He gave up and gestured at the spread of an assortment of breads and pastries.
“I would ask if you want food but we both know the answer to that. You always want food,” he lightly teased me in jest, obliging my wish not to talk about what was niggling at me.
For him to comply so easily my eyes must not have appeared as bad to him as they did to me in the mirror.
---
Zander and I leisurely strolled the top deck of the ship arm in arm determined to make the most of our last day aboard it. It would be docking in Decretum in the middle of the night and its passengers would disembark at dawn. As we stepped foot off the ship we would also be stepping back into the reality of the very reason we embarked on the journey across the ocean in the first place. The visions we were experiencing were more persistent now leaving no doubt that they foretold a very possible fate Zander and I could meet. The answers to what they meant lay in Faerie. As did Belial, the tyrant King who would never give up looking for me or a way to get his hands on and murder Zander.
As we walked the deck the corner of my eye zeroed in on the sight of a rainbow of glittering colors. I knew it to be a frivolous weakness, but pretty sparkly things attracted me like a flame attracts a moth. I stopped in front of the display case to examine its contents. Reds, blues, pinks, yellows, greens, and every rich color in between glittered inside the glass. I saw stones of all shapes and sizes. Some were solitary and others were inlaid in precious gold and silver metals meant to be worn as necklaces, bracelets, earrings or broaches. One particular piece of jewelry caught my eye. A petite canary yellow diamond cut in the shape of a butterfly gently hung from a small silver chain. I quietly gasped at its subtle beauty, resting my hand against the glass in awe.
“You see something you like?” Zander asked from beside me. His eyes gleamed with amusement and mischief.
I pointed to the perfectly carved butterfly. “It’s lovely.”
“Not as lovely as you.”
My eyes were on the necklace but his were all for me.
“What?” I asked feeling a little self-conscious under the intensity of his gaze.
“I can see why you like that piece in particular. Butterflies are quiet in their strength and their beauty but their understated elegance by no means make them any less of a force to be reckoned with. Like you. A single flap of a butterfly’s wings can set in motion world-altering, cataclysmic events.”
Warmth and sunshine bloomed inside of me at his words. It still amazed me that he thought I was as extraordinary as I thought he was.
“Did you just call me a cataclysm?” I teasingly elbowed him in the side attempting to project the same confidence and self-surety he did with ease.
“I did,” he grinned back at me. “But I promise it’s a complement. From the fire in your eyes to the sun of your smile to the grace of your style, you are phenomenal Skyler.”
His words followed by the all-consuming kiss he planted on my lips turned my legs to jelly. Both left me breathless and more than a little disconcerted. But who needs oxygen? As always the case with Zander, it is trivial. He is all I need to go on living and existing.
The same steward from the day before approached us. He bowed to us both before asking Zander, “Your Highness, is there any manner in which I can be of assistance today?”
“As a matter of fact there is.” Zander’s eyes lit up with the facetious spark they get whenever he is up to mischief. “You can retrieve that necklace there for me,” he pointed to the canary butterfly.
The steward looked to the glass display case, then back at Zander. Hesitation churned in his eyes.
“Is there a problem?” Zander asked him, his tone still light and full of mischief.
“No, Your Highness, there is none. The Captain has the key locked away for safe-keeping. I shall inform him you are in need of it.”
I looked at Zander questioningly as the steward walked off to retrieve the key. “It is that easy for you? You ask and automatically receive?”
Zander shrugged his shoulder as if it were no big deal. “Being the Crown Prince sometimes has its advantages. Especially when this display is showcasing jewels from the royal family’s collection.”
He mischievous smile remained in place amused at finally letting me in on the secret he’d known all along.
My mouth dropped open. “These are yours?”
“Well not mine. I would never be caught dead in something so flashy and unmanly,” he teased me. “But they do belong to the House of Roth, which means technically they belong to me. Technically they belong to you too now,” he reminded me. “From now on if you want something, all you have to do is ask.”
I blanched at the realization. I was comfortable being one of the masses. My betrothal to Zander thrust me into not just high society but into the same hierarchical position that the rest of the royal family occupied- right up at the very top looking down on all the rest who were meant to submit themselves to my every whim. I was now one of the very people I detested. My nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought.
Zander’s responding laugh boomed across the deck. Several heads turned to look in our direction.
“You look as pained as I feel about it.”
The steward cleared his throat. “Pardon the interruption, Your Highnesses. Here is the key you asked for.” He placed a faded metal key in Zander’s hand.
Zander opened the display case and retrieved the yellow butterfly I coveted. He locked it back then returned the key to the steward. He bid us good day in a sweeping bow before quietly retreated to return the key to the ship’s Captain.
“Whatever your heart desires, whatever you wish, I will always see it fulfilled,” Zander said into my ear as he secured the necklace around my neck. “I am but your humble servant, Princess. All you have to do is ask.”
I blushed at his use of the title I would claim if we were wed. I said if instead of when because although we were betrothed, who knew what our future held. Once we found another portal into Faerie and stepped into it, our future would become wholly uncertain.
“Perhaps, the Crown Prince and his betrothed would like to be next to have their futures read?” A voice within the crowd gathered across the deck from us called out.
The individual it belonged to was a young man who appeared only a few years older than us. His cotton breeches and unadorned shirt were a tale-tell sign that although he was on a ship full of nobles he was no noble himself.
“We would not,” Zander declined his offer more politely than I would have.
The ridiculous crystal ball he held before him like some precious and mystical object marked him as a con as much as the air of sleaziness that clung to him.
There was no such thing as crystal balls that foretold the future. Inanimate objects were incapable of holding magic. Magic was a living, moving, ever-active thing that needed a living being to house it. It was akin to a parasite dependent upon on a relationship with a host organism for its existence.
“Are you sure? I and my crystal ball are very wise. We have traveled far and wide and know many secrets. Secrets of the past and secrets of the future,” the young man insisted. “I believe the good people of Anthame would love to know what fate has in store for their beloved Prince and newfound Princess.”
As he spoke, he encouraged the crowd to erupt in cheers and calls of support.
“The Crown Prince said we will pass,” I glared at him through the crowd.
We would not be bullied or manipulated into participating in his con act. I kept my tone light but put the implicit threat of death in my stare.
To his credit, the con man held up under the weight of it. He held it for longer than a wiser man would, gauging the unspoken truth in my gaze. He must have eventually decided I would in fact dismember him as my stare threatened to do. He broke eye contact then dipped his head in a respectful bow.
“As you wish Your Highness,” he begrudgingly muttered.
He turned his attention back to the
naïve nobles gathered around him. He made a spectacle of one of them after another as they eagerly volunteered to have the crystal ball reveal their futures.
Zander and I waited for the crowd around him to disburse before approaching him.
I didn’t believe for a second he or his farcical crystal ball knew anything beyond what common sense and loose lips would allow an intuitive person to infer from any stranger they met, but I did believe that he had traveled far and wide. Con men like himself never stayed in one place for too long. People inevitably caught on to their charades and came looking for reparations. I would bet that he had encountered a good number of loose-lipped fools in his wide travels. Fools that speak of things they shouldn’t and would normally not. It was a long shot, but one of those fools he encountered may have said something about the legend of a man who might possibly know something about real magic. Kade was a con man of sorts too and he had.
The con man blanched a little when he saw me coming toward him, then quickly recovered. “Has Your Highness changed his mind?” He asked with false bravado.
“No His Highness has not,” I snapped at him. “But we do have a few questions we would like you to answer.”
His eyes narrowed in offense at my dismissive tone. “You doubt the truth of my abilities.”
I laughed at his audacity. “My mind is clear of all doubt that you are a con and a fraud.”
“And what are you?” He spat back at me. “The common girl now engaged to Anthame’s Crown Prince. It seems I am not the only fraud present.”
The truth of his words cut me to the core. I violently recoiled from them on the inside, but I kept my outward appearance perfectly neutral and unaffected.
It was Zander who gave him the reaction he sought from me. He took a menacing step forward.
“Apologize to the Lady now and I might forgive your offense.”
The con man scoffed at him dismissively. “Technically, no offense was committed. You may be Anthame’s Crown Prince but you are not my Crown Prince. I am of Decretum. We have no Prince, only a Queen.”
The smile he gave the con man rivaled one of my most sinister ones. I witnessed a new side to him for the first time. He was normally so reserved and composed that little seemed to affect him. The mask he wore for the world was one of cool detachment. The real man beneath the mask I had come to know was just as cool and collected but he was far from detached or indifferent. He connected with and felt for the world around him on a far deeper level than most individuals that occupied his station in society ever did.
“Be that as it may, it is still within my right to reprimand any person beneath my station as I see fit if I feel an offense was committed by them. I am familiar with your Queen and that holds true even in Decretum. I doubt she will care if her number of subjects decreases by one meaningless fraud who does not know how to afford a lady the respect she deserves.”
A vein throbbed at his left temple. “I apologize,” he gritted in my direction through clenched teeth.
“Apology not accepted,” I smiled in sickly-sweetness. “But you can make it up to me by answering the questions I have.”
His smile matched mine in kind as did the mocking bow. “I am at your service, Your Highness.” He spat the title at me like a curse.
I ignored it. I had more important things to do than go back and forth in some juvenile game of tug-of-war with verbal barbs.
“Have you ever heard of a man in Decretum rumored to possess knowledge of sorcery or magic? You know the real kind?”
I said I wouldn’t indulge him, but I couldn’t help myself. He’d sorely gotten under my skin.
His eyes sparked with recognition, which was how I knew the next words he spoke were a lie.
“I do not recall hearing of such. I can consult my crystal ball if you like, but it is how I make my living. I would, respectfully of course, have to charge you my usual rate.”
I smoothed my expression into the epitome of acceptance and compliance. “I understand. We all must make a living. You know how I used to make mine? As an assassin.” I un-sheathed the knife secured beneath my skirts as I spoke. “You are right about me being a common person. It’s why I became an assassin in the first place. A girl has to eat and needs a place to sleep. It is also the reason I became so good at how I made my living. I can slit a man’s throat before he ever has the time to cry out in alarm. It’s thrilling you know. Watching the life seep from a man’s eyes, especially when he’s a scumbag like yourself. I sometimes miss it. Perhaps I should indulge myself in a moment of nostalgia?”
Without me moving an inch toward the con man every bit of color his face possessed drained from it.
“No…no…need to get hostile,” he stammered. The laugh that followed his words was both shaky and uneasy.
Mine was both unyielding and threatening.
“Tell me what you know now.”
His eyes flashed in resentment but he kept his mouth shut about his less than savory feelings towards me this time. Smart man.
“I have not heard much but the people of Decretum sometimes speak in hushed tones about an ancient witch or sorcerer who appears as an old man and dwells in its mountains. It is one of Decretum’s timeless legends. No one can confirm if it is simply a story parents started telling their children at bed time for some reason lost to time or if it holds a modicum of truth. Anyone brave enough to venture into the mountains to confirm or disprove it never return. It is rumored to be the reason Decretum’s mountains remain largely uninhabited.”
“Do you know where in Decretum’s mountains this man is rumored to reside?”
“I…I do not.” The fear for his life in his voice at not being able to answer my question told me he answered truthfully.
---
“What’s our plan for finding this mysterious possibly magic wielding old man once we dock in Decretum in the morning?” Zander asked me as we ate dinner in the solitude of our room.
“I was hoping you had some ideas about that. I’m fresh out. The con man proved to be about as much help as Kade. The only thing useful we now know is that we should focus our efforts on the mountains, but Decretum’s mountainous region is vast and wide. We do not have the time it would take to scour its chains looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack,” I admitted more than a little disheartened.
“You could threaten to disembowel everyone we encounter until answers turn up,” he teased me to cheer me up.
“Ha ha very fun,” I drawled. “That guy was a jerk and a swindler. He had worse coming to him. He’s lucky I did not actually make good on my threat. You may have been too noble to make good on yours but I’m not nearly as high-minded.”
I didn’t say it to insult him. It was the opposite in fact. Zander’s strong sense of right and wrong and vehement adherence to principles of virtue was one of the driving forces behind my love for him. I both admired, respected and was attracted to him all the more for it.
His drawl mimicked mine. “I’m not as high-principled as you think. I can be depraved when the situation calls for it.”
The wink he gave me from across the table paired with the mischievous curl of his mouth at its edges made it clear exactly what kind of situation he was referring to.
I fought the urge to fan myself. I reminded myself very, very forcefully that although we were betrothed and alone in a room with a bed not twenty feet away, the idea playing itself out in my mind would be very, very bad to execute.
I flew out of my chair in the middle of my mental chastisement at the same time Zander flew out of his. The same boom that preceded the force that dislodged us from our seats sounded again. If my butt were not still on the ground, it would have connected with it a second time.
Zander and I got to our feet and looked at each other in alarm.
“Are you alright?” We asked at the same time.
“Yes,” we said in unison.
I walked to the small trunk I traveled with and dumped out its belongings. Secured bene
ath them at the bottom were a pair of throwing knives, a short sword and a longer, broader one. A girl never knew when she needed a good blade, or two, or three. I had not lied to the con man. Some habits from my days masquerading as an assassin were hard to kill. I strapped the knives to sheaths beneath my skirts and kept the short sword in my hand. Something told me I didn’t need to bother with concealing it.
“We should see what the commotion is all about,” I said to Zander as I tossed him the longer sword.
Having trained with the kind of sword traditionally used by palace guards and carried as decorative pieces by nobility he wielded a longer blade better than a shorter one.
---
The situation unfolding on the top deck made the source of the commotion clear. As a group of pirates who’d rounded up the vessel’s passengers, all of who were in the dining room having dinner, marched the nobles too overstuffed to fight back onto the deck, more of them poured over the ship’s railing. One of them approached us, keeping his sword at the ready.
“We heard the Crown Prince was onboard. It’s good to see our information not proven false. You will be coming with us, Your Highness,” he sneered at Zander.
I stepped in front of Zander and brandished my own sword. “Like hell he will.”
“Step aside little girl,” the pirate laughed.
I laughed back. I loved it when people underestimated me. Their mistake.
“The only way I am stepping aside is if my body is lying limp and dead and you literally drag it from in front of him.”
“That can be arranged. My patience is wearing thin.”
I silently willed Zander to stay behind me, but to both his credit and my dislike he stepped up beside me.
“If we fight, we fight together,” he offered by way of explanation.
We did not have time for me to argue the point.
The pirate advanced on us swinging his sword in a broad arc. Zander swung his at the same time and steel met equally hardened steel.
A second attacker approached us from the side. I spun to the left to meet him, unsheathing one of my throwing knives as I did. It embedded itself in his jugular before he got within arms reach.
Chaos Page 9
