Psyche

Chapter 26

Privately, The Zephry was amused that Eros's bride had become so lonely so quickly. He, after all, was as old as the mountains and hills and valleys of Earth and had been alone for most of that time. Only now, eons into his solitude, was he looking to break his loneliness. Psyche, for her part, had a husband, pets, and a house full of servants to keep her company. The Zephyr couldn't fathom why she needed the company of a sibling.

He flew into the edge of the palace garden, materializing in human form in a puff. He took the form of a messenger from the far off Continent of Asia. He carried a golden box that he would claim was a present for the crown prince.

The box actually contained an infernal sleep that would surround the prince, so that The Zephyr could transport him to Olympus without him being aware of the process. When he transported Psyche, The Zephyr hadn't bothered with such a measure, since Psyche was never going to return to Earth and therefore would not have been able to tell anyone of her experience being transported. During that flight, The Zephyr had even enjoyed the unusual and theatrical experience of allowing a conscious mortal experience their flight.

It was a shame, thought The Zephyr, since he had heard that Prince Nikolas was a man of a great, adventurous spirit. He was also rumored to be quite handsome and charming. 

Finally, The Zephyr approached one of the palace guards and bowed.

"Good sir," he said, "I have a message as well as a gift from the Emperor of China for Prince Nikolas of Atlantis."

"Give me the message and gift," said the guard, who was leaning absently on his sword, not even paying mind to a man in full Chinese dress carrying a golden box, "I will see to it that it reaches Prince Nikolas."

The Zephyr blinked. He wasn't sure if it was the guard's nonchalance or his offer to be an intermediary that most took him aback.

"Good sir, I have traveled a great distance to make sure my lord's message and gift gets to Prince Nikolas. I am under orders to deliver the gift directly."

The guard snickered, and he looked The Zephyr up and down.

"Well then, good man," he replied, "Prepare to stay awhile. Prince Nikolas has crossed the eastern ocean and is currently visiting a friend."

The Zephyr grumbled internally at this news. Unlike Hermes, he was not gifted with the ability to find any mortal he wanted in order to deliver a message. He sighed.

"What king or prince is Prince Nikolas visiting?" asked The Zephyr, "I will continue my journey eastward and find him personally."

The guard laughed at that. "I don't know. He's not on an official journey but on a journey of a personal nature."

The Zephyr huffed a little and folded his arms.

"You might ask the princesses Euphemia and Eugenia. They are staying in the palace, visiting their parents while Prince Nikolas is away."

The guard pointed to a set of nearby garden steps that looked like they led to a wild section of the gardens.

"The princesses are picnicking by the brook," continued the guard.

The Zephyr furrowed his brow. It seemed very odd to him that a palace guard would send a strange messenger to see two princesses who were picnicking in a secluded part of the royal gardens, but he made a bow and headed down the steps.

He had been vaguely aware that Psyche and Nikolas had two siblings, and the news calmed his nerves. After all, the whole point of his mission was to bring Psyche a sibling in order to assuage her loneliness.

Psyche may have requested the brother, but wouldn't two sisters do the job just as well? It was a good plan, as far as The Zephry was concerned, since it would spare him days of searching through the gods-forsaken rocky hills of Macedonia for a Prince who did not want to be found. The Zephyr smiled to himself as he spied the two princesses.

One, elegantly beautiful with light hair and a blue dress, lolled on a blanket and fed herself grapes. The other, round and dark-haired, very pretty, sat near her sister and appeared to be chattering away about something.

The Zephyr strode up to the princesses and bowed a deep bow.

"You royal highnesses," he said, "I have here a gift from the Emperor of China, brought over a great distance and at great peril, simply to please the Royal House of Atlantis."

The rounder sister scrambled to her feet, wearing a look of sheer delight on her countenance.

" Eugenia! Isn't it exciting? I've never gotten a gift all the way from China before."

"Euphemia," said the dark-haired princess, "contain yourself. We get gifts all the time, from all corners of this world. I seriously doubt that anything the Emperor of China could send us would be any better than anything we already have."

"Oh," said the one called Euphemia, "They have beautiful silks in China. And paper! And beautiful pens with which to draw that are far better than the quills from the eastern continent. Far, far better than the sticks they have in Babylon that make the marks in clay."

"Very well," replied the one called Eugenia, who held her hand out.

Euphemia took her sister's hand and helped her up. When she had settled on her feet, the Princess Eugenia stood tall and haughtily thrust back her shoulders. She strode toward The Zephyr, who held out the golden box.

The Zephyr held back a grin at the thought of what was about to happen. He hoped sincerely that the contents of the box would frighten this woman, since it appeared to him that she deserved to be frightened.

Euphemia trotted over next to her sister, and she stood on her tip-toes in order to get a better look at what was in The Zephyr's hands. She clutched her sister's arm and moved back and forth on her feet with nervous abandon.

"I am sure it will be wonderful, good messenger," said Euphemia, who bit her lip and smiled.

"I guarantee that you have never, ever seen what is in this box before, nor will you ever again," he said and he nodded three times and carefully opened the box.

Out of the box came a whirl of blue, shimmering smoke.

"What is it?" asked Euphemia.

Eugenia locked eyes with The Zephry as the smoke surrounded her.

"Who are you?" She spat the question at him.

The Zephyr only smiled and shook his head as the woman's eyes began to flutter and she fell to her knees and then to the ground, almost simultaneously with her sister, who did the same.

"Who I am is none of your concern," he replied, and with a wave of his finger, he created a bubble around them and soon whisked them off toward Olympus.