by Meg Xuemei X
“You’ve strongly advised me to walk away.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, though,” Ephraim said. “We might still solve the problem between you and the princess without causing a war.”
I frowned at him. When had my humble friend started assigning himself as a wise guy?
“Find out why you’re the target of her scent and see how you can turn the adversity to your opportunity. When you succeed, you’ll enjoy other beautiful females instead of hanging up on the Mysthian princess hopelessly.”
“I told you I’ve tried.”
“Have you tried harder?”
I almost punched his face.
“We need to find a spell master, or an expert on Earth spells, or a magic wielder,” Ephraim said, the concern on his face deepening and darkening. “The Mysthians believe their princess possesses some kind of great earth magic that can destroy us or kick us out. I thought it was a rumor, but now I wouldn’t dismiss it quickly. Just look what she can do to our mightiest high price, turning him into a victim by snapping a finger.”
I hadn’t noticed before that Ephraim was rather annoying.
“I ain’t a damn victim,” I hissed, “and she’s never snapped a finger!”
She’d actually done that to return my gaze to her face when I’d stared at her breasts. That was in the king’s study where she’d first found out about my erection.
“She’s obviously gotten under your skin,” Ephraim insisted. “She’s hooked you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. One more disrespectful word toward Rose, and I’d surely punish him.
Ephraim swallowed at my menace. “You always allowed me to speak my mind before, Prince.”
I reined in my temper. “She doesn’t have the elemental magic,” I said. “She’s as perplexed as I am that she’s the only who can arouse me. She’s constantly fended off my advances.”
“You’ve made an advance on her already?”
I shrugged.
Ephraim inhaled sharply. “You know what it will lead to. You know the consequences.”
“Of course I know,” I said.
“And she merely brushed you off instead of informing her security?”
“I’m her security.”
“I mean her Mysthian royal guards and your brother.”
I flashed him a gloating, fiendish smirk. “She’s kept our secrets alright. She’s more tightlipped than I. As for the king, she despises him more than me. She treats him like a rattlesnake, though she smiles at him. I don’t like it. But I’d take comfort that, in her book, I exist as her amusement rather than a vile creature like my brother.”
Ephraim looked at my grin incredulously as if he thought I should forever wear a stone face. “Walk away, Seth. Walk away while you can,” he said urgently. “I know it’s hell for you. But this time and only this time, you have to give up what you want. Leave Earth tonight or early morning tomorrow. I’ll take care of whatever duties or tasks you were assigned to.”
“I wish I could,” I said.
My mind wandered to Rose again. I had almost had her on top of the mountains. She had almost come on my fingers, but she had stopped at the last minute with her damned iron will. Her sheath was so tight and hot and silky and receptive, and the scent of her arousal—exquisite and wild—was the best smell in the universe.
While I was lost in reverie, three female angels in provocative attire with plenty of exposed creamy skin, approached me, bowing at the waist. Their boldness faltered at my icy stare. They traded a timid, uncertain glance.
My erection still pricked against my trousers, but I didn’t want them.
“Sorry, ladies,” Ephraim said politely, as he didn’t like to hurt anyone’s feelings. “Not tonight. The high prince is not in the mood.”
The females scattered, yet still looked at me seductively over their shoulders, hoping I would summon them back.
The night sank deeper, the stars shone brighter, and Atlantis became noisier.
My mood grew fouler as another figure stalked toward me.
“What?!” I hissed, not bothering to raise my head from my goblet.
When I emptied my drink, if that pest hadn’t made himself or herself scarce, I’d toss the goblet at the intruder’s face.
“Your Highness,” a soldier’s voice called, and I recognized it belonged to one of my household guards.
“What is it?” I looked at him.
He flinched. “The Lord of All Angels asked for your attendance immediately in Your Highness’s library. The Lord of All Angels wasn’t happy that you turned off the com-link.”
Ephraim darted an anxious glance at me.
I drained my drink and rose from my seat. “Take care of the bill, Ephraim,” I said. “And tip generously please.”
~
My brother sneered at me when I entered my library in the south wing of the golden tower. He turned back to my lord father’s astral projection under the archway, his face at once showing every inch a devoted son.
Agro had no interest in what I stored in my library since most of it was books in different forms, but he was forever irked that I was the only one, besides my lord father, who could enter the vault that housed the Forbidden Glory and that I could wield its flaming swords.
That was one of the many reasons he feared me and took care to not push my buttons too hard and too far.
“Brother,” he greeted me, “you look unhappy to be dragged away from booze and whores.”
“I’m not the one who has drinking and whoring problems every night,” I said.
“I’ve been diligent in my duty.” My brother gritted his teeth. “I’ve had Earth under my iron fists.”
“Is that why you bang your harlots day and night to celebrate your achievement?” I asked as if I was curious.
“Lies!” he hissed.
“And kudos to your iron fists and tight leash on your bitch, so she failed to kill the Princess of Mysth twice.”
My brother bared his teeth, like the vampires I had enslaved in another galaxy, but nervousness flashed in his dark blue eyes. “Don’t you dare sway Father with vicious, irresponsible lies!” he shouted.
I danced back, not wanting his spit to fall on me. Before I sent him my vicious comeback, my father’s astral image snapped, “Silence!”
Agro and I both shut up.
“I’m sick and tired of you two constantly bickering like two immature children,” my lord father said after a pause. “I summoned you both for Agro’s wedding arrangement.”
“If it’s about my wedding, Seth doesn’t need to be present,” Agro said.
“Why do you bother with his wedding, Father?” I asked, feeling an alarm going off in my head. “The wedding is insignificant.”
“Insignificant? How dare you!” Agro glared at me. “You’ve sunk to an all-time low in your jealousy! You just can’t stand to watch me finally settle down and live happily ever after.”
“Maybe it’s the reason Father summoned us,” I said, concealing my slim hope, “to call off this unnecessary wedding.”
“I don’t know why I’ve put up with you two for so long.” The Lord of All Angels sent Agro and me an annoyed stare. “I can get rid of you both easily.”
Agro and I became quiet again.
“Expedite the wedding,” my father said. “Make it happen a week from now.”
My heart sank and my throat felt parched, but I let a bored look coat my eyes.
Agro turned to me with a victorious smirk. “Can’t ruin my big day, Brother?”
“It’s bad timing, Father,” I said. “We can’t rush things. The marriage preparation takes time. Everything takes time. Right now, no one is ready.”
I was talking about harvesting Earth’s elemental magic in Rose. My father understood our coded language.
“It’s not your marriage,” Agro said. “It’s mine! And I’m ready! Who the hell do you think you are to have a say in this?” He turned to our father, his look immediately docile and reve
rent. That insect really knew how to fake it. “I can get things done in a day, Father. I can have the wedding tomorrow, if that’s what you want. The wedding will be spectacular; all earthlings will fall to their faces to worship us, worship you, Father.”
“The wedding date is set in a week,” my father said.
I knew he wouldn’t change his mind, so my cozy plan with Rose had just burst.
“The fey princess will hear it on the day before the wedding,” my father added.
Agro snapped into attention. “Understood.”
My father’s projection turned to me, his gaze sharp and potent.
“Understood,” I said emotionlessly.
“Agro, you’re excused,” my father said.
Agro dared not protest. He saluted, bowed, and trod slowly toward the main door, hoping my father would call him back or forget his slimy presence so he could eavesdrop.
My father had created a force field around us for privacy.
“I’m disappointed in you, Seth,” he said.
“My lord,” I asked, remaining icy and unmoved, “to what do I owe the honor?”
I was probably the only one who didn’t fear him, but I had no intention of aggravating him either.
“You’ve been dallying with the fey girl,” he said. “Care to explain?”
How had he known? His hands had been tied with the rebel angels in the far galaxy. The rebel force had grown in numbers, and High Commander Camael was one of the most ancient, powerful angels, next to my lord father.
I’d underestimated my father, despite my eon of watching him closely. Maybe he was all-seeing after all. But I’d been so absorbed with Rose that I had less than half a mind when I was around her. I had felt a ripple in the air when my father’s eyes had turned on me from the other side of the universe, but I hadn’t stayed alert. My raging lust for Rose had blinded me and dulled my predatory sense.
“I’ve been fooling around with the fey girl for a reason,” I said. “It’s a calculated move. I noticed that she likes me better than Agro, so I intend to create emotional conflicts in the Mysthian princess to activate the elemental magic in her.”
“You haven’t succeeded, Son.”
“I haven’t failed either, Father,” I said. “I haven’t been able to harvest the earth magic because it isn’t in her. The prophecy misled us.” I was the one who had informed him about the prophecy and now I had to clean up my own mess. “The Mysthian princess has already faced several crises. Even when the assassins almost drowned her, the magic didn’t surface to defend her. She’s a dud.”
“If she’s a dud, how could she resist your lightning?” my father asked.
Even he was vulnerable to the full voltage of my lightning if he didn’t wear special armor and put up the force field.
I held my father’s gaze steadily, not allowing a blink of surprise. Had my idiot brother informed him behind my back? Or had my father seen that, either through his device, or in Agro’s mind? I was among the few who had a shield against his mind-probing power.
I wondered if he’d tried to get into Rose’s mind when his astral self had first met her, but he seemed not to be able to find the hidden magic in her either.
“My lightning can choose to its proper victim,” I told him the same lie I’d used on Agro.
My father’s eyes grew predatory, which wasn’t a good sign. “No, Seth,” he drawled. “Your lightning isn’t sentient. It hurts everyone on its path; it never plays favorites.”
“There’s always a first time for everything, Father,” I said. “If she could use her magic to diffuse my bolts, then she should have been able to fight the assassins instead of almost getting killed if I hadn’t gotten there in time.”
“You like the girl,” my father said.
I shrugged. “She’s a fiery pet.”
“She isn’t your pet, Seth,” my father said. “On the wedding night, I want you to be in their bed with them. You’ll be there to reap the magic when Agro breaks her. If she turns out to be a phony, then she’s of no use to me. You’ll stay on Earth and keep searching for the true earth magic bearer. You’ll turn every corner until you find that magic. Before then, you can’t have that girl. Afterwards, I don’t give a damn if you still want your brother’s leftovers, though I believe you have better taste than to be obsessed with a broken doll.”
My blood iced over, despite my red rage. Yet I kept an uncaring mask in place.
My lord father wouldn’t change his mind, even if I begged him as his favorite son, as I’d never begged before.
His word was the law of the universe. When it spat out, it never returned.
“Thank you for your generous offer, Father,” I said with a savage grin. And for the first time, I hated him to the bone.
The Lord of All Angels narrowed his eyes for a split second as if wanting to backhand me for my attitude. The impulse was gone in a blink, and he resumed being the unmovable, terrifying, and the most powerful being in the universe.
“Do not fail me, Son,” he thundered and was gone.
PRINCESS ROSE
The High Prince of All Angels helped me dodge an arrow, but the king’s bitch and her minions stayed on my trail like relentless, three-headed bloodhounds.
The king had declared a curfew in Babylon. His army occupied the “free city,” searching for the Dragonian rebels and my missing “lady-in-waiting.”
Victoria’s angels also burned down the perfume shop, but North had long since vanished like a ghost into the underground world.
King Agro forbade me to leave Atlantis and confiscated the high prince’s rights to escort me out of the palace. I had this nagging feeling that a darker storm was looming, but I couldn’t make it out.
I planned to test Seth and get him to reveal if there was a dark scheme against me, but I seldom saw him these days. Even when I sought him out, I couldn’t find him. I suspected he was avoiding me.
If he had already lost interest in me, then I had no value to him. A cold-hearted angel like him wouldn’t protect me anymore.
Yet he hadn’t turned against me. He hadn’t sold me out to the king. And he hadn’t come in person to end my life and my team.
During his absence, his friend Ephraim guarded me at all times. The big angel was friendly, but he seldom talked to me, as if he was under a strict order not to get too close. However, when he looked at me, there were questions in his eyes. And I’d caught him a few times as he quietly and intensely studied me.
I had to do something other than let them hold me hostage in the king’s palace until the monster consummated the marriage, murdered me, and took my title. I could beat the bush around Seth’s friend and fish out information.
I sent everyone away, except for Ephraim, one afternoon. He was actually cooperating, as if he was also waiting for the opportunity to converse with me in private. He even took the extra step to remove the other angel guards.
“I watched you and your high prince cross blades the other day,” I started when we were alone.
He nodded. “I saw you that day, Princess. You turned many heads.”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile, “but not as many as you and Prince Seth did. You both are formidable swordsmen.”
A faint smile traced the corner of his mouth. “We’ve practiced for an eon.”
I tilted my head as I went for his throat. “He tossed his lightning at you.”
“He did. I passed out for two days and woke up feeling like I had a hangover.”
“Did it hurt that much?”
He grimaced. “Who wants to be struck by the lightning?”
“Do you know he also threw a bolt at me?” I asked.
“He wouldn’t do that to you.”
“You think I lie? Or did he tell you not to trust me?”
Ephraim flushed, then cleared his throat. “If it happened, it must have been an accident.”
“Prince Seth didn’t cause an accident,” I said. “He wouldn’t make that kind of mistake.”
Ephraim’s wings rustled behind him. “He’s been distracted lately.”
“Who dares distract the High Prince?”
He didn’t answer but gave me a measured look. “If he wanted to hurt you, he wouldn’t send me to watch over you.”
I offered him an innocent smile. “I thought he sent you to spy on me.”
“I see, you don’t trust him,” he sighed. “I have to report back to him about your safety, but he’s never sent me for anything else.”
“Ask him when you see him if he struck me with his lightning, and he’ll tell you the truth.” I then tested the water without revealing my hand. “I only wonder if it’s the reason he doesn’t want to guard me in person anymore. Maybe he’s ashamed to see me after hitting me with his dark lightning. But will you tell him that I’ve forgiven him?”
Ephraim shook his head. “He hasn’t come here only because he needs to avert his lord father’s attention from—” He stopped right there.
I sweetened my smile to encourage him to continue. “Yes?”
“Anyway, he wants you to be safe,” Ephraim said. “Prince Seth isn’t like any other angel. If you could see him for who he really is beneath his hard shell, you’d understand. I’ve served him for an eon, and I won’t serve anyone else.”
Souline brought two glasses of wine and placed one before the angel and the other before me.
I took a sip of the wine made of white grapes and black rice.
“Thank you, Princess,” Ephraim said, “but I don’t drink on duty.”
Souline left and came back with a mug of iced tea. The big angel thanked her.
“Why does he need to distract his father? And from whom?” I asked.
Ephraim darted a curious and wary glance at me. “The prince warned me that you’re cunning. I think you’re trying to gain an edge over me.”
