Sweet Waters Throne

109 Chapter 10So it turns out Isabella spent a night in Lord Balrus’s house, she had her own room and two servants to tend to her needs. When she woke up it was already half noon, the cool autumn sun wasn’t as hot but she still claimed to be feeling hot. Lord Balrus ordered a cold refreshing juice for her, then three servants serve her breakfast at the large table.

Lord Balrus was busy crafting a letter, he had an ink and a quill, and ten white plain papers. Three of them were folded and tossed to the side, he will surely burn them later to erase evidence of whatever he was writing. Isabella seemed occupied with the pastries and pies, cakes and hot tea served for her.

She moaned when she took a bite out of a Double-Crust fruit pie, then she moaned again when the servants cut for her a Custard pie. “This is what wealthy men eat all the time?” she struggled to speak with the pie inside her mouth. “What I wouldn’t give to be you Balrus?”

“I had to give up my cock, will you be ready to lose your cunt?’ replied Balrus with a small chuckle, Isabella said nothing. She reached out for the mug full of honeyed wine and washed down the pie.

It seemed there was no stopping Isabella and her appetite, Lord Balrus grew concern when she picked up another piece of custard pie “Are you that hungry? Don’t your whores feed you at your brothel?”

“They are useless cunts; all they know is how to spread their legs”

‘Which I’m sure you are the one who taught them well, they learn from the best”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult my lord?” There was yet another smile on Balrus’s face, then he ignored Isabella and went on to write his letter.

Isabella kept on asking “Who are you writing to? The King or the Hand?”

.....

“Neither, the Usurper is a ruthless cunt who will go back to whoring himself as soon as he gets tired of Haniwa. The Hand however, she is clever and way stronger than her brother, but her paramour isn’t”

This shocked Isabella, she dropped another piece of pie she intended to eat on the same plate she picked it up from. “You are writing to Olivia Kent!”

“Correction, Olivia Torol”

“Balrus, if you write to Olivia and call her by her real name then she will know it’s me. I am the only one who knows her secret and she trusts me with it”

“She will not be suspicious if I mention in the letter that I have received the letter, instead of you. Let’s say...” Lord Balrus took a glass of wine and raised it to Isabella “You never saw it” then he drank to that.

“I never saw it” Isabella agreed and sipped her own wine. Then they continued to talk like old friends they were, catching up to gossip and then went on to talk about dragons. This now was a more interesting tale especially since Balrus agreed that dragons indeed existed in the capital.

Then he went on to describe the colors of the dragons, how tiny they still were but in a year they will fully develop into huge beasts and breath hot flames. “I fear my lord; will this be the end of men?” Isabella expressed her concerns. “Dragons only exist in bedtime stories and sorcery practices, is the Queen... a witch?”

“She has powers. Abnormalities powers which are beyond our mortal understanding and she is a descendant of House Morrow. I have heard about these dragon riders from my grandfather, he spoke of their powers and mighty as if they were still here. Their pale golden hairs, their fair skin and it is believed during their reign, even their slaves wore golden collars”

“Golden collars? I would be a courtesan who has a golden cunt if I existed during this time” Isabella made a joke, Lord Balrus let out a small chuckle and continued to write his letter. When he was done, he sealed the top paper with a King’s sigil – red Maldonian color.

Isabella paid attention to everything that was happening but she was deemed helpless in that matter. A rider loyal to Lord Balrus and who was most trusted was summoned. Lord Balrus handed him the letter “Give it to none other than Olivia Kent, she is in Raven inside the Usurper’s castle. Only she must receive this”

The rider who wore a helmet which fully covered his face, slowly replied “I will not fail you my lord”

“I know you will not. Better get to it then”

The rider left the room and from there Lord Balrus sighed. His two servants brought him tea and filled his plate with the goodies, all this time he looked at Isabella with a smile. They kept talking about dragons, politics and catching up to latest gossips.

At dusk, Isabella left Lord Balrus’s house after spending the whole day eating and laughing to Balrus’s jokes. One thing Lord Balrus was good at was treating his friends with kindness and good gesture. But he made sure to warn Isabella before she left “If you warn your friend, I’ll know it. If you send someone to warn her or tell her what we spoke here, I’ll know it and it will not end good for you. We are still friends, aren’t we?”

Isabella reached out for Lord Balrus’s lips and kissed him deep. The servants grew uncomfortable and some looked away “Come to my house tonight, I have few young soldiers you may like” she whispered in Lord Balrus’s eyes and walked away.

In Raven, Olivia had just woken up from a very good night sleep she had, last night she and Aryan engaged in what turned out to be a very warm and mind blowing sex. That happiness continued to the next day when she laid bare inside a bathtub with two servants cleaning her.

One of the servants washed her hair and the other scrubbed her legs and thighs. The water was so warm and she wished she could stay inside there forever. Aryan was in the stables working with lion keepers trying to breed more lions, instead of being angry over it Olivia took her time to understand her lover’s duties to the crown and waited when she comes back.

The servants were mesmerized by how soft Olivia’s skin was, it seemed to run through their fingers like water. That skin wasn’t usual in Prophis, nor Maldonia and Olivia told them she came from a far land but she never clearly specified where she came from.

Suddenly, another servant walked inside holding a letter. She curtsied first and then handed the letter to Olivia. “I was instructed to bring the letter to you, my lady” she said.

A rather shocked Olivia asked “To me?” but then she seemed to be more excited because she thought it was a letter from Isabella, her close friend she recently wrote to. “Oh, I know who sent it. Thank you”

The servant was dismissed and Olivia told the others to finish bathing her in a hurry because she had a letter to read. When she was inside her chambers fully cleaned and relaxed, Olivia reached out for the letter and at the first glance of the King’s sigil, her heartbeat raced.

If it was Isabella, then it would be just a piece of paper on top of it but this one was sealed. Olivia slowly opened the letter.

Olivia Torol,

It is I, Lord Balrus and Master of Spies. The letter you sent to the courtesan and close friend of yours somehow never got to her, perhaps you weren’t aware I control all the guards, ravens and rodents in and out of Blackmount. Your name reminds me of a fallen house in Penrith, I know exactly what your father did and why you had to flee.

Since now you have the Hand of the King’s ear, I want you to tell her that we have five dragons who in a year will be two times the size of your palace. If that Usurper dares to turn his head towards Maldonia, you will cease to ashes.

That was it and Olivia quickly folded the letter and held her heart in her hands. She was so shocked that she felt as if her heart will be torn from her chest, the next thing she did was toss the letter into the fire inside her room, she stood firmly as she watched it burn to ashes.

The secret she’s spent years trying to hide was already known to Lord Balrus, and the letter she sent to Isabella never reached her, that’s what she thought. Olivia knew she will never have to tell Aryan about the dragons’ existence because she will ask how did she come to knowledge of that.

During the family dinner, where all four of them sat quietly and ate, Olivia wasn’t as charming as she always was. While Haniwa and Gandalf dined with laughter and passion, Aryan and Olivia were silent and even when Aryan tried to talk to Olivia, she seemed off and far from the present.