One Century to Marriage. Prisoners of the Magic Kingdom. Natalie Yacobson

down, help yourself!» Medea Shai poured him some wine. There were no chairs near the table except for her throne, but here some glittering creature crawled up behind him and touched Conrad on the shoulder with a claw. He turned around and saw a pedestal that resembled a coiled snake.

      He could not sit on it. He didn’t feel like eating either.

      «Why such monsters serve you?» – He went straight to what he was worried about.

      «Do you think I have to fight this war alone?»

      «That’s not what I mean! Aren’t your subjects supposed to be exclusively elves and fairies?»

      «Oh, no,» she even laughed. «Fairies’ Queen is just a title. It means that all magical creatures are subject to me. Fairies are the strongest among us, they form the highest caste, and to rule them is to subjugate them all at once.»

      «And I thought monsters were the strongest. They are such giants!»

      «People are naive. But I can teach you to see deeper than any man can.»

      Corundum sprouted in Medea Shai’s forehead. The skin around it gave the impression of porcelain about to crack under the weight of the stone. But the stone itself resembled a third eye. Is it true that the third eye is all-seeing?

      «Do you enjoy my company?»

      Conrad nodded.

      «Do you want to fight me further?»

      «It was you who declared war on me!» He reasonably reminded me.

      «I had to lure you to Shai.»

      «Where did your kingdom come from? From nothing!»

      «Shai exists wherever I wish it to be,» Medea Shai raked her sharp fingernails across the table. The corundum in her forehead seemed to glow with fire.

      «You may summon your advisor and the knights to join in the feast. It is not proper to leave them in the vestibule.»

      Conrad first made sure that there were no more severed heads on the table among the courses and only then called his retinue.

      The two roses, scarlet and white, had been crushed by the hooves of the horses on the battlefield, but in her hands they came to life. One of the monsters picked them up from the bloody field and brought them to her with a bow. Even if you put the flowers in a vase of water, they do not refresh as quickly as from the touch of her hands.

      «But these same hands cause rashes, leprosy, pustules, and various infections. Don’t touch her,» whispered the counselor, who had reluctantly joined the feast. He squinted warily at the lady of the castle. «Do not sleep with her! Do not sleep with her, or you will not awake alive! Or worse, you’ll be a cripple. Why do we need a crippled king?»

      But Conrad wouldn’t listen. Who could listen to it? Near him was such a beautiful woman. She was not a match for his ailing and stunted bride. The princess of Luan Araminta has gray skin and a gaunt body, but Medea Shai has tall, feminine breasts, a face like a porcelain doll and beautiful wings. It does not matter that they are black. They go very well with the slender waist.

      There is a purple blush on her cheeks, like the crust of an apple showing through under a layer of porcelain.

      Could she break? It feels like she’s all made of porcelain.

      «So touch it, check it out?»

      Someone’s voice rang in his brain. Or was it coming from the walls, where bas-reliefs of inhuman faces were carved? Or was it the roses whispering with their hundreds of scarlet mouths? The roses here are so reminiscent of a maiden’s mouth, and sometimes the lips of vampires.

      In the presence of the insolent counselor, the feast turned to hell.

      «Don’t drink the wine!» He whispered to the king. «She will poison you! She will bewitch you! Enchant you!»

      But Conrad ignored the advice and drank. And he didn’t die! The counselor bit his tongue.

      However, besides poison, there might be other reasons to feel fear.

      The fruit on the plates turned out to be alive. One peach slipped from his hands and rolled on the floor, laughing. A ruddy apple rolled over in his fingers, smiled at him with a woman’s face as if painted on the rind and winked. The same faces appeared on the unfamiliar tropical fruit. The mouths on the peels opened and sang in unfamiliar languages.

      «And these creatures we ate!» The counselor jumped up from the table. The knights felt sick, but not from fear. It seemed that the fruit was already stirring and singing in their bellies.

      «They will vomit, but they will survive,» Medea Shai accompanied them with a glance as they fled.

      «Now we are alone!» Conrad was glad he hadn’t eaten anything, or he would be sick now, too.

      The living fruit at the feast, the statues that came to life, the flowers with talking mouths – it was enough to drive even a strong wrestler mad. But he proved to be a tough nut to crack, and he got the prize. The mistress of the castle ushered him into her bedroom.

      A black salamander flew in front of them, posing as a candelabra lighting the way. There was lighter from its scales than from real candles.

      Medea Shai’s bed appeared to be made of black flowers. Only the canopy and silk bedspread stood out in bright purple. But a dragon, coiled in rings around the bed, would have alarmed anyone. He glared so fiercely at his guest that the king instinctively drew his sword.

      «He’s not jealous,» Medea Shai gently stroked the dragon’s scaly spine.

      «Should he be jealous?»

      She only smiled enigmatically.

      «People are so innocent!»

      I’ve had many women before, Conrad wanted to say, but realized that by innocence she meant something else. Was it naivety? Was it people’s ignorance of enchantments and magic? Was it a mystery that united only her and the dragon? And it was a secret Conrad shouldn’t have poked his nose into. He felt as if he were standing under a keyhole watching Medea Shai make love to a dragon. And in fact it would be the dragon who would be watching their coitus. Even an experienced womanizer would be uncomfortable here. Conrad already was. The dragon’s eyes were staring right at him as Medea Shai unbuttoned his sash.

      The white and red fairies were already fighting under the window in the dizzying height above the wasteland. The red fairy was winning.

      Passion is strongest! The black moths that had fluttered out of the gloom were lacing Medea Shai’s corset, trying not to catch her wings. Conrad looked at the half-naked fairies’ queen and realized he didn’t care. Let the dragon watch as much as he wanted. It was as long as he didn’t interrupt them.

      Thorns in the heart

      When Conrad awoke, Medea Shai was not there. Even the bed was not crumpled where she lay. Her black dragon was gone, too. But the other two, the white one and the amber one, sat unobtrusively in the doorway. They did not interfere with Conrad as he left the bedroom.

      Going through the castle in search of the queen was not the smartest thing to do. The enfilades of the hall resembled a labyrinth. After ten minutes, Conrad realized that he would not be able to find his way back to the bedroom on his own. Servants were nowhere to be seen, and the wattles of black roses that abundantly braided the walls and columns proved biting. Conrad almost lost an arm when he caught them.

      All that remained was to turn down a dark corridor where there were no roses. True, he had to find his way through it as well. The chandeliers and chandeliers which had previously gnawed at him through the eyes of salamanders were gone. But the keyholes in the many doors let out a measured glow, now azure, now pink and emerald. Behind the doors one might have thought they had locked a rainbow. All of the doors were different shapes and sizes.

      The end of the corridor