By J.M. Allison
Cazria turned the box over in her hands, admiring the silver wrapping and sapphire bow. She shook it. No sound. She placed it back on the pedestal and chewed her fingernail. Jewelry. It had to be. Earrings or necklace? Her father had called it a sacred and powerful gift, fitting for a beautiful goddess like herself. Maybe it was a power stone that would enable her to control the elements or summon armies. Cazria reached for the box again.
“Trying to claim what isn’t yours?”
Cazria straightened, forced her face into a neutral expression, then turned to face her sister. “I have never claimed anything that wasn’t my due, Jadrin.”
Jadrin barked out a harsh, cold laugh that echoed around the empty throne room. “You would see it that way.”
“I have more talent, power, and beauty than you. Why shouldn’t I claim the gift?”
Jadrin pointed one long manicured finger at Cazria and stalked slowly forward. “Hear me and hear me well, little sister. You may be father’s favorite, but I’m the rightful heir. The power of that gift belongs to me. Get in my way and I will eliminate you.”
Cazria stood her ground. Jadrin might be the goddess of war, courage, and strategy, but Cazria had never feared her. “Without the love and devotion I instill in people, you’d have no worshipers.”
The vein at Jadrin’s temple pulsed.
Bang!
The two jumped apart as the large doors to the marble chamber flung open, and their father, followed by two of their brothers, strode in.
Cazria curtsied, a practiced smile on her face. “Hello, Father. Lumin. Radex.”
“Hail Halbrid, High King of the Ethereal Realms and Benevolent Creator of all below.” Jadrin bowed low, addressing their father with the formal traditional greeting.
Their father paused and eyed them both, then continued toward a large golden throne. “What are you two doing?”
“Nothing,” they answered in unison, then glared at each other.
Radex stepped back, his hand inching towards the axe hanging from his belt. “Cazria and Jadrin just agreed. Does the end of the world approach?”
Lumin snickered and combed a hand through his long golden locks. “Probably trying to peek at the gift Father promised me.”
“And why would he promise it to you?” Radex spun toward Lumin.
“The gift grants power and prestige. Who embodies that better than I?” Lumin puffed out his chest.
Cazria rolled her eyes. Father would never trust such a valuable treasure to her idiot brothers. “I heard it was a pair of jeweled earrings.” She still had no idea what lay inside the box, but anything that might dissuade them from wanting it couldn’t be a bad thing. “I’m sure it’ll look stunning with your spiked armor, Radex. And Lumin, wearing pink jewel earrings will definitely increase your notoriety.”
Both brothers turned in her direction. She smiled innocently.
Radex glanced at their father. “It’s not really earrings, is it?”
Their father grinned back from where he reclined on his throne. “Your mother arranged the gift. I have no idea what’s in it. She instructed it be given to her most deserving child, and that it would grant great power to the one who possessed it.”
“How will you determine which of us is most deserving?” Jadrin settled herself into the first seat on their father’s left, a sturdy throne carved from black ash wood.
Their father rubbed his chin as Radex settled into a chair adorned with antlers at their father’s right, and Lumin reclined on a delicate white lounge-throne covered in white fur next to Radex.
Cazria walked once more around the center pedestal displaying the gift. For the most deserving…
“Your mother said the gift will know.” Their father chuckled, then picked up a scroll from the stack on the end table beside him and began perusing its contents.
“As eldest, first claim to everything falls to me.” Jadrin leaned forward, a challenge in her tone.
“The only thing you are first to claim is the title of most annoying.” Radex fiddled with his axe.
“At least I’m not the smelliest, dumbest, or most boorish,” she shot back.
Cazria’s head pivoted back and forth as her siblings continued to volley insults back and forth.
“Can’t we all agree neither of you deserves the gift and move on?” Lumin sighed, his gaze fixed on the clouds floating by the window.
“Move on?” Radex pushed to his feet. “I’m sorry, is this eating into your busy social life discussing fashion with your reflection—”
“I would never need to discuss fashion with my reflection. He already knows what works and what doesn’t, unlike some people.” Lumin shot a distasteful glance at Jadrin.
“Excuse me?” Jadrin’s nails scraped against the edge of her armrests, peeling up small curls of black wood.
Cazria circled slowly around her arguing siblings to peer over her father’s shoulder. “Father,” she said, keeping her voice low, “is it not true that the first to capture something is hailed as the greatest, and he who manages to keep what others wish to take from him is greater still?”
“Uh-huh, yep. That sounds right.” Her father’s eyes remained focused on his scroll, his head nodding in time with his own thoughts.
Cazria smiled to herself. She meandered back toward the pedestal and its precious prize. Her siblings now stood to one side of the room, each shouting and threatening the others. With a wave of her hand, Cazria summoned the gift to her outstretched palm. As her fingers closed around the little box, she whispered her spell. A duplicate box materialized on the pedestal.
Let her siblings argue over the fake. By the time they realized their prize was gone, it would be too late.
Cazria called a farewell to their father, who acknowledged with a wave of his hand, his eyes still on his scroll. She strolled out of the throne room and smiled as her oblivious sibling’s arguments faded into the distance.
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I bet it’s a Mark Rober glitter bomb. Surprise!
This was such a fun read, Lisa! I really enjoyed the banter and the sarcasm, and I can’t imagine how Cazria’s siblings are going to react when they discover that she’s made off with the gift. Great work!