Silver Skeletons: Book 3 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Fourteen: An Offer for Polaris

"A Slave's identification must consist of the following in order: [Slave's Name], Property of [Owner's Name], [Owner's Title if Applicable], [Owner's Address]. Any violation of this law will result in the Slave either being sold in the next scheduled Slave Auction, or assigned to the following Annual Slave Arena. The owner may or may not be informed and will not be reimbursed for the Slave's value."

Suddenly, Ariana found herself in her bedchamber in the Helvetican Palace, alone with Ravan the Great. She watched his attention go straight to her silver vanity.

"Lovely mirror," Ravan commented as he stroked the glimmering frame. "The accent of pearls with this spiral, floral array is absolutely intoxicating."

"You desire my mirror?" Queen Ariana asked in some confusion.

Ravan laughed obnoxiously. "No, no. Although, it wouldn't leave you without, that's for certain. You have more than enough mirrors in your massive abode to keep you reminded of your own appearance. But no, actually, I would like you to add to this mirror. And a couple others found about your lovely palace."

"What would you like me to add?" asked the queen.

"Eyes," said Ravan. "Watchful eyes."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard correctly, Sweetheart."

Ariana glanced over at her bed and then back at Ravan with a crooked pink smile. "You filthy little imp. I hate to break it to you, but the king and I ended our marital relations after he gained four mistresses. You'd be better off adding eyes to their quarters."

Ravan took a seat at the vanity and played with the little trinkets the queen kept on a reflective tray, including the vial of venom. "My dear queen, if that were my objective, I would request you do exactly as you suggested. But that is not the case. First, I want you to replace every single pearl on this delicate mirror with an eye. Then, on the mirrors in each parlor and sitting room in this palace. Oh! And your grand dining room, your ballroom, and your throne room."

"That is a lot of eyes," Ariana commented.

"Indeed it is," Ravan admitted as he continued to play with the queen's trinkets without a care.

"I'm assuming these are not to be the eyes of animals."

Ravan chuckled. "Of course not, my dear."

"Why? I thought you 'see all.' What purpose does this serve?"

"Don't worry about that, Sweetheart. All you that need to worry about is how to maintain your powerful army."

"How am I to obtain these eyes to post onto my mirrors?"

"You're commanding a war, Your Majesty!" Ravan exclaimed as he stood up from the queen's vanity. "People die in war, thus providing you with vast quantities of eyes from a wide range of ethnicities. Take advantage! Get creative!"

"Lovely," said Ariana.

"Quite. So, do we have a deal?"

The queen was extremely suspicious, but she composed herself with the fact that if she ever found this deal to no longer be worth the trouble, she could simply stop obtaining the eyes of random corpses to put on her mirrors, and remove whatever ones she had already applied. She gazed at the hand that Ravan had stretched out towards her. She took it.

"Deal."

"Excellent! Now, whenever you collect your eyes, dip them into this, and then set them aside to dry before applying them onto your lovely mirrors."