Winter was peeking out from behind the blanket of autumn. The soil was cold and stern. The air was like ice. That didn't matter much for Rellenora. There was always a lit brazier for her. Not only that, in private moments, there were often two men cuddling with her.
Those men were very, very useful in making her feel much more comfortable.
There were certainly changes in her body. She was so much more tired than usual. She needed a chamber pot almost twice as normal. Almost every morning had a bit of vomit. Piled on top of all that, she had moments of unnecessary crabbiness and stupid yearnings for foods she hadn't particularly liked before. Oana Nidi had basically confirmed it. The Empress was pregnant. Her husband would soon have an heir, and his legacy would hopefully be secure.
On a chilly evening, Rellenora sat down on a large rug of silky fur. All she had on was a large, silk robe that belonged to Antonai. The loose, drooping sleeves kept her fingers cozy. There were several braziers in the room and a few lit candles, putting orange and yellow glows in the air. Behind the Empress, Antonai took a spot, his legs bent. His hand slid under the robe, warming her belly. There was only a slight curve there.
Yban knelt to one side, opening a box of treats. Then, he held one of the treats up to Rellenora's mouth, saying something with a light and questioning tone. As Rellenora chewed on the fruity, doughy thing, she soon understood that Yban had asked her, "What do you think of this?"
Rellenora made an approving little hum and clapped her hands.
A few taps on a door.
Antonai called out. The breath in his chest had Rellenora flinching.
The muffled voice of a servant outside the room.
Antonai left her. With a treat hanging from her teeth, Rellenora turned her head to watch him push his arms into a robe. He tied a thin cord around his waist and padded over to the door. Ignoring Yban's solemn voice, Rellenora got to her feet. When she saw her husband leave the room, she rushed over to that door and looked down a hallway.
Wait. The servant had said, "Your Majesty, that Majustan is here."
Antonai was following that servant down the hall and to another door. Rellenora felt Yban tap her shoulder.
Feeling a little bold, which made sense considering her status, Rellenora retreated into the room. She forced her treat down her throat, closed the door, turned around, and asked Yban, "Who?"
His hands waved before himself. Then he tried to beckon her to the fur rug.
Rellenora shook her head, her curls nearly floating around herself. Pointing to the door, she said with a louder voice, "Majustan, who?"
Yban bent his fingers and walked over to a table, where Rellenora's slate waited. Rellenora looked over his shoulder as he wrote on it. "It's not my right to tell you, but I think your husband should have told you long ago. I'll ask him to do so later."
***
Quite some years ago, there was a Baron named Vonatello Greia Varesqu.
There were two problems drilling into his brain.
One, he thought that his wife had been having an affair, which meant that his son might not truly be his son.
Two, he wanted the empire.
When the Baron heard of a sneaky Majustan lurking around his estate, always able to avoid capture, he knew that the rumors must be true. There was a Majustan sorcerer about, and he was secretly making contracts with the estate's inhabitants. It made sense. None of the lower servants admitted that they had seen the man, and those lower servants seemed unusually happy, too happy for the Baron's tastes.
Vonatello took it upon himself to carefully patrol the hallways during the night. His efforts were not in vain. He saw an unnatural shadow creak and bend out from behind a bookcase, like a cockroach or a mouse. Then it grew into the size of a tall man. Finally, the blackness faded away and left a white Majustan man behind.
His hand flew out and gripped the Majustan's tail.
"Make a contract with me!!"
He did.
He went into the Baron's bedchamber, put a few lamps and writing materials on a table, and then he introduced himself as, "Wutao."
And, similar to how a lawyer might do, the Majustan started negotiating.
They came to an agreement perhaps an hour later, and Wutao wrote down the details on a long bit of paper. When it was finished, both parties read the contract aloud. Then, instead of signing their names, each man pricked a fingertip and put a bloody print down on the paper. With a dominating, cocky tone, Wutao said aloud, "Between us, the one that breaks this contract will immediately die."
As if it was filled with stars, dots of light glowed from the paper for a moment. Then the paper disappeared into nothing.
These were the terms of the contract.
Wutao said that he could gather a large troop of Majustan soldiers that wanted to immigrate to Zenthia. Vonatello would use this troop to take over the Zenthian empire. Once that was finished, he would have all the soldiers legally recognized as Zenthian citizens.
As for the son, a unique idea was put into motion. If Antonai Varesqu was not the natural son of the Baron, nothing would happen to him. If he was, then a mark would be placed on him and his future descendants, more than a mark, actually. His whole body would change into a Majustan's body. It would happen overnight, while the young man slept. He'd be horribly confused when he woke up, but there was no help for that.
Wutao said he pitied the Baroness. So, in the contract, another rule was put into place. If Antonai Varesqu was the natural son of the Baron, then the Baron would not be allowed to divorce his wife, and he certainly wouldn't be allowed to kill her or even have someone else kill her. She would be his wife until he died.
But after the contract was made, Wutao laughed in the evilest way, and he slammed his hand onto the table. He told the Baron, "You're such an idiot! That boy came from your seed, but your wife has been taking another into her bed! It's me! I've been cuckolding you! My name is not Wutao! I am Weiheng Yu, King of Majusta!"
The sorcerer then slipped back into the shadows, leaving the Baron alone with the result of his choices.
***
On the following morning, Rellenora received a scroll from her husband. It contained all the basic information concerning the King of Majusta, Emperor Vonatello, and Antonai's physical appearance. He also wrote that the Majustan man who was always wanting to see him was that King Weiheng Yu. He was still the lover of the Empress Dowager, and he was oddly fond of her son.
"He wants me to recognize him as a father," he had written, "but I refuse. He is not my father. Were he not a sorcerer king of a great nation, and were it not for my mother's affection, I'd have had him whipped for trespassing here."
It was certainly an odd origin story.
Rellenora didn't know how to describe her feelings on the subject. She did wonder, though, what it was like to wake up with an extra appendage you didn't know how to control and horns on your head. What was it like to wake up with a different skin tone and dark fingernails. What was it like to wake up looking like the man who had been having an affair with your mother.
He probably destroyed everything in his bedroom.
She also wondered why the Empress Dowager was still letting that king into her bedroom and body. Was she really in love? Did Majusta have a queen? That would explain why she didn't marry the man. How often did the king come to visit? Didn't he have things to do in his kingdom? Where did he find the free time? He seemed to know some kind of magic. How did that magic work?
Hmmmm ... King Weiheng Yu could have simply put a magic tattoo on Antonai's knee or something. Why change his entire body? That seemed unnecessarily cruel.
Rellenora wondered if she should go to the Empress Dowager to have a chat.
No ... that would be troublesome.
Besides, Rellenora had never visited the Empress Dowager's Ruby Palace before, and the Empress Dowager had never visited the White Jade Palace. The two women were barely acquaintances. It was almost funny.
Did King Weiheng have any children of his own? He must have wanted heirs for his own throne. If he did have any offspring, they would be adults, wouldn't they?
Well ... maybe one day King Weiheng would leave the Emperor alone.
***
The Royal Adviser, Prince Yban, visited the White Jade Palace on an afternoon thick with gently wafting snow. Chohni peeked through a window as he approached the building. His breath eased out of his mouth in an eerie manner. His gloved hands held his fur-lined cloak tight over his tall form.
The Empress was busy washing ink off her hands, and so, Chohni and all the ladies-in-waiting, hers and the Empress', received the guest in a large room. Soon, though, the Empress entered with her companion, and she played a card game with Prince Yban while everyone else watched. When that game was finished, the Empress, her companion, the Prince, and Chohni all watched the ladies-in-waiting engage in a casual rock-paper-scissors tournament.
At one point, Prince Yban bowed to the Empress and said, "Your Majesty, your honorable husband has given me a strange gift. It's a lovely gemstone that seems to shine brighter in dim rooms instead of sunshine. Would you please humor me in your dimmest room?"
The Empress' buck teeth seemed to stick out even more as she smiled and got to her feet. When Mrs. Donner tried to follow her mistress, the Empress' head moved from right to left, and she held up one of her hands. She said, "Stay."
Chohni was reminded of how one would speak to a pet dog.
Prince Yban kept a few steps behind the Empress as he quit the area with her, leaving his cloak behind.
Some time went on. Chohni remained with Mrs. Donner, watching the other women play silly games. Eventually, though, Chohni wondered what in the world was taking those two people so long. She looked at the man's cloak. It was draped over a chair like a sleeping animal. She pulled the cloak up and told Mrs. Donner that she was going to return it to its owner, since it was likely that he would be returning soon.
Her hair gleaming, her robes sliding against the polished floor, Chohni asked which room the Empress had disappeared into. Then, she quietly walked on to that room.
Her head tilted to one side. Her brown eyes blinked very slowly.
The door was barely, just barely ajar.
And there was a moan, a hiss, and a wet slurp.
One cloak covered hand lightly nudged the door.
"Ah fuck!! Relle!!" Prince Yban's voice?
