Black Star Light

Chapter 5

- They could have been indignant, at least for decency.

- What's the point? He smiled at me with thin, and so sensual lips.

And I suddenly stopped being cold ... in the sense that such a wording suited me much more than, for example, it threw me into the heat in places. And certain. Brightly, sharply, so clearly that black dots suddenly appeared before my eyes, swept about, not realizing what was happening at all. She squeezed her knees sharply, to sobering pain, and, in principle, to the return of self-control. And all this under the noticeably sparkling, intently observing gaze of a man who ... seems to actually revel in what is happening.

“I don’t think so,” smiled the emperor of Eradaras, still looking at me intently, and squeezing a glass of wine between his fingers.

Oh, I remembered well what those fingers were capable of.

Too good. Good enough to feel the blood rush to my cheeks... A second, a moment, a brief moment, and I forced myself to remember who was in front of me. Excitation is boldly icy wave of this awareness.

“Why, my dear? - looking at me intently, the Caesar asked deceptively softly.

Oh, and I knew this deceptive softness just as well as I was aware of what was hidden behind the icy softness.

- As already mentioned - because I do not want to be your toy, my Caesar, - I answered with a venomous smile, rather harshly.

The bright one definitely did not like this rigidity. I internally tensed, expecting a blow, and it followed:

“You are already my toy, Kari, you became one even before you were born,” and the Caesar took a slow sip as if he was drinking my life, and with obvious pleasure.

With no less parried him:

“The fact that I was your toy does not mean that I want to continue to be so.

The emperor's smile became... more affectionate.

Mine... even more affectionate.

We played on equal terms, and if we talk about pleasure, I got much more than Caesar.

“You are wrong, my dear,” Araeden said with undisguised tenderness and this time really softly, “to be with someone on an equal footing has always been my dream. Until you were born - unrealizable.

I made myself comfortable on the pillow, looked at him carefully and asked:

- And the higher ones?

I didn’t ask about the dark ones - now the only one who really needed to be taken into account was Akyar, and then, frankly speaking, he would not survive against us with the Caesar. He could erase me from the face of Sataren without looking, Caesar with great difficulty, and if only he is really a genius, but the two of us are unrealistic. Caesar and I together, we were the force that wanted to spit even on the highest, which we actually demonstrated.

“Exactly,” my husband saluted me with a glass, took a sip, “the higher ones would be on an equal footing if you didn’t find yourself in your world, my gentle.” It was fun to watch the former gods clash with my personal goddess.

“My personal goddess,” she smiled involuntarily.

“But what would you do if I didn’t have the ability to control the Lights?” I asked.

And she stopped.

Because such an insidious smile played on the lips of Caesar that it became crystal clear - he knew that I had these abilities. He absolutely knew.

- Once you said, my dear, that I destroy everything in my path, while your destiny is creation. You were practically right - your gift is creation, and what I am able to read and destroy, you are able to create.

Thoughts.

Caesar reads them easily, and I ... I create them!

She abruptly sat up in bed, hugged her knees, closed her eyes and clearly imagined the guard standing on the left at the entrance to my tower. The order: “Bring a stone to the Empress,” I gave mentally. She flung open her eyelashes and carefully looked at the Caesar sitting almost opposite, well, conditionally opposite. We waited together, I - not believing what was happening, and he - with a smile tracking all my anxieties, doubts, disbelief, and awareness, when there was a knock on the door and then the voice of the guard sounded:

“Blessed Empress, I brought you… a stone.

I flinched as if struck. Caesar, still smiling, saluted me with a glass, and drank all the wine to the bottom.

"Put it by the door and leave" - my mental order.

“The human psyche is a fragile instrument, my tender one, it should be played softly, carefully, plastically,” said the Caesar.

“Etwan, put a stone at the door, thank you,” I ordered, raising my voice.

There was a sound of a placed stone, then receding steps and the indistinct muttering of a guard who was obviously dumbfounded by what had happened.

I collapsed onto the pillows, looking intently at my husband. Well, now I'm starting to feel like a true goddess. But no - a toy ... still a toy frankly reveling in what is happening Caesar. Did we play equally? I am afraid no. Not yet.

“Practically yes, and this is the maximum “yes” that you ... are still capable of, Kari,” the Caesar gently informed.

Bet?

Do you think it makes sense? - a question, and a barely noticeable gambling gleam in his eyes.

I would like to, yes, but ... not now.

“At the moment, the highest priority,” I reminded.

“You are the priority, always,” the Caesar said absolutely seriously.

And it was devilishly flattering, of course, but ...

“Higher, roads, the abolition of slavery,” I said harshly, discarding all sentimentality.

Caesar smiled and said:

I'm working on the first point. Sweet dreams, my dear.

And the crystal self-destructed, leaving a rose on my bed, dark scarlet this time. It was surprising - for some reason, if I expected flowers from Caesar, then white ones, and here a bright flower with an incredible aroma that filled the whole room.

I fell asleep, putting a flower on a nearby pillow, and all night I dreamed of the endless green steppes of Migrad and Adras ... And even in a dream it was insanely bitter from the realization that I was able to revive almost anyone, but not the one to whom I would so much like to return life.

***

Arakhandar the Lord of the Night frankly devoured me with his eyes. In principle, he would have devoured me, and literally, and even without preliminary frying or other methods of preparation, he simply could not. Yes, sometimes it happens like this - you kind of sorted out the ruler of the neighboring and only generally competitive camp and put a puppet in his place and were already practically celebrating the victory, when suddenly the freshly killed one took and returned, but not alone, but with his wife, who, among other things, still not stupid. Not stupid at all.

“So,” the chief arachnid, who obviously hates me with every fiber of his absent soul, grunted, “are you offering an ounce of silver pepper as world currency?”

“Yes, I propose to introduce this conditional currency,” she confirmed, looking at him intently.

We had an expanded meeting of the international council. I headed the table at which my Guardians of the Islands, now cities, were sitting, a crystalline spatial window shone to my right, opening the meeting room of the Lord of the Night, in which he himself, his eldest son and heir Araen, the Prince of Night and trusted advisers, were located, to the left, so to say closer to my heart, the same spatial window into my imperial office, where, in addition to my advisers and Edogar, the lords and ladies of the Great Palaces were also present. Thus, at this council I represented two states at once, Arakhandar was one, and this alone already drove him crazy. But everything got much worse when Tehars appeared and the dragon immediately declared: “The Empress represents the interests of the Winged People,” after which, apparently due to the fact that he was in a hurry, he flew out the window and rushed off somewhere.

I stayed, smiling politely at the Lord of the night and feeling like a true trinity! But he finally finished off the dark Oshroe Ax Handle Stone Blade, who looked at the door and said:

- Hey, Tar Glitter, Dinar and I are busy there, he said, you can represent the orcs, well, let us dwarves too at the same time.

And left.

I stayed. Still looking with a smile at the purple Arakhandar Emperor Tenetra, and tapping his fingers on the table. Although what to tap - I could well go to the calculations. And everything turned out that if I was initially in a much more advantageous position than the Lord of the Night, now I could actually speak on behalf of five state units - ellars, dwarves, dragons, orcs and people. While he represented only one.

“Five to one,” I said mockingly.

The gnashing of the chief dark's teeth sounded so distinct that it was audible even in the light office, and I caught a grin that Edogar suppressed. Just think - not so long ago, the dark ones practically controlled the whole world, but less than a month had passed ...

“Your word,” I urged the dark one, keeping an extremely polite expression on my face.

Arakhandar was silent. He looked at me with an indescribable, in the sense he could not convey it in any way, with hatred and was silent, gritting his teeth. I think he wanted to tell me a lot of things now, and he clenched his teeth for one reason only - so as not to express all this. Because on my side there were not only five states, but also Akyar who appeared in the dark council hall. The Prince of the Night Terror, no longer even terrible, but certainly surprisingly handsome, bowed gallantly at the sight of me, and inquired in a low, velvety voice:

— Katherine, the happiness of my eyes, how are you?

From his tone and informality of address, the Lord of the Night was warped, but this did not stop me from answering:

— Thank you for your concern, Kyar, everything is fine. How are you?

The dark prince, coming closer and practically blocking half of the dark advice from me, said, devouring his eyes already somewhat not in gastronomic terms, said:

- Wonderful. Your… emperor conveyed his best wishes to you and an offer to devote more time to entertainment.

My heart skipped a beat...

I continued to smile, nodding my thanks for his message, but I distinctly felt an icy chill running down my spine like a cold.

Kyar did not call Caesar my husband.

And what does it mean to spend more time on entertainment?

A bright lightning, a terrible memory hit Araeden's words once in the Dawn World: "Let him have fun, he will run less to the orcs."

Would Caesar now say it just like that? Definitely not!

What's happening?!

"Sataren," I called out tensely, "do you sense Emperor Eradaras?"

And three heartbeats before answering:

"Not. It is not in me."

The first impulse was to run to Dinar. Now. Find out what is happening, what is happening in principle, why is he here, and how ... The first impulse ... the second was much more meaningful - what about Caesar? More time for entertainment? Most likely it means the opposite! To the dead blue goblins, what about Caesar?!

“Five to one, by majority vote, an ounce of silver pepper accepted as international currency. The meeting is over! I made my decision instantly.