Ashtium: City of Sun

GRETA

I don’t know when the emperor will return. My knees hurt from praying this long into the night. My sisters have already left for the hospice.

Feeling sore and achy, I stand up and brush off my annoying long tunic.

The floor seems to shake when I hear stone scraping over stone. I make my way inside my god’s temple, unsure of myself when I remember Enoch’s words.

“Adler?” I whisper seeing him walk around his chair.

I can see his finely cut hair and sharp features better now. The curve of each of his muscles catches my attention as he peers down at me like one of the many statues outside.

“You look nice,” I say without thinking. “I have many questions,” I add quickly.

“Thank you. Let’s talk inside. It is no longer safe for either of us to speak in the open,” he tells me while ushering me into his private chambers.

I jump a little hearing him slide the door behind us shut with a loud thump as it hits the wall of the marble doorframe. My feet leave the ground. I tense up feeling him tuck me into his smooth bare chest as he moves his robes to the side.

His breath smells weird. A strong spicy odor that makes me scrunch my nose because of its pungent scent.

My hand reaches up to his face as he carries me away. It feels very warm.

His body sways a little as he walks. “Are y-you hungry?” he slurs.

“A little.”

My stomach flips watching us walk right by the bathing pool to beyond where he took me to his room once before.

I couldn’t see at all then, but now I can.

“Amazing!” I say in wonder at the giant floating, glowing cloud in the center of his room.

It hovers in place, moving up and down slightly. Fancy instruments, sort of like Enoch has, clutter around it. My god walks over countless luxurious pillows and shiny items before collapsing with me on the godly bed.

The fluff drifts around us in a thick mass of comfort.

“It is huge!” I gasp while rolling around for fun.

“Yes...it is,” Adler agrees sounding void of my joy. He picks up an urkmink from a platter between us. He pops it in his mouth while propping himself up on an elbow. “You look quite comfortable.”

“I am,” I whisper seeing the other things on the platter.

Enoch told me he drinks wine with blood in it. There are many empty glasses on the plate and much of it is covered in liquid. I trace my finger over the spilled drink, but it does not smell like blood. It smells like Adler’s breath.

“Are you ever going to free the slaves?” I ask knowing him to be drunk.

“No...” he murmurs while chewing the urkmink.

“Why not?”

“Enoch will.”

He crunches on the beetle and it makes my stomach growl.

“Why do you want him to? Enoch told me everything you’ve done. Is it all true?” I ask with concern.

“I’m not going to lie. I told you I’ve done terrible things,” he confesses. He moves closer to me and lifts my veil completely off my head. “I know you have too,” he says while wiping his mouth with it.

“My sisters gave that to me,” I spew out in shock.

He tosses it over his shoulder where it lands somewhere on the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, little pearl. There...th-there should be something of the same material in my trove...” he trails off.

What’s a trove? Whatever the case, my god doesn’t seem so on edge now. The wine may make him more forgiving. There is no dancing around the topic.

“I ate my parents.”

“Your secret is safe with me, little pearl.”

He does not sound revolted or even disturbed. What was I expecting? He has known for so long and was just probably waiting for me to say it. Or has the drink really clouded his mind?

For the first time in great detail, I can make out the thinly cut layers of curls on his head. They are cropped so closely to his head in little wisps of moving twirls like a slow mist.

Millions of soft sparkles shimmer dimly off of it around us. I watch him unwrap some of his robes. He unwinds the cloth, stopping when he reaches his waist, and then lays it flat on the bed like a blanket.

It’s still attached to his tunic. It’s only a small portion because most of his robes are still on him. I try to ignore his chiseled chest. It’s the first time I’m seeing it so perfectly clear.

All that’s missing is color.

He pats the silky cloth with a serious expression.

“It’s part of the clout bed,” he tells me while swiping the wisps of cloud away from his head.

“It’s moving.”

“Yes, it has a habit of doing that. Want to know a secret?”

“What?”

My god turns away from me as if reaching for something below his bed. “It can fly too. We’re floating now already,” he explains in a hushed voice as if revealing a deep, dark truth.

He sets a live urkmink between us. It crawls a little ways in my direction before he picks it back up and kills it in his mouth with one sharp bite.

His gaze flickers from the platter to my lips. Something carnal takes over me as I open my mouth like one of the little flying creatures getting fed by its parent.

A moment later, my god’s cold mouth covers my own until just the fatty insides of the dead bug enters my mouth.

Adler pulls his head back. “Enoch has not been feeding you well,” he murmurs sounding apathetic.

I’m too stunned to form a response. My heart beats so loudly in my ears. Can he hear it too? He spits out the empty urkmink shell in his hand and tosses it off the bed with the flick of his wrist.

The bed dips as he scoots nearer to me.

“W-why did you do that?”

“Your stomach was growling and you just looked so peaceful,” he coos. “I didn’t want you to go to the trouble of opening its shell so I did for you. How did it taste?”

“Good.”

“So, are...you r-ready for your nap?” he asks slowly while twirling his finger in the remaining full cup of wine.

“Nap?”

Adler chuckles, pulling me down beside him when I don’t really expect it. The drink spills. It stains my tunic a dark shade.

My god swats the goblet off the bed with a grumpy sounding grunt. “H-have I upset you?” he stutters out with a look of deep concentration.

I smile weakly preferring not to answer seeing as he has clearly drunk too much. He can barely form a sentence without slurring his words.

My heart is racing too fast watching him pick up another urkmink and place it in his mouth. Some of the bug’s little legs rapidly crawl and twitch between his lips as if in an attempt to escape. My stomach knots watching him bite down harder and the legs go still.

Then he pulls it out of his mouth and dips it in some of the spilled liquid between us before eating it.

“Some habits never fade,” he says through a mouthful. “Do you want some more?”

“No...”

He swallows it. I watch the lump in his throat reflex as I imagine the bug travel down somewhere below in his defined stomach.

“I’m sorry for the...m-mess, Greta,” he grumbles. “I think I’m in need of a bath. Care to join me?”

“No, thank you. I am not comfortable-”

“Don’t be shy,” he persists. My face flames feeling his huge warm arm circle around my waist. He reels me in against his side while speaking in a breathy deep voice, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten how much you enjoyed yourself before.”

I scrunch my nose smelling the odor from his mouth again, but when he tickles under my chin all thoughts of discomfort leave.

“Oh, s-stop it! Heh...!” I giggle while twisting around in his tight hold.

My chest heaves against his own. I try to move away, but it’s impossible to with his arm around me.

Mirrors cover the walls of the circular space around us letting me see my appearance clearer than ever. Tears well in my eyes knowing beneath my powdered skin and painted teeth how ugly I’d be to Enoch right now.

I know my hair is not a very attractive shade either. Not to mention, it is all undone and a complete mess. Is it my god’s doing?

What does he think of my appearance?

“How is your wife?” I croak.

He moves the plate of drinks off of his bed with a clumsy hold. I hear the metal objects clatter onto the ground.

“She is getting worse, but...it can’t be helped. I’m sorry you must see me like this.”

“Do you still love her?”

“I don’t know if I ever did,” he murmurs while stroking my hip. “It makes me sad. I don’t know what to do anymore, Greta. She has hurt you and is completely out of my control.”

“Maybe you need to spend more time with her,” I suggest.

“Little pearl, it is okay to be upset. I am angry too, but we must wait a little longer.”

“For what?”

“For her...I’m not certain.”

I sit up with a shallow breath watching his new dark gaze follow me.

“You want to get rid of her?” I whisper.

I don’t feel personally against the idea, but there still may be room for her to get better.

He rubs his mouth while pulling me back down beside him. I shiver watching him undo some more of his robes. With a faraway look, he starts wrapping them around me revealing more of his naked chest.

This doesn’t feel right. He shouldn’t be drunk and I shouldn’t be here.

“I should be going now,” I say while trying to get up.

However, he tightens his hold on me. His face remains stoic like the statues outside as if what he is doing does not bring any cause for me to get uncomfortable. I struggle to move with his tunic tangled around me even when he lets go of me.

With a frustrated huff, I begin to untangle myself from the cloth.

He makes a pouting noise. “I need you here to satiate my eroding mental state. This is not easy for me, little pearl,” he says while helping to move his tunic from around me. “Enoch will understand if I share a little of your time. He wants me to get better. Don’t you too?”

“You are drunk,” I say while scooting away from him newly freed. “What kind of god falls into such a state?”

“A miserable one,” he chides. I don’t know if he’s being serious or not. I lift his heavy arm from my waist when he persists to keep me from leaving, but he just uses it to press me flush against his chiseled chest. “Oh, you look so cute wrapped in white silk and nestled in my bed. Such a pleasing sight,” he says in his ridiculous baby voice while letting go of me.

He reaches a long arm over the edge of the drifting cloud we lay on. Then he pops another bug in his mouth.

“Don’t be so timid. Enoch’s deprived you of them, hasn’t he? Would you like another?” he asks while watching me crawl away.

A deep blush forms on my face when my stomach rumbles once more in agreement.

“I am hungry, but I can feed myself, Adler.”

I’m left in complete confusion seeing the clout bed shift to accommodate his new sitting position. It raises up behind him forming a long backrest wide enough for him to rest his arms on the back of.

“I know, little pearl. I just can’t resist helping you. Come get your dinner,” he says while leaning back on the cloud’s makeshift backrest.

He spits out the shell over his shoulder, and then looks up at me, waiting. Each second drags by as I remain held captive by his piercing, all-knowing gaze.

My god gives up on waiting, but I don’t really bother to stop him when he lifts me up and sets me on his lap. He doesn’t let me have the bug easily this time, and instead, teases it into my mouth slowly. I do not understand why he is playing around with my food and taking longer than necessary to give me it.

Slobber dribbles down the corner of my lips when he pulls away. All I can do is stare at him waiting for some explanation as an overwhelming heat engulfs my body.

I want to move away even more when I feel something stir beneath me.

His voice sounds strained, “I’m so sorry. I’m getting a little too excited. Why don’t you go play in my trove for a bit? You can find somewhere to put the lense if you have it. I’m going to sleep off this excitement,” he tells me while lifting me from his lap.

I follow his stare to the corner of the room where a bunch of strange shiny objects sit in a pile. Doing as he wants, I leave the bed and walk over to the pile. Several objects look a lot like my optical lense. I rifle through the pillage of them in search of a matching one.

By the time I give up, I return to the inviting cloud and climb on top of it to find Adler fast asleep.

“Adler?” I whisper.

His muscular arm moves around my waist bringing me down onto my belly and against his side.

“Did you put my optic lense back, little pearl?” he asks through a yawn.

Even on the giant cloud he still looks massive as his shiny crown glows around his head. The sight of it all just makes me certain he must truly be my god...despite his faults. It’s so awful what he has to put up with his wife and all though.

I don’t know how he can truly love her.

I don’t like seeing him like this. It is very worrying. Does Enoch know things have gotten so bad?

“I lost it,” I whisper, fearful seeing him open in his eyes.

“Oh, I doubt you would lose such a thing,” he babies while stuffing me into his chest. “I think someone stole it. When you’re done your nap we’ll find who took it,” he reasons with certainty.

The bed of fluffiness and heavenly warmth drifts up and down. It’s hard for me to think about anything with my god’s soft breathing hovering right above my head.

Eventually, his hold loosens enough for me to be able to turn on my other side and face away from him.

I’m sure he must be asleep. In one of the mirrors on the wall across from us, I gulp hard seeing him wide awake and staring at me through the reflection with a repressed smile.

“Are you scared of me?” he whispers in a serious voice.

“No,” I confess. “Sometimes you make me nervous, but I am not afraid of you. I think you’re just misunderstood and...very different from your son,” I whisper back seeing his huge frame lurking right behind me.

His hand keeps me firmly in place by my waist. The other dangles a dead urkmink by the antenna near the side of my head.

“Has Enoch talked to you much about being an empress?”

“Empress? I am unfit to rule over bugs so much as the city dwellers.”

“Trust me, little pearl. There is no difference between the two,” he laughs.

His laughter settles my anxieties. I wish Enoch and I could have more deep discussions like this. Why don’t we?

He knows I could never be an empress. That’s why. My god is only teasing, but if Enoch likes me as much as Adler claims, I thought we would have had a conversation like this by now.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about your marriage. Enoch may agree with me. Why don’t you just rule alone...or with Enoch?”

“I could, but I’d rather have an empress to help me on an emotional level that Enoch, and myself alone, cannot.”

“That makes sense,” I agree. “Enoch told me she’s already cheating on you. You should start looking as soon as you can,” I whisper back while rolling over to face him.

His arm circles around my waist stuffing me back into his chest. “I already am, little pearl. It’s not an easy task. It’s time we nap now I think,” he tells me gently. “Thank you for listening to my problems and sorrows.”

“You’re welcome,” I mumble sleepily.