Theft of Dragons (Princes of Naverstrom) (18 page)

Somehow she knew he was better now and trusted the capable hands of the healer. Though she was old and lived humbly, her skills and power were legendary. Tael would live, though his unmarred, beautiful skin would be scarred and marked for life. But she didn't care...she realized she loved him.

Her lady's maid opened the door and with a trained quietness entered the room and greeted her in that soft and lilting eastern accent of hers. Sebine raised an arm—as was her habit—and Eloise began the weekly ritual of scrubbing her skin with sea salt and argan oil. It was painful, yes, but refreshing too. Her skin tingled and breathed and shimmered in the candlelight.
 

Eloise was not only her maid but also her playmate since childhood. As girls they knew their paths were vastly different, and there existed a kind of unspoken rivalry between them. Eloise had been deflowered early, almost in a shout that she could experience something so vast and pleasurable before Sebine. And in her knowledge of pleasure and pain she teased and taunted Sebine when bathing her: a finger lingering longer on her nipple, a hand cleaning between her thighs with too much vigor, a sigh escaping Eloise's lips at signs of Sebine's stimulation. And always Sebine let her do it.

There was that night, one long and hot night, a sleepless night, when Sebine had been perhaps thirteen, and Eloise had not yet entered her service. They had a habit of sleeping together for many years, and that night the air was still and humid, and to escape the heat the girls fled to the rooftops where the dragons nested in cave-like enclosures. It was forbidden (but was why it made it so fun) and they'd always managed to sneak past the guards and the dragons seemed unbothered by their arrival.

The stars were mottled and weak under the hazy sky, but the city lights shone and the sound of the still-awake citizens murmured like a hushed whisper. There was a vast, reclining chair overlooking the city that the King liked to lounge with the Queen, and face triumphant, lord over his dominion. Sebine and Eloise removed the tarp and lay on the silk chair, and still hot, shed their clothes. They relished in the movement of the night air against their skin.
 

"Your breasts are bigger than mine," Sebine remembered saying, and with envious hands reached up to feel their firmness. Eloise didn't resist. They felt like nectarines just picked from the stem. At her touch Eloise's flat nipples had grown, and to Sebine's delight, extended out like a mole's pink nose peeking out of its hole.
 

Eloise folded in and wrapped her prickled arms over her chest. "That feels funny..." But with light and mischievous eyes, she giggled at Sebine.

"Why did they jump out like that?" Sebine was curious and studied her friend's nipples, peering in to see them close.

"I don't know...lately they get that way sometimes when I bathe and wash myself. It feels strange, but stronger when you touched me." Even in the darkness, it seemed like her friend was blushing. "It felt good..."

Sebine pondered her words for a moment and remembered back to spying on lovers in the city's rose garden who at twilight kissed and touched each other when they thought no one was looking. But those were men and women...how could a woman make another woman feel that way? She studied Eloise's dilated pupils.

"How are we supposed to learn how to kiss?" Sebine let the question linger in the humid air and enjoyed Eloise's nervous laughter.
 

"I already know how to kiss a boy." Eloise's delighted expression at Sebine's surprise infuriated her. When did this happen? They used to tell each other everything. "An older boy...a bard...he played me a stupid song that made me laugh and the next thing you know I found myself kissing him. He was sweet and said I was too young for him. I hated him for that and stormed out of the room. But you know, before, when we were kissing, he stuck his tongue into my mouth and I thought it was gross."

"He what?" Sebine found herself giggling in pleasurable guilt. "Show me! You have to show me how. I don't want to make a fool out of myself when I first kiss a boy. You just have to."

Eloise had an indifferent expression of haughty power on her face and she leaned in towards Sebine and pressed her lips over hers and opened her mouth and slipped her tongue inside. They laughed together at the ridiculousness of it all and Eloise shrugged her shoulders and said that that was how the boy did it.

"Maybe we should do it longer...I saw people kissing in the gardens forever, and they were both touching each other."

"You're weird. But if you want...why not?" Eloise retrieved a bottle from her bag. "Look what I found in my mother's pantry." She made an amused expression with her face and took a drink, then handed it to Sebine. The liquor burned as it went down her throat and she coughed and laughed with Eloise who took another drink, then leaned in towards her and pressed her lips again on Sebine's, allowing the liquid to seep inside her mouth.
 

That had made Sebine feel something warm between her legs spread down her thighs and sent tingling down her arms. Eloise tried kissing her again—deeply now with her tongue, and instead of feeling giddy she felt good...really good. They took turns kissing and drinking and soon the world spun in a tangle of hands and feet and tongues.

When Eloise's mother discovered them there the next morning, they were banned from alcohol and forbidden from sleeping together. It was a bland proclamation to the King and Queen: the girls have grown past such childishness.

But tonight, Eloise was cold and almost angry, liked she sensed something different in Sebine. When she finished her cleansing ritual the maid combed her long hair and her eyes commented on Sebine.

"What happened to you? The guards searched for you for over an hour. You were found missing in your bed, and the guard claims the torch light went out and you were gone." Eloise frowned at Sebine. "They said you were found sleepwalking...but I don't believe it...you never sleepwalk."

"I don't remember what happened, other than I did have the strangest dreams." Sebine kept her face coy but that enraged Eloise even more, to Sebine's delight. "I'm simply famished. Dress me, I feel the need to walk to the kitchens and find some food."

"Fine...be that way." Eloise's eyes narrowed. "The Queen is dining in the library. She asked me to tell you to join her if you wake." She strode off to fetch some clothes, and returned to display two of Sebine's most despised dresses—all given to her by the King. "You never wear them."

Sebine scoffed and gave Eloise a challenging scowl. "Don't test me. I'd rather go there naked then wear those hideous things."

Eloise dropped the dresses on the floor and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Sebine raged at the insult and picked up the clothes and threw them into the pool. In a fit she cast the spell of heat and stepping far away, caused the water to boil so vigorously steam filled the room and poured out of the open window. She released the spell and smiled in satisfaction that the silk dresses had melted under her fury.

In her dressing room she selected the same dress she wore the night of the Festival and let it drape down over her naked skin, pretending the feeling of it was Tael's hands on her body. She left her room and gave the guard outside her door a withering glare that reduced the man to barely a shred of confidence left. She ignored him and strode down to Mother's library, where she found the Queen dining with the Earl of Narling.

"Daughter...you've finally awoken." The Queen removed her hand from the Earl's, but unblushing, continued. "The Earl was comforting me in my worry for you, my dear. You gave us a terrible fright."

Sebine gave the Earl a wry smile and sat in the chair always reserved for the King. It was a slight and Sebine relished in the offense. "I feeling strangely refreshed. Perhaps all I needed was sleep. I dreamed of the King off on his campaign. To the west this time? More substantial spoils of war to adorn your neck." How Sebine spoke the words were meant to inflame the Queen's feeling of enslavement. She meant to be cruel.

The Earl opened his mouth to speak but the Queen interrupted him with a flourish of her wrist. "If sleep suits you, sleepwalking most definitely does not. To prevent future lapses we've asked your guard to follow you everywhere in the palace. A temporary ailment, I'm sure, but necessary for your protection. Wouldn't want you sleepwalking out of the palace, now would we? The Earl thinks some charm or curse has befallen you. He says the whole affair smells of magic. For the ridiculous amounts of gold we pay those Hakkadians, you'd think we would all be safe, now shouldn't we?"

A manservant placed wine, a bowl of cold tomato soup, cheeses, and a small loaf of bread at Sebine's table. The Princess slurped annoyingly at the soup and ate her bread, thinking of a retort. "Maybe that is what I need...a cure from the Hakkadians. What an interesting suggestion, Mother."

The Queen studied Sebine's practiced look of honesty and concern, and sniffed, apparently appeased at her suggestion. "Then eat your food and go to them...under guard the entire way. If there is some foul spell at play they will uncover it."

With a raised glass of wine Sebine bowed her head to the Queen, and finished her food without comment. She left, ignoring their odd stares, and took the well-worn way down to the Hakkadian lair. She told the guard to wait outside, and when he at first refused, she reminded him just exactly who were inside. Did he want to meet the sorcerers? The guard gave in and she entered and closed the door behind her.

"You waited a long time to return to us." Master Vhelan spoke in a tired, uncertain voice as she entered the chamber. "Some of our members suspected you were angry and perhaps fearful of interacting with us. This couldn't be truth, now could it?"

She smiled deviously at her master and strode down the staircase to the studying eyes of the sorcerers. "I was ill, actually. Due to my over eagerness I seemed to have depleted my magical power. Two days of sleep and some very odd dreams seemed to have cured me. In fact, I feel stronger than ever."

Her master paused in contemplation of her words and Sebine felt a wave of energy course through her at his examination. He nodded in satisfaction. "It seems as if you've learn a bit about the rules of magic and the limitations of spells...is this not so?"

"Indeed I have. I found holding an illusion for extended periods of time to be very draining. I also discovered I have a kernel of stored power inside my stomach." Sebine aimed a palm at Master Vhelan. "And I found out that trying to move very heavy things pushed me away from them."

The old sorcerer nodded, unsurprised. "You need to anchor the push against something heavier than the thing you intend on pushing. All you've done is anchor books and small items against your own weight—and this was all possible. But try moving a heavy stone or even a person and you'll be in serious trouble."

His words made perfect sense, and while he was speaking, Sebine felt like she was listening to her science tutor speak of physics. Were there concepts similar to chemistry that applied to magic as well? Of course, the spell of boiling blood and liquids. Did the same rules of science apply here?

"Tell me, why were you over eager in your casting?" Master Vhelan gave her a long, uncomfortable stare and she felt the workings of magic pore over her head. She emptied her mind of thoughts and relaxed, confident that they couldn't read her memories. "I've heard rumors running around the palace. The Captain of the Guard out on an odd visit into the city in the middle of the night. And a certain Princess leaving her room at a similar time. The guard standing watch at her door claims the torchlight went out and the next thing he knew you were gone."

Master Vhelan chuckled with relaxed ease. "Then you were found
sleepwalking
and returned to your room. The same guard also claims you returned very late earlier that night, acting a bit drunk and giddy, and, in our observation, returned from the festival after meeting a very handsome and dangerous boy."

"You've been following me?" Sebine raged, and felt the hairs along her spine itch with irritation and anger.

"Of course we have—you are one of us, now. You're our investment."
 

When Sebine went to raise a finger to the sorcerer, she found an invisible weight forcing her hands to her side, as if being embraced by a giant. She gave in, but fumed on the inside. Why was she so foolish in first coming here unguarded and without a plan? Was she forever at their mercy?

"And then strangely it seems you left the palace again, disguising yourself as the Captain of the Guard?" A puzzled expression crossed the sorcerer's face. "Why bother? You had a riotous and amorous night out at the festival, met a boy, and went home. Why return and stay out so long that you deplete all your magical reserves?"

She couldn't tell them the truth. They still worked for the King and were likely to try and kill Tael. A lie...but it had to be a lie that they would believe. "I went back out to meet him. When I first left the palace I was disguised as Emitt Weylor, but then I suppose you know that already. He has a constant habit of leaving the palace by two o'clock in the morning. So I had to return before then to eliminate suspicion and the possibility of discovery. But I told the boy I would return and meet him near the winemaker's shop. He never showed up."

Master Vhelan relaxed at her words and shrugged encouragingly. "Young boys are foolish. But in a way you were lucky you didn't meet him. I'd advise you to be more careful next time..."

"Yes, I will." Sebine gave the man a half-hearted bow of her head.

"Well, enough of that. We've little time left our as our dragon-master brethren have informed us that the King is returning today in a foul mood after a sour skirmish with the Malathians. Now about your ring. When you are weak and depleted of magical resources, the ring is there for you to draw on a quick burst of power. The ring has many other uses but now is not the time for me to teach you those other uses."

Sebine raised her hand and inspected the runes etched on the Ring of Galdora, and with an inhalation felt a surge of power flow into her stomach from the ring. Her vision went black as the depths of a dungeon. Three faces appeared to her—elfish faces, one a man beautiful and cruel, and the other two women dangerous and conniving. He opened his jaw and revealed a gaping maw of horror, and he issued forth words without moving his mouth. Sebine understood the words—strangely—for she knew not the sound of the Elven language.