A Sinless Betrayal - Cherie Benjamin (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Kai ne." (He—he love you. Queen! You are.)

Suddenly a woman rushes out from the crowds and grabs the little girl's arm. The woman, who seems to be the child's mother, scolds the little girl before shoving her behind her and standing up to face, her face bright red.

"My…my lady. I so sorry for 'dat. My child not gonna bother you no more." The young woman says. When I hear her bad grammar, I realize how good Abigor's common tongue has gotten, and I'm thankful for that. It can be difficult to understand her with her thick accent, but I credit her for trying.

"Please, don't fuss over it. You truly have a sweet child." I smile at her and tap her nose with my finger. The child bursts into a fit of laughter. The woman looks so relieved.

Her hands shake as she brushes the wrinkles of her shirt down. "C-can I get you anyt'in to eat or drink?"

This woman seems honored to talk to me. I'm so confused. Only a month ago, I was still a whore, shamed and ridiculed by everyone. Now that I've committed myself to Abigor, I've had a child come up to me and call me his queen and a woman ask me if there's anything she could get me, like she was obliged to ask me such a thing..

I lick my dry lips and nod my head. "Dances With Wolves and I would like some wine, if you could manage."

The woman's face lights up instantly. "Oh yes! I get you wine. Sit, sit, I bring to you."

I sit down in my chair, completely blown away. Abigor's lounging comfortably in his chair, not seeming like anything's out of the ordinary. I nudge him and ask him if he saw what just happened. He simply replies, "Of course I did. They're not stupid, Eliza. They notice when their king has a lady. There's always a chance the lady could be a queen. So they get on her good side before it happens so they'll be favored later."

Me? A queen? I'd never considered such a thing before in my entire life. I look at him with this sudden urge. I'm in front of everyone, so when I do this, everyone will see it.

I stand up and make my way over to his throne. I bend down, ignoring his questioning glance, and pull his neck forwards, crashing his lips onto mine. He pulls away at first, hearing the music and festivity stop. They are on edge after what I've done. The king has never been kissed in public before and such things were reserved for the bedroom.

I know I've made a risky choice. But as I stand there, with Abigor looking in surprise at me, my heart begins to beat faster. What if he doesn't kiss me back? What if he tells me to go back to my seat?

He doesn't.

Instead, he grabs my face in his strong, calloused hands, pulling me into his lap and tilting my head over the edge of the armrest of his throne. And he kisses my lips softly.

The mob of people cheer and clap loudly. It is a first for him, since he has never publicly kissed a woman. Of course his men and his brother have done so, but he is the king and it is in their culture to have the king's sexual life out of the eye of the public.

The young woman and her child return with the wine. As I sit back in my seat, the young woman gives her glass to me, and then nods her head towards Abigor's direction. He does not smile, only nods at her. Her face turns bright red again and she continually nods at us both again.

Then she nudges the child with the second cup of wine over towards Abigor. She smiles and wobbles over to where Abigor sits at his throne. She raises the glass in her shaky hands, wine licking the sides of the cup. "Giya ga sarki." (Wine for king.)

At first he only stares at her in interest. The child's smile falls slightly, as she must be feeling intimidated by her king's steely gaze. I nudge his arm. He looks over at me in interest. I nod my head, as if telling him to take the wine and be kind to her.

I know he's not very good with children, only because he doesn't quite know how to act with them. He was always the youngest child in his family so he never had experience. He wants his own children, but needs to learn a little first.

He plasters on a smile when I signal him to and takes the cup. "Na gode sosai," he says to her (Thank you very much). The little girl's smile instantly comes back and she runs to her mother in excitement that the king had just spoken to her and smiled at her.

Suddenly someone starts to chant in the Hausa language. I realize that it's Three Horses. The drums and flutes play in tune to his chanting. The people around the giant fire in the middle of the shagali move away so Three Horses, with his headdress of jewels, sticks and feathers, can dance around the fire.

One by one, the soldiers of Abigor's army join. First Iron Coyote, then Grey Hawk, then Drinks of Waterfall, White Fire Sun, and Black Bear. They dance around the fire, mimicking Three Horses. I've never seen something so curious as this practice before. I've seen them dance before, but never so ritually in a dance.

In this case, a funeral.

Suddenly, Abigor stands up beside me when the men are all quiet and lets out a loud chant for his sister, walking down from his throne to join all the dancing. The other men let him into their circle proudly.

I've never watched someone so powerful or graceful in my life. His dancing is so spot on. I seem to be in a trance when I watch him dance. I never take my eyes off of him as he lifts his hands to the heavens, a look of sadness in his eyes.

I know he's talking to his sister. I know he's telling her he misses her, and telling the rest of his deceased family members he misses them too. Probably White Fawn too. They all start chanting in unison again, dancing and twirling around the fire while the drums, flutes and stringed instruments play.

When the music stops, the people cheer loudly and Abigor returns to his seat. He doesn't look at me at first, only takes his wine and takes a long swig of it. "That was beautiful," I tell him.

He nods his head in my direction. Women, not whores, but women, come closer to dance around the fire. The music starts up again and they begin to elegantly weave their way in and out of circles, making motions with their hands symbolically.

This culture is so exotic and lovely. I sip my wine while sitting beside Abigor. As I'm watching the dancers, I don't seem to notice the oncoming fight that's raging between two of the peasant men. Didyme is being fought over by two men whose names betray me. I do not know their faces, perhaps because they are not of Abigor's warrior men.

They are fighting wildly with their swords with curved blades, the clang of metal-to-metal echoing throughout the area. This is supposed to be a funeral for Snow Lion, yet there is fighting. I look over to Abigor in shock. He just sits and smiles, satisfied with what's going on.

I desperately look back to the situation. The first man has tripped the second man by using his own foot to trip him and set the man backwards onto his bottom. And before I can call for Abigor to make him stop them both from fighting, the first one plunges his sword into the man's stomach, the curved blade ripping out intestines.

The crowd claps and cheers as the man raises his bloody sword high into the air. He throws the severed piece of intestine into the fire and watches as the flame burns and ignites higher than it had before. Then the first man kneels down to cut off the other man's fairly long braid, staggering over to Abigor and placing the severed hair at his feet.

Then he looks to me, ignoring the horrified look on his face and places the bloody sword at my feet. I don't want the sword. It is not honorable to kill a man. I look over at the dead body and then to Abigor that's nodding to the man.

"Hand me the sword, Tiger Claw." At first I don't hear him because I'm so shocked by what I had just witnessed. He repeats the command, and this time I follow. I reach down and shakily pick up the blood-drenched sword, holding it by the hilt. It's so heavy that I find myself having to stand to fully support its weight.

Blood runs onto my hands and drips onto my white silk dress. I hand the sword to Abigor. The peasant man gets down on his knees. Abigor does the unthinkable. Abigor knights him, makes him one of his warriors.

His name is revealed to be Little Sea, or his commoner's name, Collin. I feel sick to my stomach. As Little Sea stands and has the crowds of people around him cheering for him, I stand from my chair and race into the castle.

I'm in the castle, racing up the stairs when I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. He whips me around and gives me a confused look. "What are you doing?" he hisses at me. "The festival's not over. You need to come back."

I pull myself out of his grasp. "Abigor, I feel sick!" I reply, racing to the bath hall where the chamber pots sat. He follows me there while I huddle over an empty chamber pot.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and massages lightly. "Why?"

I look back at him, my face feeling green but fire in my eyes. "Why? I just witnessed the actual gutting of a human being while he was alive at your own sister's funeral. I had to pick up that awful weapon, which might I add, covered me in blood!" I show him my bloodstained hands. He grimaces as some blood drips onto the floors.

I breathe in and out slowly, trying to reign in my temper. "And then you knighted him, like killing somebody was a good thing!"

"It is our culture—"

"Oh stop with that!" I cry. "It is something to kill a man in war. But to kill a man for fun? I don't care if it's your culture, it's still horrid!"

He looks taken aback. "They brought themselves into the fight, knowing the consequences. I make them warriors when they succeed, and if they don't, it's the afterlife for them."

I grip the sides of the chamber pot, blood dripping from my fingers. I don't think I'm going to throw up anymore, but my stomach still isn't right. Abigor hands me a deerskin rag to wipe my bloody hands on. "Thank you," I whisper. Then I look up at him and lick my dry lips. "I can't go back. I've got blood on my dress, I look like I've turned permanently green and my stomach's still not right. You don't have to stay with me. I don't want to ruin your shagali because of this. You can lock me in the room, and I promise I'll stay out of trouble."

He shakes his head and chuckles. "You didn't ruin the shagali. The pity party was boring me anyways. I respect you, Eliza. I'll tell my brother that he can run the festival in my place. I'm sure he'll have a hell of a time doing that…sitting in my throne and bringing his whore onto his lap."

I blush at him calling Ivona his whore. He cups my face in his hands. "I can't get rid of you, can I?" I jokingly ask. He laughs