Читать книгу A demon’s rival - Natalie Yacobson - Страница 9

As soon as the fairy flew away, Samantha woke up as if from a magical dream. She finally realized it.

If the fairy had put her mark on her, then she was enchanted! What a surprise! Samantha pulled her dress down off her shoulder and looked at the glistening mole. From the outside, the mark looked like a piece of jewelry, but if the inquisitors noticed it, they would suspect something wrong. Only the Inquisitors were nowhere to be seen in Ivilor, as if they had all disappeared into thin air. Perhaps young King Serpin doesn’t want to see their grim faces at court. Surely Serpin is cheerful and light-hearted. And he probably has tons of minions!

That last suggestion made Samantha sick. Jealousy pierced her heart with a red-hot needle. Had she fallen in love with the king? But she was no match for him! She was just a provincial girl, while Serpin was the ruler of a great and powerful country. He may be very young, but he must be treated with respect. After all, despite his youth, he holds the rulers of all neighboring states in fear.

Samantha herself did not notice that she had left her apartment. She stopped only when she came upon a large floor vase of gladioli. Oops, she thought these were already someone else’s quarters. Fortunately, their balcony overlooked the terrace, and from the terrace one could walk across to the night garden.

There was only one girl strolling through the royal garden at this late hour. Judging from the tiara in her hair, she was no less than a princess. Except that she looked disheveled and strange. Her once luxurious dress was torn in some places, with burdock thorns clinging to the hem. The princess was picking twigs from the ground and folding them into fanciful patterns, as if she were going to leave a coded message for someone.

«Florimonda still lives in this palace!» A familiar voice whispered in amazement behind Samantha’s back.

Samantha turned around. The same blonde fairy who had recently slept in her closet was swinging on a cypress branch like a swing.

«So you didn’t fly away!» Samantha rejoiced.

«I decided to see if there was anything edible in the royal garden. There used to be sweet peaches here.»

Now instead of peaches, there were briars and thorns everywhere. Maybe the fairy flew to the wrong part of the garden for fruit trees.

«And this girl is a princess?» Samantha pointed to Florimonda.

«Yes, she is a crazy princess,» the fairy nodded indifferently. «They say a demon put its claws into her brain and she went mad.»

«Is she Serpin’s sister? But he looks quite normal.»

«What a sister! Florimonda is an overseas princess who came to Ivilor to be Serpin’s bride, but it didn’t work out.»

«No wonder if she’s crazy. Who would marry a madwoman?»

«She wasn’t crazy when she came to lvilor.»

«How is it so?» Samantha wondered. She was sure that one was born crazy, not made crazy, but the fairy thought otherwise. According to her, Florimonda was driven mad by demons.

«Florimonda liked the young king very much,» the fairy said,«and he liked her, but the king has an advisor, a real demon, who does not want the king to marry. He has scared away the princess brides, or thrown them down into a ravine, or given them to demons. One crazy princess is still wandering the garden. Her father’s fleet was sunk by an imp who summoned water spirits. Yet somehow he couldn’t bring Florimonda herself down.

«You’re telling tall tales!» Samantha was indignant.

«Listen to her!»

Samantha listened. There was indeed a whisper.

«The water hands have pulled you to the bottom,» whispered the mad princess. «But I can hear you. You are still alive under the water.»

Florimonda was just leaning over the pond. If she’s really crazy, she’d better get out of the garden soon. There aren’t even any guards around. Samantha was afraid that the crazy princess would attack her, but she was stacking twigs on the surface of the pond. Instead of sinking, they floated on the surface, joining together in fanciful patterns.

Samantha walked down a path overgrown with weeds. The fairy didn’t fly after her. She herself only barely managed to find the doors leading back to the palace. In the evening the corridors of the palace were deserted. Where had all the gossipers who had teased Samantha during the day gone? It was instantly calmer without them. Except for some reason the silence was a little frightening. Samantha looked around for the guards with halberds. They were supposed to stand at every door in the enfilade, but there were no guards.

Samantha walked forward until she came upon closed doors. From behind the doors came a low murmur, which was suddenly cut off by an angry grumbling voice:

«Without me you are nothing! Remember that! If you want everyone around you to think of you as a mighty ruler and tremble before you, you need me! Who will sink enemy armadas for you? Who will defeat foreign armies while you sit peacefully on your throne? Who will catch all the spies and wipe out all the conspirators? You can’t do it all yourself!»

«But I’m grateful to you! Why are you sulking?» The pleasant voice replied carefree. Somehow Samantha thought that it was exactly what King Serpin’s voice should be: beautiful, kind and gentle. She cautiously opened the door and made sure she was not mistaken. In a spacious, semi-dark hall draped in velvet draperies stood Serpin. His bright blond hair stood out against the gloom. A few candelabras flickered only somewhere behind him. It seemed as if stray lights, rather than candles, had been inserted into the holes.

What was Serpin doing here alone at this late hour? Where are the king’s bodyguards? The king doesn’t think he’s invulnerable. Serpin looks carefree and seems to be playing at something. Or is he playing with someone?

Samantha opened the door wide and watched the king squeeze either a skinny black cat or a black monkey. Where was the king’s strange grumpy interlocutor? He probably hid behind the draperies or was not there at all. The king was spending time with his tailed pet, who, of course, couldn’t talk.

«You are my dear little one!» Serpin wailed over the animal.

Does he really adore such a freak? Samantha marveled at the king’s quirks. How was he not afraid to have such a horrible clawed pet? She didn’t even know the name of such a terrifying beast, but it looked like a demon with a black tail, horns, and spikes on its spine. And the royal pet’s eyes burned like two red coals. Samantha became frightened as she intercepted the predatory gaze. In another moment, the pet jumped from the king’s arms and deftly climbed up the curtain. At the ceiling it disappeared as if it had never been there. Samantha thought she had imagined it.

«You scared him away!» The king was furious until he saw who stood before him. He had a weakness for beautiful ladies. In a dress transformed by a fairy, Samantha was a real beauty.

«Ah, a lady from the provinces…» King Serpin took a long, appraising look at her figure and was satisfied. «What a lovely provincial violet!»

«Samantha,» she reminded him. Suddenly everyone who expected her at court had forgotten her name. And even more so, the governor was not to be informed about her. After all, who was this Lady Samantha from the remote province of Ivilor? Even the mad Princess Florimonda would probably be of more interest to the court.

«Yes, Samantha,» the king walked around the girl and examined her back as if he were looking for wings.

«I’m a lady, not a fairy,» Samantha joked.

«Yes, definitely not a fairy,» the king nodded, «fairies usually have corset lacing bursting from the wings hidden under the fabric.»

Samantha almost fainted. What a joke the king was making! He embarrassed her. It was one thing to compare her to a violet, for she wore a violet-colored dress, but it was quite another to suspect her of being a fairy.

«In the province where I live, they catch fairies and cut off their wings,» Samantha remembered the old stories.

«What a bunch of animals they are!» Serpin was genuinely indignant. «We should send the auditors to them. Let them clean up the mess.»

A royal emissary was in the province recently. He had persuaded Samantha’s parents to send their daughter to court in search of a powerful groom. If the emissary had not been married, the fussy mother would probably have married Samantha to him without asking her daughter’s consent. For the mother was the main thing that the daughter did not remain an old maid. And the father, always disappeared in the family library, did not worry about anything at all. For some reason, the royal emissary was visiting Samantha’s father. Why, Samantha never understood. It seemed to be about some kind of danger to the young king. It couldn’t have come from a creepy animal climbing around the palace. Or is it from fairies? Apparently, Serpin is familiar with fairies, if fairies exist.

«Fairies haven’t come to our land for a long time,» Samantha hastened to reassure him.

«They haven’t come to me for a long time, either,» Serpin grumbled resentfully. «I guess it’s the animals from your province. They frightened all my fairies.»

An obnoxious giggle sounded from the ceiling. If that was what scared all the fairies away, Samantha wouldn’t be surprised. The sound made her want to run as far away from the king as possible. The giggling voice seemed to follow Serpin.

«The Mind!» Serpin looked up.

«What do you mean?» Samantha didn’t understand. «Did I say something unreasonable?»

The same clawed beast was swinging on the chandelier under the ceiling. A moment later, it was gone. It couldn’t have shown itself to her a second time, could it? Samantha felt as if she were going mad. She had been warned that life at court would be difficult, but not this difficult! She sees little black demons everywhere. They are also favored by the king.

Serpin blew a kiss to the empty ceiling.

«Do you see fairies up there?» Samantha marveled.

«No, do you?» Serpin was embarrassed and gave the girl a disarming smile.

«Then what’s under the ceiling?»

«The fairies are no longer there, but they used to come here in droves. Such beauties!»

Samantha felt a burning jealousy.

«But something scared them away. Or someone had scared them off. We must ask the Mind who?»

Laughter came from the ceiling again.

Samantha didn’t understand the king’s last words.

«You’re pretty as a fairy, too,» the king complimented her.

This time a chandelier pendant flew from the ceiling and hit Samantha’s forehead. Now there will be a bruise! The crystal pendant that fell to the floor was covered in blood. Blood flowed from Samantha’s cut temple.

«The Mind!» The king’s exclamation now sounded like a curse.

From above, laughter resounded again.

«What’s up there?»

«Nothing much,» the king handed her his handkerchief.

«What a horror!» Samantha rushed to the mirror shimmering in the partition between the draperies. «Is it going to bruise? My bruises don’t last that long! The last time I fell off a horse, I was bruised for more than a month. All the neighbors laughed at me, assuming someone had beaten me.»

Stop! Her tongue is her enemy! How can she tell the king about her blunders? He’s not her buddy from the village, he’s the real monarch! It doesn’t matter that he looks the same age as the stable boys. He is the king, period! He must be treated with respect.

«Excuse me for talking,» Samantha looked back at Serpin, but he had already left.

Somehow she felt sad that he had left her alone so suddenly. They’d been having such a nice conversation. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said too much. There was a reason her mother had hired a teacher of manners, but she had never learned good manners.

Samantha wiped the blood from her forehead and wondered if the court healer could treat bruises. In the mirror behind her, an eerie black silhouette suddenly appeared. It vanished so quickly that it looked like a play of light and shadow.

The draperies were covered with intricate symbols in the shape of five-pointed stars, circles, and horns. How like the sorcerer’s symbols Samantha had once seen in a beginner’s magic manual she’d accidentally found on the top shelf of the family library. The symbols looked appropriate there, but where did they come from in the royal palace? Did anyone do magic here? She must have imagined it.

Her wounded forehead ached unbearably. Who would have thought a chandelier pendant could hurt so badly? The handkerchief was soaked with blood.

The King was gone, but the handkerchief remained. Samantha unfolded it and noticed the king’s initials embroidered in gold thread in the corner. S.I.R. The first two letters made sense. Samantha could decipher them. The first initial stands for Serpin and the second for Ivilor. So it’s Serpin of lvilor. But where did the letter R come from? Surely it doesn’t belong to the dynasty of Ivilor? Whose initial is it, then?