Page 10

five

.

.

.

A full turning later, I had been summoned exactly three times to steal the Emperor from Death with my canthymn.

The gap between each visit became smaller than the last.

Otherwise, I was brought my meals on golden trays, taken care of by the servants, and occasionally visited as a stop when foreign guests came to tour Sacer’s Divine Palace.

The only other visits I received were when the Emperor wanted live music to serenade him and his private guests.

Soft chuckles filtered into the greenhouse, lulling me out of sleep.

I slunk down from my favorite branch and pushed back onto my haunches.

Between the branches and their sapphire leaves, I made out the Emperor, though the giggles did not belong to him.

They belonged to the two women he’d brought with him, each one holding a hand as they led him to the large hollowed out acorn-shaped chair in the corner.

He crawled into it with feline grace and the women followed after him.

They removed his tunic and he leaned back with rapt attention, pushing them out of the acorn and calling out to them, though slightly louder than was necessary.

“Indulge your Emperor.”

That was my cue, one I’d learned many moons ago.

I began to sing, a sultry and soft song that only startled the women a moment before they heeded the Emperor’s command.

The woman with a marigold braid walked away from the other, moving toward the marble ledge that outlined the room.

The other woman, whose hair was woven into a maroon bun streaked with gold, followed her.

One lace at a time, Maroon undid the bodice of Marigold’s gown, peeling down the dainty cap sleeves until her delicate back and breasts were on display.

She turned and did the same to Maroon, who winked up playfully at me in my perch.

I sucked in a breath.

No one ever cast me a glance up here before, and the Emperor usually busied himself with one guest.

Two was new.

Maroon’s nipples were large, dark mauve circles.

Marigold stood behind her and reached around, sliding her hand up to cup her breasts, twirling the points between her fingers.

Maroon’s head tilted back, resting on Marigold’s shoulder, back arching beautifully, lifting the swells up toward me.

I bit my lip.

They were hypnotic together.

Goosebumps pebbled along my exposed flesh, the feathers covering my lap lifted slightly and parted.

I usually didn’t watch, but tonight I was captivated.

Marigold thumbed over the tips until they pointed right at me, then peppered kisses up her companion’s throat, soft whimpers of pleasure echoing up the bark of my tree.

My pulse ricocheted.

Was this what it felt like to be wanted?

Loved?

I gracefully dipped down a layer of branches as I continued my song, curiosity begging me to get a closer look.

The Emperor sat in his acorn throne, his pants on the floor.

He signaled for Maroon to come to him, and she scurried over on her knees, before turning away and putting her weight on one palm.

With a snap, Marigold sauntered over.

They moved so gracefully, repositioning themselves until Maroon was poised between Marigold’s sprawled legs.

Dark lips unfurled to reveal glistening skin that came together at a small pearl of flesh.

Maroon’s body was jostled in rhythmic intervals, but she paid no mind to the man thrusting behind her.

Both our attentions were locked on the woman beneath her starving gaze.

She licked up Marigold’s thigh, drawing her tongue across tawny skin, lapping and nipping each side leading up to the dark treasure at its center.

A strange pulsing beat between my thighs.

Marigold’s back arched off the bed in response, her small nipples sharp and aching.

She brought her own hands to them, twirling them between her fingers while the other woman continued to taste her.

My tail wrapped around the branch, the feathers at my hips parting further, the space between my legs throbbing in a way I’d never felt.

I’d sang for the Emperor before, when he’d done the same thing he was doing to Maroon right now, and yet, this was different.

Usually I wished for him to grunt and lift his hand up, signaling the end of my duties, but right now, I didn’t want him to stop.

When he did, they would leave.

I wanted to get closer, to understand what made Marigold’s hair a careless tangled mess, what drove Maroon’s devouring, what made me crave it myself.

I skimmed a hand over my feathers at my sides, then cupped one breast, thumb rolling over my feather covered nipple, mimicking what Marigold had done to Maroon earlier.

A soft gasp escaped my lips between chords at the zing of pleasure it sent down between my legs.

I reached for it, wanting to hold onto it, to catch it in my palms before it flew away.

Fingers spreading myself, I hunted along each damp crescent, crooning steadily, until my hips jerked when I touched the sensitive pearl there.

I gasped, continuing to rub in small circles, each one awakening my body until it buzzed beneath my skin.

Dulcet notes slipped between my parted lips.

Slipping my fingers lower, I circled the hole that clenched and unclenched, swiping through the wetness coating its rim.

“Tut tut, little splendor.”

I jolted back from the deep voice, crawling backward on my palms and heels across the branch.

My chest clenched, a painful pinching between my ribs while my heart thudded violently.

The feathers around my hips fanned back out, covering my embarrassment while my exposed skin flushed with heat.

The Emperor stood at the base of the painted trunk, every part of his body hard.

Severe.

Jutting out from him, his waxen length was coated in a sheen along with the rest of his sweat-slicked body.

“This is a new development. How interesting. Who knew that splendors were so… ravenous?”

“I-I’m sorry, oh great Emperor,” I croaked.

He snapped his fingers at the two women and pointed for the door.

They grabbed their gowns and held them up to themselves, scurrying nakedly into the hallway, becoming blurs on the other side of the pebbled glass.

“No need to apologize.” He sighed then shook his head.

“However, that behavior will not do. You are the Emperor’s great splendor. A symbol of glory and great might for Sacer.”

I blinked, unsure what he meant.

The Emperor chuckled and pointed at the floor next to him.

“Come.”

As he walked to pull on his trousers, I pushed back onto my haunches and launched myself toward a lower branch, swinging from it a few times before dropping gracefully onto the floor.

He crooked a bony finger under my chin and lifted my gaze to his.

“You know how remarkable you are, don’t you? How you’ve saved my life not once, not twice, but six times. Truly remarkable.”

The emerald flecks of his irises were bright.

Healthy.

He was right, I’d used my canthymn to save him time and time again and the pride of that, combined with the appreciative stare reflecting back at me, made the feathers on my chest ruffle and my chin lift of its own accord.

“Rulers have traveled from around the realm to meet you. To witness a splendor’s magic in action. To see me thriving when some of them would have happily seen me perish, leaving Sacer weak and without a ruler.” His hand slid from my chin and rested on my shoulder, before lifting off slightly with a curl of his lip when his palm grazed feather.

“When they see you, they see something they wish to possess.” The edge of his jaw sharpened, slicing me with its intensity.

“ My power.”

Baubles jingled as he gripped my wrist and lifted up my hand, shimmering with my touch.

My face heated like the blazing midday sun above the Caprificus’ canopy.

“Acting like a common whore is beneath you. Not like them ,” he spat toward the door.

“Not when you represent so much to our people.”

He dropped my wrist and brushed my cheek, wiping away the tear there before fluffing the feathers at the corner of my eye.

“You are meant to be worshiped. Admired.”

Stepping back, he moved to the door, pressing the button and opening it and whispering through it before turning back to face me.

It remained slightly ajar, footsteps filtering away beyond it.

“Tonight did make me realize something, sweet splendor.” His eyes softened but it did nothing to slow my racing heart.

“I never thought of how lonely it must have been for you all those turnings in seclusion.”

Knock, knock.

He turned and reached out for something, my hands shaking when he carried it over and set it down at the base of the tree.

“I have brought you a companion.” He smiled, and I wanted to blot out every emerald fleck from his irises.

He cranked it four times before its cheery and incessant screech echoed through the greenhouse.

“Now you can spend your time perfecting a song together, with more time performing as a duet, you’ll no longer need to sate those baser urges. They are beneath you.”

I swallowed down the acid rising up my raw throat, nodding silently, unable to look at the wooden bird.

My body boiled from the inside with shame, with anger.

But he was an Emperor.

I was nothing.

A creature admired because of what I did for the empire.

What I wanted didn’t matter, thinking that it did was foolish.

More foolish than the idea of trying to harmonize with this awful wooden creature.

Rap, rap, rap.

I focused on the beat beneath my racing pulse, inhaling and exhaling, dragging air into my burning lungs.

By the time my heart rate slowed, the Emperor was gone, leaving only his silent symbol and a discordant tune echoing off the greenhouse walls.