The Wings of Ashtaroth

Chapter 20: Conquerors: Section V: Iridescia

Iridescia: The Courthouse: Ipsis: Indas

"I have brought you here today to witness the deposition of Indas's child king, Deghashi the II, Deghashi the Fool." Liberio's voice was born to reverberate in halls such as this, his tone steady and charismatic. He cut a figure, garbed now in bold red and black robes that bespoke his importance without the vanity of gold or jewels.

It was almost enough to make Iridescia forget about the corpse.

She pushed the stench of Hadrianus's rot out through her nose, trying to breathe through her mouth and focus on all that was beautiful, instead of the ugly mess the shadows had made of things.

Sitting straight on his reed throne, Liberio seemed a giant, despite his modest height. His burgundy hair tumbled past his shoulders in gentle waves and his old mask had been replaced with a finer one of polished silver. Iridescia and Roewyn sat to either side of him, dressed as fine as he was.

Iridescia's braids had been elaborately twined together with red and purple ribbons and wound asymmetrically in looping circles tight against her scalp.

She felt like a princess. She looked like a queen.

Her dress was thinnest cotton, dyed orange and purple and layered so that she looked like a living sunset. When Roewyn had carried over the big bronze mirror, Iridescia hadn't believed the figure staring back at her was real. She looked like a woman, just like she'd wanted to be.

It had been enough to make her smile, if only for a moment. There'd been so much horror, but there was good along with the bad. Hadrianus was dead and Roewyn was safe. Liberio had managed to organize the older children in the city into something resembling a workforce and the streets had been cleared of most of the carnage.

Together, for now, the three of them ruled in Ipsis, and with the army returned, today they'd test whether the generals Liberio swore would bow to him were loyal.

Two of Hadrianus's former commanders—Aeronus Sardo and Azaelian One-Eye—knelt before the pool of eels, their heads lowered. No one moved or spoke.

To escape the awkwardness of staring at Liberio's loyal generals, Iridescia peered past Liberio at Roewyn.

A long, black wig disguised Roewyn's cropped hair, her cotton dress as sheer as Star's had once been and decorated with pretty yellow flowers. She smiled at Iridescia, but the expression faded as though she'd glimpsed something upsetting.

Iridescia didn't have to look to know what.

Star was bound to a plain stool beside Iridescia. She stunk of dried blood, and her troubled breathing rasped at Iridescia's ear as a constant reminder of her presence. Maybe she did it on purpose. It was something Star might do.

And despite herself, Iridescia felt guilty. As she had done every day since the night of the shadows, Iridescia forced herself to remember the fear in Tobi's eyes as Star and Hadrianus had commanded he lose another finger. She remembered the way Star had tormented Iridescia's poor mother in the vision.

And yet.

She swallowed, looking past Roewyn to where Hadrianus's corpse was tied. His ripe rotting flesh was abuzz with flies. They clustered around the stumps Oran had made of his limbs as larvae wriggled from his empty eye sockets, mouth, and nostrils.

Iridescia had hated the governor, yet she could hardly bare the gruesome display. Liberio insisted Star and Hadrianus's ends reflected the obscene decadence of their rule. It was a fitting thing, he'd told her.

Maybe he was right. Iridescia had no idea what it'd felt like to rot alive in the Haven. She'd never been forced to marry, had never been raped by someone twice her age. She'd never been beaten by her father. How could she judge what Liberio had done?