by M. D. Laird
Calab frowned. “I hate that he tortured you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied. “He didn’t get what he wanted.”
“Oh Genevieve,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You really are the most remarkable girl I have ever met.”
“Girl,” she said, smirking. “I like that, it sounds so normal.”
He chuckled. “You’re far from normal.”
She grinned. “Anyway,” she said. “Back to my wonderful thoughts. It was probably me encouraging the alliance to use me as bait that fulfilled the prophecy anyway, not my withstanding his torture. I think the strength must be linked to showing loyalty with no thought of reward.”
“You have shown loyalty with no thought of reward.”
“I haven’t,” she said, “and I don’t think I ever will. That part of the prophecy will be impossible to fulfil. I have always thought of rewards, not necessarily my own life, but the lives of you and the rest of my people, and the safety of the Crown. There is a German philosopher whose name I can’t pronounce—you quoted him once actually.”
“Friedrich Nietzsche?”
“Yes,” she continued, “the prophecy would require me to commit a selfless act, but according to him, there are no selfless acts. I was prepared to sacrifice my life, something I value, for another part of me that I value, the man I love and my people. There was a point with the Alchitch when they tried to get me to choose between you and all of the Arkazatine people. I couldn’t face the pain of that. I found the will to produce the two shields and hoped that would be enough, but I couldn’t choose. Even if I had, it still would not have been a selfless act.”
“Perhaps it’s impossible,” said Calab. “Though I think if you had sacrificed me to save your people that would have been enough.”
“I did not have the strength to make that decision. Instead, I searched for the will inside me to try and save everyone and then tricked them into thinking that I was more powerful than I was—if that is a weakness then so be it.”
“I think you have done enough to be forgiven for not making that sacrifice,” he said. “No one is perfect after all, and I for one am relieved you couldn’t make it. Moreover, non omnia possumus omnest, everyone cannot do everything.”
“True.” She smiled at him. “Though I think I should be awarded the strength for never asking for a pay rise.”
Calab laughed. “Yes, the position is poorly paid for the amount of mortal peril involved.”
Six weeks later and all the Arkazatines were back in their homes including all those who had been evacuated to Lycea. The dead had all been buried or cremated according to their order’s traditions. A memorial service had been held in Tethys in the Guild of the Crown public square to honour those who had lost their lives and the families who had lost loved ones. Eve had struggled to maintain her composure as she read out each name lost in the pointless war. A war because some greedy, power-hungry dark alchemists wanted the Crown for themselves.
The Crown Alliance had commissioned a memorial sculpture for the square of the Roman demi-god Hercules. Hercules was important to the Arkazatines as he represented strength, courage, wisdom and a great soul. He is often considered multifaceted, and this was felt to represent the different orders of Arkazatinia. The base of the sculpture included all of the seals of the Crown Alliance including the guardian seal. The sculpture did not include the seals of the witches or the Elion—only the seals of those who fought bravely to maintain the Crown. Eve hoped that one day they could commission a sculpture to represent everyone, but today was not that day.
Tharazan had helped Eve to draw up papers to specify the terms of the alliance with the witches, and it was similar to the agreement initially written for the Elion. It stated that they would be given a seat, but for the foreseeable future, they would not be involved in defence and security. The papers outlined the contributions they were to make to the Crown. As their territory was small and isolated from the rest of Arkazatinia, their fee was low and covered the use of facilities such as the libraries, public parks and a few other areas Coryn had asked to access as part of their new alliance. The papers also specified the terms Eve had agreed to and gave them back their territory in Baltica and the right to exhume and re-bury their dead from the uprising. Coryn and her second had been invited to the CRM to meet the alliance and finalise the papers.
A new Elion ruler had emerged. The Elion had sent notice to the Crown to inform of the emergence and reiterated that they would keep to the terms of their alliance and would make no further attempts on the Crown. They also requested to be considered for a seat in the Crown Alliance and were invited to the CRM to discuss the terms.
The alchemists had been tried, found guilty and executed in the public square. They had revealed no further details on their plans or if they had been working with anyone else. The alliance just had to hope that there had only been seven brothers. Mikæl recognised a seal found in the alchemists’ belongings to be that of the ancient Night Brotherhood and said they had placed a profound significance on the number seven and specifically seven metals relating to seven planets and seven deities, and they had had seven members.
Mikæl knew that the original members of the brotherhood were long dead, also executed for various atrocities, but advised that if the new order was emulating them, then it was likely they also had seven members. It seemed a reasonable conclusion and the alliance hoped he was right though they were relatively unconcerned now they had the all-powerful Eve in their corner. She hoped the deception would not bite her in the ass.
The new Exalon ruler had emerged to replace Ester as patriarch, and the Impærielas had promoted a new captain and lieutenant in place of Captain Lexas and Lieutenant Aryn-Lexas. Eve initially could not bring herself to think about replacing her two guards although Calab stressed the importance of having twelve demons and twelve angels as her guard as twelve was a perfect number. They had both shared a grin immediately as they thought of their conversations about Thomas de Quincey and the number twelve. Eve eventually agreed for Calab and Jacob to recruit two more guards though she could not shake the feeling their deaths had brought.
The deaths of all of the Arkazatines had bothered her, but the deaths of her two guards played upon her the most. Not just because she had been awful to them at times and had even stabbed Araziel, more that she had always seen them as her perfect symbol of alliance, and lately of balance. They were dark and light, good and evil, Heaven and Hell, and despite their immortality and their might, they could fall in battle like any human. The thought unsettled her. It unsettled her that it was not just one guard that was lost and nor was it two demons or two angels but one from each side—the balance was maintained. She did not know what it meant or if it meant anything at all. She was also perplexed why the balance was even necessary—why have anything that is either good or evil in the first place if you are simply going to balance it.
Everything in the world straddles the line between what is perceived as good and what is perceived as evil just as belief in what is good and what is evil straddles the line between knowledge and ignorance. If she could make sense of anything at all, it was that everything was dissimulation and her part in Arkazatinia and the prophecy was just a small part of a greater illusion. She felt that if she lived for a million years, she would never know why.
Still, the loss of the guards and her guilt at the way she had treated them compelled her to offer some token to make amends and show her appreciation for them. She commissioned a Queen’s Guard seal for their uniforms that had a winged lynx surrounded by a circle to represent unity and wholeness. The seal was her toast to their honour and sacrifice, and her promise that she would never again ask them to stand down from their oaths.
Later in the evening on the day of the unveiling of the Hercules sculpture, Eve took a vector to Calab’s house after he had requested her attendance for supper. He greeted her with an embrace before leading her to his library w
here he had relocated his dining table. Calab had dined in his library at the Asmodeus guild for over a hundred years and was struggling to kick the habit. Finding solace in the simple comfort, he had decided that he no longer wanted to.
Calab invited Eve to sit beside the fire which was unlit due to the warm weather. She smiled as she watched him relax into his favourite chair. She had made a request to Prince Nakhiel for the guild’s library armchairs to be gifted to Calab. Nakhiel had been happy to hand them over and reported that no one had used the library room since Calab had left and it now stood empty. She sipped her wine and sat in the comfortable silence for a few moments before she spoke, “How are you, Calab?”
His eyes met hers and he said, “I have more good days than bad days, but I’m still…overwhelmed I suppose.”
Calab had wanted to try to have a relationship with her. He had thought that he had gained perspective from everything that had happened with the Alchitch. He thought he knew what he wanted and that he wanted to be with her for the rest of her life. However, without the stress of the Alchitch, his struggles were free to take centre stage once more. They had managed a week before he started to crumble. A week before Eve would wake in the night to find him in tears. He had told her that he needed space and she had barely seen him outside of Crown and Queen’s Guard matters for five weeks.
“We don’t have to do this, Calab,” she said. “You don’t have to force yourself to cope for me. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I love you, Genevieve,” he said as his eyes began to moisten.
“I know that you do. I know that you’re trying really hard, but you need to focus on yourself and not me. I will still be here for you. We can be friends as we were before.”
“I don’t know why I can’t let myself be with you. It is all I want.”
“I know,” she said, blinking away her own tears. “And I’m sure one day you will, and I will be waiting for you.”
“Would you marry me, Genevieve?” he asked. “When I’m ready, will you marry me?”
She smiled at him, wiped her tears furiously. “Yes, Calab, I will marry you. Whenever you are ready, I will be your wife.”
He smiled and held out his hand, she took it. “I’ve failed you,” he said. “I promised you it would be different and it isn’t.”
“You have failed no one. I understand.”
“Are you sure you want to marry me?” he asked anxiously. “I don’t know when that will be. I don’t want you to spend your life waiting for me.”
“We will be friends. That is enough. I will wait for you for as long as you need.”
Calab gazed into his glass and said sadly, “I don’t deserve you.”
“Yes you do,” she replied, squeezing his hand. “You’re stuck with me so you may as well get used to it.”
He grinned and quoted Coleridge:
“And so I won my Genevieve,
My bright and beauteous Bride.”
Eve looked into his eyes, and in the pools of despair, she could see a glimmer of joy. She desperately wished she could heal him. She had magic capable of healing, but it would do nothing for his pain. He meant everything to her, and there was nothing that she could say that would help him. No proclamations of love would heal him. She would be there for him. She would be there when he wanted her and go away when he didn’t. She would hold him when he cried and she would love him unconditionally, and when he was ready, she would be his wife.
“We should toast,” he said. “I don’t know what to. Carpe amorem seems hypocritical.”
“It’s perfect.”
Calab smiled and clinked his glass with hers. “Carpe amorem.”
“Carpe amorem,” she replied. She sipped her wine, and they sat in silence for a few moments more before she spoke again. “What is your last name?” she asked, suddenly realising that she had never thought to ask in the two and a half years she had known him.
He smiled softly. “I don’t have one. Lesser demons sometimes choose one, but princes don’t. I could choose one now if you like.”
“I like the thought of taking your name.”
“Any requests?”
She smiled slowly. “How about Mr and Mrs Calab Hallward?”
He smiled her favourite heartbreaking smile. Eve had convinced herself she would not see that smile again for a long time and it warmed her heart to see it now. “I love you the future Mrs Calab Hallward,” he said, raising her hand to his lips.
“I love you Mr Calab Hallward.”
“I have a strange feeling Fate has in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows,” he said and blinked as tears formed in his eyes.
There are minds that can see clearly like the eyes of the lynx,
And that reason best when things are obscure.
Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom.
A sneak preview into the sequel to The Crown Prophecy
The Adamantists
M.D. Laird
Coming summer 2017
Chapter I
“To what do I owe this honour?” Sonneillon Prince Thomas of the First Order addressed the king of Axandria slyly as he approached his throne. The king glared at Prince Thomas and did not speak. “If you’re waiting for me to kneel and kiss your ring, you’ll be waiting a long time.” The prince grinned, his sapphire eyes meeting the king’s angry demeanour.
The king bristled as he glowered at the demon stood before him. He had nothing to do with demons unless he had to. They were arrogant, obnoxious and not particularly pleasant to look at, but like everyone, they have their uses.
“I am troubled by the news from overseas,” said the king. “The new Arkazatine queen has come into some rather powerful magic.”
“So I hear,” said Prince Thomas. “What of it?”
“I don’t like it. I refused to ally with her in her war, and she may seek revenge against me.”
“I have heard she is weak,” said the demon, looking away from the king to examine his claws. “She wields a mighty power, but her heart is weak. She does not have the constitution for vengeance.”
“All the same, I would prefer the magic on my side. I need an alliance with her.”
“Why are you coming to me? Offer one of your sons.”
“I have offered my heir, and she has refused him. She is betrothed to the former Asmodeus prince.”
The demon prince laughed. “From what I have heard of that queen it does not surprise me that she would marry that disgrace of a demon.”
“Be that as it may, it does not help my situation. She has offered allegiance with Axandria, but I want a pledge that has more weight than mere words. I want you to help me…persuade her to marry the Crown Prince.”
“Why should I do that?”
“Your assistance will not go unrewarded; I will give you the southern duchy.”
“I have no need for territory.”
“I will also offer you my youngest daughter.”
“I have no need for a daughter.”
“You may take her as your wife.”
“I have no need for a wife.”
The king frowned. “Name your terms.”
“I cannot help you even if I wanted to,” said the demon plainly. “Demons are allowed to live in Anaxagoras under our decree, we are allowed to defend our nation, but we cannot conquer others.”
“I don’t want you to conquer Arkazatinia. I want you to visit, stir things up a little between the queen and the demon and have her break off her engagement.”
The prince laughed. “This plan is desperate. Just visit yourself and have your allegiance made official with a treaty. The girl is Lycean; Lycea is no longer won and lost on marriages. She can divorce your son as easily as she can marry him.”
“In this world, as you know, Prince Thomas, lands are won and lost on marriage as are allegiances. I won’t accept anything less. The queen is incapable of producing an heir so that allegiance n
eeds to be secured by marriage with her herself.”
“Just have the aetheling charm her, get her to fall in love with him. He has a pretty face, I’m sure she’ll adore him.”
The king bristled again. He did not like being mocked by the demon. “She is marrying a hideous demon rather than a beautiful thorian,” he snapped. “I think she’ll be rather more difficult to convince.”
“I am offended,” gloated Prince Thomas.
“I’m sure,” said the king sarcastically before continuing. “We can play this ridiculous exchange for the rest of the day if you like, but I am getting tired of it. You may be a demon prince, but you still reside in my lands, and you are still my vassal. You owe me your obedience.”
“I am living here because Heaven lets me not because of you.”
“You still have a duty to protect this continent. I am ordering you to help make sure that this continent is securely allied with Arkazatinia. I am more than generous with my payment.”
“Fine,” said the demon, giving the king a mocking yawn. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to remind former prince that he is still a demon.”
“I doubt he has forgotten.”
“I mean remind him of his demonic personality. Have him rid himself of these ridiculous ideas of love and remind the queen what a demon is and why she shouldn’t marry one.”
“Did you not just offer your daughter for marriage to a demon?”
“Yes, but a queen with a great power has more value for Axandria than a princess—it is a necessary sacrifice.”
“Very well. When is the queen’s wedding?”
“There is no date set as yet, but I want the alliance secured quickly. You have until February.”
“That only gives me four months.”