| |
Zelda stood in the great throne room of the Gold Keep, staring up at the white throne, on which Queen Cilia was sitting. The new Rose of Eriallon looked almost exactly as her sister had: long dark hair and dark green eyes. Only she was so young, she came across as more of a kitten than a full-grown cat. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old and sat stiffly on the throne, a skinny adolescent, with small breasts and narrow hips, surrounded by her advisors and courtiers.
And yet, girl though she was, the gold crown of a woman sat upon Cilia’s dark hair. She looked down at Zelda from between curtains of black hair that had been swept behind her shoulders in a low braid. She was wearing a long red gown, and in her small hand was a gold scepter.
“What do you mean Calain escaped?” Zelda said as she stood there, feeling numb. She had demanded to see Calain as proof that she was still alive, that she had actually been captured, but the queen had admitted – rather angrily – that Calain had escaped.
“I mean,” said Queen Cilia through her teeth, “that your precious Calain ripped herself free of her chains, ripped open her bars, and escaped the castle through one of the secret passages, injuring a great number of my knights in the process. She took with her a very valuable prisoner, but because I wish your aid, I shall not send my knights in her pursuit. Instead, you will fulfill a task for me, and then Calain can drown in the sea for all I care. The damage she has done to my castle!”
Angry murmurs of agreement rose from the court.
“How do I know you haven’t executed her?” said Zelda at once.
The queen lifted a slender brow. “I thought you were Bound to her with some spell or other,” she said, gesturing an impatient hand. “Can you not feel that she lives?”
It was true that Zelda could feel that Calain was alive, she just didn’t want to believe what she was feeling. A few minutes after arriving in City Alleren, she had felt . . . pleasure. As if someone were kissing her! And then her sex had swelled to arousal, her clitoris had begun throbbing, so that she dropped the goblet of wine she’d been enjoying at the tavern and it spilled on the furious woman beside her at the bar.
If what Zelda had felt was real, then Calain was most certainly alive . . . and she was having sex! Very intense, passionate, on-going sex! While standing in the noisy tavern, Zelda had blushed with anger to realize it, and standing there in the throne room, thinking of it again, she blushed with anger once more.
“Trouble in paradise?” mocked Queen Cilia, who had been silently watching Zelda’s angry expression. “Why, I’d almost suppose you wanted Calain dead.”
Laughter from the court: twittering from the women fanning themselves with paper fans, and hearty bellows from the men sipping goblets. Even the royal advisors – a bearded man in a long robe and a woman with spectacles – smiled derisively at Zelda as they stood either side the throne.
Zelda swallowed hard, pushing down her anger and hating everyone in the room. But she mustn’t lose her composure. Even if Calain were dead, Queen Cilia still knew exactly where the other Falcon Knights were and where her baby was. She could send the Rose Guard to surround the fortress, forcing the Knights of Falcon to hole up inside until they had slowly starved. Whatever the queen’s task was, Zelda was obligated to do it or watch everyone she cared about perish.
“Yes, Calain is alive,” said Zelda, waving a dismissive hand. “But tell me, your highness, what is this task you have summoned me for?”
“‘Your highness’ now, is it?” said Queen Cilia in amusement.
Zelda tried not to show a reaction. In truth, she had been rather rude since her arrival, demanding to see Calain and completely ignoring etiquette. She knew that if she weren’t a powerful sorceress, the queen would have had her arrested for disrespect alone by now. But she was useful and there to be used.
“You are my queen,” said Zelda calmly. “Or will be soon.”
Queen Cilia smirked at Zelda’s humble words, knowing they were mere appeasement, and said, “Look around, sorceress. It would seem there is no court mage present.”
Zelda glanced around and noticed that there indeed wasn’t a sorceress present in the court. Aside from herself. The court sorceress of Eriallon had been a woman named Alarien, an elf from Menosea who had served the queens of Eriallon for five generations. There had always been some discontent that she was a foreigner and an elf at that, but the royal family had ignored the suspicious complaints of their advisors and Alarien had stayed on for many years . . . until now.
“Do you mean me to find her?” asked Zelda after glancing around and seeing the sorceress absent.
Sinister laughter rose from the court that Zelda didn’t understand, didn’t want to understand.
Queen Cilia’s cherry-red lips twitched in a dark little smile. “Not unless you fancy a trip to the nearest dung cart, where her headless body now lies.”
Zelda stood stunned. More laughter rose from the court at her reaction.
“Alarien was a traitor, and she was executed,” Queen Cilia elaborated, her lip curling. “She attempted to escape, and my knights went through a great deal of trouble to bring her in, powerful as she was, but it was done. Now I find myself in need of a new sorceress.” She paused, her eyes fixed on Zelda.
Zelda stood there, white stave in hand, and felt the dread creeping up her spine. “Does her highness mean for me to . . .?”
More laughter from the court, this time mocking. Zelda glared around at them, wishing she could get away with shouting furiously for silence.
“No,” laughed Queen Cilia. “Employ the woman whose rabid knight slew my sister? Don’t be absurd. You would never be trusted here – Not that it were wise to trust anyone at court. Just the same . . .” Cilia straightened up and lifted her chin. “I have already chosen a new court mage, and perhaps I have chosen poorly, for she has wandered off. You will find her and bring her here to me.”
It sounded like a simple enough task. Perhaps too simple. Zelda stood there, waiting for the catch.
“Her name is Lythara,” said Queen Cilia, “and I fear she may have perished. She hath ventured to a place I cannot send my knights. Only a sorceress may linger there and live.”
Zelda knew what place the queen was referring to but was hoping deep down that she was wrong. When the queen paused and looked down at her, Zelda said unhappily, “And where would that place be, your highness?”
“I think you know it very well,” said Queen Cilia. “Eido Loth, the realm of demons and dreams.”