I personally thought he already had but since Sarden apparently decided to stay put, I stayed too.
“For proof of our Ria’s sad and untimely demise, I offer you this—the single object recovered from her captors.”
Yancy clapped his hands and a courier wearing scarlet hurried forward, carrying a jeweled case in one hand. He opened it and Yancy reached in to pick up what was inside. Then he held it up—showing the crowd, who oohed and ahed over it.
It was a crown, much like the one that Hurxx wore on his head. Only in this one the circlet was silver instead of gold and the glowing jewel set in the center was a slightly different color—pinkish-purple instead of blue-green.
“As you know, there is no other female of the blood to be Ria to our esteemed Rae,” Yancy continued. “And even if there was, our Rae would not wish to replace such a beloved Ria so soon. In fact…” He paused dramatically. “He does not wish to replace her at all.”
There was a louder murmur coming from the crowd now and some of the Councilors were visibly upset.
“What are you saying, Yancy?” one of them called. “How can Eloim retain its balance without both a Ria and Rae to rule it?”
“Why, in the same way it has always retained its balance,” Yancy said smoothly. “Through the use of both the Star of Wisdom, and the Star of Compassion.”
“What? But if there is no Ria, who is to wear the Star of Compassion?” another Councilor protested.
For the first time, Hurxx spoke.
“I shall,” he said, at last sitting up straighter on the throne. He had a high, nasally voice that grated on my nerves. “I shall wear both of the Stars at once and they shall guide me.”
The murmurs of the crowd were so loud this time that the Councilor who had been objecting had to shout to make himself heard.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed. “No one person can wear both Stars at once.”
“Why don’t we let the Stars themselves decide that—shall we?” Hurxx purred. Leaning forward, he motioned to Yancy. “Yancy—the Star of Compassion.”
Stepping forward, Yancy held out the silver circlet with its purple-pink stone and Hurxx took it carefully, holding it with his fingertips as though it was hot.
Just as he was about to place the silver crown on his head, on top of the gold crown he already wore, Tellum murmured,
“Now!”
Sellah stepped forward, out of the shadowy alcove we’d been keeping to. The rest of us followed her and Sarden shouted,
“Stop!”
“What?” Hurxx paused, frowning. “Why, Sarden, my royal cousin, whatever are you doing here?”
“Stopping you from taking over all of Eloim, cousin,” Sarden growled.
“How? Do you plan to take the throne yourself, half-breed?” Hurxx sneered.
“I didn’t say that, but there is someone here who has a claim to it.” Sarden motioned to Sellah, who once more threw her black veil back to reveal her face.
“Hello, cousin,” she said in a low, carrying voice. “As you can see I am not dead at all but very much alive. And I do not approve of you wearing my crown as well as your own.”
The murmuring from the crowd was absolutely deafening then—it was really more of a roar. Many of the common people were surging forward but the palace guards held them back, keeping us from being overwhelmed. There were shouts of,
“Sellah! The lady, Sellah has returned!”
“The Goddess of Mercy be praised!”
“The Ria! I knew she wasn’t dead!”
But mixed in with the shouts for Sellah, there was a surprising amount of commotion for Sarden.
“Lord Sarden has brought our Ria back!”
“Mayhap they will rule together—as is proper and right.”
“Lord Sarden has returned—now all shall be set right.”
I even heard some things about myself. People wondering who I was and if I was with Sarden. I blushed and made sure not to meet anyone’s eyes. Let them think what they wanted. But it was clear to me from what the crowd was murmuring, that Sarden wasn’t regarded as an interloper or an intruder, despite the fact that he looked more Vorn than Eloim.
Despite the shouting at her back, Sellah kept her face towards the throne. She and Hurxx seemed to be having some kind of a staring contest but at last he spoke.
“Well, cousin,” he remarked. “So you return. I am so glad you are well—we feared you dead.”
“You feared no such thing,” Sellah said in a low, carrying voice. “For you are the one who plotted to have me kidnapped and sold into slavery in the first place!”
“I?” Hurxx put one hand to his chest and made an offended face, though I noticed he kept a tight grip on the Star of Compassion with the other hand. “Surely you must be mistaken.”
“There is no mistake,” Tellum said, stepping forward. “For I heard you and Yancy speaking of the plan—which is why I went to find the Ria myself. She was put up for auction to be sold to the highest bidder—that was your doing, Hurxx.”
“Blasphemy!” Yancy gasped, retreating to stand beside the throne. “How dare you speak such lies in the presence of the Rae, Tellum?”
“He only speaks the truth,” Sarden growled, stepping forward. “Put the Star of Compassion down, Hurxx—and while you’re at it, you can take off the Star of Wisdom too. You obviously don’t deserve to wear it.”
“Is that what you think?” Hurxx sneered at him, his pouting upper lip curling up belligerently. “Well, I say we let the Stars decide who is the rightful ruler here—shall we?”
And before Sarden could stop him, he placed the Star of Compassion on top of his head, just over the Star of Wisdom. For a moment, I thought he seemed to be having a hard time keeping the second crown in place—it was almost like he was fighting with it to wrestle it down onto his head. But then the slim circlet seemed to snap into place somehow and then it stayed where it was, the pinkish-purple stone winking and glowing just above the greenish-blue one.
I felt a disturbance in the air as the second crown snapped into place—a strange ripple of something I can only describe as wrongness. It was an almost palpable feeling—like I was on the beach and had been slapped in the face by a cold, salty wave. The intensity of the feeling made me gasp and I looked around, wondering if anyone else had felt it. But everyone seemed to be watching Hurxx.
He removed his hands from his head, holding them up to show that they were empty and both crowns were staying on his head without help from him.
“Do you see?” he called, looking imperiously down his nose at Sarden.
An audible gasp came from the crowd.
“Is it not clear?” Yancy declared loudly. “Would the Stars of Wisdom and Compassion stay in place on my Lord Rae’s head if they were not meant to be there? If they did not deem him a worthy ruler?”
“It must be true,” someone whispered. “Lord Hurxx must be the true and ordained ruler of Eloim.” Soon other people in the crowd were saying the same thing—although I could tell they weren’t happy about it.
“There’s something wrong,” I whispered to Sarden. “Can’t you feel it?”
He gave me a shrewd look, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “I don’t feel it myself but I can tell you do—I feel it through you.”
“He’s keeping those crowns on his head in some way,” I said. “Confront him—tell him to take them off.”
“Or let someone else try to take them off,” Grav muttered.
“There is always the Challenge of the Stars,” Sellah murmured to Sarden.
“The what?” I asked. It sounded like some kind of celebrity dance show but I was pretty sure challenging Hurxx to a dance-off wouldn’t prove anything.
“It’s where you challenge the ruling Rae or Ria to allow someone to try to remove the Star they are wearing,” Sellah explained. “In the history of Eloim, there has never been a successful challenge because the Stars stay firmly on the head
of the rightful rulers and refuse to be removed.”
“That’s right—they’re supposed to fly off on their own if they don’t like the person wearing them,” I said, remembering. “But what if Hurxx has them fixed in place somehow? We have to try and get them off.”
“The Challenge of the Stars is risky—too risky,” Tellum objected. “If we try and fail to get the crowns off, Hurxx’s claim to the throne will be irrefutable and we’ll never be able to challenge him again. Also, if we lose, he can claim anything he wants of us as tribute—to recompense the insult we have offered by challenging his legitimate right to the throne.”
“He knows it’s risky for us—look at him, the smug bastard,” Sarden growled. He looked at me. “Zoe?”
I knew what he was asking and I nodded, the feeling of wrongness churning in my gut.
“There’s something not right—we have to challenge, no matter how risky it is.”
“Zoe is right,” Sellah said in a low voice. “I say we challenge too.”
Sarden looked at Grav, who nodded.
“I’m with you all the way. Not gonna take a backseat while that bastard tries to steal your blood-sister’s throne.”
“Then it’s decided,” Sarden said firmly. “We challenge.”
“I take it by all this whispering together that you’re thinking of challenging my claim,” Hurxx said, raising his voice to be heard over the murmuring of the crowd. “Is that not right, my royal cousins?”
“That’s exactly fucking right,” Sarden snarled. “We don’t believe you have the right to wear either Star—let alone both.”
“Well then—let us put it to a test, shall we?” Hurxx motioned to his pet Councilor. “Yancy—come and make the test.”
“With pleasure, my Lord Rae.” Coming to Hurxx’s side, Yancy made a big show of pulling on the crowns Hurxx was wearing in his long, floppy hair. Of course, neither one of them budged. Then Yancy stepped back, holding up his hands. “The Challenge has been met and defeated! Though I tried with all my might, neither the Star of Wisdom nor the Star of Compassion would come off my Lord Rae’s head.”
“That doesn’t prove anything!” I exclaimed. The feeling of wrongness was growing in me and I was getting really and truly pissed off now. “Yancy was just pretending to try and take off the crowns.”
“Do you say so? And who might you be, my dear?” Hurxx raised an eyebrow at me.
I stepped forward and heard the crowd murmur as they looked me over.
“This is Zoe—a female of pure descent from a closed Planet,” Sarden said loudly. He gave me a look from the corner of his eye. “She is my bonded mate.”
“A Pure One? Lord Sarden has mated a Pure One?” I heard the crowd murmuring and a great wave of longing came over me. I wanted to be his bonded mate in more than just name only. I gave him a look from the corner of my eye, wondering if it would ever happen, wishing I could be in his arms someplace private, showing him how I really felt.
But there was no time for hanky-panky. I lifted my chin and looked at Hurxx.
“Lord Sarden is correct—I am his,” I said clearly. “And I am from a closed planet.”
“A Pure One, eh?” Hurxx eyed me hungrily. “Well, my little Pure One, why do you not come and make the test yourself, if you doubt my Councilor?” He beckoned to me languidly, his dark eyes gleaming in a way I didn’t like in the least.
“All right—I will.” I stepped forward but Sarden put a hand on my arm.
“Zoe, I don’t like this,” he growled. “Hurxx is a slippery son-of-a-bitch. I don’t want you getting too close to him.”
“Let me do this,” I told him in a low voice. “I’m the only one who can fix this.” I didn’t know how I knew that—I just did. It was as clear to me as the feeling of wrongness which kept growing every minute. I wondered for a moment what was happening to me but there was no time to question my certainty—I had to go with it. “I can take care of myself,” I told Sarden.
Reluctantly, he nodded and released my arm.
“All right. But if that bastard lays one finger on you—”
“I’ll bite it off,” I said coolly and gave him a smile.
He shook his head and smiled back.
“Zoe, you never cease to amaze me. Go.”
I went, approaching the double throne with my head held high and my back straight. I was very aware that everyone in the room was watching me and I didn’t want to disgrace myself or Sellah and Sarden either.
Calm, aloof ice-princess, I told myself, moving with a slow, measured pace. You’re a calm, aloof ice-princess and nothing can melt you.
I hoped, anyway.
At last I was standing right in front of Hurxx, who was still lounging on the throne with a little grin on his doughy face.
“Well, well, my dear,” he murmured as I came to a stop in front of him. “Aren’t you a pretty one? So exotic with your pale skin and your big blue eyes.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. Up close I found him completely repulsive from his floppy hair down to the dainty gold ankle boots he wore on his small feet. The gaudy blue and green stones of the thick gold chain he wore around his neck seemed to wink at me—especially the one in the middle, which was a large, raised oval as big as an egg. What was the deal with him anyway? He looked like he’d been raiding Elton John’s closet but only taking the ugly stuff.
“I’ve never had a Pure One before,” Hurxx remarked, looking me up and down in a way that made me want to cover up. “Perhaps after this little charade is over you and I can go someplace private and get better acquainted.”
“I’d rather have a double root canal,” I told him flatly. “That’s a really unpleasant and painful dental procedure in case you don’t get my reference.”
“Well! How dare you speak to the Rae in such a way?” Yancy, who was still standing nearby demanded.
“Because he’s not the rightful Rae—and I’m going to prove it,” I said loudly, hoping like crazy I actually could prove it. I looked at Hurxx. “I don’t want anything to do with you—I’m only here to remove those crowns. You shouldn’t be wearing either of them and you know it.”
His self-satisfied smile slipped a little but he only gestured at me.
“Very well, Pure One,” he said in a loud voice. “Commence the Challenge of the Stars and removed them from my head if you can.”
“All right.” The feeling of wrongness coming from him was so strong now that it almost made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t know what this weird sixth sense I seemed to have somehow developed was trying to tell me, but it was really loud. Almost like someone shouting in my ear that this situation was broken and I had to fix it.
Feeling like I would scream if I couldn’t set things right, I reached up and placed my fingers on the silver circlet of the Star of Compassion. The crown hummed and vibrated violently under my fingertips, reminding me of an animal caught in a trap.
Help, a tiny voice whispered in my head. Help us—he holds us captive! Help, La-ti-zal! Only you can release us!
I was so startled by the tiny voice—which was definitely not just me talking to myself—that I nearly jerked my hands away. Was that the crown itself talking to me? I remembered Sellah saying it had spoken to her when she first put it on and that there was an entity living in the jewels of both crowns.
“Well?” Hurxx looked up at me from under his ridiculous, floppy hair. “Try to remove it. You can’t, can you?”
I took a firmer hold on the silver circlet and pulled. But though it vibrated harder than ever in my hands, I couldn’t budge it so much as a millimeter. It was the same with the golden circlet of the Star of Wisdom, which also begged for my help in a deeper, more masculine voice when I pulled at it.
La-ti-zal, it called. Only you can help us. Release us from this prison. Please!
But though I tugged and tugged—and wasn’t very careful about pulling Hurxx’s ridiculous hair either—neither crown would come of
f. Something was holding them in place. But what?
“And there you have it,” Yancy announced to the crowd, which was watching in hushed silence. “Even a Pure One cannot remove the Stars from my Lord Hurxx’s head—which means he must be the one true rightful ruler of our fair planet!”
“This can’t be,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “This isn’t right!”
“Ah, but it appears right, my dear—and that’s all that matters.” Hurxx smiled up at me. “Now please remove your hands from the royal person.”
Reluctantly, I took my hands off the crowns. Something was going on, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out.
Hurxx stood up from the throne and raised his arms. Though he wasn’t nearly as tall as Sarden, he was still much taller than me. The large, oval stone in his tacky necklace winked in the light and nearly blinded me as he brushed me aside.
“My people!” he shouted, in his high, nasally voice. “I think you can see that I am your true ruler—I have undergone the Challenge of the Stars and neither Star has chosen to leave my head. As such, I proclaim myself both the rightful Rae and the rightful Ria of Eloim. And for my tribute, to recompense me for the wrongful claim brought against me, I claim this Pure One.”
He grabbed me suddenly around the waist, crushing me against the side of his scratchy gold brocade jacket.
“No!” Sarden roared, surging forward. Grav came with him but there was suddenly a line of guards, all holding those deadly looking pickaxe-spears in their faces.
I looked at Sarden quickly and shook my head— although it was clear he was willing to run through an army of spears to get to me, I didn’t want him getting killed on my account.
“Zoe!” This time I swore the voice in my head was Sarden’s. Could we read each other’s thoughts now? Was that part of the bond too?
“Sit tight,” I sent back to him, thinking as hard as I could. “I’ll think of something.”
He nodded grimly, although he looked really, really unhappy about it. I was glad he was trusting my judgment although to be honest, I wasn’t sure I trusted my judgment. I mean, what in the hell was I going to do now?