even know about.
“Have you ever met forest or heavenly spirits?” She wondered. “What are they like?”
“They are delightful to look at, and quite insidious.”
“Are they more insidious than water spirits?”
“I told you, we all come from the same legion. We all have the same habits.”
“I thought only watermen were malicious enough to sneak up on human ships out of the water and sink them.”
“Don’t feel bad!” – Moran decided that she was still sad about the loss of the “Queen of Aquilania” and took her hand. His webbed skin was cool and pleasant, like the touch of a forest spring.
On top of his sea crown, which grew straight from his skin, he wore the traditional wreath of the King of Aquilania, made of gold and rubies. He looked magnificent now. The ladies of the court sighed languidly at the sight of him, but he preferred to sit in solitude with Desdemona.
Perhaps he was the first king of the entire Aquilanian’s dynasty who, instead of searching for favorites, entertained his queen with games. Today he’s forgotten even the cares of state. And he kept saying that as king he had many urgent matters to attend to. Apparently, burden was placed on the shoulders of Quo and other morgens, crawling on the walls and ceilings of the palace, as on the seabed.
It was not good to get into politics, but Desdemona remembered the wailing of the cook and reported:
“The commoners complain that their husbands are drunk on your generous allowance.”
“What do you mean?” His handsome eyebrows raised in bewilderment.
“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to keep them busy with some useful work instead of feeding a kingdom of slackers?”
“What useful work can ordinary people do for me?”
Moran stood up and beckoned her to the window.
“Look!” The sea was swarming with Morgens, pulling barrels of wine and pearls from shipwrecks. “Humans can’t do that. They’re weak!”
“But you shouldn’t feed your subjects for nothing.”
“It’s not free.”
“Are you scaring me? You want to make the population entirely marine? Will touching your gold make them all sick like my father?”
“It is enough! You’re not my first minister yet,” he joked.
“I’m your wife, which means I have more rights over you than the first minister.”
Moran grinned, showing that he was still happy to have such a beautiful burden. With his morgen’s claws, he could have easily tamed his wife’s stroppy temper, but he didn’t.
Desdemona is bolder.
“Who is the lady who sits at night on the queen’s throne in my place?”
“Is that of interest to you?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Are you afraid she’ll take some of your jewelry? She loves shiny things, like a magpie. She hoards treasures, hoards stolen or repossessed gold.”
“Don’t scare me! I will not give my jewels, that is, the crown jewels, to a rival.”
Nor my husband, she wanted to add, but was too shy.
“All beauties sin by greed,” Moran joked again.
“It’s a matter of principle, not greed.”
“That’s what Sephora says. That’s why she’s holed up in Tiora, the capital of Tioria. It has the most caches of riches, but the rulers there are cunning. I wonder who’s going to get the better of whom? Did it ever occur to you that dragons have the same instincts as magpies when it comes to shiny things?”
“What does that have to do with dragons? Or is the lady really a dragon?”
Moran faltered.
“I don’t remember telling you about Sephora and who she really is,” he glanced suspiciously at the mirror. “Did it show it?”
Desdemona did not dissuade him. Outside the windows, the midday sun was shining brightly, but suddenly darkness fell, as if a giant had risen from the sea and covered the sky.
“Is it a solar eclipse?” She worried. Being in the dark, in the middle of the day was scary. “They say there is a solar eclipse before the sea god takes the sacrifice.”
But Moran wasn’t alarmed. Wouldn’t he be sorry to lose his wife? True, there was still a belief that before the country sank, there would also be an eclipse of the sun. Somewhere in the heights of the sky there was a roar. Desdemona covered her eyes with her palms.
“It has nothing to do with Darunon,” Moran pulled her hands away from her face. “Look closer! The sun was covered by the shadow of wings.”
Something was flying across the sky, making threatening noises. First it spread darkness, then a glow. All the sentries and archers on the towers had long since been replaced by morgens, so no one raised a panic. The silver dragon was approaching the castle. The shadow of its huge wings covered the towers.
“My chief scout has arrived. Would you like to meet her?”
Moran’s courteous offer came like a slap in the face.
“It is no way!” Desdemona exclaimed.
Who would want to get acquainted with a rival?
Moran only shrugged his shoulders and hurried to meet her. His purple robe slid like liquid fire down the stairs leading to the roof of the tower.
Desdemona was left alone with the mirror, which stubbornly refused to show her the rendezvous between the king and the dragoness.
Maybe she had jumped to conclusions. Moran seemed to call the guest a scout, not a friend. But why would he need a scout who flies over the sea, when he himself can get all the information about the enemies without leaving the castle? It is enough to give an order to the mirror-observer, and it will show everything.
What really connects the waterman and the dragon lady? From above came suspicious and wild sounds, then something like the singing of a siren. Desdemona never dared to go up and peep. She had already burned herself on the sea chess. She didn’t want to be burned by the dragon’s breath.
The Wooden Queen
“The wooden queen of Aquilania was lost in the stormy waves, it was the turn of the living queen!”
Whoever said that reminded Desdemona of the ship with her dead brothers. That ship, after all, was called the “Queen of Aquilania.” That’s symbolic, considering that it was the current queen who was originally meant to be sacrificed to the sea. Presumably, by taking the ship, the sea would calm down.
Desdemona
