by Linda Jordan
Joining the others, they walked back up several flights of stairs. Ronan assisted her again, his touch warm and gentle. She noticed he had green, iridescent scales on the backs of his arms and hands. It didn’t look like part of a costume since he didn’t seem to be wearing one. She wondered if he had the scales when she met him before. She wanted to bask in the tenderness of his eyes, but felt afraid of crumbling into little pieces that could never be put together again. At least no one could see her crying inside the mask.
They reached the ballroom that Ewan had called the Commoner’s Room. The Midsummer’s Eve party had only become more raucous. The music louder, the lighting brighter, the magic more out of control and the dancing more wild. Most of the magic was glamour , people making themselves other, or more, than they actually were. So much glamour hung in the air, it made her nauseous. Despite the bath earlier, she was still dirty and smelly. She never felt less glamourous and couldn’t find it in her to summon up a charm to change that. Never in her life had she felt so tired.
When Roderick and Ronan stepped onto the dais, she heard cheers and whistles, many of them from young women. Eventually, Roderick did what he could to bring the crowd to something resembling quiet.
He said, “This evening, or I should say early this morning Queen Nakia of the Black Opal had a change of heart. She has decided to give up the crown. She and her sorcerer have departed.”
The crowd went wild at this news. Mira could see no one who felt upset by the announcement, although she supposed it wasn’t a wise political move to disapprove of a change in rulers.
When the crowd calmed down, Roderick continued, “The crown was offered to me, but I am much too lazy to be King.”
There was much laughter at this, obviously the man knew his audience.
“I suggested the crown be passed on to my eldest, Ronan and the Black Opal has overwhelmingly accepted him. Now he needs your approval.”
Clapping, yelling and screaming followed. Mira felt like she was at a rock concert. People stomped their feet and yelled “Ronan! Ronan! Ronan!”
He stepped forward and stood next to his father. Aste and Ewan joined them as did several pooka. Mira, Amanda and Donal remained off the stage and to the side.
Mira was trying to be invisible, helped somewhat by her costume. She felt numb. Partly from helping heal Amanda, but mostly from the loss of Dylan. Plus, she needed sleep. She put her hand over the bulge in her waistband and fondled the toy dinosaur.
She missed most of Ronan’s speech. Something about returning vitality to the land and making peace between all the living beings. He was very magnetic. Quiet, dark and very handsome. Very much like Ewan, except Ronan personified the moon where Ewan represented the sun.
Why had he avoided telling her his name when they first met? Probably because he decided I looked repulsive, she thought. Why did she care? She really didn’t understand why, but she did care. She wanted Ronan to like her. To be as attracted to her as she felt drawn to him. It wasn’t just desire. She felt as if he carried a missing part of her soul that she needed to be whole.
Mira rubbed her eyes beneath the mask. She chalked all such thought up to exhaustion and grief. She must be in shock.
When Ronan finished his speech and the applause died down, a voice came from a young man in the audience. One of Roderick’s men. “The Queen was planning to name a consort tonight. The least you could do, King Ronan, is to name one of these young ladies as your Queen and see if the Opal accepts her, so you can let the others off the hook and the rest of us stand a chance.”
That produced a huge roar of laughter from the crowd. She thought Ronan would blush, but instead he laughed. “I would be glad to, for your sake alone Samuel, and I do have someone in mind, but I can guarantee she would geld me if I did not speak to her alone first. So I am sorry I cannot oblige you. Tonight.”
She wondered if he really did have someone in mind or if it was simply an evasion. She felt even smaller and more insignificant than before. Did she really want an unattainable King? Did she want to stay here? Grief and fatigue added to her confusion. The Opal had offered her something, but Mira wasn’t clear what. Work as a Healer, the antithesis of what the Sorcerer had been.
The crowd laughed again and there was a toast. It looked like alcohol and she could use that. She pushed the mask away from her mouth to drink, but kept the top part on. She didn’t want to face anyone. Drinking wine made her even more tired, but it tasted delightful. She’d been up since early morning of the day before when she and Edward had entered the catacombs. Now dawn had come again. She’d gone through exhaustion, past feeling silly, gotten a second wind and then lost it. She felt ready to drop for the tenth time, and couldn’t remember when she last ate.
Amanda looked at her and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I need to eat. And sleep,” she said.
“As soon as Aste comes down here, we’ll take care of that,” said Amanda. “And thank you for getting me here and healing me,” she added.
“I could never have done otherwise.” She saw the grief in her sister’s eyes and knew Amanda purposely avoided talking or thinking about Dylan.
Amanda put her arm around her shoulder and hugged her. Mira returned the hug and said, “It’s good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back. I feel terrific. Physically, at least,” Amanda said.
Aste stared at them. As the speeches and toasting ended and the partying resumed, Aste came down off the dais and walked up to her. “Mira, my dear, I have completely forgotten about you, I am sorry. The healing took a lot out of you. I should have attended to you as well.”
She shrugged. “It’s just been a really long, bad day, or two. Maybe a bad week.”
“The palace has quarters for guests, let us get you set up for the night. You need some food and rest. This celebration will continue for hours, even days.” She nodded to the throng who had put Ronan on their shoulders and carried him throughout the palace.
She followed Aste and a pooka to yet another part of the palace that looked unfamiliar. Mira took off her mask and sat down. A small feast sat out on a table. Mira, Donal and Aste ate. Mira ate as much as she could before falling asleep propped up on her elbow, listening to Aste and Donal talk. Aste led her off to one of the guest rooms.
“Sleep as long as you need. Food will be in the common room we just left, when you awake.”
Alone, she undressed and found a small bathroom that had a peculiar flushing toilet. She washed her face with water from a pitcher, but was unable to find the oomph or desire to take a bath in the large tub. There was clothing draped over the edge of the bed that might be a nightgown, bathrobe or something, but she didn’t care. She dropped onto the bed naked, pulled the covers up, and although exhausted, found it difficult to fall asleep.
She had missed something important. It had to do with Ronan and the Opal and herself. The harder she grasped to catch the thought, the further it fled from her. Finally, it slipped away completely and she fell asleep.
Chapter 36 - Ronan
Ronan found himself shadowed by pooka guards wherever he went. Smiling pooka guards. They looked very pleased about the change in rulers.
The announcement had caused the wildness of the Midsummer Festival to leap into full swing with the party continuing on past dawn. The entire palace became the center of chaos as it should be on Midsummer, and had not been in far too many turns, he thought.
After the party died down a little, he went to look for Mira, and found his brother and Amanda. Ewan told him Mira had long since retired to bed. At his clear disappointment, Ewan laughed and said, “We finally share the same taste in women, brother. I am happy to see that it is she you referred to during your little speech.”
Ronan laughed and smiled. He could say nothing else.
“Congratulations. And I can truly say I am glad you are King and not me. You are the only one fit to rule in our family. So you better marry her and have many children so the crown
can go to them, because I would be a terrible king. And Father, well, you already know,” said Ewan.
Ewan grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. Ronan watched them for a few minutes, realizing Amanda was holding back her terrible grief by ignoring it. When she let the barricade down, the outpouring of pain would be overwhelming. He hoped Ewan would be there to help.
Ronan had paid close attention in the catacombs as the sisters sat by Dylan’s body, neither of them shedding a tear. Aste had explained to him that the two came from a family where grieving generally happened in private. He marveled at their strength. Ronan’s own grief at Dylan’s death would have to wait as well, he needed to celebrate with his people tonight. He hadn’t known the child as long or loved him as deeply as Mira and Amanda, but his own tears would flow. He sighed deeply and moved off through the crowd.
He found himself pulled aside by various people interested in keeping their political ambitions intact or coming into new favor. Making no promises, Ronan said only that he would do his best to be fair and that all backbiting and politicking within the court would be at an end. He would not tolerate it. Word about that needed to travel quickly.
The faeries continued to wreak havoc wherever they could. Normally they bewitched isolated couples, but now he saw large groups of the crowd drop to the floor. Everyone not wanting to be the object of someone’s affection ran from the general area. Those wanting the opposite flocked to the downed bodies. At least half the celebrants must now be under the spell of faeries. Ewan and Amanda disappeared. Aste did not come back down after finding Mira a bed. Finally, only a handful of people remained. Roderick, Stephen and a number of others. Ronan slipped off as quietly as he could, pooka following him.
Up in the Queen’s quarter, he turned to one of them and asked, “Where am I going? I do not even know where to sleep.” His father’s rooms would be full of other guests since Ronan had never wanted to sleep in the palace.
They laughed at this, thought it was a hilarious joke. He did not. He had been up now longer than Mira and felt exhausted and overextended.
They took him to the visitor’s quarters until the housekeepers could find time to purge and redecorate to his simpler tastes. Or until he claimed another section of the palace as his sleeping quarters.
When he finally found a bed and undressed, it took him a long time to fall asleep. It must be midday and there was work to be done, but he needed a little sleep to continue. He tossed, fitfully, thinking mostly about Mira and how best to tell her about Edward.
He wanted to find a way to explain so she would fall in love with him. He actually considered using magic, but she would see through that. She had far too much insight for him to sneak magic past her.
No, he would have to be straight forward and honest. Explain that he fell in love with her. That he needed her strength and compassion to help him rule this land and wanted her by his side as his lover, not just as Queen or Sorceress.
When sleep finally came he dreamt of her. She sat on a beautiful black unicorn. The faeries had bewitched her and she would not come down. He told her of his love. Mira told him she preferred the unicorn and freedom. The unicorn ran off, carrying her away.
He could not remember any more of the dream upon waking. The dimming light told him evening was coming. He had only slept a short while, but felt eager to get on with his work. He bathed quickly and found fresh clothes laid out. They were much more regal looking than he would have liked. He put them on anyway and ate rapidly.
Ronan left word with one of the pooka to bring Mira to him when she woke. He spent a long time going through Nakia’s papers in her office and uncovered a great, many ugly secrets. Clearly she had not feared being spied upon. She wrote down everything, bits of information to be held over various people’s heads, bribery and threats. He found an elaborate plan laid out for taking control of the Worlds of the Enigmatic Pearl and the Flaming Ruby. It was very detailed and she clearly needed the dragons to carry it out. He also spoke to several of Nakia’s advisors and stripped more than one of them of their titles, land and rank, even imprisoning a couple who enjoyed their work too much.
Mira never strayed far from his thoughts. He kept wondering how best to approach her and earn her trust, friendship and love. His dream of the night before haunted him. Would she prefer freedom to him?
Before dinner he went up to the Black Opal Tower, searching for the right words to say to her. The wind whipped through the top of the tower, clearing his mind.
He did not have to touch the Opal this time. She greeted him when he entered the room. He presented the stone with his problem.
The answer she gave him, The choice must be left to her. Be truthful.
He hoped the advice would work. He did not know if he could let her go. Not that he ever had her, except in his mind. What if she went back to her own world, so very far away? What if she did not come back? What if she connected with an old lover? What if she had an accident?
Worry consumed him. He calmed himself and breathed in the fresh, salty air coming off the sea, while watching the life of the city wind down again, perhaps a little later today than normal. After the Midsummer Celebration everything slowed down for a few days. Sea birds cawed as fishing boats came in with their catch. Dragons flew, trumpeting their own excitement about the renewal of the land. Palace staff rushed about, preparing for the inauguration.
How could he govern without her? The Black Opal had revealed that she held the key to healing the land and its people from Nakia’s devastation. Ronan held moderation and balance. Mira was the spark and the fire.
Ronan could sense her presence before she arrived. He heard the Opal’s welcome and felt Mira’s surprise at that.
The door closed and he turned to look at Mira. Her long red hair was worn down as he had rarely seen it. Her beautiful, pearl colored horn glistened in the twilight. She wore silky white and green streaked pants and a shirt that made her green eyes even more luminous than normal. Eyes that he wanted to truly see him.
He almost lost his nerve. He would do almost anything to keep her. Tell her whatever she wanted to hear. Ronan closed his eyes and ran his hand through his long hair, smoothing it out of his face. He wondered if he had even combed it this morning; he knew he forgot to shave.
“The pooka said you wanted to speak with me,” she said.
“Yes, I do.” He smiled. “I have been spending some time trying to solve the problems Nakia left behind,” he said, shaking his head. “But that is not why I called you.” He motioned toward the bench beside him, “Would you like to sit down?”
“Sure.”
Ronan watched her perch uncomfortably on the edge of the bench. “I owe you a few explanations,” he said, sitting down beside her.
Mira’s eyebrows wrinkled, “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Oh, but I do. When I first met you, I tried to balance being as helpful as I could to you, while leading my father and his men astray. They were once again illegally hunting the black unicorns. Ewan and I had come along as trackers, trying to desperately lead them off in the wrong direction when we met you. I would liked to have taken you to Aste’s and brought you all the way to the City myself.”
“It wasn’t necessary,” she said. “Although I’m glad you weren’t really part of the hunting party.”
“No, and my father will not be hunting unicorns again either. I plan to keep him too busy.” He nervously brushed the hair out of his face. “The rest, well, this is very hard to explain. When I was a child I discovered I had a gift. Few people know about it. I am able to shape-shift with ease and to stay in those shapes for long stretches. I had a mentor, a pooka, who helped me polish those skills as a young boy.” He paused making sure she followed him.
She nodded.
He continued, “There have been times in the last fifteen turns when I shape-shifted so I could do things that were not exactly legal, but were the right thing to do. I was on one of those missions la
st week, trying to forge an alliance between the dragons and a certain faction of people in this city who thought Nakia should step down. I ran into you while I searched for the High Dragon.” He paused, waiting for her to understand.
“I know I should get this, but I don’t remember running into you.”
“I am Edward.”
Mira seemed completely without words and glared at him. She said, “That’s very difficult to believe.”
“I know it is,” he said. “I am not sure if I will be able to change fully now that I have become the Dragon King,” he said, showing his hands to her. She took them and examined the scales and ridges on the back, tracing them gently with her finger. “I will try to change, because you must believe me.”
He rose and walked away from her, turning his back, then removed his clothes. She gasped as he took his shirt off. He knew she was reacting to the sight of scales covering his back. While continuing to undress, he worried that she felt repelled by them.
Ronan focused on the change and found he could still become pooka where there were no scales. The scaled parts of him stayed the same. His ears grew long, his body taller and covered with fur, even the shape of his eyes changed. Finished, he moved to her side.
“And you were able to stay this way all the while, running by my horse’s side.”
“Yes, when one is masquerading as a pooka, one adopts the philosophy, body and soul of a pooka as far as possible.”
Mira crossed her arms. She looked at him, her eyebrows drawn together, and said icily, “So, I told you all my deep, dark secrets and you were someone else all the time.”
“Not quite someone else. Edward exists within me and I within him. But yes, I withheld truth from you and for that I am sorry. For many turns my life has not been my own. I thought I was working to help my father get the crown. Now it appears that all along he was working to get me the crown. Still my life will not be my own either, but at least that part will be out in the open. I am done with hiding.”
Returning to the pile of clothes, he made himself Ronan again, breathing hard and wincing with the pain of changing so quickly in such a short space of time. He dressed hastily.
