Chapter 16 : Separation and Unity
Part 1 : Ravelleon Returns
His excitement was a fever pushing him on. He breathed in the night scents of the foliage in the gardens. Danella would be back from the opera by now he thought. He had been away for sometime, not knowing how long it would be. He had wished he had taken her with him, but he had been on campaign into the Empire of Pirion and he had needed to be with his army. He would have found little time to get away in the urgency of this push. Besides in Pirion he never completely trusted her. He knew he had failed to convince her of the stagnation of her Empire, of the sordid laxity of it's whole structure, the soul starving laziness of it's people. In Dalos he had feared that she might one day leave him, returning either to her Priestesses and the life of sin and the flesh, or escaping from the city back to the territory of Pirion, returning to her old abandoned sexual practices. He had felt it safer to bring her to Dumis where she would be free of such temptations and encourage her cultural education. He was often in Dumis for meetings with the government ministers and the other Generals, and indeed they had shared many good times here. But the recent campaign had kept him away from her for too long and he had missed her.
He had also missed his wife. He could not have believed he could love two women so much. Form had dictated that he visit his wife at first when he returned, but as she lived in the Chamillon countryside at his country house he could not stay there all the time and would have to come to Dumis for his important meetings regularly. He had returned to Catherine and the children for two weeks. But now as soon as he could he was ready to see his mistress again. She excited him more than his wife ever did, even though he could honestly say he had found it was quite possible to love them both. He saw nothing wrong in that. Catherine was his wife and mother of his children. He needed her and loved her. His relationship with Danella could do her no harm. He, a Prancirian conqueror could never publicly accept a Priestess of the primitive Pirion as a wife, even if he had wanted to. She would have brought him into question with the government and with the opposition in the assembly and perhaps even more importantly with the people of Prancir. It had been imperative that he be as discreet as possible with her. A mere mistress attracted little concern in Durmis where many other Generals, government ministers and other public figures had them. It was almost acceptable. There was an understanding between these leaders of the nation that they would not allow each other's infidelities to be mentioned to the public, that they would help each other to prevent such reports from reaching or being published by the press. Many editors and publishers were a part of this conspiracy. Ravelleon had been a natural critic of this cover up in the past but like most citizens he had never seriously attempted to do anything about it. But now he found himself conveniently protected by it. His views had changed. Danella had changed him a lot, he knew, and only for the better. A powerful public figure with a mistress was acceptable but it would have been quite another thing for him to divorce his wife. Divorce was very much frowned upon although some people who did managed to save their careers and rebuild their reputations. Ravelleon did not want that anyway. He loved them both each in their own ways. Danella excited him more but it was normal for a mistress to be more exciting than a wife.
Now his day was ending and he was returning. He drew his image of her around him, feeling his strength enter her flesh, her bones, as he imagined her caressing his back, his hot open moth over hers. He ascended the steps of his own house. A light was on in the hallway and some of the windows of the rooms were lit, but the outer light which might have lit the steps was not lit. She should have been expecting him. He had sent a letter, but it did not really matter, a small detail. Perhaps the letter had not arrived for some reason.
He ascended happily up the steps. The ivy overgrowth on each side of the doorway gave off a pleasing earthy aroma. He put his key in the lock of the wide oak door and went through. None of the servants were in the main house at this time of the evening. Those of them who lived in would be in the servants quarters in the basement. He went to the lounge first, where he expected her to be. The lights were on but otherwise no sign. Next he looked in the dining hall but she was not there. It had been left tidy by the servants. She must have retired to bed he thought, although if she had his message she should have been expecting him. As he glided swiftly up the wide staircase he reflected that she was probably preparing herself for him in the bedroom. His thoughts became sexual as he imagined her well formed slim body waiting for him, her robe unfastened to invite him into her warmth. The light was on in their bedroom. He came to the door and passed in without warning. Her name "Danella" died on his lips, and he watched in horrified fascination the two bodies coupling on the four post bed.
Blood shot through him as rage pumped through his whole body, as he stared at the animal thrusting of his friend. Mireau's slim tight buttocks back and forth, back and forth like the pendulum of a clock. Dazedly he found himself thinking that it must be painful for that woman who he had loved being subjected to those awful pounding animal thrusts. Then dimly, he heard the panting and the soft liquid sucking, and the knowledge of this reversal humiliated him, made him feel lost, like a child. He felt a kind of vertigo, a strange frightening pressure along his chest. He felt terribly chilled, numbed into immobility.
Then Danella moaned and the spell was broken. It was as if he had been touched by electricity, violent and elemental. He drew himself up and leaped forward.
Mireau's neck twisted as his head came up, "What is this?" he began to lift off Danella.
