Two Queens (Seven Heavens Book 1) (35 page)

Orion recoiled in shock. His hands flew to his neck, trying to wrest Paris's fingers from them. He felt his fingers close about the Ring.

“Feel it now?”

His hand made its way under Paris's and he peeled him off of his neck. He shoved the arm away, holding the Ring back with his right.

“Yes, I feel it.” He held the Ring aloft and looked at it. It no longer glowed.

Paris yelled and rushed him. The Ring fell from Orion's hand like hot oil on Paris's neck. Paris bent double and screamed. Orion picked it up again. He backed away from Paris and left the room.

Through the door he turned and started running. He didn't look behind to see if Paris followed. He fell against walls and tripped on his own feet, staggering as he ran. Two doors, three doors, four doors. His hand clenched the Ring, only the pain of the gem poking his palm enough to convince himself he still held it.

And he was out.

Orion staggered into the sitting-room, breathing heavily. Through blurred vision he saw several faces turn his way and bodies rise from their seats. A girl screamed. He was hit from behind and knew no more.

Twenty-seven

Orion heard low voices speaking around him. He tried to remember where he was. In prison? At the inn? Something felt strange. He shifted a little and realized he was laying down. He was not wearing what he had worn before. His body felt clean.

He moved his foot again. Yes, he was in a bed. They were the softest sheets he had ever felt. He felt a pressure on his eyelids. He opened his eyes but only saw shadows. He closed his eyes again.

The voices came again. The tone soothed him. He brought his hand up to rub his eyes but it caught on something. His thumb felt for the offender and found he was wearing a ring. He started. Recent events came back to him.

He groaned.

“Shhhh,” a voice came nearer and a cloth stroked his forehead. Whispering continued.

He brought his hands up to his face. They touched skin. He felt scared. He could feel his hands touch his face, but not his face touch his hands. Just a pressure. He started breathing heavily.

“Good morning, Orion,” the voice said. It sounded like Adara. No, like the Queen. He gave up. It was female, at least.

A hand touched his hand and moved it beside him. He realized what he had touched was her other hand. His other hand was moved too.

“Are you ready to wake?” She put her hand on his face again and drew the cloth back. He shut his eyes as light darted in. “Rhoda, please lower the curtains.”

He heard the sound of cloth sliding along wood. The light he felt on his eyelids lessened. He slowly opened his eyes. He saw long black hair falling down a girl's back. Her hands were in front of her, wringing out a cloth.

“Adara?”

She turned to look at him. Not Adara. Similar but different. “Alexis.”

“Where's Adara?”

“She and Mother had something to do.” She took the cloth she had and stroked his forehead.

“Oh.” Mother? “I'm Orion.”

“Yes. Pleased to meet you.”

He felt silly. Hadn't she already called him that? “Where am I?”

“You're at the palace.” She set the cloth down. “Do you want to sit up? I find I wake up easier that way.”

He tried to think of something but didn't know what so just nodded.

“Come on, then. Up you go.” She put her arms underneath his and pulled as he sat up. He felt dizzy again. She set pillows behind him and had him lean against the headboard. She took the cloth and dabbed at his face.

He never had anyone besides his mother take care of him like this. He looked down and saw the Ring on his left hand. He raised his hand and looked at it. So he had made it out. “What happened?”

“You don't know? Well, I guess not after you fell. But Mother said not to ask you questions so we had better wait.”

“Who's mother?”

“My mother, silly.”

He looked at her for a while. “I mean, who is she?”

“Queen Sophia. Didn't you meet her?”

“Yes. Then, then you're the Princess?”

She laughed. “Yes. Call me Alexis. Using titles all the time is tiresome among cousins.”

Cousins. She his cousin? Well, their mothers were cousins, weren't they? He was about to ask her a question—was that allowed? Wasn't it she was not to ask him?—when the door opened to the room.

The Queen walked in, closely followed by Adara. “How are you this morning?”

Adara ran around her and came opposite Alexis. “Orion! You're awake!” She gave him a big hug.

“I'm well, Queen,” he answered.

“Please call me Aunt Sophia here.”

He smiled.

“I want to tell you something.” Adara bounced on the bed.

“What?”

“A surprise.”

“Adara, let us wait on that. Orion, are you quite awake?”

“Yes, Queen. Aunt Sophia.”

“And have you met my daughter, Alexis?”

“Yes.”

“And this is Rhoda, my maid,” Alexis added quickly.

The girl bowed slightly and Orion nodded.

“Good, now everyone knows everyone. For now, at least. My husband is engaged for the rest of the morning and it will be some time before you meet all of Alexis's friends.”

Alexis smiled in agreement.

Orion felt he should say something. “Thank you for your hospitality. I, uh, look forward to meeting the King.”

Alexis bent double and laughed at him. The Queen smiled. “Alexis, contain yourself. There is only one King and he is in Kyriopolis. My husband is called Master of the City.”

His brow was still furrowed.

“Do not worry: anything you wish will be told to you now. But it is confusing, especially as the King's wife is Queen, too. Two queens and one king doesn't make much sense at all.”

“Thank you. And-”

“What is it?”

“What happened yesterday? Earlier today?”

“Yes. That's an excellent place to start. But first, some breakfast. There are some clothes for you hung on the screen. Adara, you may keep him company and show him down. Do you remember the way?”

“Yes, Aunt.”

“See you soon, then. Alexis, Rhoda,” she said to the others and they left.

Orion got up and inspected the clothes at the screen. Adara fell on the bed. “Oh, Orion, you cannot imagine how big and beautiful the palace is! And they say they want us to live here! Here, with them! Isn't it wonderful?”

He was too confused with the buckles on his pants at the moment to answer.

“So there you were, come back, looking as if you'd seen a ghost, and everyone in shock. I think I fainted. I had just been wondering what took you so long and worrying about if we would be executed or just exiled, actually being exiled together would be quite fine, but then there you are, and the Ring, and then Paris, bound and the soldiers gone and everyone talking at once and I can't understand a word of it. But then Aunt Sophia is hugging me and saying you did it which of course I knew that and...

“And the Ring! Oh, you must let me wear it sometimes. Would that be allowed? I don't know. You have it now right, it isn't lost again? Oh, but there are ever so many jewels and pretty dresses around here. Mother must have been quite extraordinary to say no or whatever it was she said to leave this all behind.

“Orion? Are you still there?”

He came out feeling sheepish in the different clothes. That was a weird feeling. He'd always worn simply what he had. But here you dressed according to what you wanted to look like. He hoped he looked half as decent as Adara did.

“Oh you look splendid! Almost a different person than on the edge of the desert. I mean, the clothes. You'll always look the same to me.” She hugged him again and started crying.

He just stood there. Wasn't she happy just a moment ago?

“Well, let's go. Can't keep the Queen and Princess waiting! Isn't that wonderful? Our aunt and cousin queen and princess, and our uncle a master? I wonder if we have any other relatives...” so saying she pulled him along outside, down a staircase, and through a couple rooms where they found breakfast laid out for them.

It was just Aunt Sophia and Alexis. They sat up and started eating. “Now I'm sure everyone is dying to talk and ask questions. But first, as part of the Avgerini, and with what just happened, give your attention to your food and listen to me. Then we may proceed to less serious matters,” the Queen said.

“As you probably remember, I was very interested as to the details of Astra's death. Orion, you told me there was no visible wound or symptoms to explain it. As you answered I found the answer becoming clearer in my mind. Alexis already knows this, but let me tell you the story from the beginning.

“Long ago, a young woman grew up in a time of great tumult. She performed heroic deeds in the War of the Unicorn and, had she died in it, would still be remembered today. But her greatest deeds were yet to come. She, along with six others, was blessed by the Unicorn before his departure with a Gift. Hers was to heal the land so long torn by strife, and the people in that land.

“She planted a tree near where two rivers joined, in between two mountain ranges. She hoped that it could bring all things together, that no longer would fortress stand against fortress but there would be free passage throughout the land. She fasted, and wept, and sang over the young sapling. And through that Tree the Unicorn answered her heart cry.

“A beautiful city sprang up around it for that Tree bore life. Sickly and weak became strong and hale. The woman, and her daughters after her, tended the tree and administered its healing leaves. So the land had rest from war. Her daughters we call the Avgerini but she is known only as Artemis.

“Generations passed and the Gift flourished in union with the other six. All peoples spoke of the Heaven-blessed cities and flocked to their walls. And there was peace.

“Then rumors and whispers stirred. The Gifts had made the land rich and the city masters vied for influence. Harmony was broken and sorrow and watchfulness crept back into the land of the Seven Heavens. The Dromi lost their city east of the mountains and became a wandering people. The Selenians, never numerous, hid themselves from the unrest. Helians lusted for gold and in their strife set their own city on fire. The Pleiadi continued with their lives, looking inwards, not willing to stand against the sands of time.

“Some of the Wise counseled that the Gifts had been too freely given and unworthily received. Each Heaven became more obsessed with its own interests with little alliance among the Seven.

“Why do I tell you this? For as the Ring is the heirloom of this Artemis, and the Crown, so also is the Gift and the Tree. But the Gift and the Tree are not the same thing.

“The Tree is not the Gift, only part of it. Within themselves the daughters of the Avgerini carry the power to mend hurt. Orion told us that Astra, in exile and without the Tree, prospered in this work. But she did something far more wonderful.

“When she told your friend the four words, take—ring—queen—Hespera, you naturally put them together in a phrase. But I contend that it is not one phrase but two, or possibly three. You were to take the Ring. You were to go to the Queen, that is, myself, and know the name 'Hespera.'

“The Ring would prove your birth; the word 'Hespera' would explain it to whichever Queen sat on Avallonë's throne, whether my mother still lived, or I, or my daughter Alexis after me. Astra knew, one of few who did, the truth about our grandmother Hespera, sixth from Artemis.

“When she met the man who would become her husband he was dying of mortal wounds. Legend states that she healed him with her arts, but that is not so. Some vision came upon her, one that she could not explain, and she felt that the man could not die, that someone else must die for him. She was consumed with love for the man and gave herself to the vision, to him, and fell into a dark sleep. When she woke, the man slept peacefully beside her, healed of his wounds.

“She didn't understand who had died for the man as she still remained alive. Neither did our mothers, Greta (mine) and Emelia (Astra's), until much later. He was away at war when she died, without wounds. The girls, for mere girls they were then, were stricken with grief and wondered how to explain this to their father. The failing of the Gifts was on everyone's minds then: they feared this meant the fading of Avallonë.

“But they did not have to face that evil, for a worse one befell. Their father never returned from war. Greta was inconsolable but Emelia, with untiring questioning, found one of the party who had been with the Master at his death. The hour was the same as Hespera's passing.

“With your story, Orion, I believe I finally understood why your mother left. Why she rejected the Prince. She spoke often of the eastern mountains calling her. I have no doubt that she was meant to find your father. She was meant to meet him. And she was meant to give her life for his. Does this make sense?”

Orion could barely speak. “My father lay dying of a cougar attack when my mother first met him. He,” the words failed.

“She healed him? Was it with a kiss?”Alexis asked. “That's so romantic!”

“Gently, Alexis. It is as I thought but to be the very hour of their first meeting—I must think on this more. I cannot explain how the Unicorn can say one thing and act another, but I trust who he is.”

There was silence for some time.

“Why didn't you tell me? Earlier?” Orion asked.

“I also made a vow. A vow to tell this only to the Avgerini. I am sorry if I caused you grief. I felt as if I was the one on trial. But in the end it worked out.”

Orion felt he should be satisfied with this explanation but wasn't. “Have you met the Unicorn?”

“No, I haven't. At least, not in waking memory. But he is behind the Gifts, our highest art, our whole history. His breath pervades the Seven Heavens and to one of the Avgerini that breath is well known. Think on these things, Orion. They are not light matters. But you have already taken the first and hardest step.”

“I have?”

“You dared to try where I had failed. The Ring has chosen you. You no longer need fear your past. Enough! My work calls to me and I must answer. Adara, show him your surprise. Alexis, take them wherever they wish. We will talk more later.”