Fountain of Beauty

by Meraki P. Lyhne

By the feel of the body quaking against his own, the heavy breathing, and the spaced-out expression, told him he’d managed to take the King’s mind of the day’s failure. At least for a while. Seldon smiled, happy with his accomplishment.

  Chapter Eleven

  D aniel had brought the real estate sales presentations home and sat in the living room with a map of North America which he’d marked with a permanent marker to outline his Kingdom. He wanted an idea of where his population outside the Great House was located and how many they were in all. Marking them out himself had to be helpful for remembering it since he’d found the theory of one remembering through writing by hand to be true. Maybe coloring it all in would be the same.

  To have enough room and to not take up the dining room table since his mom was setting it, Daniel had spread it on the floor in the den. He used a red marker to indicate cities they owned land or real estate in and a green felt tip to write down the number. He didn’t have the full records with him, but they were on their way with a Cubi courier. So far, the map was pretty vacant of Cubi activity.

  “Caledon, how many Minglers belong to House Three?” Daniel asked, not taking his eyes off the map.

  Caledon’s newspaper rustled. “Roughly one hundred.”

  “Is it roughly that for the other Houses, too, like it’s roughly two hundred red-eyes?”

  “Yeah, we try to keep it pretty constant.”

  “Considering you live for one thousand years or something, and then there’s the Changelings coming in, is there some sort of formula for population growth?”

  “Yes, born Cubi are asked to procreate with each other every one hundred years,” Caledon said, got up, and joined Daniel on the floor. The Lord lay on his stomach next to Daniel and looked at the map. “Lords and Ladies, meaning Cubi born as you remember, go into the human world to give high doses to the Minglers and procreate Halflings. You know that now.”

  “For the fresh blood, the blood also being another word for knowledge of the time.”

  Caledon nodded slowly. “What’s on your mind, cub?”

  “Breeding and turning Changelings and dividing the land into Houses to be governed locally by House Lords and Ladies. Each House with a structure like we had in the Great House.”

  “Breeding. You want us to build an army?”

  “Hopefully not to go to war, but if we’re more, if we’re…enough…” Daniel drew a heavy sigh. “We came here on the Mayflower. We’ve been here from the very beginning, but what do you wanna bet the humans still think they have all the rights?”

  Caledon snorted, and bitterness seeped through to his handsome features. “Our revelation would mean war. Civil war, anyway.”

  “What is it?” Daniel scooted closer to caress Caledon’s cheek.

  Caledon gnawed his bottom lip, staring off in thought. Finally, he turned to face Daniel. “Faydin, the mother of two of my children, was killed by humans while finding a father for a Halfling.”

  “Because she was a Cubi?”

  “No, because the human religion looks down on women.”

  “Ah. When was this?” Daniel asked.

  “One hundred and thirty-two years ago, but if you think this male-focused religion has changed at its core, you’re wrong. But the fact that homosexuals are getting rights means we have a chance.”

  “You mean we have a chance if exposed?”

  “No, that would still mean war on some level…and not just the bloody kind. Politics and everything will be our battleground, but we might find allies among humans.”

  “Hence Heimli’s assignment,” Daniel said, looking at the map again.

  “What?” Caledon looked shocked.

  “The positions of power are to have failsafe backup plans.”

  “Are you planning on exposing us?”

  “No, Caledon, I’m not, but…with social media today we can make stuff up and plant as truth. Alternative truths. If someone with power swears by it, then it becomes truth.” Daniel even made the quotation marks. “Or social media power can also ridicule the truth enough for it to be buried. It can be run out on the sideline like some mass fantasy, or something can be blown up enough to take all room, and the important stuff will be nothing more than backwash.”

  Caledon stayed quiet, his eyes revealing deep thoughts. He wore his glasses and pursed his lips the way he often did when thinking, and Daniel became distracted by his good looks. The pained expression was impossible to miss, though.

  “What is it?”

  “She tried to explain back then. A Mingler brought back the news of her horrible death.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I wanted revenge.” Caledon looked ashamed to admit it.

  “And?”

  “And the Grand House allowed it. Me and my oldest went to the humans along with the Mingler who hadn’t been strong enough to stop it. She pointed the humans out, and I took them all back to the House along with the most beautiful children I could find in that town. Three Untouchables, all pre-pubescent.”

  Daniel wanted to stop Caledon from telling him anymore, yet he’d already promised himself that he wouldn’t cut himself off from learning of the differences in social structures, and this was a part of Cubi justice across the cultural boundaries. But he also wanted to stop Caledon because so far Daniel had always seen a benevolent and fair man, and he couldn’t even imagine Caledon taking a bloody and maybe even fatal revenge on the men who’d killed the mother of his children.

  “I raised the Untouchables myself. Made sure they knew what men had sealed their fate and why. One of them lived out her life as Grand Lady Geodin’s companion.”

  “And the men?”

  “I wanted to kill them, too, but…in the end, I handed them over to Labor. They lived out their lives as labor slaves and breeders for the ghosts.” Caledon fingered a spot on the carpet between them. “The fact that I didn’t kill them or maim them was actually the deciding factor that gave me the responsibilities as House Lord. Grand Lord Ildon said he needed someone of a level mind.”

  Daniel smiled because he agreed with Ildon on the matter. Caledon didn’t act irrationally—he spent time analyzing stuff before acting. That’s what Daniel loved about him he realized and leaned in to press his lips against Caledon’s.

  The Lord sucked in a breath in surprise, but then he returned the kiss, a gentle and unhurried kiss.

  “You hungry?” Caledon whispered against his lips.

  “No, are you?”

  “No.” The answer fell almost on a sigh of relief, and Daniel figured that he’d finally managed to make Caledon feel wanted by him, too. Daniel and Seldon had been romantic for a while, but because of the jealousy fit shortly before the Great House fell, they’d taken it one step and one day at a time. And they’d usually always been together the three of them.

  Daniel still felt weird about being intimate with Caledon when Seldon wasn’t present, though. Making out with Caledon alone was as much to move his own boundaries away from monogamy that had no place in the Cubi world. He kept reminding himself that it didn’t mean he loved Seldon any less. Or Caledon for that matter when Daniel was kissing Seldon.

  The worst was still if Seldon and Caledon were intimate without Daniel being there. And by intimacy, Daniel didn’t count feeding outside their trio. That was just feeding, but feeding between the three of them held something emotional for Daniel. Something special.

  Caledon leaned over Daniel and ended up on top of him.

  “Daniel, would you help—sorry!”

  Daniel and Caledon looked up, seeing the back of Roardon’s head as he hurried from the living room.

  Caledon grinned and gave Daniel a final kiss before he climbed to his feet. “I’ll help you with the map when the file gets here.”

  “Thanks.” Daniel looked at the clock, thinking he might as well pack it up since it was close to dinner time.

  “You did remember to speak with your mother as well, right?”

  “No.” Daniel
had postponed that, hoping Roardon would ease into the subject first. But it was Daniel who had to do it. Roardon ran into trouble with Susan often enough because she kept accusing him of trying to butt in and play Daddy, and that was Bill’s place. Roardon said he knew that it was the sorrow talking, but Daniel thought there was more to it than that. “No time like the present.”

  Daniel cleared the floor of markers and map before he went into the kitchen. “Hey, mom, need help?”

  She turned and flashed a smile. “No, that’s fine.”

  Daniel hopped up on the kitchen table on a spot he deemed not in the way. He had no idea how to broach the subject, though.

  “I heard Seldon play the flute the other day,” Susan said, while she cut the salad, peeled an onion, and stirred a pot. All at the same time. She was so good in a kitchen, yet Daniel had learned all he knew from a guy who didn’t eat. Except for the pancakes. Alex had taught him to make pancakes.

  Flour, water, and a passionate make-out on the floor took over that memory.

  “Daniel?”

  “Hmm?” Daniel looked up, trying to remember what they’d been talking about. “Oh, yeah. Seldon plays flutes. All kinds, and he’s awesome at it.”

  Not what Daniel had wanted to talk to her about, but he figured a bit of chit chat before that subject would be a good idea.

  “I remember we tried to get you to play the guitar once.”

  “Yeah.” Daniel slumped. It was not a fond memory.

  “You never could hold an interest in anything.”

  “That’s because I was made for something different.”

  “To feed on sex?” Her voice still took on a cool tone whenever she spoke about the Incubi part of him and the physical needs that came with it.

  Movement made Daniel look up to find Roardon silently observing from the door. Or maybe he just let Daniel know that he was there to assist if Daniel needed it.

  “No.” Daniel slid down from the table. He went to stand next to his mom and put an arm around her shoulder. “I was made to be King. There’s not a lot of room for hobbies with a task like that, but I’ve found I have an incredible focus whenever it has to do with my responsibilities as the future King of my people. Maybe it awoke when I was empowered, I don’t know, but I do know one thing. I’d really like it if you taught me to cook, so please let me help unless you’re scared I’ll burn down the kitchen.”

  Susan chuckled and almost successfully hid the underlying sadness. It had stayed there since the first few days where she was angry and hurt and didn’t hold back in verbally attacking Roardon or Seldon.

  “Thin slices. Then I’ll show you what to do with them,” she said, holding up an onion.

  Daniel smiled, took the onion, and found a knife. He’d sliced onions before, of course, but thin was still relative. It would be the perfect time to pick up the subject of Daniel having to go away, but if she still shut down on him whenever the Cubi were the subject, then he didn’t expect her to want to join him.

  Of the pros and cons Geodin had shown him the night before, Daniel had a slew of pros and no serious cons other than his mother.

  Susan turned and looked at him, her weighing glance making him smile. “What’s on your mind?”

  “You see right through me, don’t you?”

  “I’m your mother. Of course I can see when something bothers you.”

  He finally had her back in his life, and even though he’d tried not to think about her, and focus on the life he’d have with Seldon and the Cubi, he’d still missed her.

  “Daniel, what is it?” she asked, coming closer. She stopped beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The motherly concern was what he’d missed the most, even though he’d once have sworn it was just annoying and that she was meddling in everything.

  “Me living here again is only temporary.”

  She drew a heavy sigh and turned away from him to wipe the kitchen counter even though she just had. “I know,” she finally said. “You’re going back to your people.”

  “Did Roardon tell you all the stuff going on?”

  “Some of it.”

  Great, now she was angry or sad or something, and Daniel could never figure out which.

  He tried a different approach. “You know Seldon left with the King for a few days, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  Daniel didn’t want to even mention the possibility of war because he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  “Daniel?”

  Daniel looked up, finding Caledon in the door with his phone out. He looked sad or afraid or…

  “What?”

  “The negotiations failed. The Cubi are at war.”

  Daniel’s heart sank, and he dropped the onion.

  “What? With whom?” Susan’s gaping expression packed on the last weight to break him.

  “Oh, God,” Daniel whispered, his eyes stinging.

  Roardon pushed past Caledon and hugged Daniel closely. “No one will get to you, son, I promise. No one.”

  “What does this mean, Roardon? Who are you at war with?” Susan asked.

  “The humans started the war, and we failed at negotiating a truce.”

  “And it means Daniel has to leave soon,” Caledon said. “It means you have to make up your mind whether to stay here or come with us when we hide him.”

  War. That word stuck in Daniel’s mind, and he had trouble imagining what would happen. The chaos on the platform where soldiers aimed and shot at children and the strongest Cubi threw boulders at the humans was a pretty war-like situation, and it scared him that he actually had the experience to put to that word.

  Experience. He had experience. That meant he’d lived through something to learn from it.

  Daniel pulled back to look at Roardon, still holding him like he wouldn’t let go of Daniel for any reason. “You’ve been to war, right? Experienced war?”

  “Yes, son, I have. Many.”

  “What do I do now? Like, right now. I’m afraid, and everything seems so overwhelming. So what do I do?”

  Roardon smiled somewhat convincingly. Then he stepped back and picked up the onion. “You keep moving forward.” Daniel swallowed around a lump as he took the onion. “You keep looking forward,” Roardon continued and stroked Daniel’s back as Daniel turned and rinsed off the onion. “You keep focusing on the reasons to move forward.”

  Daniel cut the onion in half and looked at the rings.

  “Mom,” he finally said, his voice a bit shaky. “We’ll be leaving soon. If you want to come, you should pack more than a weekend bag.”

  Daniel then focused on cutting the thinnest and most even slices of onion he ever had.

  The rest of the day went by minute by minute without much excitement or fun. Daniel was lost in thoughts about the future, and he wondered about his role in it. It was quite overwhelming. Remembering all he had around him helped to keep what he suspected to be a panic attack waiting to happen at bay. He trusted in his Grand Council and all their experience with situations like that. He trusted Nol-Elakdon in his eagerness to keep his sister’s legacy alive and flourishing. He trusted his Royal Guard to keep both him, his family, and much of the Cubi people safe. And he trusted Seldon, Caledon, and Roardon to be there for him and love him.

  He missed the silent strength of Seldon. It was odd not having him near when he’d been around the big man non-stop for so long.

  Daniel looked around the den, and he was far from the only one who’d reacted to the news by drawing into himself to think. His mom hadn’t said much, and eating dinner had been done in silence. He’d heard her and Roardon talk afterward, but he hadn’t eavesdropped. She’d make whatever decision was right for her, and he hoped she’d be safe if she chose to stay.

  Marcadon had eaten with them and returned to the Guard House down the street. Only Caledon and Daniel stayed at Daniel’s mother’s house along with Roardon and a Guard Lord or Lady hiding somewhere.

  Daniel aimlessly zapped through the channels,
while Caledon typed away on his computer, his glasses in place. Hunger prickled Daniel’s skin, and he lost interest in what went on the screen. Instead, he studied the handsome Lord. He wore jeans and a v-neck, and his black hair had grown long enough to give him an overall tousled look. The full-rim retro glasses finalized the hot nerd look.

  Caledon stopped typing and leaned his elbow on the armrest, and his chin on his hand, looking speculative and focused.

  Daniel’s hunger rose.

  Examining the prickles on his skin, Daniel noticed so much more. He sometimes stared at Seldon the way he did Caledon now. He loved how they could exist in the same space and how he merely enjoyed their presence. How it made him feel complete.

  It occurred to Daniel that it wasn’t hunger that made him study Caledon, it was his growing love for the third part of their threesome.

  Caledon looked away from the screen but apparently noticed he was being watched. He looked surprised by it before he blushed. He actually blushed, and Daniel’s heart leaped.

  Daniel turned off the television and stood to reach out for Caledon. The Lord closed the lid on his laptop and took Daniel’s hand. Without a word, Daniel led him upstairs to their bedroom.

  Caledon had a careful smile on his lips as Daniel closed the door and guided the Lord to the bed. Caledon let himself fall back onto the mattress and propped himself up on his elbows. He then apparently remembered he had his glasses on and reached to take them off.

  “Wait.” Daniel climbed up to straddle him. He then leaned in for a gentle kiss, and his heart fluttered at the sigh escaping Caledon. It was so wistful. Daniel was going to make Caledon feel loved, too, and he ignored the early hunger bubbling forth at the feel of the Lord in his arms. They’d been interrupted when making out on the floor. That wouldn’t happen now.

  He lost himself in the kiss and slipped off Caledon so they lay next to each other. Kissing him was very different from Seldon, and Daniel figured he began to understand how one could love two people. He relished how different they felt in his arms and against his lips. As their kissing grew more heated, the glasses were in the way, and Caledon had to take them off. Daniel took them and blindly fumbled to place them on the nightstand while they continued to kiss.