But where? And what was
he
planning?
Martanel followed the princess through the city to the elder's quarters. He was anxious over what may or may not be about to occur. The princess had bid him and one of his fellow guardsmen to come along as witnesses. Having only recently witnessed Aurelius mate with the queen, Martanel was baffled by this turn of events. Why would Aurelius mate with both the queen and princess? And in such a short time? Where was the motive? Originally Martanel had thought the elder had mated with the queen to gain access to the relic, but the following morning he'd found the relic still safe in its hiding place—the queen kept it in an old chest with the rest of her gold, pearls, and jewels; she still didn’t understand the value of the object beyond its outward beauty. But Aurelius understood. More importantly, the old man travelling with him understood. And they were both still looking for it. Martanel knew this wanton promiscuity on Aurelius's part had to have something to do with the relic, but how the princess fit into the plan to steal the relic was still a mystery to him.
They arrived at Aurelius's quarters and the princess knocked sharply on the door. It opened after just a minute to reveal the elder himself. He greeted them with a tired smile.
“Hello, Lashyla.”
“Aurelius. Have you made up your mind?”
Martanel watched the boy’s lip twitch. “I’m sorry,” he said. “There has to be another way.”
The princess snorted. “There is not.” With that, she spun on her heel and stormed away. “Have a nice life, Aurelius!” she called over her shoulder with a vicious smile.
“Lashyla!” Aurelius called after her. “Don’t be like that, I meant . . .”
But she wasn’t listening, and she didn’t miss a step in her hasty retreat. Perhaps Aurelius’s behavior was not so odd after all. The princess was merely being hopeful to think he would mate with her so soon after mating with the queen. Martanel hesitated a moment, then hurried after her.
* * *
Lashyla all but slammed the door to her quarters. She felt the acid burn of rejection in her throat like it was cut; her eyes were swollen with hot, angry tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. What was wrong with Aurelius? How could he be so cruel, so foolish—so horrid? She walked up to the broad viewports of her room and took a deep, calming breath as she watched a school of glowing blue glimmerfish drift by. She’d left her guards at the door. She wanted to be alone, and what use were they now when they’d have nothing to witness?
What had Aurelius been
thinking
to mate with her mother? How could he? She bit her lip,
hard
, to clear away the tears burning in her eyes. She would find someone else. No, not just some-
one
; she’d find ten mates! And each of them would be more handsome than Aurelius. She’d make him so jealous he’d
wish
that he had mated with her! He’d beg to be her mate, and then she would reject
him!
There came a quiet knock at her door, and Lashyla turned toward the sound. The muffled voice of one of her guards came through the rusting metal.
“You have a visitor, princess.”
She gritted her teeth and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. She didn’t want to see anyone now. “Send her away! I told you I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Begging your pardon, but
he
is not a she, and I believe you would be angry if I sent him away.”
Lashyla frowned, curious despite herself. What man would dare visit her without an invitation? She could think of only one. She strode to the door with suddenly eager steps, and then purposefully wiped the spreading smile from her lips, trading it for a scowl as she opened the door.
It was him, standing there in all his glorious beauty. She felt a surge of desire and her heart seemed to skip a beat. “Changed you mind, have you? Well it’s too late,” she said in an icy tone as she crossed her arms over her chest. She wouldn't make things too easy for him. Let him beg.
“I have, my beauteous princess. I don’t know how I could have ever chosen anyone but you. I was weak. Please forgive my foolishness and allow me to undo my mistake.”
Lashyla felt that loathsome feeling of vulnerability easing, and she unconsciously straightened, squaring her shoulders as she began to feel more in control, more herself.
This is how it should be,
she thought. “You will find that some mistakes are not so easily undone, but fortunately you have made the right choice before it was too late.” Lashyla held out her hand to him and he took it. Like that she reeled him in, pulling him to her.
They collided, their bodies hard and soft in all the right places. She raised a hand to his cheek and caressed it softly. Their eyes met and she gazed deeply into the forest-green depths of his, savoring the moment, knowing that this time, finally, she would have him. She sensed no resistance in him, and the Red Estheria she was taking only confirmed it, but the drug was now no longer necessary. It would be hard to wean herself from it, but easier now with Aurelius by her side.
She allowed her lips to drift close to his, but not close enough that they were touching. Even the smell of him was intoxicating. She could hardly restrain herself, but restrain herself she did. She held back, waiting for him to kiss her, to wipe away the stubborn vestiges of doubt. He didn’t hesitate. His lips met hers in a dizzying rush, fierce and possessing. They stumbled through the room, knocking over clay statues and priceless, one-of-a-kind antiques. They didn’t care. They kissed each other with desperate, hungry need and forgot for a moment where they were and what they were doing. They quickly lost themselves in the moment, and Lashyla barely remembered between gasps of breath to call for her guards. After only one year of life, with no mates to call her own, Lashyla was as inexperienced as they came, but Aurelius more than made up for that.
They rocked on building waves of pleasure that left her mind spinning in a thick, gauzy cloud of sensation. Each moment only added to the desire which threatened to tear her apart. She responded with an angry heat, biting and scratching, and climbing atop of him to pin him to the floor; he offered no resistance, but she held him fast between her legs and pinned his hands behind his head like the prisoner he was.
Those hazy clouds in her mind were swept away with a sudden burst of clarity so bright she thought she would pass out. She heard someone screaming, and thought there’d been some horrible act of violence nearby, but when she closed her gaping mouth, she realized it had been her. She lay back with a moan and a sigh, gazing numbly up at the ceiling glowing in shades of gold and lilac. In all her wildest fantasies, she’d never imagined it would be like that—so hot and desperate, so intoxicating, so
alive
—like the tingling warmth of the smoothest wine as it caressed her taste buds mixed with the periodic rush and roar of sea, or the blazing brilliance and sudden warmth of the rising sun as she lay naked and drying upon a secluded beach. . . .
It was all of that and more.
It was perfect.
* * *
Martanel witnessed the whole sordid affair, and an affair was exactly what it was—the very worst kind. It was abhorrent to him to even imagine a man sleeping with first a girl’s mother and then the girl herself, let alone for him to witness it! And it had all happened in the space of a day and two nights. The guard looked on with a disapproving frown as the princess and Aurelius concluded their immoral activities. She finished with a blood-curdling scream that could have been drawn as easily from pain as pleasure.
Just as Martanel was turning away with a disgusted grimace, he heard the princess speak. Her voice was hoarse and barely a whisper: “I will leave first thing at dawn to find someone who can fight a challenge for you; then we can be together every night.”
The next voice was Aurelius’s: “I will await your return with anxious longing.”
“And I shall miss you every minute that I am away!” He heard them begin kissing again, and he left the room on shaky legs. He was badly disturbed by all that he had seen.
He took up a guard position outside the princess’s quarters and stared absently at the rusted, water-stained wall opposite the door.
So that was the plan?
he wondered. Mate with the princess so she could challenge the queen for him? Why not simply mate with the princess in the first place? Why start with the queen and then try to undo it all? It made no sense—unless Aurelius had suddenly realized upon mating with the queen what a mistake it had been. Martanel
had
warned him. . . .
The guardsman shook his head. There had to be more to it than that. This wasn’t about choosing the best maiden in Meria. His instincts told him it was far more sinister, more calculating than that. He was simply missing the significance of the princess’s involvement. Until he figured it out, he would need to keep a close watch on the relic. He was anxious even now to be apart from it.
Martanel cast a look over his shoulder to the shut door of the princess’s quarters. At least here he could keep an eye on the elder. The relic was reasonably safe while Aurelius was with the princess; he was the most likely one to steal it, since he could now gain access to the queen’s bedchambers.
Martanel gave a sudden shudder. How could any society be so perverted? What made it all even harder to imagine was how Aurelius, a man from a supposedly enlightened time, could be corrupted so quickly.
It didn’t make any sense.
* * *
Aurelius lay awake on the couch in his quarters, staring up at the ceiling, which was glowing a dim blue-green from the corals and barnacles clustered there. He felt miserable. He’d rejected Lashyla over and over again, hurting her each and every time, and this time he felt sure would be the last opportunity he’d have to do so. She’d hate him from now on. He’d earned her lasting scorn.
Somehow she’d thought he’d mated with her mother, while continually refusing her advances. He could imagine how that might feel, though he couldn’t see how Lashyla would still want him after that. She must have believed him when he’d denied it. No one could have such a twisted, perverse concept of love—not even a mermaid.
At least he
hoped
not.
But to him it was perverted either way. The queen might be more his age, or much, much older. He had no way of knowing. To him, all mermaids looked almost equally young; yet Lashyla was little more than a year old, and she already looked to be a fully grown woman.
Meria was a confusing place, full of carnal delights, but those were a thin veneer pasted over a perverted society with a deadly cruel habit of recycling its male population.
No.
Aurelius shook his head. Tempted as a part of him was and had been to give in to Lashyla’s advances, he knew that no good could come of it, that he’d repent such weakness at his leisure. He’d be good and truly trapped after that. Though now it hardly seemed to matter, now that the queen had found two witnesses willing to lie in order to secure him as her mate. Now she would slowly wear away his resolve, eventually making him desperate and lonely enough to give in to her, if only for a brief respite from his miserable existence.
It was no way to live, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He had to believe that Gabrian would find the relic soon, and then they would escape. Especially now that Aurelius had found the means for such an escape. The old wizard would succeed, Aurelius was sure of that, but a nagging doubt kept him worried: once Gabrian had his precious relic, what use would he have for those who had helped him to recover it?
Martanel heard the door open behind him with a near-soundless scrape of ancient hinges. He turned toward the sound and saw Aurelius sneaking out. The elder held a finger to his lips and smiled, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to where the princess still lay on the floor, now covered by a blanket.
“I didn’t wish to wake her, but I must return to my quarters now, lest I be discovered with the princess before it is time.”
Martanel nodded slowly.
Aurelius’s expression became suddenly suspicious as he shut the door behind him. He cast a quick look to the other guardsman, and then turned back to Martanel. “You look familiar.”
“We’ve seen each other once or twice, yes.” Privately, Martanel wondered at the elder’s poor memory. They’d interacted quite a lot in the past day and a half. How could the elder not remember him?
Aurelius nodded absently. “I must get to my quarters now.”
“I’ll escort you there,” Martanel said.
“If you wish.”
“You’re not permitted to walk around the city alone—queen’s orders,” he explained as he matched his pace to the elder’s. Martanel watched the boy’s face carefully, trying to understand what went on inside his head. He couldn’t use magic without drawing attention to himself and who he really was, so he kept quiet. Perhaps Aurelius’s motives would become clear without the need for such things.
“I see,” the elder replied. “Does the queen not trust me?”
“Perhaps you should ask her yourself.”
“Perhaps I should.” The continued on in silence for a few minutes before Aurelius spoke once more: “You were also a witness to . . . something else, weren’t you?” Martanel considered his answer carefully, but while he hesitated the elder answered his own question. “Yes, you were.”
“I’m a royal guard, so you will have seen me guarding either the princess or the queen.”
“Yes or no will do,” Aurelius replied.
“I was witness to both matings, yes.”
“Will you say anything?”
“It is not my place. I have no cause to interfere.”
Aurelius smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m glad to hear there is still some fellowship among men. We must stick together if we’re to survive in a society such as this one.”
Martanel nodded but said nothing. Silence reigned once more and endured until they reached the elder’s quarters. The door was guarded by two others. They seemed surprised and confused to see Aurelius. Martanel saw their reaction and suddenly he found himself wondering how the elder had escaped house arrest to come see the princess in her quarters; he knew for a fact that the queen had commanded the elder and his friends be confined to their room.
Aurelius turned to him with a small smile and said, “You may go now.”
Martanel was about to object, to say that he had to see Aurelius into his room, but a quick look at the two guards posted there told him his presence was unnecessary. Only the growing suspicion in his gut told him that something was awry and that he should stay to investigate, yet he could think of no pretext to do so. Instead, he returned Aurelius’s smile and slowly turned to leave. When he heard the door to Aurelius’s room groan as it opened, he turned to look back over his shoulder. He saw the elder disappearing through the narrowing crack in the door as the guards shut it behind him. There was a strange flicker of movement, a shimmering upon the air, a sudden shift in aspect and ratio, and for the briefest of moments he thought he saw a flash of long white hair cascading down Aurelius’s back.
A spike of dread sliced through Martanel, and suddenly his limbs were trembling with adrenaline. A trick of the light?
It must have been.
He shook his head and continued on his way. Now that he was no longer required as a witness for the princess, Martanel resolved to return to the queen’s quarters and guard the relic. He needed to be where he could guard it. A part of him wanted to escape with the relic once more to keep it safe, but few places in Mrythdom were harder to escape from than Meria—at least that was true for his enemies, too, should they find and steal the relic.
Martanel frowned. He was playing a dangerous game.
* * *
“Where did you go?” Aurelius asked Gabrian as the old man walked by.
“Nowhere. Go back to sleep.”
“Did you find it?”
Gabrian stopped and slowly turned. “Find what?”
“The relic. You were out looking for it weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Not yet.”
“What?” Aurelius demanded. “We don’t have much time!
I
don’t have much time! Can’t you hurry up? Search harder?”
Gabrian’s wrinkled lips twisted into a sneer. “Why? Worried that the queen might summon you to lie with her?”
Aurelius frowned. “Among other things. This place is not safe for you either, you know. They don’t have much use for men like you, Wrinkles.”
The old man smiled cryptically. “I’m sure I’ll manage to be of service somehow.” With that, the old man turned and continued on his way, presumably to go back to bed.
“Hey, I’m not done talking to you yet, you old crone!” Aurelius heard the door to Gabrian’s room shut; he lay back with a sigh and stared at the ceiling with a worming sensation of dread. He was wide awake, but as the minutes wore on, his eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep. He was dreaming peacefully by the time Gabrian opened the door to his room and slipped out once more. The wizard stopped by Aurelius to whisper a command which would shut the elder’s ears to any noise that might wake him and then he carried on his way. He reached the door and softly knocked. It cracked open and one of their guards thrust his beady, blood-shot eyes into the opening.
“What is it?”
“Yesha ter ara congelisen.”
May you be frozen.
“Whaaat?” the guard asked as his lips and vocal chords slowly froze in place.
“Et carasha . . .” he whispered.
And forget.
“The man’s gaze grew vague and distant. His movements had already slowed, his lips still slightly moving in a vain attempt to form words. Gabrian opened the door wider and slipped out into the hall. The other guard was already stiff as a statue. Gabrian shut the door behind him and turned both guards to face out toward the hall, giving the appearance that they were still dutifully guarding the door, just in case anyone happened by before the magic wore off.
That done, Gabrian hurried on his way. It was still hours before the coral-crusted corridors would lighten with the dawn. By the time Gabrian reached his destination, he was no longer old and wizened, but strong and young, with enviable good looks that would be enough to open any door in Meria—even the doors to the queen’s chambers.
The queen’s guards frowned to see him arrive, but they quickly conveyed him inside. When he reached the second set of guards at the doors to her bedchambers, he found that he recognized one of them. That guard recognized him, too.
“What are you doing here?” Martanel hissed. “I thought you went back to bed?”
Aurelius gritted his teeth and swallowed his frustration. It seemed like that nosy guard was everywhere at once. “Mind your business. I’m here to see the queen. Tell her I have arrived, lest her displeasure be yours to bear.”
The guard’s eyes narrowed and his expression clouded darkly. “And if I refuse?”
But the guard on Martanel’s other side was already knocking softly on the queen’s door. The door opened a moment later to reveal the queen. Her sharp, angular face bore a look that could have made a troll falter. “How dare you wake me.” Then her icy gaze found Aurelius. He bowed and hung his head in deference. She stared at him for a long, indecisive moment, clearly not willing to release her ire so easily.
“Why have you come?” she asked.
“A thousand apologies, most beauteous queen, but I could not keep myself away. You fill my every waking thought, and when I sleep, I dream only of you. I had to come see you; I could no longer resist.”
“Had I called to you, you would not have been able to resist my call, but you came of your own accord. You must be weak with desire indeed.” The queen sighed. “I cannot permit this to continue. You are new here, so I will grant you pardon just one more time, but the next time you come seeking me out, you will be turned away.”
His head still bowed, Aurelius nodded. “I understand.”
“Come,” the queen said and held out her hand to him. “I will show you what it means to be satisfied.”
* * *
When it was over and the queen lay exhausted beside him, Aurelius whispered a word of command, to which she inquired: “Did you say something?” and then it took effect and she promptly fell asleep, still waiting for the answer.
Aurelius smiled wickedly to himself. He got up and dressed, then spent a moment searching the room. The queen’s bedchambers were large, though they seemed smaller due to the clutter of treasures she had accumulated. Eventually, he found a large wooden chest. It was inlaid with gold and silver. He lifted the lid. It was heavy; at least twenty pounds even on its hinges. Inside the chest were all manner of gold and jewels, and a mountain of pearls, some of them as large as the tip of his thumb. The chest was neatly organized and carefully padded to prevent any one item from being damaged by the rest. Aurelius shoveled recklessly through the assorted treasures. He was digging through the mountain of pearls when his hands seized upon the item he was looking for. Its slippery smooth surface was preternaturally cold to the touch, almost enough to burn his skin. He carefully withdrew the fist-sized orb and beheld it a moment in his palm. It glittered there with a faintly glowing luminescence that roiled and swirled as though there were a raging silver fire locked within.
Aurelius shook himself out of his fascination with the object. He’d been in pursuit of it for so long, and now,
finally
, it was his! He smiled, a slow, wicked smile, and for a moment he was tempted to use magic to teleport himself and the relic instantly away from Meria so that the relic could never be stolen back, but the risks were too great. If he accidentally teleported himself into the middle of a volcano, all his searching would have been in vain. No, he had his means of escape, and a plan to be far, far away from Meria before anyone even started looking for him. Not long now.
Not long.
Aurelius wrapped the relic in the loose folds of his tunic and started for the door. He left the treasure chest open, so that his theft would be discovered as soon as possible. He stopped at the foot of the bed to indulge himself in one last lingering look at the queen. She and her daughter both were incredibly stunning. Some distant part of him regretted leaving them both behind, but he knew they would be impossible to live with. They would never submit to him as they should.
With a quiet sigh, he opened the door and stepped out into the living room. Martanel shot him a narrow-eyed look while the other guard grinned stupidly at him. Aurelius ignored them both and closed the door carefully behind him. He continued straight on through the queen’s chambers to the front door, but before he was even halfway there he felt strong hands on his shoulders. He was roughly turned until he was face to face with Martanel. Aurelius felt a stab of dread. His theft had somehow been discovered a little too soon.
“Show me what you have there,” the guard commanded, nodding to the inconspicuous bulge which Aurelius was covering with his hand. How the guardsman had managed to notice it was a mystery.