Amphitrite - Wilbur Soot

~twenty-two~

"There's a laurel tree on the beach, My Lady," one of the servants told me as she walked with me around the castle halls. "The townsfolk fear it's the result of evil magic. It's not every day that a fully-grown tree appears in your backyard." She laughed softly.

"Which beach?" I asked.

"The one we don't use for trading. The rockier shore." She had to take quick steps to keep up with my long legs.

"What's the story the villagers are telling?"

"You know how unreliable their tales can be." She glanced up at me before continuing. "They're saying that a swan planted the sapling, and overnight, it grew into an adult tree."

A bittersweet smile danced across my lips. "That sounds about right. How are the wedding preparations coming along?"

The maid's eyes lit up immediately. Every helping hand in the castle was ecstatic about the Queen's wedding. Understandably so, too; they had been working on this for years. Or at least, that's what my maid told me.

"Oh, My Lady! We are so close to being finished! We just roomed a friend of the Queen and his entourage. Tomorrow is going to be magical," she gushed, the enthusiasm dripping from her lips.

"Who's visiting? I'm not exactly tuned in to the castle gossip, as you know," I chuckled lightly as we took a side hallway around the dining hall.

"My apologies. I am quite forgetful and I can't recall his name as of now." Her demeanor immediately dropped into something almost scared.

"That's no fault of yours, Marie."

"I do remember, however, that he brought his priestesses with him. The head priestess is so..." Marie trailed off, a pink blush dusting her cheeks.

"Beautiful?" I supplied, finding myself grinning at her flustered expression.

"Please don't tell my daddy! He'll disown me if he knew!" Marie cried, her eyes going wider than what I thought to be humanly possible. "He's been trying to arrange a marriage for me to one of the village boys and I-"

"Your secret is safe with me. Did you know that nymphs will often take other nymphs as lovers? It's a wonderful thing, really," I assured her.

"Besides, the head priestess is so much older than me, and she's way out of my league. There is this other priestess that I made eye contact with, though..." And just like that, she drifted off to her own little world again.

"You should talk to her at dinner tonight. I'm sure she's lovely."

I sat between Melanie and Wilbur at the dining table as servants bustled around us, constantly filling glasses and serving food. The visiting king sat at the opposite end of the table as Callista and Technoblade. Baby Calliope sat on her mother's lap as one of the foreign priestesses tickled her arms and belly.

When I looked around at the priestesses that filled up both their half of the main table and a good portion of the servants' table, I could immediately see which one was the leader. Her ink-black hair was tied up in a painstakingly intricate bun and her slanted silver eyes stayed focused on the food in front of her. Her dress was a soothing shade of green and covered almost all of her skin. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she possessed a lethal combination of both brains and beauty. I could tell by the way she carried herself. She reminded me of Thetis, in a way.

"Congratulations on your engagement, Your Majesty. I can only hope the celebration will be as glamorous as the balls your father held," the king boomed, his voice bouncing off of the ceiling.

"You're too kind, thank you," Callista said good-naturedly.

"Do you want to hear some gossip I've heard about this kingdom?" Wilbur asked me quietly. My eyes latched onto his in an instant and I nodded. He smiled. "They say that the priestesses are actually concubines."