by L. M. Roth
Tullia screamed.
Marcus stood uncomprehendingly at the sight of Felix; then saw the dagger in the hand of Decimus, who grinned at him with an evil menace.
For Marcus, it was too much. He would have thrown himself on Decimus and fought him to the end had not the door burst open to reveal Gerontius Hadrianus, Silvia Lucius, and several of the leading men of Lycenium.
Gerontius took in the scene, and saw Tullia with her mud drenched garment, his son with drawn dagger, and the wounded Felix.
“It is true then, what I was told,” Gerontius whispered in a broken voice. “Oh, my son, I did not want to believe it of you. How could you have done this vile thing?”
Decimus was not accustomed to having his dark deeds made known, and he stood with the dagger dangling loosely from his hand as he stood with head hanging down before his father.
Marcus turned his back to them and left it to them to sort out. He rushed to Felix who was now cradled in his mother’s arms, as her tears fell gently on his face.
Tullia and Kyrene also clustered around Felix and wept. As for Marcus, he took one look at the gaping wound in his friend’s chest, heard the gasping for breath, and knew it was mortal. He was the son of a solder, and he recognized death when he saw it.
“Felix,” he crooned as tears welled up in his eyes. “Oh, Felix, you took what was intended for Tullia. And for me.”
“You saved me, Felix,” Tullia said through the tears choking in her voice. She kissed his brow.
“And you saved me, my friend,” Marcus gasped as he struggled for composure.
“Well, then,” Felix panted. “I am absolved now. You and Tullia. For your mother, and your father. My debt is paid.”
Silvia held him in her arms and kissed his curls, and Felix breathed his last.
The days that followed the death of Felix were some of the most wrenching that Marcus was ever to know. What hard blows were these; to discover the murder of his mother, witness the death of his father, and to have his own life and that of the woman he loved spared by the sacrifice of his dearest friend. Sleep eluded him, his appetite deserted him, and tears seemed his daily lot as he agonized over the loss of those whom he had loved the longest in his life. Truly, it seemed as if the threads of his past were cut and its fabric utterly gone, and a new and uncertain life lay before him, whose pattern and design he could not see.
A few days later, when the sky was overcast and leaves of brown and gold drifted slowly from the trees, Felix was laid to rest on his uncle’s estate in Lycenium.
Before the last rites were given for Felix, Marcus with a heavy heart, had consulted Logos for a word of comfort, some way to ease the pain in his heart.
“Love is as strong as death; jealousy as cruel as the grave. Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love. Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.”
And so, Marcus thought as he stood by the grave of his dearest friend, it was true, as Kyrene said: Felix had never stopped loving Tullia, even though she loved another. What a selfless love was that, to give expecting nothing in return. And thus the word Kyrene had spoken to Felix when they first met was brought to pass: Felix had found true love, when he loved the One whose heart was true. For in laying down his own life to save Tullia, he had demonstrated the deepest love of all…
By the same standard of selflessness, the Empress Aurora’s love for his father was exposed for what it really was: merely a lust for something that had been denied her, a woman whose every wish had always been gratified, and who did not know the meaning of the word deprivation. It was on the same footing as the cruelty of Decimus to Tullia; what was denied him willingly he ruthlessly attempted to take by force, even as Aurora did by imprisoning Valerius and leaving Honoria to die.
As for his own love, Marcus recalled the words to the ballad he heard in Gaudereaux:
“It was she and she alone I sought...”
He turned to smile tenderly through his tears at Tullia, standing next to Kyrene, whose hand she held in comfort. Tullia returned his smile through her own misted eyes, and slipped her other hand into his.
Yes, his lady loved him. And him alone.
Quest For the Kingdom by L. M. Roth is a 7 book series divided into 2 sections.
Books 1 through 3 comprise the Empress Aurora trilogy and the tale of the young Marcus Maximus.
Books 4 through 7 consist of the Chronicles of Logos and recounts the fate of the fabulous Sword. It also continues the saga of Marcus Maximus, his friends and their teenaged children, and reveals how the decisions of the next generation impact the Kingdom for years to come.
Individual titles for the series are also available, listed below.
Quest For the Kingdom Part I The Legend of the Great Pearl
Quest For the Kingdom Part II Conquering the Domain of Darkness
Quest For the Kingdom Part III Invitation To Eternity
Quest For the Kingdom Part IV A Stranger Among Us
Quest For the Kingdom Part V Rise of the Time of Evil
Quest For the Kingdom Part VI The Sorceress and the Seer
Quest For the Kingdom Part VII A New Kingdom Rises
Other titles by L. M. Roth:
A Knight’s Guide To Spiritual Warfare
Abelard and the Dragon’s Vapor
Arise My Love The Princess Who Fell Asleep
Christmas Cheer
Disenchanted In the Land of Dreams Come True
Lights In the Mist and Other Original Fairy Tales and Fairy Tale Spoofs