Chapter 27
Theron
Theron sat side by side with his new queen on the back of a giant eagle, soaring high above the land of Aureum.
The day was young, the sky a clear blue.
Cold wind lashed their faces, their bodies cloaked by the thick himations they’d donned to combat the chill.
Theron took the chance to hold his wife closer.
“You could have ended that rite after the tenth round. For that matter, you could have ended it after the third,” Aurora harrumphed.
Theron bit back his grin. He did so love it when her claws came out.
“I’m making a substantial contribution to your cache as recompense.”
She’d told him of her idea just that morning.
If and when they travelled to her time period, he planned to do so comfortably, in style, and flush with coin.
He was a king and she his queen, and he planned to maintain that dignity well into the future.
Hopefully, as she said, the desert would preserve much.
“Theron.”
“Technically, yes, I could have ended it sooner.”
“My hips are still sore. And that’s after you healed me multiple times. I had to sit on an iced cushion at court this morning because parts of me are still throbbing.”
Her glare was quite impressive. Theron did his best not to take it to heart.
She’d greeted her new subjects just after dawn, received the oaths of fealty from the nobles, and earned the love of her subjects by announcing that she was postponing her coronation celebration until after she’d ended the blight.
On her first day as queen, she’d done splendidly.
Of course, the plan had partly been his own.
The faster they ended the blight, the more he could be certain of his remaining nobles’ loyalty.
It would also give Polydorus a chance to weed out the last of the traitors from within the palace.
“If I heal you completely, you’ll never strengthen the muscles.”
And he had plans for those muscles. If his wild day of debauchery had proven anything, it was that she could handle a mere four rounds before needing his help to restore her stamina.
As a queen, she would need a great deal of it.
Thus, his rather self-serving stamina training plan had begun to take shape in his mind.
“You’re lucky I love you. Otherwise, I’d have pushed you off this eagle an hour ago.”
It was a miracle the beasts tolerated him as well as they did.
He supposed he would have to give credit to Aurora on that front—the damned creature seemed to adore her so much it behaved while he joined her on its back.
The rest of their small force travelled on all the remaining eagles.
Unfortunately, it was the fastest, safest way to Cor and the easiest way to ascend the mountains.
“My queen is so very generous.” He leaned over to kiss her head.
“Well…um, about that…”
“What is it?” he asked, instantly on alert. Her expression was one of deep unease.
“We need to talk…” A statement guaranteed to strike fear into any husband’s heart. “About the dualists.”
“What of them?” Not exactly his favourite subject, thanks to a certain thick-skulled cousin of his, but hardly the worst topic he’d imagined.
“I think we need to meet with them. And to do that, we need to offer them amnesty.”
“Aurora—”
“No, please hear me out first.”
Theron bit his tongue. He couldn’t possibly offer the same ones who’d god-napped Knowledge amnesty in his lands. The people would riot.
“I was given permission to share this secret with you for this very purpose, so I hope you will honour the trust implicit in that,” she said, her eyes serious.
Theron grimaced and sighed.
“Alright, let’s hear it.”
Whoever had convinced his wife of this madness was going to die a swift death. To target her for their insidious plans so soon after her coronation was a bold move indeed. He would need to work on toughening up her public image. The queen of Aureum should not be regarded as an easy mark.
“The dualists aren’t monsters. They’re people, Trisians, just like you and me. And…the hero of the holy sword, the avatar of Justice, was a dualist in my time…as he is now.”
“He what?!”
The avatar’s innocent facade was just that—a facade. Theron was going to wring his fool neck. How dare he endanger Aurora by making her complicit!
“Just listen and think, Theron. If Justice has appointed a dualist not once but twice throughout history as Her avatar, She can’t possibly wish for us to hunt and persecute them.
I think what we’ve been taught about the dualists is wrong.
And I refuse to be a queen who persecutes them.
I want Aureum to be a place of refuge for them. ”
“Aurora, there’s an enormous difference between tolerance for their silent presence and open acceptance of it,” he said, doing his best to rein in his temper.
“Don’t you want to know why they god-napped Knowledge?”
“I don’t need to know why, I just need to punish those responsible,” he retorted quickly…and instantly regretted it. He sounded like a fool blinded by hatred rather than a level-headed monarch.
Aurora reached her hand over to his, pinning him with her green gaze.
“I came here to change history, Theron. To kill Drakon before he can destroy Trisia. To save your life. To become your queen. I think Trisia would be a better place if we changed the fate of the dualists too.”
She wasn’t…wrong. And if Orithyia had been lying about Batea being responsible for commanding the dualists to god-nap Knowledge, then the dualists might be the ones to provide him with the proof he needed to depose the high priestess.
If there was one person his people hated most, it was the High Priestess of Knowledge, whom they all blamed for the blight.
They might even hate her enough to accept the dualists, provided they proved instrumental in taking her down.
“Very well. We will meet with them. Provided they can justify leaving Altanus vulnerable by god-napping Knowledge, I will vow not to hunt them. But such a thing cannot happen again.”
If monstrosities struck the capital, the temple district would be the only true refuge for its citizens.
Without Knowledge there to complete the Divine Triad, that refuge risked collapsing.
They were just lucky the statue itself had been carved in record time.
The temple had even allowed those with wild magic to help shape it before teams of temple sculptors worked in shifts to complete it.
All it required now was for the obsidian eyes to be carved and consecrated, something Orithyia had vowed would be done in just a few days.
Aurora smiled.
“Good. I’ve instructed Hyllus to broker a meeting for us in Cor.”
Theron frowned at her.
“How could you be so confident? What if I’d refused?”
That smile vanished, and suddenly his little fairy mouse was baring her teeth. It took him aback…and aroused him.
“I would have reminded you I am your equal, and a queen in my own right. I don’t need your permission to do the right thing.”
It seemed someone had been listening to Leukos’ lecture this morning. At least he’d proved himself to be a faithful dog if nothing else, barking well enough to ensure his new queen understood her elevated station.
Theron couldn’t help his smile. His queen was fierce.
“Now you’re sounding like a true monarch,” he purred. “It looks good on you.”
She shook her head at him with a fond grin.
They rode the eagles for much of the day, Theron pointing out towns and villages as they soared high above the landscape.
If the beasts they rode weren’t such wretched creatures, he might have liked to see more of their kingdom like this.
It was a wonder seeing it from above. Too bad this would likely be the last time he ever rode them without their usual antics.
No matter how much he tried to explain to Aurora that normally they were cantankerous and petty, she merely shook her head and assured the eagle he didn’t mean it, that they were intelligent and regal and that their queen adored them.
They arrived in Cor as the sun was setting, landing at the estate of Lord Vettias.
His sprawling mansion was bathed in the reds and pinks of dusk, vineyards stretching out towards the base of the mountain forests.
Countless smaller homes surrounded it, as did a protective stone wall.
Mountain bandits were a regular concern, though less so since the spire had angered the spirits there.
Nearer the entrance to the estate, the scent of cooking fires tickled his nose.
Theron smiled, glad to be welcomed by a feast.
Aurora was near to fainting by the time they were welcomed inside Lord Vettias’ impressive estate and given refreshment.
The old lord was appreciative of their arrival and all too happy to see that Theron had finally taken a queen.
Aurora had enjoyed his stories of “little Theron” during Vettias’ days as shield bearer, later as cup bearer, and had gone to bed in good spirits.
His wife had slept like the dead and Theron was loath to wake her, despite the knock on their door before dawn. Hyllus opened the door as silently as he could. Wearing the uniform of the Aurean royal guard, he’d waited until his own shift protecting them to act.
“Your Majesty, if you wish to meet them, we must make haste,” Hyllus whispered.
Theron gently woke his exhausted wife and helped ready her.
For this meeting, she insisted they shouldn’t risk bringing any of their guards.
After all, Hyllus had agreed to bring them into the dualist sanctuary deep inside the Dragon’s Spine Mountain.
If word got back to unsympathetic ears, a sanctuary that would stand several thousand years might be erased overnight.
While he’d relented, he didn’t like it. In this situation, they were ripe for an ambush.