The back of the mantle was embroidered with fire out of which rose the coiled Firenz black asp, its head raised, green eyes alert, mouth open, forked tongue snaking, fangs bared to strike.
The same snake was forged in gold with eyes of emeralds and these were affixed to his leather arm shields that were buckled to his forearms.
All in all, vastly different than the ceremonial royal finery of golden chest shields, thick leather blades tipped in gold and rubies dripping from his kilt, and helmets with plumes of vermillion feathers his father wore.
And a damned sight less heavy.
“We’re to be away soon and I’ve been told the others are gathering in the vestibule,” Mars noted quietly. “Did you come for an escort down the stairs?”
Elpis lifted her gaze to his.
“I hear the cheers of the crowd all the way to here,” she replied. “The acrobats and fire eaters are already entertaining. Our people have something to watch so we have a moment before the procession. I’d like to take it.”
He needed to take a moment for Silence before they left as well.
But he’d give his mother this as he would give her most anything she asked.
“Then do,” he invited.
She turned, and from the folds of her skirt, took a long, thin box he hadn’t noticed she carried when she arrived.
It was ebony, and as he moved with her to his bed, where she laid it, he saw on the top it was crusted with large, exquisitely-cut rubies and crescents of onyx.
It was seeing that, his gaze went to her face.
But he had her left profile. He could not see her wedding chain.
He heard the clasp release, looked back to the box she had opened, and felt his chest grow tight.
In a bed of black satin, two long, thin chains rested.
The top one: simple, minute, but brilliant gold links. Though there was a hoop studded in flawless rubies at the place where the chain hit the lobe of the ear.
The bottom, the same links, but at the lobe hoop of rubies fell three strings of gold links on which diminutive jewels dangled: one string with onyx, one of ruby, one of ice diamonds. The same size and type of jewels hung from the line that fed from lobe to nostril.
His mother’s wedding chain.
And his father’s.
“Mama,” he whispered.
“It is time,” she said to the box, then turned her brown eyes to him, and that was when he noticed she wore a new chain of only rubies with some emeralds, no longer diamonds and onyx. “And I’ve instructed the servants to move me out of my rooms tomorrow. I’ll take others, in the east hall, not close to you and your bride. And I will remain in them for the time it will take to ready the relict house for me.”
It was time. They both knew it.
In fact, Mars should have assumed her rooms on his coronation.
But he didn’t have the heart for they were the rooms she shared with his father.
Mars didn’t protest her offer.
He simply nodded.
“The day after tomorrow, so if she’s in any discomfort, she won’t feel it at the betrothal dinner tomorrow eve, I’ll gather the women and we’ll perform her piercing ceremony,” she declared. “It won’t be a lot of time to make sure the piercings are clean and no poison gets in them. But this is all going very quickly, and she wasn’t pierced at thirteen to await her marital chain. We’ll just have to hope for the best.”
“It is good I have you to think of the things I have not,” he murmured.
His mother searched his face before she whispered, “Does she speak to your heart?”
“You withhold from her,” he noted instead of answering. “And not simply because she is often with Farah and Sofia.”
He watched the flash of grief mixed with anger brighten her eyes at the mention of those two women before she repeated, “Does she speak to your heart, my son?”
“She has a soul of silver,” he answered.
“Silver is bendable,” she replied.
“Silver is luminous and precious,” he returned. “And Father taught me bendable is not to be avoided. It’s breaking that is.”
His mother nodded.
She knew Ares had taught this lesson.
And lived it.
Mars carried on, “Though it is her wit I look forward to discovering.”
Her wit and her breasts and that pink mouth and watching her abundant curves on her wee body as she rode his cock.
He did not share this last with his mother, however.
“I’ve not noticed much wit. She’s very quiet,” his mother remarked.
“She does not speak unless she has something to say.”
Her head tipped to the side. “She told you this?”
He smiled at her. “Moments after we met. When I was demanding she say something.”
It was then, he was glad to see a flash of humor in her eyes.
“Then it would seem, my son, she also has courage,” she replied.
She might.
But she would not need it.
Nandra, their most powerful witch, had been adamant the Beast was rising, even after being questioned about this again once the tremors stopped.
But his wee monkey would not face these travails or any other.
He’d see to it his silver did not break.
It was what husbands did.
And as he would be husband to his tiny wife with her silver eyes, he would do the same.
“We must join the others,” he said, before calling out to the servant boy who was always close unless he’d been dismissed.
The boy came forward.
“Lock this in the place I keep things most precious,” he ordered, indicating the box with his hand.
The boy nodded as Mars took his mother’s hand, lifted it to the side of his chest and began to move them from the room.
“We have not had time to speak of much more than planning the upcoming festivities, Mars, but you should know,” she began. “I’ve decided I will not be traveling with you to the wedding of the Dellish prince.”
She could not even speak Farah’s name.
Mars sighed and replied, “I wish you’d rethink this. You’ll be missed by Farah.”
And Sofia.
“I would give you all things I have to give, as my son and my king,” she returned as they moved into the corridor. “But that is not mine to give.”
“Mama—”
She dug in her heels and he stopped, looking down on her to see her mood had swiftly changed.
“Farah, yes,” she hissed. “She was of an age she was at her own pursuits and with her friends more than in her home with her father and mother. But Sofia slept at his side. She should have known. And knowing, she should have warned us.”
“I do not wish to note this, but I will,” Mars began. “He was in this very palace with you, and me, and Father the night before his blade struck treacherous and true. He was my second father. I spent much time with him the whole of my life. He was my father’s most trusted lieutenant, and Father spent much time with him as well. And he, and Sofia, often joined you and Father in your bedchambers. And we, not one of us, understood his duplicity.”
She turned a face set stubborn away from him.
“Just think on it, Mama, this is all I ask, and this will be the only time we discuss it.”
Elpis faced forward and mumbled, “And for that last I will be glad.”
Mars sighed again and moved her down the hall.
As they descended the stairs, he noted the vestibule was crowded.
All had gathered to begin the procession.
But his eyes searched for her.
And his cock made itself known when he saw her.
By the gods.
“Mars, may I have a word?”
He turned his head with annoyance when he had to take his gaze away from Silence.
Prince True.
“We have a parade to attend,” he reminded the prince.
“One moment, and it’s important,” True replied, glanced at Elpis, gave a small smile with a small bow and then he looked back to Mars. “And with respect to you both, I need this moment to be alone.”
“I’ll make my way to my steed and ask the others to follow,” Elpis said. “My son,” she dipped her chin to Mars. “Prince True,” she repeated the gesture.
With that, she waded into the bodies in the vestibule.
Mars looked to True.
“A moment,” he granted.
True didn’t waste that moment.
“Neither Farah nor Sofia will participate in the procession,” he announced.
Mars stared at him.
True wasn’t finished.
“My men have gone ahead to search for a safe place for them to watch the arena without anyone seeing them so they won’t miss anything. But they won’t be sitting on the podium. After this, they’ll be escorted to the reception tent, again without anyone seeing them.”
“Both Farah and Sofia enjoy Firenz events, True,” Mars told him. “They’ve been away from them for years. But also, Farah is your bride, you’re a part of the procession and you should sit on the podium with your betrothed.”
“Your mother doesn’t forgive them, which is understandable. But can you stand there and guarantee me that every citizen of Firenze does?”
Fuck, he had not thought of this.
And thinking on it, he saw the wisdom in True’s caution.
However, in that moment, he had to assess the wisdom of trusting True with their protection.
They locked eyes.
“Your men will guard them?” Mars asked.
“My father’s guard will be the Dellish representatives in the procession. Alfie, Wallace, Luther, Bram and Florian will remain behind to escort Farah and Sofia to the arena. They’ll also stay with them.”
Mars had met these men.
He had sat with these men.
They were True’s entire personal guard.
True had Farah’s best interests at heart.
And Sofia’s.
And True mentioned it but made no judgment about Elpis’s feelings on this matter. He simply made his point without driving it home in other ways that would not be welcome.
A good general.
A good diplomat.
Perhaps just a good man.
An oddity for a Dellish.
A boon for Farah.
Mars liked this.
“It will be done,” Mars murmured.
“My gratitude, Your Grace,” True replied, dipped his chin and turned, moving through the quickly clearing entryway on a path to Farah.
Finally, Mars was able to turn his complete attention to Silence and he did this as he walked to her.
She wore a gown not of Wodell. It was not of Airen. It wasn’t even of Firenze.
He’d never seen anything of the like.
A red nearly the exact same shade of his cloak. It ran in gathers over her shoulders, covering her breasts (mostly, part of the swells down the middle could be seen). Under them, the cloth was attached to a wide belt of the same material that had horizontal gathers, rather than the vertical at her breasts and skirt. That panel molded to her midriff, stomach and upper hips and from it, the same silk floated down and swept the floor.
Her hair was up in a profuse bundle of loose curls that covered the entire back of her head.
But at the front and through the curls were threaded a multitude of gold chains that seemed to link in a knot behind her left ear. There, a number of strands tangled, falling down the wide path of bare, ivory skin of her front, between her breasts. The other he saw fell down her back, though he could not know how far they went, for she was turned to face him.
As he was noticing was her wont, she let simple (or in the case of that gold, subtle but extravagant) things make her point.
In other words, she wore no other jewelry.
She would wear her wedding chains beautifully against that pale skin and gleaming black hair.
But arriving before her, Mars decided she would take no other piercings.
Except, perhaps, one at her navel.
And one, like he had, in her tongue.
“Wee monkey,” he whispered when he arrived at her, and he could sense her struggle with not, perhaps, rolling her eyes or uttering a retort.
This made him smile.
He took her hand and turned her to the line he’d prearranged to form before he led her to her horse.
“It’s time to meet my men,” he announced.
“All right,” she said softly.
Her eyes. Her breasts. Her shining hair that looked soft as Firenz silk. Her wit. Her cleverness.
And her voice.
All of this he liked.
Very much.
“Lorenz, husband of Nyx, father of no one, my captain,” he introduced Lorenz.
She bent at her waist and then held out her hand, murmuring, “Lorenz. My pleasure.”
Lorenz took her hand and Mars heard her intake of breath as he pressed it to his heart and his stomach before releasing it.
This was also prearranged.
For traditionally, on such an occasion when a guard was presented in fidelity to the protection of a woman, the female’s hand would be pressed to heart and cock.
However, Mars had recently learned his little one would most likely not react well to that.
And learning this, he wanted her small hand nowhere near another man’s cock.
“My future queen,” Lorenz rumbled.
She offered him a trembling smile.
Mars moved her down the line.
“Chu, husband to no one, father probably to many, though none known, my left flank,” Mars declared.
“You are of The Mystics,” she whispered, staring up at Chu with his deep-set eyes and sunflower undertone to the tan of his skin.
“I am, my future queen,” Chu replied.
“I’ve not met anyone of The Mystics,” she said.
Chu grinned. “You have now.”
She held her hand to him as she bent at the waist. “My pleasure.”
Chu took her hand and held it to his heart then his stomach before he released it.
Mars led her down to the next. “Guard, husband to Zosime, to be father to a daughter or son within months, my right flank.”
“My future queen,” Guard said as he took her hand and pressed it to himself.
“Many congratulations and a safe delivery of your child,” she bid. “May he or she be vigorous and the gods smile down on them with abundance.”
“And my thanks, my future queen,” Guard replied on a grin, his eyes sliding to Mars, his gaze stating openly his approval.
Mars didn’t need Guard’s approval, if glad of it, so he nodded to his man and moved her to the next.
“Basil, not to be married, eventual father to orphans, if this is his choice, my rear flank.”
“You…don’t wish to marry?” she asked hesitantly, but curiously.
“I take only arse, my future queen. And that would be only male arse,” Basil replied, and Silence gasped.
“She’s Dellish, brother, remember this,” Mars warned.
“My apologies, my future queen,” Basil said. “Though, might I add, I wish to find but one arse I wish to take…eventually.”
Silence blinked at Basil.
Mars looked to the ceiling.
“Dellish take arse, they just don’t talk about it,” Chu muttered, and Mars wrested his eyes from the ceiling and shot him a meaningful stare.
Chu grinned at him but spoke no more.
“Well, I, erm, hope you find the but one, um…male you like and adopt many orphans,” Silence bid gamely, and Mars was forced to swallow laughter.
Though he did not stop himself from feeling the beginnings of pride.
The Dellish were known prudes.
This had been a concern before he met her, and then after he did with her attire, her stated inexperience, in times her
manner.
Mars was glad to feel this concern fading.
“He’s already found many he likes, many,” Guard murmured.
Silence ignored this, and without hesitation offered a bow and her hand, and Basil took it, pressing it to heart and gut.
Mars led her to the next. “And Kyril, husband to no one, father also probably to many, my other rear flank.”
“My future queen,” Kyril said, sweeping her hand up to his lips while doing a deep bow before rising and pressing it to his heart and gut.
When he released her, Mars asked casually, “You’d like your head still attached to your neck tomorrow, no?”
Kyril grinned at him.
Mars ignored it and turned his bride to the fullness of line.
“These are the Trusted Ones,” he told her. “Is this something you understand?”
She tilted her silver eyes from the line of his men up to him.
“I think so,” she replied.
She did not.
“They are the Trusted Ones, Silence,” he stated again. “Each Firenz king has them. They are trusted by me, and now you, in all things.” He pressed his hand into the soft, warm skin of her back (for he had found, the ribbons of red led down to a waistband, exposing a strip of flesh that fell lower than her front, and the gold dangled all the way down her spine). “In all things, piccolina,” he stressed. “Once you are my wife, they would lay down their lives for you.”
There was a slight widening of her eyes, a brief nod, and she turned her attention again to his men, putting her hand to her chest.
“It is good to know you,” she declared.
Simple words stated in a way she made clear she meant them.
That was when she received deep bows from the Trusted.
It was now done.
Therefore, it was time for the procession.
As he was moving to lead her out the door, he noted she slid her hand over the material at her chest, seeming to be trying to adjust it to more fully cover the curve of her breast before she noted his eyes on her movements and her hand fell away.
He took her other one, lifted it to the side of his chest and moved her out into the night.
They were to walk by Cassius on Caelus, his black steed as they made their way to the front of the large procession of men and women all of whom were already seated on horseback.
The Beginning of Everything Page 15