Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce owns Thayet, Jon, and Jon's horrible drawing skills.
Drawings
Thayet was at a loss for words. It rarely ever happened, and it was a good thing she was all alone, lest the courtiers go crazy.
She was looking for a paragraph on training to prove a point to Buri, but this, she decided, was much more interesting. It was a drawing, tucked between the yellowing pages of an old book on battle strategies and most likely forgotten. Thayet recognized her nose, her favorite dress, and more specifically, her name printed at the bottom. She didn't recognize much else, however, with wild hair, exaggerated lips, and stick arms that were much too long.
When she met Jon later in the palace library, she raised both the paper and her eyebrows in a silent challenge. She watched with amusement as her husband's eyes widened with shock- it was hard to unsettle the King of Tortall, but it seemed she was getting ample practice at it.
"Where did you find that?" he asked calmly, slowly getting up from his chair and taking measured steps towards her. When he got near enough, he lunged, spiraling limbs and making a most un-kinglike face. The assault on his dignity was in vain, however, because his fingers closed on empty air.
Thayet danced away, her hazel eyes laughing as she held the parchment just out of reach. "A better question would be when did you draw this?"
"Years ago," Jon answered grudgingly as he sat back down on one of the library's hard backed wooden chairs. "Alanna told me it would come back to haunt me."
She bit her lower lip to keep a grin from spreading across her face at his look of defeat. "Haunt you? If you'd care to go public, you would steal all of Volney Rain's customers," she teased, walking around to drape her arms over his shoulders. "How many years ago?"
He rested one hand on her wrist; the other rubbed at his bearded chin as he thought back. "Right after I became King; it was all I could do to help keep myself sane. Gods, I used to think about you constantly."
"Used to?" She pretended to be offended, but didn't resist as he pulled her down onto his lap.
"I still do," he replied, easing an arm around her waist. "I've just found better ways to show it."
Thayet dropped the drawing on the floor when his lips covered hers, and she couldn't help but agree.
A/N: My first Tammy fanfic in a while, I'd love to hear what you thought. Please review.