FOREVER KNIGHTS: #15 Insatiable Beasts

WaterRose, Meadow Mountain, Grier Country

ALAZAR

The castle was something that could never have been built by mortal hands and could only be held together by magic. The walls cascading waterfalls. Appearing to pour endlessly into the surrounding moat. Rose vines peering through the flow of water, each flower unscathed by the pounding onslaught. Foam congealed at the bottom of the walls. However, the outer edge of the moat was a motionless mirror. Reflecting the calm night.

The water cascade split down the center. A wooden drawbridge appearing from behind it. On its bottom were ornately carved vines, flowers, and an assortment of flying creatures. In the center a lightning bolt cutting from a cloud. With flames raging at the bottom. Ancient chains creaked over the sound of the water.

A woman strode from the cavernous darkness. Dressed in only black. Her skin an intensely pale contradiction to the clothing. Impossibly silver hair twisted the moonlight into a thing of brightness. Her eyes glittered in the night.

Some gentle breeze blew moonlit tresses about her in a mischievous dance. Her face was stone solemn. She wore jeweled daggers on each hip and men’s breeches. A warrior braid threading through her thick locks. A black band encircled one upper arm. She was a warrior…or some form of a gypsy, but Riaura had never seen her like.

The stranger’s lip curled in contempt. “Who’s this woman?”

“Be kind Elsabet, where’s Bast?” Alazar asked.

She gave a curt nod within.

“In the library.” Her words as flat as her expression.

She was a cold thing, this Elsabet.

“Ah. Of course, he is.” Alazar slipped from Sivikon and took the reins in his palm. Helping her down before catching Sivikon’s rein.

They followed Elsabet across the bridge.

“Follow her.” Alazareth directed Riaura. “I’ll stable Sivikon.”

He pulled a jeweled blade from under his tunic.

She recognized it as her own.

He nodded towards Elsabet’s back. “For your protection.”

Once inside the castle, Elsabet led them through a maze of corridors.

They came to a large double door holding the same intricate carvings as the drawbridge. And equally as imposing. The doors thick wood. Creaking open to reveal the opulent black and white marble foyer. All was soundless within.

Riaura jerked awake and realized she’d dozed off in the shelter of Alazareth’s arms as he let the horse walk up Meadow Mountain.

“Dreaming?” He asked.

“I wouldn’t call it that.”

“Hmm.” He rumbled. “Anything interesting?”

She blinked to full wakefulness and realized the burbling sound of water from her dream was still audible now. She looked up and gasped.

“What?”

“The castle from my dream.”

“You dreamt of WaterRose?” He was stunned. “What else have you dreamt of.”

She paused a long while. “Very little.”

Something she doesn’t want to tell me.

Entering WaterRose was like entering another world. As if the place lived and breathed. A being all its own. Everything here was flawless. Ornate portraits hung in sparkling frames. The faces in the portraits followed her. Their eyes watching her every movement.

“What is with these portraits?”

“They were painted by Lucien while he absorbed their magic from WaterRose. Planting the last vestiges of their spirit in them. Lending them a touch of life.

A touch of our lost brethren. Alazareth followed close behind Riaura, his hand on her waste to steady her still-wavering stride.

Alazar reached past her, flattening his palm in the direction of the door. The doors, much too large for a single man to move blew open. They slammed against the wall, creaking on the hinges. The man in the portrait next to her winced. Light filled the corridor, flooding the halls from candles burning within the rooms.

Riaura threw her arm up to shade her eyes.

Deep male laughter emerged from off to the left near the lowest step of the first level of stairs. The sound of men sharing a joke.

Rhyers is here. Alazar knew the voice.

A flash of black darkness suddenly drowned the light. Torches in the library lit in roaring flame to welcome her.

They didn’t need the light.

A slim dark-haired man stood near Bast sitting in his red chair. Flames danced eerily in their still gaze as it studied them. Their features distinct and flawless.

Sebastian sat. As striking as Alazar, though the direct opposite in dress and style of hair.

Alazar joined them. Slumping into the blue chair and inviting her with a wave.

“Bast, my twin, meet the Queen of Nightway-”

“Your Riaura.” Bast cut off the introduction. Giving her a long unreadable look.

“I am not his-”

Alazar gave her a sharp look but Bast beat him to a response.

“Oh, yes you are. I saw the ceremony.”

“You were there?”

Bast tilted his head in a nod.

“A wedding does not make me his woman.” She defended. Breathing heavily and hands fisting at her sides.

She’s irate. Upset about being forcibly wed to begin with. Alazar ignored the brief pang of guilt.

“My honor bound me to an oath I didn’t make…” She gave him an accusing look.

Resentful. I knew what’d happen when I took this course.

She gave me no choice. He reminded himself.

He caught her elbow and led her to a corner of the library.

Something disturbed the hem of her skirt. She twisted to squint at the floor. Glimpsing a scaled tale, low to the ground, disappearing around the bookshelf. “Did you see that!”

“What?”

“A…lizard maybe?”

“Oh. No. Those are Bast’s.”

“Those?” She asked in shock.

“Figurine Dragon’s.” Bast explained.

Lifting her skirt, she crept to the bookshelf soundlessly under their watchful eyes. Yellow orbs blinked at her from the other end of the shelf. She leaned from one side to the other, the glowing orbs following her. Soft hissing rose in pitch. The smell of smoke was stifling. Nothing was burning. When she looked back the creature had vanished.

She felt Alazareth’s voice caressing along her neck. So startled, she nearly dropped the volume. “Chasing shadows, Riaura?”

“I’m not certain, to be honest.” She muttered under her breath.

Alazar chuckled. Warm hand flattening across her belly. Pulling her back until his hardened chest was against her shoulder blades as he changed the subject smoothly. Voice was teasing, “believe in me yet, wife?”

She answered breathlessly. “I always believed in you, Alazar. It’s your intentions that have left me filled with doubt.”

After a moment she shook away her softer thoughts to give him a stern look over her shoulder.

Trying to demand I back up.

“And how do you find my intentions now?” He queried.

She drew in a deep breath. “Questionable.”

“How would you suggest that I ascertain for you that I’ve only the best in mind now?” She felt his lips softly touching the crease of her neck and trail the flesh of her exposed shoulder. Until feeling her stiffening in his arms.

“By doing two things.” Her tone was decisive.

How’s that? There’s going to be a catch.

“By behaving as a gentleman.” She knew without looking that his lips twisted into a cold smile.

By not lying with her, she means.

“You mean tonight. By allowing you reprieve from my bed?”

Her answer was awhile in coming. “Yes...”

He growled. A low rumbling, wolfish sound vibrating his chest.

“Perhaps I’ll consider it. What else?”

“Tell me why I can’t find Charles?”

Always Danbury.

His lips curled derisively. He released her as though her flesh burned him. “Because I sent him away. And I’ve circumvented all your missives.”

No point in lying. He’d taken every letter she’d tried to send. And read every word.

The servants knew better than to do anything without his permission when it came to her.

His scorn weighted the air.

She slowly faced him and lifted her eyes coyly.

“I can’t fathom what you saw in that man.” He grated out.

“He was my fiancé and my beloved. Perhaps I miss him.”

Alazareth growled and gave a frustrated gesture. “Do you even know what ‘beloved’ means?”

“Yes.” She frowned. Coyness dying.

“How can you crawl between my sheets, shower my flesh in your kisses and caresses then call him your beloved?” He pinned her with a hateful glare.

She breathed faster. “I’m no whore.”

Not my words. Yours.

“I can’t persuade you to lend me a fraction of your love but that piece of shit has garnered heaps of it from you…enough that you’d dare ask your husband to see your former fiancé?”

That is a foolish woman’s question! You’re no fool. Rage began to boil in him. He knew his eyes turned yellow. Felt his beast peering through his eyes to look hatefully at her.

“Yes.”

He made a guttural noise and gave her his back. “Your worry for him s unfounded. He tossed over his shoulder.

“In his dilapidated state, captivity will kill him!” She insisted. Doggedly follow Alazar.

Poor choice.

Rhyers appeared in her path, putting a hand to her shoulder and shaking his head. “Being unrelenting now will only set his mind on disallowing you see your former lover… Is it truly a wise request on the eve of your wedding?”

No. Alazar had paused in the doorway and longed to answer himself. But that is Riaura.

She doesn’t care if she wounds me. Long as she gets what she desires.

“He wasn’t my-” Slowly slamming her jaw shut. Her mouth whitened. She moved past the man and met Alazareth’s angry eyes at the doorway.

“Please recall that as your husband, I now have the great potential to complicate your life in some very extreme ways.”

Her glare barely wavered but she swallowed a hard lump. A slow smirk twisted his lips. “Come little bride.”

He held his hand out for hers. Beckoning her to the darkness that was Alazareth Bodane.

“Take it.” Rhyers whispered from next to her.

She reluctantly held out her hand and let his encompass it in a firm grip. Their eyes met for a painstaking moment.

“No reason not to accept him now.” Rhyers called as Alazareth led her from the room.

Alazar slipped from his boots, breeches and tunic, and crawled into bed. Watching as Riaura began anxiously pacing the room.

To buy time.

“Are you ever going to bring me back here after today?”

“To WaterRose? Of course.” He was thoughtful a moment. “I’m surprised you didn’t loudly declare your hatred to me to my brethren.”

Thanks for that.

“Well it appears we shall be stuck together awhile, until I determine a way out of this farce of a marriage. Speaking ill of you to your friends won’t help my case.”

Good point. But it still caused a deep pain to call the marriage a farce.

She paced the chamber. Rubbing her upper arms. “What is this place? Really?”

“Our stronghold.”

“But it seems more sacred then that?”

She doesn’t really care. She’s avoiding lying next to me in bed. She can. I’ll indulge her a while longer. He turned onto his back and adjusted the coverlet.

She needs to relax. Sighing. Alazar rolled out of his bed and pulled his tunic back on. Opting to give her a bit of time to calm. She’s too anxious to ease yet.

He called down the hallway to someone. Before turning to her. “I’ve brought you some comfort to help you ready for your wedding night.”

An elven man and woman walked in a dark-haired girl with a blindfold over her eyes.

“I’ll offer you some privacy.” He murmured. Bowing out.

“Jessica!” Riaura cried. Recognizing her lady’s maid from Nightway. Running over she ripped off the blindfold.

Alazar nodded farewell and stepped out.

Jessica readied her, putting on her nightgown and began the long grooming process to ready a Queen for rest.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jessica asked. Working the brush through her golden locks.

“This morning, he kissed me.”

“And?”

“He was making a point, but I responded like a wanton. What if he’d chosen to take me? I’d have let him.” She said shamefaced. Cheeks heated. “What manner of woman desires a man she despises?”

“One that doesn’t despise that man.” Jessica said sagely.

“You can’t deny your affection for him forever.”

“Are you on his side?” Riaura whipped around in the chair to meet the dark eyes of her maid. “Has he gotten to you? Paid you coin?”

Jessica blinked brown eyes quickly. Stunned at the accusation. “No! I’ve never seen the man. ’Twas a woman that came to get me!”

“Rosie?”

“Rosemary, she said.”

“Figures.” Riaura spun back around. Dismissing the topic.

“What about what happened ’tween you and he?”

“I’ll think of it no more this day!”

Jessica quietly resumed brushing her hair.

“What would be the point in loving him!” Riaura tossed her arms.

“Might I answer that?” Another voice intruded.

Riaura looked up and Jessica gasped. Hairbrush falling.

“What are you?” Jessica asked breathlessly.