The Wings of Ashtaroth

Chapter 14: Lovers: Section I: Iridescia

Hadrianus sat at the head of the table beside Deghashi. As Iridescia peered past the guests crowding in front of her, the little king gleefully smashed his cup against the surface of the table. He cackled joyfully as wine splashed onto the clothes of his neighbours.

Mazaetul nudged Iridescia with his elbow. She turned from watching Deghashi and looked up at her jolly suitor. Mazaetul wiggled his own goblet before vanishing it.

Iridescia smiled, transported briefly. Mazaetul was a lot like Miqipsi, with his grins and his games. He winked and the cup reappeared in Iridescia's hand. She pretended to giggle, covering her false laughter with her hand, and trying as best she could to let him distract her from her sadness.

Tonight, Liberio became Star's husband, and when Deghashi was inevitably declared unfit to provide an heir, Star and her puppet would reign in Indas. Star's sons would reign after.

What difference did that make really? Star and Hadrianus were already king and queen; they already tormented and terrified the people, snuffing out hope where they found it and murdering and raping at will.

But there was Roewyn, and there was Liberio. Star would be a monster to him, and Roewyn was in more danger than ever.

Iridescia twirled Mazaetul's glazed quartz goblet between her fingers, creating a vortex in what remained of the wine.

"Drink up, tiny doll," said Mazaetul. "I'll fill another."

He dragged his thumb softly but firmly down Iridescia's cheek. She flinched away, but he didn't pursue her. Instead, he hurried toward the nearest wine-bearing slave.

Iridescia's heart juddered in her chest. She tried hard as she could to banish the feel of his finger and replace it with something happier, someone wanted—

Roewyn.

Iridescia gripped the cup tight and swiftly downed the wine.

There was barely a mouthful left, but it choked her. Instead of the rich red, she tasted the stagnant black water of the Haven.

She spit the wine back into the cup. Then, like she was expelling a demon, she tipped the goblet upside down and let the dregs paint the floor.

A splash of wine stained her sandal and she smirked to herself. She hoped Tobi and her other slaves never got it out. She hoped the sandal was ruined. She hoped she somehow ruined all her fine clothes and Star was out every coin she'd spent on them.

Hadrianus stood up, his chair scraping the stone floor. He raised his cup, grin wide as always, charming and handsome. He laughed and swigged his wine like a wild man, then slammed the cup down on the table.

Beside him, Deghashi started to cry.

Mazaetul squeezed back into place next to Iridescia, sloshing wine left and right onto the floor. He spun his finger, indicating that Iridescia should hold her cup upright. Iridescia fumbled to right her goblet, only just raising it in time to catch the wine he poured for her.

"Tonight, my son becomes a man," Hadrianus boomed from the head of the court, "and Deghashi, King of all Indas, proclaims an heir. It would be wrong, though many of you have counselled me to do so, for me to take the throne for myself. A man of Indas should reign in Indas, as Lorar has always promised."

Iridescia's mouth was dry as the desert. She tipped back a hearty swig of the red, and this time she kept it down.

Mazaetul roared in agreement beside her. His bellow startled a few of the more refined guests.

Beyond the surprised nobles, Miqipsi met her eyes and smiled. The scribe's kindness did little to ease her jitters though. Miqipsi had betrayed Tobi's family. Iridescia couldn't trust him anymore. Whatever she said to him he'd repeat to Hadrianus, or Star, or to Marianus Rufus in far-off Lorar.