Chapter VI
Five months passed, and king Tharsos was running out of patience. He had sent spies to Lily’s village, but even though they gave him much information, they could not discover the most important detail. If she truly expected a child, she was hiding it well.
Tharsos ordered his darkest carriage prepared.
The one large enough for him to fit his horns inside comfortably, and with windows made of smoked, enchanted glass.
Impenetrable to human eyes. He would go to the human village, but if it turned out that Lily was another fluke, he wouldn’t show himself.
There was a reason why he let few of his human subjects see him: familiarity combined with fear bred contempt. If they didn’t know what he looked like, he could inspire greater fear.
And humans needed to be afraid. They were weak but numerous. And all the previous wars waged between the magic folk and the human race testified to the humans’ indestructibility.
But this child... This child could change everything. Tharsos clenched his fists and his claws bit into the flesh of his palms. For a moment, he let himself hope: for an heir to end all wars. And for a bride as smart and resilient as she was lovely.
Lily would make him a good wife. She could answer his needs, and she wasn’t afraid of his alienness and strength. Or rather, she was afraid: just enough to tickle his predator’s instincts, yet not enough for her to freeze in fear. She had the perfect response to him.
The carriage reached the village. His page, a human with just a trace of magical blood in him, knocked on the door of Lily’s house. A slender woman appeared in the doorway, and Tharsos clenched his jaw. No belly.
But then, he noticed the details. The young woman had freckled cheeks, and her hair was a shade lighter than Lily’s. He inhaled, sampling the air coming in through the minute cracks in the carriage. Female, yes. Pleasant. But not Lily.
This must be the younger sister, then.
The page returned after a short conversation with her.
“My lord, she says her sister is in hiding. She is with child. She didn’t want her kin to suffer the disgrace of having an unmarried pregnant woman in their family...”
Before the page finished speaking, Tharsos bellowed in rage. His mighty roar shook the carriage and echoed in the village, making glass windows tremble.
“I will see her. Now.”
The page ran to fetch Lily’s sister. She got in the carriage clumsily, her whole body trembling in fear. Tharsos bared his fangs, an instinctive predator’s reaction. She flinched, and her face grew green.
“I won’t eat you,” he snarled, and she clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood. Its smell hung in the stuffy air.
“Why is your sister gone?”
“M-my lord,” she stuttered. “She wanted to spare our family, my lord. Our custom… A pregnant woman who is unwed is exiled. And her family, too. We didn’t want to let her go…
She slipped out of the house one night. It was a week ago.
We are looking for her…” She looked at her hands with embarrassment.
“But Lily is… When she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be. ”
Tharsos regarded the trembling woman with disbelief.
“I told her I would come for her,” he said. An unpleasant thought struck him. “Is she hiding from me?”
The young woman flinched. “No! She said… She once said that you had an excellent sense of smell. That if no one else could find her, you would.”
Tharsos bowed his head for just a second.
It was his fault. He hadn’t paid attention to the humans enough.
As long as they obeyed his laws and paid their tribute, he let them hold on to their customs and traditions.
He gave them autonomy, and it turned out that when humans were left to their own devices, they were more beastly than the beasts.
“I will find her,” he told the woman. “She will be my queen. And together we will change your barbaric laws. Children are precious. A mother carrying a child should be revered, not cast out.”
With that, he got out of the carriage and smelled the air. A woman passing by fainted at his sight. He didn’t care. There was no trace of Lily’s smell, but that was all right. He would find her.