Mayra refused to accept the garments. “Nonsense. We’ll be swimming when we reach our summer estates, too. You don’t want to be left out. I bet Jathan will be glad to teach you. Or I will, but Jathan is better. He’s the one who taught me. Meanwhile, just wade in the shallows until you’re comfortable. It’ll still help you cool off. Come on, Ailsa.”
Ailsa drew in a deep breath. Even the thought of wading in precious water seemed wrong to her, but . . . things were different here. And wading didn’t sound particularly scary or difficult. “All right. I’ll just wade, then.”
Mayra nodded. “For now.” She smiled. “That’s how we all started. Bet you find you like it once you try it.”
Ailsa took the scanty garments and headed for the door that connected to her room. “We’ll see.”
Too few moments later, she was standing on the shore of the lake. Reluctantly, she dropped her robe and stepped into the water. She lifted her foot back out again. The bottom was squishy. She hadn’t expected that. The shore was firm sand, but the lake bottom was very wet, mucky mud. Ailsa looked out to where the others were. Artair, Rishiart, and Jathan swam and dove, while Mayra swam out to them. She didn’t see Arrigo anywhere.
The amount of splashing seemed almost sacrilegious to Ailsa. She just couldn’t understand how anyone could be so cavalier about water. But . . . they did seem to be having great fun. She put her foot back into the water and took several steps away from the shore. Once she got used to it, the squishiness of the mud wasn’t really unpleasant, just unexpected. And it was cooler. She bent down to cup some water to wet her face.
The bottom wasn’t just squishy, it was slippery too. She slid forward a little and had to stand up and thrust her arms out for balance. Ailsa stood still for a moment, too afraid to move either forward or back. The bottom seemed to slope downward here and it was hard not to keep sliding farther away from the shore. If only she was closer to those lily pads floating maddeningly just out of reach. At least she’d have something to hold onto. Maybe . . .
She jumped at a whoop behind her. Arrigo’s voice. He dashed past her and dove into the water just a few feet away. Ailsa windmilled her arms frantically, struggling to maintain her balance. The muscles in her legs and torso locked as her world narrowed to just the slippery mud on which she couldn’t find purchase. She cried out as her feet slipped out from under her. She gasped and swallowed water as she went under. Even that didn’t stop her. She kept sliding down the slope until the bottom fell out from beneath her. She kept falling into the depths, watching the sunlight slowly grow fainter above her. She had no way to stop herself. Her lungs ached.
Somewhere in the distance, muted by the water, she heard a sharp cry. Or was that just an echo of the scream that fought to escape her throat? She was so deep already. Even if the others had heard her choked-off cry or seen her fall, what could they do? She was going to die here, in this lake.
Ailsa’s flailing hands brushed against something. She desperately tried to grab it, but her thrashing only succeeded in pushing her away from whatever it was. She couldn’t see it in this dark water. She gasped and sucked in more water as something grabbed her. Hands. Ailsa grasped back so hard she felt bones moving under her hands. For a moment, it seemed that both she and her rescuer would continue falling to the bottom of the lake, but he kicked hard and they spurted upward. Jathan. It was Jathan. He didn’t stop until he’d gotten her back to the shallows and on her feet.
“There. You’re safe now,” he said.
Ailsa continued to hold onto him for support as she coughed on the water she’d swallowed.
Jathan turned back away from the shore, toward the deep water again. “Arrigo, you idiot! She’s from the desert. She doesn’t know how to swim. You could have drowned her with a stunt like that. Hells, you damn near drowned me going after her.”
Arrigo waded up to them, holding out his hand. “I’m sorry, Princess. I didn’t know.”
Ailsa flinched away from him, holding Jathan still tighter.
“Leave her alone, Arrigo. You’ve done quite enough,” Mayra said sharply.
“I’m sorry,” Arrigo repeated before retreating.
“You should be,” Mayra muttered. “Are you all right, Ailsa?”
Ailsa nodded helplessly, still coughing.
“She will be now,” Jathan said. “You go on, May. I’ll take care of her.”
~
Jathan held Ailsa until the coughing fit eased and her death grip on him began to loosen. Even though he was still quivering with rage at his thoughtless brother, he was also aware of the sensation of holding Ailsa close and having her hold onto him. The hammering of his pulse wasn’t all due to anger at Arrigo.
Gradually, Ailsa’s breathing eased and she stood up straighter. He kept a hand on her elbow to steady her. She needed something to make her feel more secure. Jathan looked around and decided on the nearby water lilies as a way to distract her from her recent terror. Ailsa resisted his first attempt to move in that direction. He kept his tone light. “Let’s just go over here and look at the lilies. Come to think of it, that’s probably one of the habitats your grandmother wanted us to investigate.”
She drew in a shuddering breath. “All right. For a moment.”
Jathan guided her hand underwater to a lily stem. “These lilies are old. The stems are strong and the roots are large and solid. Feel that?”
Ailsa smiled unsteadily. “Yes.”
A tiny green frog jumped off the nearest pad at their approach. Farther away, a small water bird ran across the tops of the lily pads.
“See, the lilies can support that bird. If you need it, they could support you, too. You can’t tell me you couldn’t make them do that, and you an eighth-level green mage.”
Ailsa kept one hand on Jathan’s arm as she ran a finger around the edge of a lily pad.
“You feel safer here, don’t you?”
Ailsa nodded. “Yes. I wished I was closer to the lilies right before . . . right before I fell.”
Just like that, anger nearly choked him again. Jathan gripped her arm, surprised at his own rage. He couldn’t remember ever being this angry with any of his stepbrothers, even Arrigo. That was saying something. “Right before my dim-witted stepbrother almost pushed you in, you mean.”
That raised a soft chuckle from Ailsa, though, and Jathan relaxed, blowing out his breath.
“All right, now you feel better, let’s try something. Just lay back and let the water hold you up.”
Ailsa tensed and shook her head. “No. Just let me get out and dry.”
Jathan gripped her hand. “No.” He searched for something she’d understand. “It’s a little like learning to ride. If you fall off the horse, you have to get right back on. Otherwise it’ll just be harder, later.”
Ailsa pulled away from him, toward the shore. “That’s all right. I don’t need to swim.”
“But you do. How else are you going to investigate what else lives among the lilies? Or over in the cattails, for that matter?”
Ailsa chewed her lower lip. “From a boat?”
Jathan laughed. “All right, I’ll grant you that. But what if the boat capsized? Or sprung a leak? Or if you just leaned out too far and fell in? You’d need to know how to swim, then. Or at least how to stay afloat. Look, I’ll be right here. I’ll keep my hands under you to hold you up. And the lilies are right here, too, for you to draw on if you need to. Nothing will happen to you this time. Just try it. I won’t let you go under.”
Ailsa stood stock still, biting her lip so hard he thought she’d draw blood. That dunking really had terrified her.
Jathan ran his hand up from her elbow to her shoulder. “Don’t you trust me?”
Ailsa shivered and looked up and studied Jathan’s face for a moment. “Yes, I trust you.” She looked down at the water. “Are you sure this is necessary? Really?”
“Yes. If you’re going to be around water much at all—and you are, at least for the next couple of weeks. Y
ou’ll feel safer if you know you won’t sink like that again.”
Ailsa drew a deep breath and leaned back. Jathan put his hand beneath her to support her. When she was horizontal on top of the water, he moved his other hand under her legs. Good thing, because at first she was stiff as a board and would have sunk without him.
“Put your hand out to touch the lily pad. Feel its life. Feel it respond to your magic,” he advised.
She did and gradually he could feel her begin to relax. He felt the trickle of her magic tingling against his skin, but that wasn’t all he could feel. The thin fabric of the swimming costume, soaking wet as it was, was no bar to his imagination. He could guess what it would feel like to touch her skin along her back and on her thighs and it thrilled him. The wet fabric clung to the curves of her body on the part of her that was above water. The strands of her hair that had escaped from her braid floated around her head like a golden crown. Jathan swallowed hard. He was going to have to swim out to the deepest—and coldest—part of the lake before going back inside. But he wouldn’t have traded this moment for anything.
“I’m sorry to be spoiling your fun,” Ailsa said.
“You’re not.” Jathan’s voice sounded strangled even to him. He cleared his throat. “If I was out there with my brothers right now, I’d probably be too tempted to try to drown Arrigo. Then they’d probably gang up and try to drown me. So, you see, you’re actually saving my life.”
Ailsa chuckled, which seemed to help her to calm down a bit more. As she finally relaxed, Jathan felt Ailsa float free of his support. He lowered his hands away from her. “You’re floating on your own, now. See, all you have to do is relax and the water will hold you up.”
Ailsa tensed at this and Jathan quickly repositioned his hands to hold her up.
She chuckled. “I was, wasn’t I?” She relaxed again and sighed with pleasure.
Jathan smiled. “All right, then. Let me just teach you one thing and then I’ll let you go back to the inn, if you want.”
“All right.”
“Just as when walking, your legs are most important when swimming, although your arms can help, too. But one thing at a time. We usually swim face down, but you might be more comfortable with your face out of the water at first. If you just start kicking your legs, you’ll find you can move through the water a little.”
Ailsa kicked a little, which caused her to sink a little lower in the water, but she did move a few feet on her own.
“That’s good. Do you want to practice some more?”
Ailsa tilted herself to stand on the muddy bottom again. “No, thanks. You’ve spent enough time taking care of me. And I think I’ve had enough for now. I’ll let you go back and enjoy yourself.”
Jathan watched her as she stepped carefully back to the shore, keeping one hand on the lily pads as she went. “It was no trouble.”
As she reached the shallower water, the wet fabric clearly showed the curve of her buttocks. He probably shouldn’t be noticing that. Ailsa was a princess—not someone he could just . . . play around with, even if she was willing. Almost certainly destined to marry a real prince somewhere. More, she was going back to Far Terra when her training was done. Far Terra, the last place he had any intention of going, ever. Jathan let out his breath in a long sigh and turned to swim with swift strokes out to where the water was really cold.
Arrigo swam closer, smirking. “You’re paying quite a lot of attention to Princess Ailsa, aren’t you?”
Jathan balled his fists, fighting to restrain the impulse to really try to drown his stepbrother.
“Oh, give it a rest, Arrigo,” Rishiart said, swimming closer. “You’re just lucky Jathan was quick enough to rescue her. Or would you rather try to explain to Father how you drowned our guest on the first day? Lucky, too, that she trusts him enough to let him calm her down. Wouldn’t exactly be a feather in your cap if you’d frightened her enough to ask Father to just send her straight home, either. All in all, I think you owe Jathan a thank you, at the very least. And not to try to needle him into another fight.”
Jathan clenched his jaw and swam a little farther out. He hadn’t needed Arrigo’s reminder to know his attraction to Ailsa was doomed.
~
Jathan stopped just inside the door. As usual for their stay, one of the larger rooms on this floor had been refurnished as a private dining room. Ailsa and Mayra weren’t there, yet, but what arrested his attention was his brother Arrigo standing across from their parents, head down.
“I understand that you have given yourself cause to apologize to our guest, Princess Ailsa again.” Father’s voice was full of reproof.
“I said I was sorry. How was I to know she couldn’t swim?”
“You might have asked,” Mother said with deceptive mildness.
Color rose on the back of Arrigo’s neck.
Father heaved a sigh. “Just make sure not to make a fool of yourself for a third time.”
Standing by the door, Jathan heard the voices of Ailsa and Mayra as they came down the corridor. He cleared his throat to alert the others. There was no point at all in embarrassing Ailsa any further. He made sure that Ailsa was seated between Mayra and himself, insulated from any of his stepbrothers—especially Arrigo.
Chapter 15: Useful Magic
Early in the morning, Ailsa came downstairs to find Jathan already mounted on his roan and holding the reins of both Diamond and Silver. She stepped forward to take Diamond’s reins and the horse tossed his head and lipped her hair in greeting.
Arrigo rode up on a prancing bay. “You can’t mean to let Ailsa ride Diamond, Jathan. He’s not nearly steady enough.”
“Mind your own business,” Jathan growled. “You have no idea what kind of rider Ailsa is.”
Arrigo reached for Diamond’s reins. “At least let me work him for you a little.”
Ailsa jerked the reins out of his grasp. “I don’t need your help.”
Jathan leaned out of his saddle toward his stepbrother and said in a low voice, “Remember what Father told you last night? Don’t make a fool of yourself again so soon, Arrigo. Apparently they don’t swim out on the desert, but they do ride. Very well.”
Ailsa smiled into Diamond’s shoulder before putting her foot into the stirrup and swinging up into the saddle in one fluid move. Diamond pranced in place and tossed his head, eager to go. Ailsa reined him back and turned him toward the currently-empty road. The emperor and empress weren’t downstairs yet. There was time for a short run. She grinned at Jathan. “I’ll be right back.” Then she leaned low across Diamond’s neck and turned her heels into his sides. Diamond took off like a bolt of pure white light, down the road to the first bend. Ailsa turned him and held him to an easy canter on the way back. She patted Diamond’s shoulder as he trotted up to stop beside Jathan’s gelding. She ignored the look of disbelief on Arrigo’s face.
Jathan laughed. “Told you.”
“I regret doubting your ability,” Arrigo said, executing a slight bow from his saddle.
“What are you apologizing for now?” the emperor asked.
“Only underestimating Princess Ailsa’s riding ability, Father,” Jathan said with a wink in her direction. “Nothing worse.”
The emperor paused, seeing Ailsa seated on Diamond and the young stallion apparently well in hand. “Well, to be truthful, I would never have suspected it, myself. I’d been prepared to give up on that horse and hope he would do better as a stud. Perhaps get a more manageable foal out of him for Mayra.”
Ailsa gave Diamond another pat. “Oh, no. There’s no reason he can’t do both. He’s actually a very good horse, once you let him blow off some steam. That’s all he really needs.”
“Ailsa’s been riding Diamond since the Solstice Ball. After the first time, he’s never given her any trouble,” Jathan said. “And he didn’t give her much, even then.”
Ailsa gave Diamond another pat. “He’s a good horse at heart, just a little high spirited. In fact, I feel a little
guilty continuing to ride him. There’s really no reason Mayra couldn’t—”
“No,” Mayra interrupted. “I don’t think I could handle him with as much confidence as you. At least not yet.”
“Well, I’m glad to see he’s getting some use,” the emperor said. He and the empress mounted their horses and the whole group, including the guards ahead and behind, started out on a little-used trail that wound up the mountain slopes. Riding between Jathan and Mayra, Ailsa looked back. Behind the last group of guards, teams of horses pulled three narrow wagons carrying their trunks and supplies. The emperor’s family traveled with a lot of baggage.
Ailsa, Jathan, Mayra, and the other princes had soon outpaced the emperor and empress, who rode at a more stately pace. A half dozen of the soldiers reformed to surround their smaller group as a matter of course. Probably this happened every time the imperial family rode into the mountains.
The others chatted as they rode, but Ailsa was soon lost in the experience of the forest. The Terranion parks through which she’d ridden with Jathan and Mayra were landscaped and carefully managed to seem like natural woodlands, but they weren’t. The Far Terran forests she’d been accustomed to were among the first things her ancestors had nurtured six generations ago. They’d always felt old to Ailsa, but this forest . . . this was ancient.
Some of the trees were so big around that three men couldn’t join hands around their trunks. Farther back, she glimpsed some that were still bigger—huge trees with trunks covered in shaggy reddish bark. Awesome giants, easily imagined as the sentinels of the forest. Beneath the canopy of interlacing branches, the tree trunks stood far enough apart to see well into the forest. The litter of leaves and pine needles on the ground must be at least ankle deep. She breathed in the sharp, clean smell of the pines, accented with other, earthier scents and felt the buzzing energy of green, growing things all around her. In this place, she could believe anything was possible.
Daughter of the Disgraced King Page 14
