Chapter 53

Dawn broke; the first hint of light breaking across Jedah's closed eyes. With a deep breath and a long slow sigh, he opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling above. Had he gone to Krimzon yesterday? With…? A feminine mumble snapped his thoughts out of hazy half-sleep, and Jedah lifted his head to see Amelia curled up in the blanket with him. After another moment, he considered his lack of clothing. Oh. Well. Yes, he had.

His pale blue gaze traced over her for a moment as he watched to see if she'd wake. When she didn't, he settled on watching her a bit more. He couldn't understand her, couldn't figure what it was about her that drew him closer. She soothed him, eased the pain in his fragile mortal heart.

He shifted, falling through the blankets of the makeshift bed, moving through the floor to the ceiling of the room below, passing through that and alighting on the floor of the foyer below the library. He drew a pair of pants around himself with a flicker of magic, and then leaned against the wall to close his eyes and wonder at himself.

What was he doing? He, Hellmaster, loving a mortal woman? He'd lost all semblance of sanity, hadn't he? "Oh… what am I doing?"

"I can tell you what you were doing…" It was a whisper spoken, a voice that danced on the edge of his mind, and Jedah turned his head, opening his eyes to see Xellos standing there with a smirk.

Jedah didn't move, just stayed against the wall. "Xellos… don't use this against me." He didn't have it in him to fight over this. He loved them both, regardless. "I can't choose one or the other of you. I have no place in her life, no ground on which I could safely stand. If I am seen with her… well, you should know, after all. And you… after everything that's gone between us… May Shabranigdo condemn me for it, but I love you both."

Xellos found that his mouth had fallen open, but there weren't any words that he could give. Instead, he opened those violet eyes and looked to Jedah for a moment before closing the distance between them and kissing his lips softly. He faded from the room, his touch turning to so much mist as Jedah realized that Amelia had appeared in the archway from the stairs.

Jedah didn't need to ask if she'd seen; the silence that filled the room was enough to tell him that she had. And strangely, he felt no need or compulsion to explain. He just closed his eyes, sighing.

There were perhaps a handful of shuffles, a whisper of skin against wooden floor, and a soft hand touched Jedah's cheek. "Good morning, Jedah," Amelia's words were soft, and nearly broke his heart in the simplicity of which her acceptance of his nature ran.

He lifted his hand to hers, opening his eyes as he moved to kiss her fingers and look to her gently. "I know you saw him, Amelia. There's no need to hide it for my sake." It was written in her eyes, but it wasn't pain. It was surprise.

"You said your mother would recreate him. I think I was more surprised that he would look and sound so much like the old…" Amelia stopped, looking at the expression in his eyes, the glitter of pain that had flashed in that light blue for a second. "It is him, isn't it? It isn't a recreation. How did he survive?"

"My mother set me up, Amelia. Though I doubt she knew the length to which I was willing to go, she gave Xellos orders that I knew nothing about." He stood, pulling her hand down from his cheek, looking at her for a moment before he smiled faintly. "We should get you home before they worry." There wasn't any need to explain who it was he meant.

Amelia tilted her head and at last nodded. "Yes… though if Xellos knows where you and I are, and what we do here…" There was little doubt in her mind that Zelgadis could find out just as easily. "Xellos…" she faltered. Would he tell? Did Mazoku such as Jedah and Xellos have jealous hearts as well as loving ones? She was afraid she already knew the answer.

Jedah shook his head, his magic wrapping around them both, swirling and sweeping around, changing their location with a single thought. "Don't worry about Xellos. I'll take care of him. But you must know that I cannot choose between you and him, Amelia. I love you both too dearly for that."

Amelia shook her head as she looked to him. "I couldn't ask that of you, Jedah." She paused, realizing that somehow in the discussion, they had returned to Saillune, and were both fully dressed in the foyer of the Palace. "What I will ask of you is this: Jedah Greywords Metallium, Hellmaster Jedaikun, I: Amelia wil Tesla Saillune request that you accept the post of Royal Advisor upon my ascension to the throne. You will be granted the rights and privileges that come with such post, including a pension, and barring the necessity of funds, housing within the Palace. In your capacity as Advisor, you will be expected to escort me to all State events until such time as I attain a Consort, and your insight to the Mazoku Hierarchy will prove invaluable."

In those words, Jedah heard not only the voice of a young woman in love, but the voice of a woman who knew what she was asking, and what paths it opened as well as closed. He saw it all clearly, as if she had laid it out on the floor before him and drawn it as clear as a map. As he fell to his knee before her, Jedah knew that he had been wrong in thinking that Amelia would be a good Queen: she already was.

"As you wish it, my Queen."