Chapter 27

Envenheim 181

For the next two weeks, I listened closely for any new gossip from slaves, nobles, and guards alike on the moth slaves’ disposition towards me, but unfortunately, I heard nothing.

Paris was thoroughly embarrassed about his drunken encounter with me and was still avoiding me as much as he could. That would not do for my plans to continue. I asked him many times to ride into the city with me, but he refused saying that it was too dangerous for me.

“And have your face scarred up again? I think not.” He replied simply.

Paris’ alliance with Tomoya was a blessing. His father hadn’t given him many funds at all to repair Nui and it was hard to afford the material to build houses and shops for individuals to make a livelihood. But, with the new alliance, Tomoya had more materials being sent to us and in return Paris gave him some of his moth slaves which he had an abundance of and Tomoya needed.

Paris had become very paranoid about my safety. It wasn’t just Terry guarding me most of the day now; he ordered two more guards to follow me about the castle and protect me at all times. It was suffocating, but I wondered if this was just how he was trying to show affection.

As I sat in the garden—ever working on Paris’ blanket and hiding it whenever he would approach me unannounced—Paris arrived with that terrifying black moth Morgan in tow. One of the guards was dragging him by the chain attached to his slave collar.

“My Queen, I can’t stop worrying about your safety. My advisors suggested that we have a powerful moth mage at the castle to protect you if need be.” Paris told me firmly.

The black moth stared at me with his red eyes and I frantically stood up from the chair I was knitting in and said to Paris worriedly, “I’m fine, Paris. I don’t need another guard. Three is quite enough.”

“Please My Queen, it would allay my fears.” He said sweetly.

I made a face and crossed my arms, but couldn’t refuse him when he was being kind. I had to show him I appreciated that side of him. I curtsied. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“He will have many duties throughout the castle, so he won’t be following you around at all times.” Paris said with a smile—glad that I accepted this token of his kindness.

One of my guards—a blonde-haired man by the name of Jonathan—took the black moth’s chain from Paris’ guard and dragged him roughly to his side.

I should be feeling sorry for this poor black moth instead of feeling fearful of him. Like most moth slaves, he was starving, and to live your life on a chain was a cruel, cruel fate. But I just couldn’t stop my blood from chilling when I looked at him. Such an evil, black color he was!

The black moth sat down cross-legged as I knitted with the other ladies of the court and spoke of pleasant things. He was silent as all slaves were around nobles, but he kept staring at me consistently. My blood turned to ice when he looked at me!

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Later in the day I went to go find Paris to try to beg him once again to take me into the city. I told my guards I wished to see my husband alone, and even though they protested over and over that Paris’ orders were to always keep an eye on me, they got sick of arguing with me and waited for me at my quarters while I went to Paris.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

At this time of day, he was always in the cabinet having a private meeting with his advisors. I was about to barge in when I heard the king saying, “children…?”

“Your Majesty, I do not know whether it is possible for a human to conceive with a moth, but you have to get her pregnant as quickly as possible. You need at least three children. We have all been looking the other way at the fact that you sleep in different quarters, but you now need to for the sake of your kingdom—especially since your court is becoming cognizant of the fact that you don’t sleep together.” One of the advisors said to Paris.

There was no reply from Paris for a long moment, and then he finally replied, “she hates me… As right she should. She was forced to marry me against her will.”

“Who cares whether she hates you? You don’t have to like each other to conceive.” The other advisor said.

I walked away from the door and clutched Caerwyn’s necklace and gasped in fear.

I didn’t know what had happened, but I was deathly afraid of letting him make love to me. It hadn’t seemed like such a bad prospect when I had almost let him days ago, but it did now. Maybe it was because I now knew he was most likely not a virgin like I was.

Chambermaids I took a fancy to… He had said. How many lovers had he had? I didn't want to know..

I ran away from the door, and as I ran through the hallways of the caslte, I bumped into Terry in one of the castle halls. He said to me cheerfully, “I was just looking for you! I have great news for you, Mimi! I have been to many taverns like you asked to hear the gossip and they are saying that the moths are whispering good things about you! They say they think you a brave and great lady for defending your sister as well as generous for giving your slaves gold. Many of the slaves are saying they would love for you to ride through again!”

I nearly squealed at that good news and my mood was lifted. “Thank you for doing this for me, Terry!”

He nodded in return. “I want you to get out again; it’s not good for you to be cooped up here all day!”

I took a moment of reveling in my small victory before asking Terry worriedly, “do you know any more gossip about my husband, Terry? Do you know how he got his scar…?”

Terry shrugged. “Just rumors. The word is that his father gave it to him when he learned of one of Paris’ dalliances with a human slave. In a drunken stupor, he asked the slave girl to marry him! It is very shameful for a prince to ask a lowly woman to marry him—it makes him seem desperate and cheap—and, although Paris told the king that he was merely drunk and had no true affections for the slave, the king hurled insult after insult at Paris until Paris finally snapped and smacked his father across the face. After that, they supposedly got into a full-blown fight, punching and kicking until his father grabbed a knife in self defense and dragged it across Paris’ face…”

I gulped a little. I kept forgetting that Paris was supposedly a dangerous man. While he had been cold and distant to me, it never struck me that he would hurt me. “Have they always been this way? Did they ever get along?”

“I don’t know. Word has it that his father never liked him from the beginning. The king was always disappointed about the fact that Paris was never good at the things a man should be good at—like horse-riding and sword fighting. He much preferred reading and learning strategy and how to run a kingdom to all of that.” Terry explained. “It’s all just rumor though.”

I scratched my cheek thoughtfully. “There has to be more to it than that… It’s such a petty thing to hate your son over.”

Terry nodded. “I always thought that, too. Some fathers… Some fathers have a right to hate their sons, but he doesn’t.”

I made a face. “Terry… you sell yourself short. The past is the past and you should stop punishing yourself for it… You’ve been a wonderful guard and a great friend. You should forgive yourself for injuring that templar—you just... weren’t in your right mind.” I replied.

He looked down with a subtle smile. “Thank you, Mimi.”

I didn’t know what to do with myself before dinner, so I went back to knitting Paris’ blanket in my quarters as rain began sprinkling from the sky and thunder rang in the distance.

I cringed with fear and gasped a little. I had had a fear of thunder since I was young that I had never gotten over.

I crawled under my blankets and pulled them up to my chin fearfully until it was time for dinner.