by Isabel Wroth
"What's your favorite color, Dysis?" Jalia asked, moaning as she sank into the steaming hot bathwater. This...she could get used to being submerged up to her chin every day in hot, fresh water.
"Green, I suppose. Oh!"
She smiled at the girl's sound of surprise as Jalia's hair turned from pale blue, to a kaleidoscope of green, from deepest emerald to palest mint.
Jalia felt the tingle in her eyes as she changed those too, glancing over at the large mirror, pleased with the way they shone like jewels in the morning light.
She smiled all the way up to the part where she stood in front of the towering green hedges of the Labyrinth of Thorns.
A path of scorched earth lay along the outer perimeter, a deterrent perhaps to keep the poisonous vines from growing past the confines of the maze.
Thorns as slender as needles shimmered in the sunlight, while others were as thick as her fingers, reaching out like claws. The hedges grew so high and so thick, Jalia couldn't see the sky above them.
Two stone archways lay directly in front of her, holding up the dark, sinister vegetation to allow entrance to the shadowy tunnels beyond.
"You will enter the maze one at a time and be given a turn of this glass before the next lady enters," Turju called out in the most serious tone she'd yet heard leave his full lips. The Prince of Islingrane stood beside his king, holding a small, slender hourglass while he looked at her and the other females in turn.
"The maze itself is not difficult to navigate, it is the vegetation which poses the biggest challenge.
"My gardeners do their best to maintain it, but these vines and thorns have a life all their own and often grow faster than we can cut them back.
“Touch nothing, do not stop to smell the flowers, and I advise you keep your hoods up at all times. The vines are sneaky and will grip at your hair if you are not careful.
"You will enter here," Turju pointed to the stone arch on the right, then the one to the left. "and exit there. I urge you to take your time. The challenge is survival, not speed. Are there any of you who do not wish to enter?"
Jalia met Dhega's hard, silent stare. It ruffled the hairs on her nape, the intensity of it, and left her swallowing the saliva that suddenly pooled in her mouth.
It had been so long since Jalia had even entertained the idea of a lover, bored by the males she met in the gaming halls, not eager to find herself caught in a trap with no escape.
But Dhega, he looked at her like that, and her pulse began to race. Heat pooled low in her belly, and desire caught like a spark to dry tinder.
"Very well." Turju's voice broke the spell of Dhega's gaze, and Jalia blinked, hoping none of the others had seen her staring with such utter captivation. "Who would like to go first?"
"Me!" Cockinti made it sound like a command, and in his solicitous manner, Turju swept his arm toward the entrance.
"Enter at your risk, princess."
With her nose thrust in the air, Cockinti pulled up her hood, her protective goggles down, and stomped towards the maze, muttering under her breath about how ridiculous this entire challenge was.
"I am obviously the most suitable choice, why even bother with the rest?"
It was the last thing Jalia heard her say before the foliage swallowed her.
Turju upended his hourglass, and she watched the glittering purple sands spill from one end to the other.
"Who will go next?"
"I will." Entayta murmured, her smooth voice carried on the breeze like a sigh.
No one immediately spoke up when the sands ran out after Entayta's entrance, Akeyko and Axtasusa looking to one another, to her, and back expectantly, clearly neither one of them wanting to go next.
Jalia shrugged and volunteered, taking a moment to tear a strip of cloth from the lower hem of her tunic, settling the protective goggles over her eyes, her hood up and wrapped the torn piece around her nose and mouth, not wanting to risk inhaling any extra poisonous vapors.
Was it her imagination, or did Dhega smile ever so slightly? Jalia felt his gaze on her as she walked up to the entrance, but as soon as she stepped beyond it was like she'd been transported to another universe.
Sounds were muffled, the vegetation so thick the light couldn't penetrate all the way through. She looked up to see a web of thorny vines reaching from one side of the hedge top to the other, back and forth like a lattice.
There were flowers of all kinds blossoming here and there between the thorns, sprouting up from the lower edges in spite of the scorched pathways.
Some Jalia recognized from the poison garden, others she didn't, but they were deceptively beautiful. Something Jalia would have plucked and tucked into a bouquet if she hadn't known how deadly they were.
Tucking her hands beneath her armpits, Jalia carefully started forward, almost immediately faced with an option to turn left, or right.
There hadn't been a helpful painted fresco, a pattern anywhere to memorize in the palace grounds—and Jalia had looked while she'd strolled with Dysis—but she did see something that made her smile.
The Queen's Kiss.
The vibrant purple flowers grew on the wall of the path that curved left, but not on the right. The purple gem Turju wore, the purple gems lining the bottom of the lirriite pool, the favored flower of Minos' first queen? It could mean nothing, but it could also mean her life.
She turned left.
Each time she saw one of the giant purple flowers she turned, jumping back when she suddenly crossed paths with an unsurprisingly pissed off Cockinti.
"You! Get out of my way!"
Cockinti gave her a hard shove, and for a breathless moment, Jalia was certain she was going to die.
She fell hard on the scorched ground, a sharp, stabbing pain shooting up her arm. She tried to cry out, but it was all she could do to breathe.
Her lungs felt like they were on fire, her body broke out in a cold sweat, her vision blurred until everything ran in streams of color.
Her mind remained unaffected, able to process the fact that agony radiated from her palm in steady pulsating waves. She couldn't raise her voice louder than a whisper to cry for help, couldn't move at all no matter how she tried to make herself. Not even her toes.
Jalia lay there in the middle of the path, her heart thudding sluggishly in her aching chest, and the only thing she could think of was her death.
One of the others might come upon her laying here, but would they care to send help? Would they say they hadn't seen her? Would anyone come looking for her? If she didn't come out of the maze, everyone would assume she'd died in here.
"Hmm, I guess today isn't the day you'll become queen. Too bad. But not for me!" Cockinti taunted wickedly, leaving her alone, crumpled in a heap on the ground.
Oh, gods...she was going to die. Her bloated corpse would become fertilizer for the maze!
Jalia wasn't sure how long she'd been lying there before she felt the thudding vibrations. Minutes? Hours? She hurt, everything hurt so badly it took all she had even to stay conscious.
From the searing pain in her hand where it was trapped beneath her, to the ends of her hair, she felt like she was smoldering in a burning pit of fire.
She would have thrown up if she'd been able to move, but her belly couldn't even spasm to force the sickening churn of bile from her throat.
"Jalia?" a rough voice grated. "You dead?"
She could barely believe it, her eyes straining as she tried to see who it was crouched over her. "H-h-elp.."
"Huh. You look dead lying there like that."
Axtasusa! Her tears felt like ice running down her hot cheeks, thousands of words came to mind, but her lips were too thick to form them. Axtasusa rolled her over carefully, but it was excruciating enough to force a scream out of her.
"I've gotcha, come on little human."
Jalia felt herself flop like...like a dead thing in the Duggan's thick arms, and she didn't even care why Axtasusa was helping her.
All she car
ed about was not dying alone in this terrifying maze.
"Don't know which way to go, too many twists and turns, but we'll get there eventually."
"Pur...p-ple...f-f-fl...ow-w-wers." Jalia managed to groan, the effort so intense it left her unable to breathe for a moment.
"What? I can't hear you." Axtasusa lifted her higher, bending her head closer to Jalia's face, and she tried, gods she tried, over and over until she was able to form the words again. "Huh. Alright then."
*****
Dhega paced back and forth at the edge of the maze, ignoring the way Cockinti was bragging about how quickly she had solved the labyrinth.
Her voice was so grating it was all he could do to block out her braying and keep watch for the next person to exit the maze.
The Labyrinth of Thorns had killed or frightened all the others who had tried and failed to pass through it.
He remembered the screaming of the others he had run with, remembered giving no thought at all to the sight of their bloated, poison-filled bodies writhing in agony on the ground before finally succumbing to death.
Dhega had earned his ruthless, fearsome reputation. Each one of the males who had run against him, challenged him, he had cut them down and continued until he alone emerged victorious.
Twice after having taken the crown, he had been challenged for his place by cocky youths who thought they were fierce enough, strong enough to win.
Without thought or care for anything other than reigning supreme, he had walked naked from the depths of the Red Labyrinth, coated in the blood of his opponents, his predecessor's head in one hand, the heart of his second challenger in the other.
For over eighty years Dhega had worn the crown Minos, his brutality known far and wide, his rule absolute.
He was not a tyrant; his people did not know suffering so long as they were loyal. No one went hungry, betrayal and dishonesty were repaid in blood, and the threat of his wrath was so significant a deterrent, that until recent months there had been no unrest.
All were well cared for, fat, wealthy beyond imagining, protected by the nebula surrounding their solar system, and by him.
Not once had he questioned himself or his decisions. He listened to his council, but more often than not he trusted his instincts and always strove to do what was best for his people. What was right, even if he had to shed blood and terrify said people to make it happen.
Not once in his entire reign had Dhega killed without reason or gone on a bloodthirsty rampage to satisfy his need for violence.
The moment Dhega heard Cockinti's callous words, he considered outright murder.
"Oh look, the ugly brute picked up the trash."
Axtasusa appeared, carrying a limp figure in her arms. A limp figure with yellow hair peeking out from the hood of her tunic.
For the first time in his life, a sense of helpless fear bubbled up to choke him, leaving him rooted to the spot while Turju and Jalia's attendants burst into action.
The world around him moved in slow motion, every detail of the passing moments burned into his mind. Turju reached Axtasusa first, taking Jalia from her and barking orders as he ran for healers to come to the lirriite pool immediately.
"I was certain she was dead when I left her." Cockinti drawled, snapping him out of his stupor and into the present.
"You do realize that ugly little beast is your competition, don't you Duggan? Or do you sympathize with her, one ugly beast to another?"
A muscle in his brow ticked, his hands clenching at his sides, the desire to wring the Shitter's neck was so strong he took a step towards her before he could stop himself.
Dhega had asked for ruthless females knowing full well how they would behave, how they would take every advantage presented to them, but he had never expected to react this way, and certainly not towards someone soft and vibrant as Jalia.
"That foul-mouthed human didn't finish on her own. This lumbering idiot assisted her, does that count as grounds for disqualification? Execution?" Cockinti went on with a gleeful rub of her hands, unaware of how dangerously close she was to losing her own head.
Axtasusa saved the purple bitch, passing by and kicking the chair out from under her, spilling Cockinti to the grass, her massive hand swiping all the refreshments Cockinti had demanded down onto the squealing princess.
"We are not to have outside assistance, fool. There are no rules that state we may not help each other."
Akeyko chose that moment to come skipping from the labyrinth, looking around with devious delight as she bounced and threw her fist in the air.
"Ha! We beat her! I hope she's rotting in the flowers somewhere, that disease ridden hum—"
"SILENCE!!" Akeyko was so startled by his bestial roar that she fell and tripped mid-hop, her childlike eyes huge in her face as she stared up at him in surprise.
"If you speak one more word in my presence, I will throw you face first into the hedge. Am I understood?"
Dhega turned his furious gaze on Cockinti and Akeyko in turn, getting fearful nods of agreement.
"You will take your attendants and return to your quarters until someone comes to get you.
If I hear one complaint, if I see so much as a glimpse of you out of the corner of my eye before you're summoned, I will bathe in your blood. Go. Now."
Akeyko scrambled on all fours to get away from him, Cockinti not far behind.
"Am I the last to finish?" Lady Entayta's voice was perfectly pitched, moderated to soothe and calm, but it had the opposite effect and made him even more furious.
"TO YOUR QUARTERS, WOMAN!"
Entayta fled his wrath, tossing fearful glances over her shoulder, worried he followed. His strides lengthened to take him through the palace, out to the gardens beyond, following the sound of the healer's voices as they worked to save Jalia.
He stopped at the edge of the lirriite pool, the usually serene surface churning with the movements of those within.
One of Jalia's attendants was submerged up to his shoulders, supporting her head so the healers could move and work around her.
Her hair streamed in a muddy orange ribbon through the water, eyes closed, her skin almost gray from the pain he knew she was feeling.
The center of her left palm was swollen and angry, her veins black beneath the surface of her skin. Dhega recognized the face of one of the healers, an elder female called Nayea.
For one so ancient, Nayea moved quickly through the pool, taking a churned poultice from one of her students, filling Jalia's palm with the grainy substance.
Dhega realized he had been holding his breath, staring at the spiderweb of poison corrupting Jalia's delicate veins, exhaling heavily when Turju appeared at his side, his back to the pool.
"The Marchesa will live, my king. I made certain of it last night at the banquet when I served her wine laced with viracona." Turju made his confession in a low, quiet murmur.
Viracona was a plant carefully cultivated at Islingrane in a location known only to him, Turju, and the herbalists who made the cure-all responsible for giving Jalia the time she needed to be saved. Words of thanks crowded his mouth, but instead, he asked why.
"Why would you risk my wrath and interfere?"
Turju hummed softly, staring at something behind Dhega. "I imagined you would be lenient towards me for having ensured the safety of Minos' future queen."
"It is only the third labyrinth. She did not solve it under her own power—"
"You are changed, my friend." Turju interrupted gently.
The accusation tore Dhega's gaze from Jalia's face, the rage boiling within him seeking an outlet. Someone to punish.
"Changed?"
Turju was smiling, still not meeting his gaze, not noticing or stepping away when Dhega's fists curled.
"I have watched you carefully since your rise to the throne, Dhega. I have seen you rise and rise again until all were witness to the power of your ferocity. Your strength.
“Under your rule, our people have prospered
like never before. The feuds between herds, the infighting, it stopped because those who would trespass are too frightened to risk punishment."
Dhega snorted derisively, immediately thinking of Jovan. "Not too frightened to go behind my back and arrange marriages."
"Jovan was a fool," Turju told him with a dismissive wave, "and if anyone thought they could get away with the same, they will not now. I meant you are changed with her."
Dhega arched a brow, silently daring Turju to go on. "I watched how she gravitated toward you, listened to the way she conversed with you and the others.
"None of them stir even your most base interest. I served the Marchesa the viracona because when you look at her, your gaze softens.
“Your voice changes. You grow calm, soothed by her presence. It wouldn't be obvious to anyone who did not know you."
Dhega thought hard on Turju's observations for the next several days. Akeyko and Cockinti complained the loudest, but he refused to move the contest forward until Jalia was recovered. Until he could better understand why after so many years of brutal justice, she softened him, and whether or not it was a good thing.
CHAPTER SIX
The silence woke her. The absence of pleasant singing and birdsong captured her attention, pulling her from sleep quicker than she would have liked.
Jalia opened her eyes expecting to see the gauzy curtains around her bed, the round turret of her room at Islingrane. She did not expect to see Dhega at her bedside, peering at her like a demon in the darkness.
The sight of him made her gasp and bolt halfway up in fright before she was able to make out his familiar face.
Jalia thumped back into the plush pillows with a wince. Gods, she hurt! What the fark...
"You were injured." His voice floated through the shadows towards her, and was that a hint of disapproval she heard?
Jalia closed her eyes, licking her dry lips while she searched for the memories of what had happened to her, but all she could see were the palm-sized petals of the Queens Kiss.
"Here. Drink." Dhega's hand was almost scalding hot, making her realize she was shivering with cold. He helped her into a more comfortable position, pressed the rim of a cup to her lips, the fragrant steam of a sweet-smelling tea brushed against her nose before the hot liquid touched her tongue.
