Chapter Twenty-One
Lina looked to Naga as Zelgadis faded from sight. "Erina's not Slidell's child. She's Jedah's. That's it, isn't it?" The realization had hit her moments before Zelgadis had cursed, a sharp tingle of electricity running through her as the implications of that slammed into place. "Holy Cepheid, Naga." For the first time in Lina's memory, she was completely and totally out of words.
"There are a lot of things that you don't know, Lina. Amelia's a figurehead. She always has been. The true power of Saillune is held by the Council of Advisors, which I head. That's why I couldn't be crowned: to prevent families such as Slidell from being able to wrest power away." Naga said quietly as she turned and walked across the room. "It's the secret to how the country has stayed steady."
Lina's brain was starting to hurt. "So you're the true leader of Saillune. I can handle that. It's a strange thought to think that the woman who drove me insane with her rampantly miserable magic is the ruler of a country, but I think I can wrap my brain around that one." She lifted a hand to her head and cast a minor healing spell. "What I can't grasp is why Amelia wants Kyle Slidell."
"She doesn't, Lina. She's still acting the scorned woman, choosing Slidell because he showed a hint of interest, even though he's just in it for the power. She's doing everything that she can to catch Jedah's attention. I wasn't here, so I can't say if that is Jedah's child or not. I was busy chasing shadows across the continent, securing trade routes and fostering good relations for Saillune." The thought of Erina being Jedah's daughter set Naga's teeth on edge. A Mazoku child wasn't something that Saillune needed.
"Can this get any more screwed up?" Lina asked in exasperation. "Amelia's a mother, Queen in name only and in love with a Mazoku Lord while professing to be married to a snot-nosed power-grubbing weasel." She suddenly longed for those lazy afternoons where she'd looked over at Zelgadis and complained that there was nothing to do except go blast a few bandits and even that was getting old. "Don't even get me started on Jedah… if you ask me, they're well suited for each other without a shred of maturity between them."
Naga gave Lina a baleful expression. "Don't curse me like that, Lina! I don't want this! The last thing that I need or want underfoot is a Mazoku Lord and his child, if she is his child. I haven't ratified the marriage to Slidell; that can be dissolved with little effort. But you're right: if those two don't settle things between them both, I'll have to step forwards, act in my capacity as Head Advisor and dethrone Amelia. And if I have to do that… then Saillune lacks a Queen." Naga didn't want that.
Zelgadis chose that precise moment to reappear, fury evident in his eyes. "I'm going to lock them both in a small room and not let either of them out until they've decided what they're going to do about how they feel. By Shabranigdo, he's worse than I am!"
The outburst earned him a droll look from Lina, who turned to her husband with arms folded, and then glanced back to Naga for a moment. "You know, for a moment there, Naga, I was starting to feel a little better about my own relationship." She turned to look at Zelgadis and smirked. "Oh, sure, Mister 'I don't know who or what I am, so I'm going to skulk around in black and pretend it's not me.' I, for one, am completely convinced that you two are related!"
It was a little too much for Naga, who gave into her initial reaction and turned on both Lina and Zelgadis. "Out. Both of you, out. Just go. I don't care where; just leave me alone while I try to sort some logic out of this mess that your half-Mazoku hearts have turned into my home." She moved to Lina, pushing the sorceress towards her husband. "Go. Please."
Zelgadis sidestepped and looked at Naga with a piercing gaze for a moment, and frowned. "A rumor confirmed. It's been suspected that you were the power behind Saillune for some time now. I understand that now. Amelia is the one that the people see, the face that they need to love. You pull the strings from the shadows and enjoy the anonymity that you could never have otherwise. It is a shrewd setup of power."
Naga stopped pushing the pair of them out and looked to Zelgadis. "Jedah throws the balance off. I'm sorry that she loves him, sorrier still that she can't be with him. But she has to do what is proper, not what is always in line with the desires of her heart. And what is proper is to find someone that she can tolerate who carries a lineage of name." Naga couldn't change that. She could help choose the one Amelia would marry, but she could not bend the rules. Not even in the slightest.
"Then I have something for you, Naga. Something that you may not have realized. My lineage is Jedah's lineage. To put the proper familial ties in place, my grandfather was Rezo the Red Priest. Rezo was half-brother to Jedah and to Lei Magnus both, so you may well wish to reconsider your stance on lineage." Zelgadis replied calmly. "The true title of Lord Greywords would belong to Jedah and not myself, though Jedah's primary claim is Metallium. On the Mazoku realm, Jedah is as high as you get without entering the circles of Shabranigdo or Cepheid."
Lina looked a little bored, for she'd heard this recant of lineage before. She was interested in what Naga thought of it, for the bald-faced facts often ended being less appealing than the softer illusion that Jedah and Zelgadis shrouded themselves with. "Naga, hear him out. This is more to this than you can possibly imagine."
"I don't know if he ever told you his true name, Naga." Zelgadis said quietly. "Before he was Lord Hellmaster, he was Jedaikun Metallium san Greywords, the sole living heir to Ambervale."