LITMIR.BIZ

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Orpheus continued to badmouth him.

      «If it were up to me, I’d have his head on a stake in no time. It would make a fine addition to the collection that already frightens the guards in the courtyard.»

      «Those heads should be buried. That reminds me,» Rhianon grimaced, remembering the eerie sight, the half circle of stakes stuck in the ground, each crowned with a disfigured severed head.

      «That’s where they belong,» Orpheus snapped. «Your betrothed knows how to put fear into his subjects. It’s his way of emphasizing his power since time immemorial. Personally I think that young wizard’s head would be a fine addition to his collection. There must be the heads of other traitors as well, of course.»

      «I’ve already heard that you would like to behead them.»

      «Would you?»

      He puzzled her with his question. A voice that spoke one word, «They are doomed,» was whispered in her ears again, loud and clear.

      «I’ll think about it,» she decided.

      «You can think of a riot.»

      «I can pacify it.»

      «And this rogue warlock would help you? Your betrothed might not appreciate your intercourse with his servants. They’re just insects under his feet.»

      «And I am his favorite golden snake. I am a traitor. And he knows it.»

      She wanted to hurt Orpheus, but her words hit the mark. Her spirit let them slip past his ears. He shuffled the deck so deftly that from the outside it looked as if the cards were flying in the air, caught in the wind. Then he became visible, and the mirror caught his reflection.

      «That’s how you shuffle young men,» Orpheus grinned. «And you discard the superfluous ones in search of the one and only trump card.»

      «What do you mean?»

      He sat down on the table and grinned defiantly. She snapped and clenched her fists.

      «Don’t dare to cheek me. You forget, I am still your queen.»

      «Oh, yes, of course you are,» his mischievous smile grew wider, only this time there was something malicious in it. «You’re lucky to find your trump card. Madael is your trump card. If you hadn’t become the devil’s minion, you’d have nothing now. You were better off holding on to him.»

      «That’s not what you told me before? Who but you promised me Loretta back with your arsenal of jokes and insignificant tricks? Do you think you could have done it?»

      «Of course,» he pouted resentfully. How could she not believe him?

      Rhianon sighed. Orpheus would have made a fine actor.

      «I wonder how you’d do it. You would have hired a former king as a jester and started to torment him with your pranks, and then, after bringing him to a heart attack, you would bring me in the castle and leave alone in the throne room to deal with a pack of predators around me.»

      «I would stand behind you and give advice, and intervene myself if necessary. I could be invisible and very agile. I would disarm all your detractors and whisper to the unruly that you are the strongest.»

      «How nice is it. I see that you and I would make a great couple,» she said sarcastically.

      But Orpheus did not detect the mockery in her tone. Apparently, he was so used to being witty himself that he denied humor to everyone else.

      «We are a great couple,» he affirmed cheerfully. «I’m reflected behind you in the mirror. You are as bright as fire, and I am your blackened heart, given over to a fallen angel. You are the queen, and I am your personal demon.»

      «And yet I would rather have a dragon than you.»

      The words came like a slap in the face. Orpheus flinched, jumped up from the table, and hovered in the air for a second.

      «No, you can’t really think like that. You’re lying to hurt me.»

      She shook her head negatively.

      Orpheus couldn’t believe it, or pretended that he couldn’t. «You chose me, you gave me a name, you appointed me as your companion, you awakened me to life there in the caves. I would still be asleep if it weren’t for you. Your voice, like a silvery bell, called me to your service.»

      «And before that, in the inn, you had brazenly imposed yourself as my fellow traveler.»

      «That’s not how it happened.»

      «I am your companion, your good fortune, I should have followed you.»

      «If only you had been of any use.»

      He seemed about to cry. She wondered if his tears would be as bright orange as his hair, or as blood-red as liquid flame. Rhianon felt no pity for him at all.

      «You don’t need a dragon,» Orpheus was angry and jealous. «There is more fire in you yourself than in a pile of dragon’s throats. You can easily ignite this city like a volcano ready to erupt. You are stronger than a pack of fire-breathing reptiles.»

      «They are your former brethren,» she added reasonably.

      «Oh, that…» Orpheus brushed the pesky memory aside. «I wouldn’t like to be like them.»

      «Perhaps you are less guilty, and I am attracted to vice. There’s more of it in Madaael, so I choose him. He could have been a golden dragon, too.»

      «Did he tell you?» Orpheus frowned and began counting something on his fingers, as if he were shuffling invisible cards again. «Of course he told you. You shared a bed with him,» he grimaced hostilely. «I don’t know that. I’m not a man, and I’ve never tried anything like that until now, but they say all secrets are revealed in bed.»

      «Did you want me and you to check it out?» She arrogantly arched her eyebrows.

      «Well, yes,» he hesitated.

      «I think it’s a good thing we didn’t, or you’d have told me all your little secrets, and then you’d have been sorry. I wouldn’t have tolerated the presence of a howling spirit behind my back.»

      Rhianon was not surprised that, for all his good looks, he had not yet been able to seduce any girl. His garrulity would have put any girl off. No one wants to end up in bed with a lunatic, even one so pretty. One look at the way his eyes occasionally sparkle with wild fire, like facets of cold jewels, and you no longer doubt that in the morning he could slit your throat if you were in the same bed with him. Orpheus could kill, cripple, and trick you without even realizing that he had done something wrong. He was a typical madman. Rhianon turned her back on him with disdain.

      «Now leave me alone,» she demanded. «I have a feast to get ready for.»

      «Ah, yes, there are still celebrations in your majesty’s honor,» Orpheus mocked in a mellifluous tone. «Since when have usurpers like you or your winged betrothed been unselfishly celebrated?»

      «Since I became queen,» she cut off, picking out an outfit. She liked the one brocade dress with the ermine best. The faeries had already unlaced her corset to help her change, and Orpheus was furious.

      «Not long ago you’d have been turned away just to get rid of the rightful heiress. And if it weren’t for Conrad’s passion, you might have been declared insane and imprisoned in a tower. The dungeons beneath the keep are excellent, damp, dirty and cold, and full of creatures of all kinds, including those of unearthly origin. If you tell anyone about your time with the winged creatures, you’ll be deemed insane.»

      «I have the power on my side now,» she retorted.

      That silenced him for a moment.

      Already dressed in her sumptuous ceremonial attire, Rhianon listened to the sounds that filled the castle. The general cacophony almost made her ears ache. The heralds’ trumpets were

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