“That was something last night, wasn’t it?”
Martanel suppressed a frown and traded it for a matching grin. “Yes, quite something.”
* * *
Lashyla entered her mother’s bedchambers and closed the doors behind her. She stopped at the foot of the bed and bowed low as was customary.
“Good morning, Mother,” she said.
“It is indeed a good morning,” the queen said, rising from her bed. She was naked, but Lashyla didn’t bat an eye. All mermaids slept naked, and she had seen her mother disrobe many times before. The queen went to her closet to retrieve some clothes for the day and set about dressing herself. Lashyla waited patiently for her mother to finish. At last the queen turned to her daughter with a smile and said, “You need no longer trouble yourself with Aurelius; I have discovered for myself who he is.”
Lashyla’s eyes widened. “Truly? As have I. Last night—”
The queen interrupted her daughter with a quick swish of her hand. A fierce look crossed her face and she asked, “You have already heard what happened last night? Who told you?”
“What do you mean?” Lashyla’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.
The queen hesitated a beat, her eyes narrowed angrily and suspiciously as she tried to determine if her daughter was being deliberately obtuse. “What have you heard about last night?”
“Nothing. Aurelius and I went on a tour of the city; I took him to the Launch, and he admitted to me that he is an elder.”
The queen’s anger visibly abated. “Ah. Then you know nothing of what happened afterward?”
“He infuriated me and I had him sent back to his quarters where I presume he spent the rest of the night.”
The queen shook her head. “But he did not. He came to me, and consented to mate with me.”
Lashyla’s eyes flashed with anger and then hurt. “He couldn’t have!”
The queen smiled. “But he did. I summoned you here to tell you the happy news, and to have you keep a closer eye on him. He will still be treated as a vestal and kept out of sight to protect him from the advances of other maidens, but we will double his guard and forbid anyone to enter his quarters. Have the guards say that Aurelius and his friends are suspected of plotting against me; no one need know more than that, and no one will want to associate with traitors lest they be condemned by their association. Yes . . .” The queen’s voice took on a musing tone. She completely missed the gaping shock on her daughter’s face. “Yes, that should keep him safe until I am challenged anew. He will take his meals in his quarters and be exempt from the usual duties of the other vestals. See that it is done, Lashyla, and if any of the maidens complain, I will have their names.”
“But mother . . .” Lashyla’s look of outrage was still in full force, and she had to work hard to keep her tone civil.
“Yes, my sweet?” the queen asked, oblivious.
Lashyla fumbled for words, her mouth opening and closing with impotent jealousy and rage. At last she managed to say, “Never mind. May you both be happy and satisfied, and may he bring you many more beautiful children.”
“Thank you, daughter. That is very kind of you. I know you had your eye on him yourself, but you will find another; I will see to it.”
Lashyla gave a shallow nod, and began turning to leave.
“Oh, and one other thing—”
Lashyla turned back.
“—make certain that Aurelius does not get too restless. You must see to his needs until he can be released.”
Lashyla nodded again. “As you wish, mother.” With that, the princess turned and stalked from her mother’s room. She wondered wryly if seeing to Aurelius’s needs could be interpreted as she was imagining now. . . . But she couldn’t steal Aurelius away from her mother. Even if he consented to mate with her, she had no other mates to fight a challenge for him, not to mention that it would not be easy to find one who could conceivably challenge Thorin the Triumphant in the ring.
She felt like her blood was boiling. She couldn’t believe that Aurelius had chosen her mother over her. How could he! He had led her on! He had rejected her and pretended his objections were based on principle rather than any lack of attraction or desire. Now she saw that he had merely been setting his sights higher. Why settle for the princess when you can have the queen? There had to be a way for her to get revenge. She couldn’t let his wretched insolence go unpunished. . . . But all the forms of vengeance she could concoct were only possible if he first became her mate. Then she would have complete control over him.
Yes . . . Lashyla mused bitterly to herself. Then that is what I will do.
* * *
Aurelius woke to an insistent banging. He sat up on the couch and rubbed his face tiredly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
What was that infernal racket? It took him a moment to identify the sound. It was coming from the door. Before he could rouse himself enough to answer it, the sound stopped and he heard a voice. “Yes, what do you want?” It was Gabrian.
Aurelius turned to look, wondering when the old man had returned.
“Where is Aurelius?” a familiar feminine voice asked in icy tones.
Aurelius felt a spike of dread and wondered if he should try to hide himself. That voice did not sound amused. Could Lashyla still be angry that he’d asked to leave Meria?
“He’s right here, my beauteous princess. Is something the matter?” Aurelius watched the old man turn and open the door wide to reveal Lashyla standing at the door with a compliment of burly guards. Even at a distance he could see her expression of barely contained fury. She stalked across the room to his couch, and he had to try hard to conceal his apprehension. Somehow sleeping on her ire had only made it the worse.
She stopped before the couch and gazed balefully down on him. “Rise, vestal, and bow to your princess.”
Aurelius bristled at being commanded to show a respect he hardly felt, but he complied, not wanting to get himself into even more trouble. As he straightened from his bow he fixed her with a quizzical frown. “Why are you so angry?”
“I’m not angry. I’m disappointed.”
“Then why are you disappointed?”
“You consented to mate with my mother!” Aurelius blinked and his mouth dropped open. “You needn’t act so surprised. She told me all about it. Do you know what you’ve done?”Aurelius was shaking his head with denial, but Lashyla barreled on, not giving him a chance to speak. “You fool! You thought you’d have more freedom with my mother than with me? More rights, more privileges? A better life? We could have been happy together, just you and me! I would have had no need for others, save those I would use to defend you, but now see what you have cost yourself: my mother has dozens of mates! She calls upon them rarely, and tires of them quickly. She keeps them hidden and guarded so that none can presume to steal them from her. She collects them like pearls, and keeps them where no one will see them to appreciate or covet their beauty. You will spend the rest of your days in isolation and lonely longing for the one who will never ever long for you. We could have been happy, Aurelius, but now I see that you prefer to be miserable. As a token of what’s to come, you and your friends will be confined to quarters until further notice. You will be exempt from doing the usual work of vestals, but you will also have nothing to dull your boredom.”
Aurelius’s eyes were wide with shock and apprehension. The picture Lashyla had painted of his future was a very bleak one, but he still had something to say in his defense.
“What in the nethers are you talking about?”
* * *
“How dare you take that tone with me!” Lashyla was furious. He was a wretched man. She couldn’t believe she had ever been attracted to him—ever wanted him to be hers.
Aurelius forced himself to speak more calmly. “I did not sleep with the queen!”
“You did. There were two witnesses.”
“Then they are liars!”
The princess’s eyes narrowed sharply. �
��Bearing false witness to a mating carries the death penalty in Meria. Who would risk that for you?”
“I don’t know! Surely it’s happened before? That people lied to secure a mate or offer a challenge for one?”
Lashyla’s expression turned thoughtful. Even in her short experience, she knew of such a case. In that particular situation, once the facts had all been verified and the farce revealed, all those responsible for perpetuating the lie had been thrown into the ring, and the maiden who’d presumed to falsely steal a mate had been exiled to the sea. Such things only ever happened with extremely coveted mates—only then was the risk worth the gain.
And who could be more coveted than Aurelius?
Was it possible that her mother would risk everything by lying about having mated with him?
At last, she shook her head. “It does not matter, Aurelius. There was a third witness.”
Aurelius’s eyebrows shot up. “Who?”
Lashyla frowned. “My mother, the queen. Do you really expect me to believe that she and her guards would all lie about this? Do not flatter yourself. You are not so valuable that the queen would risk her crown for you. No, now that you realize the full extent of your foolishness, you are having second thoughts, but it is too late. You are the liar, Aurelius!” She stabbed him in the chest with an accusing finger.
“I am telling the truth!”
Lashyla snorted and turned to leave, but even as she did so, she felt a flicker of awareness, a barely noticeable tendril of doubt lurking in the back of her mind. Red Espheria. She’d almost forgotten to pay attention to the extra intuition it gave her, like a sixth sense that she was only beginning to develop. When she focused on that nagging doubt, she saw the truth of Aurelius’s words. The sequence of events last night became clear in her mind, flashes of color and motion, scenes from last night replaying in her mind’s eye.
Aurelius had awoken in his room and left to seek her out. He’d been looking for someone else, but he’d wanted her help. They’d spent hours touring the city in the middle of the night, eventually coming to the Launch. Soon after that, she’d become impatient with him and sent him back to his quarters. He’d returned, searched his room, gone back to sleep on the couch, and awoken hours later to hear her knocking at the door.
There was no memory of his having mated with the queen. Lashyla turned suddenly back to Aurelius. “Let us suppose that I believe you. Why would the queen lie about having mated with you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe . . .” Aurelius shook his head. “Maybe an Eld—” he cut himself off with a quick look at Lashyla’s guards. “—someone with my knowledge and skills could be very useful in Meria.”
Lashyla was surprised by his insight. That is exactly why someone might lie to have him, but assuming her mother had done so . . . Lashyla had nothing to gain from exposing the lie, and everything to lose. Her mother would be disgraced and dethroned. Lashyla would be in no position to take over without any mates of her own. She would be laughed off the thrown. No, that course of action would not be wise.
Lashyla turned to her guards. “Leave us.”
Without a word of objection the guards left and shut the door behind them. Lashyla stayed where she was. Her gaze flickered over Gabrian who stood to one side of the room with a faint smile upon his wrinkled lips. Then her eyes found Reven, and she frowned. “This is for Aurelius’s ears alone,” she said, her eyes flicking from one to the other. Gabrian and Reven reluctantly turned and shuffled into one of the bedrooms. When Lashyla saw the door close, she turned to Aurelius and said, “I believe you are telling the truth, but you have only one hope of escaping your fate.”
“What is that?” he asked.
“You must consent to mate with me.”
Chapter 27
Gabrian stood with his ear to the rusty bedroom door, flecks of ancient, peeling paint pricking him through his beard.
Reven was pacing the room. “What can you hear?” he asked.
“Very little. The words are indistinct.”
Reven grunted and resumed wearing a rut into the floor.
But it was a lie. Gabrian could hear everything as clearly as if he were standing in the other room. Magic could reveal many things, but it was better for his purposes that the wolf man think he couldn’t hear. Reven’s allegiances lay closer to the elder than to him.
The princess went on, reiterating her plan, “It is the only way, Aurelius. If you mate with me, I can offer a challenge for you, and then you will be free of my mother’s control.”
“But you said it yourself, you have no other mates to fight a challenge for you.”
“Mate with me tonight and I will leave by the morning to find someone strong enough to defeat Thorin. My mother thinks she is immune to the challenges because Thorin is undefeated, but the only reason he is undefeated is because he is an ugly brute of a man, and no other maiden would be so cold and calculating as to mate with a man for his prowess in battle alone. It is repulsive, and against our very nature, but for you Aurelius, I will sacrifice myself.”
“I’m touched.” There was a dry, sarcastic note to Aurelius’s voice. “What will you do? Mate with a troll?”
“Don’t be absurd. That is impossible; otherwise my mother would have done it already.”
Aurelius’s bitter laughter bubbled through the door. “How can you be sure you’ll find someone to best Thorin in the ring?”
“I cannot, but what have you to lose?”
Aurelius was silent a long moment.
“You are not a virgin, are you?”
“Of course not, but . . .”
“Then?” Her voice returned a moment later, soft and seductive. “Am I so repulsive?”
“No,” Aurelius’s voice was but a whisper.
“Then give me a reason. Why do you resist me so fiercely?”
“It is hard to explain. I need some time to think.”
“Fine,” the princess’s voice returned with a hard edge of steel. “But don’t take too much time, for you’ll soon run out of it. You have until tonight to decide.”
Gabrian heard footsteps retreating, a door open, then close, and finally silence.
Reven stopped pacing. “They are no longer speaking,” he said.
Gabrian turned from the door with a curious look. “How do you know?”
“My ears are keener than yours, old man.”
Gabrian nodded and gave a wrinkly smile. “True.” Privately, he wondered if they had both heard the conversation clearly, and were both equally unwilling to share the details. Gabrian waited for Aurelius to come and open the door to let them out. When Aurelius finally came to let them out, he looked tired and haggard.
“What did the princess have to say?” Gabrian asked innocently.
Aurelius shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Perhaps we could help you?”
“Not unless you can get us out of the city before tonight.”
Gabrian smiled sympathetically. “No, that is impossible, I’m afraid. Even if we found a way out of the city, we must still find the relic before we leave.”
Aurelius brightened suddenly. “That’s right! I found a way out of the city last night. If you find the relic, we can leave!”
Gabrian cocked his head curiously. “Truly? What way is that?”
“Last night Lashyla took me to something the mermaids call the Launch. There’s a fully-functional submarine. After all these years, apparently it’s still working. The mermaids use it to transport their mates from the surface to Meria.”
“Indeed?” Gabrian fought hard to keep the triumphant smile from his face.
“I don’t think Lashyla understood that she was showing me my means of escape. She seemed to think no mere man could ever figure out how to pilot it, but she forgets I’m from a time where such vehicles are common place. It would only take me a few minutes to figure it out. Have you had any luck finding the relic?”
Gabrian frowned sadly and shook his hea
d. “No.”
Aurelius grimaced.
“But take heart. I will redouble my efforts to find the relic. Perhaps I will succeed, and you will be gone before tonight.”
“I hope so,” Aurelius replied.
Yet Gabrian had no intention of taking the boy with him when he left. Aurelius would grow old and eventually die in Meria, and knowing the mermaids, his eventual death would be a gruesome one.
* * *
Gral sat cross-legged in a damp, dark cave that stank sharply of the filth and sweat of other trolls. They each kept to themselves, as far from the others as they could, talking only when absolutely necessary. Gral fumed silently, his mighty shoulders heaving with pent up rage and frustration. He would not fight and kill for these human masters with their sticks that shocked and burned whenever he didn’t obey, but he had no choice. He would fight or he would die.
Even now the wretched drums sounded with a hollow thump, thump, thump, calling them into the ring for yet more training. Gral was tired of training! He was tired of throwing heavy boulders around—of hurling nets and tridents at distant targets! He wanted to go home. He wanted to be back in his warm, furry bed inside his old tree cave. He wanted to eat real meat—red meat, not just smelly fishes.
Soon Gral eat meat. Meat and bone of man. Juicy, crunchy, mmmmmm. . .
The heavy iron doors cycled open at the far end of the smelly cave and blinding light poured in from the outside. Gral shuffled out along with the other trolls, his eyes quickly adjusting to the brighter dimness of the arena.
The arena was a rough circle, ringed with thousands of empty chairs and filled with sand. The sand was patched red in places, even though Gral had seen men come to rake and clean it every day. No matter how clean it was, the arena always smelled of old, rancid blood. Gral’s nose wrinkled and he turned his gaze to blink up at the rising rows of seats.
Mrythdom: Game of Time Page 25
