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I was on a lounge with my ornate fumaria beside me (a glass contraption that looked like a bottle with an extravagant stopper in the top and a glass extension where you put your lips).
Smoke was lovely.
Smoke, outside my wee Piccola, was my new favorite thing in the world.
Elena was in the bath, wearing her body stocking, looking lithe and tan and like she could fell a whole regiment of Firenz with her trim, tall, athletic body.
To my shock, Zosime, Nyx and Farah were in the bath as well, and they were naked (even Zosime, and she was heavily pregnant!).
Ha-Lah, the Mar-el queen, was in it, and she was naked too!
And she was thus when her guard was not far away. If he looked (which I’d checked, and he wasn’t), he could see his queen in the nude!
This, of course, led to Mother and Aunt Mercy vacating the premises.
But Elpis was there.
She wore a short sarong wrapped around her torso and hips, and she sat on the side of the bath with her feet in it, her own fumaria at her side, laughing.
Sofia was on the other side and down from Elpis, in her own sarong. She had a fumaria and was using it, but she wasn’t laughing, or talking, just being with us…and smoking.
Dora had gone with Ophelia, but Elena’s lieutenants were now with us and one of them, Jasmine, was not in her body stocking (though the other one, Hera, was).
Everyone had a personal fumaria (save Zosime, who told me she couldn’t do the smoke when she was expecting).
And it appeared we all loved them.
“It is hilarious,” Jasmine negated her princess’s words.
“He’s a lout,” Elena declared.
“A handsome one,” Zosime said.
“If I did not have my Lorenz or he allowed us to play with such as him, I would not mind this lout pinning me to walls and telling me he wanted to kiss me until I was soaked,” Nyx added.
I giggled again from where I reclined still wearing my orange drapings, though I did not quite understand what this “soaked” business was that the ladies were tittering about.
I had flicked the silk off so my legs weren’t covered.
My mother would be scandalized.
But the sun on my legs felt wonderful.
At my giggle, Queen Elpis turned her gaze to me and gave me an affectionate look.
By the gods.
It was true.
She liked me!
“You would never kiss him,” Zosime said as if she was horrified.
“I would not,” Nyx agreed. “But I wouldn’t mind him threatening me with it.”
Elpis threw her head back and shouted with laughter.
Then she lifted her fumaria to her lips, drew in and eventually popped the lavish stopper from the top, taking in the smoke.
When she did, I decided to do the same.
I just loved listening to the bubbles in the liquid at the bottom when I drew in.
“Those piercings are pleasing, Silence,” Hera called after I’d set my fumaria aside. “I’m thinking of getting some.”
“Oh, you should,” I declared, as I’d been shown a mirror and saw the small, gold hoops in my ear, nose and lip, and since my to-be husband had the same (and more!), I’d adored them. “They’re lovely.”
With that, I got another affectionate look from my soon-to-be mother-in-law.
I settled in my lounge, feeling quite happy.
Though, they’d taken my monkey away.
If I had Piccola, I’d be happier.
And if Mars was close and I could show him my new gold, I’d be happier.
And if he was close and I could also tell him how much I loved my monkey, I’d be happiest of all!
With what sounded like care, Jasmine asked Farah, “Will True give you a wedding chain?”
Appearing like she was being certain not to glance Elena’s way, she replied, “I don’t know. It will be his decision.”
“I think you should ask him to give you one,” Elena said quietly.
Elena was so lovely.
Farah looked to Elena.
“I agree,” Ha-Lah declared.
Ha-Lah was so lovely too. Her manner was regal, but kind. And her skin was the most beautiful skin I’d ever seen. And I envied her bouncing curls. And maybe a little bit, I envied her courage to slide into the water nude.
For when she did, she got this odd, fetching expression on her face, like she was coming home.
I felt that way when I was in water. I adored a bath.
But since I didn’t have a body stocking and I wasn’t brave enough to go nude, I was on my lounge in the sun.
Though I had my smoke. So this was all right with me.
Maybe another time. After I was wed, and I was Firenz as well as Dellish.
“He might not take one himself,” Elena went on, her gaze kind on Farah. “But he should give you one with the understanding he gets all of that from you, and even if he doesn’t wear it, you get it in return.”
Yes.
Elena was so very lovely.
She was clearly not getting along with Prince Cassius (he should give her a monkey!), but she was being very kind to Farah about True.
“I will discuss it with him,” Farah murmured, and Elena smiled.
“And he will then give one to you. That is True. If he has it to give, he will give it. But if he cares for the one who’s asking, he will move sky and earth and sea to hand it to you.”
Hesitantly, and what appeared hopefully, Farah gave Elena a return smile.
“As far as I can tell, you all are fortunate,” Nyx declared. “Of course, outside the Beast rising. But I had to win my Lorenz and he did not make it easy. You were all given the finest warriors of your realms without any work involved.” She smiled largely. “If I did not eventually win my Lorenz, I would be most jealous.”
“There is naught to be jealous of,” Elena declared. “For as mentioned, mine is a lout.”
Everyone giggled again.
“I’m so very glad you’ve decided to join us these last days, Queen Ha-Lah,” I called when I was finished chortling, and the queen turned her beautiful face to me. “We have much time we will spend together, and it is good knowing you.”
“That is very kind, Silence,” she replied in her extraordinary voice. “It is good knowing you too.”
“Your husband scares me though,” I shared.
It was then, she started laughing.
I did it with her, even though I had no idea why I was doing so.
“He is not such a brute as he appears,” she told me.
“He is very large,” I told her.
Her head tipped to the side and the curls she had pinned to the top bounced that way. “And your Mars is not? Though it would seem you don’t find your king frightening.”
I thought of this and burst into giggles.
“’Tis true!” I cried.
Everyone laughed with me.
“We are very fortunate,” I declared when we were finished with our merriment. “In so, so many ways. At home, in my father’s house, I had no one but my Tril. And sometimes, my mother. And now.” I swept my arm out. “Look!” I cried. “I am surrounded by friends.”
I smiled but I did not receive the same in return.
“You were that much alone in your home, mia figlia?” Elpis asked.
I shook my head vehemently. “It is not so bad. I like being alone.”
“As do we all, Silence,” she replied softly. “Until we don’t wish that. And when we don’t wish that,” her gaze just glanced off Sofia before it returned to me, “we need our friends.”
“And now you have them,” Farah declared. “Not friends. Sorelle. That is what we are. Sorelle della Bestia.”
Sisters of the Beast.
“Hear, hear,” Elpis called, lifting her fumaria.
“Huzzah!” Jasmine shouted, striking out to the side of the bath toward her own elaborate pipe.
I took up mine.
&nbs
p; “To us!” I cried louder than I’d ever spoken before, lifting my fumaria. “Sisters of the Beast!”
“Sisters of the Beast!” the ladies called.
We all smoked (save Zosime, who just smiled).
Then we all giggled.
Outrageously.
And thus when we did, we did not notice the waters of the pool, the very earth underneath…
Rippling.
25
The Lecture
Lord Johan Mattson
East Corridor, First Floor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
Really.
The man was vile.
This was what Johan thought as he strode down the corridor and his future son-in-law strolled toward him.
He wore no shoes.
And he was again in those leathers without sleeves that he’d worn to the parade.
They were practically sculpted to his skin.
It was obscene.
And his long hair…
Piercings…
Scars…
Johan could barely stand looking at the animal.
By the gods, even if his daughter was not destined to get his own name in the tomes of history (and he reckoned that the man was becoming so enamored with Silence, Johan would get that preposterous dowry back tenfold the moment he instructed Silence to ask for it), they’d be on their horses and out of this foul city before the boor could blink.
When they were near, Johan stopped and said, “I’ll have a word, Mars.”
The king stopped as well and lifted a brow.
“Mars?”
Johan didn’t understand the question for, unless he had a twin, he was Mars.
The man did not hesitate answering Johan’s unasked question.
“Did I forget giving you leave to use my given name?”
“You’re to marry my daughter in two days,” Johan noted with exasperation.
“Yes,” Mars agreed.
He ignored this ridiculousness and stated, “We need to speak.”
The large man rocked back on his (bare) heels and crossed his arms on his (massive) chest.
“And what do you wish to say to me, Johan?” Mars asked.
“Lord Johan,” he corrected glibly.
He was not feeling glib but a second later when he could not help himself from recoiling when he saw…
Could it be credited?
A burst of actual red flame light in the king’s eyes.
By the bloody gods.
“Let us not,” Mars growled. “I’ve had a trying day. I missed dinner with my bride. It’s late. I marry the day after tomorrow and there is much still to be done. If you wish to speak, do it,” he ordered.
Johan lifted his chin.
“I have sent word for the rest of Silence’s dowry to be delivered,” Johan declared.
“This I know,” Mars returned.
“I have showed you that respect,” Johan told him.
Mars said nothing.
“My daughter is twenty-three years of age,” Johan stated.
“Fascinating,” Mars murmured, his gaze darkening, and Johan got the distinct impression the king was no longer even aware Johan was there.
He fought snapping in the behemoth’s face and instead snapped with his voice, “Thus she is young and has been very sheltered.”
Mars blinked back into the conversation but only visually, not audibly.
“She received these piercings of yours today,” Johan reminded him.
“Did you stop me on my way to my bed to tell me a variety of things I know, and only one I did not?” Mars queried.
Johan was losing patience.
“She’s showing respect to you as well,” he clipped.
“It is our way.”
“It is not ours.”
“And thus I am aware, Lord Johan, that this is a gift she has given me. She. For it is her skin that bears the marital hoops that I will fill with my chain. What I’m not understanding is why I’m in the corridor discussing it with you.”
“Then I’ll explain. I would like respect returned by you not making my sheltered, young daughter do such as share a bath with women who wear no clothes while she engages in that vile smoke.”
“This is of my people too,” Mars replied.
“Silence is—”
“Enough,” Mars whispered, and there was no flame, but his tone, his look, and the strange appearance of his body having grown several inches in both height and width made Johan fight taking several steps back. “I will give you what you desire, Lord Johan.”
“I desire nothing but—”
“One small chest of Firenz emeralds.”
Johan gasped.
That was…
Well, it was worth the entire dowry and then some.
“One large chest of Airenzian gold,” Mars went on, to Johan’s shock, for this was far more than ten times the cost of the dowry. “And a pouch of Firenz rubies.”
Johan was suddenly feeling much more beneficent to his future son-in-law.
“I don’t…that’s quite generous…it’s—” Johan stammered.
“It is not generous, although it is a fortune,” Mars declared. “But it comes nowhere near the worth of your daughter, which is what, with that fortune, I’ll be buying.”
At this, Johan was perplexed.
“You already have her,” Johan reminded him.
“After all the prophesied are wed and she and I come back to Firenze and we go about our lives, you will not see her, unless I allow it. Her mother will come at Silence’s behest, under my guard. But you will not attend her. Is this to your understanding?”
And with that, he was no longer feeling beneficent to his future son-in-law.
No.
He was enraged.
“You…you intend to…to…cut me out of my daughter’s life?” Johan stammered.
“If she never sees you again, this will not bother me. If she wishes to see you again, I will consider it. But I will not grant it unless I feel you can attend her without harming her. Now this is understood, no?”
“I would never harm my daughter,” Johan snapped.
“She does not know her own beauty. And my mother spoke to me earlier this evening and told me Silence shared she has no companions in your land. She is close only to a woman who I’m told is her lady’s maid. A woman of Silence’s wit and charm should have more in her life than her lady’s maid.”
“She’s an oddity.”
Johan fancied a rush of hot wind hit his entire frame when Mars growled, “She is not…” he drew breath in through his nose, “an oddity.”
“She’s an oddity in our land,” Johan hastily explained.
“And how is this so?”’
“She reads.”
Mars blinked.
“She does not like to dance,” Johan continued.
“I do not like to dance either, but I am not an oddity,” Mars remarked.
“You are not a woman. Women enjoy these things. Fine clothes. Fripperies. Courtly advances. Flirtations. I don’t know,” Johan tossed out a hand, “kittens.”
This seemed to concern the king for he asked, “My bride does not like kittens?”
“Yes, she does, of course, but not figurines of them scattered about her rooms.”
It took a moment before Mars sighed a heavy sigh.
He then said, “You do not understand her.”
“She is not like other girls,” Johan returned.
“No, she is like your daughter. And there is no one, outside her mother, who should understand her better than her father. In twenty-three years of life, I would suspect there is much to know. For what I know, in just a few days, I’ve learned this is true.”
Johan went still.
“Do you like to read?” Mars asked.
Johan felt his insides turn cold.
“Yes,” he mumbled.
“Do you like to ride?”
“Of course.”
“Your dau
ghter likes to ride.”
“Girls shouldn’t like to ride in anything but carriages.”
“This is how you harm her, Lord Johan. For I know of two things you enjoy that your daughter enjoys as well, and you do not share these with her.”
Johan shook his head. “You must know, it is every aristocratic daughter’s role to advance the means of her title and as she is, she was unweddable.”
“She is not now, for she marries a king. And you will leave here with chests of riches,” Mars returned. “And with that you can see, Lord Johan, she was not unweddable. It was simply that you did not value all she has to offer, you made that clear to her, but fortunately for your daughter, destiny led her to someone who does.”
“I must think on this,” Johan murmured.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to do so on your own,” Mars murmured back, dropped his arms and started to move away.
“King Mars,” Johan called.
On another sigh, Mars turned back.
“You can’t possibly think I’ll give up the right to see my daughter for a chest of gold.”
“And you can’t possibly think it’s wise to barter for more treasure for this isn’t an offer, this is a gift from a king on obeying a command.”
A command?
He was not this king’s to command.
By the gods, he’d take a moment to think before he obeyed his own king’s command.
Johan was getting angry again.
“If you were going to give me so much for her, why did you demand such a huge dowry?”
“That was a barter,” Mars explained. “And your king is not very good at it.”
After delivering his parting line, Mars sauntered away.
And Johan watched him go.
As he did, he realized he was the father to a woman who would be queen in but days’ time, and at the parade, he’d been relegated to the stands, not the podium.
And at the betrothal dinner, he’d had to sit with a Go’Doan and a Nadirii lieutenant and his king’s counsellor, not at the table with Queen Ophelia and Princess Serena and his own king and queen. But the bloody wife of a traitor had sat with them.
Further, his daughter had had her flesh pierced and lazed about all afternoon getting fuzzy headed on smoke.
And he’d just been offered a payment in order never to see his daughter again, except at a foreign king’s leave.
He’d also just endured a lecture from a man who wasn’t even a bloody father on how he had not been a bloody good father.