[seventeen]
The male with skin like the night trails behind me. I walk through the halls of the palace, taking in the splendor of all that could be obtained by one man.
"Bring me Khalid."
The male shakes his head, "he has not been harmed. But he is of the Onism."
I continue to walk. The male that is behind me is apprehensive. He is waiting for me to snap at any moment. I do not know how to tell him that I am already practiced in the art of survival. I have felt the sensation already of nothing being clear, and everything choking.
I hear the male come to attention. Glancing behind me, I see the Elephant King turning the corner, men trailing after him as they converse.
"So they are making their way here? How many days then?" His questions stop short as he pauses in the open hallway.
He grins at the viewing of me, "hello, Mikabellum. Are you enjoying the sights?"
I look at the males that are behind him. They seem uncomfortable at the freedom I have been granted. One makes this observation known as he voices his concern, a whisper that crawls its way to my hearing.
"King Aran, perhaps she should be limited to activity within the room she was assigned?"
The King waves his hand dismissively, "she is only a girl. There is no harm in letting her out."
His gaze meets mine. A challenge runs between us. His words have me tilting my head down, leveling my stare to fully take him in. The males behind him are split- some seem nervous, others look as if they agree with their King.
But slowly, slowly, a smile begins to form on my face at the nativity they carried.
"I would not underestimate her, My King..." it is the male with skin like the night who whispers now. His eyes look at me, and I know that he sees through me. He takes me in, and it is not the surface that he notes. It is the heartbreak and destruction that is wrecked underneath.
But the King only laughs.
"Walk with me, Mikabellum. We were discussing the great conqueror and his new army."
He continues down his path, his eyes not bothering to see if I will follow his command. Wordlessly, I find my feet creating the route that he carries, as I step behind him. He slows in his walk, making it so that we are now side by side.
"How many of the nomadic tribes does he possess?"
I look at the King from the corner of my eye. He is waiting for my answer. I only shake my head.
"You do not know, or you will not say?" there is an edge of a threat in his voice that I can hear now.
"Will you kill me if I do not tell you?"
He stops and turns to me.
A thoughtful look is on his face, "No...I don't think I will...then the Onism really would have a reason to declare their little war on me, now wouldn't they?"
He continues walking until he steps out of the exposed walls. The structure of this palace is open. Everything, from the windows to the hallways, is left with enough space that no one can feel trapped.
From the exit, we emerge in an enclosing that is hidden away. A private garden of sorts that has my eyes widening. I have never seen water that is still before. Water that has been captured upon the ground such as this- it reminds me of the hot springs, the pictures of those images unwillingly going to my mind.
I look at this King. Was he a man who had enough power to command the water? Enough that instead of using it for life, he could place it in the center of his home, for no reason than to only look at it?
No one seems affected by the sight. No one even glances at the pool that is at our feet. I look at the color, taking in the depth. How far did it go? If they rushed upon me now, and tied my arms, my legs- if they tossed me into this blue, how far would I sink?
What would it be like to take my last breath in something that suffocated my lungs, that pressed upon my body like this?
"Tell me, Mikabellum...what are you thinking?" He seems entranced by my own fascination. I look up and meet his gaze. His head is tilted, his eyes narrowed with an amused look on his face.
"You think you can command the water," I look back to the surface that was undisturbed.
He laughs, "I don't command it. It's just a pool. There is nothing to command about it. You certainly are a strange creature..."
He steps forward and reaches for my face.
Just as sudden as his movements are, my eyes flash up to him. My teeth bare down upon his approach, and a threat is heard between my lips.
He stills, hand still outstretched.
"Mmmhh..." he does not pull back and instead takes a step closer. "You are very beautiful. I can see why they would choose you to be their goddess..."
"There is no beauty in war."
Confusion marrows his features as he looks away, thinking over my words. He looks at his men, but they seem just as lost as he.
"Well..." he takes a step back, shaking his head, "I'm not sure what to do with you. I can't have you running back to the Onism...Maybe this is all a trick? I would not put it past that man to bring you here and try to have you seek out information."
He nods his head forward, and I feel the light pressure upon my back, a force to make me move and continue to follow.
We silently make our way to the throne room. I recognize it. At the feet of the steps, two women converse. They are dress in such finery, that I have a flash of wonder if they were goddesses. If they were holy also.
But the King only walks closer to them and gently pats their heads, a look of adoration coming onto the female's faces.
With that interaction, I know that they are not something of the divine.
"Clio...Evadne...you are in the presence of a real goddess!" his tone is one of mocking as he turns to me, laughter there in his eyes. "Mikabellum, meet my second wife, Clio, and my fourth wife, Evadne."
Clio looks at me with what can only be described as pity. The female called Evadne, however, reminds me of the males upon the battlefield as she stands and wraps her arms around a King. Her eyes flash in a challenge that I do not have the energy to meet.
I look at the beautiful male with skin that reminds me of the night- the only one who seemed to have any sense within this place.
"I'm going back to the room."
I feel my smile come to my face as I turn my back to them, the curl of my lips mirroring the male as he shakes his head at my commanding tone.
"Wait, Mikabellum- I brought you here for a reason. Don't tell me you are jealous?"
I turn back to this King. I tilt my head, looking at the women he wore like clothes to his skin.
"How many wives do you have?"
He grins, "six."
I laugh, "why would I be jealous of such a simple number. Thousands of men have fallen at my feet, blood has been spilled in fights over my beauty. I have witnessed battles fought to conquer my soul and have had hundreds of husbands by every single male within the Onism. Your six wives..." I shake my head and look at the women. Clio is smiling at me. I see confusion in the other woman's eyes as she looks up to her King. "What a petty number," I said, before motioning to the other male to follow me, and returning to the room.
* * *
Hours later, there is a knock on the door.
I turn from where I sit and feel a frustrated sigh escape me when the King emerges.
He grins, "this is my palace. And yet you act as if you have the authority to command me?" he seems baffled by the thought as he moves closer and sits across from me.
"Does my company upset you?"
I feel another frustrated sigh come to me, "I wish you would leave me alone."
He shakes his head, "I find you fascinating. I wonder how they were able to make you believe your lie so well."
"There is always some truth woven in lies that are told," I whisper.
He is silent. I continue to look out at the sky, taking in the way the world exploded whenever the sun and moon wished to trade places. Violence always occurred when the two objects met, and I wonder if the same could be said for me and him. If I could be the sun and the great leader could be the moon, and if our destinies were never meant to be created from peace.
"How old are you?"
"I am ageless."
He laughs. His laughter irritates me. I have met no male who laughs so much. But his sound is not from amusement, and I suspect he does so to only cover up his real emotion that he wished to hide.
"Blessed Shiana- they took your mind and rattled it. How easy it was to delude you into thinking you are something else."
"You see yourself as a King." I turn to fully face him. His grin is there in place. Covering his truth. He raises an eyebrow. I stare in fascination at the display of skin, the emotion that is carried.
"That is because I am a King."
"By what means...by what object..." my voice fades away as I stare into the growing night. I wish he would leave. I wish they would all leave. "They placed a crown upon your head and told you that you were something. You believe it now. If they took that crown away, would you become something less? Would you fall from the place you have ascended?"
I face him.
His eyes are wide. And it's that moment that I smile when I see the effect I have on him.
"Hell..." he runs a hand through his hair, a nervous sound escaping from his throat. I look in amusement, at the shaken King.
For a while, nothing is said between us. I can feel his eyes upon me, as he takes me in. I do not look his way.
"Please..." his sudden desperate tone startles me. In my trance of thought, I had not noticed how close he unexpectedly was. "Tell me your name."
I look heavenward at the persistence of this male.
He reaches for my hand, but I pull back, a hiss leaving me that he dare try to touch me.
"I could have you killed," he suddenly says, anger clear in his voice. "I could have your head taken and sent to the Onism upon a plate. I could take your limbs, tie them to rope, I could have them attached to horses and let the animals go- pulling and stretching." He moves closer and his hand is extended, fingers searching. I push back and see the power struggle that we are now in. More chaos consumes his gaze as the violence of his words match his eyes, creating a cloud of red that goes with the hair on top of his head.
"I could have you drink poison. I could push you off this," he points to the drop that is exposed by the opening of the wall, "and see your broken body on the ground."
His breathing is heavy. He moves closer to me, his body coming to where I am so that he can be stretched over me as he looks down. Arms are caged around me, holding himself above, but I know that at any second, he can bend, and move to fully enclose me.
"Are you scared?" he whispers in my ear.
I lean my head back and bite his neck.
A startled cry arises from him as he sits back, his hand going up on the spot where I had marked him.
I laugh at his action. "You may say the words of a man, but you are nothing but a boy," I feel tears of laughter stream down my face as I take in the anger that was once again consuming.
"You want my body? You want the taste of something divine? Something holy? The feeling of power that only I can give to you?" I lift my arms, extending them towards him.
"I have been tasted before, and I have been touched by men such as you. Power, power, power- that is all you see and wish to claim. Throw me," I point to the balcony, "toss me aside. Remove my body. It is the flesh that tempts you now, but that distraction can easily be taken away with a single order upon your lips."
I sit closer, letting our chests meet. His eyes are wide, his face showing shock and confusion. Unease at the sudden grab for power I have made and claimed. He was not used to such women? Why then did he even try to approach me? Why would he try to make such a claim if he could not handle me in the first place?
I laugh because only one male had ever been able to amass enough power to take that. Only a great conqueror had the ability to do so to a goddess- a vanquisher in all things, including the divine. These red flames of the Elephant king were weak when compared to the black fire that had already touched and consumed me.
He slowly stands up, his limbs untangling from mine as he straightens out, and pushes away.
"Maybe you are real..." he still holds doubt in his words. So without any thought, I move to him and capture his lips. A startled groan escapes from the King and I smile at the sight of his skin matching his hair, his knees unexpectedly falling.
Conquerors fell before me, but now so did Kings.
I pull back and see the stars reflected in his eyes.
"Why would you do that?" his voice sounds strangled and I know that he is lost. He holds no power over me, even if he wanted to. Even if he tried.
"Do you believe it now?" I ask him, "after tasting the divine, and feeling it upon your lips – do you believe that I am blessed?"
His wide eyes show fear as he takes me in. I laugh at the sight. He stands and looks down, his fingers absentmindedly tracing his lips.
"It's not possible."
It sounds as if he is trying to convince himself. But the smile on my face only grows with the unease that is spreading on his. He takes a step back, and then another.
"They told me I was holy," I whisper to his retreating back, "and they bowed at my feet to prove it."
The closing of the door is the only answer I receive. But the laughter does not stop as I continue to remember the look upon the King's face when he had been allowed to taste something of the heavens.
*hugs* thank you for waiting ♥
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