One guard seized the mother, the other the daughter. A murmur of protest swept through those gathered around me on the floor while those in the gallery cheered and clapped their approval.
On time or late, I really didn’t think it mattered. Phoebus was a tyrant. A bully on a throne. It was unlikely that he would give me anything I sought. My heart started to race.
Please don’t let me be next, I prayed.
“Cecilia Ramirez,” the elf with the powdered wig intoned seeming to read from the scroll he held and my mind at the same time. I wanted to cry out my frustration but straightened my shoulders and took a step forward instead.
“Be careful what you say, Cici,” Millie warned, her voice a low whisper. “Don’t make him angry.” Stone set her down and she squeezed my arm for reassurance. I dipped my chin to acknowledge her warning and started moving forward as those in my path quickly stepped aside allowing me to pass.
Hopefully, not to my doom.
The temperature increased with every step I took closer to him. As I neared the raised platform, I spotted Leonardo leaning against a pillar. At first glance he appeared almost bored by the proceedings but the flatness of his lips and the stiffness within his frame betrayed him. His gaze slid over me with barely a flicker of recognition.
Don’t count on him intervening to help you this time, I told myself. Things were different here than on the ship. He had warned me about Phoebus and his court. I was on my own to figure this out no matter how much I wished it were otherwise. I returned my attention to the platform. Phoebus had begun to strum a golden lyre. I froze as potent eyes the color of the desert sand aglow with the orange of the setting sun captured and held me captive.
My legs wobbled. My thoughts scattered as if blown away on a hot wind.
Except for just one. The two of us in an intimate clench our sweat glistening, our bodies coming together.
He will burn you alive, Cici.
Do not touch.
Keep your distance.
But longing and an eagerness to serve him enthralled me. “My liege,” my voice vibrated as I waited for him to say the words I wanted him to say to command me.
Except…this wasn’t right. Something was wrong. On the edge of my mind I knew why, but I was too fuzzy headed with lust to remember.
“Cici,” Millie rasped. “Snap out of it.”
I felt her gentle fingers closing around mine, her touch pulling me back from the brink. I shook my head slowly clearing it from the sensual spell he had cunningly cast. Angry at him for invading my mind, I lifted my chin and glared. “Progeny. Son of Zeus,” I bit out, the effort dotting my forehead with perspiration. “Stop the music and stay the hell out of my head.”
The room collectively gasped.
A palpable wave of unease rolled through the hall.
Millie moved closer. Her fingers reflexively tightened around mine.
“Everyone out!” Phoebus ordered, his sandy eyes suddenly ablaze in burnt orange. “Immediately!”
His expression furious, his posture rigid, Phoebus paced the platform while his guards herded everyone from his court. The pall of silence afterward felt ominously loud. Phoebus leapt off the riser as if the eight-foot drop to the floor was a mere step off of a curb. His perfect curls and the hem of his satin jacket lifted then returned to their original positions as if they were forced to obey him like everything and everyone else did within his city.
Three long purposeful strides of athletic legs in taupe britches brought him directly in front of me. I tipped my head back to look at him. Ire flashed in his intimidating gaze while the heat he radiated blasted me. I sucked in air that singed my lungs. My trapped heart slammed against the walls of my chest to keep up with my increased respirations.
Sun Elf guards with their crossbows drawn aimed their weapons at me. I stepped in front of my sister and moved her behind me. The tension in the room became as thick as the oven-like air.
I lifted my chin as the monarch continued to study and blister me with his gaze, not out of defiance, but because I needed to do something before I lost it and everything I cared for. I couldn’t allow him to see my fear.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Phoebus cut his eyes to a spot over my shoulder. “Stay right where you are gargoyle.” His voice was deceptively soft but so powerful I swayed. His unyielding gaze returned to immobilize me yet again. His arms shot out like the forewoman’s whip, one hand to my neck the other to Millie’s. His fingers tightened around my throat, the strength of his grip making my eyes water and the heat of it making my skin crackle.
“I can feel their hearts struggling to beat. I suggest you take a step back or I will squeeze harder.” A clattering noise revealed Stone had retracted his wings.
“A wise choice, creature.” Phoebus’ mouth curved his approval.
I tried to speak but couldn’t, not because his grip had loosened ever so slightly but because my tongue seemed to be numb. Was he messing with my head again? This close to him I was bathed in his intoxicating smoky scent. I was so dizzy my vision blurred.
“Your behavior displeases me, my pet.” Phoebus didn’t sound displeased. He sounded turned on. “I can’t have you being insubordinate in front of my subjects. It saddens me that you have forced my hand on our very first meeting. I have no choice. I must punish you.” His gaze dropped to my lips. They suddenly felt dry. I moistened them with my tongue. He was grinning when he lifted his simmering eyes as if I were doing exactly what he had wanted me to do. He leaned in. “Your strength is unexpected, intriguingly so.” His breath was hot in my ear. “Most acquiesce so readily to my commands.” He leaned back, his tone reflective. “Except for my last seer, now that I recollect. I find that interesting to note, since foretelling and my court have always been so intimately intertwined.” He grinned as my cheeks flamed.
It seemed as though he knew what I had been thinking before Millie had squeezed my hand.
“Leonardo,” he snapped so unexpectedly loud that I gasped. “Lend me your blade. I must demonstrate my displeasure.”
“Avignon is no longer in attendance, my lord,” the grimacing attendant explained. “But may I offer you my dagger?” He withdrew his weapon from its hilt and extended it to his monarch pommel first.
“Thank you, Giles.” Phoebus stroked the ornately carved grip and black blade. “Obsidian. Yes, this will do perfectly.” His jaw was tight when he turned his attention back to me. “You have an obvious weakness, Cecilia.” He tilted his head toward Millie. “A vulnerability. Were I simply to slip this sharp blade between her ribs she would die and you would come unhinged.”
“No,” I begged feeling my blood run cold despite his heat. “Please, no.”
“Fear not, my pet.” He released Millie suddenly, and she stumbled back. He stroked my cheek with the obsidian blade while still holding me in his firm grip. The obsidian stung where it touched my skin. My eyes watered but I didn’t cringe. “Since this is your first infraction and you are new to my court, I will be lenient. But you must pay a price for defying me.”
He sought to exploit my love for Millie but he had given away that he found my willfulness engaging. I determined to redouble my efforts to keep his focus on me and off my twin.
I straightened and narrowed my gaze. “Seems to me you’re the weak one if all it takes is a little rejection of your lyre mind control to set you off.”
Phoebus’ eyes flared. “Very well, Cecilia,” he tsked before bringing the knife to his lips and blowing his hot breath onto the metal. Instantly, it began to glow bright red like a heated fireplace poker. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t avoid it as he moved it to within an inch of my face. Wisps of steam heated my skin. My stomach roiled anticipating the burn, but he had miscalculated. He had underestimated Millie. He shouldn’t have released her.
“No!” She grabbed his arm and changed his trajectory. The burning metal grazed my skin for a brief moment.
I hissed and my knees went weak from the pain.
“Little bitch.” Phoebus knocked Millie’s hand aside. His expression was one of unchecked malice. “You will pay dearly for that.” His eyes orange fire, his fingertips began to glow with the same hue as he touched them to her right temple.
Her face immediately turned ashen.
“No!” I grabbed him the same way she had a moment before. He turned his molten glare toward me. I stared back ignoring the scalding pain in my cheek. He had underestimated us once. I thought it unlikely that he would make the same mistake twice.
“Daddy!”
We both froze in our face-off. Footfalls ringing as they struck the marble, a teenage girl rushed toward us lifting up the long skirts of her layered period costume that seemed voluminous for her reed thin frame.
Phoebus had a daughter? He seemed too young, but then with immortals it was always difficult to pinpoint exact age.
Phoebus shoved me away, handed off the blade to his attendant and shifted his attention to the girl. I skittered backward and grabbed Millie fearing what he might do next. There was a disconcerting splotch of black in her platinum hair where the Sun King had touched her.
“Who are these people? And what’s going on here?” his daughter asked, her golden brows arching inquisitively as she skidded to a stop on the polished floor.
I enfolded my sister’s hand tighter in my own and pulled her close while covering my burning cheek with my other hand.
Twirling a long strand of golden hair around her finger, Phoebus’ daughter studied us with eyes the same desert shade as her sire. Concern flickered for a moment before her gaze dropped to our shoes and her lightly freckled pert nose wrinkled as if she had smelled something offensive. Our sneakers were an atrocious burnt orange color that clashed horribly with the black track suits. Was she really as fashion obsessed as I had been before my life went to hell? If only I could tap my rubber soles together and return to the days when my biggest worry had been what to wear and my interests had revolved around music and who was doing what with whom in Hollywood.
When you are a prisoner in a foreign land survival trumps the trivial.
“Fiori.” Phoebus ran frustrated fingers through his thick curls after giving me a glare that told me I had better stay where I was and remain silent. “You know you’re not allowed in the hall whenever court is in session.” His gaze narrowed. “Why aren’t you in class?”
“I was in class but I took a little break. I wanted to see the new oracle. Bess told me about her when she helped me get dressed this morning. She said she sings like an angel.”
“Leonardo.” Phoebus shot a displeased frown at the hybrid I belatedly realized must have followed Fiori in. “You’re supposed to make certain my daughter doesn’t wander where she doesn’t belong.”
“Fiori has a mind of her own, my liege. I have tried to curb her impulsiveness as you have instructed, but unless you give me permission to lock her up in the prison tower, she will go wherever she pleases.”
“Don’t be silly, Leo.” The teen turned to swat his arm as if he were a playmate and not a dangerously powerful immortal. She turned back to her father. “Daddy, you would never order my guardian to do something like that, would you?” She batted her golden lashes and stuck out her pale pink bottom lip. “Because I would hate being locked up. I would cry. I wouldn’t eat. I’d starve myself to death.”
“Enough, daughter.” Phoebus’s jaw got hard like it had with me when I had defied him a moment earlier. “Be obedient or you will force me to do things you will not like.” Even with his own daughter he sought weak points to exploit. “Now turn around and dedicate yourself to your studies. I have matters I must attend to that aren’t pleasant. I keep you out of the Court for a reason, Fiori. I would have you shielded from the harsher elements of being a monarch until you are more mature and better able to understand the subtleties required to maintain authority.”
“Alright, Daddy. Ok. I’ll go.” Eyes a richer brown than his went wide with feigned innocence for a moment before they sparked again with rebellious mischief. “But not until after I quiz the seer.” She grinned excitedly. “Can you really tell the future?” she asked me.
I nodded.
“Oh, tell mine. Please,” she pleaded prettily with her hands folded together in front of her chest.
My cheek was on fire. Millie still looked stunned by whatever Phoebus had done to her. I didn’t want to risk anymore of his wrath. I glanced at Phoebus while answering her carefully. “I don’t think your father would like me to do that, honey.”
Phoebus nodded his head approving of my answer. I almost sagged with relief, but if I had learned anything in my first go round with the Sun King it was not to let him know that he had gotten the upper hand.
“Maybe another time. In a different setting. If your father permits it.”
“He will.” She sounded completely confident. But was she naïve to believe she had him wrapped around her finger? She glanced back and forth between Millie and me then cocked her head to the side, declaring, “You’re sisters?”
I nodded.
“Twins?”
“Yes.” How did she know that?
“Just like Daddy and Aunt Hemera.” Hemera, the goddess of light, the one who had been slain by the hell hounds for her liaison with Nyx, the god of night. I had forgotten that she had also been Phoebus’ twin. He the sun. She the day. Fiori continued to babble oblivious to the missing pieces she was helping me puzzle together. “Daddy and Aunt Hemera could hear each other’s thoughts.” She glanced over at her father as if seeking his acknowledgement. The Sun King had gone very still and grown noticeably pale beneath his tan. “I like them, Daddy. Look how they support each other.” Millie’s hand flexed in mine. I could feel the reassuring chill of Stone as he moved stealthily closer.
“If you hurt one, I bet it hurts the other just like how it was between you and Hemera. You didn’t speak for six months after she died. Don’t hurt them anymore, Daddy. Surely whatever they did wasn’t that bad. Surely they have been punished enough.”
Millie only trembled while my charred flesh throbbed painfully beneath my hand as we waited for Phoebus to decide our fate. It was difficult to reconcile the dichotomy in his personality. How could he be both a merciless monarch and a doting father?
Knowing that he had lost his own twin stirred little sympathy for him given what he had just done to my sister.
“Come on, Daddy.” Fiori took his hand. “Let’s do lunch.” Apparently she was attempting to decide for him. And it worked, miraculously. The flame of retribution flickered and went out of his eyes.
“Leonardo,” he barked waving toward us with his free hand. “Escort them out.”
“Yes, my liege.” The hybrid bowed gracefully.
“And see that their injuries are addressed by the palace physician before they return to the La Ville Sombre.”
“As you wish, Sire.” Leonardo and the two guards moved toward us while Phoebus and his daughter exited the hall.
“No need for weapons. Put them away,” Leonardo commanded the two guards who immediately obeyed. “You are dismissed. Attend to the king and Fiori in my stead.”
The guards bowed. Leonardo gave them a dispassioned nod then shifted to study us. After the door closed only the four of us remained, except for the vamps who had ducked back inside the hall at the opposite end. I was surprised they had hung around after everyone had flushed.
“How do you fare?” Leonardo’s copper eyes were shiny with concern. “Remove you hand,” he insisted when I didn’t immediately reply. “Let me examine the wound.”
“I’m ok.” I shook my head keeping my hand over my cheek. I knew it was bad. I didn’t want to think about how horrible it must look and I was certain I would have my worst suspicions confirmed if I revealed it to him. “Check Millie first.”
“Always so stoic and stubborn,” he complained though I could tell he thought those qualities were assets rather than liabilities.
“Amelia,” he cal
led to her softly, gently touching her arm. Her eyes were still glazed and her skin had graduated from ghostly white to a jaundiced hue that was even more disturbing.
“Hold back, lion,” Stone growled stepping protectively in front of her.
“Calm yourself, gargoyle. I mean her no harm. But I need to know how gravely she is injured.”
“I’m ok.” Millie’s voice was a thread-like whisper. “I just feel a little,” she let go of my hand, “a little…” She turned her head to the side and dry heaved.
“Oh, pretty one,” Stone held her hair out of the way and stroked her back. “What has he done to her?” he asked Avignon when Millie finished. She settled her head onto the gargoyle’s shoulder, letting out a weak sigh. He put his arm around her and drew her closer.
“He stunned her with highly concentrated ultraviolet radiation. It affects most immortals like a Taser rendering them defenseless for a time. But I’ve never seen it turn anyone’s hair a different color.”
“I don’t know why you had to provoke him,” Leonardo continued shaking his head disapprovingly at me. “Did any of my admonitions penetrate that stubborn skull of yours?” He sighed and wrapped his warm fingers around the delicate skin of my wrist. “Let me have a look at what he’s done, Cecilia.” He gently tugged, withdrawing my hand from my face.
The cooler air felt soothing against the heat but Leonardo’s shocked expression confirmed what I already knew. My stomach churned. That kind of reaction could only mean one thing. “We need to attend to that. Immediately.” His grip tightening, he spun me around and ushered me back toward the entrance of the gallery. Our combined footsteps echoed loudly. I heard Stone’s heavier ones behind us as he hurried to keep up. I assumed he was carrying Millie. Leonardo’s long strides were difficult to match.
“Can’t you walk any faster?” he griped wearing a look of exasperation as I stumbled.
“Yes, por supuesto but I just… it hurts. And I feel a little woozy and you’re scaring me,” I huffed. “Why don’t you slow down just a little?”
Dream Magic Page 11
