The Apocalypse Script (30 page)

She moved closer and closer to
him, her violet eyes set on his, as she mouthed the words to the
song she was dancing to. Lifting up her skirt a few inches, she
pushed her long hair to the top of her head and began to corkscrew
her body up and down, from floor to ceiling, smiling at the man as
she slowly spun on her bare feet.
Did the
girl ever wear shoes?
But this was a
fleeting thought, as she pivoted to face him again and regained the
eye-lock she coveted.

The tempo of the song hinted to
Ben that whatever the song was, it was close to ending. He found
himself oddly disappointed. What had started as another of the
girl’s annoyances had become something much better. He wasn’t sure
exactly what but it sure as hell beat staring at the slab of rock
on his desk.

Fiela knew the song was over, too.
In a stunning display of her strength and flexibility, she fell
forward with one hand outstretched and used the arm to support her
body as it went vertical, her feet above her. She supported her
weight and balanced herself on just her thumb and index finger, yet
didn’t sway. It was as if someone above her was holding on to her
legs.

As the final notes of the song
registered, she pushed forward and did a somersault directly into
Ben’s lap, her knees gently coming to rest on either side of his
legs. The landing was perfect, as if wires had eased her down and
into position.

Her face only inches from his, she said, “I do love
you, truly.”

She parted her lips and moved her
face toward the man’s.

There was a knock at the
door.

“
No!” cried Fiela in frustration.
“Not now!” She buried her head in the man’s shoulder and
groaned.

A head popped into the room. It
was Mr. Fetch.

“
Sorry, sir…er…”

“
What?” asked Ben, his throat
constricted.

“
Miss Lilian is calling for you,
sir. She says the attorney is ready for you and Miss
Fiela.”

Without warning, Fiela spun around
and leaned forward on Ben’s desk, craning her neck toward the
interloper. To Ben’s shock she actually
hissed
at the elderly man. The
motion was so violent and the sound so alien and laden with menace
that the servant stumbled backwards in horror.

“
I’m sorry, Miss Fiela, but Miss
Lilian said-”

“
You did the right thing,” said
Ben, finding his voice. “Thank you, Mr. Fetch.”

Shaken, Mr. Fetch rushed back down
the hall.

“
Serretu,” said Ben. “Calm
down.”

Fiela, her face pink, continued to stare at the
door.

“
Fiela!”

“
What?” she said yelled angrily,
finally turning to face him. Catching herself, she softened and
said, “I’m sorry, Mutu. What did you say?”

“
Calm yourself. You will not hurt
Mr. Fetch. Do you understand?”

She nodded and buried her face in
his shoulder again. “As you say. But…we were so close. I
could
feel
it.
Couldn’t you?”

He thought maybe he had, but what
he had just witnessed had rattled him to the core. For the briefest
moment, Fiela seemed to have become something other than
human.
God, she might have killed the man
if I hadn’t been here
, he
thought.

“
Yes,” he said soothingly, running
a hand over her exposed cheek. When her breathing had returned to
normal, he said, “Let’s go.”

The two went to Ridley’s study,
where Lilian was waiting, as was Wilfred Barnum. The two men shook
hands and swapped a few niceties before everyone sat down and got
to business.

“
I wanted to discuss with the
three of you the implications of this marriage,” opened the
attorney. “The circumstances are rather unusual and I’m not sure
you fully appreciate all of them.”

Lilian said, “We understood them well enough to
produce a dowry.”

Barnum nodded. “Ay, and I applaud
your ingenuity. No one saw that coming. But Lilian, there are still
other implications you must be mindful of now that you have crossed
the Rubicon.”

Ben said, “Such as?”

The man rested his chin on his
right palm. “King Sargon, Lilian’s father, is presumed deceased. He
left behind no legitimate heirs. Thus every right or authority he
would have bequeathed to a legitimate child has been in a state of
suspension. It was fortunate that Ridley managed to convince the
victorious Houses to allow Lilian a generous allotment of rights.
However, as soon as you put the king’s ring on your finger and
married his daughter, you became his true - and legitimate - son.
You are as much his son as if the queen herself had borne
you.”

Ben shrugged. “I’m honored, I
guess. But that doesn’t really mean much, does it?”

“
It means you are a prince!” said
Fiela pointedly.

“
Ah. I’m a prince. Well, that’s
something,” said Ben. He had a sudden vision of himself in silk
tights wearing a cap with a feather stuck in it. He
shivered.

The attorney said, “It also means
that King Sargon’s authorities now fall out of suspension to you. A
decades-old void has been filled. The ring is like a last will and
testament. A will remains in effect long after the author passes
away. It is called the ‘authority of the dead hand.’ The
authorities vested in that ring are equally valid.”

“
Yes, but Lilian and I discussed
this. Aside from the right to approve my own marriage, the ring is
powerless. Any other rights that King Sargon could have bequeathed
to a real son or daughter were lost when he was overthrown. There
is someone else in charge of the Fifth Kingdom and that person now
has those rights.”

Barnum meditated on his next words
before saying, “Has Lilian not told you that the current king, King
Arker, has neither offspring nor living wife? He has also lost
control of his mental faculties, though his House has been trying
to conceal that truth. He claims his dead wife haunts him. His
kingdom is largely run by his scribes, and not very well. I have
heard from reputable sources that he has no will or similar device,
and given his state of mind, anything he might put on paper would
be very dubious in the eyes of the citizenry. Neither will his
deteriorated physical state allow for…
prodigy.
”

“
Okay,” Ben said slowly, in a tone
that said, “Get to the point.”

Lilian spoke. “That means if King
Arker should die, you, Mutu, are the only legal living heir. The
Fifth Kingdom will be yours. You would not be prince. You would be
king.”

It took a minute for the woman’s
words to register. When they did, he looked at her. “Did you know
about the current king’s troubles?”

Lilian put out her lower lip.
“Nothing definitive. But this is not an unwelcome development, is
it?”

“
You should have told me,” Ben
said, raising his voice.

The woman shrugged. “Until this
moment, I had heard only rumors of the king’s mental state. The
court of the Fifth Kingdom has been unusually subdued as of late. I
do not make plans based on rumors, Mutu.”

“
But you did
position yourself to take advantage of them if they were
true.
That’s
why you wanted a husband - any husband that could squeeze a
digit into your father’s ring.”

“
No, not any husband,” objected
Lilian. “I sat very specific parameters for Ridley. Please don’t be
cross, Mutu. It is an arranged marriage of sorts but consider the
good that can come of it. Instead of dying with the Ardoon masses
you can use your power to save them. Perhaps millions of them. You
will have far more compassion for them than any king born of the
Nisirtu.”

“
That is beside the point. You
should have been straight with me from the beginning, Lilian,” the
man seethed.

Before the quarrel could escalate,
Barnum said, “There is more.”

“
What?” asked Ben,
agitated.

“
This is in regard to Lilian’s new
status.”

Lilian turned from Ben to Barnum. “Is there an
issue?”

“
Not an issue, exactly, but there
are ramifications to this development.”

“
What?” she asked.

“
Divorce is highly undesirable,
lass.”

“
Why? I mean,” she said
apologetically, touching Ben’s arm, “not that I would want to ever
divorce my husband.”

The attorney’s eyes flashed on Ben
for the briefest of seconds. Returning his gaze to Lilian, he said,
“It’s complicated, but the terms Scriptus Ridley negotiated for
your protection when your father was arrested are only valid so
long as you remain unwed. The enemies of your father were
determined that you be the end of his bloodline.”

“
Yes,” said Lilian. “But I have
married the rightful heir of my father and thus enjoy the immunity
granted any spouse of a regent.”

“
Correct,” said Barnum.
“However…”

Lilian narrowed her eyes. “Go
on.”

Tapping a pen on his knee, the
lawyer said, “Should you ever leave the sanctuary of the marriage,
you would be…well, you have already forfeited the protections
offered by Scriptus Ridley’s settlement. Thus, you would be
immediately
marked.
”

“
Marked?” Fiela exclaimed, looking
at Lilian, whose eyes were equally wide.

It took a moment for Lilian to
find her voice. “I do not understand! I am either married and
protected by my status as spouse to a
de
facto
regent or unmarried and protected by
Ridley’s settlement.”

Barnum shook his head. “No,
Lilian. You
voluntarily
gave up the protections that Ridley negotiated
for you. They cannot be restored.”

The man turned to Ben. “Ben, you
must understand that if Lilian were ever to leave the marriage, of
her volition or by command, the mark placed on her by the Families
upon King Sargon’s ouster would be reinstated.”

“
You mean,” said Ben weakly, “she
would be killed.”

“
Not just her. Her, her friends,
her associates, her children, and her family, save you and Fiela.
You, being of higher rank, would be immune, and because Fiela is
your wife and your relationship with her trumps Lilian’s, she, too,
would be immune. But everyone else would die.”

“
Even
our
children?” gasped Lilian.

“
Such children would be tainted by
your father’s blood. Yes, they would be killed.” He turned toward
Ben. “Your demise will have the same effect as a divorce. Put
simply, Lilian and any children you have by her will be marked if
you die or divorce her.”

Ben turned to face Lilian, who was white as a
ghost.

In a defeated voice he said, “This play never ends,
does it?”

At dinner that evening, Lilian
took part in every conversation, contributing an opinion here and
an opinion there, agreeing with her guests on some topics and
politely disagreeing with them on others. She called for the
fetches to refill wine glasses and to bring coffee and tea. She did
everything she could to conceal the fact that Barnum’s revelations
as to her legal status had shaken her world.

The fettered princess had a plan
in place that would gain her a throne and it had seemed to be
working. Its continued success, however, depended on her correctly
assessing her environment and being aware of all the pertinent
facts, however minor. Two hours ago she had been blindsided by a
fact that was in no way minor. If Ben died or divorced her, she
would not only lose her throne but also be cast out and
marked.

The dichotomy was extreme. Her
options were to rule with Ben at her side, always, or to be killed
like a rabid dog.

It was not the external threat
that concerned her. She expected the other Houses to weaken
considerably after the collapse and to break apart. It was the
threat within that concerned her. To rule she needed the support of
the nobility within her own House. She also needed the support of
the scribes, the Peth-Allati, and to some extent, the citizenry. If
Ben were to die, or divorce her, the fact that she was the
biological daughter of a true Nisirtu king would not deter
others
within
her
House who were hungry for her throne from enforcing the
mark.

She pondered this throughout the
meal, Ben to her left and Fiela to his, both oblivious to her
internal struggles. The only silver lining to her predicament was
that Ben, having come from the ranks of the Ardoon, was not of
royal lineage. Had Lilian married a Nisirtu noble, which is what
she had requested Ridley to script, the noble’s family would have
inevitably schemed against her and sought to replace Lilian with a
queen of their own choosing. The family might have even overthrown
their own flesh and blood if the king failed to acquiesce to their
constant demands for royal positions, rights, and
authorities.