Mercy & Fire

18. Dark Desire's Cruelty

Roselena

(!) Profanity and depictions of sexual assault and nudity.

Nobody knew the name of the queen. Even the citizens of Dhernon were none the wiser when it came to her bloodline, and up until I heard news of her arriving for the coronation, she was nothing more than a tall tale.

I recalled the stories our history professor told during class. He always liked to tell the recorded tales and rumors of our Kingdom, and while the Queen was a tale of a different land, her threat to our kingdom made it important for us to learn about her. It was said that she bewitched the late king of Camela, married him, and murdered him to become queen. It was a great scandal that reached even the kingdoms of the west, and no one was particularly concerned until the citizens of Camela began to flee.

From then on the stories grew wilder and wilder. They spoke of creatures stalking in the night and of children and family going missing. The most bone chilling story I heard was from Adelia who told me she'd heard a rumor that the queen craved the blood of young innocents.

The Queen was like the headless horseman to me. Nothing more than a myth. However, now as I stood with my hands deep in her hair, she was all too real.

"Roselena, dear, a little more gentle." She ordered softly.

Yes, she was real and unsettling. She had a way of seeming kind and conniving at the same time, which left you standing on a thin sheet of ice with her.

I softened my touch as I massaged her scalp from behind her where she sat in the large bathtub. There were two other women with me: one massaging her feet and legs, and the other rubbing aromatic soap into her skin.

It was pale and smooth, and sometimes I swore her skin looked like a translucent flower petal. At times it was as if her skin was made of liquid milk being mixed with a dash of water. It was as if it went transparent, revealing a weaved constellation of veins and blood vessels. It was faint, but when I blinked, it would disappear just as quickly. I wondered if I was hallucinating or if the other girls also noticed this.

Tending to the queen also made me realize how little King Rovan asked of me and the other maids. In fact, I was the only one he really spoke to aside from his soldiers, political peers, and Joaquim. The only time he complained was when he figured out I could read and when I disrespected Joaquim with my facial expressions – though the latter situation still made my chest twist with doubt.

If King Rovan ever demanded me to massage his hair or to wash his body as the Queen asked us to...

My cheeks flushed with heat at the mere thought of it. I had never touched anyone like that before, and though it wasn't so alarming with a woman, touching a man like that just seemed so... daring. Yet, my mind recalled the ripples of lean muscle beneath the skin of his arms and shoulders. Despite my reservations, my teeth sunk into my lip as curiosity tugged inside of me.

The Queen spoke out of the silence. "Tell me, Roselena, where do you come from?"

My hands faltered in her hair for a second. "I come from a small village near the outskirts of Bermill – I mean, the new state of Dhernon."

Her eyes weren't looking at me, but her attention was enough to have me pinned stiff.

"Hmmm. Did you have a family?"

A lump formed in my throat at the prying question, and I forced myself to respond.

"Yes. They passed the night Dhernon claimed the land." I was careful with my words, and when the image of Adelia watching the King take me away fluttered into my mind, I tried to block it out. A lie is only believable if you can convince yourself it's true. That's what Adelia said once anyway.