Page 7 of The Hunchback

“Your trust flatters me,” I said with sincerity.

“I had high faith before you even arrived, based on your score from Obscura. But now that I saw you in action last night, I have no fear,” Frollo said, matter-of-factly. “Be aware that, after the ceremony, you, the High Seraph, and I will take part in a banquet on the grand plaza with the people. Afterwards, I will fly with the Relay Orbs to each of the five main cities surrounding Paris and will not return until late the next day. Should you not choose to remain in the capital city with the Elohim, I would be honored if you chose to travel with me instead.”

My stomach dropped. There it was, all the cards on the table. If one of the Elohim didn’t court me, or if I didn’t choose to favorably answer any advance they might make to me, the Praetor hoped I would go with him as his consort. You didn’t take a lover on official trips, only a spouse. Despite my continued attraction towards him because of that insanely seductive aura of his, that prospect made me uneasy. It shouldn’t have. I’d first feared he only wanted to add me to his list of conquests, but that was clearly not the case.

“You greatly honor me, Frollo. I will be sure to let you know of my decision before the end of the Festival,” I said with a gentle smile.

To my relief, he graciously accepted my non-committal answer and steered the conversation onto more mundane discussions about life in Paris and the complexity of managing a city this size with so many dependent peripheral towns. Our meal ended in a relaxed atmosphere. Still, a wave of relief washed over me when the Praetor took his leave to go tend to his many duties as magistrate of the city.

Confused by the contradicting emotions and physical responses my host stirred within me, I decided to take a walk through the garden at the back of the temple. I wasn’t in the mood to traipse through the streets of Paris, always crowded, with countless eyes that would inevitably stare at me like an odd insect. I needed some peace and quiet to clear my thoughts.

The garden was magnificent, with an exquisite selection of colorful plants, plush bushes with long leaves, and tall trees with droopy branches covered with pale or white flowers. Everything was flawlessly maintained and trimmed. I stopped by a large pond where a few duck-like birds I didn’t recognize were swimming leisurely. Closing my eyes, I spread my arms wide and focused on the soft chirping of the birds in the nearby trees and the gentle rustling of the wind in the leaves.

As peace descended over me, tension draining from my shoulders, an odd chirping to my right broke through the harmonious whistling of the birds. My eyes popped open, and my head jerked to the right only to find myself face to face with the imp from last night, hovering in place at my eye level.

It bared its sharp, tiny teeth at me. I instinctively recoiled before it dawned on me it was probably a smile. The creature hid its teeth, his previously engaging demeanor becoming wary.

“It’s okay, little one,” I said in a soft voice, extending a hand towards it. “You just startled me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

All tension left its small shoulders, and it flew towards my hand, landing carefully in the middle of my palm. I lifted it close to my face to look into its beady eyes, shining like two enormous black pearls. Reaching with its little hands, the imp grabbed my cheek, its claws slightly pricking my skin without hurting or piercing it. Drawing my face towards its own, the imp gave my chin a gentle kiss, before letting me go with a sheepish look on its adorable little owlish face.

“You probably shouldn’t be lurking around here,” I said with a gentle voice, caressing the tip of his pointy ear with my index finger. “I don’t want the Praetor hurting you again.”

The imp scrunched its face in displeasure at hearing the mention of Frollo. Its small hands moved quickly in a series of gestures I assumed to be some kind of sign language.

“I don’t understand,” I said, apologetically.

The creature scrunched its face again with a look that implied I had failed it, which made me laugh. Flapping its wings, the imp flew away a few meters, stopped to look at me over its shoulder, and waved for me to follow. My head told me I probably shouldn’t, but my gut told me to proceed.

The imp didn’t rush me, coming back to circle around me while I made my way in the general direction he was leading me. We crossed the entire garden, and as we approached a dead-end of thick bushes, decorative rocks, and colorful flowers tastefully landscaped, my steps faltered in confusion. But the imp continued forward before making a hard left turn, disappearing behind the wall of foliage.

My jaw dropped, realizing that the clever arrangement had created an optical illusion dissimulating a path further hidden by a curtain of vines. I brushed them aside, blown away by the neatly kept winding pathway leading farther away from the temple.

As I cleared a tall, neatly trimmed hedge, the silhouette of a humble, but solidly built house appeared in my line of sight. Even before seeing him, I knew the imp had lured me to the gardener. Unconsciously, I had known where the creature was taking me the instant he’d gestured for me to follow.

But instead of the wizened older man, maybe reformed old convict I had expected to see, a true god stood before me. At least seven feet tall, muscles for days on his massive arms and chiseled abs, with the angelic face of a Seraph, he was single handedly lifting a beam that would have normally required the effort of half a dozen human men.

His head suddenly jerked towards me, and his mesmerizing silver eyes widened, hypnotizing me. The pull, the connection I had felt in the chapel last night immediately formed again. And yet, it was weaker, dimmed somehow. The beam dropping to the ground with a loud thump snapped me out of my frozen state.

Only then did the greyish-blue tinge of his skin, the thick scales on his neck and shoulders, and the horns on his forehead finally register. He was a Fallen, not an Elohim.

Chapter 5

Kwazeem

Isensed her presence moments before Victus came flying around my head, chirping proudly to have lured my woman to me. The fool. The mere sight of her instantly set my blood to boiling and had my stomach contracting painfully with desire. Of all the reactions Esmeralda could have had upon seeing me, I never would have expected the look of awe and wonder in her eyes that seemed to undress me. It only further fanned the flame that had ignited within me. In the last fifteen years of my twenty-eight years of existence, I had only ever known pity, anger, or indifference.

The bond I systematically felt in her presence formed again, and her tremendous power awakened a strange one inside of me. When our eyes met, I all but drowned in the emerald sea of hers, until a sharp pain at the base of my hump reminded me of the heavy strain I was putting it under, holding the beam up above my head. I let it drop in front of me. The loud thump startled Esmeralda, whose dreamy expression gave way to one of fear as she finally understood what I was.

It hurt more than I would ever admit. And it hurt even more when her eyes further widened at the sight of my hump. Now that my arms were down, this bane of my existence forced me into this hunched over, servile position. Anger and shame filled my heart.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled, when in truth, my fingers ached to reach out and touch her perfect, golden skin.

“Why?” Esmeralda asked in a soft voice, instead of the apology followed by a quick exit I had expected.

I looked at her in surprise, oddly moved by her clearly attempting to silence her fear. My imps flying to her, each settling on one of Esmeralda’s shoulders before kissing her cheek, kept me from answering. Although taken aback, she seemed more amused than distraught by their excessive display of affection.

“Lazarus, Victus, leave her be,” I said in a stern voice.

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