by T.M. Nielsen
***
“Please, Daemionis, I need to speak to Creteloc,” Kyrin said from her knees. She looked around the empty bedroom, waiting for Daemionis to appear.
When he didn’t, she shut her eyes and concentrated.
“I have to talk to her. If you don’t bring her here, I’ll need to shift and find her.”
Alric walked in and was just about to ask what she was doing when she disappeared. He sighed and then turned and walked out of the bedroom.
Kyrin looked up to see if Daemionis had come but found herself in his palace in Paramide Dimension. She stood up and turned around, finding Creteloc behind her.
“What trouble have you found that Daemionis brought me here just to keep you from begging any longer?” Creteloc asked, irritated.
Kyrin glanced around but didn’t see the deity. She finally decided she better act fast. “Alric has hired a Lady in Waiting. I don’t know what to do.”
“A Lady in Waiting? That’s surprising as you’ve only been married for a year.”
“I’m surprised too. I… I thought he was different.”
“I warned you not to trust him.”
“What am I doing wrong?”
“Well,” Creteloc said, walking around her, “you dress like a boy.”
“So do you.”
“I’m not trying to win back the affections of a useless man. He probably wants more of a feminine woman as his wife.”
“Then why would he marry me?”
Creteloc shrugged. “I’m sure he thought he could change you. He obviously has given up if he’s replacing you this soon.”
“A Lady in Waiting, it’s disgusting.”
“He’s a man. You may have to change to keep him and to stay first wife.”
“I was married to him first. Doesn’t that make me first wife?” Kyrin asked.
“Not necessarily. His favorite wife can be moved into the first wife’s position.”
“What?!”
“If you want to keep him, and I don’t know why you would… but if you want to keep him, you have to act more like a noble woman and less like a runaway teenager.”
“What if I don’t know how?” Kyrin sighed.
Creteloc looked at her. “Improvise. You have great survival skills, so pull from that.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“No”
“Never?”
“No”
“Well why did I have to?”
“You have a heart. Daemionis and I saw this coming,” Creteloc told her.
“Dresses and hair, huh?”
Creteloc looked over when a dress appeared. It was a floor-length, red shimmery dress with a flowing skirt and a low-cut neck, and long, shiny sleeves.
Kyrin sighed. “Is he serious?”
“He is interested in this union and doesn’t wish for a Lady in Waiting to interfere.”
“What if she’s not there as a future wife?”
“She is, as the name implies.”
“There’s just a part of me that thinks Alric wouldn’t do that.”
“He would.”
“He doesn’t lie to me though, and he swore he’d never take on another wife.”
“Men lie.”
“Alric doesn’t.”
Creteloc shook her head. “You have to stop trusting him.”
“Yeah, well I’ve survived on gut instinct for years, and my instinct is telling me that I can trust him.”
“You can’t. Now get dressed.”
Kyrin studied the long gown. “I hate dresses.”
“Put it on, let your hair down, and stop fighting.”
Kyrin tore the dress down and changed right in the middle of the room. She didn’t feel like defying Daemionis again. Once dressed, she looked down and sighed.
Creteloc grinned evilly. “Pretty.”
“Shut up.”
“Hair”
It took Kyrin a while to let her hair down and smooth it out with her fingers.
“Now what?” Kyrin asked.
“Let me see,” Creteloc said, and walked around Kyrin. “No fighting.”
“Right”
“So leave your flail here.”
“No!”
“If you have it, you’ll slip it under your skirt and end up fighting.”
“So what if I get into trouble?”
“You let that good-for-nothing king fight.”
“He’s not always around.”
“He will be when he sees you.”
“I hate this.”
“You’ve seen nobles. Mimic them,” Creteloc suggested.
“Nobles are snooty and lacking in any fun or imagination.”
“Precisely”
“Enough,” Daemionis said, appearing beside Creteloc. “I’ve granted you the chance to speak to Creteloc. Now you must return.”
Before Kyrin could answer, she was back in her room.
