Enthroned by Amethysts (A Dance with Destiny Book 3) (22 page)

Chapter 30

Jenevier

(ZHEN-ah-veer)

“How is it I am so horribly depressed yet gloriously elated, all in the same moment?”

“Don’t cry, Mama. You’re so much prettier when you smile.”

“Gratitude, Tenshi. You put that smile on my face, daily.”

“What is it, Naga?” Daichi asked. “What makes you sad and happy together? I know it has something to do with us. I can see that plainly in your mind.”

“You are but a few months old and nearly as tall as me.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I barely had time to hold you and now you’re half grown.”

“We’re still small children, Mama. You’re just… short.” Tenshi tried to tease a smile from her.

She chuckled. “Yes. It seems you have been blessed with your father’s height. Your body seems to grow a whole year with each passing month. In a couple more, you’ll be carrying
me
instead of the other way around.”

“That is as it should be, Naga.” Daichi wrapped his arms around her. “My whole reason for being is just to take care of you. The sooner the better, I should think.”

“Jenevier! Princess Jenevier, something’s happened, something terrible.” The young girl ran into the room and paused to catch her breath.

“Calm down, child. Now, tell me what’s so urgent. What makes you tremble so?”

“I’m not sure. The Emperor’s mind, it’s… it’s running wild with some horrid news he’s trying to block me from seeing,” Mika said, panting. “But his thoughts of you, they are what cause me to tremble, Milady. He is suddenly very desperate, frantic about having you, about having your powers. He sharpens his blades and his thoughts are upon past battles. I fear my heart races almost as fast as his does.”

“Calm down, Mika. Go. Find Yui and return to me at once. But do not let Musashi see you or suspect anything.”

When Yui burst into her room, his eyes were wild with panic. “I am here, Milady.” He was breathless.

“Yui, the time has come. I need you to take me to your magical land. Can you leave your Emperor?”

“I can do anything for you, Princess.”

“Gratitude, Yui. Take Tenshi and Daichi. Mika will follow you secretly and warn you if anything is amiss. I will stay behind for a short while and see that Musashi doesn’t suspect anything or follow you. Do not wait for me. Get my Angels as far away from this palace as you can. Just tell me the direction in which to head. Tarry not. Get Mika and the boys safely to this secret place. Only then, head back this way and find me upon the path. Do not vary from my words, Yui. Do you understand? There’s no time for further explanations.”

“Yes, Milady. I will do exactly as you have said. When you can leave here, head south from the palace, stay off the main road. There is no clear trail to follow. Just stay upon the southern route and I will find you by your scent alone.”

“Gratitude, Yui.”

Jenevier kissed both he and Mika, then hugged her Angels for what she hoped was not the last time.

“Tenshi, Daichi, you must go with our good friends. Mind them in all they say. Do not be loud upon your journey. Speak only to each other through thought, lest someone hear you and take you away. Mommy will come to you very soon and we’ll live in a magical play land. All of us, together.”

Daichi firmly took her hand. “I will stay with you, Naga. It is why I was born.”

She looked at her valiant little warrior. “Daichi, please. Don’t do this to me right now. You will always be my fearless protector, my courageous son. But I beg you, as your honored mother, leave with Yui as I have commanded you. I need you to remain with your brother and guard him in my absence.” She grabbed his shoulders. “Daichi, if you will not leave and protect Tenshi for me… then I will lose the strength I need to face the trial I know is coming.”

He placed his small hand over his noble chest and bowed to her. “As you wish, Naga.”

She kissed her beautiful twins goodbye. Yui took them by the hand, leading them out of the palace as she stood look-out, guarding their safe exit.

I love you!
Both her sons called out to her before they turned the corner and were out of sight.

I love you too, my most precious Angels.

Jenevier watched from her balcony until Yui and Mika got her sons safely within the trees, heading south.

She jumped when Musashi placed his large hand upon her shoulder.

“Did I scare you, Princess?”

“Apologies, Sire. I was deep in thought.” She smiled weakly. “I didn’t hear you enter.”

“Where are my sons?”

He gently ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek, gazing fondly at her sapphire scar as he did. It felt different than his normal admiring touches. It felt somehow… wrong, eerily so. Her stomach twisted in on itself. Her smile was strained.

“Mika took them for a while. They went to play in Master Yui’s room. She could tell I needed a few moments to breathe. Some alone time, you might say.” Jenevier managed to still her nerves long enough to produce a more convincing type of smile, briefly.

He laughed. “They are growing so fast. They’ll be grown men before we’ve had the chance to properly enjoy them being little boys.”

“Yes. It is sad and glorious in the same breath.” She smiled again, trying her best to act as normal as possible.

“I’m glad we’re alone. Such a thing has not happened since your first day here… when I helped you dress.” He tugged at the sash about her waist. It fell loose.

She grabbed his wrist. “Do not play upon this dark path, Your Grace. You know what my answer will be.”

“I’m set upon changing your mind.” His smile was cold, distant.

“Such will not be an easy task, Sire.”

“Easy has never interested me.”

He grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her hard against him. The contrast in his actions and his kiss was unnerving. His lips were soft and tender when they found hers. A tiny shiver ran up his spine, causing his breath to hitch, his eyes to burn.

“Our first kiss,
my
first kiss.” He held her cheeks, resting their foreheads together. “My dreams of it are now but rubbish. It was… There are no words, Princess. I desire more, so… much… more.”

Jenevier pushed him with all her might, struck him upon the chest. His massive form did not budge.

“Do not do this thing, Musashi, please. Take a deep breath, step away. You are not yourself right now.”

“I have never been more
myself
. I have only shown tender restraint at your request, Milady. That’s not who I am. I did not become Emperor of Jinn by bowing down to anyone’s wishes but my own. I take what I want and slay whom I choose.
That’s
who I truly am.”

“That may be who you
were
, Musashi, but that’s not who you are now.”

He laughed, a cold chilling sound she’d never heard him make before. “The spell you cast upon me is broken, Milady.”

“I did not cast a—”

“Oh, but you did,” he interrupted her protest. “I’ve been walking around in a dream world because of you. Real or no, you most certainly cast a spell on me. Tonight, you will get to know your Emperor for the man he has always been. You may not like him, but you
will
obey him. Love and matters of the heart are tedious things. I’ve removed them from my thinking, thus fortifying my purpose.”

“I did not wish our relationship to end on such a note as this. But I will not tolerate—”

“Oh, this isn’t the end, my love.” He halted her threat in her throat. “This night will mark the beginning of our
relationship
. It will be one of servitude and submission, as it should have been from the start.”

“What makes you think I will bow to you now?”

“You will not only bow, you will kneel and crawl as well. My mind has not yet conceived all the delicious things you will willingly do to save those half-demon spawn you love so true.”

His words melted her anger away. Swelling fear replaced it, choking her.

“What are you saying, Musashi? What’s happened to you? What have you done? Where are my sons? Where’s Mika?”

At the mention of the invisible girl’s name, Musashi stopped his advance, appeared lost in remembrance. Jenevier dared not move. She desperately searched the palace with her mind for any trace of Tenshi or Daichi.

“Did I ever tell you what that little girl did to me?” He was staring into the waning light, seeing nothing but the past. “When first I met her, Mika cracked the armor surrounding my heart. She didn’t intend to do so. It wasn’t her purpose. Yet the result was the same. I actually
felt
it when it happened, an aching pain deep within my chest. I’m not certain what it was, exactly. But… something changed inside me. Or rather, something
started
to change inside me.”

“The light got in,” she whispered.

“What?” His gaze fell back upon her terrified face.

“When your shield cracked, light got in your heart,” she whispered, even though her mind was screaming at her to keep her mouth shut.

He snorted. “That’s a rather odd thing to say.”

“I can only imagine how weak and fragile a thing it must have been—your heart. Broken at such an early age, denied the chance it needed to heal. Damaged, locked away in a dark prison shell, never getting to see the sun.” Tears burned her eyes, thinking about the abandoned little boy now standing a titan before her. “It must have been a most morbid type of solitary confinement. Just think about it. Never being allowed to grow, denied the opportunity to flourish, never given the chance to become strong, healthy, normal. Just sitting there wilting away to nothing, shriveling up, all alone. Sad, in truth,” she whispered. “You should thank all that’s holy that little girl let the light in. I fear it would have soon died, had she not.”

“Perhaps,” he grumbled. “I shall have to make her pay for that, and soon.”

Jenevier watched as his cold eyes focused on her, on his carnal desires for her. She tried to draw his mind away from the horrible intentions she saw clearly within his thoughts.

“Has the light gone out, Sire? Does the sun no longer shine upon your heart? I know it does. The man I’ve lived with these past many months has a heart as gentle as my own.”

His eyes glassed over with tears, matching hers. She prayed, hoped against hope, wagered contrary to reality. Her words had to get through to the Musashi she knew, the man she had come to count as her dear friend, a heartfelt, lifelong companion.

After the first few weeks had passed since her arrival, shock and anger were replaced with gratitude and forgiveness. Accepting her Fate was the most liberating feeling she had ever known. These extraordinary people, this unlikely world, this was her home now. No matter how she got here. No matter the original intent. She loved it, the daylight
and
the dark. Jinn was where she wanted to raise her sons. The ninth layer was the only place now capable of filling her heart. This realm, the whole of it, was her
normal
… finally.

His dream has come true. Musashi was right. What he offered me my first night here is finally a reality. Jinn is my paradise.
The surreal thought rocked her soul, clashed with her current reality
. Please, Musashi. Don’t do this. Not now. I was just starting to believe in happiness again.

Those sorrowful words remained in her head, but he read them clearly within her sad, terrified eyes. He pulled her hard against him, hugged her as if it were the very last time.

She felt the desperation in his trembling touch, smelled the fear and pain on his clammy flesh.

“Why could you not just love me?” he whispered into her hair. “Why couldn’t I be the one to own your heart? I only asked for a piece of it. I never demanded the whole thing. I could have made you so happy, Jenevier. If you had only kissed me, just once. If you had accepted even the tiniest piece of me, this would never have had to happen.” His voice was small, pleading. “I never wanted this, never. It goes completely against my dreams for you. Now… I have no choice.”

“But you
do
own a piece of my heart, sweet Ronin. I know not whether you stole it or I gave it to you freely. But you live within me, all the same.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath. His grip tightened around her, strengthened by her glorious declaration.

“Then, that’s it. It’s settled,” he whispered. “I have no other choice. Your sweet confession has solidified my resolve. I must do this…
because
of love.”

Then, almost as quickly as he had softened toward her, he stiffened. The Emperor ignored her desperate words, acted as if he hadn’t heard the lie they held.

“I have watched you closely, Angel,” he said. “I know what you could once do, but no longer. Tell me. Have your wings returned to you?”

Jenevier could not answer. Her blood was running as ice through her veins. The bitter chill in his lavender eyes caused her to tremble.