The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH PLAYING WITH POWER

The next day at breakfast, Fleur was eating her usual fruit and cheese when Lucif arrived. She was dressed in a gown delivered the day before, the toga style gown barely hid her intimate parts with its sheerness because she was expecting him. She speared a grape with a long, thin knife and nibbled it from the blade as he watched her like a predator. After leaving the observation room last night, he had dreamed of her, dressed strangely and dancing as she slayed her enemies with two swords and plate-sized disc of dark and light magic. He had watched her through another’s eyes as she was chained and bled, but she never surrendered, she never broke. Her passion and defiance were beautiful to him, even as the other indulged himself with her body. He had woken barely able to refrain himself from claiming her and the prophecy of the conqueror of worlds be damned.

Fleur held her hand out palm up to show she was no threat to him. Her braided hair hung off her shoulder and snaked between her breast; he envied it as he bent to kiss her palm. She was his temptation incarnate. “My queen.”

“My prince. Did you... did you dream well?” Her smiled curled up higher on one side than on the other side. Her magic seduced him. His eyes fluttered under the sensation. She withdrew her hand and cut a sliver of cheese so thin he could almost see through it as she put it on her tongue.

“You shouldn’t taunt me with something we cannot indulge in until we return to the Temples. Who was he?” Lucif asked curiously.

“His name was Damien, a blood mage, he was your brother through the Shadows, to me it was long ago that he tried and failed to break me, but it made me strong enough to be here today,” Fleur told the truth because she knew he was using discernment magic. “You still doubt me.” She stated rather than asked, grateful for the obscuring spell Oren and Orion had taught her.

“Please understand, my queen, I have to be sure. My people...”

He didn’t finish because she leapt at him viciously and flattened him on the floor with her blade at his throat. “You dare let those faithless weaklings make you doubt me?” Her rage and the dark magic crackled around them like static, as her body hovered only inches above his. It was exhilarating to be so close to such dark, raw power.

“My blood is yours, my queen,” he offered.

She leaned back, laughing as she straddled his hips. “Oh, my prince, there are magics so much more powerful than blood magic.”

He looked at her hungrily, “Prove it, oracle. Blood magic is the highest form of magic on Xelusia.”

She smirked at him and wiggled her hips, causing him to inhale sharply as lust made itself known under her bottom. She sliced her palm and whispered into his ear, “Open your mouth and learn the differences.”

He obeyed, and she poured her blood into his mouth, he swallowed instinctively and then began to shudder with the power that burned into his veins. She drew him to his feet and led him out onto the balcony.

‘Focus your mind and perform this spell or the magic will overcome you.’ Her voice pulsed in his mind, his head felt like he was going to split open, but he had never felt stronger. It was the same as the shield glyph spells he used as a blood mage in the war, but the glyph was immense, hovering in the pre-dawn light over the Towers. He had never performed magic that strong or felt this powerful. “Show me more, give me more blood.”

Fleur laughed at his demand. “That’s just blood magic. Don’t you want to learn something stronger?”

“Yes...” he begged as she hugged him. Suddenly her magic wrapped around him like velvet, as though power had suddenly developed a texture. He gasped and sagged to his knees, falling as her arms held him, until his cheek rested on her breasts and he could feel all the living souls in the city at once, too many to count or discern from one another. It was painful and god-like. “What... is... this?”

“This, my prince, is what it feels like to be an oracle or a siren.” She whispered against his lips and kissed him.

He laid there, completely enthralled and overwhelmed. He stared up at her helpless to move as she unbuttoned his shirt. “More...”

The wave of magic shifted, it was painful, but he could feel the light blended with the dark and becoming brighter. She placed her fingertips over his heart, and the energy pushed into his chest like electric shock. “And this is a kind of soul magic call Transcendence.” Her eyes had changed from glowing red to glowing white with a slight tint of orange. He felt his awareness expanding beyond the city, leaving his body.

Lucif looked down on Aetheria and over to where Xelusia rose in the distance. He did not realize the power flowing through his body was only moments from forever killing him when Demona rushed in.

“Father!”

Suddenly, he slammed back in his body. He felt like he had fallen off a cliff on to stone. Looking up at Fleur’s glowing eyes fading from white to red. He could feel her heart beating beneath his cheek.

The Dark Oracle’s head turned slowly away from him. “Is there a problem, child?”

The princess screeched, “What are you doing to my father?”

Lucif felt Fleur’s power withdrawing from him.

“No.” He moaned in longing as she laid him down carefully. Slowly he could feel his body again as the sensations faded. He felt drunk and hungover at the same time.

Fleur rose fluidly, favoring him with a lascivious view of her legs as she walked cat-like toward Demona. Lucif struggled to make his body respond enough to stand. He felt like his flesh had shrunken and was too small for his soul now.

“What your father and I do is none of your concern, little princess,” Fleur stalked around Demona, and the princess fought the urge to tremble as Fleur leaned over her shoulder and whispered loudly in her ear. “But if you must know, it is only what he desires. What you will never be able to give him or any man... that’s why Yurieth chose me over you...and your father, the same...” Fluer walked back toward Lucif then turned and gave Demona a triumphant smirk as Lucif wrapped his arms around her from behind and began kissing her neck. “It’s why they will all choose me over you. Now, go, unless you wish to pledge your allegiance to your new queen.”

Demona gave a frustrated shriek, turned and stormed out of the room.

His lips felt cool against her neck, and Fleur could still smell her blood on his breath. Lucif chuckled drunkenly, “You smell like flowers and brimstone and power.” He turned her, and they kissed, he was intoxicated with her power, but Fleur was fighting with everything she had within her to keep the darkness from overcoming her. The powers she was trying to control were testing her sanity.

She barely managed to pull her lips from his. “Be patient, my prince.”

“My queen,” he breathed out slowly like he was in pain. He could not make his arms release her so slowly he slid his hands down her arms until only their fingertips were touching. “I... am... trying.”

Lady Naphtala, her servant, and enforcer arrived with the clothier Cinna in tow. They all bowed as Naphtala intoned, “My queen, we have brought the rest of your dresses and I have brought my most loyal to guard you.”

Fleur clapped her hands then smiled beautifully at Lucif. “I will see you at the Celestial Alignment ball tonight, my prince, and no peeking. I want my dress to be a surprise.”

Lucif walked out carefully but as the door closed, he sagged against the wall. Demona had been lurking in the hall and she rushed to help him stand steadier. “Father? What did she do to you?”

“She... she shared her power with me. She is far stronger than your grandmother ever was.”

They didn’t speak again until they made it back to his rooms in the other tower. He collapsed, exhausted on his bed but he caught his eldest’s hand. “Please Demona, do not offend her. Her blood is the most powerful I have ever consumed, and it isn’t even the strongest form of magic she knows. Let her become queen, and I will make sure you have everything you will ever want for.”

Demona snatched her hand away and spat her words at him. “I want to be queen. You promised.”

Lucif shook his head. “I am sorry, my daughter, but you will never be queen, while the Dark Oracle lives or even after. You simply aren’t powerful enough without the use of blood magic.”

Demona huffed indignantly and stormed out, Lucif shook his head and considered confining her to her rooms for the ball tonight before he passed out.

As soon as the door closed and Fleur was certain they were alone, she collapsed into a shuddering heap. Yllumina rushed to her and held her as Lady Naphtala wiped her tears.

“You are very strong, Fleur. But did you have to show him the Transcendence Magic?” Yllumina sounded horrified that she had revealed this secret of the oracles to a blood mage.

“He was drunk on my blood, there is no way he can duplicate it without more, and he won’t have more,” Fleur said calmly as she rose to her feet. “So, Cinna, what did you make me?”

“Four dresses including tonight’s gown. Let’s start with getting you bathed and painted, then we will sew the gown in place.” He smiled at her with glistening eyes and she took his face in her hands.

“Don’t be sad for me, Cinna. This is my fate; it is what I was born to do.” She tried so hard to comfort him even though she felt no comfort in her words. Chin held high, she turned to Yllumina and Naphtala with a laugh. “I’ll go bathe. No one will dare bother us, they are too afraid I’ll decapitate them.”

Regis burst out with a mirthless chuckle. “You are formidable with a blade, my lady. Have you been wasting your talent terrifying the enemy?”

She smiled mischievously. “Care for one last dance, Huntsman?”

“No, but thank you, my lady.” Regis bowed slightly.

Cinna held out his hand, “This way, Lady Fleur.” She followed him to the bathing room.

Naphtala was shaking her head. “She is determined to die tonight, cousin. She has already accepted it as her fate.”

Letting out a sigh, Yllumina announced, “Too bad those who wove her fate have other plans for her.”

“This will only work if Princess Demona doesn’t try to murder her in front of everyone.” Yurieth announced as he walked in off the balcony. “She has hired the Blood Brotherhood of Assassins to kill Fleur. My ally is ready to betray her plan to her father by claiming allegiance to the queen. He will tell Lucif he refused to kill the Dark Oracle and Demona became enraged. We will put Fleur’s blood and hair in Demona’s room before he tells her this at the ball. So, there will be witnesses to their meeting.”

“My son, you know I have never questioned you, but how did you earn a Blood Assassin’s allegiance?” Yllumina demanded.

Yurieth looked at his mother from under his hood. “He saved many women and children during the war, and many wounded Aetherians at the end, so I saved him after it. Even now his son and daughter sleep in the Tear. If he had been born on Aetheria, he would have been a huntsman.”

Naphtala laughed, it was a cold, bitter sound. “I had believed we were all crazy to think we had a chance, but to turn a Brotherhood Assassin? I am beginning to realize your insane plan might just work, cousin.”

Yllumina smirked at her. “I couldn’t do it without you, daughter of my mother’s sister.”

Regis cleared his throat. “You best go, my brother huntsman. She is coming.”

Yurieth vanished from the balcony as Fleur came out with Cinna. Regis stood outside the door, while inside she stood naked on a pedestal as Cinna painted her scars with iridescent black paint and accented the swirls and crescents with luminous powder. Then he began setting the dress to her curvy shape. Mina polished her nails and toenails while Naphtala braided blood rubies and black diamonds into her hair. They made her eat and she secretly wished for chocolate and coffee as her last meal, but her stepsister who always baked her favorites had been dead for half a century, and those plants had taken decades to produce crops once they were brought from her homeworld.

Fleur resisted her tears, the time for tears was over, she reminded her weakness repeatedly. Tonight, she would lure two rulers into war and die to ensure it. The only time her chin trembled was when she wondered if Kaleth was waiting on the other side of the Light for her or if she would go into the Light at all. She had never seen herself among those who dwelled in the place between the living and the Celestial realms. Suddenly, the memory of a specific warrior in the Infernal Realm calling her their queen surfaced. She swallowed against her horror, both Mina and Naphtala looked at her.

“It’s nothing,” Fleur reassured them, “I just remembered something.”

“What has you so troubled?” Mina inquired.

“I was just remembering how I met King Xerxes in the Infernal Realm. Is Eonae managing now that Xeus is gone?” Fleur changed the subject.

“The Queen is well. She misses her son but is grateful he will live.” Mina answered.

“That’s good, it is a hard time for all of us. She is very brave in the face of Xerxes’ madness.” Fleur responded quietly. “Mother, may I look at my dress through your eyes?”

“Of course, daughter.” Mina turned her toward the mirrors.

Normally Fleur would have been horrified by what she saw, the dress was almost an exact replica of one of them she had been forced to wear when she had been a prisoner in the Dark Dust Dimension. Cinna had made her another amazing gown. Draping off her shoulders, the dress was completely open down the back to just above the curve of her butt. The front was held up by a thin chain around her neck and thin black chains just above and below her breasts, one at her waist and the last at just below her hipbone. The two strips of silk and lace over her breasts joined at the waist and became one that hung down the center, flaring out into a floaty, layered skirt of multiple sheer layers with slits in different places under a front and back panel of lace, so that when she walked or dance, sometimes they would see her flesh but mostly they would see it through the sheer layers.

The dress was sexy, beautiful, and exotic; unlike anything seen on Aetheria or Zelusia. It was a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen and if Cinna had not so expertly sewn it, Fleur would have been terrified to wear it. She stood perfectly still as Cinna attached the lace veil that would cover her eyes and forehead to her hair. The lace perfectly matched the scrolling scars the shadows had made on her skin and that Cinna had painted over and accented.

“How long did it take you to make this lace, Cinna?” She asked quietly as her fingers traced the front panel of her dress.

“I started last autumn, it was to be for the next Autumn’s Ball. You inspire me, my lady, unlike any muse I have ever had. And your courage, gives me courage.”

Regis opened the door, “Prince Lucif’s advisor is coming.”

Yllumina quickly donned her headscarf and veil as did Naphtala. Yllumina was polishing Fluer’s nails when the man Fleur recognized as Lucif’s chancellor walked in.

He bowed respectfully, but his eyes devoured her wantonly. “My Queen, the Prince has sent me to inform you the Ball will begin in half an hour.”

Fleur held out her hand palm up and resisted the urge so shudder when he kissed it. “I would like to enter last.” Her request was unusual because Royals tended to jockey to be the first to enter.

“Last, my queen?”

“Yes, I want everyone to be there, so they will know beyond doubt who is joining them.”

The Chancellor bowed, “It shall be arranged, my queen. The Prince wishes you to be announced as his betrothed.” After she nodded, he kissed her palm again and slightly licked it before turning to leave.

As soon as the door was shut, Cinna placed a cloth scrap in her hand and she wiped it. “Ick! Well, I guess it is a good thing we are burning this body,” Fleur joked, when no one laughed, she rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, that was funny.”

Only Lady Naphtala smirked. “Lady Fleur, you have an oddly dark sense of humor for an oracle of light. Come, Mina, I must get ready.”

“Thank you, Cinna.” Wordlessly, Cinna looked at her with sad eyes and Fleur gave him a peck on the cheek. “Whether you and Oren choose to go or stay, be happy for the time you are given.” He swallowed and left silently.

Mina hugged her. “I will see you in The Veil of Light, daughter.”

Fleur held out her hand and squeezed Naphtala’s hand. “Thank you for everything. I am glad that your great grandson is joined to my daughter.”

Regis stood outside the door and closed it behind them.