by Ruby Duvall
She heard footsteps and looked to see all three males walking up to them.
“Impressive,” said Vallen.
“I’m sorry for distracting you, empress. I should have had more faith in you,” Rosuke muttered, looking contrite.
“Daijoubu da yo,” she smiled, and then realized that she hadn’t spoken in Common. Vallen swiftly grinned and Rosuke even smiled. Oka’s eyebrows came together in confusion, and Mai’s head cocked to the side. Apparently, she wasn’t well versed in Mahou either. “Uh—I mean, it’s okay.” She scratched her cheek in embarrassment. All this attention was unnerving.
“I think that’s enough training for the morning,” Vallen announced, his voice full of obvious pride. Rosuke nodded in agreement.
“Lunch is in order then. We should get to know our new arrival,” he said, winking at Mai. She turned a frosty look upon him, quickly cooling his flirtatious smile. Apparently, she didn’t like him.
“I brought a couple of rabbits with me, if you would like to use those, empress,” she offered, looking away from Rosuke to Shumei.
“Rabbit meat?” Oka asked, his mouth wide. “Sounds really yummy.” Shumei smiled at him, rubbing her hand over the soft curls on his head.
“It certainly does, thank you,” she said with a smile. “I’ll help you cook them,” she offered. Mai reacted as if flustered and a shy, helpful manner immediately replaced the frosty manner she had given Rosuke.
“I-I can do it myself, empress. You should sit and rest while we prepare the noon meal, shouldn’t you?” she said.
“I’ll help you then,” Vallen offered. Mai shot icy daggers at him. Shumei blinked in confusion. Apparently, the woman didn’t like men.
“Oka will help you,” she said, trying to placate everyone. “He needs to learn some more cooking skills than what I’ve taught him.”
“Hey, you always say my soup is good,” Oka said, looking hurt.
“When have you ever cooked meat?” she answered gently. His lips twisted in petulant silence and she smiled teasingly at him before looking to Mai, who seemed pacified by this solution.
“Well, let’s heal your ankle first,” she said, placing her hand on Mai’s elbow and walking her toward the house. Everyone followed in procession and right at that moment, she wanted to smile with happiness. She really was the new empress. The Divine One had greatly honored her, and she was already making new allies. Two in only three days!
Things were looking up.
Chapter Thirty
The rest of the day had been an interesting affair. The rabbit ended up a little burnt, Oka’s fault, but it still tasted very good. Hunger is the best sauce, as the saying goes. Shumei was starved by the time it was ready, having been through a lot in only an hour—and this didn’t include her fight with Mai.
It turned out that Mai was from a smaller city in the northern end of Stillwood, but her parents were originally from Kaisui, the largest city on the southern edge of the Black Sands. The people of Kaisui lived in a hot, salty area, being trapped between the ocean and the sands, and so the natives were generally darker-skinned due to the constant and strong sunlight. Her parents had moved to Stillwood before she was even born, but Mai had never known why. Her father died in a logging accident when she was eight and her mother died of an infected wound when she was fourteen.
From that age on, she had taken care of herself.
As soon as she felt the Pull of the Empress, she had packed only enough food for a week and basic possessions, abandoning her home and village to seek out her empress. Apparently, it was pure luck that she had stumbled upon the forest path leading to the estate and just in time too for Vallen had only recently made it visible to ones such as Mai.
The rest of the day had been spent talking, though Shumei and Mai had done most of it. Rosuke would try to butt in with a ribald comment, earning a chuckle from his empress and a glare from the newcomer. Vallen, as was his wont, stayed silent for the most part. Only Oka’s comments were well received by Mai, whose expression softened ever so slightly whenever he spoke.
Shumei wondered if the older woman was being nice to Oka simply because he was her brother or because he was still a young child. One thing had become clearer, though—the traumatizing experience that had triggered Mai’s magic was her mother’s death, something she could certainly understand.
That is, if Mai was telling the truth.
As the discussion wore on, Mai learned how she had met Vallen. Of course, Shumei blushingly evaded any specific details, seeing as how Oka was in the room and she had coyly glanced at Vallen’s knowing smile. Mai also learned some things about her village, the witch and the attack that had taken place only a few days previously.
With regards to that, Vallen had been unable to find the survivors he had sent to the medicine fields, nor could he find anyone else who had survived the night. He couldn’t even find any bodies except for those still lying about in the village. No merchants or neighbors had come calling what with all the problems lately and so the bodies had remained where they fell, making for a gory scene in the light of day.
To bury them would require more time than he had to spare, and so Vallen reluctantly left the bodies as they were and looted the now-ownerless homes, bringing back supplies for making more substantial food, or harvesting some of the medicines from Shumei’s field, which was still growing quite well despite her absence. He even dug up and returned to her the string of kols she had been saving for a rainy day. According to him, though, the remains of his family fortune, plus his own additions, was more than two hundred sixty thousand times what she had saved. The number had staggered her.
They used some flour that night for dinner and Shumei ate bread for the first time in a long time. The rest of their daylight was spent preparing a room for Mai to sleep in, and she ended up choosing the one next to Oka’s, something that actually made Shumei very relieved. However remote the possibility, she secretly feared that something would sneak in and steal Oka in the middle of the night, but with another sleeping so close, Oka had even more protection now.
Rosuke was actually the first to go to his room to retire, saying something about a chill in the room, and she couldn’t help but make eye contact with Vallen.
The heat in his eyes was more than enough to make her tremble and right on the heels of Rosuke’s comment too, causing Mai to worriedly inquire after her health. Clearly, she hadn’t caught the undercurrent in Rosuke’s words.
“I’m fine, Mai, really,” she said to pacify the older woman. She couldn’t break eye contact with Vallen, preferring to bathe in the warmth of his hungry eyes, and it wasn’t until her brother yawned that she was able to break free from her reverie.
Blinking abruptly, she looked at a sleepy-eyed Oka and felt a soft smile lift the corner of her mouth. His tenth birthday would be coming up in a few months. It was exactly three months after hers.
Shumei then stood and straightened her clothing.
“What is it? Are you retiring for the night?” Mai asked, standing up herself.
“Well, I believe that it is Oka’s bedtime. He has had a lot of excitement for one day,” she explained, walking over to her little brother and pulling him to his feet. He was understandably reluctant.
“But it’s been only an hour since sunset,” he quietly complained, trying to stifle a second yawn by swallowing it. His eyes were at half-mast.
“No ‘buts’. Time for bed,” she said, steering him toward the inner door to take him to his room.
Oka placidly let her push him along and Vallen watched her with appreciative eyes. She would make a good mother. She was gentle with Oka and somehow commanded his obedience without much fuss.
He couldn’t wait to start working on their first child.
The thought that he could actually have a child now filled him with immense relief. He was the last of his line, the only son to one of the top generals of the previous empress’s rule. If he had never regained his humanity, his family name
would have died out along with the dozens of other noble families that had completely perished in the uprising.
It was yet another thing that Shumei had gifted him.
“You may wish to follow her since your room is that way,” he suggested to Mai, not glancing at her as he walked toward the inner door through which Shumei had already passed.
He could feel the woman’s icy glare on his back and smiled.
Mai watched as the other male left the room, turning left down the hall, away from the direction of her own room. It was obvious to her that the empress had chosen him as her favored one and that they were already on intimate terms.
She repressed a shudder.
The other one, though, seemed to be unattached and his lewd jokes greatly worried her. It wasn’t so much their content as it was their intended listener. She wanted nothing to do with the male called Rosuke. He was dangerous. Males like him, with his looks… She would make sure to bar her door that night.
Shumei sat on her brother’s bed, her hand on his chest as he slept. His small mouth was slightly ajar and his golden curls looked white in the darkness of his room. It had taken him only two minutes to fall asleep. She checked one last time to see that he was tucked in and then leaned down to kiss his forehead, silently thanking the Divine One for sparing her brother from all the dangers that had been constantly hovering over him.
“You love him greatly, empress?” Mai’s voice called softly.
“Oka? Yes, very much. He’s a good boy and he’s the only family I have left,” she answered just as softly.
“Did you think I spoke of another?” the older woman asked, and Shumei slowly stood, walking carefully to the door to avoid tripping.
“I do love another. Vallen,” she answered simply, stepping out into the hallway and easing the door shut on its wooden frame. She pressed her hand to the fragile wooden frame of the paper door, whispering one word softly. At the same time, Mai asked another question.
“Then the other one…Rosuke, I believe. Is he a male—err, man to be trusted?”
Shumei smiled at her and began to understand the Divine One’s words to her.
“Truthfully, Mai, the most untrustworthy person here is you. Rosuke seems crude, but he’s extremely loyal, gentle and caring.”
“M-me? I…” she stuttered, looking ill at ease as she stood in front of her empress.
“Well, you did challenge me today and you’re cold to Vallen and Rosuke, who are now your comrades-in-arms,” she pointed out, not bothering to soften her words. It seemed that Mai appreciated bluntness. “Have no fear for your safety or mine. At least, not when it comes to any ‘male’ in this building. Try to sleep, and do not think of enemies.”
“Y-yes, empress. I understand,” Mai whispered. She bowed slightly, stiffly, her black satchel in hand, and Shumei watched as the woman walked to the next room and slid the door shut. A soft sound of pensive thinking left her mouth as she stared at the now-closed door. Mai was certainly interesting.
Her vision then slowly turned toward the opposite end of the hallway, staring at the vague outline of an open door at the far end. It seemed so far away. The candle in the sitting room, halfway down the long length of hall, had been blown out, and it seemed that Vallen had not lit a candle in their room, so all was dark and quiet in the slight chill of night. Full summer would be upon them soon enough to make the nights hot and sticky, but not tonight.
Tonight, she would be hot and sticky for an entirely different reason.
She made her way down the corridor, feeling a deep-seated excitement begin to build. She didn’t try to suppress it and even enjoyed it, silently reminding herself to save this memory for the future. Tonight, she and Vallen would finally make love as humans. There would be no magic between them but what they made together.
She came within a single step of the door and felt her entire body stiffen with tension. Stepping inside, her eyes immediately went to the bed, but it was empty. She stopped two steps inside the door, her eyes scanning the back of the room, but it was void of any movement at all.
A spicy scent drifted to her nostrils, wafting up from behind her, and she heard the paper door slowly slide shut, scraping softly along the frame.
She didn’t turn, only glanced behind her, and found the faint outline of his shoulders in her peripheral vision. She heard him step forward and turned her head to the front again, waiting anxiously for his touch.
He slipped his arms around her and stepped close, pressing his long frame against her back. The heat of his body quickly seeped into her, softening the tension in her spine and making her melt into him. She lifted her arms, slipping one hand to the back of his neck and gripping his forearm in the other. Soft tufts of his jet-black hair tickled the back of her hand and the lean muscles under her fingers flexed as his strong arms hugged her tightly. His bone-melting voice whispered into her ear.
“I dreamed of this. Over and over again, my mind produced visions of this night.” Shumei turned in his arms then, needing to feel his lips against hers, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she stood on tiptoe. Vallen obliged her with a soul-shattering kiss, one that promised all kinds of sexual delights, and she moaned into his mouth as he clamped her tightly to his chest with one arm around her back. His other hand was busily removing the belt of her dress.
“I need you,” she murmured against his mouth, rubbing herself against him like a cat against its owner. Her belt fell to the floor, allowing her dress to sag open.
“I know…even without the Binding, I know,” he whispered in response.
“Vallen—”
A loud boom shocked a cry of fright from her, totally shattering the intimate mood they had been enjoying. His arms immediately tightened around her, and a heart-clenching, shrieking noise soon followed. It was like nothing she had ever heard before.
“The alarm!” Vallen burst out, suddenly releasing her and running for his sword in the corner of the room.
“What has happened? Vallen!” she called, pulling her dress shut around her body.
“They are here! Majo…her demon army…the enemy is here!”
Chapter Thirty-One
“N-now?” Shumei said, her face the perfect picture of surprise.
“Quickly, love, you must dress! They will be at our door in only a minute!”
She could hear Rosuke’s voice from the down the hall and his heavy footsteps as he ran toward their bedroom. Then there was another voice from the other direction…Mai. Vallen tossed her belt to her, his hands working fast as he attached his sword.
It couldn’t be now. She wasn’t ready. No one was ready. She couldn’t protect anyone. She couldn’t save anyone.
“Vallen! They’ll come to the front! I’ll go out first to check their numbers. Follow as quickly as you can!” Rosuke called through the door, his words tumbling out of his mouth in his haste. He then ran off and she heard him sprint down the other hall.
“What is this noise?” Mai called. “Is the enemy here?”
“Follow me! And bring any weapon you have!” Rosuke ordered. Vallen called his agreement to Rosuke before turning to look at her.
He was ready? How could he be ready? They were about to be slaughtered!
“Shumei!” Vallen beseeched. “Why do you still stand there?”
“She’s going to kill us,” she whispered.
“You are the empress! We need you now! With you, we can defeat them, but we can’t do it by ourselves!”
“I can’t…” she began, her voice crumbling. His eyebrows turned up, and he retrieved her belt from the floor, tightly pulling her dress shut and wrapping the belt around her.
“I believe you can do anything, Shumei. You have restored my humanity…my magic…my hope. You perform spells that I’ve never been able to do myself. You defeated a veteran magic-user in only a minute.” He finished tying her belt, although it looked sloppy for obvious reasons.
“You are the light of the Divine One, his chosen one, h
is empress…he has elevated you above all others.” He grabbed her shoulders then, looking her dead in the eye. “You can do this.”
Her eyes widened, and she felt warmth flood her chest. It wasn’t her magic though. It was something else. She wondered for the space of a heartbeat if the Divine One himself hadn’t taken Vallen’s place for just that moment, for she felt herself uplifted—she had never felt so confident as she did then.
Nodding once, she followed him off the bed, filled with an indescribable emotion. It wasn’t like excitement, nor was it fear.
It was determination.
“Find Rosuke. I’ll join you in a couple of short minutes,” she said. Vallen curtly nodded, whipped open the bedroom door, his sword in hand, and ran down the hallway.
She entered the hallway as well and extended her right hand. Finding the inner wall, she used the tip of her index finger to rapidly draw a circle, her arm whipping through the air as the symbol was formed. A light followed where she traced, a bit of magic to show the lines and the ball of warmth inside was eagerly awaiting the circle’s completion. As she finished, a static-like sound not unlike the sizzle of summer fireworks filled the hallway. A whoosh of warm air burst out from the completed circle, throwing her hair back over her shoulders.
The alarm suddenly faded.
The spell she had placed on her brother’s room not only repelled evil intruders but also kept its occupant in slumber, but because of this new spell, the one on his room was now voided and he would most certainly awaken.
She ran down the hallway, whipping open his door, and saw that he was already out of bed, his eyes wide with surprise.
“W-what’s going on?” his surprised voice squeaked. “I thought I had had a nightmare…”
“Oka,” she gasped out, rushing forward to plant her hands on his shoulders. “Listen carefully to me. The enemy is here, and we’re in danger. The house is safe, though, so promise me that you will not leave these walls! We’ll be fine, but you must not come outside. Obey me in this and I’ll brook no questions!” She quickly kissed his cheek, pulling him into her arms for a fast, tight hug, then released him, closing his door behind her.