Tower of High Sun - 6. Chapter 6

Chapter Seven: Beauty and the Beast

From the trimmed lawn of her country estate, Simma waited with eager ears to hear the blast of the horn signaling the end of today’s hunt.

Though she feigned otherwise, she had less love for her son than the Prime Heir. I have to create a monster to kill one. Curse the stars for dealing me these cards of bitterness.

While Gustav indeed took great pleasure in killing his half-brothers, Simma carried much of the blame for that. For the last eighteen years, fulfilling her desire for revenge had been her sole pursuit. Her blood lust was not limited to her lecherous husband but all of the Upper Nobility.

Once she too strayed from her role as the loyal wife. Her marital betrayal, however, had been the polar opposite of that of the Duke. He cheated out of lust. She out of love. In the eyes of her cousin the God Emperor and the Upper Nobility, her affair was deemed the far more serious crime.

As was the custom among the Upper Nobility, her marriage to the Duke had been determined by her family’s station and the time she was born. In actuality, it was completely based upon the time of her birth.

Besides having a midwife present for her birth, a soothsayer was required. It was his job to record the times between when her mother’s water broke and the cutting of the cord. Any other birth that overlapped that window would be paired with the higher born child.

It was a stupid custom that led to even worse ones, such as synchronized orgies. Timed to ensure certain pairings, it stripped sex of its spontaneity and, for most women, any pleasure.

That had not been the case with Valis. Like all who served the Upper Nobility, he had been of her blood, though quite a distant relation. When they first met, he had been no older than seventeen and she twenty four. She had been married to the Duke for nearly three years at that point and he had already sired five bastards. It bothered her but at least the affairs were short lived.

As for Valis… their relationship lasted twelve years. A member of the Lower Nobility born in the Outer Provinces, she found his simple charm endearing. His ability to make fools of his betters, without them taking personal insult, led her to make him her seneschal. As her personal administrator, she could send for him at any time of the day or night without it seeming improper.

It took two years before they became lovers. Of the two, it was Valis who was apprehensive. He was of the Lower Nobility. For three weeks after their first tryst, he did everything he could to avoid her. Simma though was not about to let the man she had come to love more than her husband escape her so easily.

At his insistence, she gave him the position as overseer of her smallest country estate. She then proceeded to buy all the lands around it until it became her largest. She gave him wealth, position, and power. All she wanted in return was his love, knowing he would have given it regardless.

Then she made a terrible mistake. She allowed her love for him to overcome her reason. To time the birth of their heirs, members of the nobility were expected to take a combination of drugs. One prevented a woman from becoming pregnant, another caused ovulation and the third ensured the planting of the husband’s seed. Unknown to Valis, she stopped taking the first, took the second, and spiced his wine with the third.

When her lover learned what she had done, he threatened to go to the priests and confess. She could not allow it as he would certainly be unmanned as punishment. He then tried to convince her to run away with him across the Middle Sea to the furthest reaches of the Empire. She, however, had no desire to live the life of a commoner. He tried to convince her to end the pregnancy before it became obvious. She again refused.

Later, she would come to regret her refusal. If she had gone away with him, she would have kept both him and their child. Instead, she ended up losing both.

Dmitri did not blame her for her betrayal. He knew he would be a hypocrite if he did. As they had yet to have a child, he had been willing to claim it as his own.

It might have work if not for the priests. Regardless of their discretion, the soothsayers knew of each of the Duke’s trysts. Given the timing of the expected birth, and his known whereabouts at the time of conception, they knew the Duke could not be the father.

Summoned to the Imperial Palace, the Emperor’s personal soothsayer presented his evidence to the Court and publicly denounced her. Her cousin, the Emperor, was left with no choice but to see her punished.

She was given a choice… be stripped of her titles, lands, wealth, and be exiled to the Outer Provinces to live the life of a pauper noblewoman or she could sacrifice the life of her unborn child and her unknown lover but keep everything else..

If Valis had not been so noble, she could have named any of her servants as her lover and saved his life. Valis, however, would not let an innocent be punished on his behalf.

Before she could name another, he revealed himself to the court. His confession was made all the more certain by her uncontrolled screams.

He was not executed, not when there were more terrible means of punishment available. Instead, he was unmanned. Then, by dark and secret arts known only to the soothsayers, his body and mind were twisted and deformed. He was a Doom’s Man now… another one of the Emperor’s terror troops.

When her child was born, the priests took him away at once. In time, when he was fully grown, he would join his father in the Empire’s ranks.

On the day her child was taken, she swore revenge.

Soon after, when she discovered her sister had become another one of her husband’s long list of lovers, she saw her chance.

Gustav would be her avenger. With the aid of the witch woman Min, she had Yalla’s food laced with the same drugs she had used to become pregnant with Valis’s child. She would have her treacherous sister face the same terrible choice as she had. Still, she wanted more.

She never learned how Min came into the possession of the infant. Somehow the midwife had gotten possession of her son. By this point, the soothsayers had already began the process of turning him into a Doom’s Man. That child, now a young man, was Gustav.

Hearing the sound of a distant horn, Simma let out a sigh of relief. The hunt, the murdering of the innocent, was over. Soon her son would be presenting her with the trophies he had collected from his kills, even if she wished he wouldn’t. She prayed to the stars that all he would bring her were their heads.

The stars must have decided to answer her prayers, for this time he only brought back their hands. He had them strung around his belt like a skirt. “Hello dear mother.”

“Hello dear son. Did your hunt go well?”

“Aye… but not as good as I hoped. One drowned crossing the river. That left me short two hands… get it… short two hands. Right Skyler?” The servant he pointed at was indeed short two hands. “Don’t worry Sky… the doctors will patch you up in no time.”

“Was that really necessary my son?”

“It was his fault the fox got away. I had to make up for the loss somehow.”

“My dear son… what have I said about harming your own people?” No sane man would follow such a blood thirsty monster. But to kill a monster I need one of my own.

“Has father sent word of his meeting with the Heir?”

“He has.” She pulled a seal letter from her sleeve and handed it to him. She hadn’t read it but she knew all too well what it would say.

“I’ll kill him. I swear I’ll kill him!” His father had, yet again, failed to convince the Heir to allow him to return to High Sun. “What use is that fucking codger if he can’t get me back what is rightfully mine!”

“Your father is doing all he can. The Heir would see your value as an ally if you put as much time and effort in your studies as you do these hunts.”

“No, nothing in those books will convince him. Conquering the Republic of Caledonia would. As a proven general, he will have no choice but to recognize my worth.” He waved a pair of wary eyed servants to him. “Undress me.”

“He also might see you as a potential usurper.”

“Has that not been our dream from the beginning dear mother?” He reached out and caressed his mother’s breasts.

“It is but we must be discrete. The Heir must not suspect us until we are ready to strike.”

“Speaking of striking…” Her son licked his lips as he gazed longingly between her thighs.

“We can play later .” Simma didn’t know what was stronger… the forbidden nature of their love or her revulsion. She had to keep reminding herself that, in him, flowed the blood of her beloved Valis. “First we need to get you cleaned up.”

Feeling fingers reaching to remove his belt of severed hands, he slashed a pair off. “And later?”

“And later, after your studies, you and I can play a game. After working so hard, you’ll needs a chance to have a little fun.” As she reached for the belt she let her finger brush against his groin.

“Which game will we play? Spears and lances, pit of skewers or down the water hole?”

“No… we are going to play a new game.”

“What’s it called?”

“Beauty and the Beast.”