Chapter 27
"What do you mean the Gorgons are dead!?" Circe screamed, throwing her chalice of wine across the room, shattering the fragile ceramic and glass as it hit the wall. "I had them convinced that Diana's death would bring them back to their former selves! How dare they let me down?" she screeched, taking an urn and throwing it as well, her anger exploding from her normally calm exterior.
"My love?" Arthur's strong voice called from the veranda. "Is something wrong?" He entered in, his once red scale male shirt's colour had changed to purple in order to match his mistress' favourite colour.
"Diana has come to kill me!" she said desperately, playing off Arthur's desire to play the hero, her large purple eyes pleading with him, rushing to meet him as he came in from the balcony to see what was causing the trouble.
Arthur took up her hands in both of his and placed a reassuring kiss on her forehead. "She can come, my Queen, but I will stop her," he spoke in sureties; a tone that he might have used to try and reassure Mera during the war that, should she get pregnant, he would protect her and their child from the ravages of war.
"You are my Hero, my knight in shining armour," she swooned to him, a hand reaching up to stroke the broad plane of his face, her eyes half closed as she leaned in for another kiss, pressing her body into his. Her grip on him was getting stronger, but by no means was it permanent; fighting someone who ran so deeply in his emotions such as Diana might cause her grip on Arthur to slip. She needed to constantly exert her influence over him, at least so long as he was within range, to ensure that when he battled the woman he, at one point at least thought he loved, her control would not slip.
"She has stolen my wife from me, she has caused disruption and the devestation of my kingdom," Arthur spoke, his voice taking on a slightly unaware tone. Circe wondered if perhaps she was laying things on too thick, that the champion of Poseidon, King of Atlantis, would not wake up from her spell in sufficient time to watch as he slaughtered Diana, to watch her die as he begged fate to be less cruel. "The Amazon Queen has taken my trident as her weapon, and so I will take her weapon as my own. She will not get by my blade," he bowed his head to Circe.
Yeah, just a little heavy on the Knight in Shining Armour, part she thought to herself.
"My Queen!" a second voice called from the balcony. "The Amazon is coming!"
"Go to your chamber, my Queen, and hide, I shall deal with the intruder and bring you her wretched head as a prize," he spoke confidently, a man who knew he was not likely to be bested in physical combat.
"You are so brave," she said, taking an amulet from her neck and putting it around his. She would tell him that it was a medallion so that he could think of her when he was in battle, but in reality it was a charm, to keep him under her spell as long as possible. She was so close, but Diana had managed to come so far and so very quickly, she did not want to risk the Amazon turning Arthur.
Circe retreated into the back chamber, bolting the door as she went, leaving Arthur and the remainder of her slaves, well armed and well equipped to die in order to prevent Diana from getting to their mistress.