Falling away
MarshAngel
watsonma@hotmail.com
Rated: R
I know it's been a while and to be honest the only reason I'm posting this because of MG so feel free to thank her. I've rewritten chapter one with minor edits to the rest of chapters so it may be worth your while to go back and at least skim those but it's not absolutely necessary.
ps. Mg, you now owe me a story.
Chapter 6
She woke up the next morning alone and well rested. She couldn't help feel a twinge of guilt for feeling so wonderfully decadent with her silk sheets next to her bare skin. She could hear Marila in her dressing room. She snuck out of bed and grabbed a robe before her maid could notice that she was nude beneath the sheets.
She headed for the bathroom, aware that she could still smell him on her skin. It would be a great effort on her part to keep this a secret. But at some point during the night she'd become determined to make it work. When had she become this person she wondered.
She felt as though she'd been awakened to a whole new world. One that was vastly different from the peaceful predictable one she was so used to. All her life she'd abided by the rules of her world and now she was breaking them and it felt good and perhaps that was the worst part of all. She knew what she was doing was wrong, she persisted, and worst of all, she enjoyed it.
Marila informed her that Mael wanted to have breakfast with her on the south garden terrace. She got dressed and joined him and he greeted her with yet another kiss on the wrist and she smiled widely, grimacing inside. It would be far easier to go through the days if Mael didn't seem to be possessed by a demon of charm. She wished she could respond emotionally to his obvious attempts to get closer to her but it was simply too strange.
The conversation between them was light and it allowed her thoughts to wander. She was going to have to reorganize her schedule with Aahe for the rest of the week when she would begin her duties again starting with a trip to Io to open the new interplanetary training camp for the military. Both Lita and Rei would accompany her and she would have to work in some time for meditation.
Letting her mind wander, as it was apt to do, wouldn't do with Rei around to listen in. It wasn't that her friend was in the habit of eavesdropping on her private thoughts, it was simply the fact that Rei was intuitive in a way that had little to do with her psychic powers but she also had an uncontrollable tendency to pick up stray feelings and thoughts. It might be easier to let Rei in on her secret but Rei was a senshi of honor and duty. If she thought Serenity was risking too much and endangering herself and others she'd tell the Queen. Mina and Lita would think it was romantic and Mina couldn't keep a secret of that nature for long. She'd talk about it so often someone was bound to overhear her. Amy would worry endlessly and eventually give in to duty and tell her mother. Besides she wouldn't want to burden her friends with the weight of deciding with whom their loyalties lay. This secret was hers to bear. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of unconscionable person she'd become to put her pleasure ahead of so much.
"Is something bothering you?" Mael asked
"No, my mind wanders sometimes. I'm sorry."
"You've recovered from last night then?"
She very nearly choked on her juice. Of course he was talking about the ball and her headache not her escapades with Endymion.
"Yes I'm much better, thank you," she replied.
"My mother has informed me that the time has come that we should set a date for our wedding and your mother agrees. She believes we should spend more time together and become more familiar with each other and perhaps set a date for next year."
Serenity was struck by a sense of impending doom. One year. It was all she had and then she'd be married to this man for the rest of her life. She could feel the panic sneaking up on her but she took a deep breath and reminded herself her mother had put the date off for much longer than she should have in order to allow her daughter to grow up and still she was allowed another year. It would suffice.
She forced a smile. "It's a wonderful idea." She was happy Mael had no magical abilities of any kind. It made her deceit easier and her panic nearly unnoticeable.
"Perhaps you could visit Drue and spend some time in my home for a change."
She smiled forcibly, but said nothing. God forbid. She was sure Drue was a nice enough place but it was a distant planet in another solar system far away from everything and everyone she knew.
Mael looked at Serenity's calm face as she took a sip of her juice. Serenity was an odd girl, flighty, and given to daydreaming, and not Mael's choice for a bride but he realized the importance of an alliance with the Moon Kingdom. She was beautiful enough, more than most princesses he realized, but he couldn't help but wonder about her lack of excitement about her own wedding. Granted this was an arranged marriage but surely most women were excited about the planning and the details of their wedding. Yet here she was sipping her juice calmly as if he'd mentioned the remarkable clarity of the sky.
She seemed to be dreaming half the time, which while attractive to look at was certainly no way to go about life. He was making an effort to follow his mother's wishes and play the part of the attentive fiancée but she wasn't exactly responding. She seemed even more remote and detached than he recalled. He suspected she was as cold and untouchable as her mother.
"I hear the Earth delegation has decided to return home earlier than planned. I can't say I'm too disappointed. I hear they're rather unsophisticated. I came across that guard of Endymion's, General Malachite and that other general that arrived this morning, I forget his name, Nessit, Nephram…. well they were really almost rude."
Serenity was stunned by her own surprise or that she took an offence to his snobbery. She'd always known that he and his mother were somewhat snobbish and hadn't she shared his opinions only recently? Did her current relationship with Endymion mean she should take offense to insults on his behalf or on his friends'? There was yet another question. Why hadn't Endymion told her he was leaving?
"Why?"
"I'm sorry, what was that?" He continued to slather a roll with fruit preserve.
"Why are they leaving?"
"They didn't really say but I gathered that there might be some emergency with the royal family."
"I hope it's nothing too serious," Serenity wished, genuinely concerned.
Mael was a bit surprised by the evident concern in her voice, not because he realized she cared but because she seemed genuinely empathetic.
"I just wouldn't want anyone, even Prince Endymion to go through the ordeal of losing a parent. It's very painful," she said knowingly. Her own father had died when she was five years old. She didn't really remember him well, just the pain of his absence.
She'd read his mind. He hated that. It made him feel violated.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, but doing it again. "I really didn't mean to. It just comes to me sometimes and it's hard to sort through what was said as opposed to what was thought."
"Must be a bit of a nuisance," He looked at her flustered face, flushed with good health and embarrassment. Her eyes were wide and amazingly blue and clear. She was beautiful even when she was being annoying.
"Sometimes," she agreed. But there were other times, particularly with those unused to mind readers, that it was a good ability to have. She was pleased to discover that his sudden attentions had more to do with his mother's suggestions than the development of any attachment on his part. It eased a small portion of her guilt.
What was wrong with her she wondered? Shouldn't she be doing the same? Shouldn't she be trying to develop some kind of emotional attachment to Mael? He was handsome, with shoulder-length blue hair the same color as Amy's and a pair of dark blue eyes to match. In fact he was related in a round about fashion to Amy's father. He wasn't as tall as Endymion, still taller than her, but his beauty, and it was beauty in an almost feminine way, didn't make her shaky or full of, what she knew now with certainty to be, unabashed lust.
Her ancestors had liked to talk of destiny and how it always found a way to set things right. She had to wonder what was the destiny in all this? This was certainly not how she'd been meant to live her life? But what did that mean in the grand scheme of things?
Despite the bright sunshine and the warm day she felt a chill creep up her spine. She had a distinct foreboding feeling that the events set in motion with her affair with Endymion, her unwanted marriage to Mael and the tense political climate, that the path she was on was definitely not one filled with happiness and sunshine. She had a feeling that this time, filled with happiness and pleasure was fleeting. That's why she'd responded so easily to Endymion's proposal. She was grasping for what little happiness she could before it was all gone.
She shook off the dark mood that seemed to have crept upon her. It was all nonsense. There was no destiny, you made your own. Those were her mother's words and her mother never lied.
Endymion was almost grateful for the distraction of his father's illness. When he'd walked into his father's darkened chamber this morning, his mind, for the first time in days wasn't occupied with thoughts of sex and Serenity. He'd been frustrated by his sudden and seemingly unquenchable desire for her and had thought it a simple lust that would quiet the moment he sank into her. Instead it seemed his need had only grown and he'd given in to the fact that it wasn't going to go away.
To his surprise, he'd managed to convince her to continue to be his lover, an idea he should never have even entertained. If it turned out his father were actually dying however, his time with her would probably be relegated to a corner of his mind designated for pleasurable moments in life as he assumed the responsibility of a kingdom he wasn't sure he wanted to lead.
"How is he?" Endymion demanded of the doctor who had waited outside his father's chambers while he'd visited him. To his eyes his father had appeared pale and shrunken but his eyes were as sharp and full of life as ever. He'd spoken only briefly to his son telling him he would explain what he wanted him to do later. Endymion supposed that was a good sign. If the old man thought he had time to put things off until later then he would live.
"He is better than I expected. He doesn't listen to me. He refuses to calm down and relax." The doctor gestured wildly, his face almost comical in it's obvious frustration. "He will be around for a while yet, which has more to do with my talent than anything he's doing. He's getting weaker though and his temper gets the better of him at times which is bad for his heart. Perhaps he'll listen to you." He gave a gesture of defeat.
Endymion sniffed loudly at that farfetched idea. His father listened to what he said only when he intended to ignore every word or later claim that he had said no such thing. His advice may as well be straw in the wind.
The doctor nodded. "Perhaps this attack will slow him down some."
"The last one didn't."
The doctor shrugged. King Endymion had an iron will that would bend to neither man nor disease.
He dismissed the doctor and headed towards his quarters. He hadn't made it there before he was hijacked by a half dozen different persons concerning details that needed to be attended to, people who must be seen, and things that had to be done that very minute. By the time he was done and ready to return to his quarters for a moment of peace his father had sent someone to 'command' his appearance in his chambers.
"Demon?" His father had persisted in calling him that name since he was young. He'd complained once and been informed that men earned their names and he'd earned that one through much 'hard work' and as the man responsible for his existence he had the right to call him whatever the hell he wanted.
"Yes Father," Endymion replied wearily. He approached the darkened bed with its heavy velvet hangings. The room was decidedly somber, likely a result of his father's melodrama. The man was as alive as ever and giving orders from his bed.
"Sit down boy." Boy; another name he had earned, courtesy of being beneath the age of sixty. He obeyed.
"I'm dying." Endymion began to object but he was cut off before he could even begin. "I'm old, not stupid. I don't plan on being around forever but I aim to make sure you don't screw up anything major when I'm gone."
"Your confidence never ceases to amaze me," Endymion responded snidely.
"I've had enough your sarcasm during my lifetime, spare me while I'm on my deathbed. And I don't care if you got it from me" he added, picking the notion from his son's mind and showing him that his mind was perfectly sound.
Endymion waited silently.
"The Rose family dynasty is not untouchable. Things are changing Demon. The council has a great deal of power, perhaps more than they should. You must win them to you and in order to do that you must marry whom they recommend."
"I take it they've already made their recommendation?"
"Not formally but yes.
"Who is she?"
"Beryl of the East."
Endymion raised a quizzing eyebrow. "She's a slut," he commented knowingly in that soft calm voice that occasionally made his father wonder. He certainly hadn't inherited this calculating demeanor from him. "Besides isn't she already engaged to some prince or other?"
"Prince Hansen," his father informed. "He's dead, which you should have known since you attended his funeral."
"I attend a lot of funerals and weddings. Who can keep track?"
"Well you know her already then. Makes things much easier."
"I believe she's intimately acquainted with a friend or two of mine." Jadeite, one of his guard and a close friend didn't think anything of divulging his sexual exploits to his friends. He'd mentioned that making love to a woman that powerful was like having fire run over the surface his skin but feeling only the heat and none of the pain. He could relate to that now. Serenity practically burned him with her touch but it was the most pleasurable and intense feeling he'd ever known. Perhaps it had something to do with magic.
"Well when she's you wife you can tell Jadeite to keep his pants closed and his hands off your wife."
"Why her?" Beryl wasn't the controllable, empty-headed child-bride he'd expected his father or the council to recommend.
"She is Khassan's niece," he referred to the head of the Earth's Council. "She is also heir to a vast amount of land and power in the Eastern territories."
"She's not exactly a manageable wife." He had to admit he'd been hoping for a young, brainless girl, easy to satisfy and control who wouldn't meddle.
"All you want from her is an heir and the council's allegiance."
"And how will I ever be sure my child is my own?"
"The way we always do." The Rose line had always possessed magical abilities and though they never spoke of it, King Endymion knew his son was the strongest of the line thus far. He had no doubt Endymion would recognize his own child just as he had been able to.
"I'm sure you will be able to do your duty. Beryl is a beautiful woman."
"And one used to being in power. I suspect she'll be more than we bargained for," Endymion pointed out. "I don't think she's the right choice."
"It doesn't matter. She is the only choice if you want the council to back your decisions."
"When do I have to commit this travesty?"
"Your betrothal is expected to be no less than six months, and those contracts will arrive in the next few weeks for you to sign as soon as the council has made its decision public. Beryl's Aunt will see to the planning of the ceremony and choosing an auspicious date.
"Now," he demanded changing the subject, "tell me of this business with the Serene Alliance."
"The council will never agree to it," Endymion said simply.
"And you? What did you think?"
"There would be many benefits but we'd have to give up a lot of power to Serenity. The planets of the alliance benefit greatly, with technology, medicine, education and wealth. It all seems perfect. But as Uncle Mikhail would tell you, they very nearly worship Serenity. They seem to think she's some sort of goddess. Every major decision having to do with each planet comes before her. Each planet has their own ruling family but they seem to be mere figureheads since the Serene Alliance, which Serenity heads, rules everything."
"And she'd have us be the same," the King grunted in derision. "Groveling at her feet for the charity she hands out."
"There is more to it," Endymion informed. "As you know, Queen Serenity protects the system with her Silver Crystal. She claims that there may be dark powers growing on Earth and she merely wishes to protect us and the solar system from it before it becomes a real threat. A treaty her mother signed of non-interference prevents her from doing anything unless we choose to join the alliance."
"Horse shit," the King muttered. "Perhaps she only senses the growing power of our people. The Earth's powers have no moral polarity. They're neither good nor evil. I sense nothing else here."
"Neither do I," Endymion admitted. "But time will tell. Uncle Mikhail will speak to the council tomorrow. I am already certain of their decision on the matter."
"There is more." The King stated knowingly.
"The Serene Alliance wishes to cut off economic contact with Earth partly as a result of what happened with the Venusian merchant and perhaps partly to punish us for not joining the alliance. Some of their members wish to cut off all contact. They do not wish for our violent society to contaminate their own further."
"If that's their idea of a threat then they are as pathetic as they appear."
"I thought you might see it that way" Endymion said in a monotone that betrayed no emotion.
****
"Not that one," she snapped. "Not that one either." Beryl rolled her eyes in annoyance. Good help really was impossible to find.
The maid forced herself not to groan in frustration. She had been trying to choose a dress for the princess for a half hour and she'd refused every selection. She was certain Beryl knew nearly every item in her vast collection of clothing and could have simply described or, in some far-fetched scenario where she actually did some kind of work herself, pointed it out. But the princess had better things to do. She was reading.
The sight of Princess Beryl lounging among her silk pillows reading a thick volume had certainly been a shock to the maid who'd never seen the princess do anything more studious than glance at the occasional gossip report. She only glanced up on occasion to point out that Anisa had chosen the wrong dress. Getting dressed was simply not a big concern today.
Beryl glanced up from the tome she was reading through with some difficulty. Ancient books always had the annoying quality of being difficult to decipher.
She frowned at the maid's back. Would the girl never get it right? On top of everything else it would seem she would have to dress herself today. Perhaps she would choose something dark and revealing, something that went along with the pensive mood inspired by the book. She may as well get some inspiration out of it. Reading about magic was far less entertaining than using it but enhancing her growing skills was important to her.
She had no intention of being weak like her mother had been. She was born to be powerful, beautiful and in command. She had a natural ability for magic and her aunt had been teaching her to develop it for years. She had long since surpassed her however and with the powers she now had access to she would be, if she wasn't already, the most powerful woman on earth and if that didn't bespeak the destiny of a queen then nothing did.
Her concentration completely gone, she slammed the heavy book shut and stalked over to the closet.
"Get out. I'll dress myself," she snapped.
The maid welcomed the opportunity and hurried from the room.
Beryl frowned at the vast array of gowns before her. She needed a new wardrobe. The colorful array of expensive fabrics was expansive even for a princess but she needed something more exciting and provocative. Had it not been for her concentration on her magic she would have seen to it the moment she'd heard the great news.
She was getting everything she'd ever wanted and at the moment what she wanted included Prince Endymion. The fact that his kingdom came with him in a handsome package she couldn't refuse, was a welcome bonus. She needed a wardrobe befitting a Queen.
She had barely restrained her excitement when her uncle had informed her that the council, as they had hoped, chosen her to be the next Queen of all Earth. She had much power now ruling her own territories with rigidity but the concept of having then entire planet subject to her will as it was meant to be sent a thrill down her spine.
Her father, a very typical Eastern ruler, had thought her nothing but a silly female, unsuited to a position of power, but he had been unable to produce any other legitimate heir and under the tutelage of her uncle and aunt she had proven herself worthy as the heir to his kingdom and despite many objections from her patriarchal subjects she had quelled any notion that she was a weak woman.
But her ambitions went beyond this kingdom. She had a destiny, but more importantly she had a plan, long-term goals that her current situation fell right in line with. If Endymion thought he would be the man of the castle, she was certain she would change his mind. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was control men.
****
