Taranheim 181

“Alright Mimi, pick up your practice sword,” Terry instructed me two days after Julia had left.

I picked up the sword in the courtyard of the castle where rows of perfectly trimmed bushes were planted along with many beautiful flower beds.

The weather was warm with a lovely breeze; the sun was shining brightly in the sky and blessing us with its rays.

I couldn’t believe this was how I had to spend such a wonderful morning.

I picked up the wooden sword slowly and hesitantly.

“Okay, now, what you want to do is use both hands and keep them loose. Have one hand on the bottom of the hilt and one at the top.” Terry instructed.

I clumsily tried to imitate his own grip. In my eyes, it looked pretty similar, but apparently I was very off. Terry scratched his head and looked at me in awe. “Your form is so bad…”

I sighed and crossed my arms indignantly. “Come on! This is stupid! I don’t see why you want me to learn to use a sword!”

“I told you; what if I’m not around and you get attacked?” He replied. “You must have a way to defend yourself!”

I dropped the sword in frustration. “You know I hate swords! I could never actually use one of these things!”

Terry made a face. “My Queen, I demand you pick that sword up this instant!”

I grinned. “Make me!”

And he suddenly charged me. I yelped and brought my wooden blade up quickly. He knocked it out of my grasp in one blow.

“See, you’d be dead right now if this was for real.” Terry stated the obvious.

Perhaps he had a point… I sighed. “Very well.”

I was just glad he was feeling better so soon after Julia left him. I wish I had his strength—or any man’s strength. It seemed like they worked through their emotions so quickly.

“Maybe you can even defend Paris if you get good enough!” Terry joked.

I hit his wooden sword as hard as I could—which wasn’t very, and I said, “don’t insult my husband!”

Terry smiled at me, and then his smiled melted into a frown. “He really loves you… He drank himself silly when you were unconscious for three days. I was afraid he would kill himself with how much he was drinking.”

I frowned deeply.

To think, I had told him no more drinking…

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I had not seen a return of the menacing black eyes since Morgan’s death, and I hoped that the lustful god would not come back. He shouldn’t be able to since he no longer had a vessel, but I wasn’t sure. I wished I knew more about him.

Although a large amount of moths were wild mothmen, we civilized moths ignored them almost entirely and chose not to speak of them or their dark and reprehensible behaviors and gods—which led to us knowing almost nothing about them.

There must be some way to find out more about the lustful god, but I simply couldn’t think of one. There were no books in the castle pertaining to moths at all, let alone wild mothmen.

I wondered if Gerta knew anything at all. She was always so knowledgeable and resourceful. But…

Gerta hated me with a passion at the moment. She would not speak to me and avoided me when she could. She was angry and blamed me for Morgan’s death. Because I wanted to give her some space, I asked Paris if he wouldn’t mind scrubbing me down in the morning and at night before I got dressed in her stead. He gladly obliged.

Paris was being very sweet to me. He promised me we would finally ride to the city together today. He would not take me to the lower city where the peasants dwelled, but he would take me to the upper city. It was a good step in furthering my plans to eventually be able to venture into the city alone.

I felt I almost had him at the point where he would let me already because of the conversation I head him having with his advisors the other day.

“My king, did you not hear the rumor that your wife has supposedly been giving moth slaves food and gold? You need to be careful with her. She could win their favor to the point where she can incite them to overthrow you.”

“How dare you accuse my wife of treason. You will not speak of her that way again. Do you understand?” Paris replied threateningly.

I grinned smugly. He was entirely on my side, my diary!