Immortals: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Essencers of Aelathia Book 1) by Joshua Smith

Author:Joshua Smith [Smith, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2019-09-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Warm, salty Istantese Sea air blew through the open partitions of the palace wall, fluttering the page in Lady Ni’Dio’s hands. It was a humid day, but she let her aether soak in the humidity around her, draining it into a bowl behind the dais. The din of the city below, the docks and marketplaces, the pens of the unenlightened, were but a murmur in the magic surrounding Clan Diotek castle. Now, she imagined a palace grander, taller, and even farther away from the bustle below. However, such a construction would rival the Matriarch Empress’s —but they all knew her Glorious Enlightenment would be short-lived. Ni’Dio counted down the days until the next imperial moot, where some predicted she would overpower the Empress and take her title, even though the Empire of Istante already lived at the whim of Diotek. She and her father controlled the canal passage from east to west between the continents, and her father was one of the most revered diplomats and essencers in all the world. Not a day passed that Ni’Dio did not imagine surpassing him by sitting on the Golden Throne, yet she was not the only dancer in the world of fabric.

Lady Ni’Dio folded her white-painted hands, crushing her father’s missive between them. She glared at the kimono-clad slave laying prostrate on the floor.

Above him floated the teal coalescence of essences, Ni’Dio’s crowning piece of art. The sphere rotated, pulling and releasing the strings of essence throughout the Istantese great room. The effect was a spectacular splash of color against the hanging cloth lamps, bamboo walls, and cream floor. The world fabric remained in constant movement, making paintings and armored manikins move with every pull. Her guests always recognized the coalescence as a work of art as they dined on rich food from her chefs. When her father was home, the whole room would be filled with essencers entertained with extravagant parties. Her favorite was when the slaves danced in the light of the essences. Or when she executed someone just below it. The colors that came from the beheaded corpse wove a majestic mural, even if it smelled.

In her single low chair—the only such furniture in the room—she knew that to the low-born prostrated before her, she seemed crowned in extended golden vines, roses, and sea dragons. Like the instruction of unruly slaves—called nayil—or the mastery of essences, everything was business or an art, even being the daughter-heir of the greatest essencer in the Empire. So as she studied the nayil prostrated before her, she considered her next creative endeavor fervently.

“Ambassador Ci’Dio was clear, Enlightened Majesty,” the naye said. The slave dared rise to his knees, forehead still to the floor, hands clenched in front of him to prevent trembling. His companion, another naye, was wise enough to remain prostrated before his betters. “He wishes to offer you as wife and queen to King Aubert de Gerac of Franca.”

So, her father wished to sell her. If anything, Franca had a sufficient slave trade and a flourishing navy and fishing industry.

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