A Dark and Deadly Beauty

The Bull and the Hummingbird

Beckett Reed, try as he might, couldn’t keep his from wandering to the petite form draped in ruby and amethyst.

The gorgeous Lady Electra had arrived on her brother’s arm. An eye-catching gem, shimmering and sharp. She was a hummingbird in a garden of mundane flowers.

Beck stood beside the royal table, running interference for Prince Faren and Princess Emilia. At events like this, someone had to keep the eager courtiers at bay, or else the table would be swamped with simpering nobles trying to kiss Emilia’s hand or pinch one of the babies cheeks. Beck, as always, stood guard and made sure that Emilia and Faren could eat their meal with their family in peace, before they sent the children to bed and ventured onto the floor to mingle and drink with the folk of the realm.

He sipped the hearty brown ale from his cup, his eyes flitting to where Electra sat at the Guildhall tables. Just as he wet his tongue again with his drink, Jacinde appeared with her father.

“Do their Highnesses have a moment for me before they send the babies to bed? Emilia mentioned they are both cutting their first milk teeth and keeping the whole household up all hours of the night. I brought some licorice root for them to chew and some sachets of dried lavender for them to hang on the children’s cradles to help them sleep. This should hopefully help.”

Beck laughed. “Ha! Their Highnesses have several moments for you, as always, Jacinde. Anything that can relieve those gremlins of their pains and make the fussing stop is a welcome sight, indeed.”

Lord Florin and Jacinde glided up to the table, twin sunshine-haired healers that embodied compassion.

Emilia smiled up at Jacinde, turning her cheek for a brief but warm peck from her friend. Beck watched a look of relief wash over the Princess when the teething remedies were laid on the table. Kyrin, alert and curious in her lap, grabbed the closest licorice root before shoving it instinctively into his gummy little mouth. The boy’s eyes lit up at the taste of the sharp, sweet flavor, and he began working his little jaw up and down, gnawing like a happy rodent.

Faren chuckled with boyish charm before grabbing another root to tempt the for the wiggly, black-eyed daughter in his lap. Kaitrin had spent the better part of the evening keeping her father on his toes, either by shoving her hand into the closest wine goblet or sneezing onto Faren’s dinner. Right now, she wanted nothing to do with licorice, but instead kept trying to grasp a dinner knife, determined to get her little paws on it no matter how far her father pushed it from her reach. No denying she would be running circles around her parents soon.

Beck felt a squeeze in his chest as he looked at Faren and his lovely little family, happy and content beneath the light of the winter’s moon.

Despite the sleepless nights and his revulsion towards dirty diapering cloths, he adored Kaitrin and Kyrin with a love as fierce as if they had been his own flesh and blood.

Then again, Beck had spent most of his life with Faren, first as a playmate and then as a valet. The men were brothers in all the ways that mattered, so it was natural that Beck would look at the faces of Faren’s children and feel nothing by love.

The fact that Faren had married a woman who emitted kindness like breath, and devoted herself to the good of the people…well, Beck had spent the last year learning Emilia’s character and he had grown as devoted to the Crimson Princess as he was to his own master.

They were a family worth loving, and to share these quiet, personal moments with them gave Beck a great sense of purpose and affection.

But, as much as he was treated like a member of the family, Beck wanted more. His own wains to coddle. His own wife to kiss each morning and hold each night.

Life had been good to him, better than any foundling had any right to hope for. But his own family, the warming coals that could keep the furnace of his heart ablaze- that was a want so strong Beck could feel it pulling at his chest like a binding spell.

His thoughts were interrupted by Jacinde saying her goodbyes to the children.

As she passed Beck on her way back to her own table, she stopped. Her tired cat eyes blinked in a rapid flurry, her dark blonde lashes fluttering against her cheeks. Her feet halted, the train of her carnation-pink gown pooling around her.

“Oh! I’ve just remembered. Lady Electra also brought gifts for the twins. Shall I send her over now, before the children are put to bed?”

“I’ll go and collect her, my Lady. Please, don’t trouble yourself. I’m sure a handsome bloke is dying to sweep you up for a dance.”

She nodded, a sweet smile on her lips. Then, she glided into the crowd, a rose-colored silhouette vanishing into a clamor of bodies.

Beck made a line right for Electra, taking in the view of her sleek black hair and the tempting curve of where her shoulder joined her neck. He tried not to dwell on the band of bare skin at her waist or the peek of her toned legs that flashed between the slits of her skirts. The thought of putting his hand on the small of her back and feeling the heat from her beautiful flesh popped into his head, and he sped up his steps.

He heard the argument from yards away.

“Sir Mardak, surely your mind is too keen to believe such draconian ideologies about women,” Electra said loudly.

She sat at the table for the heads of the Guilds with a goblet of steaming mulled wine in her fist. Mardak, as old as debauchery itself and just as ugly, brushed the greasy flakes of pastry off of his doublet and offered the warrior woman a patronizing smile. His flat, frog-like face split, revealing rows of pointed teeth like a menacing hyena.

“Dear girl, nature itself has gifted women with the ultimate power - to create life. Bearing children is a sacred duty!”

Beck thought that if Electra had been a cat, the fur on her arched back would be standing straight up.

“So every woman must bear children to honor their so-called sacred duty? What about the women who are bound to other women? Are they betraying the rule of nature? In fact, isn’t your own daughter coupled to a young lady? Please tell me you don’t share the sentiments of the humans that same-gendered pairings are abominations. It was only seventy five years ago that the humans stopped jailing and publicly whipping their same-gender couples! Truly, do you think your own daughter is an abomination?”

“Of course not! My daughter, Valeria, is indeed bound to a lovely woman. I cherish them both deeply. Humans and their ridiculous notions of purity and morality always turn their eyes away from truth. But, women who love other women can still bear children. All it takes is a healthy womb and a willing man to provide the seed. My daughter’s wife, despite her distaste for relations with men, decided she desired a child and found a means to fall pregnant. They will welcome my grandchild in 7 months.”

“Congratulations on that joyous news, and I’m glad that a woman who desires motherhood can find a way to achieve it. But you can’t possibly believe all women are fit to be mothers? There must be more to raising a child than merely having a womb!”

“Electra, you are a noblewoman with both means and talent. Do you not want to have a child of your own, pass on your bloodline?”

Oh s**t, Beck thought as he hurried to Electra’s side. She is going to stab him through the neck with a chicken bone.

Just as he was about to interrupt the inevitable blood bath, Electra spoke.

“My bloodline? What do you know of me? You see a dainty lady with a fine house. You see a noble woman before,dressed in a gown common folk can only imagine in their dreams. But I was not born a Lady, sir. I earned these titles through grit and blood. And while I do not hide my history, it appears you are ignorant of it. So, allow me to enlighten you. I was born to a w***e in the back room of a brothel and raised under the watchful eye of women who would refuse your repugnant face in their beds no matter how much coin you offered.”

Electra took a deep swig of her drink and watched Mardak’s face turn purple.

“My blood, and if I choose to bear children, is my business and mine alone. I’ll leave you to your meal, Sir Mardak, such as it is.”

She grabbed the box that sat beside her and turned on her heel. She bumped into Beck’s stout chest, her face gracelessly pressed against him.

“My Lady, their Highnesses request your presence at their table. Lady Jacinde mentioned

you had gifts for the children. Follow me, please!” Beck took her by the arm and led her away from the odious alchemist glaring holes into her back.

“I thought you were going to gut him like a fish, my dear,” he whispered down towards her ear. “Not that he wouldn’t have deserved it. Though the tongue lashing you gave him certainly has knocked him off of his high-horse.”

“I should have held my tongue,” Electra shook her head. “Regardless of how I feel about the man, I still have to work with him. That was wholly inappropriate.”

“He was being inappropriate. And if anyone finds fault in you for what you said, ignore them.”

“Thank you, Mr. Reed,” she c****d her head to one side and looked at him with solemn eyes. “I appreciate you coming to my rescue.”

“You hardly needed a rescue,my Lady. I merely offered you an escape