The Poisoned Chalice by Starsea

Undercurrents

Rated PG-13

I’ve got a fire in my heart for you,
I’ve got a fire in my heart for you,
I’ve got a fire in my heart, though I’m falling apart,
Still, I’ve got a fire in my heart for you.
The Super Furry Animals

It was funny: he could take on a stadium of resentful people and seven angry princes, but he couldn’t knock on a door. Hilarious, really.

Jadeite stared at the red wood, as if waiting for it to speak. He could hear the soft murmur of voices inside, but they were too indistinct for him to guess at the conversation. This was ridiculous. He’d arrived ten minutes early and at this rate he’d be ten minutes late before he actually let them know he was here. He shook his head at himself and raised his fist, knocking three times. The voices paused; he heard movement and then the door was opened. It was one of Erinya’s handmaidens. She looked at him coldly.

“Yes?”

As if he were nothing more than an errant servant, Jadeite thought, not sure whether to laugh or be insulted. Obviously Erinya’s handmaidens were less than impressed with her escort. He bowed, even though it wasn’t necessary. “I believe the Princess Erinya is expecting me, my lady,” he said.

“I will tell her you are here.” She turned and actually began to close the door in his face.

“Don’t leave him standing in the corridor, Phobos, let him come in!” called Erinya from somewhere inside.

Phobos turned back, her mouth twisted as if she was chewing on something bitter. “Come in,” she said. This time she waited until he was inside the room before shutting the door. “You may wait here,” she said, pointing to a solid wooden chair, and marched through a set of double doors to the left.

Jadeite sat down where she’d indicated. There was no sense in antagonising her, after all. He’d achieved his goal, now he could relax a little. He glanced around. It seemed that Princess Erinya’s quarters were centred around one room, which was filled with scattered chairs and some sort of musical instrument. Jadeite would have liked to investigate, but he could just imagine the look on Phobos’s face if she found him anywhere but the chair. So he sat and admired the decoration. He could hear the conversation better now: even though the words were still lost to him, the tone was very clear. He knew that the handmaidens were warning her against him just by the disapproval and then Erinya laughed, clear and low, and he caught his breath again.

“You act as if he’s some ravening wolf waiting to eat me up. Ridiculous. He’s conducted himself perfectly well so far, I doubt he’ll make any mistakes tonight. Stop fussing.”

The last word became even clearer as the doors opened. Jadeite stood up and bowed, not just out of respect but to prepare himself. He had no idea how he’d react when looking into those eyes a second time.

“Your Highness,” he said, taking her outstretched hand and pressing his lips to her knuckles. She laughed and he wondered if he was imagining the breathless edge, if he’d imagined the slight tremble that had moved through her body when his lips touched her.

“Thank you for being so patient, Lord Jadeite,” she said and he looked up. She was wearing another red dress but this was different: it had a sort of chiffon panel in the front and it was cut much lower than before. He could see the tops of her breasts and the curve of her shoulders and her long, elegant neck. For a moment, his throat went dry, then he swallowed and made himself speak.

“I’ve waited longer for ladies who did not look half so lovely,” he said, straightening. A clumsy compliment but the best he could do at present.

Erinya looked up at him through her eyelashes and he had stop himself swaying forward. “Pretty words, my lord. Are you a courtier as well as a warrior?”

“I am a man of many talents,” he answered.

“Let us see if you include dancing among them. Phobos and Deimos wish me to be back here by midnight. Do you agree?” Her eyes were dancing with laughter but he could tell that this was important.

“Of course, all unmarried ladies have to retire by midnight, we have the same rule on Earth,” he assured her. “I will make sure that she is back here by the last stroke,” he added with a small bow to the handmaidens. They nodded but did not reply.

Erinya kissed them both on one cheek, hugged them, then took his arm. Deimos opened the door to let them out. Jadeite could feel her eyes on his back as they walked silently down the corridor. Only when they had turned the corner did he hear the door close. Erinya let out a sigh.

“For a moment there, I thought they were going to tie me to the bed… or kill you.” She glanced at him, waiting to see his reaction.

Jadeite laughed. “I think the second option is more likely. If you’d kept your back turned long enough, that is.”

A smile spread over her lips and she hugged his arm a little tighter. “I apologise for them. They are very protective of me and they are… unaccustomed to Earthlings.”

“You mean they think I’m a barbarian and as soon as I’ve got you alone, I’ll drag you back to my planet, rape you and marry you,” Jadeite said dryly.

Erinya looked up at him, her eyes wide, and he looked right back at her. “I know what they say about me, your Highness. I know what people think of Earthlings. Ever since the day I entered the Games, I’ve been accused repeatedly of cheating, bribing, even taking drugs or using magic to enhance my performance. All anonymous, of course. I am officially the most unpopular contestant that has ever participated and also the most maligned. It doesn’t matter that the judges have continually proclaimed my innocence. People need to believe that I’m a cheater. I’m an Earthling therefore I have no honour. I’m the scum of the Earth. People like to believe that. They take comfort in it. That’s why stereotypes exist, of course…” He stopped, realising that the last thing he should be doing was discussing philosophy.

Erinya was looking at him. Her gaze was no longer startled but intense. “So you have a brain behind those pretty blue eyes,” she said slowly. “I knew you had to be clever to do what you did with Ares, but I didn’t know you were a thinker. No wonder you did so well. No wonder they’re so scared of you.”

Jadeite was still reeling from the ‘pretty blue eyes’ remark. “I don’t pretend to be stupid just to make people feel better, no,” he said.

“Neither do I,” Erinya replied and she looked full into his face. If there had been a burning in Jadeite’s chest before, that was nothing compared to the fire that now swept through his body, burning away everything but the desire to keep on looking into her eyes, to somehow possess the soul that stared out of them, fierce and free and so different from any he’d known before. He tore his eyes away, feeling a wrench inside as he did so.

“Will your brothers behave themselves when they see us together?” he asked, his voice remarkably calm considering the fever that was currently raging through his heart.

“If they don’t, I’ll make them regret it,” Erinya said, completely sure of herself.

Jadeite nodded. He’d noticed how effective her threat had been. "You are the one with the most powerful magic," he said, thinking out loud.

Erinya looked at him and then she laughed softly. “Yes, I suppose you could put it like that. They may be physically stronger than me but when it comes to fire… they know they should never challenge me on that subject.” Her eyes flashed red and Jadeite knew that she was talking about more than just fire, but he didn’t enquire further.

“Shall we?” he asked and she nodded. They made polite conversation as they walked down to the ballroom, by silent but mutual agreement. It wouldn’t do to seem too involved. It wouldn’t do to seem too friendly.

The King and Queen were waiting for them. Ares nodded as they arrived: he was dressed in red and gold, reminding Jadeite of a phoenix. Bellona was dressed in the same style as Erinya, a red dress with a clear panel in front, but her neckline wasn’t quite as daring. They had the same fair skin, the same purple eyes. They even had their hair up in the same style: a sort of top knot that made it seem as if the hair were a sort of halo around the head. The resemblance between mother and daughter, already noticeable, became striking as she smiled at him.

Jadeite bowed. “Your Majesties.”

“We are just waiting for the princes and the ball may begin,” she told him. “I hope you haven’t had any trouble because of what happened today.”

“Not at all, your Majesty,” he replied, feeling the sudden tension in Erinya’s arm. “Everyone has given me due respect.”

Bellona’s eyes lingered on his face and Jadeite wondered if she’d heard about his little encounter in the corridor. She turned and looked at her daughter and Jadeite saw her face soften. “Are you happy with your escort?”

Erinya turned her head away. “Shouldn’t you be asking Lord Jadeite if he’s happy with his prize?” The pique in her tone combined with the turn of the head reminded Jadeite that she was only sixteen and not as poised as she might seem

“Oh, I can tell he’s happy,” Bellona said with a small smile, unruffled by her daughter’s rudeness. “It’s hard to miss.”

Jadeite had to control the urge to clear his throat. What was hard to miss? He glanced down discreetly, as if checking his boots: no, his trousers were perfectly smooth, no bulge, nothing. Perhaps she’d read something in his eyes: after all, he couldn’t be the first man to be struck by Erinya’s looks and grace. He breathed in and told himself that everything would be fine. All he had to do was keep her company until midnight, not too hard. Erinya spoke, still looking away.

“He survived an encounter with Phobos and Deimos… I think he’s worthy.”

“Thank Mars for that,” Bellona said, a definite hint of irony in her voice now. She glanced beyond them. “And your brothers have arrived.” She touched Ares on the shoulder and he glanced at her for a moment, obviously puzzled. Then his face cleared and he nodded. Jadeite took the opportunity to look at Erinya, who was now staring straight ahead, expressionless. She’d stopped actually holding his arm. Her hand just rested against his elbow like a dead fish. She was obviously upset by the conversation with her mother, though why he did not know.

“My lords, ladies and gentlemen,” Ares boomed. “Once again we have come to the end of our great Games. Let us celebrate the winners and another successful year!”

The crowd applauded politely, too well bred to show what they thought of an Earthling being included among the winners, let alone as the escort of their only princess. Jadeite bowed from the waist, making sure he didn’t move Erinya’s hand. He suspected she’d take it away at the first opportunity.

The orchestra struck up the first dance. The winners and the King and Queen walked onto the floor: the rest of the crowd would only join in on the second measure. Jadeite was glad that this was a slow one, it meant he could look into Erinya’s face and actually try to get an answer out of her. She kept her head slightly turned but he’d expected that.

“Is this all I’m going to get for the rest of the evening?” he asked. “The cold shoulder?”

“What were you expecting?” she asked coolly.

“Preferably someone who was alive.”

The words had the desired reaction: she looked at him, stung, flushing red. “How dare you—!”

“Oh, I’ll dare far more before the night is over,” he whispered, pulling her in close. “Have I suddenly offended you, your Highness? I came to the dance with a living girl and now I have a cipher, a statue, a machine.”

She trembled, he felt it. She trembled all through her body and he felt something inside shudder in sympathy, in longing. “You do not have to dance with me all evening,” he murmured. “I am not going to keep you chained to my arm if there is someone here you have been wanting to see.”

“You are mistaken,” she answered, immediate and forceful, and he felt shamefully glad. “There is no such person, not in the way you imply.”

“Then what is it?” he insisted, resisting the urge to brush his lips against the curve of her ear, so close and so perfect for nibbling.

“My mother,” she said, lowering her eyes, the words almost dragged out of her.

Jadeite nodded. “I noticed that you were annoyed by something she said,” he commented.

“Not something, everything,” Erinya retorted and he felt her grip return as she twirled slowly in his arms. “She thinks she knows me inside out, even though I haven’t actually lived here since I was five years old. She assumes things…” Her blush burned deeper and Jadeite wondered what she was thinking. “She has no right to assume such things,” Erinya continued, looking at him. “Asking me whether I liked my escort… she only did that because she knew it would annoy me.”

“It seemed to me she asked because it was important to her,” Jadeite replied, careful to keep his tone neutral. “The last thing any mother wants is for her daughter to be miserable.”

“Then she shouldn’t have asked me to attend this ball in the first place!” Erinya hissed. “Let alone be someone’s ‘prize’!”

He looked at her and raised both eyebrows. “You are not the prize, your Highness. This night is the prize, this night with you in your… gracious company.” She looked up, her eyes burning at the ironic inflection in his voice. “I’m terribly sorry to have taken up so much of your time when you obviously have better things to do,” Jadeite continued. “After this dance, you may consider yourself free.”

“No!” She grabbed his upper arms, still within the rules of the dance, though most ladies were holding their partners at the elbows. “No, please…” She lowered her eyes and her voice. “Please, don’t do that. I don’t want… she would be so disappointed.”

Yes, she was still very young, Jadeite thought. Young enough to rage against her mother yet desperately long for her approval. For a moment, looking at her down-turned head, he almost felt like a brother to her. Almost. There was that little matter of the ache in his belly.

“Very well,” he said. “But no more ice, understand? Throw as much fire as you want, but don’t try and freeze me out.”

She looked up and a small smile slipped over her lips, just like her mother’s, and for a second he lost his breath again.

“You’re not afraid of anything, are you?” she asked.

“I don’t fear much, no,” he answered. “But I suspect you’re the same way.”

“I hardly expected,” she began, then stopped.

“Yes?” he prompted.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Jadeite began to repeat his question, then stopped. He had the rest of the evening to find out what she hadn’t expected. Right now, they were dancing and he hadn’t even shown her how good he could be when he put his mind to it. He twisted her out and pulled her back in again. Erinya’s eyes widened and she laughed for a moment.

“Are you trying to see how far you can push my brothers?” she asked.

“I want to make sure that you enjoy the rest of this evening,” he answered, then bent forward and whispered in her ear, “taunting your brothers is just an enjoyable consequence of that.”

She really did laugh this time and he knew that people were looking at them, but he didn’t care. He’d done that. He’d made her laugh. He’d put that light in her eyes. The triumph was dizzying and terrifying. He shouldn’t care this much, but it seemed there was no way to stop. All he could do was give in and enjoy the feeling, enjoy the fall. By the end of the dance, he could feel knives in his back again.

“If looks could kill, you would have been dead twenty times over,” Erinya observed as the music stopped and he bowed.

“If only all balls were this much fun,” he responded, watching her blush as she curtsied.

“You’d better not go anywhere alone tonight,” she warned, taking his arm as they walked towards the dais, where the dining table had been set up.

“Does that mean you’ll be accompanying me back to my rooms, then?” He smiled a little. “I don’t think your handmaidens would be pleased about that.”

“They’ll understand,” she said, surprising him. “The Earthling ambassador should not be assaulted on the day of his triumph. Besides… I will never be associated with any man. I’m safe, as far as rumours are concerned.”

That was a strange way to put it, Jadeite thought, as he pulled out her chair. ‘Never be associated’: as if there were something stopping people from putting their names together, some invisible barrier. As if she would never even be friends with a man, let alone anything else. Erinya sat down and he sat beside her, deep in thought. Maybe he had imagined that breathless edge to her laughter or maybe he’d just read too much into it. After all, she was young and she probably wasn’t used to so much attention. Even as the thought came to him, he rejected it. Erinya was a princess, she’d been the centre of attention from birth, and with her looks and carriage, there must be plenty of men in the Silver Millennium who paid court to her. It couldn’t be inexperience.

“What are you thinking about?”

He looked up at the tension in her voice. “You,” he said simply.

She turned her head away slightly, but he saw the blush on her cheek. “You don’t need to pay empty compliments,” she said, the harsh words countered by the whispered tone.

“An empty compliment is impossible where you’re concerned,” he returned in a quiet voice.

“Stop it,” she whispered. “Please.”

“What is it?”

“Enjoying yourself, Lord Jadeite?”

Jadeite turned his head and saw that Bellona was sitting down next to him. He almost kicked the table leg in frustration. “So far, your Majesty,” he answered.

“You must forgive my daughter for any mistakes,” Bellona went on, perfectly aware that she’d interrupted something. “She is not used to such things on the moon, Princess Serenity lives a life of seclusion.”

“On the contrary, Mother,” Erinya said, her voice low but hard. “Serenity often attends social occasions, as well as public ceremonies. She is hardly secluded, and neither am I.”

“So you always say, Erinya, but then you come to a ball like this and I see you make mistake after mistake,” Bellona answered, picking up her wine glass. She looked at her daughter, loving yet somehow merciless. “Perhaps Lord Jadeite will be able to teach you something.”

Jadeite glanced at Erinya. She was cutting up her food with studied intensity. He could feel the undercurrents of the conversation swirling and eddying around him. This was about much more than Erinya’s ‘inexperience’, he could see that immediately, and he was certainly not supposed to teach her about manners. He took a sip of his own wine.

The game’s afoot.


DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The lyrics belong to The Super Furry Animals.

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