Sunny - Mona Lisa Darkening

"Um…" I looked at Miles, dangling helplessly in Gordane's hand. Reminded — he seemed to have forgotten him — Gordane tossed Miles away, and he went sailing into the line of prisoners, knocking them all down like a house of cards.

That great horned head lowered frighteningly close to me as the gargoyle bent down to examine the image carved on the cameo. A dark gray hand reached out toward the necklace but stopped just short of contact.

"I think the silver must have burned you," I said, my voice husky from that brief, accidental (I'd like to think) moment of strangling me.

"I am not Monère," Gordane said, all the furious rage drained from him. "It is not the silver but something mixed into the metal that hurt me, reacting when it sensed harm to you. I have heard of this but had never seen it before."

Well, that made one of us. Halcyon hadn't mentioned anything special about the necklace when he had given it to me. But then we never really had the chance to talk privately. Maybe he'd been planning on telling me later.

"You are the chosen mate of Hell's ruler," Gordane said. "The one whose name means darkness."

"Actually, I'm Halcyon's mate. Not Blaec's."

"This proclaims you to be the royal consort. Does the Dark One not rule Hell anymore?"

The Dark One. I presumed that to be Blaec, whose name meant darkness.

"No, his son, Halcyon, does now." It felt really weird discussing realm politics with Gordane. Especially after he'd just thrown us around like rag dolls.

"Your actions are peculiar," Gordane said, frowning. "So unlike the dheu who come to this realm."

I thought what was really odd was that such obvious intelligence could coexist with such primitive rage.

"If I may touch you once more," Gordane asked, lifting his uninjured hand.

I didn't shrink back, but I really, really wanted to. "Why?" I asked in a small voice.

"To examine you."

I really didn't want him to, after seeing and feeling what he could do with just a touch. But from Gordane's expression, I doubted I had any choice. I could run screaming away from him and have him chase me down. Or I could hold still with some shred of dignity. "Will it hurt?" I asked, unable to keep the little quaver out of my voice.

"No, it will be a harmless touch."

I nodded, giving my permission — no other choice but to.

His touch was harmless, as promised. No pain, no ugly crusting of my skin, no shoving me back inside and yanking Mona Louisa out of our body like a poorly played game of musical chairs.

He drew his hand away, much to our relief. "This part of you is not dead," he said.

"What?" I asked, not sure I had heard him correctly.

"You still live."

"But… but I'm not breathing. And my heart isn't beating."

"I feel your living essence," he marveled, then frowned. "You should not be here. But the other woman, the one inside you, she is true dheu, meant for this realm."

I was alive! My heart gave a great big giant leap of hope. "Can you take me back to the living realm? Or to Hell?"

"No."

One word and I felt all that buoyant hope come crashing down. "But you said I do not belong here in this realm."

"Apparently more than I ever imagined. But the Dark One himself sealed shut the gate between our two realms, an act that they say fractured our sky and split our sun into two broken halves. None who comes here now can leave."

A wild, silent scream rose up in my throat. Noooo! I wanted to scream, to cry, to break down in despair. But had to push that aside for later when Gordane suddenly asked, pointing at Miles, "What is this bull dheu to you?"

"My enemy," I said in an empty voice, numbed by that brief wild yo-yoing of hope and crashing despair.

"You lie."

I was heartsore. Achingly weary. "I have no reason to lie," I said in a dull, flat voice. "He detests me and I him. He was Mona Louisa's guard. It was her he was trying to help, not me."

"Does she speak true?" Gordane asked Miles.

"Yes. Forgive me, my lord," Miles said, dropping to his knees. "I feared harm to my Queen if you damaged this one."

"Your Queen." Menace seeped back into Gordane's voice like an ominous black tide. "You have forgotten who you serve now."

Miles flushed and I winced at his slip of tongue. Even in my half-numbed state, I was aware of the verbal damage Miles had just committed on top of his damning physical actions.

"Loyalty is admirable," Gordane said. "Nay, an essential requirement to me, but only if it is to me" He sought out Pietrus, standing with the other soldiers, all of them uncomfortable silent witnesses to this drama. "Take Miles and prepare him for tonight's games. He is to fight in the arena."

The punishment must have been worse than it sounded, because Miles threw himself at Gordane's feet, prostrating himself. "My lord, please. A slip of the tongue, old habit. It is you who I serve."

"Words can lie," Gordane said with chilling coldness. "Actions never do. Take him away!"

Miles didn't fight when Pietrus and the other bull dheus seized him. Just looked at me with a mournful intensity that made me ask as he was dragged out of the chamber, "What will happen in the arena?"

"He will fight against the werebeasts."

It didn't sound like a joyride but neither did it sound like final death.

"Take this woman" — me, apparently — "to the women's quarters and have her prepared. I want her brought before me in an hour's time," Gordane proclaimed and returned to sit at his throne. We were apparently dismissed.

The prisoners shuffled out, and I felt like one of them, even though I wasn't tied up like they were. Frankly, I'd have rather gone with them. Their fate sounded preferable to mine.

We parted company near the front entrance. The prisoners were herded back outside, while two new guards accompanied me down another wide hallway. I turned my head, my eyes lingering on the departing group, watching as all I knew in this realm disappeared out the door — Gilford, Demetrius, Rupert… the disloyal Juan and Charles… poor loyal Miles.

We made our way to the other end of the palace and passed through a towering archway. Two guards stood at attention before a closed set of doors, their horns even more prominent than the two bull dheus that accompanied me. At a gesture from one of my guards, they swung open the heavy doors, their thick muscles bulging with the effort.

There was the impression of a large airy foyer, richly decorated, with an order and cleanliness that had been lacking in the rest of the palace. A young and pretty woman, unveiled, rose from where she had been sitting behind a desk. I saw with surprise that her skin was flawless, unblemished. She looked normal, human. Staring at me with as much interest as I stared back at her.

"We brought a new woman."

"I will find the maistresse?" she said, nodding. With her eyes carefully averted from the bull dheus, she left, slipping through another door in the back. A few moments later, an older woman appeared, her gray-flecked hair bound up in an intricate coil that was both artful and severe. Her skin was also without blemishes, but unlike the other woman, she was Monère. There was no strong resonating vibration of like to like, nothing of what I was used to sensing, but I knew it somehow, the same way I knew that all the guards I had encountered so far were also Monère.

The woman inclined her head politely to the two guards. "What is our lord's desire?" Not exactly the best words for my peace of mind. I'd been trying not to think about that — his desire… and how it might relate to me.

"She is to be brought to him in one hour's time."

With a curt nod, she dismissed them. They left, the heavy doors closing behind them, and then it was just her and I. She looked me over from tip to toe, taking in my wet, dirty, bedraggled appearance with a sour expression.