Disclaimers: See Chapter 1
Additional Note (Please Read): Just a reminder, this story is tied with, Xena & Gabrielle: A Turn of Fate. Enjoy. ;-)
The Conqueror & Ri
A Twist of Destiny
By Ahkiken
Chapter 2: Discretion
He observed her while she slowly drank the final few swallows of orange juice.
Setting the metallic mug down and catching his eye, she blushed. "Thank you, Prince Lyceus, for another fantastic breakfast."
"Ri." Lyceus calmly rested his hand on hers.
The greenish-blue orbs of Ri's were shrouded by her long, strawberry-blonde hair. His other hand moved the cascading locks to peer into her eyes.
"You don't have to call me Prince." He reminded the woman, caressing the side of her face. "Only Lyceus."
Ri's features were flushed deeper. She had never been this close to a person, save one, making this moment odd. It was Lyceus' fourth visit throughout the span of several days; waking her up for morning eats. With each visit, the Prince's touches grew more affectionate. She came to the conclusion of what he truly wanted from her. Although Ri wasn't fully knowledgeable about the world, she was too old to be blinded by naïveness and not see.
"Thank you, Lyceus." She corrected for his benefit.
Lyceus smiled, tenderly stroking Ri's mien once more, unable to discontinue touching her, whilst cogitating, 'Gods, she's lovely.'
His gaze unconsciously raked over her body. Ri was dressed in her night shift, but it wasn't plain like a peasant's; its material was soft and cream-colored. The arm's sleeves were sheer just like it was around that delicate neck, ceasing above her small chest, coaxing the milky skin to taunt him. Lyceus' fingers slid to the see-through fabric encircling Ri's neckline, wondering what her breasts would feel like in his hands and mouth.
'I should tell Ri how much I love her.' He mused.
However, she started feeling imperceptibly uncomfortable, and the Prince noticed it, pulling away.
"Did I offend you?" Lyceus asked, tentatively. "My apologies if I have."
"No, it's nothing. I..." Ri's words had failed her.
For a person who fancied becoming a bard someday, it was inconceivable her vocabulary would vanish. Ri took a profound look at Lyceus' appearance and had to admit, he was attractive. He had golden wheat-colored hair that was cropped short, and a lean physique. Albeit he was muscular from what she could infer underneath his brown tunic and trousers. The Prince also had blue irises that were merely a tinge darker than his sister's, the Conqueror of the Realm.
A childish smirk shaped Ri's lips at the thought of the magnificent, cerulean spheres of her Lord that majestically made anyone happy to fall into their oceanic depths.
Therefore, watching the change in her demeanor, it gave Lyceus renewed hope that he had a chance. "Ri?"
Ri's hearing hadn't registered the Prince's voice. She was lost in her own revelled ruminations of the Conqueror. Suddenly the gleeful expression became glum from recalling the fact she hadn't seen or heard from her Lord in a full moon cycle. Not since their last semi-dreadful Cronus together.
["The Lord Conqueror commands to speak with you."
I finish folding a pair of sheets and pass them to Akemi, the new Chambermaid our Lord brought to Corinth from her progress in the east.
"I'll be back shortly." I tell her.
Akemi nods, and carry on her duties. We haven't conversed often since she'd arrived, but she seems nice.
"As our Lord ordains, General Draco." I reply meekly, and he snorts in disgust while we leave the Conqueror's chambers.
Of all the people to get sent for me, it has to be the man who dislikes my very existence. The Chancellor of the Realm, or anyone else, would have been a far better choice. Though I can't fathom what I'd done to ensure his enmity, my Lord holds Draco in high regard, and so shall I.
The walk is silent for the most part and I have no clue where we're going. Several other occupants inside the castle greets me warmly, and I reciprocate with welcoming waves. Their kindness nearly makes me carefree to investigate General Draco's wellbeing, but I hinder myself from doing that.
Soon, I note that we are traveling to the Conqueror's War Room. I haven't been in there before, thus I playfully cogitate that maybe I'm to be punished for some slight against the Lord of the Grecian Empire. I probably forgot to do a chore or failed to fold her clothes correctly. The Conqueror hasn't ever raised a hand to me, let alone her tonality, and deep in my soul, I believe she never will. Nonetheless, I do know what she is capable of. I have overheard many tales and rumors apropos to her brutality. Knowing all of that, I fear Draco severely.
I must've hesitated a split moment too long for the General, because he grabs my arm a bit roughly, asserting, "I have more pressing concerns than you, little girl."
Grimacing, I unenthusiastically allow him to lead me onwards, hating that oblique insult he says occasionally. I may not ascertain my true age, due to an incident I'd suffered when I was a child, but foregoing my petite stature, I apperceive that I'm not some 'little girl'.
We enter through the huge oak doors, and I feel Draco's grip loosen whilst we traverse the narrow pathway. The General may not think it, but I distinguish why he releases me from his clasp as we draw closer to our Lord. To seemingly harm or treat me unjustly would incur her rage. She is like that regarding me, and I absolutely don't want to hear that another human being died 'cause of me again. Especially in the method that slaver did numerous seasons ago.
The dark General's movements halts once we come upon a singular door, and he opens it. Stepping in, I view the room with the sight that's identical to an eager student wanting to capture every detail. The onyx walls are colored with black and greyish tones, complimenting the obsidian round table. Surrounding the circular furniture are seven decorative chairs, and sitting in the sole, regal, chair nearer to the only large window that illuminates the entire interior, is my savior from eleven years past.
Leaning in her seat, she glances upwards from a scroll and smiles. Seeing her this way, it always impel my heart to skip.
"My Lord Conqueror." General Draco announces, laying a right fist across his chest, saluting her. "The Lady Ri."
Thereafter, she rises from behind the table. "Leave us."
Repeating his formal greeting, he departs, closing the door.
"Milady." I curtsy. "You've requested my presence."
Her simper grows wider while grasping my hand, leading me to the chair she was previously sedentary in.
Now that I'm thinking of it, perhaps Draco does have a misguided, but adequate reason to be antagonistic towards me. The Conqueror has spoiled me rotten since I fell into her life. I can eat whenever I want to. I have the best tailor-made clothes. My bedchamber, notwithstanding modest, is exceedingly glorious than my rank declares. I am the Conqueror's Handmaiden, or servant, whereas it doesn't matter because she treats me similar to nobility. Whilst others are required to address her as Lord, Conqueror, Liege, or another honorific, I can simply call her Milady, which I've articulated from the instant I'd known her. And here I am, seated in her chair.
A chair fit for the Lord of the Realm.
Seldom I worry she's kind because of how she found me. Mostly, I sense she likens me to a daughter-figure, and although the lengthy, raven hair I reminisce playing with as a child has streaks of silver comparable to Uncle Meleager's now, I don't see her as a mother. I've apprised her of that before, but I have never told her how gorgeous she is, nor how I wish she'd grace me with a sweet...
"Ri." Her vocals breaks my surreptitious, romantic thoughts.
"Yes, Milady."
The grin on her countenance appears permanent, evoking my pulse to beat faster in anticipation. Why is she so jovial today?
"I have an important pronouncement for you."
Nodding my head lazily, I'm greatly intrigued.
"I've made arrangements for you in Athens."
What?
"You will no longer be my Handmaiden."
What!
"Now that Akemi is working sufficiently in her status, I am assured she can fill your role indefinitely."
WHAT?!
"You will be tutored by a prominent academic." She continues on, displaying her growing beam that I'm beginning to resent. "He is visiting from Macedon, and he'll be teaching you an infinite amount of ideals, including locations on Terra. You'll learn spectacular stories referencing the gods and legendary heroes. He even taught Alexander the Great."
I don't care if this new instructor has educated the whole Greek Pantheon, my life is in Corinth.
Not Athens!
Milady turns from me, remaining engrossed in her one-sided conversation. "You'll imbibe how to deliver speeches with proper etiquette, create characters who'll eclipse imagination, and, as a bonus, you will be granted an allowance while you're there."
I have no concept of what the current dinar resembles, let alone how to spend it.
Turning to espy me again, Milady makes a mocking, intimidating facial. "Don't postulate for a candle-drip that you can slack off. I will be maintaining contact with your teacher concerning your progress."
Next, she drops the facade, and begins smiling once more, that same gleaming bearing I now despise. She's excited to be getting rid of me. Nevertheless, who can blame her. I'm a burden. I have no money, and the apparel I own are sewn for me, but they aren't mines that I've bought. Akemi already does extra work than me also.
Instantly it hits me, and I cannot retain a passive mask. No wonder Milady insisted that I focus on my lucubration and arithmetics. She was grooming Akemi to take my position all along.
"I was joking." The exuberant deportment diminishes from her. "I know you will do an outstanding job at the Academy."
I perk up, somewhat, from astonishment.
"Athens Academy for Performing Bards." I recite the place I've dreamt of going to inasmuch as I'd mastered reading and writing two years prior.
I'm eighteen now... Well, that's the age I am in accordance to Milady's conviction, and perchance it's best for me to go out into the world.
"Yes. You'll be in Athens. The city is beyond breathtaking than Corinth. The roads are impressive, too. I've commissioned them myself." She evinces, proudly. "It'll have everything you desire."
Not everything.
I can't cease appearing defeated. I'd rather remain in the castle than travel to Athens. I would surrender my dream... But if my Lord wishes for my departure, so be it.
"Okay." I sound surly, my head falling.
"What's wrong?" Dropping on her knees and placing my hands in hers, she becomes wary. "I presumed you would love this."
I love you!
Staying mute, I cannot be brazen enough to make a direct, loving declaration. Milady will preceive that I have gone mad, swiftly expelling me from her life.
"When Akemi arrived here, I purposely allotted you much freedom from attending me so you could practice your craft and learnings." Milady lifts my chin up, eye-to-eye. "Although you've hardly used your free Cronus. In lieu of practicing, you would tarry in my chambers to assist tidying it."
Can never get anything passed her. "My deepest apologies-"
"Stop it." She silences me, sternly. "I descried you telling tales to the children on occasions. You may not know this, but one evening, Darnelle and Glaphyra's daughter, Iona, approached you afterwards, querying why did you choose to stay a servant instead of rendering stories all over Terra? Do you remember your response to her?"
How did she know? Aww, forget it. She'll just profess, 'I have many skills'. Putting on a sober visage, I prepare to reiterate my exact verbalization like an echo.
"I'd confessed, 'I owe our Lord too much. More than she had ever asked or has taken from me. So, I'll do what I must to please her forever.'" A tear trails down my cheek as I lose my solemn composure. "It's true. Everything I'd said to Iona, I meant... And...I mean it now."
She wipes the droplet away, kissing my forehead in advance of stating, "You are not obligated to me, Ri. Okay?"
I nod dumbly to her inquiry, and additional tears escape my eyes.
"That's enough crying."
Not without minor difficulty, I immediately do what she decrees. Again, Milady clears my face, and her delicate touch compels me to feel like I'm seven once more. Standing to her complete height, I strain my neck to take in her tall form.
"Listen to me, Ri." I acquiesce to the authoritative vocalization. "Your service to me as Handmaiden is at an end. You are to journey to Attica in a couple of moons. You'll do what is enjoined of you, as long as it poses no danger to yourself, or your virtues. I'll write to you personally with every free Cronus I can spare. You will excel in your studies and live the life of your choosing. Do you understand?"
I dip my head in veritable resignation.
"Hmm, I'm going deaf, 'cause I can't hear you."
"Yes, Milady." My heart shatter with the concurrence.
I will never see her again. I'll solely be graced with her phrases on missives; pieces of parchments.
"And realize this, Little One." She leans down to me. "You are my obligation."
Thereon, osculating my cheek, I feel immense contentment by being cognizant that Milady still cares strongly for me. She even uttered the nickname from when I first saw her. Now I am gladdened...
Sort of.
"You're dismissed."
Rising onto my feet, and curtsying, I proceed to gait out of the door. Preceding opening it to take my leave, I'm curious 'bout something.
"Milady?"
"Yes." She smirks, reclaiming her chair.
She plausibly has discerned what I am gonna inquire, "Who will I be studying under?"
Milady's smug outlook transforms into that heartwarming smile, and I've decided...
I adore it after all.]
Prince Lyceus' newfound optimism dissolved into puzzlement at Ri's altered aspect. "You're alright, Ri? You look sullen."
"Forgive me, Prince Lyceus. I'd wandered off into a daydream." Ri proffered weakly.
'Back to formalities. Maybe it's optimal I don't tell her.' Selecting that mental note, Lyceus went on quizzing, "What's up? You can talk to me."
Could she trust him and impart that she'd be leaving Corinth, possibly enduringly? Ri was unsure.
"Is it me?"
The unexpected saddened timbre persuaded her to mitigate his anxiety. Withal Ri wasn't receptive of his feelings for her, she didn't want to lose the Prince's friendship.
"No, Prince Lyceus. It isn't you. It's...between me and our Lord, your sister. I don't reckon anyone else in the castle is aware yet."
"Aware?" He questioned, hoping to speed her along.
"I'm ordered to go to Athens." Ri exhaled a sigh. "I doubt if I'll ever return here."
Lyceus became livid.
He hadn't heard such discourse from the Lord Conqueror. "I have spoken to my sister yesterday. She made no mention of your junket in our conversation referring to you."
'Milady and Prince Lyceus was conversing anent to me?' Ri expressed her fluster, "What brought forth me as a topic, mind my asking?"
It was Lyceus' turn for his cheeks to redden.
"Eh, you know... Uh, stuff like, um... How your duties were coming along, and if you're getting on well with the Chambermaid." Whilst he was lying, a query dawned on him, "Is the Conqueror sending you away because of Akemi?"
Lyceus found himself getting upset at the notion, until Ri dispelled it. "No. I'm to report to the Academy there. I am beginning my apprenticeship as a scholar and bard."
The Prince remained bitter that his sister hadn't shared this information with him. Ergo divulging to her how amorous he had become for the inspiring storyteller, Lyceus felt that it was his right to have cognizance of this disconcerting news.
"You're finally about to achieve your life's goal. You are gonna find exorbitant success and fame." He beamed, beforehand of his lips flipping upside down. "When I meet with my sister later this morning, I'll be sure to let her behold my displeasure for keeping this from me. You are my friend, not chattel."
Ri hastily seized his wrist as Lyceus had risen from the miniature table they'd eaten their meal on.
"Please, Prince Lyceus, I beseech you not to engage our Lord on this matter. Like I've informed you, I don't believe everybody knows. Milady had given me this charge in private, and I would become disheartened if she housed any anger towards either of us for not respecting her confidence."
Lyceus tried to relax her perturbation. "Ri, I swear no harm will befall-"
Ri squeezed tighter, cutting his sentence off, and yelling forcefully in a tone Lyceus had not recognized she could use, "No!"
Apprehending that she hadn't simply touched the Prince in a rough manner, but blared to her superior as well, Ri released him.
Hurriedly, she stood, compassionately urging him, "Forgive me for my offense. I comprehend that you're the Prince of the Realm, hence you are allowed the liberty of your own discretion. Howbeit I implore you most earnestly to refrain from discussing what I revealed to you with Milady."
Arising, too, Lyceus understood the emotion in Ri's eyes; she was sincerely fearful. Not for herself entirely, but for him also. Taking in consideration that the Conqueror was renown for extreme violence when warranted, his sibling presented him no pause for supreme trepidation.
Still, Lyceus chose to appease the overwrought female. "I will keep silent on this. I respect that the affair is between you and the Lord Conqueror."
"Promise me." She needed reassurance.
"I promise by Venus, the goddess of beauty, I'll nix speaking of this to anybody." He swore.
Clinging onto Lyceus in a hug, Ri was relieved. "I am honestly thankful."
"Can you do something for me?" The Prince prodded, breathing in Ri's scent.
"Yes?"
"Promise to end these royal conventions. At least while we are alone." Lyceus avowed.
Ri drew backwards, looking into his blue orbs. "I promise by the Realm's divine patron, Minerva, I will terminate addressing you formally."
The younger brother of the Conqueror gazed into Ri's aqua irises. Becoming entranced, his hands once again caressed her fair face.
"I love you." He admittedly predicated.
Ri was caught unaware by Lyceus' averment. They'd known each other for countless seasonal cycles, and the erstwhile servant knew she could only love the Prince of the Realm platonically. She wouldn't be able to give him what he truly sought.
In spite of that, she affirmed as a genuine friend, "And you have my love, too... Lyceus."
Lyceus' lips tenderly kissed her forehead, almost in the exact fashion that the Lord Conqueror had done two fortnights back with different results; Ri didn't feel her heart flutter whilst she was with him.
"I'll miss you." Ri averred, sparsely distancing herself from his enfold.
"Hey, don't write me off so rapidly. I'll visit you, and after your studies are concluded, you can return here to share a tale among the citizens of Corinth. Heck, even if nobody shows up, I'll be there." Lyceus laughingly teased.
Cheering up immensely, Ri hadn't contemplated the feasibility of returning to perform her newly acquired skills for the people of Corinth, thereby determination burned within her. She would go to Athens, learn all that must be taught, master what was needed, come back to the Corinthian castle, and make her Lord proud.
Ri was certain Iona and the younger children would relish her new tales as well.
'The children!' The storyteller recollected.
Spinning quickly from her guest, Ri startled the Prince.
"What's wrong?" Lyceus marveled at the fast pace the short, strawberry-blonde was moving 'round, stacking the two trays together, and loading it with the empty plates, alongside the utensils plus the mugs that sat atop her wooden table.
"I'd forgotten that I would attend Lieutenant Tessa's class."
Lyceus became sceptical. "Tessa is instructing students?"
"Usually it's Clydmus' classroom." Ri had begun to expound, carrying the dish-piled salvers. "But now that the Imperial Army has free Cronus during peace, Lieutenant Tessa offered to give the children specification on weapons training. She probed if I would grace them all with a story, and I couldn't deny the request. What kind of monster would I be."
The Prince grinned at Ri's common jest, gently liberating the platters that were stacked with the dishes out of her hands.
'I need to pay closer attention to what's happening in the Realm, and become attentive of what is taking precedence in the castle, too." Lyceus chided himself, traipsing with Ri to the chamber door to give her privacy. "Better for you to entertain them opposed to the Fool, huh?"
Ri laughed, visualizing the court Jester doing his silly stunts. "I wouldn't say better."
Lyceus balanced the double trays in the crook of his arm to give Ri a farewell embrace. "You are. Everyone agrees, and so do I."
Consequently breaking apart, Ri opened the doorway, proclaiming, "I have thoroughly enjoyed this morning, and thanks for conveying the dishes to the kitchen for me."
"As well as I, Ri. And no appreciation is required for depositing the eating materials. Besides, I ate off of them also."
"Well..." Ri lingered inside the ajar entrance, preparing her farewell to the Prince who stood on the opposite side of it. "Have a wonderful day, Lyceus."
Reluctant to accept that their Cronus together was quickly approaching its conclusion, the Prince understood Ri had another engagement. He was needed someplace else also.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, Ri." Lyceus reciprocated, then a quiz was forthcoming from his cerebration, "Oh, who'll be your teacher in Athens?"
"You won't fathom who." Ri gave the perplexed Prince the same widened impression that the Conqueror had bestowed to her when disclosing whom she would be apprenticed by. "It's Aristotle."
To Be Continued...