Chapter 17

The feasts for the return of the soldiers continued for days and even on to the wedding feasts of Octavius and his bride. Noble men and women of Intavia came to honor the princess as she was joined to her hero. Octavius in his newly decorated robe stood waiting at the temple, the men; priests, nobles and royalties, waited for the Emilia and the women were to accompany her. All the people of the kingdom were gathered, singing and dancing, eating and drinking. It was an opportunity for the beggars to fill their bellies with the finest food and an avenue for thieves to satisfy their hands. Precious jewelries disappeared from noble hands into the pockets of thieves.

The women who had been preparing Emilia emerged and began a long procession to the steps of the temple. Ilena walked beside her princess with smiles on her face. Emilia had a wreath of white flowers resting on her head and her long blonde hair was blew gently in the light wind.

At the sight of the beautiful princess the whole crowd went wild, cheering, hooting, yelling, the drummers hit hard on their drums and the people clapped to the beat. The women climbed up the steps where the priests stood with the kings and queens of both Camelorn and Intavia. The priests presented the sacrifices to the goddess of fertility, the god of love of both kingdoms and to Robos for more blessing for both nations. Octavius and Emilia joined hands in front of the priests and bowed their heads for blessings. The marriage ceremony was as important as the feasting so when all was said and done the people moved to the village arena where more celebrations continued.

And so the feast went on for days with food and drinks flowing freely, joy and happiness in the hearts of the people but not everyone celebrated. Ashterah looked down at the people from her temple on Mount Kpamos, most importantly she looked down at Octavius and his bride and curled her lips in distaste.

"That is what he chose over me?" She snarled at the image that played before her, Emilia was leaning on Octavius's shoulder, holding his hands and saying something she couldn't bother herself to listen to. She manifested a mirror in front of her and stared at her perfect features. "He rejected all this for that ogre."

A servant made the unfortunate choice of coming in at that point. Ashterah glared at the servant who realized too late what a mistake he had made as he was immediately frozen to the spot, a look of regret and amazement frozen on his face.

Satisfied with her work Ashterah turned her attention towards the lovesick couple, there was no need checking the mirror to see if wasn't beautiful enough for the young prince. She was indeed very beautiful, just last night Seumas, god of the sea, had come crawling on his knees to have a place at her bed and she had left him deeply satisfied till he couldn't move at the early hours of the morning, Octavius had no right to reject her if the gods begged for just a moment with her.

As she peered closer she suddenly felt the presence of her brother Nukis at her door. She sighed and used her powers to block his entrance but because she was half-hearted about no granting him audience in her presence he easily passed through the force of shield she had around her door.

"What do you want?" she groaned not once taking her eyes off the Camelornian Prince.

Nukis looked beyond her mass of red hair at the pulsing image of the celebration of the people below the Mount Kpamos. The only clear image was that of the prince and his bride who his sister seemed to be glaring at with so much hate.

"Your secret obsession still hasn't waned?"

"Mind your business."

Nukis laughed at the edge in his half-sister's tone. She was in a foul mood indeed, she was watching the couple with so much intensity.

"You shouldn't get yourself too involved with a mortal, sister dear, they are there only for a while that is why we use them for as long as they last."

Ashterah snorted and mentioned her brother's one sour spot "How about Jillien?"

Her question was followed by a long silence. Her brother had fallen in love with a human called Jillien, a girl he had found behind his temple washing the priests robes and he had fallen in love with the mousy looking thing at first sight and when he had gotten her pregnant his plan had been to move her to Mount Kpamos to live with him but Robos had kicked against the idea. But Nukis was anything if not stubborn, he had moved her to his temple anyway and when Robos found out he tricked Nukis into killing her. Nukis had kept her body frozen in one of the deserted temples of the mountain in the hopes that one day he would find a way to bring her and his unborn child back to life.

Ashterah tore her gaze away from the image before her and looked behind her at her brother who had made himself at home on her bed. He was just as handsome as their father; blonde hair that swept around his face, tall, strong and muscular and with beautiful blue eyes that held the pain of the loss of his Jillien.

"You shouldn't speak about issues that will cause you pain, brother."

"Thanks for your sympathy," he replied with venom. "It doesn't change the fact that your obsession with the Camelornian prince will cause you pain and heartbreak. You can't have everything you want."

"Jillien planted a seed of stupidity in your head! We are gods, Nukis, not men! We can have anything we wish to have," she laughed evilly "Have you met Seumas today? I had him crawl on his knees begging to have sex with me and now that I have given him a whole night of pleasure he can barely walk. Nukis, we can have whatever because we have the power and the prince of Camelorn I will have him at all cost, he will come begging me."

Nukis frowned at the note he heard in her voice. He knew his sister very well, she was at a point of insanity with her attraction to the prince of Camelorn and the last time something like that had happened, true to her words she had her victim wrapped around her finger and made ridiculous person out of him.

"What do you have in mind?"

Ashterah returned to watching the lovebirds "Nothing that won't give me what I want."

That night Ashterah stood in the shadows of the huge, beautifully decorated room and watched Octavius make love to his bride. Her heart burned with hatred and bitterness for the Intavia princess. That could have been her in bed with him with her lips tracing very part of him, her hands all over him, and her lips on his with his hand buried in her hair.

Her heart squeezed in her chest as she watched them smile at each other. She never quite understood why her brother fell in love with a human, they were just tools to be used but even though she sometimes laughed at her brother's foolishness she could now understand what he must have felt for his Jillien. She held her tears back and faded out of sight.

Octavius pulled back and looked in the direction Ashterah had stood. He was sure he had felt her presence even though she was no longer there.

"My love?"

He looked down at the beautiful sight of Emilia beneath him, the red sheets of the bed tangled beneath her naked body. He smiled at the woman he loved most in the world.

"Are you okay?" Emilia asked.

"How would I not be when I have you here with me," he responded. He rolled over until he had her on top of him, her hair falling on his chest.

Emilia started to kiss him when she paused at something she never noticed before. She lifted her hand to his face and traced her fingers beneath his eyes "What happened to your eyes?" she shifted his head till she could see clearly what had caught her attention.

"What?"

She chewed on her bottom lip "It's red rimmed. You have a red circle ring around your irises."

Octavius pondered on it for a moment then shrugged his shoulders "I must have had too much to drink or" he grinned wolfishly "I must be going blind from too much pleasure, my lady"

Emilia started to say something but he cut her off with a kiss and rolled her under him again. In the back of his mind Octavius worried about the rings in his eyes and wondered if it was responsible for some certain changes in him, he could seem to get enough of Emilia whenever they made love but for fear of scaring her away he kept it to himself, doing his best to control himself around her. But even as he thought about it his mind came back to the same conclusion every time. Ashterah.