The Superman & Wonder Woman Fan Archive

Chapter Seven

“Diana?”

Donna’s voice broke through my sudden burst of self-pity. I willed down the tears that burned me and lifted my chin. I stepped closer, ignoring the tighter grip of Kal’s hand around mine. “I had to obey, Donna. I’m sorry.”

“Obey him?” Her gaze traced over face. “Diana…”

“Not him.” I couldn’t help it. My gaze slid to the dais curving before the rows of chairs and fixed on the golden throne set beneath an ornate canopy.

Donna’s gaze followed and heat flushed her cheeks. “That is…” She gritted her teeth, biting off the rest of the words, glaring at the Sky Throne. She glared at Kal. “You too?”

Kal nodded as his hand squeezed mine. “Me too,” he said.

Donna swore under her breath, something long, harsh and convoluted in the ancient languages.

“This isn’t right. Others…aren’t meant to decide something as important as how you find a mate.”

She blew out a heated breath and stepped back from me. A wry smile pulled at her mouth and her dark eyes gleamed. It was an act, I could feel the tension still gripping her, but I wanted to hug my sister. “I can’t believe this day will change you.”

“Neither can I,” Kal murmured. He stared up into the new dawn. “We need to go, Diana.”

Donna rubbed at her chin. She tried to smile but didn’t quite pull it off. “May fate grant you happiness.”

The ancient blessing tightened my gut.

I tried to thank her, but the words wouldn’t come. My mouth twitched, forming a smile as strained as hers. I stumbled after Kal. Seconds dragged and it became less raw to take a final glance at my sister as she tried to keep the pain of loss from her face.

“I won’t make you break contact with your family.”

The pain in my chest eased. “Thank you,” I murmured.

“In every way I can make it, you’re my consort, Diana, not my sklava.” Warm blue eyes held me and I wanted to believe him. His hand framed my jaw, the heat of his palm warming my chilled blood.

“Today may change your status, but I need you to know this.”

What was he saying? Hope warmed me for my future with a man who had managed to worm his way under my skin.

Feelings swamped me, and with them one feeling I never really expected. “Kal…”

“Well done, brother dear.” Kara’s cool voice iced the warmth of the moment. “I knew I could rely on you.”

His sister’s red silk gown rippled against her lush body and the satisfied smile on her face irked me.

I held down my immediate rise of anger.

Kara had a princely lord standing behind her, a gestation-chamber-born son of the Coluan Queen. Yes, Kara had snared a mate from the line that hated her.

Not exactly wise, but a queen always needed a challenge. Kara had his hand gripped hard, her knuckles white. From his tight expression, her grip probably kept him from bolting. She’d obviously grown bored with the men tripping over themselves to impress her. But Vril Dox? His loathing was almost tangible.

“This is the last order you’ll give me, Kara,” Kal muttered, edging around her and continuing the long walk to the wide, curved dais.

Her dark gaze flicked over me, smug, superior. “I think it’ll be the first of many.”

Kal laughed, but his expression turned hard. “I told you gloating doesn’t become you. Empresses don’t gloat.”

He stopped at the foot of a small series of steps leading up to the platform. His voice dropped to a rough whisper. “Remember how fortunate you are today, Kara. Remember it for the rest of your reign.” He paused. “Because if I could, I would rip it all from you. Right now. In front of everyone. So, no, sister dear, I will not follow any more of your orders.”

I followed him up the stairs, glancing back at the silent Kara. Her face had flushed and her jaw tensed. Uncertainty had replaced the sense of smugness.

“Kal?” I squeezed his hand, wanting to ease the burn of fury in his face. “If she listens she’ll be a better Empress.”

“I’m male, Diana.” He stopped beside the ornate throne dominating the center of the platform. Light flickered over its carved gold and blood-red cushions. “Queens do not listen to us.”

“True.”

He glared at me. “You’re not helping.”

I shrugged. “Was I supposed to?”

“You’re immune to my will, aren’t you?” His finger traced hot above the cold curve of the torc he’d put around my neck. “Anyone else wearing this collar can barely speak.”

I bit back a smile. “I think hot thoughts.”

The flare of desire in his eyes, like a drop of molten gold, had those thoughts searing through my brain. I stepped closer, almost brushing against the smooth fabric of his sleeve.

“How hot?” His raw whisper had my breath short.

My body swayed into his, Kal’s hand skirting over my hip. “Should I show you?”

A polite cough broke the moment. Unwilling, I took a step back, cold air washing away the warmth of Kal’s body.

Wayne gave me a smooth smile. He adjusted the fall of his cape and there was that glitter in his dark eyes. The “I know something you don’t know” look.

Wayne lifted an eyebrow and the corners of his smile twitched. He fixed his attention on Kal. “The Empress is almost ready. She wants to know that everything is prepared. Is it?”

Kal gave a short nod.

He glanced to the women standing in a line below us, their blue robes gleaming. “I gave the command for my other sklavas to be released last night. Sunrise will release them from their service. Wayne, make sure that they are well looked after for as long as they live – they must never want for anything and are free to choose a mate of their own. Kara,” his eyes slid to the end of the dais, where his sister stood with Vril Dox, that humanoid’s face still locked into an expression of disgust, “has made her choice. Such as it is.” He paused and that muscle jumped in his jaw again. “And I, of course, I followed my duty and made Diana my sklava.”

Wayne let out a slow breath and he winced. “I know you don’t believe it, but I tried to convince the Empress not to do this, Kal.”

“My mother wants direct female succession. Her daughter, not a stranger fate chooses.” Kal adjusted his cape and straightened. “And who are we to argue with that?”

I looked out over the crowd, wondering if Donna was nearby.

Then I saw it – a distinctly Themysciran breastplate of armour. I squinted and tried to focus on it – who had followed me here? Did Donna know?

A hush fell over the gathered crowd and, with open braziers lighting her way, the Empress led the procession to the dais down the carpeted center aisle. Her regal satin gown gleamed, gold thread and encrusted jewels glittered in the flickering light, contrasting with her pale, almost fragile face.

The assembled gathering stood and gave her rousing cheer, “Ave, Ave, Ave”

“Diana.” Kal’s hand gripped mine, his thumb running soothing patterns against my skin. “Stay calm.”

Something easy for him to say.                                                               

. He didn’t have this feeling of having let down his people. He didn’t have to worry about breaking his mother’s heart. He didn’t have his sister somewhere in the crowd of hundreds

Not that I’d looked for Donna again. I would have to hold her gaze and bear the heavy weight of her disappointment and loss.

I straightened my spine and held my face up. I had to deal with one thing at a time. Right then, I had to make ready for the Empress and kneeling before the woman who had destroyed me.

Wayne moved to my side and Kal’s hand tightened around mine. “What have you done, Kal?”

Wayne’s voice was no more than a rough whisper. He stared down at me and for a brief moment, fire flickered in his dark eyes. “Her spirit is unbowed.”

“I did all that I was asked,” Kal muttered. “Can I help it if Diana is still regal?”

“Regal?” Wayne’s finger traced along my bare shoulder, the warmth of his touch burning away the chill of the moment. For a brief moment, his eyes blazed…lighting up his face. He certainly was handsome, darkly so, and he might have been my mate today – how different the scene would be for me – I would be queen, rightfully claiming her province. But I would not have Kal.

“Really?” Wayne asked now

“Wayne…” The raw threat in Kal’s voice curled tension tight in my stomach. “She’s my sklava.”

Wayne hadn’t looked away from me, nor had he dropped his hand. I found myself riveted to the fire in his eyes, even as Kal, a man I more than cared for, held tight to my hand.

What did Wayne know that I did not know? What was reason for the tension between Kal and Wayne?

“Is she now?” was the only response that Wayne made.

I willed my gaze down, fixing on the carpet-covered boards, looking for flaws in the blood-red carpet, seeking the patterns in the tightly woven silk. One of my footprints was clearly visible, marring the perfection of the carpet and I winced. The Empress had reached the edge of the dais. Her mate, Jor-El offered her his arm as she stopped at the steps. She ascended each long stair, her focus only on the next tread.

Kara gave her mother a low bow, half dragging Vril Dox into following her action. “Your Grace.”

The Empress looked up and smiled. She patted her daughter’s head as she looked at Vril Dox. “Keep him secure, Kara,” she muttered, her voice sharp, brittle. “You’ve captured a handful.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The Empress shuffled forward, her gown rustling and scratching over the thin carpet lining the way to the throne. Kal’s hand slipped from mine and slid up to my shoulder. He leaned in close, his breath stirring my skin. “Kneel, please, Diana.”

My stomach knotted but I obeyed, dropping down onto my knees. The carpet cushioned me and I bent my head, exposing my neck.

I breathed in and out, slow, steady. I was sklava.

Was this how they felt in the beginning before the unnatural calm took them?

Knotted up with tension at the need to obey, to be seen to obey…

But if Wayne had sensed my unbowed spirit, then the Empress would and my death would undoubtedly follow. I needed to concentrate. I focused again on the silk weave of the carpet and on my footprint ruining its perfection.

I felt hot eyes on me – oh, I expected to feel the gaze of the Empress, but these were different – I could feel the hatred directed at me. Unwilling to let the feeling go, and unable to raise my bowed head, I closed my eyes and used an ancient technique that I had mastered early. I focused all my energies to open the vision of my third eye. Using this awareness, I scanned the entire area, seeking to identify the image that I had seen earlier. Themysciran armour had no place in the Kryptonian Empire.

Unaware of what I was doing, Kal continued to participate in the ceremony, his hand resting lightly on my shoulder.

 “Kal.” The Empress’s brittle voice cracked on his name. “You will support your sister.”

“Your Grace.”

The words were short and as obedient as my bowed head. I expected nothing less. The Empress expected nothing less from him either, his mother not sparing me a glance as she shuffled past us to the ornate throne.

My gaze slid sideways, and yet I continued to use my third eye to scan the area, careful to keep my head bowed. Then, I saw a quick movement and I allowed my inner vision to move towards the spot. What I saw almost rocked me back and left me deeply wounded in spirit. I lingered a moment longer, taking in all that I could see, then restored my vision back to my body. If I had been alone, I might have given into the luxury of curling myself up into a ball to avoid the pain. I was grateful for Kal’s reassuring hand on my shoulder, it tightened now, perhaps he felt me tremble and shake?

Oblivious to me, the Empress sank into the thick cushions of the throne with a sigh.

On previous occasions, a heavy gold brocaded canopy had shielded her, but now her guardsmen drew it back, and the throne stood exposed.

“I waited too long,” Empress Lara murmured. Her fingers flexed around the end of the Sky Throne. “But a daughter came so late to me…”

Her mate, Jor-El, lightly touched her hand. “Lara?”

“You only gave me two children, Jor-El. Think on that in the years that you have. Tradition rewards us all.”

Her smile was thin and a waspish edge lined her voice. She lifted her chin. “Wayne!” The tone rose. “How long?”

Wayne paused and I counted the passing seconds in my slowed heartbeats. “Your timing, as always, is perfect, Majesty. Less than two minutes.”

I could sense the Empress’s aura begin to diminish as her fingers tightened even further. Her time had almost come to its end…and then her fingers loosened and the woman pushed herself to her feet. I flinched, my throat tightened, unexpectedly. What I had seen with my inner vision earlier, added to my confused, swirling emotions. But just now, I needed to focus my thoughts and energies to the moment at hand.

The Empress had condemned me, but she was also the Empress of a large Empire, had been for too long.

Honoring a ruler had been bred into us for too long. And now, one of the most important rulers in the Empire, the Empress herself, was about to bid farewell.

The crowd was silent. The nervousness gripping me held them too. Already the pink light of dawn crept over the sky, the stars fading to nothing. My gaze flicked to the rows of people and the long, carpeted avenue left empty. As the red sun of Krypton pulled itself over the flat horizon, its rays would activate the machinery that governed the preservation chamber. A long shaft of silver light would flash over the bare grass and woven silk and take the Empress, absorbing her body, creating a virtual image of her to be accessed at will in the thought library. Like her ancestors, the Empress would join the ranks of the Kryptonian phantom host – to guide, to advise, to counsel, but never to rule again.

Now, seconds before the dawn broke, the Empress Lara waved a finger at Kara, who strode across the dais, Vril Dox in tow.

Jor-El stepped forward and pulled Vril Dox back to stand beside him. Kara took her place at her mother’s right hand.

“My time is at an end.” The Empress’s voice pulsed with strength but she sound tired and weak.

She lifted the thin diamond studded coronet from her hair and held it on a trembling palm. A heartbeat later, she gave it to her daughter, who pushed the circlet of glittering gold over her fair hair.

“Honor your new ruling Empress as you have given your supreme devotion to me.”

The crowd shifted, murmurs carrying on the still, cold air. I held my breath and my attention fixed on the horizon.

Kal had promised me everything, but I was sklava and wore his colours.

The dawning sun would change my life, change me—my gut cramped—change him. How long would his promises last after the sun rose?

My heart thudded and I watched the first gleam of the suns rays, watched as the machinery of the preservation chamber came alive to trap and channel those rays into silver light.

I crushed my eyes shut.

Light seemed to be everywhere all at once and the sunlight felt hot against my skin.

I gritted my teeth against the swell of emotions, even as I wanted to howl in agony. I had become sklava.

I willed my eyes open. My status may no longer be Princess, but I would not be weak.

The Empress had vanished. Kara stood as the new Empress.

It was over.

And then my golden torc, with its red and blue pentagon, tarnished black, slid from my neck and hit the floor with a dull thud.