My heart was tripping. All subjects in the kingdom served at the pleasure of the King, and I did not know what this meant.
When the doors opened, and I saw Prince Dmitri and the King standing there with Lexius, I was intrigued, but resolved. I was a subject but not a slave. When had the monarchs of the realm ever demanded that a lord or lady strip and submit to them?
I walked into the room and made my bow to the King.
“Eva, kiss me,” he said. His arms went out to me.
I embraced him warmly and looked up into his earnest and gentle face. We kissed on the lips, and I stepped back, quickly taking the measure of Dmitri who stood with his hands clasped behind his back merely eyeing me as if he were mightily intrigued with what was happening.
But what was happening?
As for Lexius, he was obviously deeply shaken. He regarded me with timid near-worshipful eyes. He wore the same rich garments he’d worn earlier, having changed only his boots for the golden slippers usually worn inside the castle.
He was indeed almost as tall as the King, and in the many blazing candelabra of this chamber he appeared more comely and seductive than ever. This I could see with detachment. To deny him his godlike gifts in my heart would have been dishonest.
As for the room, it held the usual impressive coffered bed, but with space to spare for an extravagant scattering of stately chairs, and the fire was as always burning on the giant hearth.
Exotic scarlet hangings gave the room an Oriental feel, and I realized that the air was filled with the heavy fragrance of incense.
Dmitri was dressed as he always was when he came to Court, as a Russian prince in his heavy tunic and trousers. His expression was now grave, but then in his lusty dominance of the Place of Public Punishment, he’d become known for gravity or gravitas as the old Romans might have called it.
“My beautiful lady,” said the King. “Prince Lexius has told me what he did, how he’s twice offended you.”
“Well, I’m most relieved to hear it, sire,” I said. “Because offend me he has indeed done, and twice as you said, in ways I have never endured in this kingdom.”
So far so good, I thought.
Lexius had begun to tremble. What is it about the vulnerability of such a tall and regal man that so stirs my blood?
I felt a great desire to treat him as he had treated me, but I had no intention of taking such liberties with any guest of the kingdom, or any lord or lady, or anyone whom I considered my equal.
“I’ve given Lexius my judgment on his behavior,” said the King.
He was still dressed as he had been for the festivities in the gardens, in impeccable crimson velvet with lavish trimmings of gold, and he was as always a magnificent vision. It seemed that crimson or scarlet most flattered his dark face and his warm brown eyes and hair.
He went on:
“I have told him he must leave the kingdom at once,” he said. “But he begs me to allow him to explain himself, to lay his apologies before you, and to confess to you why he has come here. I have summoned you to ask whether you wish to allow this.”
“If Your Majesty wants me to allow it, I shall,” I said. “In truth, I should like to know what prompted him—a man with much knowledge of Bellavalten in its old days—to behave as he has done with me.”
“Speak then, Lexius. The lady’s being gracious.” The King shrugged and threw up his hands. “Perhaps you wish Dmitri to leave?”
“No, sire, please, let him remain,” said Lexius. He had such an appealing way of holding himself, of inclining his head and extending his graceful hand in a feline gesture, that I found myself all the more intrigued. Why should a person of such manners have behaved so crudely?
“And you, Dmitri?” asked the King.
“I ask to stay, my lord,” said Dmitri. “We have been friends, Lexius and I. As you know we know each other well. He has asked me to be here, and I am prepared for what is to follow.”
The King nodded.
What is to follow? I pondered.
Lexius came forward and went down on one knee before me.
“My gracious lady, I beg your pardon for what I did,” said Lexius. “And it is time for you and our gracious king to know why I came here. I did not come to return to life at Bellavalten. And if I have in any way misled anyone to believe so by my letters, I am sorry.”
“Stand up, please, sir,” I said. “I would look into your eyes.”
He rose and stood before me, but everything in his demeanor suggested that he was still down on one knee.
“I accepted your invitations—yours, Dmitri’s, and His Majesty’s invitations to visit the kingdom, yes, but I came with a secret purpose.”
“Which is what?” asked the King. He folded his arms, and gave a bit of a mock frown, but he was smiling. Only a person of immense self-confidence and inner strength, I thought, could offer such a facial expression to all this rather than cold suspicion.
“My lord, I come from the city of Arikamandu in India. This is a port city on the southeastern coast.”
“I know of it,” said the King. “So?”
“And I was born to a powerful family there. I say so that you may understand my position and my life. The members of my family have for generations been the protectors of a great secret, and that secret is a small realm that exists behind high walls in the jungles of my land two days’ journey north of my home. This realm is known in legend and to those who people it and protect it as the Secret City of Khaharanka. It is a city-state of some two thousand souls who are dedicated to a way of life as unusual and sublime as that of Bellavalten.”
“I see,” said the King. “I suspected as much.”
I was fascinated.
“Dmitri has visited Khaharanka,” said Lexius. “And he can vouch for the truth of what I say of this city-state and its people. All my life I have been especially dedicated to the protection and nurturing of Khaharanka. Not all members of my family are chosen for this, only some. And having been chosen early I was sent to the sultanate to learn all that I could about its ways of pleasure slavery, its women and its men, so that I might better use this knowledge for the benefit of Khaharanka. The Sultan knew this. He knew that I was his guest. Yet at some time during my visit there he chose to treat me as a kind of hostage, demanding jewels and peacock feathers and gold and other riches from my family in exchange for my ‘imminent’ freedom. I was being held by force as surely as any slave when you came there, my lord, as a slave, and you brought me back here. Of course I permitted you to overwhelm me and make me your naked prisoner. And I allowed your Queen Eleanor to become my new teacher in the erotic arts, learning from her in ways I had never learned in the sultanate.”
“I see,” said the King again. “And of course you might have written to your family for help at any time, if you could have managed to get a letter sent on your behalf.”
“Oh, that I could have easily done, but it would never have been necessary. Had I wished to leave, I might have put my case before the Queen and she would have immediately accepted a rich bounty in return for my freedom. I knew this, but I stayed on for all the reasons slaves of this kingdom always stay on, and so often return, because I loved serving Queen Eleanor, loved her, and loved my fellow slaves, and also because I had another purpose. And that other purpose was to bear in mind always that Khaharanka at any time might need a new and mighty monarch. You could say I lived a life of dizzying subjugation as I kept my eye out for the perfect soul who might someday mount the throne of Khaharanka.”
“Khaharanka has no royal family of its own?” the King asked.
“No, sire, the monarchy is not hereditary. And the subjects of Khaharanka do not descend from families. The monarch of Khaharanka is chosen and always for life, and the subjects choose to be subjects—as the slaves of Bellavalten today choose to be slaves.”
“And yo
u came here now to look for a new monarch?” I asked. I had spoken without the King’s leave but he was entirely accepting and seemed eager for the answer.
“I did,” he said. “The last monarch of Khaharanka was chosen from Bellavalten.”
“Sonya!” I said. “Your mistress, Sonya. But she disappeared years ago, or so you told Alexi.”
“No, my lady, she did not disappear at that time. She disappeared only to the world from which she’d come, and was borne to Khaharanka, and I grieved for her because my family did not permit me to go to Khaharanka at that time to be her loyal subject. It was my task to find ladies of her mettle to serve as new members of her Court, and only two years later was I allowed to become Queen Sonya’s devoted servant. And I have been Queen Sonya’s obedient slave ever since.”
“I see.”
“Well, Queen Sonya has long wanted freedom from Khaharanka. She has been one of the greatest queens ever to rule the little city-state, and her Court has been perfection. But she would return now to Europe, and to Bellavalten, and when your many letters were brought to her, for me, from my family home, Queen Sonya allowed me to answer and she has sent me here to find a new queen for our people.”
“A new queen!” I scoffed. “And you have selected me for this singular honor, have you? And for this reason, you burst into my chambers like a foot soldier in a conquering army?”
“Yes, my lady, I had to. I had to test your mettle. I knew your fame. I knew so much of your gifts and your strength that I did not question it. Yet I had to be certain of your unconquerable spirit.”
“As if you and your blandishments and your crude assaults were the test of such a thing!” I said. “How dare you!”
The King was trying to hide his smile now.
“My lady, I worship you,” Lexius confessed. “I am a poor person for such a test, I confess. I am. But your response to me gave no doubt whatsoever of your immense strength. Your indignation and fury were, how shall I say, natural.”
I laughed. “And so your queen must be as resolute and merciless as Queen Eleanor,” I said.
“Yes, my lady, and more so. Much more so, for she rules a most unusual realm made up of singular worshippers. And do understand, our queen is a goddess in our eyes, and all obeisance shown her reflects this. She and her Court of women are held to be divine beings of unquestioned authority.”
“I see. Or I think I see,” said the King. “You are saying that all those in authority in this Khaharanka are women.”
“Yes, my lord,” he said. “It has always been so and will always be so, and the great resources of my family provide the soldiers and guards of the secret city, and uphold the sacred authority of its female rulers.”
“Certainly not all who serve are men!” I offered.
“Yes, my lady, all are male, but not men in the conventional sense.”
“I have no interest in eunuchs, my lord, never have,” I said. “I am a great devotee of the cock and balls of men. That’s why I live in Bellavalten.” I looked to the King. “Need we hear any more of this?”
“You misunderstand me, my lady,” Lexius said. “There are no eunuchs in Khaharanka.”
“Then what sort of men are these unconventional males?” I asked.
He bowed his head, and then he looked to Dmitri.
I couldn’t see Dmitri, as he stood behind me and behind the King. I was before the King and facing Lexius.
The King could see that Lexius was struggling. Lexius’s face was red, and in such a dark face, such a blush has a purple tinge to it, and tears stood in his eyes for the first time, not the gushing tears of disobedient slaves, but the hesitant and silent tears of someone engaged in a deep inner struggle.
“My lord,” Lexius said, looking up at the King, “I cannot hope to fulfill my mission now, without revealing great secrets. Might I ask of you that no matter what you think of me and my quest, whatever you think of Khaharanka, that you hold inviolate the secrets I reveal here?”
“I cannot do that, Lexius,” said the King, “without the Queen present.”
Lexius appeared to think this over.
“Dmitri, go to the Queen and ask her if she will join us now,” said the King. “I don’t know whether or not she is still in the gardens. Likely she is in her chambers. Ask her to come alone with you here.”
Dmitri went off at once, and the King continued to study Lexius.
“You do understand, don’t you, Lexius, that it is Queen Beauty who actually rules Bellavalten?”
“I have heard it said, sire, that you have great love for one another which is the marvel of the realm and that you rule it together.”
“That’s a clever and agreeable response,” said the King. “But it is the wisdom of the Queen that has rebuilt the realm. If you are asking Lady Eva here to go with you and become your sovereign, if you are to reveal secrets that I must keep, then the Queen must be here, as I keep nothing from the Queen, and cannot keep anything, and cannot continue to encourage you if she does not consent to it.”
Lexius nodded. “Yes, my lord,” he said.
“And do you also realize that my queen might be mightily displeased with you that you have come here with the express purpose of taking Lady Eva from us?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Lexius, “but I had hoped that you and your queen would both indulge my loyalty to my beloved Khaharanka, that you might look kindly upon our need for a great ruler, that you might extend to me tolerance and understanding, as we hold so many views in common.”
“You’ve gone about this clumsily, sir,” said the King. But he was not angry.
“I know, sire,” said Lexius. “I have, but had Lady Eva not been the goddess described to me, well, had I not felt the need to test her mettle— Forgive me, my lord. I have indeed been clumsy, devious, desperate. . . .” He stopped as the doors opened.
Dmitri appeared with the Queen. She had obviously been in her rooms close by, as she was dressed now in a long rose-colored silk dressing gown. A bit of her lace chemise showed at her throat and at her wrists, and she wore a pair of silver cutwork slippers. Her flaxen hair was charmingly undone.
“My lord,” she said, going at once to the King and taking her place at his right side. Once again Dmitri vanished into the shadows.
The King took Queen Beauty’s face in his hands and whispered to her a few brief sentences which summed up the situation. I caught the name of the secret city, and the word “confidences.”
“As you wish, my lord,” said the Queen. “Lexius, I will respect your confidences as my lord respects them. But tell me, why is Lady Eva here? And why Prince Dmitri.”
“Prince Dmitri can attest to the truth of all I say,” said Lexius, and then blushing deeply again, miserably in fact, he said, “I have come to beg Lady Eva to become the next absolute sovereign of Khaharanka.” Quickly but smoothly he reiterated much of what he’d said before.
It was enough.
The Queen had the picture.
She looked at me and I saw the sudden panic in her eyes. It was as if she were saying aloud, Eva, I don’t want you to go.
I felt it deeply. A thousand thoughts crowded my mind. A moment ago, I had felt certain I would reject this outrageous proposal out of hand. Now suddenly I was more intrigued than resolute.
“Well, now, Lexius,” said the King. “Will you explain further as to what characterizes the devotees of this queen of yours and her Court of women if your men there are not eunuchs?”
“My Lady Eva is well known,” said Lexius, “for her potions, for the many kinds of potions she had developed in her alchemical studies. Perhaps the lady will understand as I explain. Those who would enter life and service in Khaharanka must be nourished by a special potion. Wild tales now shroud the discovery of this mysterious elixir. But it is the tradition in our family that after many trials and many failures it was deve
loped by a clever doctor who tested it on numerous applicants before perfecting its final formula. Whatever the case, it is most effective and easy to produce and has no unintended or ill effects on the men who choose to imbibe it. And indeed, many who leave the kingdom—and who drink it no more—lose all the outward attributes they acquired under its influence. Not all however.”
“So you are saying that these male subjects drink this elixir of their own free will?” I asked. “They drink it to serve of their own free will—just as slaves are here of their own free will now in Bellavalten?”
“Yes and no, my lady,” said Lexius. “Some male slaves are brought as tributes—as these are the ways of war in all the world, and my Khaharanka is part of the world. But in the main, yes, the population is made up of those who have come of their own volition, and those who remain because they have embraced the elixir and the transformation it offered them.”
A dreamy expression came over his face.
“It is not such a great thing, you see, this transformation.” He smiled. I could feel his excitement. His anxieties were being burnt away in his zeal for what he was describing. “Yet at the same time the elixir changes everything! The genius of the elixir is that it feeds one part of a man while not starving the other. Some elixirs nourish one aspect of the supplicant but destroy another. Ours does not. It goes to the primal root of the being, and waters all the seeds meet for watering!” His eyes were bright and his lips were smiling. “And the end result,” he said, “for those who dare to drink the cup to the dregs, is magnificent.”
I said nothing. I could see that the Queen and the King were both staring at him in awe. And I too was much impressed by what he said.
“And what precisely does happen to the man who drinks this cup to the dregs?” asked the King.
Lexius looked at the King, and then his eyes moved to the Queen, and then to me.
He was quite the picture now, enormously improved by his zeal and the high pleasure he was experiencing at this moment. His face had the rapt expression of someone gazing into the heart of a miracle.