Garden of Embers: Beneath Devouring Eyes #2

Chapter 9, Part B

Domi wished he could enjoy the lazy morning of his first day of Solitude more. Judging from the quartet of shocked, exasperated, and worried faces staring at him after his little breakfast announcement, his relaxing day was about to end before it had truly started.

"Well? What do you think?" he asked, trying not to let his nerves get the best of him. Even so, sweat dampened his hands and he found himself holding his breath as he waited.

Valens and Arbita exchanged glances, something passing between amber and cocoa eyes. They were doing the strange silent communication more and more every day. After a moment the lifeholder said, "We wish that you had spoken with us first, Basilicus."

"Edera and I didn't get married yet," Domi pointed out, looking from one adult to the next. Except for Comitas. Best not to look at her while she stood so stiff she almost seemed to vibrate. "I just asked her if she wanted to be my wife and then told you right away that she agreed."

Valens groaned, dropping his face into his hands. "Eyes devour..."

"You--" Comitas broke off, sputtering. Red-faced, she looked about ready to have an apoplexy. "You made a marriage offer. A marriage offer, Basilicus." Her voice was rising and Domi squirmed, slouching lower in his chair and studying the blueberries atop his chocolate chia seed breakfast pudding. "To a girl well below your rank carrying another boy's children. His twins. Without consulting us."

"Well, he's the one getting married, Erus, not you."

Domi tried to keep his lip from quirking as he darted a grateful glance up at his Ma. Then his eyes met hers and he found himself practically skewered to the wall by her stern glare.

"However," Merula went on as Comitas sputtered, "you still should have talked to us, Basilicus. You're only fifteen. This decision affects the rest of your life. And this girl's."

"Have you kids spoken to Cerasus yet?" Arbita asked, her voice quiet.

"No," Domi said, managing, at last, to tear his gaze away from his Ma's narrowed eyes.

"Good. Don't." Everyone glanced at her and the lifeholder offered a tight smile. "If he finds out that Edera carries twins, he will only let her keep one. He's a traditionalist in this regard." She grimaced. "I was too, until a few days ago. It's how lifeholders are trained. He can't know about this until she's far away from him and wed. Then she'll be too high rank for him to sense the presence of either babe."

Comitas gritted her teeth. "So they will need to wed as swiftly as possible before the girl's father has cause to suspect a pregnancy."

"Fons is going to kill you," Valens told Domi. His exasperation seemed to have shifted to dry amusement. "Do you have any idea how much work goes into planning a royal wedding? And you want a rushed one."

Domi rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, we're not wanting a royal wedding." He cleared his throat as they all stared at him in varying levels of surprise. "We were thinking something less formal. Way, way less."

"That is not--" Comitas yelped, jerking to her feet. Her chair screeched across the marble floor as her sudden movement forced it back. "You cannot seriously mean to elope!"

Domi smiled sheepishly. "Well, we need to get married fast so that the babes will seem to be mine. And what's more believable? A Princeps marrying a random frontier girl ranked so low she barely made it onto his list of conjugal matches? Or a fifteen-year-old foolishly running off and wedding a secret sweetheart he's been having a youthful tryst with through the Caeles?"

"Neither will work," Merula pointed out. "You Promethidae can't wed until you're sixteen. You're barely fifteen."

Comitas gritted her teeth. "The Rex granted special dispensation to wed early. The Princeps is free to do so whenever he wishes, but this... it is just not done."