Chapter Six: QUEEN ALEIA

"Rigel."

He spun toward the musical voice. His heart stopped in his breast, then surged ahead in double-time. Queen Aleia moved from the shadows into the afternoon sunlight. Her enchanting face was touched with sadness, and she stretched a slender hand toward him. Rigel was horrified by the thought that she had overheard his outburst. His soul contracted in shame. He would never forgive himself if he had hurt his beloved Queen.

Aleia smiled.

"I'm so sorry. I. . . . " Rigel's voice faltered, and he cast his gaze to the fleecy ground at his feet.

Aleia walked toward him and placed a soft hand on the youngster's cheek. She stroked away a tear and lifted his face to meet hers. "You've done nothing to be ashamed of. You followed what your heart told you was right. I'm not saying that it wasn't a foolish thing to do," the Queen smiled and brushed back his hair with a comforting touch, "But it was noble and brave. You were true to what you know is truth, Rigel. No one can fault you for that."

He drew a deep breath. "But everyone does."

Aleia laughed softly. "That's because they don't know you like I do, my young friend." The Queen wrapped a slender arm around the youth's shoulders and pulled him close. "It isn't easy to stay strong when everyone seems to be against you. The past few days have been difficult for all of us. They've been especially hard for you."

"No one understands. Everybody seem to be blaming me for something. Why don't they just leave us alone?" Rigel leaned into the Queen of Chimopotamia, winding his arm around her waist in a frightened plea for comfort. She poured the warmth of her love into his spirit, and the boy drank in its sweetness with an aching thirst. The gentle affection of the lady soothed him and quieted his pounding heart.

"I understand, Rigel," Aleia reassured him, "I always have. Clairvoyant does, too--and Clarion in a way, though his loyalty to the King will take precedence in every situation. Some of Aury's sisters try to understand, though I'll admit most of them are more taken by the romance of the situation than the deeper truth."

Rigel looked into her face, puzzled. "Romance?" He raised a dark eyebrow and contemplated the word. Aleia laughed and gave his broad shoulders a squeeze.

"Come. Sit with me." The enchanting queen led him to the same stack of hay the children had occupied earlier. She settled onto a bale, and the casual setting wrapped around her with natural ease. Aleia beckoned Rigel to her side. She took his hand in hers.

"The bond between Aury and yourself is so natural--such an intricate part of your every day life--that you don't even think about it most of the time. It's just there, and you live it. Like breathing." Aleia looked into the tanned face that was raised to hers. "Do you know what "bonding" is short for, Rigel? Has no one ever told you?"

The stable boy shook his head. "No. I didn't know it was short for anything."

Her eyes were on his face, fixed with tender intensity. A soft psychic touch tingled in his mind, and Rigel knew she was feeling for his reaction as she said:

"It's short for bondmating."

"Bond . . . mating?" he whispered. "No wonder everybody is so phased out about this."

Aleia chuckled. "Mmm. `Phased out' might describe it, I suppose. But surely you realized that things would evolve to that stage between you and my daughter."

Rigel stared at the hay-littered clouds beneath his feet. "I suppose I never really thought much about it. Now that you mention it, though, I guess I knew it would happen someday. My father said something yesterday about messing up bloodlines. I was so mad that it really didn't register."

The royal lady went on, "Remember that it's this aspect of your bond that is on the minds of the adults around you day and night. The King, I, your parents--we see your future, rather than the present friendship, when we look at Auria and you. Perhaps that will help you to understand why so many people are so uncomfortable with this."

"It still isn't right for them to try to break us up all the time." Rigel's voice was raspy with emotion.

"No. It isn't right. It's a cruel and prejudiced act," Aleia agreed. "Understanding the reasons behind an injustice doesn't mean you have to accept the act itself. But it might help you to deal with the people who are performing that act in a way that is less hurtful to everyone."

"I went overboard with the King," Rigel admitted. A scowl of shame shadowed his chiseled features. "I'm sorry I hurt everyone."

"You frightened them, more than hurting them, Rigel. But my husband deserved what he got." The boy reacted to her words with surprise, and she smiled. "I would be disappointed in an Rigel who didn't fight for what he believes in. My little Princess is in good hands. It's a comfort to me that she'll always have a strong man to stand along side her in spite of peril to his very life."

"I didn't stop to think about my life being in peril," the youngster said. He plucked at the bale of hay, pulling leaves from the rich green alfalfa. A cloud of thoughtful contemplation enshrouded him as he considered the Queen's words.

Aleia shifted her body to face Rigel, and took his shoulders in her gentle hands. "Rigel. We are in a dangerous situation at the moment. My instincts tell me that dark magic is at hand. You know that the King is not behaving normally, and that makes things more perilous for us all."

The apprehension deep within the boy's heart surfaced to reveal itself in his face. The Queen's tone carried an undercurrent of prophecy, and Rigel trembled with the eerie chill it sent through his body.

"Aury is in greater danger because of your separation from her. It would be too dangerous for you to disobey my husband's decree physically, but I've asked Clarion not to interfere with any telepathic contact between you. Keep your mind on the Princess as much as you can."

"I will. I promise." Rigel stretched out his thoughts to Auria. He found her in the kennels with Chartreuse, and in her mind was a mixture of pain and pleasure. "Puppies?" his single-word thought went out to her.

"Nine of them. Four he's and five she's--all healthy and cute as little newborn rats. Why was Treuse so upset? She won't tell me, and Clarion says it's rude to probe minds without permission," the Princess sent back to him, and Rigel jumped when the Queen laughed.

He looked up into the stunning face before him, dark brows raised questioningly.

"Clarion's right." The Queen's laughter sparkled with mischief. "And I apologize for the transgression."

"You butted in." Rigel stared at her in disbelief.

"Hey," she winked down at him, "I'm a mother. Sometimes a mother's worry takes precedence over protocol."

"Momma? You're with Rigel?" Aury's thoughts came through to both minds, colored with surprise.

"Yes, honey, I'm here. And you'd better watch out. I just might steal him from you someday," the Queen teased.

Rigel was pleased to feel Aury's anxious mind relax. He looked with adoration into the woman's emerald eyes, and she brushed his cheek in an affectionate caress.

"Aury, Chartreuse was upset because she was here when I had an . . . argument with your father." Rigel tried to explain tactfully.

"I heard the `argument', Rigel. But I didn't know Chartreuse did." The Princess's thoughts revealed that she had witnessed the whole scene. She sent him a comforting telepathic hug, and turned her focus onto her mother. "Momma, is everything going to be all right?" The plaintive plea from the youngest Princess brought all of their thoughts back to the gravity of the situation.

Aleia could not answer.


***



The air in the StableMaster's home was thick with tension that evening. No one had spoken all through dinner. As Rigel stood in the warmth of the kitchen, helping his mother dry dishes, he searched his brain for a way to break the silence. Raven was sullen, her once-bright features shadowed with worry. Although Rigel had not been present, he knew that his parents had argued violently earlier that evening. The torment of that memory flowed from Raven's subconscious, despite her efforts to hold her feelings in check. Rigel's heart twisted painfully--all the discord that was upsetting his home was due to him. Just when he had thought his relationship with Zale was going to improve, he had done something to put his entire family at risk. He had disappointed everyone. He could stand the silence no longer.

"I guess Father was pretty mad."

"Oh, Rigel." The dam holding back her emotions burst, and Raven turned to her son with a fearful whisper. Her voice was hoarse from long hours of crying. "How could you do it? How could you attack the King like that?"

Anger mingled with the shame in the boy's soul, and he twisted the dishtowel in tense fingers. "I suppose Altair told you the whole story."

"Altair is terrified. We all are, son. Don't you see the position you've put your family in?"

The youngster leaned against the counter, and slapped the damp towel on his thigh in frustration. He would not meet his mother's gaze, fearful of the tears that had already betrayed him once that day. "What about the situation I'm in? What about the danger Aury's in? Isn't that more important right now?"

"Yes, Rigel." His mother said, and pulled a kitchen chair before her son. She sat, and her gaze drew his to her face.

Guilt speared his heart when he saw the red lines in her lovely eyes, the dark circles beneath them and the lids swollen from crying.

"The Princess's danger concerns everyone in Chimopotamia," she said. "We're all very worried about her. But this is a matter for the Royal Household to see to, Rigel, not their servants. The King and Queen, the Mage and his apprentice . . . they are the ones involved in this matter. It has nothing to do with us."

"It might not have anything to do with you, Mother, but it has everything to do with me." Rigel met Raven's worried gaze with determination. "I know Pa must have told you about the Dreamsharing. Clairvoyant says that means no one can deny our bond . . . our bondmating . . . " he clarified defiantly, "Any longer--no matter how uncomfortable it makes them."

Raven turned aside. She was silent for a moment, her color pale. The torment deep within her disturbed her face like an undercurrent does the surface of a stream. "No. No one can deny it. And it frightens me, Rigel. What sort of child have I born? Power like that does not run in our family lines. This is so unnatural to me--so strange and terrifying. Don't you realize all the heartache this bond of yours has destined you to?"

Rigel's heart softened with painful tenderness when he realized that his mother's concerns were more for his own welfare than for the family's.

"No, Ma," he said, "I don't think about that part of it. There's no sense in thinking about those things, because there's nothing I can do about them anyway. I'll just have to deal with them when they come. What I think about is all the happiness my bond with Aury brings. The shared feelings, the shared thoughts. Do you know that when one of us is happy, it doubles the feeling for us both? Can you imagine what it feels like to love somebody, and be able to feel her receive that love . . . and return it? Ma, she's inside me," he rested a hand upon the place where his heart beat within his chest, "Right here. All the time. As long as I have Aury, I'm never, ever alone."

Raven looked with wonder into her son's face, and a new aura of respect flickered in her pale eyes. "No, son. I can't even imagine what that must be like." Tears spilled onto her cheeks. "Until now, I hadn't even thought about how it must feel for you and Auria to be united like that. I've always wanted your happiness, but at the same time there have been doubts and fears over what this bonding might cause. I'm so sorry."

Rigel materialized a clean handkerchief and handed it to Raven, who accepted it with a sad smile. "It's wonderful, Ma. It's worth everything it puts us through. It's worth it all."

The woman nodded, and wrapped her arms around her son. "Yes. I believe that it is."