Page 12 of The Hunchback
“Wild fruit preserves, scented candles, and natural body wash,” the woman responded while wrapping my purchase.
I gaped at her, and she burst out laughing before extending me the bag containing the items I’d bought.
“She lives alone, deep in the Godswood,” the merchant explained. “Despite her age, that stubborn old woman is self-sufficient, and makes most of the things she needs on the day to day. She rarely sells for currency, preferring to trade for the things she cannot make. For this, however,” she said pointing at my bag with her chin, “Old Nan will take her share in credits.”
“Thank you, Madam,” I said politely. “This was most informative.”
“Please, call me Ellen,” the merchant said. “You will soon find out that, despite all appearances, Paris is quite informal.”
“Well then, thank you, Ellen,” I said with a smile.
“My pleasure, Vestal Esmeralda.”
I left her stall having lost any further desire to shop or wander around. Too many new questions swirled in my head. How in the world had Kwazeem come to be in Frollo’s care? Who was his mother? Why did he enhance me rather than drain me?
More than ever, the theory of them being siblings seemed credible. I needed to dig into Frollo’s past and that of the previous Vestals who had come to Paris. It was common practice for a Vestal who didn’t marry her current Praetor to rotate between cities and moons in the hopes of finding her match. Therefore, keeping track of a Vestal’s whereabouts would be no small task, especially considering the swaps were often agreed upon merely between the Praetors and Vestals involved. It was an informal practice not strictly controlled.
Back on Obscura, once I’d been ordained, my profile had gone up on the registry and every interested Praetor sent me an invitation. I merely picked the most appealing one. Should the day come when I decided to leave Paris, I could simply either put my name back up in the registry or directly contact the Praetor whose temple I wanted to serve, and hope he would accept. Naturally, a Vestal couldn’t leave her temple until a replacement for her had been found.
I didn’t quite know where to start. Interrogating Kwazeem on the previous Vestals might tip him off. And asking Frollo might give him the wrong impression I felt jealous of them. My complete absence of possessiveness towards him spoke volumes as to the fact we would never be a match. Sure, I found him physically attractive, and my body had reacted strangely to his energy, but I believed it was merely because it felt so strongly like Kwazeem’s. Furthermore, knowing he’d been taking turns with the Maidens did nothing to endear him to me. My lack of jealousy there as well confirmed there was no future for us. The mere thought of one of the Maidens drooling over my Kwazeem made me want to commit murder.
My Kwazeem…
Despite his efforts to hide his attraction, it had been plain to see on his face, reflecting my own. So many times, his fingers had twitched as he clearly fought the urge to reach out and touch me. I wished he would have given in. Then again, how would I have reacted if he had?
You know very well how you would have reacted.
My cheeks heated at the thought. A few passersby gave me a knowing smile, which only embarrassed me further, but this time with a tinge of humiliation. It didn’t take a genius to know they were assuming naughty thoughts involving the Praetor had crossed my mind. All of them likely believed he and I had been doing the deed since my arrival, two days ago.
How wrong they were.
But that did give me an idea. The Maidens and I would be practicing the Chant again in a couple of hours from now. Most of them were gossips from whom I could gather some intel, and all of them still foolishly hoped to shackle the Praetor. It had taken me a minute to realize a man of his ambition would never settle for a female that couldn’t further his status. These Maidens were too weak, having been flunked out of Obscura’s temple in their early teens for failing to achieve high enough power. As cruel as that sounded, they would always play second violin to a Vestal.
Relieved to leave the prying eyes of the crowd behind, I entered the shelter of the temple only to find Frollo getting off the lift and marching towards me. I groaned inwardly but plastered a friendly smile on my face as I met him halfway. The same magnetic aura emanated from him. However, while my body responded with lust again, this time, I realized it wasn’t lustfor him. Frollo’s aura awakened my senses and made me itch for release, but my mind was dampening the mindless frenzy I’d felt yesterday morning. Even though my nipples hardened and racy images popped into my head, they featured a male with a much different face than the Praetor’s.
“Hello, Mera. Sorry for missing you this morning,” Frollo said, with his signature suave expression.
Refraining from rolling my eyes, I couldn’t comprehend how the Maidens could fall for it. Worse still, I regretted my eagerness in letting him call me Mera. On his lips, it almost felt dirty.
“No need to apologize. You’re a busy man with far too many responsibilities to also burden yourself with looking after me,” I said sympathetically. “And it’s not like your beautiful city doesn’t have plenty to keep oneself occupied.”
“So I see. You’ve been shopping?” he asked, although his question was more of a statement as he eyed my bag meaningfully.
My stomach dropped. Although I owed him no explanation about my comings and goings, I didn’t want Kwazeem to get in trouble over me visiting him.
“I have,” I said evasively.
The silence stretched, becoming slightly uncomfortable as he waited in vain for me to go into further details.
“I hope you found all that you were looking for,” he finally said, his tone slightly clipped.
“I have. That open market is wonderful,” I said, relieved to move the topic in a different direction. “If the temple’s chef wasn’t so amazing, I would have bought a little of everything out there. The cakes and pastries on offering in Paris are out of this world!”
Praise for his city appeared to mollify him slightly. “They most certainly are. Wait until you see the decadent buffet that will be served at the Festival of Light,” he boasted.
I smiled, genuinely excited. “The construction work is advancing well. I can’t wait to see the final version.”
“Friday, in the wee hours of the morning, well before sunrise, bioluminescent plants will ornate the plaza,” Frollo said, with an excitement similar to mine. “Once they begin to glow in the day’s fading light, it will be your turn to light up the city.”