Love of the Nightingale
Part 6 of the Nightingale Saga
Again, I do not own the original characters I’m basing these stories on, the Royal Thieves of the Top Games game “Evony; The King’s Return.” I’m only building on what they originally started.
Nightingale stood in the window, still not entirely sure what she was doing there. It has been 5 years since her trio had come into the Kingdom of the Eagle, 5 years since, for the first time in about 1500 years, they found a kingdom that was prosperous, happy. The peasants were all taken care of and hard workers. The military stood guard, but they didn’t oppress. The medical section of the city was open to all, rich and poor. The dukes and duchesses of the kingdom were well respected men and women.
All in all, the kind of kingdom they’d only dreamed of. And then they saw him, The Eagle himself, among the peasants.
He walked among them, not being carried about by a litter or surrounded by guards. In fact, if it wasn’t for the long pistol he carried on his person, and the exquisite taste of his robes, there’d be no differentiating him from the commoners.
But that wasn’t what intrigued Nightingale. Sure, his beard was a little salt and pepper, but his eyes, the most stunning blue she’d ever seen, shone with kindness. Somehow, she knew he was a good man.
They’d approached him, clearly wanting to speak with him about injustices, and she had to gasp. Even his speech was kind and affable, betraying no animosity or no haughtiness at all. It was like he didn’t consider himself as superior to the others just because he lived in a big, fancy palace.
She really had to wonder when she saw him help a child, no more than a couple of years old, find her lost doll as her mother watched. Eagle just hunted for it until he found it, making that child grin.
As they approached him, they heard him talking to one of his advisors, also incognito. The undead were on the move again, but they didn’t have enough time to get their defenses ready, not with the recent battle.
Nightingale stepped up, offering something that nobody had ever heard of before, and Duke and Nell thought she’d gone crazy. She offered to let them take her, and theirs, blood, given that it proved a deterrent to the undead. They’d do it for a price, of course, but Eagle just said pay whatever and take only what they could handle.
Although Nell and Duke didn’t give much, Nightingale got her thrill giving everything her body could handle. Then had that sensation of dying before she woke up two days later.
The undead invasion had passed, and their blood did the trick.
And yet Eagle wasn’t surprised to see her coming back into the city.
He started to treat her with respect, even kindness, showing her and her companions around himself, giving facts and information on his tours that they might need before he revealed something.
He knew they were the Royal Thieves. He also knew a little bit of the history of their blood being special.
And he knew they were immortal.
He hired them, right away, to be his royal bodyguards, and Nightingale spent more time around him, seeing that his earlier actions weren’t a sham. He really was legit.
Something was stirring in her, at that time, something that made her want to be close to him. Sure, he was handsome, but she’d had handsome men before. Sure, he was wealthy, but there were wealthy men she’d had that she’d killed for their wealth a LONG time ago.
But the way he treated her, with such kindness. She’d never been treated like that before, for as long as she could remember. Even with the trio, they treated her like she was the important one, but only because she had the cleverness to figure things out.
But Eagle went out of his way to ensure that she knew she was special, like he treasured her input and her deviousness.
And, every time she got close to him, she felt a rush along her skin and her heartrate started to pick up.
She’d had sex before, multiple times. But this was different.
It was after about a year of them staying there that she realized what it must be. Could it be? Was she in love?
And then she met Eagle’s intended. She felt her heart crush as she met this woman, both beautiful and highly intelligent, with hair and eyes like Nightingale, and also seeming to float.
At first, Nightingale couldn’t believe how close they looked to each other. But the intended also treated her with kindness, even called her a sister. But, as she acted all nice, a part of her had to wonder. Wouldn’t it be the greatest heist of all time, stealing Eagle’s heart from his intended?
For three years, she’d spend as much time as she could everyday just being around Eagle, listening to his wry sense of humor and laughing. For three years, she wanted so badly to run her hand along his arm, until, finally, she gave in one day.
He told her that he cherished their friendship, but he wanted her to remember that he had promised his heart to someone, and he didn’t intend to ever break that promise.
So she stood there, in the shadows of his room, every night, watching and waiting. Why did she still want to climb into bed next to him? Why did she want to have him touch her? Why did she…. ”Hello Night.”
His words broke her reverie. “What?”
He laughed. “You’re the only one that comes in that way.”
And he was the only one she let call her “Night.”
As her brain caught up, a question erupted. “How long have you known?”
He laughed again. “A few weeks now. You’re good, nice and stealthy, but you should know never to repeat the same pattern more than a few times.”
Nightingale rolled her eyes, laughing. “Everyone’s a critic.”
As she heard him move, she felt his eyes on her. “I have a question for you.”
Nightingale steeled herself, not sure what this one was about. “Yes?”
She knew he was watching her, but she knew better than to try and make any kind of seductive moves. Nell was right outside and would never let her live it down if he called him in. “What do you know of Countess Elizabeth Bathory?”
She paused only a moment as her mind went back a century. “Oh yes, Liz. Lost her husband in a war but became obsessed with finding eternal youth.”
Eagle just connected. “Like yours.”
She nodded. “Yes, and I told her about us, told her about immortality. She immediately guessed it was in our blood, which we’d already known.”
He just waited as she went on. “She asked if she could take some, so I said sure. You know how much I like it.”
He chuckled a moment at that. “Almost too much.”
She laughed before she went on. “Anyway, she took some, and we had to leave. And I don’t know what happened after that.”
He moved a little bit. “Come, sit, and I’ll tell you the rest.”
Sit? Sit on the bed? Her heartrate picked up as she moved closer, strangely unsure, and sat down beside him. “Elizabeth Bathory became known as the Blood Countess. For many years, she’d taken the lives of many commoner chambermaids, all of them young women, and bathed in their blood, looking for that youth. When she finally killed a noble, they caught her. She’d been insane for many years.”
He turned to her, and she could see into his eyes, feeling a quickening of her heart. “So it seems that, although your blood does tend to drive undead away, it tends to have a negative effects on normal humans.”
She processed that a moment, not sure how she felt. Were they responsible? “I…. uh… I don’t…”
Eagle touched her shoulder, and she felt a spark of electricity shoot from where he touched her. “This isn’t your fault. You had no idea.”
Without thinking, she reached up and touched his hand. The warmth of that touch sent a pang through her heart as he pulled away. “And I know how you feel about me Night.”
Nightingale jerked in response. “You….?”
He laughed. “C’mon. The legendary Royal Thieves staying in one kingdom for 5 years? And I can see that Nell and Duke are getting antsy about staying here this long. I’ve also seen that you’re the de-facto leader, which means there’s something keeping you here. None of you have stolen anything of value from my home, although you pretty much have the run of the place, so it must be personal.”
He looked into her eyes with a smile. “And I couldn’t help but notice, just now, how quickly you put your hand on mine.”
She stood, suddenly feeling fluttering in her stomach. “What are you going to do?”
He stood beside her, putting hands on her shoulders and she felt herself calm at his touch. “Nothing. You know I’m only for my intended and it is very flattering that you feel this intently about me. I do try to be a good person, a good king, but to see and know this gives me hope that I’m doing something right.”
Her mind raced. What was he trying to say? Did he want her to be there for him and his intended? Did he want her as a consort? Did he want her as a mistress? What would that make her? What would it mean when her trio would watch them grow old and die, leaving behind offspring? Would they be nannies, babysitters? Her mind reeled at the concept, not knowing what he really wanted from her. “I…”
He smiled at her. “You’ll make the right decision Night. I know you will.”
It took a month for her to know what they had to do. She wanted to be Eagle’s consort, to be someone to share his bed when his intended wasn’t around, but she also knew she couldn’t do it. She wanted, so badly, to just be there, to listen to him and to care about him and his family until their deaths, but she knew she couldn’t handle that at all.
It was the day before Eagle and his intended were finally to be wed when she snuck into his room again, this time not so secretly. He turned, looking at her questioningly. “I’ve decided we need to leave. We’ve spent too long here already.”
He seemed a little surprised, then stuck out his hand. “The kingdom wishes all the best for you and your compatriots, Night. If you ever do need a home, the gates will always be open for you.”
She took his hand, but then felt a rush, a sudden impulse. She had to know.
She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him suddenly closer and hearing him gasp in surprise before she squeezed her lips against his.
Did she catch fire? She’d been on fire before, but this wasn’t like that. It felt like she was melting, melting into him, as she felt his body next to hers.
Was that his heartbeat or hers? She couldn’t tell, only that her own heart thudded loudly in her ears as she felt a surprising amount of joy well up and escape vocally as a subtle moan.
She felt about like she was dying, but it was way better. There she was, kissing him, the man she now knew she really did love. Sure, it would only be better if he took her to his bed, but she knew better.
The rational part of her brain kicked in and she pulled away, watching his face wonder about that. As she tried to catch her breath, she managed a smile. “I guess we have to leave it like that.”
And, as they left, her not wanting to watch the man she loved marry someone else, she knew something for sure.
There’d never be another kiss like that one, not ever.