Flame of Cytherea: Cytherean Chronicles book 1 Read online

  She hadn’t really spent much time with Justin today though because of it. Hopefully she’d be able to grab him tonight...

  Chapter 16

  Sara frowned into the mirror looking at the young woman reflected there. It seemed strange to her, because she felt so old. She had long strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and a cute nose. She was midway between five and six feet. Her clothes were loose, shapeless, but it was hard to hide her generous C cup bust even in those shapeless clothes. She also had smudges on her face, trying to hide the porcelain beauty of her face. She hated it.

  She heard a noise which broke her out of her reverie and was horrified by the amount of time she wasted. The visiting noble was with the Egerian king, and she wanted to finish cleaning while he was out. She quickly hung up the clothes, made the bed and reluctantly emptied the chamber pots.

  Six years ago, when she had just turned twelve she had been hired as a kitchen helper. Things had been good for a while, until she started developing into a woman through her fourteenth year. At the same time, she had developed her talent, which turned out to be empathy. That was when the problems started.

  As she grew, and her body changed, she started catching the cook looking at her in a way that made her very uncomfortable. She quickly learned not to use her emphatic talent when he was around either. The way he felt while staring at her really freaked her out, it was… slimy.

  One day the cook had caught her alone stocking the pantry. She was so terrified of what he wanted to do to her, and she had no doubt, that she discovered she could also project emotion. Whatever she had done, he collapsed to the floor and threw up, heaving his guts out until he passed out. She had fled, and an hour later she was collected by the guard and taken out to the courtyard.

  She gaped in disbelief when they told her she would receive twenty lashes for magical assault on the cook. Luckily, she escaped that as well, when the king happened along and asked what was going on, and why punishments were being given out without his knowledge or permission.

  As a result the cook was ejected from the castle, and the King had given her a new job, to tidy up the rooms in the royal wing. She thought he was a good man, and for a couple of years, she had no reason to doubt it true. She had noticed the changes start, two years ago when she was sixteen. She felt it as his emotions and moods grew darker as time went on.

  Sadly, she couldn’t even see the shadow of the man that had saved her that day four years ago. She could feel his rage even now down in the throne room. She shivered. He must have gotten bad news and she pitied the one who delivered it.

  There were other changes over the last two years as well. She had learned to dress as drably as she could, and also be dirty enough to avoid certain attentions. Unfortunately, it didn’t always work, a lot of them already knew what she hid, that’s why it was with great relief that she finished the noble’s room and slipped away before he returned.

  She had considered running before, escaping this life, but where would she go? How would she live? What if the next place was even worse? This place was all she knew…

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  Justin grinned as they ate up the ground, heading north. He forgot what a rush it was to run with the wind pushing him along. Although he knew Nora wouldn’t let any harm come to him, it seemed if he ever put his foot down wrong, or tripped, he would break his neck in the fall. It took him some time to get used to it again.

  He was trying not to worry. About the king, the dark god, where his life would lead with the ladies, what he needed to do, though he had only a small inkling of the last. Life was messy, and he wasn’t guaranteed anything really. He would just do the best he could, he had a somewhat unique outlook since this was his second life. His first ended abruptly in an alley, where he was snatched from death at the last moment.

  However it was human nature, so he worried a little about all of it. All he could really do is live his life and enjoy it while it lasted. Nothing lasted forever.

  They enjoyed a quick lunch together. It no longer felt weird to him, to be surrounded by four women, all of them now truly in a relationship with him at the same time. And they got along so well, joking and talking like a close family around a meal. It did still strike him as surreal at times though.

  It was a bit intimidating as well. He wasn’t given to self doubt often, but he was surrounded by four women who amazed him at times, and wondered if he was truly worthy of even one of them. Yet, for some reason he was chosen by a goddess, saved and brought to this world, gifted with the rarest talent of all. That was not a small shot to his confidence.

  He thought himself paranoid as he gave off his full power for a few seconds. Just in case of unwanted spells. Refreshed and fed, they continued on for the rest of the day.

  They set up camp that night deep inside a forest clearing. Nora had said they would reach the capitol late tomorrow morning. Without the pack trains that followed the soldiers, they didn’t have their large tent and just took out their bedrolls. He left the tarp inside his pack, as the night was clear.

  He had slept with Nicci and Nora after dinner, but the others didn’t approach him. It was almost with relief he realized they had made a schedule for his nightly activities. With his magic he may have been able to satisfy all four of them in a row, but it would have been brutal. The same two also claimed the inside as they lay around him.

  It was him in the middle being cuddled from both sides by Nicci and Nora with Kat and Sally on the outsides. A secondary result of this new schedule was he found it was building anticipation in him for tomorrow night, despite being completely sated.

  The next morning they had a cold dry breakfast, and he actually missed the army encampment for a second. The morning itself seemed to fly by as they ran for the capitol. He felt Nora’s magic lessening until they moved to a normal walk. He took in his first view of the city.

  It was big, but he smirked to himself as he realized he had expected it to be much larger. Probably from reading those fantasy novels back home. The city was always surprisingly large in them. Still, it was nothing to sneeze at, he estimated it was at least two square miles as he studied it from the top of the hill they were on.

  It was built against another large hill that had an almost cliffs edge. He could see the castle was built up against it, as if it grew out from the hill. Then he realized it did. Most of the city around the castle was wood, but the castle itself was stone. He wondered if earth talents had used the missing portion of the hill to build it, and as they got closer he realized the cliff didn’t look quite natural.

  The city itself was clean like the villages had been, though he noticed there were piles of trash in the alleyways. But there was no smell, like the trash itself was clean. He finally realized the talents couldn’t remove trash, no more than they could make a bed, or put the dishes away, all they could do was clean and refresh. His thought was verified when he saw men loading the very clean trash into a wagon in one of the alleys. Presumably to be dumped somewhere outside the city.

  The road led through the city, straight to the stone walls around the caste. There were a number of guards there in addition to younger people, barely teens, dressed in some sort of uniform. He was guessing they were probably pages or runners. They guards stopped them at the gates.

  “What business do you have here?”

  He managed to subdue a laugh when Nicci said in amusement, “My face is higher than that sergeant.”

  The sergeant’s face turned white as he moved out of their way. “Pardon princess, go ahead. I was informed to tell you to go to the king immediately when you arrived.”

  Nicci nodded, indicating understanding.

  He tried not to look like a village idiot, reminding himself his world had wonders that would pole axe these people. He did manage to keep his mouth from dropping open, but couldn’t help his wandering eyes. The surroundings were… palatial came to his mind.

  Everywhere he looked something drew his eyes. Artwork, sculptur
es, even the flowers and plants were expertly displayed. The walls themselves were polished to perfection. He couldn’t help feeling a bit intimidated by it all. Outside of the rest of it, which was crazy, he was also worried about meeting Nicci’s father. Talk about meeting the parents…

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  The king reminded himself he was a devout follower of the goddess for the tenth time, but it didn’t help. He was still angry. He was clenching the message that had arrived from Anton in his hand, his fingers turning white as his mind raced. How did this happen? The worst part is he knew some of the fault lay at his feet. He had kept his daughter too much out of the public eye. She had been inexperienced with life’s realities when she had left.

  It was done out of love and concern, but he could see now he had done more harm than good.

  Was it any wonder she had an infatuation with the first man that had been nice to her? Even worse, the man she met was a legend in the flesh, a Flame of Cytherea. One he couldn’t dare take to task for taking advantage of his naïve daughter.

  He would have to take some steps there, if it was a true love match then the time apart wouldn’t hurt them, and if it was merely a passing infatuation as he firmly believed, his daughter would get over it.

  On top of that, the young man was right about one thing, something had to be done in Egeria. It wasn’t a simple enmity between two mortal kings anymore that would pass with the next generation, or even simple time. If it was true there was a dark god…

  He frowned. Still, he couldn’t do anything about it now, not without risking the whole kingdom. He could perhaps in a year or two, if they started recruiting more soldiers now and started training them.

  He looked down at the letter and turned red, once again reminding himself he can’t strangle the young man, he was too important. But the idiot actually wanted to take his daughter into an enemy kingdom? It would be disaster if she were ever caught. He could be blackmailed, and much worse than that would happen to her.

  Determined to maintain his temper, he left his suite and went to the room he had them sent to, this wasn’t something he wanted aired in the throne room with the rest of the nobles gawking and trying to gain some advantage from.

  All he knew is he needed to save his daughter from his mistakes and her own naivety; he would do so at any cost.

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  Kat was a little overwhelmed as they sat and waited for the king. Just one more thing in her turned upside down life that she wouldn’t have believed if someone told her just a couple of weeks ago.

  Over the last week and more she had formed a friendship with Nicci, and it had been natural, easy to develop. As she looked around however she saw Nicci in a new light for the first time, she was a princess, and while she was a woman in a man’s world, she still had great influence.

  Her estimation of her new friend had gone up drastically at that realization. Nicci had never once when discussing Justin tried to pull the princess card, or treat her as anything but a complete equal. Simply as a friend and potential other mate for the man they both loved.

  She was hoping the king was of similar character…

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  Sally has pondered things on the run over the last day and more. Besides being in awe of what Justin told her about his feelings, and that he thought they came from the goddess, she thought she understood why the goddess felt she needed to ask him, instead of the other way around.

  She had been under her mother’s spells. Her free will had been compromised for almost twenty years of her life, which was most of it. If he had asked her, she might have doubted herself or worse, them at some point in the future. Especially when life got in the way and the inevitable argument or two came up. She would have doubted that she had truly known herself and what she wanted.

  Since it had been her decision to ask, to the point she had broken tradition, she didn’t think she would ever doubt it. She had asked, and when they lay together she had given everything of herself to him. She believed with all her heart she would never regret doing so.

  She wasn’t worried about what might happen here, she would follow him, both the Flame of Cytherea and the man Justin, wherever he led…

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  Nicci’s tears ran down her cheeks. She was looking at her reflection in the mirror, her mirror, the one in her room. She was trying to understand what had just happened.

  At first, when her father came in everything went well, he had welcomed them all. Then he had told them he could build an invasion force. Waiting over a year wasn’t ideal, and she had a feeling Justin would go it alone before waiting that long. But her father had been more supportive than she had expected, up to agreeing to allow a small stealthy force if they couldn’t wait and could find volunteers.

  Then it had all fallen apart, he had turned to her and said harshly, “Daughter, you disobeyed me, you will go to your suite and not leave the castle for at least two months.”

  At first she almost laughed, she couldn’t believe her ears, she was being sent to her room and punished like a child. It seemed absurd after her life had changed so drastically over the last couple of weeks.

  She had tried to explain how she felt, and that she was living with Justin now, that they were in love and committed. That she also protected him and she had more important things to do than hide in her room. He needed her by his side. Not only that, she believed the goddess wanted her by his side.

  She had tried, but she had barely gotten three words of protest out when her father’s face reddened in anger and his voice rose and squashed hers into silence.

  “You will do as I say, that is an order from your king! If you persist in this disobedience you will no longer be my daughter, do you understand?”

  Then he had ranted at her, about what could happen if she followed Justin to Egeria because of some fool girlish infatuation.

  She had turned red in embarrassment; she couldn’t believe he had said that. She loved Justin, and would never leave him, but she also loved her family despite how unreasonable her father could be at times. The thought of either leaving Justin or her family tore her heart in half, so she had done the only thing she could.

  She retreated to her room, just ran out of the room without saying a word. She needed to think, and she had the small hope her father would come to his senses and allow her the freedom to make her own decisions. She just hoped Justin and her companions knew she was just stalling, and that she hadn’t abandoned them.

  She hadn’t, had she? She collapsed onto the bed and sobbed…

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  Nora almost started cursing when Nicci ran out of the room.

  Then the king turned back to them and said, “Sorry you had to see that,” looking directly at Justin he said in an almost grudging tone, “I also want to thank you for joining the soldiers though you had no responsibility to do so. There would be a lot of suffering people out there if it were not for you. Feel free to use the guest rooms in my palace for as long as you wish, if you need anything simply ask one of the stewards, but I must ask you for the time being, do not seek my daughters company.”

  Fucking idiot. She almost rolled her eyes. She knew the king was a good man. It had been one of the reasons she had relented and joined her sisters two years ago. But when it came to his daughter, he was just as much a fucking moron as any overprotective and overbearing father.

  They were dismissed, so she led the three of them to the guest wing and picked out an empty suite that had two bedrooms attached. Everyone was quiet and it felt off without Nicci with them, Justin was looking a little out of it and she thought she may have to knock some sense into him.

  It would work out. She was sure of it.

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  Justin was angry. Despite all the king’s concessions and nice words, he could feel the underlying tension behind the words. The fact he had basically implied he had taken advantage of his daughter’s naïve infatuation merely confirmed the idea. So much for impressing t
he parents. He was also a bit confused, it seemed to him living together was sort of like being… engaged in this culture. Not quite that, but close enough, and he had just been forbidden to see her?

  It had hurt when she ran out, it had felt like a rejection. He had a feeling it was more of a tactical retreat, so she wouldn’t have to make a choice between him or her family when she was put on the spot by her father’s ultimatum. But it still hurt and that had made him angry, although it was also the fear of losing her altogether that made it worse.

  This anger was too personal, it was harder to push down, to let go of. Worse, there was nothing he could do except hope and wait for her decision. Despite what he wanted, how could he ever ask her to forsake her family for their relationship? That would make him as bad as her father. Yet at the same time, shouldn’t he fight for her? Would she want him to? He just didn’t know how.

  Not even together for two weeks, yet he hated the absence of her presence. She meant too much to him. He sighed and got hugged from three different directions at once.

  They broke apart when the meal came, and he sat down with the ladies to eat. Finally Nora broke the silence.

  “Nicci will figure it out and we’ll have her back soon. In the meantime, should we go to the temple this afternoon?”

  At first the idea of doing anything was unappealing to him, but he realized doing something may distract him from his worry. Besides, the idea of him brooding all afternoon wasn’t a very attractive picture, he needed to get over himself and trust in Nicci. She wasn’t gone after all, he just… feared she would be.

  “That sounds like a good plan. I don’t like the idea of waiting around for a soldier buildup, we really need to get some idea of what I am expected to do. I don’t get the feeling we have enough time to wait.”

  After lunch, once again with Nora in the lead since she knew the city, he found himself walking through the streets. He noticed they were getting some looks, probably because he had Kat and Sally holding his arms on either side. He wasn’t sure how rare that was, but they had also walked out of the castle like that, so he shrugged it off as curiosity.