Diamond Elf - Chapter 25

 Chapter 25

     Gabriel found having the freedom to work wherever he wanted in the palace extremely weird. This morning alone, he had woken early (from a nightmare) to work in the kitchen a bit, then joined the clerks in their duties for a bit. They were suspicious of him, despite his badge, and he had to prove himself useful before he was allowed to do any work.

     At the moment, he was lurking near the side of the throne room. He wanted to listen to the courtiers speculate on the Emperor’s mystery heir, and also to watch how his father interacted with them. Since he was dressed as a minor lord, pretty much everyone ignored him. The palace was host to a constantly changing crowd of important people from all of the kingdoms in the Empire. Therefore, it wasn’t immediately obvious that he was new to the palace.

     Arden was by his side, ostensibly not paying any attention to him at all, but in actuality, he too was keeping an ear on what the courtiers said about the new heir, and focusing on anyone who seemed to bear him ill will. Of course, he also kept an eye out for any potential assassins.

     Gabriel had skipped eating at midday, about two hours ago, and was surprised to feel mildly hungry. He wondered if it would be worth going back to the kitchen for a while so that he could get a bite to eat in exchange for helping out. He knew his servant probably had something waiting for him in his room, but it seemed more fair to have to work a bit in exchange for his meal.

     Suddenly, several men rushed in, and surrounded the Emperor. One of them whispered in Jacen’s ear, and Gabriel wished he knew what was said. The courtiers had gone silent for a moment, and then began to nervously whisper to each other, all asking, “What’s going on?” The heavy doors to the throne room were shut and barred from within.

     A few tense moments passed, and everyone could hear screams growing closer. Gabriel decided that these were not the screams of innocents in terror, but rather the screams of men charging into battle… and the screams of men getting hurt in battle. He wondered if assassins would bother going through this much trouble for him, and then wondered why he assumed the assassins were for him.

     Just when the tension became unbearable, and people started whimpering in fear, the doors flew open, and two people raced down the aisle toward the Emperor. They used their swords to cut down anyone who tried to stop them, and were fast enough that it was hard to see them clearly. They reached the Emperor, and stopped.

*******

     Chelindra and Aeryc had to break into the Palace by knocking out the guards at the gate, and basically incapacitating everyone who tried to stop them. Chelindra’s breakdown made her reluctant to kill anyone unnecessarily, she didn’t even risk using her magic, except to bust open the doors.

     Aeryc didn’t have that luxury. If he wanted to ensure his own survival, he had to kill anyone who came at him. It was his first time taking a life, and by the time they were done, he wouldn’t even know how many men he had killed.

     When they reached the Emperor, Chelindra stopped with her sword at the Emperor’s neck. He was not even scratched yet, but the intention was clear. A well-trained bodyguard had a sword at her throat – not that it would do him any good – and Aeryc had one of his short swords pointed at the bodyguard. His other was pointed in the opposite direction to guard their backs.

     “Tell me where he is, I want him back!” Chelindra demanded.

     From where he stood, Gabriel was in open-mouthed shock. Arden was covering him, guarding him, and not allowing him to move.

     “My dear General Chelindra, whomever do you refer to?” The Emperor asked, trying hard to sound like he wasn’t terrified for his life. Of course he recognized her immediately, she had been the enemy General for 10 years, and his spies were good at sketching her likeness.

     “Where is Gabriel, and don’t you dare try to tell me you don’t know who he is. He was kidnapped and brought directly to you.”

     “I’m sorry, but I –“ the Emperor’s lie was cut short when Chelindra growled and raised her sword to behead him.

     “Chelindra! Don’t!” Gabriel cried out, throwing off Arden, and running to her.

     “Gabriel!” Chelindra cried out in relief. The two embraced tightly, Chelindra taking care not to slice him with her sword.

     Gabriel whispered in her ear, “Don’t kill him, he’s my father.”

     “What?!” Chelindra demanded. She stared at him in astonishment for a few moments, and then sheathed her sword. Aeryc thought this was a stupid move, and held his at the ready.

     “What now?” Chelindra asked.

     “I told you, when given a choice between anything and you, I will choose you 100 times out of 100,” Gabriel said and then kissed her.

     The Emperor watched this exchange with more astonishment than Chelindra felt, and quickly thought about all of the implications. The most important one was that he was about to lose his heir to the enemy if he didn’t do something this instant.

     “General… Since you have made it obvious that no one can keep you out of Our palace, and therefore no one would be likely to stop you from leaving… May We suggest that you stay the night as a guest so that we may discuss your perceived injustice.”

     Chelindra looked to Gabriel to decide, after all, he was the victim she had come to rescue. He looked at her, and shrugged. “I don’t think it would hurt to talk a bit.”

     “Very well,” Chelindra agreed.

     Gabriel looked at her, noticed that she nearly shimmered, and realized that she wasn’t wearing her concealing powder. He turned to his father, and gave an appropriately respectful bow. “You’re Imperial Majesty, I sincerely apologize, and humbly request that my lover and I have a few moments of privacy before you meet with her.”

     “You must be very important to her to have General Chelindra come all this way, and go to all this trouble for you. We are magnanimous, and grant your request.”

     “Yeah, because he knows he can’t stop her from running off with whoever he is,” a member of the crowd whispered so low that only Chelindra and Aeryc could hear.

     “Nah, he’s still terrified that she’ll behead him, the coward. He should arrest for her many crimes against the Empire,” replied a second whisperer.

     Gabriel led Chelindra out of the throne room, getting a good look at her companion for the first time. He gave Aeryc a look of baffled gratitude, and Aeryc gave him a cold look in return. He sheathed his swords, and followed them.

     Gabriel led them to his room, stopping to take a look around before he opened his door. He wanted to have a good idea of how many people were watching him since he was irreversibly well known at the palace now. He was surprised that there was nobody in sight, except Arden.

     Chelindra faced their uninvited follower, and growled. “Unless you have a very good reason to be here, leave, now.”

     “I would, General,” he bowed slightly to show her that he intended to play nice, “but I –“

     “Arden is just concerned about me,” Gabriel interrupted. He didn’t want any hidden lurkers to know what was going on. “Please wait for me out here.”

     Chelindra gave Arden a deeply penetrating look, trying to discern if he intended any of them harm, and decided to trust him for the moment. She followed her lover and husband into the room.

     “You’re the Emperor’s son? How?” She asked incredulously.

     “Believe me, I understand your astonishment. I only just found out myself a few days ago.” Gabriel offered Aeryc the sole chair in his room, and covered a blush when he realized that he would be occupying a bed with this man’s wife right in front of him – not that they would be doing anything untoward.

     The lovers sat next to each other on his narrow bed, and Gabriel explained everything that had happened to him, starting with the part when he was informed that he was Heir to the Imperial Throne. Then he returned to the beginning.

     “I wouldn’t eat… I couldn’t eat without you. None of the attendants really cared, since without you in the tent, there was no reason to bring food. They figured I could get my own. Candace… she was a slave too, and she knew what I was going through. She kept an eye on me, and noticed that I never ate. She nagged me about it, bringing me food and watching me eat it. It’s the reason she was in the tent with me when…

     “I had no idea what was happening at first, but two men came in, incapacitated us, and carried us away. When I came to, I knew who had taken me. I had seen him as a prisoner on a ship earlier. He was the Emperor’s long-time favorite lover, and he had raped me many times over the years. Remember, as you encouraged me to speak about my past, and I shuddered? He was the reason…

     “He… he…”

     Chelindra allowed a tear to freeze on her cheek, sticking to her. “He beat you, tortured you… raped you.”

     “Yes…” Gabriel closed his eyes as memories flashed through his mind.

     “He enslaved you once more…” Chelindra knew that this was probably what hurt the most. Just when he had felt safe in the knowledge that he was free, this man took that from him.

     “Yes,” Gabriel broke down, and cried on her shoulder. Chelindra just held him. She knew that there was nothing she could do but let him cry, and be there for him.

     Aeryc had to admit that even though elves never cried – excepting Chelindra the one time – he would be bawling like a baby if someone had done all of that to him. He was amazed that a human that looked as fragile as he did had survived his ordeal.

     “Do you wish you could do the same to him?” Aeryc asked. He knew the man was dead since that was one of the first things Gabriel had explained, but if he were in Gabriel’s shoes, he’d want to take revenge until the kidnapper bled to death!

     Gabriel paused his crying to think about this. “No… I don’t think I could… I know what it feels like, and I could never do that to another.”

     Aeryc was silent for a few moments. He knew that he had no right to be here during such a private conversation. He wanted to offer to leave them alone, but at this point, there was nothing much left to talk about that was private, and so offering to leave would be for the sole purpose of allowing Chelindra to soothe her lover, and reassure herself that he was still all in one piece. He wondered what he would want if he were Gabriel, and nearly sighed.

     “Do you want me to leave you two alone for a while?” Aeryc asked.

     Chelindra stared at him, impressed. She knew he was jealous, but he suppressed it well. She suddenly realized that he was right. Once Gabriel was dead, she really would have feelings for him. He was too perfect for her not to.

     “Thank you,” she expressed her gratitude.

     “I’ll wait in the hall,” Aeryc informed them, and left the room.

     The lovers simply held each other tight for a long time, both afraid that the other might vanish again. They eventually kissed, softly, tenderly… Chelindra was afraid to hurt him after all he had been through. She felt him hesitate, and knew he relived a bad memory.

     “Do not worry that I will push you. I can’t, not with my husband right outside the door. It would be wrong, even if he seems to be giving us his blessings, he’s really not.”

     “I wasn’t worried, you never pushed me… It’s just that I am an Imperial Prince now, and just as you had to marry out of duty, one day I will too. How can I ever bring myself to conceive an heir when I have only ever had one enjoyable session of intercourse?” Gabriel had been thinking about this quite a bit. It was true that he was willing to run away with Chelindra, and would do so this very moment if she asked him to, but she always did the right thing, and he didn’t know what the right thing was in this situation.

     “Your father seems interested in keeping you, and I imagine your life would be so much better as a prince. There are a few perks to being royalty, you know,” Chelindra pointed out.

     “I don’t know, it still feels like slavery… and now I fear hidden assassins!”

     A knock at the door prevented Chelindra from responding.

     “Jacen’s here,” Arden informed them.

     “Jacen?”

     “My father’s bodyguard,” Gabriel explained.

     “The one who managed to get a blade on my throat? Impressive,” Chelindra praised. They stood, and Gabriel gave her some powder to apply before they walked to the door.

     Jacen asked for Chelindra’s weapon, and insisted that Arden keep an eye on the other “guest” while they were gone. Chelindra assured Aeryc that if he was hurt in the slightest, she would make the Emperor and anyone else involved pay dearly, and then handed her weapon to Jacen. “Even without my sword.”

     Jacen gave her a slight nod to indicate that he heard her, but wasn’t making any promises. He then led them to the Emperor.


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