by J. D. Wright
Dahlia just stood there, shaking her head, unbelieving what she was hearing. The fact that her father refused to give up a woman to save his daughter was like a sharp knife to her heart, piercing the very core of her love for him. She had tried so hard to please him, so hard to prove to him that she was worthy of his love. But none of it mattered now. He hadn’t saved her. She would have to save herself, but she refused to grovel, even to save her own life.
“I want to give you an opportunity to fix some of the damage you have caused, Dahlia,” Bree said. “I want to get my mother back and I need your help to do it. You know his kingdom, his security. We need to find a way to get inside.” When Dahlia didn’t respond, Bree added, “If you help us, I will spare your life. I will set you free.”
“Help you? To get into my father’s kingdom? Help you save the woman that my father refused to give up to save me? Are you mad? I will never help you!” Dahlia screamed, then turned away.
“I wish I could say I understand how you feel, but I don’t. I can’t even imagine the pain and disappointment and I won’t pretend that I do,” Bree said, quietly. “But the girl I remember wouldn’t let this go without a fight. The girl I remember was tough and a lot smarter than anyone cared to admit, including me. Don’t let him win.” Bree paused for a moment, hoping Dahlia would respond, but she stayed silent, still turned around so Bree couldn’t see her face. “If you change your mind…”
“I won’t.”
Bree could tell Dahlia was crying now, her voice shaking. Rowan started to pull Bree away, but she turned back to Dahlia. “I’m sorry for what I said to you, that day in the wardrobe. I shouldn’t have done it and I’m sorry. You deserved better then, and you still do now… I just wanted you to know.” Then she turned and left Dahlia, alone.
~*~
“She will change her mind,” Bree said, pausing between bites of pork and potato stew. “I have no doubt.” She glanced over to where Rowan was eating at the knight’s table with his father, and smiled.
“I certainly have doubt,” Dagan replied. “The way she looked at you, it’s obvious how much she dislikes you. No offense, Queen, but even wildfire cannot thaw the icicle heart of that woman.”
“What is that? Wildfire?”
“Hmm? Oh, wildfire is fire but made with magic. Well, really it’s more…” He shook his head, unsure of how to explain. “Wizards can create fire, real fire, just like a spark causes wood to burn. But we can also summon wildfire, which behaves much like real fire, only it’s a lot harder to conjure and nearly impossible to control. The blue flames of wildfire are much more deadly.”
“Well, that must make for quite the advantage. To be able to use this wildfire on your enemy?”
“No. Wildfire is extremely dangerous. Wizards tried to use it during the war, and it grew out of control, killing and destroying everything in its path, including my grandmother.” Dagan’s eyes were sad now, as he remembered the terrifying story his grandfather had shared with him, many years ago.
“Oh. Dagan, I am so sorry.”
He shook his head. “When my grandfather became the Elder Mage, one of the first things he did was to prohibit the use of wildfire.”
“I have wondered if I may ask, now that Elric has… passed… will there be a new Elder Mage, to take his place?”
“Eventually. Unlike your royal succession, so to speak, the Elder Mage title is earned, not passed down. So the person who becomes the new Elder Mage will have to prove themselves, with both character and magic, before they can claim it. In the past, there have been summits, gatherings of the wizards of the realm, to name an Elder Mage. My grandfather earned his title during the war, in the middle of battle, I’m told. Amidst the chaos, there simply wasn’t enough time for a formal meeting. Not that the wizards would have stopped fighting long enough to talk, anyway…”
“So there may be a summit this time, then? That would be interesting…”
“Hmph... Not really. But as a living wizard in the realm, I would be required to attend, and be tested for the title. A title that I would never, ever, want to hold.”
“Then let us hope you fail,” Bree said, smiling.
A guard entered the room and approached the knight’s table, stopping to whisper something into Sir Raymun’s ear. Then Sir Raymun stood and walked over to the royal table, bowing quickly to the queen before speaking.
“I have received word that the prisoner, Princess Dahlia, has requested a word with you, Your Majesty. However, I do not recommend—“
“Thank you, Sir Raymun. If you would please send someone down to fetch Dahlia, I will see her in my library, once supper is finished.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, but—“
“Oh, and please see to it that one of the chambermaids provide Dahlia with clean clothes and a wash bucket, before bringing her to me. Her clothes were looking rather soiled when I saw her last.”
Sir Raymun paused for a moment, then sighed. “Yes, Your Majesty. Right away.” Giving a quick bow, he left the hall.
Turning back to her food as if nothing had happened, Bree smiled and took another bite of her stew.
Dagan chuckled to himself. The queen’s silent gloating was just as annoying as if she had taunted him like a child.
A short time later, Bree finished her last bite of bread pudding and called out to Rowan before leaving the hall. He was still her personal guard and required to follow her about the kingdom. So she waited until he said farewell to his father for the evening and could escort her to the library. Dagan had decided to join them in their discussion with Dahlia, in case she had decided to reveal anything useful about her father’s wizard though he still wasn’t entirely convinced that she would cooperate.
Finnley and Sir Raymun, along with two more guards and Sir Luthias were waiting in the library with Dahlia when they entered. The large room suddenly felt much smaller. Dahlia was sitting in a chair, with her hands and feet bound. Her clean clothes and freshly washed face should have made Bree happy to see, however, the grimace that she wore was overpowering.
“Princess Dahlia,” Bree said as she entered, taking a seat across from her. “You have requested an audience with me, I am told.”
“Yes,” Dahlia replied. “And I… appreciate… the clean clothing and opportunity to wash, Your Majesty.”
Bree could tell that she was having trouble maintaining her composure. And even though Dahlia was smiling, faintly, Bree could see the sadness in her eyes.
“I have decided to agree to your terms,” Dahlia blurted out before she could change her mind. Then taking a breath, she continued, “I will provide you with any information that you need to rescue your mother.”
Even though Bree was fairly certain that Dahlia would agree, just hearing the words was uplifting. Rescuing her mother was definitely possible with Dahlia’s help.
“I am glad to hear it, Dahlia. Really, I am.”
Dahlia nodded, looking down at the floor. “What do you need to know?”
Sir Raymun and Sir Luthias took turns asking her about the castle’s security, then Dagan questioned her about the wizard’s defenses. The conversations lasted for over an hour.
“Hmm…” Dahlia said, to herself, as Dagan had rose to leave. “There is something else you should know about Larkin.”
Dagan turned back. “What is that?”
Dahlia smiled and leaned back in her chair. “He takes pleasure in young men.”
“What? You mean?”
“Oh, yes. I do mean. One way that my father rewards him for his service is to provide a young gentleman to… entertain him.”
Dagan wrinkled his nose, which Bree noticed was similar to every other man’s face in the room after hearing Dahlia’s remarks. While it was not unheard of, a man enjoying the company of another man was certainly a taboo matter in the realm. The rumor of such could ruin a man’s chance at marriage to a respectable woman.
Since none of the men seemed to want to
speak, Bree said, “While that is interesting information, how does that help us, exactly?”
Dahlia looked at Bree, amazed that the queen hadn’t figured it out yet. “It helps because it provides you with a means of distraction. A way to occupy the wizard while you find your mother.”
“You mean to send in a gentleman, to distract the wizard?”
“Yes, of course. But not just any young lad will do. My father does not reward him with mere farmers’ sons or the like. He must be of noble blood, or at least appear that way. Larkin, like my father, has a taste for finer things.”
Finnley realized that all eyes in the room were now on him. He froze, then stepped backward, throwing his hands into the air.
“No! No, no, no, no. No!”
“Finnley, please!” Bree said. “There is no one else I would trust to be able to keep their head in that kind of situation.”
“No. The last time I did you a favor, I got stuck with the crazy wilderness lady.”
“Who you ended up actually liking before the week was over,” Bree added.
“Regardless, I will entertain the wilderness lady any time you ask. Hell, I’ll even let her move into my chambers with me! But I will not offer my body to an old, wrinkly man!”
“Maybe you won’t have to,” Dagan said, thoughtfully. “Offer your body, that is. Perhaps we can find a way to immobilize him, poison him so that he cannot interfere. I would use a spell on him, but I can’t be there and locate the Queen Mother at the same time. But a poison of some sort just may work.”
“Poisons seem to be your specialty,” Rowan said, looking at Dahlia. “Any suggestions?”
Dahlia grinned. “I can think of a few.”
Chapter Twenty-One
With his mind full of the task at hand, Dagan went back to his tower to spend the rest of the evening searching his grandfather’s ingredients. He was bound to have at least one of the poisons Dahlia had mentioned. If he didn’t, he would have to make a trip to the apothecary in the village, assuming that they would even carry such items. The sooner they were able to rescue Cicilly, the sooner he could go to Sidonie, to bring her back.
He opened the door to the study and made his way up the stairs. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he realized the door to the study had not been locked. Summoning fire in his hand, he paused, then jumped around the corner and into the room.
“Ahhhh!”
“Oh, hell. Sid? What are you doing here?”
Sidonie was trying to catch her breath, after nearly falling into a shelf behind her when Dagan rushed into the room and startled her.
“I was… waiting. Sir Nicholas said you… were in a meeting.”
“I can see that,” he replied. “What I mean is, how are you here? Your sister said the castle wasn’t safe.”
“I came back,” she said, “for you.”
Without saying another word, Dagan closed the space between them in a flash, pinning Sidonie against the shelf behind her that she had narrowly missed before. His lips met hers with such fierceness that Sidonie had no doubt he had missed her as much as she missed him. She craved the touch of his lips and the firmness of his body against hers. Making the decision to leave her sister and return was not easy. But she had done it because every day away from him she could feel her heart shattering. And every time she had thought about him, her magic flared up to the point where it was burning her alive.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he said, between kisses. “I didn’t know when I would see you again.”
“I’m sorry for leaving you. I shouldn’t have gone. Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to touch you.”
He took her face in his hands. “Don’t ever leave me again. Please. I can’t lose you again.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, but he didn’t wait for her to answer before taking her mouth again. He was so happy to have her back. He had tried to keep himself distracted so he wouldn’t think about her out in the forest, without him. But the moment she said she came back for him, he couldn’t control himself. Grabbing her waist, he spun her around, toward the middle of the room and began to loosen her gown.
“Wait,” she said between moans, as his fingers grazed her firm nipples under her shirt. “There isn’t a bed in here. Shouldn’t we go…” Pausing to moan as he took her breast in his mouth, she forgot the rest of her thoughts.
Dagan pulled back a bit, grinning. “Who said we needed a bed?”
“What do you mea--, oh!”
Sidonie gasped as her feet lost contact with the floor below and she started to float in the air with Dagan. Once she felt safe enough to move, she reached down and untied his trousers as he let them, along with his robes, fall to the floor below them. Once her skirts were removed, there was nothing between them but air, which was soon gone, too, as they came together, bodies tangling and floating in the center of the room.
Dagan lifted her up, onto his lap, as he leaned back onto the invisible force holding them up. Straddling him now, she reached down and grabbed him, stroking for a moment before positioning him to slide inside her. His head dropped back and he groaned as she began to rock back and forth, swallowing him inside her deeper. Her blood was like melted steel, coursing through her body as she rode him. Every one of her senses were going wild. She could hear him, even the smallest whimper. She could feel him, solid beneath her and inside her.
His hands grabbed her hips as he rocked against her. He tried to keep his eyes open so he could watch her, bare and beautiful atop him, but the pleasure of being with her was making it hard. Using the air under him, he pushed against it and lifted his chest up to meet her, keeping her steady on his lap. She didn’t stop moving. Instead, as his mouth found her neck and his hand met her breasts, she began to rock faster. He was so close now, she could hear his heart beating frantically.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, holding on as she picked up speed once more. When she kissed him, Dagan couldn’t contain himself any longer. He grabbed her hips again and thrust upward, over and over, spilling himself into her as she ran her fingers through his hair. Exhausted and empty, he laid his head between her breasts and held her, suspended in the air.
It was in this position that Rowan found them as he rounded the corner.
“Holy hell!” He tried to hide his eyes, but the vision was burned into memory.
Sidonie laughed, despite the fact that she was completely exposed.
“Hello, Rowan. I guess fair is fair, since I’ve seen you before…”
“I’d prefer to forget about that instance, thank you. And this one as well.”
Dagan waved his hand and his cloak lifted from the chair near the doorway and floated in the air to make a curtain, providing a bit of privacy as he and Sidonie began to get dressed.
“So, did you come here only to interrupt?” Dagan said, laughing. His friend’s scarlet face was entirely too amusing to ignore.
“Actually, Bree is bathing, so I thought I would come here and see if you needed any assistance. Though, now I see that you already have some… assistance.” He couldn’t help but laugh. “Perhaps you should get a door for this room.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to burst in, or I would have locked the one downstairs. Matter of fact, I wasn’t expecting to find her in here, either. This entire situation was unexpected.”
“Mmmm, hmmm,” was the only response Rowan to think to give.
“Speaking of locked doors, how exactly did you get in here anyway, Sid? I had the key with me the entire time.”
“Oh,” Sidonie said, blushing a bit, “I used magic, to unlock the door.”
Dagan stopped buttoning his robes to look up, releasing his magic hold on the cloak as it dropped to the floor. Thankfully, Sidonie had already finished dressing herself, except for a few laces on her gown.
“Magic?”
“Yes. I didn’t think I could do it, at first. I was just going to wait outside in the
hallway, but I had my hand on the door and thought about unlocking it, and it just… unlocked.” Dagan was looking at her the same way he had in the forest like she was a puzzle he was trying to solve.
“I thought females couldn’t do magic like that,” Rowan blurted out, earning a confused look from Sidonie.
“They can’t,” Dagan replied, “usually, at least. It seems our Sid is not a typical female.”
“I’m confused. Is something wrong with me?”
Dagan laughed. “No. But it’s a mystery that we don’t have time to solve at the moment. Right now we have a task at hand, to rescue the Queen Mother.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” Sidonie asked.
“Actually,” Rowan said, “I think maybe there is.” Then he told her of their plan.
~*~
“I can’t believe I let her talk me into this. This is by far the worst idea ever, even more deranged than the last one.”
“I thought you said Cicilly was like a mother to you? Aren’t you doing this to save her?”
“Yes, Dahlia, or Sidonie, or whatever your name is. I am doing this to save the only mother I have ever known.”
“And I’m sure they both will be very grateful,” Sidonie said, only the words came out of Dahlia’s mouth. The plan changed slightly when Bree learned of Sidonie’s return. So now she wore Dagan’s father’s amulet into Sire, disguised as Dahlia. She had spent most of the day memorizing a map Dahlia had drawn of her father’s kingdom. And now, just after sundown, she stood in the forest, ready to begin her task. She kissed Dagan goodbye. Leaving Finnley, Rowan, Nick, Sir Luthias, and Sir Ainsley behind, she headed toward the castle of Sire.
“Well, that was rather strange, you kissing Dahlia,” Finnley said.
“Better him than me,” Rowan said, frowning. “Alright wizard, how much longer until you get us a path?”
Dagan stood at the edge of the forest the group was using to mask their presence. “I want to wait until she gets inside. I don’t want anyone to suspect her of being involved. Just in case we’re found out.” Then he waited a few more moments until she disappeared behind the castle gate.
