Queen's Ransom: The Golden Bulls of Minos Read online

  She hooked her hair behind her ear and stood up, enjoying the way his gaze raked over her intently. The other women had gone still at his arrival, each looking at her with mixed expressions of uncertainty and smugness, no doubt thinking she was about to be pulverized.

  Or given another extensive body search.

  Jalia decided she wouldn't mind another search at all, so long as it was Dhega's hands doing the searching.

  "Done to myself, your majesty?"

  He circled her with a snort, his nostrils flaring wide. "Your hair, your eyes, your skin. You've changed them. How?"

  Ah. That. Jalia concentrated for a moment, meeting the king's gaze when he came around to face her. She had changed her hair from pink to crystalline white.

  It now swung to her hips in gentle waves with hints of palest blue, pink, and orange. A prism of color reflected in her eyes. She had modified her skin to a darker olive, ensuring she looked exotic and strange.

  Under his unhappy scrutiny, Jalia reached up and smoothed both hands over her hair, pulling it over her shoulder to change it to darkest black, her skin to pale pink, her eyes to deep red.

  Jalia smiled to see the outright shock on Dhega's face when she reached up and tapped her forehead.

  "My Luna Patch offers me the opportunity to modify the color of my hair, skin, and eyes at will."

  Cockinti gasped and surged forward with greed in her gaze, her hand outstretched in a lusty claw.

  "I will pay you thrice whatever you paid to purchase it if you give it to me now."

  Jalia leveled a dirty glare on the purple princess and very clearly enunciated,

  "No."

  "What's a Luna Patch?" Axtasusa grunted, curiously squinting at Jalia's forehead.

  Denied her desires, Cockinti threw a haughty look her way.

  "Something to make even someone as ugly as you, passably attractive."

  Jalia saw the female Duggan's eyes flinch ever so slightly, but she stood proudly and curled her lip at Cockinti.

  Ignoring the behemoth of a male still towering over her, Jalia turned to Axtasusa and offered her a smile.

  "A Luna Patch is a little alien creature called a Nylalunae. They're from a world that no longer exists and are all but extinct now.

  “I know of only one being in the universe who breeds them, and he does so very carefully." She reached up and traced the soft, barely raised shape on her forehead and felt an answering pulse of sensation. Sort of like a tender kiss as her Luna responded.

  "My Luna affects the melanin in my cells and produces a chemical that allows me to change the pigmentation to whatever I wish.

  “If I were to shave my head bald, in a few hours my Luna could stimulate the follicles to produce more hair until I was satisfied with the length and thickness.

  “She gains life from me, her microscopic tendrils wrapped around my head, feeding on the energy I naturally produce.

  "I can change my coloring to suit my mood or vanity, but not my shape or my personality. Even if Cocksucker were to get her shitty hands on one, she couldn't do anything about her insides.

  “The things she spews from both ends are uglier than you could ever be, so don't pay her any mind. You could crush her with one finger, which also makes her stupid for baiting a powerful female such as yourself."

  Jalia winked at the Duggan warrior and almost, almost got a smile out of her.

  "So, which is your natural coloring? The pink, or...this?" Dhega grunted skeptically.

  Jalia did what she did best and took a gamble. "The day I become your queen, I'll show you."

  Dhega's eyes flared with challenge, staring at her silently for a moment before turning on his heel to leave them standing in the staging area.

  Jalia's heart raced, triumph and eagerness of her own surged through her veins.

  This was it. This was the way.

  It would be a potentially treacherous game, more so than running the labyrinths, but it just might work! Jalia had the chance to bait the beast within and give him good reason to savor the chase.

  "The day you become his queen? You won't live past the sunset." Cockinti hissed in her ear.

  Jalia shrugged, used to the insults and threats before a contest from insecure losers.

  "Then I won't have to worry about the smell of your toxic farts for much longer. Eat something that disagreed with you?"

  Axtasusa bent in half with her boisterous guffaws, Akeyko even cracked a smirk as she finished raking a rough-edged file against her claw-like fingernails.

  That one had a psychotic look in her eye and was glancing around at each of them, no doubt cataloging where their significant veins and arteries were located. Entayta appeared mildly amused, but Ryanthi gave no indication as to whether or not she cared for humor.

  "My ladies, it is time." An attendant ushered them to board the transport that would take them to the Stepwell Labyrinth.

  It was a short trip, and the aerial view they got of the maze lasted only a moment, but a moment was all Jalia needed to realize she could solve it.

  Assuming her competitors didn't murder her first.

  They disembarked on a wide stone platform, before them an enormous stone chasm lined with moss covered stairs and an emerald green pond of water below six doorways.

  "The Stepwell Labyrinth is the second in your journey," Dhega called out from a tall tower that gave him a perfect view of the maze below.

  Her competitors looked up at his face, but Jalia was looking down into the chasm.

  "You will climb down and make your way across to the doorways that will gain you entrance into the maze. You may begin!" the king's voice boomed out over the entire area, and all at once the others raced for the stairs while Jalia remained crouched at the edge of the precipice.

  Axtasusa fell first and fell hard, cracking the stone when she finally hit bottom. It didn't seem to phase her despite the horrific drop, she stood up after only a moment and glared upwards at the stair which had given way beneath her large feet.

  Ryanthi fell a few steps later, and she didn't get up. The reality that this contest was life or death became all too real as Ryanthi's bright orange blood began to pool around her bald head.

  The climb seemed suddenly dizzying, but Jalia had no choice other than to move forward. Ryanthi hadn't screamed, hadn't had time to do more than gasp and instinctively try to claw for purchase.

  Jalia had to focus; her goal was to win, to live. Jalia tore her gaze away from Ryanthi's sightlessly staring eyes so far below and watched Akeyko, Entayta, and Cockinti cautiously make their way down.

  Jalia could taste her pulse, but she realized the steps she needed to avoid were the ones clean of all moss. She reached the bottom before the other three still climbing and paused at the lip of the pool.

  She could make her way around it, but a careful examination of the glassy surface and a pebble tossed out onto the water revealed shapes just beneath the water's edge. Stepping stones.

  Jalia took a deep breath and cautiously stepped out onto the first sunken paver, finding it stable beneath her weight. She took her time crossing, choosing her steps as carefully as she could, struggling not to laugh when Cockinti went running past her around the edge of the pool and wound up falling face first into the water.

  Her splashing and the wake of her weight disturbing the water revealed more steps, allowing Jalia to nimbly hop across the length of the pool quicker than she thought possible.

  When she took the final step and left the pool, she hesitated before the wall of stairs and doors in front of her, wanting the others to think she was confused and uncertain about what to do next. Jalia even let Cockinti shove her aside.

  "Move, bottom feeder! And don't follow me!" the princess ordered, soaked to the skin, a bedraggled looking mess, dashing through the center doorway right in front of her like her ass was on fire.

  Jalia wanted to roll her eyes but restrained herself admirably. Axtasusa appeared at her side, freakishly light on her feet for someo
ne so large.

  "That was quite a fall, Susa. Are you hurt?" Jalia asked, sincerely concerned.

  The female looked at her as though she'd just done like Cockinti and broke wind.

  "From a fall like that? Do I appear so weak to you, human?"

  Jalia smiled and shook her head. "Not in any way."

  "Your hair changed again." The Duggan grunted.

  Jalia pulled a lock over her shoulder to find it an unflattering shade of ochre.

  "Sometimes I can't control the colors when my adrenaline is high."

  "The longer you two stand out here falling in love, the better for us who wish to become queen of Minos." Akeyko bounded past them on fleet feet, leaping up to the second level to disappear through one of the doors to the right. Axtasusa grunted, gave a jerk of her chin and made her way.

  "It will do you no strategic advantage to befriend any of us." Entayta murmured, looking at her with a bland, emotionless sort of curiosity as she too passed by.

  When Jalia could no longer see any of the other females, she let a smile slip.

  "No, but it certainly makes you underestimate me," she whispered, skipping to the last door on the left.

  The door that looked like it was about to collapse at any second and made her way straight through to the heart of the maze.

  When she reached the center, she turned and looked up, shading her eyes to find Dhega staring at her with the smallest of smirks twisting his handsome mouth.

  He pointed to a stairwell hidden in the shadows of the smooth, sandy walls and beckoned her with a jerk of his chin. She began the climb, pausing when she heard Cockinti shriek with frustration and Axtasusa's constant grumbles of annoyance.

  The staircase Jalia climbed led to another mossy path, and to the top of the tower where Dhega and nine princes waited.

  Her thighs were burning by the time she made it to the top, her lungs fighting to take in the thinner atmosphere.

  Tom and Croft rushed forward to support her, leading her to a padded seat with her fabricated house sigil emblazoned on the white cushion. Tom brought her water, and Croft got a cold cloth to mop the sweat from her brow.

  "You boys have truly missed your calling," she teased as they silently waited on her hand and foot. Tom grunted, and with his back turned to the Minoan's, Croft rolled his eyes.

  "Well done, Marchesa. You solved this labyrinth with startling ease." Dhega praised, towering over her with his muscled arms crossed and strong legs spread akimbo.

  Jalia smiled and took another sip of cold water. What she wanted was an oxygen mask, but there didn't appear to be any nearby.

  It was all she could do to catch her breath in a ladylike manner and not allow herself to pant raggedly for every much-needed lungful of air.

  "One might say, too easily."

  With her mouth and cheeks full of water, Jalia looked at the narrow-eyed, narrow faced, homely looking male with a pair of squatty little horns.

  He was a dull brown color, splashes of red and white around his right eye and down his throat made him look like someone had thrown dirty water on him.

  His eyes, hair, and horns were all that same dull, muddy brown. He was just...kind of drab looking. Constipated too. He had been the one to perform the search on her this morning, after presenting her with the clothing she wore.

  She swallowed, tilting her head at the male as she sat back in her comfortable seat and stared at him silently until he blinked.

  "I'm sorry, your name is completely forgettable. Councilor...?"

  "Jansus. Prince of Horn River," he snapped peevishly.

  "Right," She replied, crossing her legs to let her foot bob with boredom.

  "It sounded like you just implied I cheated somehow, Jansus, Prince of Horn River. Are you admitting to not having thoroughly searched me for devices or navigation aids?"

  Jansus spluttered indignantly, looking from her to Dhega and back, his large snout of a nose shooting up in the air like a haughty little girl.

  "I was quite thorough in my search of your person, Marchesa."

  He had indeed been thorough, his hands not lingering a second longer than they should have, "So you're just a prick, then?"

  "A what?"

  "A prick," Jalia repeated clearly, Croft and Tom snickering from their places behind her.

  "An annoying, obnoxious person with a contemptible nature? I mean, it's either that or you're accusing me of cheating. So, which is it?"

  "Jansus is most definitely a prick, Marchesa. I am Kalphius, Prince of the Jawbone Mountains."

  Kalphius gave a moderate bow, the thick, straight locks of his ginger-colored mane falling across his brow.

  It was a purposeful move, knowing just how handsomely his hair framed his sky-blue eyes.

  His skin was a patchwork of buttery yellow and shining crimson, his horns wider than any of the other Minoan's present, almost entirely straight before curving up at the ends.

  There was plenty of space around him, made so because every time he turned or looked around, anyone within touching distance risked a face full of those horns.

  She wondered how he didn't fall over with such a huge rack.

  "How many princes do you have?" Jalia directed at the king.

  He grunted, his scowl intense as he looked down at the others still running the maze.

  "Over forty. Any Minoan who completes the Nine is given the title of a Golden Bull, a prince.

  “Not all have territories they govern, but the title and the golden horns identify who of us have survived the labyrinths."

  "I see."

  "Jansus is being obnoxious because he bet against you, Marchesa," Kalphius told her with a saucy wink.

  Jalia lifted a brow, letting her lashes flutter prettily.

  "You're taking bets on who'll finish the labyrinths? How gauche of you not to invite us to join your sport." she pushed past the dizziness of acclimating and strode to the edge of the tower to look down at the others still running the maze.

  "How much did his highness of the river lose on me?"

  "A rather fine jeweled chain." Kalphius drawled, shooting Jansus a triumphant grin. Jansus was scowling hard enough to support Jalia's assessment of constipation.

  "May I see it?" she asked.

  Kalphius produced it immediately, and Jalia struggled not to let her eyeballs bug out of her skull.

  The length of gold braided chain was studded with blue gems as big as her thumbnail, and long enough to have wrapped around her waist three times. A chain like that would have most certainly bought her way into Rysor 12.

  Her brow shot up, and she tore her gaze away from the chain, to Jansus's ruddy, petulant expression.

  "I feel oddly flattered, Jansus, and somewhat sorry for your loss. It is a beautiful chain."

  "You may have it with Jansus' apologies for his rudeness," Dhega grunted, giving his subordinate a sidelong look, watching Kalphius with intense scrutiny as he offered her the gem-studded rope of gold.

  "I would be perfectly satisfied with a sincere apology, your majesty," Jalia stated, noticing the pained expression on Croft's face, his gaze fixated on the jewels.

  Dhega snorted, giving her a cool, calculated once over. "You will have that as well."

  Jalia saw Jansus visibly shrivel under his king's glare, the stammered apology he immediately made sincere enough, but an apology made from fear wasn't one of genuine regret. She'd take it for now.

  Dhega jerked his chin at her and turned away, appearing to have returned his focus to the other women still trying to solve the maze.

  "Marchesa," Kalphius murmured respectfully, nodding for her to take the chain from his outstretched hands.

  It was heavier than it looked, cool to the touch. The most expensive piece of jewelry Jalia had ever touched.

  "I would appreciate it very much if those of you betting against me would continue to be so extravagant."

  A handful of the princes chuckled. Their voices droned on in the background as she remained besid
e Dhega's enormous bulk, her gaze fixated on the labyrinth below her, watching Entayta get closer and closer to the center while her thumb rubbed back and forth over the face of one of the gems.

  "How did you solve it so quickly?" Dhega asked, too softly for the others to hear.

  Jalia found herself smiling, inclining her head when Entayta looked up and saw her standing beside him.

  "The day I become your queen, I'll tell you."

  With that parting shot, she retreated to her seat and under Jansus' disapproving eye gaze, she carelessly handed the chain to Croft.

  "If I get back to my room and even one link is out of place, I'll be wearing your balls as earrings."

  Croft cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Yes, ma'am."

  *****

  Bathed, rested, and refreshed, Jalia yawned as she followed the Minoan guards down the hall to the king's private dining room.

  Entayta had finished the maze after her, then Akeyko, Axtasusa, and just as the suns had begun their descent, finally Cockinti.

  Jalia would have preferred to flop face down on her plush bed, but the promise of more delicious, non-processed food was too tempting to deny.

  The heat of the day hadn't cooled yet, so Jalia had chosen a lightweight white dress from her closet of appropriated clothing and wound her new chain around her hips.

  She had cut her hair off to a short, sleek cap, the color now a gradient mix of blues and purples, her eyes she changed to match the gemstones she wore.

  When she entered the dining room, Cockinti was the first to comment on her new look.

  "Ten times what you paid for the Luna Patch."

  The poor Shitter was sporting a pallid complexion; her hair was frizzy without the attention of her beauty drones, her dress wrinkled.

  In short, she looked like a hot mess. Jalia snorted and took her seat, sending a smile Axtasusa's way before answering.

  "Struggling to dress without your little bots, huh Cockeye?" she asked with a facetious coo.

  Cockinti growled, thumping her fist on the table irately. "Twenty times!"

  Jalia wondered how much Cockinti would be willing to part with, but she didn't deserve such a lovely creature as Jalia's little Luna.

  "First, I didn't buy her. I won her in a card game from a smuggler. Second, I can't remove her without killing her, in which case all you'd be paying me for is a dead Nylalunae. Third, no."