Chapter 29 Bargain
There’s a certain way to drop our heads before plunging a horn into our prey that makes it easier to rip off whatever we target. She made me repeat that motion over and over until I could do it without thinking about it first. – Prince Eater #34
TARA CITADEL
“Well, well,” Ava Most Revered clucked as she leaned her arms on the railing of her balcony observing Gil Braeford in the full formal dress of the Armored Grays being escorted through the Grand Hall by Novitiate Ainsley. “If it isn’t Harrison’s obedient Gray dog.” Gil bowed deeply as she added, “You must be proud of your son, sixteen years old and next in line for the Crown.”
“I don’t have a son.”
“That’s a harsh statement. Hearing it breaks my heart.”
“I never had a son and you’ve never had a heart.”
“We have things to discuss.”
“Do we?”
“Yes, about the princes.”
“Princes? There’s only Gunnar. The others are dead. I’m including Seán since no one knows where he is. He’s probably dead like all the rest of them.”
“Not all of them, Most Revered.”
Ava clicked her fingernails on the railing pensively for several seconds before she said, “Come up then.”
Gil bowed deeply again and disagreed, “Begging your pardon, Most Revered. Your own laws and traditions prevent me from coming any closer than the Great Hall. As attractive as the thought of visiting your chambers might be.”
The novitiates and priests present in the hall giggled and whispered approvingly among themselves. The Most Revered ignored them, yet the rhythm of her fingernails changed to impatience. “Very well. Meet me at the willow.”
“Thank you, Most Revered,” Gil replied in his coldest, official voice. Disregarding the answering scowl on her face, he bowed a third time, swiveled sharply, and marched from the Great Hall.
Gil knelt under the Saint Edmunds Willow holding his helmet in the crook of his arm and staring at the ground. He was one of only two people who knew that this was the spot where Ava Most Revered, Incarnate Divinity on Terra Saint Edmunds, ruthlessly murdered her own child and then scraped out a shallow grave with her fingertips. She had expected him to dig it, but he had cursed at her and refused. He vividly remembered how she dangled the infant by one foot and tossed the girl into the dirt as if she were disposing of dog shit she wanted to get rid of before it stank.
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It still stunk. Not olfactorily but in his heart and his soul. Even these years later, Gil’s stomach churned.
“You can be such an emotional sap,” Ava Most Revered said from behind him.
He rose and reluctantly shuffled around to face her. As his eyes locked on hers, he deliberately fastened his helmet over his head.
“By the Survivor, leave the damn thing off so I can see your face,” Ava snorted.
“Don’t blaspheme,” Gil said brusquely.
“You’re the blasphemer. You and everyone else from New East Anglia. I’m the Divine Universe Manifest, not Olivia Raedwald. She was the overindulged niece of a mogul who purchased the entire planet and leased large portions of it to those criminals who built prisons,” Ava scoffed. “The only reason she made it out of the crash alive was that the crewmembers were so afraid of the Raedwalds that they saved her rather than themselves.”
Gil looked down and back at the tiny, unmarked tomb, and then raised his head and said, “I can give you one prince if you leave the others alone.”
“How did Jon survive? Everyone believes that he’s dead. Did you save him? Soldiers are turning over every stone in the kingdom to find Prince Seán. How long has he been with you?”
“I can give you one prince if you leave the others alone.”
“So you’ve finally realized that you cannot win by fighting me. I can’t think of any other reason why you would hand over someone you’re sworn to protect ”
“I see no other way to save any of Harrison’s sons except by sacrificing one to become the Holy Prince. One prince, if you leave the others alone.”
“Which?”
“Seán.”
“I want Jon.”
“His husband wouldn’t rest until he hunted us both down and killed us.”
“So, kill him first.”
Gil shook his head. “I will give you Seán if you leave the others alone.”
“I want Jon. And that damn archer, Mulrian.”
“No deal.”
“I’m not negotiating, Gil. I’m telling you. As long as Seán and Gunnar leave Midhe Nuae and never return, I will let them live out their lives in peace and happiness.” She paused, and then amended, “SnakeIn is acceptable if they think that city won’t kill them. But either way, for that to happen, you must give me Mulrian so I can use him to control Jon. Otherwise, I’ll come after both princes.”
Gil didn’t answer immediately, but as she withdrew, he said, “Mulrian and Jon for the lives of Prince Seán, Prince Gunnar, and Reginald’s unborn child.”
“I always underestimate you, Gil. Reginald’s child,” Ava said with genuine admiration, and then she chuckled loudly. When she noted the ominous glint in his eyes, she wiped away her laughter with one hand, and agreed, “Fine. Mulrian and Jon for the lives of Prince Seán, Prince Gunnar, and the unborn child. It was good to see you again, here, just the two of us. Almost like it used to be.”
Ava Most Revered turned her back to him and walked toward the Citadel.
“Ava,” Gil called after her. When she paused without looking back at him he warned, “Break your promise and I will personally feed you piece by piece to the Prince Eaters.”
She walked on without acknowledging his threat.
Gil’s eyes followed her until she was too far away to see, and then he returned his attention to the murdered baby. He bent to one knee, placed his helmet on the ground, pressed the palm of his left hand where the child rested, placed his right over his heart, and prayed, “Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, once again I humbly ask, as I have asked for the past sixteen years, that you keep this innocent child in your arms, protected from eternal evil, and safely in paradise where there is no sorrow.”
In all of the Chronicles of the Magi, Ava thought smugly, she was singular. Throughout the history of Midhe Nuae, only a handful of the Most Revereds gave birth. There were no regulations against doing so. In that one aspect, at least, all magi were free to do as they wished. For the Most Revereds, however, it was simply outside of tradition. For Ava to have not only a child, but a son who was a Prince of the Realm was extraordinary. In addition, being the Most Revered gave her unlimited access to her son as he grew, a benefit that the mothers of the other princes were denied.
©2022 Vera S. Scott