Broken Road (3 page)

“What is worse?” Krystállina asked, rising to face him. “Raping a Goddess until she is pregnant, so that You can bring her home to Daddy, or marrying a woman you have perhaps
only lusted after, thereby putting her life on the line and angering the Elder God of Wind?”

“Neither is better.” Amihan sat down and took her hands. “I want to stay here. To heal your trees and help watch over your orchard. Call me what you will and tell your father whatever you like. But give me the chance to be with you…to fall in love with you.”

“So You don’t really love me?”

“I believe I do,” Amihan confessed. “I care for you more deeply than I have ever cared for a human in my seventeen years of life. But I am asking you for the chance to fall more deeply in love with you. And for you to learn to love me in return.”

Krystállina was silent for quite a while. At length, she asked,

“What will happen? If we get married, I mean?”

The unspoken question lingered in the air:
Will you make me immortal?

“We will have to marry in secret…handfast, even. We cannot let the Thessalonians in on our plans, or soon they would be coming to resurrect the kingdom and make you their Queen. We would have to live quietly, as m
ortals.”

“I will give You a month,” she said at last. “And I don’t mean to command You, Your Royal Highness; but if it doesn’t work, You will seek out Princess Aĺakána immediately.”

It took less than a day for Amihan and Krystállin
a to come up with a suitable story. Krystállina introduced her father to “Antares Nicodemos”, who had come down from the northern regions looking for work and a taste of the sea. Andreas was wary of “Antares” at first, but when the young man showed off his skills in the groves, Krystállina’s father could hardly argue.

After Krystállina contrived to keep the rest of the workers out of the hail damaged sections of the groves, Amihan felt free to use his powers, making short work of the recovery process. Only when he had been living on the Óneira estate for three months did problems begin to develop.

~*~

“A letter?” Krystállina inquired. She settled beside Amihan on the bench they had shared that first day.

He nodded. “My father is asking after the progress
I have made in tracking Aĺakána. He says that his sources tell him she still keeps a hermitage in the outer reaches of Wài, but neither the source—nor anyone connected to him—has seen her in five months or more. Léi Shēng assumed that I was acting contrar
y to his information and searching Tahanan for the Princess, until his sources told him they have not seen me here, either.”

Krystállina paled. “‘Here’? As in, ‘Thessalonica’ here? How did You receive that letter, anyway?”

“I do not think Léi Shēng knows e
xactly where I am. One of the first Elders took care of that,” Amihan explained. “He made it possible for the gods to send each other messages without using messengers
or
revealing the recipient’s location.”

She hesitated. “I think You should go to Him.”

The Thunder God raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“If no one has seen You in Tahanan, then he will send search parties out over the Three Worlds. And one of those parties is bound to end up in Thessalonica.”

Krystállina took the letter from his hands. “Stay as long
as You need to to convince Him that You’re still on the hunt. In fact, persuade Him to send messages to whoever last saw Aĺakána, so that You may have the freshest intelligence available. I’ll make up a story for my father.”

Amihan kissed her lightly on t
he cheek. “I will return as soon as I can.”

Palace of the Dark Moon

Wài

Amihan had not been around his father’s palace often enough to know a high ranking servant when he saw one, but he guessed that the man who had accompanied him, T
elfer, was probably that—and very likely Léi Shēng’s favorite spy.

“Your Lord Father commanded me to see to Your needs, Your Royal Highness.”

“Some water to wash with, I think, and whatever passes for courtly fashion these days.”

Telfer inclined his head.
“There is a bath and some fresh garments waiting for You in the alcove, Your Royal Highness. I would also like to bring You food and drink, Sire, as it could be many hours before Your Lord Father is finished in His council chambers.”

The Thunder God gave his assent and Telfer bowed himself out of the room. No sooner than he had gone, however, than a knock sounded at the door.

“Her Grace, the Duchess Andhērā, craves an audience with His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Amihan.”

“Tell Her Grace that I am not yet prepared to receive visitors.” Amihan sat down on what was usually regarded as a servant’s chair and began to unlace his le
ft boot.

“Come now, Amihan!” Andhērā swept into the room without regard for her herald. “It is not like you are a
mortal
that has to wash the dust of the road from his feet!”

“I
walked
the last six miles here.” Amihan glowered up at his stepmother.

“Oh, yo
u poor thing!” The Duchess glided over to a plush chair beside the darkened fireplace. “Have you contracted some dreadful mortal illness that causes your powers to wane? And what happened to your hair? It seems to have gone a little funny.”

Amihan did not intend to tell
Andhērā that he had walked simply to feel the dirt under his feet. As for his hair, it was likely that he hadn’t been concentrating when he left Tahanan and still bore some resemblance to a Macedonian Greek.

“My father is still keeping you around?” The Th
under God did his best to sound nonchalant. “Or is it that little
Beniru cannot live without his mommy?”

The Duchess let out a haughty sniff. “I have been with Lord Léi Shēng for many years—”

“Then why have you not been crowned High Queen?” Amihan smirked.
“Everyone knows my father sleeps with every
younger
Goddess he can get his hands on! Your words claim that my father loves you well, but your title speaks otherwise!”

“I did not come here to be abused,
Prince
Amihan!”

“No you came in
uninvited
, right when I was in the middle of refusing your herald’s request!”

Andhērā stood and headed for the door, trying to stomp as elegantly as possible.

“Your father and I expect you in the Great Hall in three hours.” She put her hand on the knob. “Do not think you can gainsay me just because your mother was High Queen and I a
m not!”

~*~

“I am surprised to see you after a few short months.” Léi Shēng poured himself a snifter of his favorite brandy and set it near the fire to warm. “Your search for Princess Aĺakána not going well?”

Amihan hesitated before taking a seat.

“Why is it so vital that I be betrothed to Aĺakána? What does she have that other Goddesses do not?”

If he was looking for “beauty” or “brains” or even “power”, he was sadly mistaken.

“You evaded me for too long,” Léi Shēng said simply. “Our kind are negotiati
ng contracts as soon as they have a babe in the cradle, Amihan. If you had been…available…at fourteen like Beniru, I am sure we could have found someone more suitable—such as Princess Dawn. But when you wait ‘til the year of your marriage, you have to take what you can get…even if it
is
a homely anchoress.”

“The Elders forbid I marry a demigoddess!” Amihan muttered.

“
DAMN RIGHT!
” his father roared. Léi Shēng had reached for the snifter, but nearly dropped it in his rage. “I have told you time and time again: demigods are vermin that should be drowned at birth!”

He took a sip of brandy. “I have watched over Tahanan and Wài for mor
e than a thousand years and I
still
cannot tell you whom I hate more, humans or demigods!”

Léi Shēng took another, longer sip and seemed to calm as he settled back in his chair.

“I do not believe you came to argue about your marriage to Aĺakána, though.” H
e set the snifter aside. “Tell me, son…are you having trouble finding her?”

“I came as soon as I received your letter about your…
friends
… having spotted the Princess on the outskirts of Wài,” the young god explained. “Rather than waste any more time searching Tahanan while we exchanged letters, I decided to seek you out and ask you to send more messages to them. I would like you to press your friends for specifics, Lord Father, so that I may find the Princess quickly and begin the conception process at imme
diately.”

Léi Shēng gave his son a small smile. “I am glad you are finally taking your duty seriously, Amihan! I will send to my contacts at once.

“Meanwhile, I want you to relax and enjoy yourself. I have an entertainment planned for this evening that you
will not want to miss!”

Later that evening, Amihan had just begun to recover from the feast that his father and stepmother had given in his honor, when Telfer arrived at the door to his chambers with a cortege of guards.

“Lord Léi S
hēng orders You to this night’s entertainment.”

Amihan made a gesture of acquiescence and stepped into the corridor, where the guards immediately surrounded him. The Thunder God hesitated.

“Are you sure
I
am not this night’s entertainment?”

Telfer gave a l
ow chuckle and they set off.

“I can assure you that the guards are here for Your protection, Prince Amihan. His Highness, Your brother, would also be in attendance if He was not spending the week with the family of His betrothed.”

As they walked, Amihan could see no real reason for such heavy security. He had learned at his mother’s knee that a mortal’s palace would always be bustling with courtiers, servants and ladies-in-waiting, but he saw none of this here. In fact, he had seen so few people since his arrival at the Dark Moon Palace that he had become certain that no one lived here who wasn’t essential to the service of the Elder God and his Duchess.

“Just down these steps a bit and we’ll be there!” Telfer called.

The seven of them slipped into a darkened corridor and Telfer led the way into an even darker room.

“Lights, please?”

At the servant’s command, the guards placed a torch on either end of the room, allowing only enough light for Telfer to guide Amihan to a high-backed chair. When the Prince sat, the guards retreated to the furthest, most shadowy corner of the room.

To Amihan’s surprise, no other chairs were present. There appeared to be at least one more bracket at either end, but outside of the grand burgundy curtain in front of him, the room was stark. The Prince sat in silence for a few moments, wondering what his father had
possibly
thought could entertain him, when a rough hand yanked back his head.

“This is for Your safety,” a familiar voice hissed.

It was as if someone had taken a child’s ball and—judging by the tearing sensation in his cheeks—run a leather strap through it. Amihan thought he heard Telfer locking the contraption, but it was hard to tell—he was too distracted by the burly guards strapping down his arms and legs. At last, the guards melted back into the shadows and Telfer drew open the curtain.