To Aurum With Hate

Four: Antero Dukas

Four

Antero Dukas

            The problem was, of course, that Princess Sirena was beautiful. It was a laughable statement almost. I had yet to run across a Princess or a royal woman that wasn’t beautiful. That was what happened when you had good genetics, and access to the finer things in life. You were able to get the best of everything. Including looks. I wasn’t supposed to be the first one to see Sirena though.

            Fate, or whoever decided such things, had put her in my way.

            The Argenti had kidnapped her, and I’d found her in the cities catacombs, tied up and terrified. When I released her, she had hugged me as if her life depended on it. She’d been missing for less than a day, and I could still smell her perfume.

            Madame Primula’s.

            Sweet, expensive. It was common amongst girls like her, but it clung to her the way she clung to me and it was all I wanted to smell. When she finally pulled away, she stared at me.

            “Why didn’t Imperator Zale come himself?” she asked.

            I took a breath. “Because that isn’t how things are done. I’m his guard. I guard what’s important to him. You’re his fiancé. That includes you too.”

            “He didn’t have to rescue me,” she said, “but he could have been here.”

            “He had important things to attend to.”

            It was all a lie. Zale didn’t come because of protocol. It would have been to dangerous to have him there. He was the future leader, and always the most important. But I couldn’t tell that to the new Princess who was supposed to be married off to him.

            “Ah,” she said.

            “He will be meeting you at the palace though. He was relieved to hear that you were safe.”

            She pursed her lips together. “Does my family know what happened?”

            “Yes,” I said, “and they have also been made aware of your safe return.”

            “How did they manage to get hold of me in the first place?”

            I grimaced. “We don’t know,” I admitted, “but rest assured, your highness, we are looking into it.”

            “Of course.”

            Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were wide with bags under them. It had only been a few hours since she had been taken but she had been held at gun point, and kidnapped by people she didn’t know as a means of a political message.

            “Did they say anything?” I said. “When they kidnapped you?”

            She bit her lip. “They said a lot of things.”

            “Such as?”

            “The man that took me called himself Xavier Bones. He said that he was part of something called The Argenti.”

            I grimaced. “We suspected that it might be them. The Argenti are a group of radicals that are against Aurum.”

            “I wonder why,” she said bitterly, “it couldn’t possibly have to do with the fact that Aurum is trying to take over the whole entire world now, could it?”

            “Aurum believes in one world,” I said, “a world without borders. What Imperator Eric is trying to do is to create an international system that benefits everyone.”

            “At the expense of everyone else,” she said.

            “No, for everyone else’s benefit,” I said, “he is a good man. You have only seen what the world wants you to see. But when you have lived in Aurum, when you meet Zale, you will understand what he is trying to do.”

            “If I ever understand death and destruction, kill me,” she said, “for then I will truly have become a monster.”

            I frowned. “Surely you can’t mean that.”

            “I do,” she said, “I was sent here by my brother to bring peace to my country. I will marry Zale, and I will do my duty, but I do not have to like or understand anything about this place. Because I do not like or understand anything about this place. Trust me.”

            “That is too bad,” I said.

            “Why?” she asked.

            “Because Aurum is beautiful,” I told her, “and I believe that you could like it if you gave it half the chance. I believe that you could love Zale too, and he could love you. I know that he wants to.”

            “How?”

            “Because I know Zale like I know my own mind,” I said, “and we have talked on many occasions about you. He wants to be a good husband. He hopes that the two of you can find love together.”

            “His country bombed mine. Even with our engagement in place, his father continued to send bombs to Aeris. I walked through the village of Perdita. I saw the dead bodies. I gave comfort to their families. How can you tell me that he wants to love me when his country has done so much damage to mine?”

            “Because,” I said, “I know Zale. If given the opportunity for peace, Zale would have it. But the world is not built that way, so Zale and his father are remaking it into one that has such an opportunity.”

            “Why does it involve taking over the world?”

            “Because the world is a terrible place,” I told her.

            Sirena said nothing, only glowered at me and stared out the window. For some reason, her not talking to me made my heart clench. She was beautiful in an understated way. She had brown hair, a round face, and brown eyes that seemed to see through everything. Zale would love her, and I hated that.

            “There’s something else you should know,” said Sirena.

            “Oh?”

            “Xavier Bones tried to convince me to join him, and I don’t think that will be the last time he does.”

            “Well,” I said, “we’ll be sure to let Imperator Zale know, and we’ll be sure to keep that from happening.”

            It might have been my imagination, but I thought I heard hear whisper, maybe I want it to happen. For her sake, and mine, I pretended that I didn’t hear it at all.