by Marian Gray
His hands pressed against my flesh, but they weren’t as delicate or gentle in their touch as they had been the first time. No. There was a certain aggression in his moving massage. It was almost on the side of desperation. His fingers twisted my nipples and groped my breasts as he chanted out one of the Sun’s songs.
When the song finished, his hands left me. His fingertips tickled the tip of his cock that pressed hard against his thick loin cloth. “You see what I have done for you?” he asked in a caring, fatherly tone. “I have taken out some of the darkness from your soul and stored it inside of me. Now, we shall exorcise it out.”
He unbuttoned the sides of his garment, and the protective sheet peeled away from his body. He was fully erect, peppered with age spots and wiry white hairs. His lips puckered together and spat in his palm. As soon as his hand fell upon himself, I shut my eyes.
I forced my mind away from him, away from this table, away from the room, and far away from this land.
And then his face came to me. He had never left my mind, but I hadn’t seen him this clearly since the day he boarded his ship and sailed to Arus. Indigo eyes, a confident stance, and a long platinum braid. What I wouldn’t give to have him at my side or watching my back right now.
Svotheim was right. I had had a chance with him. At one point in time, there was an opportunity to push for more than just a civil and polite relationship. But I was weak. I was too afraid, and my life was completely unstable. He had his reputation and his wealth and his power and Irska as well. There was no room for me there. He needed a confident fighter, and I was scrambling around on the ground trying to find my own footing. Not that I had exactly found it now, but I was at least sure of some things.
I was a spade, I was sick of being treated as lesser, and I was finding the fearlessness inside of me.
My current predicament contradicted those things, but I knew I wouldn’t let this happen again. I had challenged once and lost, but I would challenge again if it came down to it. I couldn’t let the patriarch hold my existence in his hands. Until I was able to end the king’s life, I needed to overthrow Patriarch Menaries’s power over me.
A wet goop laced along my neck. It was warm and had a heavy, musky scent.
But I didn’t cry or squirm. I laid there calm, in control of my body, with my eyes still shut, and my mind distant.
The sun gushed through the sanctorium’s crystal windows. A rainbow of colors spilled over all the attendees. The walls and pews were full. On one side sat the royal court from the King’s Keep, and on the other side were all the high-ranking mothers, fathers, and brothers of the Mont.
Patriarch Menaries stood at the front with an enormous golden sun pendant hanging above his head. He was dressed in his ceremonial robes and a light smile played across his lips. His face was marked by a certain wisdom and goodness. One would’ve never guessed the horrors he performed behind closed doors from just a glance.
“We stand at the crux of making history for Essony. Not since the ancient times of King Meleus and his sun-touched consort, Galia, have we witnessed such a powerful combination as we have here. Derethe, Sister of the Mont, has been blessed with a mysterious and destructive gift. Where Galia healed and worked miracles with her light, Sister Derethe has the ability to bring nations to their knees.” Patriarch Menaries glanced at me, but I kept my eyes staring straight ahead. The beaded chiffon veil guarded my face from all onlookers. “With her at his side, King Audrios will be Essony’s crown jewel. King amongst kings. He will enrich our people and make Essony the center of the world. All peoples will bow down to him as we now bow to our Lord the Sun.”
A light applause filled the room. A full clap was considered uncouth—something only the lower tiers did. As such, the higher tiers applauded with fingers meeting the base of the palm. It was soft on the ears and very dainty in appearance.
Patriarch Menaries continued once silence had returned to the sanctorium. “King Audrios, please take Sister Derethe’s hand in yours and hold it out in front of you.”
The king didn’t hesitate. His warm palm pressed flat to mine, and his fingers interlaced themselves. He didn’t think anything of the action, but to me, it was intimate—like a Sairan hand-binding, a commitment of marriage. It was strange to play this game of pretend. Killing him was one thing, but toying with his emotions and trust was another. This mission was becoming far more insidious than I had anticipated.
The patriarch gave a slight nod, and Brother Roneos approached us with a long, golden cloth in hand. He began wrapping our hands together, tightly circling the sash so that we couldn’t break apart. “As Galia was bound to King Meleus on the night she was discovered, so Derethe shall be bound to King Audrios. Thus, the sorceress belongs to the king and shall do nothing but serve in his name. In return, the king shall honor her as he would honor his queen.”
The room applauded once more. This time with a little more gusto.
Patriarch Menaries grabbed our knotted hands and raised them high for all to see. The symbolism of the act did not elude me. Patriarch Menaries wasn’t going to let me go. Until I murdered King Audrios and somehow managed to escape this city, I wouldn’t be free of him.
XXXI
Intentions
The sky was a soft gradient of colors, moving from sapphire to amethyst to fire opal. My body spread out across the large, rectangular cushion. Its pristine white fibers fit around my frame in a comfortable mold. For the first time in years, I was relaxed—my mind was neither here nor there. I was just allowing myself a moment to be. My eyelids shut, and I breathed the evening air with a cool ease. This moment wasn’t going to last for long. I still had a king to kill.
Boots tapped against the tiled balcony floor, filling my ears. I assumed it was the guards rotating posts. They did so at dawn, high noon, and dusk.
“Enjoying yourself?” The king’s voice drifted to me.
My eyes whipped open and I scrambled to my feet. “Forgive me, King Audrios, I wasn’t expecting the pleasure of your company.”
He laughed. The sound was warm but airy, just like his voice. “You don’t have to apologize.” He sat on the huge cushion and patted the spot beside him. “Sit. When it’s just the two of us, there is no need for formalities. It gets awkward and tedious after a while anyway.”
“Yes, King Audrios.” I lowered myself back down.
“Audrios,” he corrected.
I offered him a small smile. “Thank you for cutting the ceremony.”
“You’re welcome.” He leaned toward me. “I don’t mind the usual prayers and traditional speeches during these types of events, but when Menaries drolls on because he enjoys the sound of his own voice—” Audrios shook his head. “I can’t sit through it. I get antsy and feel the overwhelming urge to flee.”
That was something we had in common. “Not a staunch religious observer?”
“Yes and no,” he said as he leaned back into the multicolored cushions. “I believe in the Lord our Sun, but I am not blind to Menaries. He’s ambitious and uses his position to take some of my power away, hence why his monologues all turn into rallying speeches for how the Mont could better serve the country. But that is not unusual for Essony. There’s always a push and pull between the King’s Keep and the Mont.”
“I’m sorry you—”
Audrios cut me off. “So, is it true what Menaries says? Can you really bring down nations? Are you touched by light? Or was it all a trick, and you simply managed to fool Astra?”
He still had yet to even witness me performing any magic. It was only upon Astra’s word and the remnants of the charred boar that he believed me capable. “I’m not too sure I can topple nations. I’ve never really been given the opportunity.” In the cities, my magic diminished, and when it ignited my flesh, I was around others. I had to keep it contained. My powers had been bottled up inside of me for nearly a full year.
The king let out an amused laugh. “You’ve never gone to war?”
I shook my h
ead. “No, I was not a soldier in Sairasee.”
“Do you think you have it within you to kill?”
“Yes.”
I had done it before out of self-defense. Being the aggressor was the detail that put me on the edge. Would I choke at the last minute? Would I injure him, then flee out of fear before the task was completed? I struggled to gauge what my reaction, thoughts, and feelings would be in that moment.
His eyes met mine. There was no hint of jest or hypothetical in them. “Thousands?”
No. “Is that how many you intend to kill?”
He sighed. His stare returned to the setting sun as though he were looking out to the future. “Essony is surrounded by those that are eager to see her fall. They are jealous of our riches that we mine from the earth and are intent on taking them for themselves—they gauge crop and livestock prices when trading, because they know we lack arable land. So, in order to feed my people, they demand an abundance of gems and metals. We cannot continue as we have done. If Essony is to grow, she will need new lands.”
“And how will you accomplish that?”
“We will take Rekkesov first. They have never wanted for food, and their storehouses tend to remain full throughout the year. Not to mention, I doubt they will sit still once I launch my campaign. That is why they need to be engaged immediately. The others that surround us are too timid or meek to strike on their own. They tend to rely on Rekkesov to lead them, but without the Rekke as their driving force, it will take them a long time to organize any sort of coalition, if at all.”
“The words are easy to speak, but they didn’t strike me as an easily conquerable people.” And by the way he spoke of them, Audrios understood this too. Rekkesov was the militaristic might of the region.
“For any other nation, this would be unthinkable, but with you…” His hand lifted, and he slipped the white scarf from my head. My long black braids slid down to my shoulders. “With you, my dreams are limitless. You will bring them to their knees with your powers.”
But not while I lingered under the shoe of some king. My powers were for me to use in my favor, not some entitled monarch. “And after you conquer the Rekke, what then?”
“We will trample our weaker neighbors.”
“It sounds as though you will be away from the King’s Keep for a long time. Who will rule the city in your stead?”
“We will be away for a long time,” he corrected. “And Menaries and my steward will assist in this task. It is how it’s always been done.”
I cocked an eyebrow. He was inviting a snake into his bed—not that he would live long enough to see it come to fruition. “Are you sure that’s what you want? To give him more power?”
“Yes, because my accomplishments will far outweigh his contributions. When I return, I will be so beloved by the people that they’ll sweep him back into the Mont where he belongs.”
That was rather naive to believe. “I don’t foresee your people favoring him over you in your absence, but Menaries will inflict pain and damage.”
He smiled, holding back a laugh. “Menaries? He’s harmless.”
How could he believe such a thing? “Audrios, he’s a predator. He feeds on those weaker than him.”
“What are you talking about?” He chuckled. “You were a sister beneath his guidance. How can you say that about the man that raised you from the dungeon to the king’s side?”
I couldn’t hold it in. “He abuses the sisters in the Mont. He holds these disgusting ‘sessions’ in which he gropes and defiles his victims.”
“That’s what makes you say those things?” Audrios shrugged. “I don’t disagree that he’s an old pervert. That’s been common knowledge for decades now. He’s been arranging these sessions since he was a lowly brother.”
“What?” His words took the breath from my lungs. “You know this and yet you continue to let him lead?”
Audrios glanced at me. His face was a confused conglomerate of wrinkles, staring at me as though I were being melodramatic. “Derethe, nobody is perfect. Why should I ruin his life because he likes to cop a feel here or there?”
I shook my head. I needed to make him see. “He’s not just copping a feel. He’s assaulting those girls. He’s raping them.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to confess but immediately snapped it shut. Essony’s view and odd contempt for women mimicked a lot of Sairasee’s own practices. If I told him of my experiences, would he find fault with Menaries or simply brandish me as a brazen whore that seduced him and broke him of his self-control? It wasn’t a gamble I was willing to take. It had taken me months to get this close to the king. I couldn’t throw it all away when I was literally days away from ending his life and riding north. “Because girls talk. I heard their stories.”
“And I intend to let them remain as just stories. As I said before, nobody’s perfect. Some drink too much. Some eat too much. Menaries simply looks too much.”
I opened my mouth to challenge him, but he held out his hand, silencing me. “I don’t wish to speak on it any longer.” His brow furrowed. “I’ve entertained your protests long enough. Your relentlessness is beginning to sour my mood. Now, let us discuss something more pleasant. Would you like to hear how my ride went today?”
No, I had no interest in his frivolous activities. “Yes, that would please me greatly.”
King Audrios’s apparent disinterest in Patriarch Menaries left my stomach in knots. It was safe to assume that when I peeled Audrios’s spirit from his flesh, there was a possibility Menaries would assume control. Audrios had no heir, nor did he have a sibling to challenge Menaries’s immediate claim.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I cared about those girls over in the Mont, and the idea of my actions bringing suffering to the poor and unfortunate made me sick. I didn’t have just one person to assassinate but two. On the night that I would end Audrios’s life, I would make sure to take Menaries’s as well.
XXXII
Into Death’s Hand
Irska’s face deepened a few shades of red as she stared at me. Whether it was rage or desperation, I couldn’t be sure. There were words demanding to leap off her tongue that she kept locked inside her mouth. But it wasn’t long before her lips broke open and the flood came out. “How dare you!”
“Irska—”
“This is unthinkable!” Her voice roared to life, undaunted despite the fact that she yelled at me in front of the others. “How could you, Iver? Honestly, how could you ask—no—demand something like this from us? You didn’t even think to discuss it with us?”
I had never led my warriors by means of a vote, and I wasn’t about to start now.
“You’re telling us to fight a troll, Iver. A troll! Are you out of your mind?”
The anger sweltered beneath the surface, threatening to overflow. But with all their eyes upon me, I had to maintain my composure. Poise and fortitude from a commander instilled a sense of stability. And stability boosted confidence and morale. I took her verbal thrashing, despite wanting to shout right back.
“Trolls eat and kill people for fun,” she added.
“Are you afraid?” I asked.
Her lips thinned. “Yes, of course. We all are!” Her arms swung wide, motioning toward the other six bodies gathered around us.
I glared at her, disgusted. Who was this person standing in front of me? Where was the brave woman I had fallen in love with? She would be rushing toward the fight with sword raised and not an ounce of fear on her face. “Where is your courage? We are faced with the opportunity for our names to be sung upon the lips of bards, and you want to run?”
I spat. This went against the very core of who were as a people.
“We all know I already think this troll situation is a bunch of horse shit.” Brungen’s voice cut through the tension. “But I agree with Irska. We shouldn’t be following this… this beggar out into the woods to only Othun knows where. It could be a trap. Oskar do
esn’t strike me as the type of man to face his enemies on the battlefield. He would resort to trickery to win.”
“Oskar is not my enemy,” I said. At least not yet he wasn’t. “All he knows is that I wasn’t impressed with his magic show.”
Lars shook his head. “He’s petty. And if Albin’s story is true, Oskar will go to drastic measures to cover his tracks. If he has an inkling that you see through him, he’ll move to take you out.”
I was surprised by Lars’s insight. Perhaps the boy wasn’t as naive as I had originally believed. “So, are you in favor of fighting the troll to kill Oskar’s magic or do you think the troll story is a trap?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know to be honest. Those of you who have been around a spade say with some confidence that Oskar is not one, so the existence of a troll explains that part. But this being an ambush is equally believable.”
Brungen grinned, but it was short-lived.
“Regardless, we need to go. If it’s a troll…” Lars released a long breath. “We fight the troll. If it’s an ambush, it gives us a reason to kill Oskar.” Lars bit his bottom lip. “And I’m really hoping it turns out to be an ambush.”
“No, absolutely not! This is madness. Can’t you all see that?” Irska pleaded. “We shouldn’t be knowingly running to danger. There are eight of us. We’re not exactly an army. We’ll get massacred.”
“I say we go.” Cirithe’s deep voice rumbled through the group. His dark eyes turned to the three Arusians for support, but the trio avoided his gaze. “The spirits tell me this is our next step.”
So, my ward and a slave were the only two who agreed with my plan of action. The reality twisted my stomach. If I could knock their heads around, I would.
“Iver.” Brungen placed his hand on my shoulder. “This is a trap. I implore you not to listen to these two fools.”