Queen Kohra - 8 8

Lesker

Never in my life would I have imagined I’ll be part of a royal court as a consort. I would much rather avoid it but from what Brig, ny enunch, says, it’s ordered by the council.

The room is full of powerful, influential people. Each of them have a seat in the huge throne room. Kohra is just listening to reports from a select group of governors and giving her opinion.

I hear her grunt but it wasn’t only me. A hush falls over the crowd. The Governor giving her report, I know her. She had been to the monastery before. Many times in fact.

She’s a demon in human flesh. A paedophile and an abuser. She uses her influence to force the Abbot’s hands into giving her young boys for her sick amusement. Once they’re gone, they come back corpses, their bodies too mangled to recognise.

Seeing her being taken away brought me joy. I smile brightly at Kohra but she glares at me. Yeesh, moody much? Anyway, I can’t wait for it to be over. I have unfinished research.

Lady Jeir, the royal advisor, is scary. She looks like she would enjoy torturing people. I better stay away from her. She looks like a lot of trouble.

Paim flared up in my neck for a minute before it’s gone. I stroke the place and continue eating. I feel her eyes on me, trying to penetrate my non-existent defences.

After brunch, I go to the royal library. Lady Jeir says there are books on gods there and I have full access since I’m married to Kohra. Her face contorts for a second before it’s back to blank.

The guards open the doors and I step inside. The musty smell of old books hit me as soon as I near the shelves. The library is wonderful. There are even pavilions where people could read without disturbance. There’s a fountain in the middle of the library and the chirps of birds provide enough music for a soothing melody.

“Hello” I say with a bow and a smile to the aged librarian. She sat behind a huge desk, watching me with hawk like eyes.

“I’m prince consort Lesker”

“So, Kohra finally got herself a consort eh? I told that girl she couldn’t fight the council but she was stubborn” the woman says. I have nothing to say in reply.

“So, Prince Consort, what are you looking for here?”

“I’ve come to read up on the gods. I hear the royal library has the best collection of religious books in the Quitri continent”

“That we do” the librarian replies proudly.

“Have a go at it. It’s in the 70th platform. Don’t worry, you can portal anywhere in here but you can’t portal out of here.  If you want to borrow any books, seek my permission first. I condone no theft. Doesn’t matter if you’re a queen or consort”

“Yes ma’am. But, I don’t have magix”

“Oh, dear. Don’t worry, I have just the thing” she says.

She searches for something in her desk and rejoices when she sees it. It’s cute. She hands me an oval smooth black stone after charging it with her magi.

“Here. Just direct the thoughts of where you want to go in here and it’ll take you there”

“Thank you” I say, accepting the gift.

I direct my wishes of going to the 70th platform on the stone and a portal opens up in front of me. I give her a little wave before stepping through it.

Normally, going through a portal is dizzying and disorienting. Only mages with high control over their magi could perfectly go through their portals and carry people through without side effects.

Going through the librarian’s portal was warm and comfortable. I felt her magix wash through me and disappear like it wasn’t there.

The shelves on platform 70 were arranged in an alphabetic order, following each god. The Quitri continent had a total of 15 gods, 7 of them being male.

There were 6 kingdoms in the continent, Ataliya being the biggest. The next was k’noku, kingdom of krolls. After that was Biefa, the coldlands. Veron, kingdom of Drakkens, Tolhi, the underwater kingdom and Talkita, the kingdom of gold.

All of them served different gods. This difference is what intrigued me. I wanted to know more.

The first shelf I went to was the biggest. It was the one dedicated to one goddess, the one served by millions of Ataliyans, Muni.

I picked out a book, one that spoke of her origin, and started reading.