After I had avenged her, I came on my own.
I figured I could get a small slice of land and farm it or something. The land was overly abundant here and had an array of exotic fruits and vegetables not available in the other kingdoms. It would be an enjoyable way to spend the rest of my life.
However... for the entirety of the time that I had been here, the land had slowly been dying, rotten patches of earth spreading and consuming livelihoods. And like another nail in the coffin, Cassius had erected a tax system that everyone, noble and commoner alike, was required to pay whether they had the money or not; and, if they didn’t, they were publicly beaten as examples of the false king’s intolerance.
The old king’s guards had either been killed or were in hiding. The current ones were nothing more than thugs for hire and they routinely pillaged the villages in the kingdom.
At first people had tried begging mercy of Cassius, but they quickly learned that doing so simply made the situation worse than it would have been otherwise. So, they stopped trying and accepted their fate; all the while, whispering about the princess in the shadows.
She was rumored to be dead, but because her body was never found... the people held out hope that she would one day return to save them all. But, the more the land died, the less and less the people hoped.
I didn’t really understand what the drought had to do with the princess’s life; however, the villagers seemed adamant that the land would not perish like it was if the princess was still alive. They said that the land fed off the royal family and for the land to be dead meant that the last of the Akeldamas had left this world.
I didn’t believe in magic, so I wasn’t going to buy into the village superstitions. The truth of the matter was that Cassius was not a good king. He seemed to think that crops just magically grew out of nothing; when in actuality— they had to be nurtured and cared for. Neither of which happened under his tyranny.
In the first few months after his takeover, villagers had fled to neighboring kingdoms looking for refuge. Once he realized that he would soon become king to an abandoned kingdom, he set guards along the perimeter to kill those who tried to escape the kingdom, preventing anyone from fleeing.
A horrid thought occurred to me. “You have been here for the entire time?” I asked; it was the only thing that made sense.
Sienna was quiet for a moment before responding, “Time ceased to exist here. You will have to be clearer in your question.”
“The king was killed at the ceremony dinner held for the birth of the Mallory’s daughter. You were reported missing then. Some of the villagers assumed that your guards had gotten you out and that you had escaped the siege on the palace, while others assumed that you had died alongside your parents. But... you have been here this whole time?”
“Yes,” she answered simply.
I closed my eyes and took a breath. “That was over two years ago,” I informed her, sadly.
“Only that long?” she asked with surprise lacing her words.
I frowned at her use of “only”. “Is two years not long enough?”
“It feels like it has been longer…” she trailed off and we were once more cocooned in silence.
I snorted to myself at her response. The silences had become comforting to me. It was an amiable silence. It felt like in the darkness, we were safe and anonymous. Like we could share our deepest secrets and not need to fear the backlash.
It was an illusion that I prayed was real.
The princess was nothing like I had expected a royal to be; I liked her a bit. She was real to me… a person, not a façade put in place for the people. Maybe I would feel differently had we not been confined to this dank and dreary dungeon; but because we were, I felt connected to her in a way. Bonded by our hell, you could say.
“May I ask you something?” she asked suddenly, startling me.
I shifted to a more comfortable position on the ground; pulling my knees to my chest, bracing my arms around my legs and locking my fingers together. With my chin on my knee, I said, “anything.”
A long, drawn out inhale and then, “how did my husbands die?”
I blinked at her use of the plural form of husband and then remembered the big scandal that had rocked the kingdoms a few years back. Trying to picture who the prince consorts were, I vaguely recalled a big, scary bastard with more scars than I could count and a blond, flamboyant man with cold eyes. Though, for the life of me, I couldn’t recall their names. With a sigh of aggravation, I hated not knowing things, I said, “they’re not dead.”
“They’re not?” I could hear the sob stuck in her throat. “The last I saw of them, Soren was felled by a sword to the back and Aramis was in a fight with seven mercenaries.”
I glowered at the cautious hope in her tone. For some asinine reason, I wanted to pummel the two men and I didn’t even know them.
I shook my head to dispel those startlingly violent urges and answered her. “Soren nearly did die but Aramis and a handful of loyal guards were able to save him as well as a few of the nobles and servants. They escaped into the forests and Cassius hasn’t been able to find them. They became the resistance.”
“Resistance?” she inquired.
Smirking as my mind wandered to some of the more... eccentric methods that the resistance had used to thwart Cassius, I simply said. “Yeah.... they’ve caused a bit of trouble for the false king and his army of simpletons.”
I could hear the smile and satisfaction in her voice when she said, “good.”
Wincing, I smiled as well, unable to help myself. My smile quickly morphed into a frown when she asked, “are you a member of this resistance?”
“No.” I denied with a snort. “I don’t play well with others.”
5
SAUDADE /souˈdädə/
(n.) A nostalgic longing to be near something or someone that is distant or that has been loved and then lost; “the love that remains”.
SIENNA AKELDAMA
“Again!” I demanded, clapping my hands together and bouncing in place.
“Again?” Father asked with widened eyes, squeezing me to his chest in a bear hug, until I squealed. “You’re a demanding little tyke, aren’t you?” he mused aloud, letting me go.
I grinned and shook my head, flinging my braid all around.
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he lifted a hand to the tail end of my braid. He tugged on it lightly and said, “well, I guess I can only blame myself for your impudent ways. I’ve spoiled you.”
“No!” I yelled in denial.
Father just shook his head and sighed, “do you even know what you’re saying no too?”
“No!” I yelled again before bursting into giggles.
Amusement filled his face and he reached out to poke me on my nose. “I think it’s time for good little princesses to go to sleep.” I scrambled out of bed as he reached for the covers to tuck me in, laughing when he lowered his head with a sigh.
“Again, again, again…” I sang repeatedly, twirling around the room in my night shift.
“Fine,” Father said, throwing his hands in the air, “but, only once more and then you go to bed.” He held out his hand. “Deal?”
I placed my hand in his and shook it like I had seen other court members do on occasion. “Deal,” I repeated.
He sat back on my bed, leaning against the headboard and opened his arms wide, “then come here, Imp, and I will tell you the tale of how Akeldama came to be…for the millionth time.”
I beamed and climbed onto the bed to cuddle in his arms as he began to tell my favorite story. “Once upon a time, when the Gods roamed the world of man; long before the rise of civilizations, when mankind was nothing but beasts, a young girl named Akeldama was born.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye when I gasped. I shrugged at his look; this was my favorite part.
“Sick of the cat and mouse games that the Gods played on mankind, this young girl, who was no older than fifteen winters, stood up in defiance.” Father
cocked a brow as I silently mouthed every word as he said them. Shaking his head, he continued the story. “Akeldama rallied the people together and became the first queen in a world of chaos and disorder. She gave the people freedom from the chains that the Gods had put them in and no longer did mankind suffer silently for the Gods’ amusement.
“Angry, the Gods tired of her constant interference; so, they sent assassins to kill her. Only, in a twist that no one could have predicted, Xima, the God of Death, didn’t agree with the other Gods. He admired the young girl and thought that she deserved respect for having the courage to fight for what she believed in no matter the odds stacked against her.
“So, he tried to save her; but, unfortunately, he arrived too late. The assassin had already struck the fatal blow.” I cringed and curled in tighter against my father, taking comfort in the arm he wrapped around me.
“Saddened, Xima did something that he had never done before. He showed his true face to a human. He gathered Akeldama in his arms and held her as her blood covered the ground in the meadow turning it into a field of blood.
“Among the Gods, Xima was considered a monster, too scary to even look at. Yet… young Akeldama stared Death right in the eyes and never even flinched. She did not cry or plead. Instead, her eyes burned with defiance till her last breath.” I struggled to keep my eyes open so I wouldn’t miss the ending.
Father glanced at me and smiled tenderly, reaching out to brush his fingers against my cheek. He reached around me and grabbed the edge of the blanket, dragging it over me as he continued telling the story. “It was in that moment, that Xima broke the biggest taboo a God could break. He fell in love with a mortal. Desperate to save her, he did the only thing that he could to keep her alive; since as the God of Death, he was incapable of healing.”
“He placed her soul into the very land that she had fought so hard to protect. And, that land came to life with the essence of Akeldama; forever bound to the blood of her descendants.” Father finished the story with a jaw cracking yawn.
Patting me on the head, he said, “now a deal is a deal. Get some sleep, Imp, you can terrorize the courts some more tomorrow.” Father leaned down to kiss me on the forehead, ruffling my hair while he was at it.
I yawned widely and felt my jaw pop. Snuggling deeper into my covers, I asked, “do you think I look like her?”
“Maybe, Imp, maybe…but, if nothing else, you certainly share her defiance.”
********
“Here, Princess, you dropped this.” Blacksmith Kuznetsov knelt to the ground and picked up a tiny object from the wooden floor of his shop. He held it out to me with a twinkle in his steel gray colored eyes.
Tamara, my lady in waiting, giggled and stepped away to give us privacy, while I glared at the fool with a death wish. “What are you doing?” I hissed sharply.
Soren grinned cheekily and slid the ring onto my finger. “I am making a statement.”
Gradually the villagers shopping through the village market around us became aware of what was happening and gasped in shock. Few dared to touch the hand of a royal without fear of the repercussions. That the Master Blacksmith did so was enough gossip fodder for a month.
My eyes wide, I asked Soren, “Do you want to die?” Because that’s exactly what would happen should my father find out. I tugged my hand free and glanced frantically around to see if any of my father’s men were around.
Thankfully, I didn’t see any.
Soren stood to his feet and steeled his spine. “I want the world to know how I feel about you and I dare your father to stand in the way of our love.” The villagers gaped and backed away in fright.
“Soren!” I yelled sharply. I swear; some men had to have been born without a brain. “You can’t say things like that in public!”
He smirked irreverently and stepped closer, cupping my face gently between his scarred hands. Staring intensely into my eyes, he pressed a soft kiss to my lips in front of the gods and everybody. “I love you, Sienna.”
I melted and went limp against him, molding my body into the crevices of his. “I love you too, you insane man.”
*******
“Court gossip says that you left Lady Victoria’s bedchambers last night with your clothes disheveled,” I said to the man standing next to me as I gazed at the dancing couples in the center of the massive ballroom.
Mr. Morgan chuckled sinfully and winked at me, “is that jealousy I hear, Princess?”
“No,” I said sharply, ignoring the knowing smile on his roguish face. “I was simply warning you that if her husband doesn’t already know of your late-night tryst, then it is merely a matter of time.” I gazed straight ahead into the crowd, locking my body so that I wouldn’t look into his eyes; ignoring the pain in my heart that pleaded with me to forgive him.
“Is that so?” Aramis murmured skeptically.
I pursed my lips and masked my pain with a look of disinterest. He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer, his body heat lulling me to distraction.
I cleared my throat and moved to walk away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me against his chest. He held me tightly in his arms, my back to his chest, and rested his forehead against the dip where my neck met my collarbone. “You don’t really believe that, do you?” he asked sadly. “You can’t possibly think that I would hurt you like that.”
When I continued to stand there stiffly, he let out a broken sound and pulled me outside through the servant’s entrance. He dragged me to our tree just out of sight from the castle.
Once there, he dropped my hand and paced frantically back and forth in front of the great oak, occasionally dragging his hands through his long, fair hair. I watched him with a heavy heart.
He stopped suddenly, grabbing my shoulders and meeting my eyes with a wild intensity. “You are the best part of me. I would never play my games with you. Everyone else? Yes, they are fair game and deserve to have their lives toyed with like they toy with so many others, but I would never… never hurt you, Sienna.” His eyes shined brightly with a wet sheen coating the frost bitten blue.
“Why were you with her?” I asked. I wanted to trust him, but his tricks were legendary. How could I be sure that he wouldn’t one day play me as a pawn? He owned a piece of my heart and I couldn’t bear it if it was a lie.
Aramis frowned and let go of me, his hands dropping to his sides. He swallowed and reached into his inner coat pocket. Slowly, chain first, he pulled out a shimmering golden necklace with the Akeldama Royal Rubies glittering on the pendant.
Shocked, I met his gaze with my eyes widened in question. “I overheard Lady Victoria’s husband boasting to everyone who would listen in the Scarlet Tavern about how they finally had enough money to get out of the debtors’ clutches. It made me curious because the night before he had been sobbing into his whiskey about how, ‘the end was in sight’. And, I knew from what you had told me earlier in the day that someone had stolen your mother’s rubies from her room. The intrigue awakened the imp in me and I decided to see what was afoot.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“I wanted to surprise you,” he said sheepishly.
He put the necklace back into his pocket and curled his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me closer until he could rest his forehead against mine. Eyes closed, he said, “I am not a good man. I lie, steal and basically do whatever I have to, but you are the one person in this entire bloody world that is safe from me. I adore you, Princess.”
I cried; I couldn’t help it. It was ugly crying too… “I am sorry that I doubted you.”
*******
“Sienna, what are you doing?” Aramis asked laughingly as he and Soren came into our private chambers to get ready for the lunch we were having with the King and Queen.
Soren immediately stripped out of his coat and shirt, leaving him clad only in his leather trousers and boots. His molten steel gaze traveled slowly...achingly slow... over my body before rising to meet mine. The pure depth of want in
his eyes made my knees weak.
“Umm…” I looked around for a plausible excuse or an avenue of escape, I was open to either. I had been confident until they opened the door. Now, I simply wanted to go hide... “I was going to surprise you two.”
Aramis grinned wickedly and circled me like a predator closing in on his prey. He trailed a long, slender finger over my bare skin, sending shivers down my spine. Then he paused directly behind me as Soren came to stand before me.
Laying his hands on my waist, he leaned his head closer and with a husky whisper in my ear, he said, “You should surprise us more often.” Then, he laid a series of open mouthed kisses along the back on my neck and shoulders, clenching my waist tightly in his fierce grip.
I inhaled a sharp ragged breath, ensnared in Soren’s intense gaze. He never said a word; his eyes saying more than mere words ever could. Soren thrust a hand into my free-falling hair; fisting the long strands as he brought our lips together in a rough openmouthed kiss, devouring me.
Had Aramis not been behind me to brace my weight, I would have fallen to the floor in a puddle. That’s how much their combined presence affected me...
*********
An unfamiliar sound broke through my subconscious; dragging me away from Aramis and Soren. I held out my hands for them with tears running down my face, but they both simply gave me a sad smile and watched as I was carried away from them by the claws of reality.
Snapping my eyes open, I dissolved into silent sobs. I clutched my hands over my heart and screamed silently, unable to gather the energy to emit actual sound.
I missed them so much. They were my heart and for so long I had thought my heart dead but when Joaquin had told me that they still lived, I felt like layers and layers of ice had shattered leaving my heart unprotected.
When I had thought them dead, I had taken comfort in the thought that I would see them again one day. Even as I mourned, I took solace in the fact that Cassius could no longer get his hands on them. But, now I knew that they were alive and whole out there; fighting for our people, even when they thought that I had died.
Captive: Part One of The Akeldama Chronicles Page 4
