by Opal Carew
The throne itself was a long golden chair, almost like a fancy bench with a high back. It had two crimson cushions on it and was clearly meant for two people to sit on. However, it had a single occupant now.
A large, rather flabby-looking Eloim male with a long, luxuriant curling mane of black hair was lounging on it so that he took up both cushions. He was dressed in a gold brocade jacket which was too small to contain his gut. It spilled out under the jacket and over his tight gold trousers, resulting in a pronounced potbelly. The crimson satin-like material of his shirt was stretched tight over it in a ridiculous and not-very-attractive way.
That has to be Hurxx, I thought, eyeing the lounging Eloim with distaste. On his head he wore a golden circlet with a single, luminous blue-green jewel set right in the middle, like a diadem. The jewel seemed to pulse with some kind of energy. Though his hair flopped when he turned his head, the crown—which had to be the Star of Wisdom—stayed very firmly in place and didn’t move so much as a millimeter. Around his neck he wore a gaudy gold chain set with jewels of the same color.
“There he is—the bastard,” I heard Sarden growl.
He started to go towards the throne but Tellum put a restraining hand on his arm and pulled him back to the shadowy alcove we were standing in.
“Be patient. Let me pick the moment to reveal the Ria,” he said in a low voice.
Sarden subsided, still growling, but I could feel his anger and frustration through the link we now shared. I couldn’t say that I blamed him, either. Hurxx had sold his sister into slavery just to get rid of her and he didn’t look like he felt guilty for it one bit.
Asshole.
“What’s that necklace he’s wearing?” I murmured to Sellah—for some reason the gold chain with its blue-green stones kept drawing my eyes. “Is it official court jewelry—like the Star of Wisdom?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Or at least, it wasn’t official before Hurxx had it commissioned. He had it made before we were crowned to wear to the coronation and he’s never taken it off since. He wears it everywhere, whether it matches his outfit or not.”
I made a face. “Doesn’t look like it would match any outfit.”
“I thought not too,” she murmured. “But he loves it for some reason.”
“And now,” one of the Council members said, stepping forward. “Before this Grievance Day is ended, we have one more matter to put before the Council and the Court.” He glanced back at Hurxx who made a languid gesture with one hand and nodded for him to go on.
“That’s Yancy—one of the Council that’s in Hurxx’s pocket,” murmured Tellum. “You can be sure that anything he says comes straight from the mouth of the Rae himself.”
“Let’s hear what he has to say, then,” Sarden growled.
“As we all know,” Yancy, the Councilor continued in a loud voice, “Our beloved Ria was taken from us by shameless ruffians many solar months ago.”
There was a murmuring in the crowd and I saw several of the common women dabbing at their eyes. Sarden must be right then—Sellah was loved and missed.
“Our ships pursued these pirates tirelessly,” Yancy continued. “But alas, we were too late to save our Ria. It is my sad duty to tell all who are gathered here today that she is dead.”
There were more murmurs from the crowd—some sad and some shocked. Most of the couriers and nobles looked upset as well.
“That bastard!” Sarden started forward again but again, Tellum held him back.
“Wait,” he said simply. “Let Hurxx dig a deep enough hole to bury himself.”
I personally thought he already had but since Sarden apparently decided to stay put, I stayed too.
“For proof of our Ria’s sad and untimely demise, I offer you this—the single object recovered from her captors.”
Yancy clapped his hands and a courier wearing scarlet hurried forward, carrying a jeweled case in one hand. He opened it and Yancy reached in to pick up what was inside. Then he held it up—showing the crowd, who oohed and ahed over it.
It was a crown, much like the one that Hurxx wore on his head. Only in this one the circlet was silver instead of gold and the glowing jewel set in the center was a slightly different color—pinkish-purple instead of blue-green.
“As you know, there is no other female of the blood to be Ria to our esteemed Rae,” Yancy continued. “And even if there was, our Rae would not wish to replace such a beloved Ria so soon. In fact…” He paused dramatically. “He does not wish to replace her at all.”
There was a louder murmur coming from the crowd now and some of the Councilors were visibly upset.
“What are you saying, Yancy?” one of them called. “How can Eloim retain its balance without both a Ria and Rae to rule it?”
“Why, in the same way it has always retained its balance,” Yancy said smoothly. “Through the use of both the Star of Wisdom, and the Star of Compassion.”
“What? But if there is no Ria, who is to wear the Star of Compassion?” another Councilor protested.
For the first time, Hurxx spoke.
“I shall,” he said, at last sitting up straighter on the throne. He had a high, nasally voice that grated on my nerves. “I shall wear both of the Stars at once and they shall guide me.”
The murmurs of the crowd were so loud this time that the Councilor who had been objecting had to shout to make himself heard.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed. “No one person can wear both Stars at once.”
“Why don’t we let the Stars themselves decide that—shall we?” Hurxx purred. Leaning forward, he motioned to Yancy. “Yancy—the Star of Compassion.”
Stepping forward, Yancy held out the silver circlet with its purple-pink stone and Hurxx took it carefully, holding it with his fingertips as though it was hot.
Just as he was about to place the silver crown on his head, on top of the gold crown he already wore, Tellum murmured,
“Now!”
Sellah stepped forward, out of the shadowy alcove we’d been keeping to. The rest of us followed her and Sarden shouted,
“Stop!”
“What?” Hurxx paused, frowning. “Why, Sarden, my royal cousin, whatever are you doing here?”
“Stopping you from taking over all of Eloim, cousin,” Sarden growled.
“How? Do you plan to take the throne yourself, half-breed?” Hurxx sneered.
“I didn’t say that, but there is someone here who has a claim to it.” Sarden motioned to Sellah, who once more threw her black veil back to reveal her face.
“Hello, cousin,” she said in a low, carrying voice. “As you can see I am not dead at all but very much alive. And I do not approve of you wearing my crown as well as your own.”
The murmuring from the crowd was absolutely deafening then—it was really more of a roar. Many of the common people were surging forward but the palace guards held them back, keeping us from being overwhelmed. There were shouts of,
“Sellah! The lady, Sellah has returned!”
“The Goddess of Mercy be praised!”
“The Ria! I knew she wasn’t dead!”
But mixed in with the shouts for Sellah, there was a surprising amount of commotion for Sarden.
“Lord Sarden has brought our Ria back!”
“Mayhap they will rule together—as is proper and right.”
“Lord Sarden has returned—now all shall be set right.”
I even heard some things about myself. People wondering who I was and if I was with Sarden. I blushed and made sure not to meet anyone’s eyes. Let them think what they wanted. But it was clear to me from what the crowd was murmuring, that Sarden wasn’t regarded as an interloper or an intruder, despite the fact that he looked more Vorn than Eloim.
Despite the shouting at her back, Sellah kept her face towards the throne. She and Hurxx seemed to be having some kind of a staring contest but at last he spoke.
“Well, cousin,” he remarked. “So you return. I am so glad you are well—we f
eared you dead.”
“You feared no such thing,” Sellah said in a low, carrying voice. “For you are the one who plotted to have me kidnapped and sold into slavery in the first place!”
“I?” Hurxx put one hand to his chest and made an offended face, though I noticed he kept a tight grip on the Star of Compassion with the other hand. “Surely you must be mistaken.”
“There is no mistake,” Tellum said, stepping forward. “For I heard you and Yancy speaking of the plan—which is why I went to find the Ria myself. She was put up for auction to be sold to the highest bidder—that was your doing, Hurxx.”
“Blasphemy!” Yancy gasped, retreating to stand beside the throne. “How dare you speak such lies in the presence of the Rae, Tellum?”
“He only speaks the truth,” Sarden growled, stepping forward. “Put the Star of Compassion down, Hurxx—and while you’re at it, you can take off the Star of Wisdom too. You obviously don’t deserve to wear it.”
“Is that what you think?” Hurxx sneered at him, his pouting upper lip curling up belligerently. “Well, I say we let the Stars decide who is the rightful ruler here—shall we?”
And before Sarden could stop him, he placed the Star of Compassion on top of his head, just over the Star of Wisdom. For a moment, I thought he seemed to be having a hard time keeping the second crown in place—it was almost like he was fighting with it to wrestle it down onto his head. But then the slim circlet seemed to snap into place somehow and then it stayed where it was, the pinkish-purple stone winking and glowing just above the greenish-blue one.
I felt a disturbance in the air as the second crown snapped into place—a strange ripple of something I can only describe as wrongness. It was an almost palpable feeling—like I was on the beach and had been slapped in the face by a cold, salty wave. The intensity of the feeling made me gasp and I looked around, wondering if anyone else had felt it. But everyone seemed to be watching Hurxx.
He removed his hands from his head, holding them up to show that they were empty and both crowns were staying on his head without help from him.
“Do you see?” he called, looking imperiously down his nose at Sarden.
An audible gasp came from the crowd.
“Is it not clear?” Yancy declared loudly. “Would the Stars of Wisdom and Compassion stay in place on my Lord Rae’s head if they were not meant to be there? If they did not deem him a worthy ruler?”
“It must be true,” someone whispered. “Lord Hurxx must be the true and ordained ruler of Eloim.” Soon other people in the crowd were saying the same thing—although I could tell they weren’t happy about it.
“There’s something wrong,” I whispered to Sarden. “Can’t you feel it?”
He gave me a shrewd look, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “I don’t feel it myself but I can tell you do—I feel it through you.”
“He’s keeping those crowns on his head in some way,” I said. “Confront him—tell him to take them off.”
“Or let someone else try to take them off,” Grav muttered.
“There is always the Challenge of the Stars,” Sellah murmured to Sarden.
“The what?” I asked. It sounded like some kind of celebrity dance show but I was pretty sure challenging Hurxx to a dance-off wouldn’t prove anything.
“It’s where you challenge the ruling Rae or Ria to allow someone to try to remove the Star they are wearing,” Sellah explained. “In the history of Eloim, there has never been a successful challenge because the Stars stay firmly on the head of the rightful rulers and refuse to be removed.”
“That’s right—they’re supposed to fly off on their own if they don’t like the person wearing them,” I said, remembering. “But what if Hurxx has them fixed in place somehow? We have to try and get them off.”
“The Challenge of the Stars is risky—too risky,” Tellum objected. “If we try and fail to get the crowns off, Hurxx’s claim to the throne will be irrefutable and we’ll never be able to challenge him again. Also, if we lose, he can claim anything he wants of us as tribute—to recompense the insult we have offered by challenging his legitimate right to the throne.”
“He knows it’s risky for us—look at him, the smug bastard,” Sarden growled. He looked at me. “Zoe?”
I knew what he was asking and I nodded, the feeling of wrongness churning in my gut.
“There’s something not right—we have to challenge, no matter how risky it is.”
“Zoe is right,” Sellah said in a low voice. “I say we challenge too.”
Sarden looked at Grav, who nodded.
“I’m with you all the way. Not gonna take a backseat while that bastard tries to steal your blood-sister’s throne.”
“Then it’s decided,” Sarden said firmly. “We challenge.”
“I take it by all this whispering together that you’re thinking of challenging my claim,” Hurxx said, raising his voice to be heard over the murmuring of the crowd. “Is that not right, my royal cousins?”
“That’s exactly fucking right,” Sarden snarled. “We don’t believe you have the right to wear either Star—let alone both.”
“Well then—let us put it to a test, shall we?” Hurxx motioned to his pet Councilor. “Yancy—come and make the test.”
“With pleasure, my Lord Rae.” Coming to Hurxx’s side, Yancy made a big show of pulling on the crowns Hurxx was wearing in his long, floppy hair. Of course, neither one of them budged. Then Yancy stepped back, holding up his hands. “The Challenge has been met and defeated! Though I tried with all my might, neither the Star of Wisdom nor the Star of Compassion would come off my Lord Rae’s head.”
“That doesn’t prove anything!” I exclaimed. The feeling of wrongness was growing in me and I was getting really and truly pissed off now. “Yancy was just pretending to try and take off the crowns.”
“Do you say so? And who might you be, my dear?” Hurxx raised an eyebrow at me.
I stepped forward and heard the crowd murmur as they looked me over.
“This is Zoe—a female of pure descent from a closed Planet,” Sarden said loudly. He gave me a look from the corner of his eye. “She is my bonded mate.”
“A Pure One? Lord Sarden has mated a Pure One?” I heard the crowd murmuring and a great wave of longing came over me. I wanted to be his bonded mate in more than just name only. I gave him a look from the corner of my eye, wondering if it would ever happen, wishing I could be in his arms someplace private, showing him how I really felt.
But there was no time for hanky-panky. I lifted my chin and looked at Hurxx.
“Lord Sarden is correct—I am his,” I said clearly. “And I am from a closed planet.”
“A Pure One, eh?” Hurxx eyed me hungrily. “Well, my little Pure One, why do you not come and make the test yourself, if you doubt my Councilor?” He beckoned to me languidly, his dark eyes gleaming in a way I didn’t like in the least.
“All right—I will.” I stepped forward but Sarden put a hand on my arm.
“Zoe, I don’t like this,” he growled. “Hurxx is a slippery son-of-a-bitch. I don’t want you getting too close to him.”
“Let me do this,” I told him in a low voice. “I’m the only one who can fix this.” I didn’t know how I knew that—I just did. It was as clear to me as the feeling of wrongness which kept growing every minute. I wondered for a moment what was happening to me but there was no time to question my certainty—I had to go with it. “I can take care of myself,” I told Sarden.
Reluctantly, he nodded and released my arm.
“All right. But if that bastard lays one finger on you—”
“I’ll bite it off,” I said coolly and gave him a smile.
He shook his head and smiled back.
“Zoe, you never cease to amaze me. Go.”
I went, approaching the double throne with my head held high and my back straight. I was very aware that everyone in the room was watching me and I didn’t want to disgrace myself or Sellah and Sarden
either.
Calm, aloof ice-princess, I told myself, moving with a slow, measured pace. You’re a calm, aloof ice-princess and nothing can melt you.
I hoped, anyway.
At last I was standing right in front of Hurxx, who was still lounging on the throne with a little grin on his doughy face.
“Well, well, my dear,” he murmured as I came to a stop in front of him. “Aren’t you a pretty one? So exotic with your pale skin and your big blue eyes.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. Up close I found him completely repulsive from his floppy hair down to the dainty gold ankle boots he wore on his small feet. The gaudy blue and green stones of the thick gold chain he wore around his neck seemed to wink at me—especially the one in the middle, which was a large, raised oval as big as an egg. What was the deal with him anyway? He looked like he’d been raiding Elton John’s closet but only taking the ugly stuff.
“I’ve never had a Pure One before,” Hurxx remarked, looking me up and down in a way that made me want to cover up. “Perhaps after this little charade is over you and I can go someplace private and get better acquainted.”
“I’d rather have a double root canal,” I told him flatly. “That’s a really unpleasant and painful dental procedure in case you don’t get my reference.”
“Well! How dare you speak to the Rae in such a way?” Yancy, who was still standing nearby demanded.
“Because he’s not the rightful Rae—and I’m going to prove it,” I said loudly, hoping like crazy I actually could prove it. I looked at Hurxx. “I don’t want anything to do with you—I’m only here to remove those crowns. You shouldn’t be wearing either of them and you know it.”
His self-satisfied smile slipped a little but he only gestured at me.