Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 (17 page)

She had been under her mother’s spells.
 
Her free will had been compromised for almost
twenty years of her life, which was most of it.
 
If he had asked her, she might have doubted herself or worse, them at
some point in the future.
 
Especially
when life got in the way and the inevitable argument or two came up.
 
She would have doubted that she had truly
known herself and what she wanted.

Since it had been her decision to ask, to the point she had
broken tradition, she didn’t think she would ever doubt it.
 
She had asked, and when they lay together she
had given everything of herself to him.
 
She believed with all her heart she would never regret doing so.

She wasn’t worried about what might happen here, she would
follow him, both the Flame of Cytherea and the man Justin, wherever he led…

---------

Nicci’s tears ran down her cheeks.
 
She was looking at her reflection in the
mirror, her mirror, the one in her room.
 
She was trying to understand what had just happened.

At first, when her father came in everything went well, he
had welcomed them all.
 
Then he had told
them he could build an invasion force.
 
Waiting over a year wasn’t ideal, and she had a feeling Justin would go
it alone before waiting that long.
 
But
her father had been more supportive than she had expected, up to agreeing to
allow a small stealthy force if they couldn’t wait and could find volunteers.

Then it had all fallen apart, he had turned to her and said
harshly, “Daughter, you disobeyed me, you will go to your suite and not leave
the castle for at least two months.”

At first she almost laughed, she couldn’t believe her ears,
she was being sent to her room and punished like a child.
 
It seemed absurd after her life had changed
so drastically over the last couple of weeks.
 

She had tried to explain how she felt, and that she was
living with Justin now, that they were in love and committed.
 
That she also protected him and she had more
important things to do than hide in her room.
 
He needed her by his side.
 
Not
only that, she believed the goddess wanted her by his side.

She had tried, but she had barely gotten three words of
protest out when her father’s face reddened in anger and his voice rose and
squashed hers into silence.

“You will do as I say, that is an order from your king!
 
If you persist in this disobedience you will
no longer be my daughter, do you understand?”

Then he had ranted at her, about what could happen if she
followed Justin to
Egeria
because of some fool
girlish infatuation.

She had turned red in embarrassment; she couldn’t believe he
had said that.
 
She loved Justin, and
would never leave him, but she also loved her family despite how unreasonable
her father could be at times.
 
The thought
of either leaving Justin or her family tore her heart in half, so she had done
the only thing she could.

She retreated to her room, just ran out of the room without
saying a word.
 
She needed to think, and
she had the small hope her father would come to his senses and allow her the
freedom to make her own decisions.
 
She
just hoped Justin and her companions knew she was just stalling, and that she
hadn’t abandoned them.

She hadn’t, had she?
 
She collapsed onto the bed and sobbed…

-----------

Nora almost started cursing when Nicci ran out of the room.

Then the king turned back to them and said, “Sorry you had
to see that,” looking directly at Justin he said in an almost grudging tone, “I
also want to thank you for joining the soldiers though you had no
responsibility to do so.
 
There would be
a lot of suffering people out there if it were not for you.
 
Feel free to use the guest rooms in my palace
for as long as you wish, if you need anything simply ask one of the stewards,
but I must ask you for the time being, do not seek my daughters company.”

Fucking idiot.
 
She
almost rolled her eyes.
 
She knew the
king was a good man.
 
It had been one of
the reasons she had relented and joined her sisters two years ago.
 
But when it came to his daughter, he was just
as much a fucking moron as any overprotective and overbearing father.

They were dismissed, so she led the three of them to the
guest wing and picked out an empty suite that had two bedrooms attached.
 
Everyone was quiet and it felt off without
Nicci with them, Justin was looking a little out of it and she thought she may
have to knock some sense into him.

It would work out.
 
She was sure of it.

----------

Justin was angry.
 
Despite all the king’s concessions and nice words, he could feel the
underlying tension behind the words.
 
The
fact he had basically implied he had taken advantage of his daughter’s naïve
infatuation merely confirmed the idea.
 
So much for impressing the parents.
 
He was also a bit confused, it seemed to him living together was sort of
like being… engaged in this culture.
 
Not
quite that, but close enough, and he had just been forbidden to see her?

It had hurt when she ran out, it had felt like a
rejection.
 
He had a feeling it was more
of a tactical retreat, so she wouldn’t have to make a choice between him or her
family when she was put on the spot by her father’s ultimatum.
 
But it still hurt and that had made him
angry, although it was also the fear of losing her altogether that made it
worse.

This anger was too personal, it was harder to push down, to
let go of.
 
Worse, there was nothing he
could do except hope and wait for her decision.
 
Despite what he wanted, how could he ever ask her to forsake her family
for their relationship?
 
That would make
him as bad as her father.
 
Yet at the
same time, shouldn’t he fight for her?
 
Would she want him to?
 
He just
didn’t know how.

Not even together for two weeks, yet he hated the absence of
her presence.
 
She meant too much to
him.
 
He sighed and got hugged from three
different directions at once.

They broke apart when the meal came, and he sat down with
the ladies to eat.
 
Finally Nora broke
the silence.

“Nicci will figure it out and we’ll have her back soon.
 
In the meantime, should we go to the temple
this afternoon?”

At first the idea of doing anything was unappealing to him,
but he realized doing something may distract him from his worry.
 
Besides, the idea of him brooding all
afternoon wasn’t a very attractive picture, he needed to get over himself and
trust in Nicci.
 
She wasn’t gone after
all, he just… feared she would be.

“That sounds like a good plan.
 
I don’t like the idea of waiting around for a
soldier buildup, we really need to get some idea of what I am expected to
do.
 
I don’t get the feeling we have
enough time to wait.”

After lunch, once again with Nora in the lead since she knew
the city, he found himself walking through the streets.
 
He noticed they were getting some looks,
probably because he had Kat and Sally holding his arms on either side.
 
He wasn’t sure how rare that was, but they
had also walked out of the castle like that, so he shrugged it off as
curiosity.

The temple wasn’t all that far away, and was also one of the
only buildings in the city made of stone and not wood outside of the
castle.
 
It was probably also the largest
building in the city outside of the castle.
 
It looked to be just one story, but higher than the buildings around it
and taking up much more space on the ground.
 
It also had a large dome in the center.

The inside was beautiful, immediately inside was a small
fountain with a statue of the goddess that seemed strangely familiar to
him.
 
They were approached by a man in
robes who had an open face and a gentle smile.

“Good afternoon, I don’t recognize you.
 
I’m an acolyte here, are you new to the
city?”

He couldn’t help the answering smile that bloomed on his
face despite his worries.

“Yes, I’m Justin and you could say I’m new here.
 
I was hoping I could talk to a priest or
priestess?
 
I have some questions about
the Flame of Cytherea from long ago.”

The acolyte looked curious, but instead of asking a question
he said, “Certainly, please follow me.”

They followed the acolyte into the nave and immediately
turned and walked along the back wall to a door.
 
They were led through a couple of hallways
until the acolyte knocked on one of the doors.
 
Another man, wearing robes that were more adorned, answered the door.

After a few whispered words from the acolyte they were
gestured inside and the four of them were left alone with the priest.
 
The priest welcomed them and gestured to some
chairs, when the ladies and he sat the priest started talking.

“Warren tells me that you have questions about the Flame of
Cytherea?”

He was reluctant to admit what he was, a lot of people had
treated him in a ridiculously deferential manner when they found out, and he
didn’t want to deal with it here, although he realized it was probably just a
matter of time.
 

He wasn’t even sure what to ask really, he had been going on
the assumption the last Flame was made to fight off a dark god somehow as well,
that was a hell of an assumption.
 
Although it did feel right.

He asked vaguely, “I wanted to know what the reason was for
the gift given, and how the goal was accomplished?”

The priest sighed and said, “All I know is the last Flame
saved the world from encroaching darkness.
 
I know that probably isn’t much help.
 
The true threat is known only to the high priestess.”

He asked why and the priest replied, “The nature of the
threat, if it was general knowledge its return could be accelerated.
 
Whatever the threat was, it took both free
will and knowledge to
loose
it on the world.
 
So over time the knowledge was suppressed as
much as possible.”

Even the vague explanation sounded like the dark god, but he
needed specifics.

“Can we meet with the high priestess?”

The priest shook his head, “She is very busy, besides she
would not tell you what you want to know.”

Seeing no other way around it, he reluctantly raised the
white flames over his body and said, “Are you sure she won’t see me?
 
It is rather important.”

His fears were realized as the priest stood and bowed, eyes
wide and perhaps a bit wild.
 
“We had
heard rumors the Flame of Cytherea was back but…
 
I’ll be right back.”

Sally giggled when the priest left and said, “You really
hate that don’t you?”

He shrugged helplessly.
 
“Respect is fine, it’s the fawning looks that drive me nuts.
 
Perhaps Cytherea finds me worthy in some way,
but I am still just Justin.”

The ladies shared a look he didn’t recognize, then as one
they dropped to their knees around him and started fawning, obviously teasing
him.
 
He couldn’t help the bark of
laughter that escaped his lips.
 
Of
course, that’s when the priest opened the door and slipped back inside.

He snickered as the ladies jumped up, faces red, and sat
back down in their chairs.

The priest said regretfully as he took back his seat, “The
high priestess, Celia, would love to meet you and answer any questions you may
have, but she is tied up for the rest of the afternoon in prayers and
services.
 
Could you come back in the
morning?”

Slightly disappointed, but also excited he would soon have
what information there was, he assured the priest he understood.

“Tomorrow morning should be fine; I will stop by right after
breakfast.”

The priest escorted them out.
 
None of them wanted to go back to the castle
yet, so Nora gave them a tour of the city which ate up a few hours time.
 
He followed as she pointed out the good
shops, a few different taverns, where to get the best armor or weapons.
 
They were all doing their best to ignore the
fact they were one short.

When they made it back to their room, he heard Nora giving
instructions to bring out dinner.
 
A
short time later they were at the table eating when he felt Kat’s hand on his
leg.
 
He made an effort to control his
breathing when she started to trace circles with her nails on his inner thighs,
teasingly close to his manhood.
 
He
looked over at her sharply when she started to rub his pleasure through the
fabric of his breeches.

Her face was the absolute picture of innocence as she
continued to chat with Sally across the table.
 
He put up with it for about two minutes before he squirmed, holding back
a gasp.
 
He stood, forcefully grabbing
her hand and walked toward the second bedroom.
 
He closed the door after they crossed the threshold.