardens had the smells and colors of spring, but only Amore seemed to enjoy the outdoors. Again Doriana was lying on her triclinium and Amore sat at her feet like the first time.
"Before you take on another work, I want to ask you something," Queen Doriana said signaling Briella to sit down. "Maressa told me you don't have children because you couldn't afford them, is that true?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. And I am happy anyway. Painting is my life, I don't think I could give it up to raise a child."
"You won't have to raise her all by yourself." The Queen smiled. "I don't want your talent to go to waste. Just imagine what a daughter you could have with Amore. She'd be welcome at the palace and would be educated and could follow any passion she may have, be it dance or painting or whatever else you would pass on to her."
Briella gaped at the Queen, then looked at Amore. He was smiling. Had he suggested it? He seemed so at ease at the palace now, only five months since he'd moved out of the Temple... And everybody loved him. Briella knew many ladies had requested him for their beds.
"I don't deserve such an honor," she managed to say. Her mouth had gone dry and butterflies fought in her stomach. "I'm too old to have a baby and Amore deserves to be chosen by an Aristocrat."
Amore's smile vanished. "You don't like me?" he asked, frowning.
"I like you a lot! But I don't think you need to be the father of my daughter! I mean... Oh, Goddess, how do I explain this?"
She pursed her lips. Now she wanted to cry. Not in front of the Queen, though. The "I can't afford it" excuse had worked so well until now, she wasn't prepared to give another. She should have said, "I'm barren", nobody would have suggested the temple with her artistic talent. And it still wouldn't be the real reason.
"You're an Artisan. You didn't have the Rite, did you?" Queen Doriana asked, serious.
Briella shook her head, gulping down her tears. She was a virgin. Her art had kept her pure. She had no desire to explore that part of relationships. She had no maternity wishes. She did like Amore and thought he was the sweetest man alive and that it would be wonderful to have him by her side, but it was all very platonic for her.
"What does this mean?" Amore asked, puzzled.
"Aristocrats lose their virginity through the Rite at fourteen if they don't discover sex on their own," the Queen explained. "Artisans don't have that ceremony. They go to Public Houses if and when they need... anything."
"I have never used a Public House," Briella said with a shaky voice. "I didn't have time. Or interest in it. I did see naked men in my art courses, though."
"Oh!" Amore brightened again. "So you're just afraid because you're a virgin."
She glared at him. "Maybe I'm just not interested in sex, or I'd have found a way to do it, don't you think?"
She could never get why people were so obsessed with sex. She wasn't even afraid of it anymore, she just couldn't care less. She'd rather be painting men than touching them. Whatever curiosity she might have had when she was younger was completely gone now. Even if the man was as gorgeous and sweet as Amore, Love personified.
"Oh. I never thought about that." He looked puzzled again.
The Queen was thoughtful. "I understand what you mean," she said. "I had a friend like you, who never mated or bred. So now I don't even have her daughter to remind me of her." She sighed. "But I won't force you. If, eventually, you'd like to claim Amore as partner for life, though, know that he'll be very eager to be by your side."
Amore grinned and nodded repeatedly.
"So it was your idea," Briella told him.
"Yes. I've never met a woman quite like you. I'd love to spend my life with you, even if you don't want me to touch you or you don't want to touch me. Unless you like cuddles?"
She smiled despite herself at his hopeful stare.
"Yes, I like cuddles," she answered. "But I'm a loner, and I don't think I can get used to having someone constantly by my side."
"We could work on that," he replied. "If you let me."
"Do I have to decide right now?" She looked at the Queen again.
"No." Queen Doriana smiled. "Amore will wait until you make up your mind."
Amore made an unhappy face, then he smiled and shrugged. "I'll wait."
"Thank you." She bowed at both, as relief slowly flooded her.
She wasn't trapped yet. She could still walk out of it. Maybe.
Probably not, if Amore kept staring at her like that.
***
Briella's room didn't have a private bath chamber like the Queen's, so she had to go to the main one at the end of the corridor. She liked to relax in the pool after a day of work and wash away the paint splattered over her skin.
She washed her hair and was about to get out of the water when Amore entered the chamber with only a towel wrapped around his hips. Briella splashed back in, to hide her body from him.
"Amore, this is the women's bath! I don't know where you're supposed to go, but not here!"
"I'm supposed to go to my mother's Apartment, but I'd rather be here with you," he replied, sliding into the water next to her and dropping the towel on the side of the pool.
"This is not proper," she muttered, looking away and turning her back on him. "You're becoming too spoiled. Just because you're the Queen's son doesn't allow you to do as you please!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be so upsetting for you," he apologized, putting his hands on her shoulders to stop her. "Please, don't leave now. I promise I won't touch you where it's forbidden."
She turned her head to glare at him. "Then take your hands off of me."
He let go immediately and put his hands behind his back. Water covered him almost to the neck, since he'd sat down in the pool, but Briella didn't
dare look through the transparent liquid.
"I am quite done bathing," she said, slowly turning around and making sure her body stayed underwater, painfully aware it wasn't much of a cover anyway.
His eyes stayed on her face, though, and he smiled. "I will be quick, if you'd be so kind as to wait for me."
She rolled her eyes and gave up. She sat with her back against the pool wall and listened to him splashing around as he washed himself.
His hair was wet and his eyes shone when he told her he was done. She quickly grabbed a big towel and wrapped it around her body, trying not to look at him as he did the same with his much smaller towel.
She had painted and sketched him half-naked, and still couldn't look at him completely naked. Still, from the corner of her eye, she saw enough to make her heart beat faster. He was damn gorgeous, damn him!
"Are you planning on escorting me to my room?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Why not?" He flashed a dazzling smile at her.
"Because you're wearing only a towel?"
"So?"
"People would assume..."
"And?"
"I don't want them to think we sleep together."
"Why not?"
She snorted and looked away.
"This is the Queendom of Maadre," she snapped. "Women are supposed to choose men, not the opposite!"
She heard him sigh and looked at him.
"As you wish," he said. "Can I have a kiss? Then you can go."
"Why would I kiss you?" she protested, jarred.
"Because I'm asking nicely?"
And with such a cute expression... She wanted to scream. No, I don't want to kiss you, damn you! Yes, I do want to taste your lips, damn you! Goddess, Amore, why do you have such an effect on grumpy old me?
"Forget it." He shrugged, averting his eyes. "I guess you don't like kissing either."
"Not really," she admitted, frowning.
"When will you let me cuddle you, then?"
Never! Because if you do, I'll never ever let you go! I know that! If I let you near me, I'm done!
"Amore, you really should stop offering yourself like this. You're not a Public Man anymore, why do you do it?"
Tales of the Queendom of Maadre Page 22