***
The sculptor frowned, wrinkled his brow, then put his chisel and hammer back to the large block of marble, partially chiseled into already. The marble was beginning to take on the form of a woman, beautiful and curvilinear, tender to lay eyes upon.
He looked back at his subject, then at the sculpture and proceeded to continue. Suddenly he threw down his tools and sighed in half-frustration, half-admiration.
"I can't do it any longer," he told his subject helplessly. "There is no possible way to capture that beauty by sculpture. You are simply too beautiful."
The sculptor's subject dropped her pose and stared at him.
"What do you mean, she's 'too beautiful'?" asked her father, stepping forward with an angry look on his face. "I've had sculptures of my other two daughters done by their seventeenth birthdays. I want one for my youngest daughter as well. What's wrong with you?"
"Your majesty, you know as well as I do that your other two daughters are of no comparison to this one of yours," the sculptor said. "They know it themselves. The entire planet speaks of your daughter's tender beauty. The news even spreads to the Terrans, who whisper of a goddess on the moon above. She is the most beautiful young woman ever to live, and this marble simply does her no justice."
King Hyperion sighed. He'd had the same problem with the last three sculptors who'd come to make a statue of his daughter's form, each one respectively more expensive, up until the most expensive, this one. All had the same complaint—that with even their excellent skill, they still could not capture the beauty of his daughter in the stone they shaped.
"Fine. Be off with you," said King Hyperion, and he waved his hand. Two guards came to the sculptor's side and escorted him off the premises. He was still blinking from staring at his subject, and shaking his head in disbelief.
The sculptor's beautiful subject sat down sadly, a tear running down her cheek.
"Oh, Serenity, don't cry," said King Hyperion, gathering his daughter in his arms. "I'm so sorry. I'll find another one, I promise."
"No," said Serenity, shaking her head. "No more. They all go away so discouraged. I don't want anymore to come and try."
Hyperion nodded. "All right then. I'll hire no more."
"Your highness," said a messenger most respectfully, standing away from the king and lowering his eyes from the sight of the sobbing young princess, "there are those outdoors who await to see your daughter. They want to lay eyes on her."
"Tell them to go away," King Hyperion said, annoyed.
"They have travelled all the way from the planet Earth, and they spent much money on this trip. There is one who is an artist who wishes to paint her."
"Tell them I said—"
"No, Daddy," Serenity said, swiping her tears and looking up at her father with a gentle smile on her face. "It is okay. They've come all the way from Earth, after all! They may come to see me if they wish."
Hyperion let out an exasperated sigh and dragged his fingers through his graying hair. "All right, Serenity. I can never deny you anything. If they do start bothering you, call a messenger to have them sent away."
"Yes, Daddy."
Hyperion gently kissed his daughter on her forehead and stood up to walk away. He couldn't bear to sit through another ogling session.
***
"Oh, Hyperion, you stress yourself too much."
Hyperion leaned on the bureau and turned to the bed he shared with his wife, Queen Serenity I. The two rulers gracefully ruled the Moon Kingdom, a kingdom situated on the small white satellite of the blue and green planet beneath called Terra, or Earth. Their youngest daughter, Serenity II, had been named for the gentle moon queen. He loved his wife dearly, and all three of his daughters. But they were always giving him advice, and he hated the fact that they were right most of the time. In this case, his wife Serenity was right.
"I know. But Serenity—" He sighed and stared back at the picture on the bureau. "It's been a family tradition to have a statue of the girls placed in the hall. Trivia and Diana have had statues of themselves placed there; I wish to have Serenity have one as well!"
"Oh, Hyperion," Serenity repeated, looking at her husband in amusement. "You know the main reason that we have prepared the statues of our daughters. Both Trivia and Diana are also lovely. Trivia was about to be married, and so you had a statue made for her. Diana began to be courted a few months later; you knew her marriage was imminent and so you carried on the tradition. It is basically for us to have something to remember them by, when they go far off to live with their husbands. Serenity is not engaged at all; there is no man courting her, and no danger of having her whisked away. Don't worry so. We have plenty of time to find a sculptor that can capture Serenity's beautiful figure in stone."
Hyperion fell silent. That was another point that was bothering him. Princess Serenity was turning seventeen, and, as Queen Serenity mentioned, both of his older daughters were involved with men who would soon become their husbands at that age. Here Serenity was already seventeen and no man had an interest in courting her; they only wanted to lay eyes on her surpassing loveliness.
"Don't you worry about that either," said Serenity, seeing the cloudy look overtake Hyperion's face. "Your daughter will marry well. Both Trivia and Diana have. Serenity is so very lovely; there are many men who would want her as a wife. Not only that, she's exceedingly modest, generous, kind...you needn't worry yourself to death over her; the younger they are, the longer they stay close to the home."
"I know…" Hyperion sighed and turned back to his wife. "But even you were unhappy with that. And I know it must disturb Serenity, even though she keeps her chin up."
"That's Serenity," said Serenity, smiling at her husband. "She's always been able to see the brighter side. That, she inherited from me." Her smile turned into a smirk. "You, on the other hand…"
Hyperion waved his hand at his wife as if to dismiss her words. "Whatever."
"Whatever nothing. Get into bed. It's cold in here and I'd rather you warm me than a candle..."
"What, so that you can wish another daughter upon me?"
As he did climb into bed, Serenity lovingly swatted at her husband.
*****
"Trivia! You're back home!"
Princess Trivia laughed merrily as her younger sister threw her arms around her neck and hugged her back tightly. "Oh, I've missed you too, Serenity! Look at you! You positively grow more radiant as you grow up!"
"Trivia, you make yourself sound so old!" Serenity's other sister Diana chided, laughing at her sister. Trivia and Diana were fraternal twins, both of them three years older than Serenity at age twenty. However, Trivia was already married to a rich governor in the southern unit of the Moon Kingdom, and Diana was about to be married to a governor in a closer and larger unit of the kingdom.
"We're reunited again," said Serenity, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh, I couldn't wait until you came back, Trivia! I've been counting the days, too. You can see my calendar as proof; I've marked off all the days that've passed and—"
"Her mouth gets bigger, too," said Trivia, smiling at her sister. "Yes, I understand, Serenity! I've missed you too. We've been busy down at our end of the Moon Kingdom, what with all the records Orcas has to take care of…oh, does that man ever stop updating? He does his job quite well, though." Trivia laughed again, this time in a knowing way. "He can do other things quite well, too."
Diana smirked at her twin sister. "Quiet, Trivia, that kind of thing shouldn't reach Serenity's ears!"
"Neither you, at least not until your wedding night!" Trivia said. "Don't go projecting yourself over Serenity, you're still unmarried as of yet. Anyway, as I was saying, Orcas had many things to take care of, but I simply couldn't miss my little sister's wedding!"
"Of course not!" said Serenity. "You're in it."
"Even if I weren't," said Trivia. "I would definitely come to my younger sister's wedding, just as I will come to yours when you get married, Serenity. Diana, have you picked anything for the wedding yet? I want to see dresses and things."
"I haven't done anything yet!" Diana said, throwing her hands in the air. "I wanted to have both of my sisters with me to help me." Diana smiled at her two sisters.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Serenity said. "The three of us are all together again, and best of all, we're going shopping!"
To that, Diana and Trivia both had to chuckle.
***
"What color would you like your attendants to wear, Diana?" asked Trivia as she absently picked up a bright yellow dress from the rack.
"Oh, I don't know," said Diana. "Serenity's the maid-of-honor, so she's going to be wearing something a little different from what you and my two other maids will be wearing. Although techinically you wouldn't be a bridesmaid, right? You'd be a bridesmatron. Is there even such a thing?"
"Usually attendants aren't married anyway, Diana," Trivia told her, running her fingers over a white veil that hung above her head. "I told you that when I wrote back to you last winter."
"Yes, I know," Diana said. "But I'd hate for you to be excluded from my wedding party simply because you're married. And Somnus made it so that Orcas would be your escort anyway, right?"
"Yes, he did," said Trivia, smiling. "I don't know whether I would have done it if he didn't. I couldn't see myself walking down the aisle with any other man, as the bride or no."
"If getting married means that I can't be in any more weddings," Serenity said, staring at a pink dress in the window, "then I don't think I'd want to get married at all."
At this both Trivia and Diana started laughing. "You act as if you have been in thousands of weddings before, and it is your favorite thing in the world to do."
"It would be my favorite," Serenity said defensively. "The beautiful dresses we get to wear, all the lovely flowers we arrange and hold, the love and romance of it all…not to mention the delicious food…" Serenity grinned. Eating food, especially sweets, was about her favorite thing to do. "I've never been in a wedding before. Even all my friends getting married just invited me, never asked me to be in one. I'm not resentful, just thinking."
Trivia and Diana exchanged glances. They knew the reason that Serenity had never been in a wedding…her friends, although friendly, were all jealous of Serenity's extreme beauty.
Trivia and Diana were both very lovely, with petite figures and pearly skin. Trivia had wavy aqua hair she wore to about the middle of her back, and she usually had a pretty, expensive hair ornament decorating it. She also had midnight blue eyes to complement her sea-colored features. Diana was the tallest of the three girls, and she had wavy light amber hair that she wore cut short to frame her head in a halo, and had eyes that were also blue, but lighter than Trivia and Serenity's. The two girls' beauty was well-spoken of, and they were not to be mistaken for anything less than dazzlingly lovely.
But Serenity…Serenity was a veritable goddess. Many of those who had the chance to gaze upon her even said that she appeared to be a goddess, coming to consort with mere mortals for a time. Her pearly skin had a rosy glow to it, her hair long and golden and resplendent as the noonday sun. Her eyes were bright blue and outsparkled any precious sapphire. Her figure was perfect, tenderly young and beautifully womanly at the same time. Most who had seen Serenity had said that she was even more beautiful than the powerful queen who abided on Earth, Queen Beryl of Erebus, who had long been famed as strongly beautiful.
To that end, Serenity's friends invited her to their spring and summer weddings because they loved her as friends, but in reality they worried that if Serenity were arrayed in the dress of a bridesmaid—which at that time, second to the dresses of the bride, were the most elaborately made and expensive dresses to be bought—next to her, their splendor would be shot. Any woman wants to feel like she is the most beautiful woman in the world on her wedding day, but Serenity's loveliness so exceeded any of them that the girls became jealous and could not allow her to be a maid in their wedding party.
In truth her own sister, Diana, had the same fears. Serenity had been sick when Trivia had been married, and had been unable to participate in the wedding ceremony. But now she was of in good health, and Diana had felt the same fears creep into her mind as her younger sister's friends. What if Serenity stole the limelight away from her?
She shook the idea from her mind. No, she would never do that. In addition to being exceedingly beautiful, Serenity was also modest and gracious, so she would imemdiately direct the attention to her older sister at all costs. Besides, Diana and her family were aspiring to make her truthfully the loveliest bride ever arrayed.
"Let's look at the wedding dresses first," she said decidedly, smiling to herself. Her younger sister would not outshine her on her special day.
****
Prince Endymion turned his eyes away from the bright Elysian sun, shielding his forehead with his arm. It was very hot today. While it was usually temperately warm in Elysian, it was tropical today.
Endymion's deep ocean blue eyes trained themselves on the severely curvilinear woman climbing out of the surrey before his embassy. Long flaming red hair blew wildly in the wind; hazel-green eyes scanned the area with a catty, serpentine look. Finally they fell on Endymion, and the young woman smiled, more of a simpering smile than anything else. She took long strides towards Endymion, her clingy purple dress's train trailing behind her, dragging on the fertile green grass. The woman was strikingly beautiful, especially with her hair illuminated by the sun.
"Endymion," she said, smiling familiarly. Endymion nodded a little at her.
"Beryl." He couldn't exactly say it was nice to have her in Elysian, because really it wouldn't be the truth. The main reason Queen Beryl was back was because he was afraid of her, and it wouldn't do to tell her that either. He removed his arm from his forehead, choosing to squint rather than look inferior.
"Oh, don't squint so, Endymion. Your eyes are so handsome; allow us to see them." Her evil grin grew broader. "You just get more gorgeous every year, you fiendish man."
Endymion rolled his eyes but did not reply to the queen's quip. Instead he signaled to his footmen to take her things inside and motioned to Beryl to follow him. The smirk still on her face, she followed him in through the main doors of the turreted embassy. Beryl still did not know where the palace of Elysian was located, seeing as every time she came Endymion bade she stay in the embassy. She was satisfied with it for now. It was a beautiful place in any event, the exterior made of marble and the interior wholly expensive as well.
Endymion, shooting a glance back at Beryl, had to admit that the reports about the formidable woman were right. The woman who struck fear in the hearts of rulers on Earth was young – no older than Endymion himself – petite and extremely gorgeous; yet she carried a daunting aura around her. He felt a shiver go through his spine as he led her to the receiving room in his embassy.
"Endymion, are you ready to negotiate the handing of this kingdom?" Beryl asked, falling onto a couch in the receiving chamber. "Because you know it will become mine eventually. Whatever way I have to go about it."
Endymion fought the urge to cringe. She certainly was tactless, mortally blunt.
"I'm going to have you, too," she said, half-teasing. "Just you wait, Endy."
"Please don't call me that," Endymion said, lifting a wine chalice his manservant had brought for him quickly. "What did you feel you needed to travel all the way from the northern reaches of the Earth to talk to me about, Beryl?"
"Oh, just to chat. Could you be a dear and hand me the wine?" Endymion did so. "I just wanted to talk to you...about a certain threat...north."
"North?" Endymion raised an eyebrow. "Of you?" The woman was batty; her kingdom was situated practically on the North Pole.
"Saying north...I mean...up there." She pointed in the general direction of the ceiling.
It dawned on Endymion she was talking about the Moon Kingdom, and his face darkened. Generally he was an easy-going sort, peaceful with other nations, but the Moon Kingdom snubbed the Terrans so much. Even when Beryl had initiated her coup and had overthrown his grandfather's kingdom, they offered no help when he had administered a plea to them. Which was why Beryl even had a kingdom, now the most powerful kingdom on the planet.
"What kind of trouble are you having with the people up on the Moon?" Endymion asked. Beryl's kind of trouble was "I can't conquer them".
"Well...a couple just came back from a trip there. Although ties have been cut and trips to the Moon are highly discouraged..."
"They aren't prohibited, Beryl, at least not in my kingdom."
"Yes, I know. That's the problem. These people go and get these silly notions in their heads...there was a couple that went recently. Not from your kingdom, however; they were from the kingdom of Cyprus. You know they have some beautiful artists there. One of them was an artist and wanted to paint the youngest moon princess; guess what report he brought back?"
"What?"
"Wel..." Beryl had to make this good, and she knew it. She couldn't reveal that, besides her blatant hatred for the Lunarians, the only reason she was baiting Endymion was jealousy of the youngest moon princess. Beryl would never admit to jealousy, but truthfully that's what she felt—cold-hearted jealousy of the beautiful young moon princess. She had seen her herself and could not deny the reports of beauty this young lady was receiving.
Besides, with more and more Terrans going to see this beauty and commencing in worshipping her, it was taking away from her purpose. Therefore she had to stave the wave.
"What do you want, Beryl?"
"This girl is a troublesome little wench," Beryl said, her jealousy and hatred getting the best of her. She hated the fact that some were proclaiming that the stupid moon princess' beauty could surpass her own. She leaned against the chaise lounge. At least I have my handsome little flunky here, she thought, smirking. "Her removal would significantly cripple the Moon Kingdom and suit my endeavors. I want her eliminated."
Endymion turned to Beryl. "What? I..."
"By you, dear Endymion. Personally."
"Me?!" Endymion paled. "But..."
"Oh, don't but me. You know perfectly well you're like a trained assassin." Beryl almost giggled. "You've gone through military training for years. I've seen that fine body slicing through some of my men on the field when trying to hold back our attacks on your field. Of course, that was when you were simply prince and not crown prince of your own kingdom…but I don't think you've lost the talent for killing, have you, Endymion?"
Endymion felt weak. He sank to the chaise opposite Beryl and stared at her, fire in his cold blue eyes. He would make a valiant attempt to keep his dignity, but he knew Beryl would squash it anyway. "I would do no such thing. I have nothing against the royal Lunarian family."
"Endymion, you know as well as I do that you'd love to crush one of them between your fingers for the defeat of your grandfather's kingdom," Beryl said, hitting what she knew was a soft spot on Endymion. "The same defeat that caused the death of your dear father. You do remember, don't you? The battle of Thebes..."
Endymion clenched his fist, the flames in his eyes roaring. "I remember," he said through clenched teeth.
"Yes, I thought you would. So wouldn't you like a little revenge? Take one of theirs as they took one of yours?"
Endymion averted his eyes. A little flame starting jumping in his heart. Think about it...would it not be right?
"You have yet to avenge that death, Endymion."
Endymion turned down to the floor. He knew he had yet to avenge the death of his father. By all chivalrous code, it was what he was supposed to do; and yet he hadn't. He wasn't quite sure who was the cause, but it was true that the moon king was indirectly the cause of the death of his father.
But why take the youngest princess' life?
He immediately knew the answer. He didn't want the king to die. Endymion wanted the king to feel the same agony of being without a member of his family he as felt now. His whole family should die…as Endymion's had. Endymion's heart crumbled into a bitter muscle, the rate of his heartbeat speeding as his anger mounted. Part of it was angry at Beryl for reminding him of the fact that as of yet he had failed to get even for his father's death.
"I will provide protection for your kingdom for an additional six months…if you do this one little thing for me, Endymion." Beryl smirked. "I have the papers already drawn up and everything."
This, too, grabbed Endymion's attention. Beryl knew that the only kingdom that posed a real threat to Elysian at this time was her own. That meant that for six months—six blissful months—he would not have to worry about invasions from the north…invasions that he would not be able to hold off.
He turned back to Beryl, the fire in his eyes replaced by stinging ice. He was still angry, but the offer was too good to be passed up…even if it did involve cold murder by his own hands. He sighed heavily.
"I have no choice and you know it," he said, glaring at Beryl.
She smiled seductively. "There's to be a wedding at their palace in a few weeks," she said. "That night is when they'll be least suspecting a murder. Do it then. Don't fail me, Endymion, or you'll have some problems."