Lying flat on her stomach, a naked woman with a chocolate-colored complexion moaned noticeably. Her mane of coal-black hair was spread wildly across the pillows like bracken over a field. Her curvaceous backside was smiling at him.
Rugerius smiled back through his broken face.
Thirty-four-year-old Rugerius Fabbro, who has been commanded to lead the siege of the keep at Capua, leaves his men waiting at the gates of Parthenope while he visits his nineteen-year-old cousin/lover, Viridian.
In Chapter 9 we learn that Rugerius is basically a dog who has been taking advantage of Viridian’s promiscuous nature and uncontrollable desires since she was thirteen. She has been infatuated with Rugerius since the first time she saw him – in church.
Viridian’s parents were killed in a shipwreck, her mother being Bertina Fabbro’s sister. Gherardus Fabbro thought that by adopting their orphaned niece, Bertina might find her mind again.
We will discover later on that the Lord Commander’s dear wife, known to many as Lady Bee, is quite mad and feared in the palace. But that’s a tale for later on. For now, we need only know that the adoption has not gone as planned, and the Fabbro’s niece whores about while being blindly devoted to Rugerius, who treats her badly, most of the time.
Viridian suddenly shoved all the pillows away and kicked aside the loose sheets, their delicateness slipping off the end of the bed.
“What are you waiting for, you dallying fool?” Viridian teased. “Did you penetrate this sacred boudoir only to stand at the bedside fondling yourself like a nervous little boy?” Shameless, she rose and stuck out her chest. “No boys. I need a man. I need men. Why have you come alone? I want a hundred men. I demand it. Leave and bring them to me.”
Viridian is immature and petulant and incapable of navigating the difference between love, fun and abuse. She is accustomed to being taken advantage of, and in turn, has learned to take advantage of others. She’s learned that her looks and sex appeal can get her pretty far in life – she is after all, the consort of the castellan of Parthenope. But she has hard lessons to come.
Rugerius pumped and pounded his hips through her. Viridian clawed at his back and his arms, the long silver-painted nails tearing his skin. And then he came, and it was over.
Disheartened, still not satisfied, pining for more, Viridian watched unhappily as Rugerius donned his armor.
One of the darker aspects of The Crystal Crux Series is Viridian’s tale, how her confusion between gratification and acceptance war inside her, eventually driving her towards a suicidal state. But that too, is for later on.
For now, Viridian is a side character that merely appears once in the first book, here in Chapter 9. She is bored with her life as a lady-in-waiting, and seeks stimulation and purpose, although she’s opposed to conforming to the standards of the palace. Many people look down on her, although the same people don’t mind sleeping with her. So much hypocrisy and contradiction, and she is young and stuck in the middle of it.
“I won’t be here when you return,” she said. ‘I’m going to Capri.”
Rugerius attached the seax from the nightstand to the belt around his left thigh. “That’s fine. I was headed there myself after this nasty business in Capua.” He stormed out of the room without so much as a word of gratitude or goodbye. She heard him spit on her rug before slamming the outer apartment door.
Rugerius Fabbro still has the seax he used to kill Dugaro when he was a boy. Bergus also carries his with him everywhere he goes. The two over the years have grown truly close and trust each other explicitly.
A little foreshadowing is seen here with Viridian and Rugerius preparing to travel to the Isle of Capri in the next few days.
For Viridian, it is just for leisure.
But for Rugerius… it is something else.
As stated previously, this is all the insight the reader gets on Viridian in the first book, Betrayal.
There is a lot more to come from her side of the tale in the following books.
Hope this posting has been enlightening.
I’ll cover Chapter 10 in a future posting. Stay tuned. Until then – Stay inspired and keep reading.
Allen M Werner is the author of the epic dark fantasy tale The Crystal Crux Series, as well as the Shades of Myth Series, Ares in Chains.
Author Allen M Werner 
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