LaJeeya was the same as she had been when her mother and Selge told her who her father was; still, cold, staring blankly into space. Gothro had slapped her several times, convinced she was faking whatever was wrong, but she never even flinched. Eventually he gave up, and locked her in her bedroom. When Gothro went to bed drunk just before sunrise and the house lay silent, she stirred. Her mind started to reel uncontrollably, her eyes darted quickly across every inch of her surroundings, and she knew everything; the royal conspiracy, the affairs of her mother and the king, and who Selanick really was.
"The herbs," she muttered, "Curiously strong... perhaps an overdose... or a mistake... perhaps not... I touched the minds of those around me... it hasn't stopped... Mother!" She leapt from her bed, feeling the pain and sorrow her mother felt, only to find the door locked. She started to scream.
"Mother!! MOTHER!! It's LaJeeya!! Help me!! I'm locked in!!"
As she strode quickly through the city, blatantly ignoring the whoops and hollers of the townsmen, Iuquy asked herself why. Why in the names of the Gods was she doing this? The king and his reign had never done anything to her. Why should she destroy him so?
"Because the queen bloody told you to, that's why! Stupid wench!" Although she had always been in the queen's favor, she had never thought very highly of herself.
She cautiously climbed the stone steps of the house before her. She knocked three times. There was no answer. She pushed the door open slowly.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Silence was her only answer. She crept through the house, looking for any sign of life. She found it sprawled on the sofa.
Selanick was there, sleeping peacefully. He had obviously been working outside, for his muddied shirt lay in the middle of the room, and sweat glistened on his bare chest.
"Oh Gods!" Iuquy's knees had become weak at the sight of him, and she lowered herself to the floor. Every muscle in her body yearned for the young god before her, as they had before for these exact features.
"Peshell... no, silly girl. He's dead. You even made the poison, murderous fiend. This is his brother, and you have your orders. Don't disappoint her." She looked up and started to stand, but the memories were too strong. She fell to the floor again, sobbing violently and calling his name.
"Peshell, my sweet heart, can you ever forgive me?! I love you, your Highness! Please, wash away the sins of this ignorant wretch!! Tell me I am acquitted of this treachery!"
Selanick was awakened by the most mournful, unworldly sounds he'd ever heard. He sat up and looked around the room. He saw on the floor a woman he didn't know. She was wailing and crying and calling out something over and over, but he could not make it out. He couldn't stand to watch her much longer.
"My lady, why do you mourn so? Who or what has caused you such utter sadness?" Selanick was at Iuquy's side, trying to untangle her limbs and clothing. She stopped suddenly and looked at him.
"Oh Gods, why do you torture me like this? Why send his image to me now, when I am on the verge of realizing my own mortality?" Her soft grey eyes stung into his as she spoke. A lock of burgundy hair fell across her face. Selanick pushed it behind her ear, then spoke with an inquisitive and puzzled look.
"My lady, what are you talking about? I am no image. I am as real as you are. Feel my lungs breathe and my heart as it beats if you do not believe me." He placed her hand on his chest. A look of pure ecstasy spread over her face.
"I have yearned for this moment," she whispered, "for longer than you can imagine." With his pulse still under her palm, she forced him to the floor.
Uquois' tears returned as the sun rose. She could see the shards of glass piercing her lover's skin, and the dark red stain that covered both their clothes. She leaned forward and laid her head on his chest.
"His heart still beats," she whimpered with relief. "How could I have let this happen to you, my love? How could I have been so blind as to think I could hide this from Gothro forever? Please forgive me for my ignorance, Selge. Oh, Gods, don't let him die! What's that? Who's yelling?" Uquois heard a hysterical voice screaming inside the house. She crept quietly through her home, the screams growing louder with every step.
"It's coming from LaJeeya's room," she soon realized. She unlocked the door and flung it open. The two women collapsed together in tears.
"Oh my darling, my beloved child!"
"Mother, I know everything. Please, you must take me to Selanick. There are things he must know."
"You must help me, LaJeeya. Selge needs a healer, and soon, or I fear he may die! Please, Child! Whatever you need to tell Selanick, I'm sure it can wait!"
"Maybe not, Mother. It may already be too late." LaJeeya got up and started to leave the house."
"How can you be so heartless?! How can you turn your back on your father?!" Uquois shouted in disbelief.
"I don't know my father, what kind of man he is. Look in his case and through his book. I'm sure you'll find the remedy you need." As LaJeeya left the doorway, her mother's sobbing echoed in her ears. When she walked out in to the morning, she saw Selge lying in the grass, bloody, nearly dead. For a moment, she had thought Selanick was more important than the only man who ever truly loved her, and was overcome with regret and sorrow. She realized who really needed her. She knelt down over Selge's broken body and wept.
"Meeka, I can explain!! Please, love, do not be angry with me!"
"How am I supposed to feel?!! 'How lovely, Selanick! I'm glad to see you're sleeping around!' Piss off, you bastard!!"
"Meeka, it's not his fault! It's mine! Please, if you'll just let me..."
"And you, Iuquy! How the hell could you do this?! I have trusted you for so many years, and this is how you repay me?! You filthy bitch!! Get out of this house!!"
Upon arriving home, Meeka had found the two on the floor in the middle of the room. There were scratches on Selanick's back, and bite marks on Iuquy's neck. The scene was not unfamiliar to Meeka, but she was used to being walked in on, not the other way around. She did not appreciate being treated like a cheap toy by the one man she'd ever really loved.
"Meeka! You don't really live here; you don't have the right to throw someone out!" Selanick's mother was not happy with any of the three young ones that stood before her. She was angry at Meeka for trying to banish someone from her house, disturbed that a girl she did not know had entered her house, and disgusted with Selanick for cheating on Meeka so soon after their relationship began. "Let Selanick and this girl tell you what happened. I'm interested myself. Start from the beginning."
"I was sent by her Majesty, Queen DeMona, to inform Selanick of an important matter. What that matter was, I shall reveal shortly. Anyway, I knocked on the door, and there was no answer. I didn't want to disappoint the queen, so I snuck into the house. I walked into this room, and saw Selanick asleep on the couch. This may upset you further, Meeka, but I have always loved Peshell, may the Gods serve him well. Ever since you brought him to the castle for the first time, I have wanted him for my own. When I saw his brother lying so suggestively, I immediately thought of my departed love. I was nearly driven insane with lust and desire for Selanick."
"I woke up only to find her trembling on the floor. I went to comfort her, and she thought I was an image of Peshell. I tried to assure her I was real by letting her feel my heart and lungs, and I guess that opened the gates, so to speak. She pushed me to the floor, and, well, you know the rest, except nothing happened, Meeka. I swear by the Gods, my love. Please believe me."
"If nothing happened, why is your back scratched, and where did those bites on her neck come from? Answer me that." Meeka was unconvinced by the whole account.
"Well, I did scratch his back, trying to keep him from getting up..."
"...And I left the bite marks in self-defense, Love."
"Selanick, you have never lied to me before." Jiin looked tired and aged as she spoke. "But you are no longer a child, so I will make no judgment. I will leave that to Meeka. Now if you three will excuse me, I must start the evening meal."
The three youths stood in uncomfortable silence as Jiin went to the kitchen. Meeka's anger suddenly overcame her, though, and searing tears cascaded down her flushed face.
"I want both of you to get out of my sight," she said, her teeth clenched. "Right now, or Gods help me, I swear I'll kill you both."
"DeMona, my love, how could you think for even a moment that I would be upset?! An heir, how lovely!" The drunken king sat on the bed struggling to take his boots off. In his drinking he had forgotten Kitraa's news about DeMona, and so was surprised when she told him of the impending arrival. His queen sat propped against the headboard, her fiery hair falling like lava down to her waist.
"I have no idea, my lord. You have just never mentioned any desire for one, so I assumed you were not interested."
"Of course I'm interested, Heart! Someone needs to carry on the crown when I am gone. I'm told I won't live much longer as it is."
"Who told you that?!" The emeralds set as DeMona's eyes widened in rage and sudden worry. Who had heard her conversations with Iuquy and then told Balnor of their plan?
"I am told that every day by some ungrateful subject or another. Don't let it trouble you, Dear One." Balnor patted her hand reassuringly. "I won't let anyone get the better of me, I promise you that. Now, do you suppose the little prince would be so kind as to kick for his father?" Balnor had started to speak directly to DeMona's stomach. He poked and prodded, but the child did nothing. "Ah, well. Plenty of time for that later. Good night, my queen." Within seconds, the king was snoring loudly.
DeMona settled into the blankets and gently massaged her stomach. She felt a gentle push from inside her body and smiled.
"That's right, Little One. Obey your mother."
Selanick and Iuquy sat in uncomfortable silence after Meeka left. They both felt ashamed about what had happened, yet neither could justify that feeling.
"We didn't do anything wrong, Selanick. Why do we feel this way?" Tears had been teetering dangerously on Iuquy's lashes since Meeka's outburst. They finally fell when the words passed her lips.
"Because who knows how out of hand things would have gotten… " There was a sudden knock at the door, and Selanick continued talking as he got up to answer it. "…if she and my mother hadn't come home when they did." He opened the door to find a young girl standing on the stoop. In stature she was smaller than Iuquy, with strange golden eyes and hair to match. She looked as if she was indignant towards everything, especially to the task at hand.
"Pardon, my lord, but I'm looking for two women from the royal household," said Kitraa, standing with crossed arms and sounding utterly bored. "I'm wondering if you've seen them."
"I know of these women. Please, come in." Selanick's words were polite, but he thought sarcastically to himself, Wonderful, another pissed-off, beautiful girl. Must be my lucky day.
Kitraa walked into the living room. Iuquy looked up at her, her grey eyes encircled with red from crying.
"Kitraa, what are you doing here? How did you know where I had gone?"
"Balnor knows, Iuquy. I told him about the baby. I know what you and DeMona are up to. I'm sure if you go back and admit it now, the king will be more forgiving."
"You little wretch! I trusted you, I took you under my wing to teach you the herbal ways and this is the thanks I get?! A betrayal?!" Iuquy ran at the smaller woman, and thrust her into the door.
"Iuquy, stop!" Selanick tried to pull the two apart. Jiin and Meeka rushed into the room as Kitraa pushed Iuquy to the ground.
"Selanick!" Jiin yelled at the top of her voice, "What is going on in here? You two girls there, stop this battle and act like women! I will not have any more deaths in this house!" Her face reddened and her whole body shook with rage. She sat on the sofa to try and calm herself.
"Kitraa? What are you doing here?" Meeka's voice was inappropriately calm.
"Balnor sent me," she answered, out of breath. "He wants to see you, and Iuquy, at the castle as soon as possible. You are to present yourselves to his court."
"On what charge?" came Iuquy's exasperated voice from the floor.
Kitraa's answer was cool and accusing. "Treason."
"No cuts, no bruises, no head trauma, I'm not finding much of anything in here, Mother. All these remedies are for mental ailments, not physical."
"Keep looking, LaJeeya, there's got to be something in there! He can't die now! Selge, please don't leave me!"
It was mid-morning by now. Gothro still slept in the house, and Uquois and LaJeeya had been working furiously to try and find a way to heal Selge. So far, though, their efforts had been to no avail. His heart was still beating, but was getting fainter every moment, and his breaths came in weak gasps when they came at all. LaJeeya stopped turning the pages of the book, and turned instead to her mother.
"Mother, I know you love him, but I don't think there's any point to this. Neither of us know what these herbs do, and the book is no help. If we tried anything on our own, we run the risk of hindering the situation, instead of helping." With a sigh, and tears burning her eyes, she spoke again. "It's my thought that we let him pass. I will never know him as my father, but at least he was in my life."
For a moment, Uquois looked defiant, ready to try anything. But as she turned her eyes back to her dying lover, she realized her daughter was right. "Come here, LaJeeya," she said, her voice low and controlled. “Hold him with me.” And there, among blood-soaked clothes, tear-stained faces and broken glass, Selge died in the arms of the two women who loved him.
***MORE TO COME***
