As Tears Go By Part 3 (rough)

The ceremony occurred a few hours later. There were a number of important people in attendance. Indeed, it seemed that all of the nobility in the county was sitting there. The truth was only thirty or so select individuals were there, most were those close enough to the city to make the journey in a day’s time, with a few notable exceptions. Viscount Trajian was present, with his son Dracos and his daughters, Anna and Catherine. Viscount Patrick Valentine was also there, with his children, his son Vincent, who was a knight of the realm, his daughter Faye, and his niece, Marie. Even Earl Reginald Cain and his son Bradley were there.

The ceremony itself was a blur, a lot of high speech and pomp that seemed to last for hours, though it was probably only one. Autum swore an oath, and was given a number of symbols of office. The Count droned on about her duties and what was expected of her. At the end of the speech, she knelt and her seal was hung around her neck on a fine chain.

The ceremony concluded, and the assembled nobles exited the room in the structured fashion one expects from a court function, save the Count, Viscount Trajian, and Dawn. The two men moved to speak with Autum, but she took note that it appeared that Dawn hung back.

The Count spoke first. “Autum, Viscount Trajian has a request to make of you, if you will hear him out.” Autum, still too stunned to speak, nodded absently. “Very good. Should you require anything, I will be here.” He bowed in a courtly manner and returned to his high-backed seat.
               
Autum did not know what kind of man Viscount Trajian was, and did not know what to expect. “My lady,” he said in a smooth, silk-like voice and an accent that hinted of an exotic locale, “please, accompany me to the garden, where we may speak freely, and at length.” He gestured for her to follow, and walked slowly, but with purpose. She followed him.

Outside the audience chamber, she saw many of the nobles who had been present at her knighting, laughing and speaking with each other. When they saw her and Viscount Trajian, they invariably greeted them with salutes and gestures of respect. It all seemed foreign to Autum, and she began to wonder if it were not all a dream.

Outside the castle, they saw no one. The gardens were well kept, of course, and the small paths that ran through them allowed for a very pleasant walk in the early spring. But Autum’s attention was firmly on her feet as they walked. She was still in shock and it was only the fact that Trajian stood directly before her that she looked at him fully for the first time. He was tall man, slender, but clearly strong. While he looked like an aged man, the way he carried himself and the fluidity of his movements demonstrated that age had not robbed him of much of the strength and dexterity of his youth. His hair was a dark iron grey, long, but swept back from his forehead. His features were pleasant to look upon, with a strength and virility that spoke of the eastern corners of the empire. Autum, however, was fixated on his eyes. They were very dark, nearly black but with the vaguest hints of crimson in them. Autum thought for a moment that she was looking into the void, and when she finally broke the spell, she did not see the Viscount, but a monster posing as a man. A twisted figure from the depths of her imagination, but from the creature’s breast sprang a faint light. Though she was terrified, she felt her hand reach for the light, but as she did so, the twisted clawed hand of the creature grabbed hers. She screamed and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable attack.
“What is the matter, my dear?” the rich, baritone voice of the Viscount said.

She opened her eyes. She looked once more on the figure of the Viscount. Was his vague smile kindly or sinister? She could not tell. She shook her head to clear it before she spoke. “It’s nothing,” she said at last. “Just… my imagination.”

Viscount Trajian raised an eyebrow. “And what did your imagination show you?” He said the word “imagination” with an odd emphasis.

Autum’s face grew flushed. She did not expect him to be so blunt with his questions. “For a moment, I… I thought that you were a monster,” she said softly, as she looked away in embarrassment.
Viscount Trajian laughed heartily, causing Autum’s cheeks to flash hotter. “Perhaps that is not so far from the truth.” He said it in a way that caused her a sudden chill. She looked at him once again. He was still himself, but he was smiling fully now, and she could see his teeth. They appeared to be inhumanly sharp. “You see me for what I am, but I wonder how?” Suddenly, his smile changed to a more human expression, and his teeth appeared to be normal, causing her to wonder if it was not another hallucination.

Trajian, as if reading her thoughts, spoke again. “The second time, it was not your ‘imagination’. I showed you what I thought you had already seen. It appears that I have broken my guise in vain, for you saw something else.” He paused and his smile grew world-weary and sad. “My dear, you are the first I have shown my true nature in nearly a millennium of life. The truth is, I am a monster of fairy tale that is rumored to prey upon people as a wolf preys upon sheep. The rumors and fairy tales, however, are rarely true, though they always contain a small kernel of truth. But you saw something else. Describe it for me, if you would.”

Autum’s mind raced. She was having difficulty deciding what she should do. The Viscount patiently stood and waited, and at length, his good-natured smile won her over. “I looked into your eyes, and saw nothing but blackness,” she said matter-of-factly. “When I broke my gaze, you appeared to be a twisted form of yourself, no longer human. You were covered in darkness… but you had a light… in your heart. It reminded me of what I saw when Dawn…”

The look in Trajian’s eye caused her to stop. “Go on,” he said gently. “What about Dawn?”

Autum hesitated because of the eagerness in his eyes, but his tone soothed her enough that she continued. “I saw a light from her eyes. I… don’t know what it was. It made her appear… attractive.” Again she felt herself growing hot, and she felt a faint stirring in her body that she did not yet understand.

Viscount Trajian was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke, it was softly, and in tones hinting at discretion. “My lady, would you kindly come with me and do as I ask?”


She thought for a moment. Lingering fear made her hesitant, though his request seemed earnest and harmless. “Yes,” she said after a moment. He offered her his hand, and she took it willingly.