Somebody stop me any time now . . . preferably before I hurt myself.
Chapter 7
Prince Endymion and the Queen faced each other gravely in her private study.
"Do you know of this Sorceress Beryl?"
"Yes, my Queen. I have heard of her. But I thought nothing of the woman . . . that is, until now."
The sorceress's name had recently surfaced among the secret pockets of the rebels on Earth. Endymion's spies had just relayed the vital piece of information to the Moon Kingdom.
The prince continued, "I don't understand it. Beryl's never been a threat before. True, we have been unable to locate her previously, but she has no real power, you see. There must be something more to the skirmishes than just her. She must be gaining strength from an unknown source, a source powerful enough to cause such disturbance."
The Queen's wise eyes slanted. "I don't like the feel of her, Prince Endymion. The ginzuishou pulses. The rebellions have been rising in number and severity steadily over the past couple of years; and more and more of your servants are being found to be traitors, wishing to overthrow you." Her head shook and Endymion couldn't help thinking how much she resembled her child. "It could be nothing . . . or it could be something."
The tall ebony-haired man agreed. "I'll see to it, my Queen. Only allow me to stay a little while longer. I have my generals on Earth. I know it will be safe in their capable hands for right now."
"Something troubles you, my prince?" the queen asked, her voiced lifting at the end of the question.
"It's probably nothing," he said, pondering. "But I don't like that man Prince Demando. I want to stay until he leaves and I'm sure he's out of the picture."
"You don't think he has something to do with Sorceress Beryl?"
"I don't know," he answered ambiguously.
"I disbelieve that's the case," the wise Queen corrected him.
"Yes, my Queen. But even so . . ."
* * *
Princess Serenity was seated on the edge of a sparkling fountain, improving upon her stitch work. Luna sat calmly next her, quietly supervising her progress.
"You're stitches are getting too long, Serenity," Luna warned.
Princess Venus was seated on the grass at their feet. Her stitching was perfect.
The moon princess sighed and tried not be cross with her friend and tutor. She had been distracted lately, ever since the night of her mother's birthday, when Prince Demando had kissed her. She knew she shouldn't let it worry her. Prince Demando was simply drunk. Everyone new how people did stupid things under the influence of alcohol. But it wasn't necessarily Demando's actions that were bothering her. It was her own reaction to them.
She had kissed Prince Endymion earlier that night. The kiss was mutual, and unofficially consented upon by both parties. When she helped Demando into bed, he had kissed her without her permission. His kiss was different than Endymion's, softer, and more hesitant. It drew on the strength of the bond they had made. She was worried because she hadn't disliked the kiss, only been stunned by it.
She cared for Demando, it was true. That was nothing new to her. But since when had she accepted that she would take a kiss from him and enjoy it?
"Done!" Venus shouted and hopped up from the ground, startling Serenity out of her thoughts. The "other moon child," as she was sometimes referred to, handed her work over to Luna who inspected it carefully and handed it back with a nod of approval.
"That's lovely, Venus. Artemis is always bragging after you."
"Why, thank you, Luna." The sunny young woman grinned and flounced away to enjoy her freedom, much to the Princess Serenity's secret annoyance.
"If you finish up soon, Serenity, then you can leave too. Don't give me that look! If you truly hate sowing, be done with it and stop dawdling!"
* * *
Serenity trudged down the open-air halls of the Moon Palace in the late afternoon, glaring accusingly at her mutilated stitching. Exasperated, Luna had finally released her, declaring that the princess was hopelessly uncultured. She should have been paying attention, because when she rounded a corner she ran – bam! – straight into none other than Prince Demando.
"I – I'm so sorry!" she looked up, flustered, then quickly hid her poor excuse for stitch work behind her back.
He looked down on her thoughtfully, his eyes the only things on his entire being that revealed how tenderly and considerately he regarded her. "It's fine . . . what are you hiding?"
"Oh, nothing," she smiled. Then she noticed (only she could have) through the most subtle of differences in his usual facade that there was something disturbing him. "What's concerning you, Demando-sama?"
He paused. "Have you spoken to the Earth Prince lately?" He said "Earth Prince" as detachedly as if he were referring to a plant.
"Not since this morning. I've been with Luna for most of the day." Her slender eyebrows rose inquisitively at him.
"Those rebellions on Earth all seem to have been instigated under the influence of one person: a sorceress, I believe. Her Grace the Queen feels apprehensively about it."
"What does it mean?"
"It means trouble . . . nevertheless, it doesn't matter to me."
"That's right," Serenity apprehended, "you're leaving soon, aren't you?" He couldn't help detecting with mixed feelings the tone of regret in her voice.
"In three days."
"That soon!"
Demando nodded.
There followed a long, un-awkward pause, while each person shuffled through his or her thoughts. They were used to not speaking in each other's company.
Serenity was the first to tilt her head upwards and speak again. "You'll write me, won't you?" It was a slightly suppliant request.
"I promise." His voice was a low murmur. He placed his left hand on her right shoulder, locking her gaze somberly for a moment, then moved around her, dropping his arm and continuing along as he had been before their unexpected meeting.
She watched him go with shimmering eyes that betrayed her unanticipated, perplexing sorrow.
* * *
Endymion wondered what he had meant when he told the Moon Queen that he distrusted Prince Demando. It wasn't because the man could possibly have anything to do with the upheavals on Earth. Nemesis was on terrible terms with the Earthlings, and the traitors had all been Terrans. No, Endymion suspected rather that it was the grave man's strange, unrelenting hold on his fiancé.
Despite himself, the prince couldn't help feeling jealous at the princess's obvious respect and affection for him. But that the young woman would actually fall for such a bland, characterless creature was ludicrous! He had nothing to worry about. Still, he knew he would feel instantly better the moment the Nemsian left, and he had his precious Serenity once more solely to himself.
* * *
Change came sweeping over the palace and royal courtyards with the fall breeze. Princess Mars stilled. What was it?
The raven-haired creature made a straight line for the palace temple. Tending the fire within the heart of the sacred area – for she was the temple priestess – she gazed intently into the blinding flames, the heat scorching her cheeks into roses.
"Tell me," she petitioned the knowledge-giving blaze, but it remained silent.
* * *
"Prince Demando," the Queen murmured in her smooth, reassuring way. They were standing on the balcony that opened up from the sitting room. "I've already told you of the troubles on Earth. Things are going to have to change, at least for a while. We need to take necessary precautions . . . for the safety of the Kingdom, you understand." She gazed out across the open night area, taking in the large portion of her kingdom that was visible from this room.
Demando said nothing, but he was focused on the Queen, a foreboding feeling crashing over him.
The unnaturally chilly breeze tousled their light hair with shivering fingers, mingling white and silver.
Queen Serenity sighed heavily. How could she put this empathetically? There was so much more that went into being a good queen besides a well-rounded mix of homeland and foreign policy. "The Prince Endymion and I were speaking earlier, and we both agreed that it would be for the best if you ceased all communication and contact with Her Grace the Princess Serenity from now on after your return home." She looked at him sympathetically, everything about her – from the way she held her head to her demeanor – a consolation to him that she truly did not wish for this to be so, but felt it was for the best.
But Prince Demando stared at her, violet eyes all ice. She admitted she didn't know how he would react, but she had expected he would do something – something other than just stand there, hard and lifeless, a perfectly carved statue; a counterfeit of humanity.
"Prince Demando . . . I wish I didn't have to ask this of you. But you must not ever speak to Serenity again . . . do you understand?" Her voice was a contradiction: gentle and stern.
"I understand," he answered, his voice eerily light and melodic; composed and deathly serious. Fierce white hair swirled about his frozen, detached features, his emotionless face.
She nodded at him, turned away, letting him know he was dismissed. She avoided direct eye contact, shivering faintly from the breeze and uneasiness combined.
Demando walked briskly away, hardly making a noise but for the subtle taping of his shoes on fine marble. The sounds reverberated in the ageless woman's ears like ominous gongs.
His deadly calm frightened the unmovable, impenetrable queen.
* * *
The severe white prince walked purposefully through the starlit opened halls of the palace, bright ensemble unmistakable in the dark. Lamps had not yet been lit in this wing of the citadel. Hatred scorched behind his eyelids, licking at his being, threatening to undo him. Resentment burned in his soul. Yet beyond the struggling of his most inner, secret self, he retained the passive, expressionless façade of a dead man. Servants and courtiers alike who passed him by in the hall shrunk back in fear at the terrible sight of him. He moved directly, head forward, eyes fixed ahead of him. He neither saw nor spoke to another. He loathed them all.
All except her. And now they would take her from him. How dare they? She was not theirs to control. She liked him, she cared for him. They cared for no one.
He promised to write her. What would she think of him when he failed to keep that promise? Would they tell her that they banished him from ever speaking to her again? Would they lie and deny it? Would she be angry, would she care? Would she eventually forget?
He suffocated in his own bitterness. It was worse than intoxication. He couldn't even think clearly. His mind was painfully numb, but every step he took with undeniable certainty.
The selfish, insipid imbeciles. They had not changed since the time Demando's first ancestors were exiled to that vile, wretched rock. Well, damn them. Damn them all to hell.
He walked briskly to her thick wooden chamber door and knocked impatiently. A murmur like the sound of a dove came from within. The door opened and a sleepy, baffled princess stood before him, rubbing childishly at her eyes, golden unruly hair spilling over her shoulders in a sunny waterfall. She was clothed only in a night gown of a thin, white linen material.
Demando didn't even hesitate when he grabbed the girl's wrist and tugged her away with him out into the corridor. His grip was like a vice.
"Ow! Demando-sama, where are you taking me? What's wrong?" she asked piteously, completely bewildered.
The private wing of the palace was dark and unoccupied. One or two servants who witnessed them backed away quickly, fearful of the man's daggered eyes and thinking that their princess could not be in any danger – if the frightening man came to her late at night, well, that was her business whether or not she wanted to deal with him. They knew as well as anybody of the strange association between them and preferred not to question it.
Demando dragged his precious possession out onto the circling balcony and down the stairs into the gardens. The summer flowers were gone. Their season had ended. (The garland too, the one she had given him, had long since dried and shriveled up, dissolving into dust when he lifted it from the place where it had rested all summer. He had thrown it vehemently at the wall in frustration at his inner turmoil at leaving.)
"Demando, where are we going? Tell me!" Serenity pleaded.
Her supplications fell on deaf ears.
He knew exactly where he was headed. The moon's royalty were not the only ones who possessed supernatural gifts. Demando had sensed a point of power – it was in the lake, where he'd gone often to be alone and to contemplate. By tapping into the natural power, he could use his own ability to open a portal there that would open up into Nemesis. He could then seal the gate, and no one would be able to follow.
His pathetic captive finally sensed with a sickening horror that she was in trouble. She struggled to free her wrist from his grasp, but he was far too strong. She hadn't realized how strong he was . . . he had always been gentle with her. Now his face was appallingly harsh and unresponsive. She cried out loud, but it was too late. Not a soul could hear her.
Now, looking back, her mother's palace appeared high up and far away, on top of the sloping, shrub-covered hill. Tears stung her eyes despite every effort to restraint them. What was going to happen?
Demando brought them to the lake and stopped just before their feet splashed into the water. Holding out his hands with fingers spread, he called forth his power in a black, pulsing cloud of energy that generated from the glyph on his forehead and enveloped him. Serenity trembled. She was so cold. Who was this man who had taken her? It couldn't be her Demando.
A black gaping hole, hovering horizontally just above the surface of the rippling, wind-torn water manifested itself. Demando gripped Serenity's arm tighter and dragged her forward into the water.
She made one last futile attempt at resistance. Then, clasping him back, she jerked him backwards toward herself, forcing him to look her directly in the face. Tears streamed noiselessly and continuously down her pale cheeks. She begged him wordlessly in their own private heart-speech. He wavered for the first time in those beautiful, depthless, blue eyes. The stony features softened to flesh for just a moment. But he was driven by his hatred, his fear, and his desire. And seeing her, knowing that even now she had a willing, self-endowed connection with him finalized the matter. To have left her was to have reverted back into his old, meaningless existence. After years of sacrificing for others, he was going to do this one thing for himself – he was going to be happy.
The poor misguided man.
More determined than ever, he flung her into the portal still holding her hand, and followed after.
He was going home. No, Saffir, he thought, I will not return empty-handed.
The portal disappeared, gone. In the tranquility of the night, a shrill, piercing cry smashed the silence like a mirror, shattering the glass into a million jagged pieces. Princess Mars sprung up in her bed, cold sweat soaking the silken sheets. "Noooooo!" she sobbed, tearing at her night gown and clutching her midnight hair. "Our Princess is taken . . .!"
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The end. Just kidding!
Eccentric young woman who likes long walks on the beach, romantic conversations, and writing fanfiction seeks a tall, white-haired, moody, young man preferably by the name of Demando. *looks around expectantly for anyone who fits the description, while all applicable immediately leave the room*
Darn it! Now who's going to be the main male character for this fic?