Secrets Laid Bare

King Basil and Prime Minister Daromir glanced at each other and then back at her.

“You’re saying you lost your womb?” Daromir asked.

“This man certainly doesn’t beat around the bush,” Mycelium remarked.

“Mm, no,” Nythana answered. “It’s still there. It just doesn’t work.”

Much like the rest of my organs, she added to herself. Only my brain works like it’s supposed to.

Daromir’s brow furrowed downwards.

“How can you be sure?”

“Does he think that you wouldn’t know after a hundred years?” Mycelium asked.

“Perhaps because I haven’t had any cycles in over a century,” Nythana suggested. “Also because I’m dead.”

They stared at her.

“…Pardon?” King Basil asked.

“More specifically, I am unliving and undead,” she said. “My life functions have ceased, and there isn’t a drop of blood in my body. All of my functions are powered entirely by life energy.”

“That’s impossible,” Daromir said.

“It is difficult to swallow,” Basil agreed.

Nythana sighed. Of course they wouldn’t believe without adequate proof. She existed in blatant defiance of the natural laws of the world.

“I can offer proof if you’d like,” she suggested.

“What sort of proof?”

“The irrefutable kind,” she said as she stood up and strode over to the King. “Pardon me, Your Majesty.”

She took the Basilisk King’s head in her hands and hugged him to her chest so his ear was pressed squarely against her sternum.

“Hey!” Daromir exclaimed. “What are you doing?!”

“Providing proof,” she said simply.

She covered the king’s other ear with her hand so he could only hear sounds from within her.

“Well?” she asked. “What do you hear?”

Basil didn’t reply for multiple long seconds. She figured it would be better to drive home her point if there was truly no sounds from her body, so she didn’t breathe as he listened.

“I hear nothing,” he finally said.

“Because there’s nothing to hear,” she told them. “My heart doesn’t beat, and there hasn’t been blood in my veins in more than a hundred years.”

“Are you a necromancer?” Daromir asked with narrow slits for eyes.

“No,” Nythana said shortly.

“Are you in the service of a necromancer?”

“I am fully autonomous,” she said.

“Why is he asking so many questions about this?” Nythana thought. “What is he trying to get out of me?”

“He’s likely asking about how you get life energy.”

“I convert dark magic energy into life energy that I use to sustain my body,” she said. “Nobody controls me.”

“By the by, you realize you’re still holding the king, right?” Mycelium asked.

Nythana released the Basilisk King from her embrace, and he pulled away from her chest.

“Do you understand now, King Basil?” she asked.

He turned his head to look up at her, and she almost flinched. Despite that they were mostly covered by the veil, Nythana could see that his cheeks had turned bright red.

“Why is he blushing?” she thought.

“Perhaps because you just held his head to your chest for almost a full minute?” Mycelium suggested. “They may not be voluptuous by any stretch of the imagination, but you need to keep in mind that you do have breasts.”

“They aren’t that small,” she bit back immediately. “And besides, I’m dead. Shouldn’t that be offsetting to someone that’s fully alive?”

“You’re legally dead, but you look, think, move, and talk like a living human being.”

“Is that so?” she thought, torn between embarrassment at the Basilisk King’s reaction, irritation at Mycelium’s statement, and confusion at why someone would find a lifeless woman attractive.

She pushed those thoughts aside.

“If you’re looking for a queen to bear you heirs, I suggest you hire me on in another capacity and continue looking,” she said. “I don’t need food. I can create my own shelter. All I need is to absorb dark magic from your eyes as necessary.”

King Basil turned to Daromir.

“Did you bring it?”

Daromir slumped as he gave an irritable sigh, but he nodded and pulled a small object from his coat pocket.

Nythana tilted her head curiously as she watched King Basil take the box and stand up from the sofa. He crouched down on one knee and flipped up the veil over his face to look her directly in the eye.

Wait a second…

“I would like to officially make the request to you,” he said. “Please do me the honor of being my Queen.”

Nythana’s mind flatlined for several seconds until it finally sank in that what she was seeing was actually happening.

Whaaaat?!

“Why are you surprised?” Mycelium asked. “Wasn’t this your plan?”

“I never thought they’d accept it,” she thought in response. “I thought I’d end up as a bodyguard or an advisor or something.”

“I’ll admit that it’s surprising,” Mycelium said nonchalantly. “Make sure he was paying attention when you said you can’t bear heirs.”

Good idea.

“You heard me say I can’t give you children, right?” Nythana asked.

“That was what made up my mind,” he said.

She blinked at him, unable to think of anything to say for a solid second and a half.

“Ohhhh,” Mycelium said.

“You don’t wish for heirs?” Nythana asked.

“Do you really think it’s alright for me to have children if there’s a chance that they’ll inherit my eyes?”

“I really don’t think those eyes are hereditary, Your Majesty,” Nythana said.

“It’s a chance I can’t take,” he said. “Had it been someone like the people that slaughtered our women and children that had these eyes, the world would have fallen into ruin.”

“He has a point, you know?” Mycelium said.

“You may be right,” Nythana told him, “But that doesn’t change that you don’t know anything about me.”

“Is there anything else I should know?” he asked.

“Oh my, he hasn’t the faintest idea what lurks behind the door he just kicked open.”

“There’s lots you should know,” she said. “Like how I have a network of fungal roots running through my body that can speak to me in my head.”

The king and prime minister stared at her like she was a stranger that walked up to them on the street and slapped them across the face.

“Do you see what I mean?” she asked.

“It talks to you in your mind?” King Basil asked.

“Yes. Its name is Mycelium, and it’s quite clever.”

“But why do you have fungi in your body?”

“Since my body is functionally dead, I can’t accumulate personal mana, so Mycelium was sowed into my body to let me have a personal mana supply. I don’t think the communication aspect was meant to happen.”

“You don’t think?” Daromir asked. “How could you not know?”

“Is that really so surprising?” she asked inwardly.

“You haven’t told them that you’re the result of another’s experiment,” Mycelium said.

“Oh,” she said aloud. “Right, I haven’t told you that I’m a magical experiment.”

Daromir’s eyes darted to the ground.

“An experiment,” he murmured.

“He certainly became subdued quickly,” Mycelium noted.

I wonder why, Nythana thought. That’s a thought for another time.

“That’s right,” she said aloud. “I’m a weapon crafted by a dark mage for the purpose of killing other dark mages. Unfortunately, I killed my creator, so I can’t ask him about his intentions.”

Daromir didn’t respond.

“My offer still stands,” King Basil said.

“Is he serious?” Mycelium asked. “Make sure you ask what your duties will be.”

“If I can’t bear you any heirs, what’s the purpose of taking me as queen?” she asked. “What would my duties be?”

It was Daromir that answered, and he did so with urgency, making Nythana wonder what would have been said had he not interjected.

“Your position would be Queen Consort,” he said. “You will be, first-and-foremost, a supporter. You need to stand by His Majesty’s side and be there for him. His duties have worn on him for decades, and he desires a companion that can be by his side even when his condition would drive away everything else. That will be your primary responsibility.”

Nythana was quiet for a long time. She’d jumped into the situation out of a desperate need for life energy, but now that she was standing at the threshold, she realized how daunting the task was. If she became Queen, she would become responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives. She needed to really think about what she was about to sign herself up for.

“Even if you say I won’t have any responsibilities, this isn’t a decision I can make lightly,” she said. “I need time to consider.”

“Of course,” King Basil said, rising from his kneeling position. “Take your time and think about it. Come find me once you’ve made your choice.”