Aureate Fates

15

Erik appeared as if he was being drained of his blood slowly. Not despair or sadness, but something dangerous.

Blood churner. He was a blood churner like Marisol.

Reese awaited the moment when the soldiers would begin to laugh, and tell them that they had just delivered the largest joke of the century. But this was not a gimmick, or entertainment.

This was real. Reese felt it in the fibers that made him.

                                  —MARISOL—

"Marisol," Delphina, the omniscient woman, said softly, "your country will fall to plague and famine if you do not—"

"I will not hear more of this," Marisol snapped and felt an unexpected knot in her throat.

Who was I to be making demands?

Her restraints suddenly felt too heavy. "Let me go."

Delphinia folded her hands in front of her. That stubborn woman. "Jaak, that beautiful boy I have seen in my visions, will die terribly if the prophecy is not fulfilled. Him and all of Ziralem."

Marisol sunk her nails deep into her palms. It was the only mechanism that would quiet her rage.

The girl in the red robe spoke, back straight and eyes
alert. "She speaks the truth," the girl said, then swallowed. "I have seen our deaths if we do not accept the fate of Galvinus."

"Who the hell is Galvinus?" Reese questioned, looking frustrated.

"Creator of the universe, in some journals," Drew answered, then he sunk his teeth into his bottom lip in consideration. "But in others, he is the spirit that secures our futures. Father of oracles," he casted a quick glance to Delphinia.

Reese didn't turn to Drew, he seemed to ignore him. All he did was close his eyes, and laugh slightly. "We're all going to fucking die."

Delphinia waved him off and clasped her hands together. "We are nearly out of time," she said, piercing her gaze at Marisol with intensity. "Accept your fate, and save your country."

"A few of our troops will oversee your country while you fulfill your duties," Ferland added. "And our most expert healers will tend to the plague, as best as possible, on your land. If you wish it."

Royal medics. For Jaak.

"Do you realize what you are asking?" Marisol huffed, feeling helpless.

But Verskyia did not relent.

"We do not ask anything," Delphinia clarified, with a softness in her ancient eyes. "It is your fate."

Marisol guessed that the rest of her companions were just as hesitant as she was. Ferland began to plea.

"Whatever you ask, you will receive. Anything," Ferland challenged, as if he had resorted to bartering. To begging.

A load of silence, then, as if her companions were considering his offer.

Your Majesty. Queen. Whatever you ask.

The inner-workings of Marisol's brain clicked with a satisfactory echo. Maybe this whole mission was a lie, a fabrication by the greed of men. Perhaps this truly was an invasion. But if these people were to treat her like some sort of empress, then she could follow suit.

For a year and seven days. Just maybe, she could buy Jaak a better life for that long. If that made her selfish, she didn't have the capacity to care.

And yet, the prospect of having anything she wished for did not eradicate the millions of things that could go wrong.