Other Lives(5)

“Because I have been there already and have no need of it. And because you are here instead of there,” Darius said. It was almost chivalrous, except that teasing little smirk of his contradicted his polite words.

His compliments still tended to catch her by surprise even though she was no stranger to them by now. Darius always speaking of her beauty and her grace and such. In contrast Nikolaos spoke little and never praised her, always courteous without being gallant.

At the thought of this, Nikolaos and his charming politeness, she smiled.

***

Her life had fallen into a pleasant pattern. She would have breakfast early and then, usually by noon, she would be greeted by Darius or asked to meet with him for a salon, or a walk, or to eat, or anything he could come up with.

She had discovered Darius was quick tempered, vain, witty, and oddly sweet at times. She liked him because it was hard not to like Darius even if he had a cruel side.

Nikolaos, the other stable force in her life, could never be cruel. He behaved properly at all times, like a true nobleman.

She was meeting Nikolaos for dinner that night and as she smoothed her new crimson dress and glanced at her reflection she thought it might be him at the door.

But then her maid walked in and explained it was a lady Retha and Miranda frowned.

“Let her in,” she said.

She didn’t know Retha well enough except to understand she was refined and beautiful and showed little interested in Miranda.

Retha smiled and kissed Miranda on the cheek as was customary and then the two women sat across from each other, a tiny black table between them.

***

Miranda clasped her hands tightly as hushed words strained to escape her throat.

“It is…she said she will tell him about my grandfather. About my parents’ marriage and how lord Stesh disowned my father and does not recognize me as his grandchild. She said I must leave quickly or she will tell him everything.”

Nikolaos merely glanced at the fire burning next to them. “Retha wants Darius for herself. She fears you.”

“I think I ought to fear her, seeing what she plans to say about me. I cannot stay anymore Nikolaos. I must go home before she speaks to him.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“I must go,” the girl insisted.

Nikolaos had observed enough blackmailing and backstabbing to render him immune to petty little threats but she was not used to this.

“Let her talk then. Your lineage is a little murky, so what?” he said. “Bastard children have wed full-blooded nobles, and you are not a bastard girl. A humble family and lack of dowry never killed anyone.”

“It is not only that. She said she’d also tell him some other things.”

Nikolaos paused, concerned. “What other things?”

Miranda stared at him. Her eyes were pretty and full of guilt.

“Stories about my family and…about me.”

“Tell me then.”

“I don’t want to. I just want to go.”

“Tell me,” he pressed on, his voice growing gruff.

For an instant he thought she would refuse but she started speaking, first just a whisper so that he had to struggle to catch every word.

“One of my ancestors was Karion, a warrior-lord back in the days when the emperor still ruled. Karion was one of many commanders waging wars in the emperor’s name and in those days their strongest enemies were the Azeians, who controlled the Archipelagos.

“There was a fortress in the Archiepelagos and it was the home of a wizard-king. The king had acquired the services of a demon which resided in an enchanted mirror. My ancestor laid siege to the magician’s fortress until his men swept in.

“The wizard-king had an only daughter. During the struggle she had locked herself inside her chambers. But it did her no good. Karion and his men broke the door down.

“He violated the wizard’s daughter and gave her to his men afterwards. He killed the wizard yet spared her life because she would make a pretty slave. But the girl, being the wizard’s daughter, had some knowledge of her father’s magic. When Karion arrived with a golden collar to place around her neck as befit a slave she spoke a curse.

“She invoked the demon in the mirror and swore it would plague his family. Bad luck would befall his children. But the women, she reserved a special punishment for them. Any daughter of his blood would be damned. Every man that attempted to get close to a female of his lineage would be in peril and any man who loved one would die, killed by the demon.

“Karion executed the woman. He did not believe in curses but in a fit of superstition, he destroyed the wizard’s mirror. No ill luck befell Karion and he amassed riches and lands and in time had two daughters and a son.

“All was well. When his oldest child, his daughter, turned thirteen his luck changed. He fell from the emperor’s favour and felt ill, a lingering malady that wouldn’t leave him. His son was killed by brigands. Debts started to mount.

“He managed to wed his daughter to a young nobleman of a good house. Two months later the groom was dead. Because his daughter was still young and pretty another match was arranged. This second groom died, having lasted less than a season.

“Rumours of Karion’s curse spread quickly. It is a story that is still told in my town, and it is the reason why no man dared come near me.”

Her story finished, Miranda glanced down. “My father died,” she said. “And then my mother went mad. She would…she would say terrible things about me and she’d hurt me … she tried to burn down our home. I am cursed. It is the truth.”