Summoning Bones

23. Death behind the Throne

Eirene left the ballroom through a side door and hurried down the hall. Guards lined the walls with their blue uniforms and golden buttons glimmering under the candles they stood under. Some wax had dripped onto their shoulders, but they stayed still, like statues, their hand on the sword, sheathed on the left hip, their other hand at their side. She approached the nearest one, who looked no older than twenty, with a young face and brown mop of hair hanging over his amber eyes. She came closer and closer, pressing her body against his and whispering in his ear. She hated using seduction, but her mother and father taught her that if nothing else worked, most surely seduction would. It was a common tool used by the gods, including her mother and father against each other, however asexuals held power against the gods themselves. Something very few gods wanted to admit.

"Whose in charge?" She asked him, making sure to wink when she leaned away from him, so she could look at his face. He blushed and mumbled something that sounded similar to, near the King. Eirene smiled and peeled herself off of him, he leaned forward not wanting to let go of the feeling of her on him. He cleared his throat and looked her up and down as she adjusted her dress, making sure to hike the slit up higher than it already was.

"Is that all?" He asked quietly. The guard next to him snickered.

"'ey, keep it in your pants while on shift," the guard across from him ordered. The young guard squeaked, and resumed his position.

"Thank you," Eirene whispered, and sashayed away, back into the ballroom. Music floated through the air as couples still danced. She glanced over to the King where a large guard, with several small knives and daggers on his belt in addition to his sword, leaned over and whispered to the King, who nodded and waved a hand. The guard stepped away from the King's throne and left the ballroom through a secret door behind him. Eirene quickly snuck to follow him, careful to avoid Cadmus' questioning gaze, and approached the King.

"Hello, your guard, he is an old friend of mine, may I?" she asked.

"Of course, he is on his break now, perfect to surprise him," he said gleefully. Eirene smiled and, she too went through the door. Inside was a large room with a few sinks on the back wall, a dozen wooden lockers lined against the right wall, and a few benches beside the lockers. The guard was just inside the room, hanging up his knives on a rack filled without other assorted weapons ranging from daggers to arrows to small poison bottles, anything to keep the King safe.

"Hello," Eirene said. The guard did not flinch and glanced over at her. His eyes darkened much like Cadmus' when he saw her, but Eirene didn't have butterflies or nerves, she just felt disgust.

"How may I help you?" He said, facing her, and pulling off his guard's uniform to reveal chainmail, then a second, lighter shirt.

"I need something," she said, ignoring the feeling of ants crawling on her skin as the guard stepped away from the rack towards her.

"What is that?" He said, still approaching her. Eirene backed up against the wall, where she stayed as the guard leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head.

"I think you know," she whispered. The guard smiled as Eirene sold the story with a wink.

"Naughty, with your new husband just outside the door," he said. Eirene nodded, and smiled at him, looking over his shoulder at the weapons rack several feet away. The guard leaned in to kiss her, and she let him. He immediately began to lick the seam of her lips, and peppering kisses around her lips. She could admit he knew what he was doing, but bile rose in her throat and she longed to push him away. Instead she pulled him closer, and wrapped a leg around his waist. He groaned and lifted her up, carrying her further away from his escape and weapons. She pushed away from him and smirked.

"Close guess, but that wasn't what I wanted from you," she coo'd. She pushed his shoulders, so he sank to his knees, looking up at her with a smirk.

"Was this it?" He said, his voice hoarse with arousal.

"Closer, close you eyes," she ordered. He did so, and she backed up slightly, admiring the kneeling guard. "Do you have weapons on you?" He shook his head. "Use your words." He gulped.

"No ma'am."

Eirene smiled. "Good." She backed up further and pulled a knife off of the wall. It's silver blade imprinted with the royal crest. She approached him and dragged the point of the knife over his jaw and down his neck. His breath hitched and his heart hammered. "Take off you shirt."

"I can not, not while I am on duty," he said.

"I assume you aren't supposed to be doing any of this on duty. So this will be our secret, as you pointed out my husband is just beyond that door, and he would have a fit if he knew what we were doing. He wouldn't hesitate to kill you. I can tell him, or you can take off your shirt," Eirene said. The guard swallowed, and slowly lifted the chainmail over his head dropping it onto the floor to be followed by the shirt. He sat, bare chested on the ground. Eirene dragged the knife down, hovering the point over his heart. She passed the tip, gently so it barely broke the skin. A bubble of blood rolled down his muscular chest and dripped onto the floor.

Eirene leaned forward and dragged her lips over his ear. "Thank you," she whispered before nibbling his earlobe.

At that moment several things happened, things that could possibly ruin the ball, Cadmus and Eirene's relationship, and the guard's life. The door to the room burst open by a fuming Cadmus, Eirene pushed the dagger between the guard's rib cage into his heart, and the guard groaned, turned his head and kissed Eirene with his dying breath.