Janelle Chevalier

9. A Vision of Blood

The Palace of Saaer, Tekaron's Chambers

The king-sized bed that Tekaron lay leisurely on had scarlet red sheets of the most expensive of fabrics. The exotic wood of the bed was of trees that grew in the southeast of his kingdom, from a small town called Mavida where Bocote wood was lumbered and from where was shipped. The long, curved legs of the bed had bright, glistening rubies of a considerable size inlaid at the top of each of them, and got smaller in size all the way down. Each leg had the amount of six rubies that were polished by the servants on a daily basis to keep them glimmering and shiny.

Tekaron had been busy looking out the red-curtained window, at the morning sky of Saaer, the capital of his prosperous kingdom, that he almost missed the sound of soft footsteps when his wife entered the room.

"My King," she murmured softly and waited until he acknowledged her presence. He turned his head around and nodded. "Your face is furrowed, what have you troubled?" she asked, sitting at the edge of the bed before smoothing out her crimson dress. She had her back to him.

He clicked his tongue at her appearance. "You were gone for four days and you come back with this attire?" He gave her an appreciative look but quickly shook his head, his white braids swung at the movement. "Where were you?"

Drimolaer fidgeted uncomfortably, biting her lower lip anxiously, before sighing in defeat and turned around to face him. "I had something I had to deal with," she replied, but he could sense that she wasn't telling the full truth.

"And that something could not have waited until you tell me about?" he asked incredulously. He started crawling towards her on the bed then sat beside her. "You disappear right after I get a worrisome message?"

The bed dipped slightly by the added weight on her left. She didn't yet look at him but she knew he was piercing her with his red hues. "You would not let me go if I told you, and I am scared for our children and—"

"—you have been to Paesa?" the King interrupted, raising his voice noticeably, and causing Drimolaer to flinch. "And dressed like that? You would have died!"

"I didn't say I have been to Paesa," Drimolaer tried meekly but her tone of voice convinced Tekaron otherwise.

He gave a huge sigh out of anger and raked his fingers in his snow hair. "You and I both know that Paesa is the only forbidden place in this whole kingdom!" He stood up and began going around in circles. "You could have died!"

"I had on a fur coat, I was protected from the cold." She defended herself but she knew it was futile. He was angry and she couldn't change that unless she switched the conversation to another topic but she knew him well enough, he wouldn't drop the subject until he got the answers he sought.

"Batyce! May I ask what exactly have you been doing there?" he asked sarcastically, stopping to gaze at her. "It's not a merry place, that much I know."

"I...I went to the temple," she answered in a whispered voice that hadn't he been a Batyce elf he would have missed it. His pointed ears twitched as they picked up her whisper.

She saw the exact moment the blood drained from his face. His expression quickly morphed from that of a horrified man to downright furious. "Of all places in Paesa, you chose the Temple!" he roared angrily, standing up and walked far from her to avoid hurting her if he didn't manage to control himself. He had a daunting feeling that he wouldn't rule in his power.

The Queen flinched at his tone. Paesa was well-known in the Kingdom about its not-so-warm weather, and that the Temple there had no residents other than the Human Priest. "It was the only way." She tried calming him down but a glare from him shut her up.