Ray is low on time, luck, and hope; his only chance is an artifact that may not even exist. But upon meeting Landon, Ray is beginning to believe he might find all four.
*****
Cambion...
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Death had been stalking Ray his entire life.
The first thing Ray had done upon his entrance to this world was kill his mother. Unintentionally, mind you. He must've torn some vital spot upon his exit from her womb and the woman had bled herself to death within days.
His childhood was filled with similar such mundanities. A maid who succumbed to poison meant for him. An old nanny whose heart had simply stopped beating while she was asleep one night. A favored servant who was hung for a crime they did not commit. An emperor who was gutted like a pig in his own chambers.
Despite how common death was in Ray's life and how everything he touched became tainted and doomed to die, it was still rather jarring to be cheerfully told; "Well, your Majesty, seems like you're going to die."
"Wench!" one of the guards snarled.
Ray turned to look at the guard that had dared speak in his emperor's presence. He wasn't very much to look at so. A young man, the youngest of the four guards present. Ray thinned his lips. He hated the young ones. They were too volatile with their emotions and seemed incapable of keeping their yapping mouths shut.
"Do you wish to have your tongue removed when we return to the palace or would you like to be beaten right now?" Ray asked.
The guard paled, realizing his error too late. "This– this lowly servant will take whatever punishment his Majesty deems best for this servant's offense."
Ray sniffed. So it seemed that he had been trained after all. This was even more irksome. It was one thing to be bitten by some wild mongrel and another thing to be bitten by a dog who you had just witnessed perform a series of tricks. Ray turned away from the guard. "Take him and beat him somewhere Lady Shobu won't be forced to witness. All of you."
The four guards took the dismissal for what it was and scrambled away as quickly as they could.
Lady Shobu simply smiled. "That doesn't seem like the wisest of moves, your Majesty," she said. "You must know all the nasty rumors people say about me given how much trouble you've gone through to seek me out."
"Though the boy was wrong to speak so crassly in the presence of his betters, he was not incorrect," Ray said. "You are a wench."
Lady Shobu hummed, though did not acknowledge the statement further. "Your Majesty shouldn't call that cute toy soldier of his a boy. He must be, at minimum, five years his Majesty's senior."
"I call my things whatever I wish," Ray said.
"As is his Majesty's right," Lady Shobu said, though Ray did not miss the note of sarcasm in her tone. "Now, would his Majesty care to take a walk through my garden to ensure total privacy while we discuss the matter of his impending death?"
"That is agreeable."
Ray accepted Lady Shobu's arm and they walked together through the winding halls of her estate. It was a beautiful place, littered with ancient vases and delicate floral arrangements. It was certainly worthy of the woman who was sometimes referred to as the Floral Countess, though it was not as common as her other epithet: the Cannibal Countess.
