A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Two

"You're crazy."

I seem to hear that statement a lot lately.

"You're crazy!"

Well, it's not my fault I can never say no to a challenge... literally.

The longest I ever went without responding to a challenge was two hours. My tongue swelled up from mischievously magical circumstances and nearly choked me before I finally managed to gasp out, "yes, I will eat a whole honey cake round as fast as I can!"

It took me a half hour and a little bit of throwing up, but I proved the cook's son wrong.

My fathers didn't know what to make of me. Neither of them had grown up with stellar parents. They were, respectively, Emperor Elio of the Sun and Consort Ryu the Beautiful. Emperor Elio was the prince and foremost honorable warrior of Rahasia, powerful enough to control the power of the sun with the gold-inked tattoos etched into his skin. His mother died young, and his father sent him off to war at thirteen to go win glory for the kingdom. Elio could die so much as his royal father cared, so long as he died gloriously.

Consort Ryu was the illegitimate son of Rahasian Advisor Hakim and his concubine from Okami, Valentina. His half-brothers, the legitimate ones, pinned him down and burned his entire body with signet rings embellished with rose prints. That's why his whole body, like Elio's, is marked. That's why my father, Elio, in all his romance, got a rose brand at his neck. Like promise rings, it binds them together. Saying Ryu will never be alone in his pain, and Elio will never abandon him.

That's why they never abandoned me growing up. Sure, my surrogate mother was actually Ryu's cousin, and biological father Elio. But I wasn't raised with her because she only wanted to help my dads out. I was raised with my fathers. They were my parents. Parts of my soul. They gave everything for me.

I was raised by the two men who changed the world forever in the First Divine War and defeated the gods with love alone. What young princess wouldn't swell with pride with a legacy like that?

I stand between them now, staring out on their balcony. A soft breeze brings in the scent of sand and sun. At mid-horizon, I see Lioness Gate, the marble lions screaming silently at the sky, warding off our enemies who want our riches. Past the Empire's great city walls, I can see the jewel of the horizon. The sun setting. My skin, a mix of the golden blend of Ryu's Okami mother, the stronger brown of Elio's soldier-roughened body. Ryu runs his delicate fingers through my dark hair, braiding it back with glass beads to match his wavy, white-black locks. Elio examines my calluses with pride. I see how the suns trapped in his eyes match mine, how, aside from my upward-tilted smile that mimics Papa Ryu's, his gaze is mine.

Harsh and burning, like the desert sun.

"You're turning into a fine warrior at seventeen, my dear." I stare up into Baba Elio's deep-wrinkled eyes, raw energy reflecting the sunlight, the pride in his gaze. The heavy gold crown on his head, power inked in his skin. "Soon, you'll be out slaying golems like I did."

"Thank you, baba." I smile, my sharp teeth pinching at my lips. His black beard tickles my cheek as he clasps me to him, a strong grip I return, just like a soldier. "But I already slew a golem at twelve."

He laughs, shushing me when Ryu glares daggers behind his back. "Now, now, Ryu doesn't know about that one. Let's keep it that way, huh?"

Ryu takes my other hand, whispers delicately in my ear as he playfully shoves at Elio. At fifty, I'd argue he's still the most beautiful person in the entire kingdom. Age has hardly touched him, the high cheekbones, angular eyes with the little creases. The white-black kissed hair, weaving to his shoulders. Lips red as pomegranate seeds. "Sing me a song, little one."

I sing a brief ballad of Ode Ngayoh, the mortal woman who imprisoned gods and became the goddess of death. It's a beautiful song, but the thought of her nearly sours my entire performance.

You will never back down from a challenge.

Thanks for that, Ode. You're the reason I drank myself into a stupor two days ago when one of my warrior buddies challenged me to a drinking game. Finished the carafe, nearly puked my guts out...

Ryu claps as I finish the ballad, ending at Ode shedding her mortal coil and becoming one with the stars, marrying the god of life. Giving birth to Time herself.

"Beautiful, my little one!" Ryu's smile lights up his whole face. Baba Elio behind me smiles appreciatively.

I grin sheepishly at Ryu in return, hiding my gaze so he won't see the resentment in my eyes at thinking of that swaggering goddess of death. So self-assured that I'd be grateful for a gift that makes me a glorified servant to other peoples' ego trips. "Thank you, Papa Ryu."

"She'll become a legend," Elio murmurs, "just like Ode."

"I'll be myself, Arnina." I snap back, shocking them both. "And leave it at that."

This is not Ode's story.

This is mine.

Mine.

Mine, dammit.

And no one can take it from me. I'd fight them if they tried. Even that precious Ode.

You will never back down from a challenge.

My fathers say that the goddess of death is like my auntie, that she saved their lives in the Divine Wars. My full name is Arnina Ode, named in her honor, the honor of goddess Ode Ngayoh. They tell me that I should be grateful. But grateful... Grateful?

That's the trouble with princesses in those pale-people Idriolan fairy tales from that ice kingdom. Cinderella. Snow White. They were all too damn grateful. If they complained once in a while, they'd learn things the hard way and wouldn't go around working for assholes or eating poisoned apples.

Ode cannot even know how hard her so-called "gift" was for me.

***

Readers,

Arnina isn't the type of princess to eat a poisoned apple. She's the type to steal the whole basket then throw it at your head.

-Sophia