AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If he didn’t know anything about the salt, perhaps it didn’t work early on. He also hadn’t touched the items as far as Aurelius knew. His Golden Touch came purely from inheritance, and perhaps the salt air didn’t affect someone with that.
“Do you feel different here?” asked Aurelius.
Gullveig, who had a couple of extra streaks in his eyes, grinned again as he got onto the stiff wing. “I’m the richest man in the world now. I’ve never felt better.”
Then the answer was no. The salt air wasn’t the same for him as Aurelius. He glanced to his left and noticed something beneath an underhanging of rock. Was that a bedstead? What was the wood next to it?
He flicked his gaze back to Gullveig who slid down the wing. Coins clinked, and a gold cup rolled as he landed. Adjusting his pack, he stepped off the edge of the pile and picked up a dagger to examine before he tossed it aside.
“Pretty, but I’ll search my treasure and find the best one.”
“I’m going to kill you, so don’t bother planning anything,” said Aurelius. “But I am interested in knowing how you got in here.”
Gullveig snorted and pulled his own dagger from his belt. “We’ll see if you get close. You’re not a Princehere, so maybe you should keep your fucking mouth shut. You don’t rule me.”
Aurelius didn’t need to touch him, but he’d keep that bit to himself. Killing Gullveig could wait a moment. “The entrance-” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Did it open for you?”
“No, a chuckle chickie dropped me through the hole there.” Gullveig rolled his eyes. “Of course, it opened for me. I went exploring. I’ve been in here since last night, and it closed after a good two hours. It reopened when I stood near it, so you can’t get trapped in here. The island is big but notthatbig. There area few other caves too. This is the only one that led to somewhere special although I thought it was a dead end at first.” Gullveig spotted a hilt poking out of the coins, and he grabbed it.
Perhaps the entrance to the little room reacted to blood, but if John had found this space, he wouldn’t have kept quiet about it, right? Unless he guessed that the dragon was Mammon? Surely, he heard of the tale? Wouldn’t that have scared him away? Maybe it only opened for the inherited Golden Touch, which meant John would have found the items, but not the dragon and his hoard.
Aurelius had inherited it, and that was the only common thing he shared with Gullveig besides blood.
In fact, that made excellent sense. Mammon must not have liked salt but in his true, physical form, perhaps salt air did nothing for him. He had claimed this place as his home and protected it with something better than a typical locked door. When Aurelius looked toward the bed again, he was positive that was it.
He hurried over to look at it while keeping Gullveig in his view. The stupid fool was distracted by the golden sword he’d yanked out. The wood might have been a table, but it had long since collapsed and rotted. The bedstead had broken in the middle and was partially rotted too. Black mold had grown in the center. Blankets might have covered the bed, and over the years with the wind and air, they’d grown moldy before turning to dust.
Of course. Mammon might have been comfortable on top of a pile of treasure that he’d greedily gathered, but he must have gotten a bed for Princess Innogen. He’d planned to take her here and have her live like a prisoner while he tried to get an heir off of her and see if he could make children. Nobody would have been able to get in to rescue her.
The story didn’t mention a dragon, and while it said he was no fairy, Mammon had been able to hide under the King’s bed and crawl around the rafters. Nothing suggested that he’d been massive, so he must have had another form that made him appear more normal. After all, the King didn’t call for his guards when he came upon Mammon in his garden so while he’d realized that his visitor wasn’t like him, he must not have felt any great alarm.
To bear monsters from a monster…If she’d tried to refuse him, who knew what Mammon would have been like? Perhaps he would have beaten her or if he’d grown tired of his fairy wife, he’d have killed her and flung her body into the ocean. Fairies clearly meant little and were like toys to use and discard once broken. Aurelius clutched his pot tighter and strode toward Gullveig who stepped back and brandished his shiny new weapon.
“Get away from me, or you’ll be a part of this hoard.”
Aurelius gave him a cold smile. “You’ll have to touch me to gild me, and you’ll have to come over.”
“You can live if you agree to be my slave and work-”
Aurelius let out a rough laugh. “Go fuck yourself. I’d cut off my head before I agreed to be your slave. Do you plan to drag this all to your boat to sell somewhere? You better have a big ship.”
“I could come back for the rest. It’ll be easy to get a wife and make an heir if I tell her how rich I am with my own little Kingdom.”
Aurelius almost laughed again. He planned to make Ash Island his own little Kingdom? Common life was also apparently too much for Gullveig.
“I don’t need Nova to be a King. I’m already richer than you despite the treasury and Palace, and even though you had to come back and steal what should have been mine, I’ll make myown. I’m not sure what to do with this.” Gullveig glanced at the dragon. “Perhaps that’s Mammon, and this is why this island is said to be the birthplace of dragons? More like the grave of a dragon. I guess he won’t ever rot. I bet I could get those scales off one by one too. They look gold. One alone would be enough for a man to eat for ages.”
Aurelius curled his lip. “Do you hear yourself? You’re absolutely obsessed with obtaining more. Riches, a Kingdom, an heir. You’re beyond greedy, you’ve got more gold in your eyes. Nothing’s too low for you, and…” He paused. “I feel sorry for you.”
“He’s a beast. Who the fuck cares if I disturb his resting place or mess with the corpse? I also don’t need your pity.”
“You’re a foul piece of shit, but if you’d been born in different circumstances, perhaps you would have been a better man. That’s why I feel sorry for you.”
“Fuck you. I’m a King, and I’m the richest man alive. I’m certainly not sorry.”
Aurelius held back a sigh. He might as well have spoken to a rock. At least the rock wouldn’t argue with him.
“Don’t try to play high and mighty with me especially when you’re filthy and disgusting.” Gullveig leaned forward. “You probably liked being gang-banged by Zorians every day. That’s why you got that stupid ox as your pet, and I bet Zylem was right. You haven’t got a cock, and you’re only good as a hole. That’s the only reason why your guard hung around for a bit too: because you let him use your ass when he felt like it. He’s not around now, so it’s clear he grew tired of you.”
