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Gallienus’s eyes grew huge.
The air in the room went static.
True noticed his father straighten in his seat.
“Drunk on a Nadirii?” Gallienus sneered. “Already?”
“Tired of your shite,” Cassius returned. “A long time ago. Now sit. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“I’ll go where I please,” Gallienus rejoined. “My guard, my son, is five times yours.”
“Mine is even larger,” Mars drawled, and Gallienus’s eyes shot to the dark king.
Aramus was back to studying his fingernails, but doing it, he said, “Mine is as well.”
“Don’t think to turn to the Nadirii,” Cassius advised.
“Did you plan this?” Gallienus demanded of his son.
Cassius shook his head. “No. But you prod the bear, my king, you risk his claws.”
“You are no bear,” Gallienus spat.
“You’re correct. But I didn’t disrespect the diplomatic table of King Mars and I didn’t challenge King Aramus. You did. But I’ll remind you, my king, you cannot kill me, or you not only face the Beast, you face four nations who know they will have to face the Beast because of you. That is where my power lies. And you’d do well not to forget it.”
“And on a whim, you’re regent?” Gallienus asked disbelievingly.
“It would seem,” Cassius muttered.
“This is preposterous,” Gallienus huffed.
“And what do you think those of our land will think of you angering the Protector of the Seas by making demands of his rule when you barely know the man?” Cassius asked. “Aramus was not friend. Or not your friend,” Cassius stressed, making his point very clear. “He was also not enemy. You sought to make him enemy. No land needs an enemy. Especially not a powerful one. Our armada is miniscule compared to his. He simply has to line our shores and strike a match to cannons and our ports would be gone. Warehouses. Homes. People. And I’ll note, Father, you’re standing there, blustering in fury, when the same type of demand was made of you.”
Gallienus looked to Aramus, “If you so need your bounden, have them.”
“My gratitude for your permission, but I think we’ve gone much past that, old king,” Aramus murmured.
Gallienus’s face was getting even more red.
And True’s father was doing nothing.
“Let us stop here,” True suggested. “Take a moment. Break for some luncheon. Cool heads. There is much more happening here than a single discussion can settle. But nothing is settled well in anger.”
“I don’t need a cool head to know—” Gallienus began.
True looked the king right in his eyes and said quietly and simply, “Gallienus.”
The man shut his mouth.
“We can reconvene this afternoon,” True continued.
“I’ll be indisposed,” Gallienus announced.
“Shall we accept Cassius as your proxy?” Mars inquired.
“I’ll be here,” Gallienus said between clenched teeth.
“Excellent,” Mars murmured.
Gallienus moved around the table and swept out of the room.
True’s father rose.
“Son, we need to speak,” he declared.
True looked him in the eyes as well.
“We do,” he agreed. “But not now.”
“We need—”
“Not…now,” True stated firmly.
His father stared him in the eyes.
This didn’t last long before he said, “Gentlemen,” rounded the table and swept out.
After the door shut on King Wilmer, Cassius quipped, “I’d like to have that ability. To say my father’s name and have him shut his mouth and walk out of a room.”
No one laughed at the quip as Mars said quietly, “Cassius. Regent?”
Cassius sighed, got up, went to the door, opened it, looked into the hall and jerked up his chin.
His man Macrinus entered and closed the door behind him.
“Shadow my father and his personal guard. If he sends a bird, shoot it from the sky. If he sends men, waylay them,” he ordered.
“Why don’t I have a good feeling about this?” Macrinus asked.
“Because I just declared my father make me regent.”
“Gods-damn fuck,” Macrinus hissed.
“Indeed,” Cassius muttered. Though he did not mutter when he ordered, “Mac, get men to Aelia. Leave the city, send a bird, make certain she has guards we trust with her at all times. When my men make it to her, have them bring her to me wherever we are on our journey. But I don’t want her traveling without members of my personal guard.” He paused and finished, “Make one of those men Nero. When needed, he acts as her guard anyway. He won’t balk at this mission.”
“Aelia? Do you think he would—?” Macrinus started.
Cassius interrupted him. “I’m not taking that chance.”
Macrinus nodded and said, “We need to—”
“Talk later,” Cassius said low.
Macrinus nodded again before he moved out of the room.
Cassius walked back to his seat and took it.
When he did, True declared, “You’ll have our swords.”
Slowly, Cassius turned his head to True. “I’m sorry?”
“You’ll have the swords of Wodell,” True stated.
Cassius looked to the chair True’s father vacated and back to True.
“You can make this assertion?” he asked.
“I think my men will be relieved if they march to a fight that is right and not a fight all know is folly,” True returned.
Cassius considered this a moment before he asked quietly, “Are they your men, True?”
“They are the only thing I have in that realm, Cassius. My father, but mostly his advisor, might argue they aren’t. But if he did, he would not like how that went,” True answered. “My father assumed the throne at a young age. He never rode a horse to battle. But he does not mind sending them, and the men on them, to do just that. My sword has been bloodied. Repeatedly. I think you know what that means to a soldier.”
By the look on Cassius’s face, he knew.
“This will get ugly,” Cassius warned.
“It already is,” True returned. “Shall we rectify that?”
Slowly, Cassius smiled.
“You’ll have my armada.”
Both men turned to Aramus when he made this surprising announcement.
The Mar-el never engaged in the politics of the mainland.
But Aramus was looking at True. “And you’ll have your five years, Prince of the Forest.”
By the gods.
True stared at him.
Aramus murmured, “It is time.” And as an afterthought, he went on, “And I suspect it will please my wife.”
For the first time at that table that morning, True smiled.
“You’ll have my horses, Cass,” Mars added.
But at that, Cassius shook his head.
“You’ll need them and the men on them. Your reign is not secure, my brother,” Cassius noted. “You’re enamored of her and it may be she’s charmed your capital city, but you marry a Dellish. None of our peoples know the Beast rises. The panic which might ensue would not help matters. But as news reaches the ends of your realm, not understanding why you’re the first Firenz king to marry a woman outside Firenze and do it with a female from a nation with whom you clash, this might not be popular. And you above all know the Firenz do not mind taking action when something is not popular.”
“Nothing allies the people of a nation more than war, Cass,” Mars replied.
Sadly, True thought, this was true.
“It goes without saying, you’ll have the staffs, bows and blades of the Nadirii,” True noted.
“I’m not certain anything goes without saying with the Nadirii,” Cassius returned. “Especially when it comes to Airen. However, if Ophelia does not offer her warriors, there’s no question she won’t stand in my way.”
True n
odded.
“Talk with your men, meet with the Nadirii queen, plan your strategy, send your birds,” Aramus said to Cassius. “And as you do, let it be known all the nations of Triton back the new Airenzian Regent.”
The men sat silently at the table as Cassius looked at them, one by one.
Finally, he said, “It is done.”
It was, indeed.
History was most assuredly in the making.
In a number of ways.
And True was honored he sat at a table during the dethroning of an unjust king.
Turning his head as the men exchanged glances, he knew he was in good company.
24
The Piercing Ceremony
Lady Silence Mattson
Royal Palace Gardens, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
It didn’t seem a’tall bad, having a lovely, fragrant bath, my hair cleaned and brushed until it was shining, and donning the drape of orange silk edged in crimson that was tied at one shoulder (and thank goodness, pinned down the side for I wore nothing underneath!).
I thought this as I moved through the palace gardens on my bare feet to an intimate corner well to the back that was lush with foliage and pots brimming with greenery and flowers.
In that corner there was a rectangular pedestal that rose perhaps two feet from the ground.
It was draped in crimson silk with an edge of orange. It also had a small pillow at the top dressed in emerald green. And covering the entire pedestal as well as floating down to the silk that also swathed the mosaic tile on the ground, were crimson and orange and apricot flower petals.
This the women had done prior to me arriving. It was part of the ceremony, I’d been told.
No, this wasn’t all so bad.
It was when I saw the squat gilded table at the top that had a bowl of ice, a bowl of clear liquid in which there were several needles, and a number of bright white bandages, I became nervous.
Queen Elpis sat on a cushion at the head of the pedestal, and next to her was Nyx, a Firenz woman I had met that morning, Lorenz’s wife.
Behind the table, Zosime, Guard’s wife, who I had also met this morning, sat on a cushion of her own.
And around the pedestal, all seated on pads, were my mother, Queen Mercy, Farah, Sofia, Ophelia, Elena, Ha-Lah and Elena’s precocious ward, Dora.
I thought perhaps Dora shouldn’t be there, but she was not my ward, so I said nothing.
As I’d been told to do, I walked to the end of the pedestal and Zosime and Nyx rose as I did.
They joined me there and took my hands as they helped me step up on it, turn, and then all the women reached out to assist me as I aimed my behind to the plinth.
Once I was down, I fell back, stretching out.
Apparently, what I lay upon was stone. I knew this because it was hard and not very comfortable, even with all that silk and the petals.
But the pillow was nice.
Nyx and Zosime moved to the head of the pedestal while Elpis arranged my hair over the edge of it, and the minute the two women sat, Queen Elpis started speaking,
“Silence of the Dellish, Countess of the Arbor, betrothed of the King of all Firenze, today you prepare to take the most sacred of vows you’ll ever make. More sacred than those to your father. More sacred than those to your mother. More sacred than those to your children. More sacred than those to your nation. They are the vows you will take in joining with your husband.”
I pressed my lips together and slid my eyes right, catching my mother’s gaze.
She gave me a nervous smile.
I took a deep breath.
“This will be cold, mia figlia,” Elpis murmured.
After she said that, I felt the cold of the ice all along my ear.
“In all,” Elpis continued, “you stand by your husband. In all, you give him your ear. In all,” I saw another hand come toward my face (Nyx’s) and felt the ice held to my nostril, “you give him your thoughts. In all,” another hand was added (Zosime’s) and ice was held to my lip, “you give him your honesty.”
Well then.
That was rather profound.
Not to mention beautiful.
“To remind you these are what makes a strong marriage,” Elpis intoned, “you wear the wedding chain. You wear it daily. You wear it so your husband can see he can share anything with you, and you’ll listen. He can be far away, but he’ll be in your thoughts. And he can count on you telling your truths to him, so he can know your mind.”
Yes.
This was rather beautiful.
“In turn,” Elpis went on, “he will wear his chain as his vow to you to listen, to hold you in his thoughts and to share his soul.”
Oh my.
Very beautiful.
So much so, I might even cry.
“You will take my son’s chain at your wedding, and you will hold it dear. He will take your chain at his wedding, and he will hold it blessed. Until your last breaths, it symbolizes not your union to those who look upon it. But your intimacy toward each other. He will be but yours, and you will be but his, in heart, in mind, in speech, forevermore.”
All right yes.
I might cry.
They’d told me how this would go (though obviously not the words).
But I hadn’t asked if I could show emotion.
Therefore, I held back the tears.
“Do you understand this, Silence of the Arbor?” Elpis asked.
“I do,” I answered, my voice sounding husky.
It was then, Elpis leaned over me and looked into my eyes.
Her thoughts had always been deftly concealed.
And they were right then.
Until they were not, and I saw tenderness sweep in.
“I am glad, mia figlia,” she whispered. “Now you will be pierced. Are you ready?”
Carefully, so as not to disengage the ice held to me, which it must be admitted, was so cold, it was getting uncomfortable, I nodded.
“As this is so, we shall commence,” Elpis told me. “All four. At once. So it will be over quickly.”
I nodded again.
It was then I saw, for the first time, my soon-to-be mother-in-law’s eyes smiling at me.
They disappeared.
The ice disappeared.
I heard the sloshing of liquid.
And then I felt the tips of the needles at upper ear, lobe, nostril and lip.
Faith.
I held steady.
“Lei è coraggiosa.” This came in a whisper, I thought, from Nyx.
She is brave.
How lovely.
I drew in breath when the needles pierced my flesh.
Quickly, they were drawn out and I felt the hoops slid into the holes, the one at my lobe the last, as Elpis was at my ear, Nyx at my nostril, and Zosime at my lip, and Elpis could not do both at once.
Not long after, each was bathed with something that stung.
A spirit to keep the poison out.
After that, the ice was back, covered in cloth and held to the piercings.
I barely felt anything.
Just a tinge then a sting.
Yes.
Not bad a’tall.
“It is done,” Elpis announced. “Silence of the Arbor is prepared to wed a Firenz. She is prepared to be a good wife. She understands what will make a good husband. And they will serve each other in confidence and understanding for the whole of their days. Praise the blessings.”
“Praise the blessings,” the women around me murmured.
“Praise the oath of marriage,” Elpis chanted.
“Praise the oath of marriage,” all around repeated.
“Praise understanding,” Elpis said.
“Praise understanding,” everyone repeated.
“Praise harmony,” Elpis finished.
“Praise harmony.”
“Do you praise these things, mia figlia?” Elpis asked me.
“I do,” I answered.
�
��Bello,” she whispered. Then louder, “Bring the king’s gift.”
The king’s gift?
What gift?
Should I have a gift for him?
Oh dear.
The ice was taken away.
“Sit up,” Elpis bid. “We shall replace it when needed. And give you a small draught to help with any pain. And, of course, after you receive my son’s gift, we shall smoke.”
Smoke?
No one mentioned smoke.
I could not ask.
I’d sat up, and when I did, I saw Zosime was coming forward with what appeared to be a small cage.
She offered it to Elpis, who did not take it, she opened the door.
And I gasped in delight when a tiny monkey with a bushy face and a striped tail bounced out into Elpis’s hand.
She offered the wee precious thing to me.
Instantly, I reached out and took him.
He wrapped himself around my finger, which was about his height.
“It is a baby and it will get no bigger than your hand, that would be even your hand, Silence,” Elpis said. “From Mars, for you. His gift, after you gave him your gift of bearing his wedding chain.”
Oh by the gods.
By the gods.
Yes, now I was weeping.
I looked to the queen.
“You must name it, tesoro,” Elpis bid, and I noticed her eyes were bright with unshed tears too.
“Piccolo,” I declared.
“It’s a girl,” Elpis murmured.
I grinned at her through wet eyes.
“Piccola,” I amended.
She gave me a soft smile in return.
I gave my attention to my new darling, bringing her up to my face.
“Allo, wee precious,” I whispered.
She reached her teeny hand to my nose.
I started laughing and instantly fell in love.
With a wee monkey.
And maybe…
A king.
Everyone giggled.
“It is not funny,” Elena stated.
We were in the royal bath of the palace garden that was at the very, very back. It was somewhat opened to the elements (no ceiling, only the head and end of the bath walled, the rest was sunshine and shrubbery with some stout columns that held flowering vines). It was tiled in small diamonds of peach and green. And there were eight lounges facing it.