Hey! So are you ready for my next one? I sure am. Thanks to all my dedicated readers...I hope you all like this one just as much!
On Progress
Numair came into his room and shut the door. Daine, who was lying on the bed reading, turned around to smile at him. Usually she would have been at the stables; but the later winter storms had come in the night before, and the weather outside was somewhere between snow and freezing rain.
"What's that?" Daine asked, nodding to the folded paper in his hand.
Numair took a seat beside her on the bed.
"We've been invited to join the Court when they go on Progress in a few months."
"Then just turn down the invitation."
Numair handed her the paper.
"I did. Several times. And what we got was a Royal Order to join the Court on Progress in a few months."
Daine read the paper Numair had handed to her.
"No, you got the Royal Order. I never said I wasn't going."
She handed the paper back to him.
"I chose to stay on His Majesty's good side."
Numair rolled his eyes and went into the wardrobe to change out of his nice clothes. Daine peered over the edge of her book and smiled. She watched his muscles flex as he took his tunic over his head, then watched him unbutton his silk shirt and take off his breeches and boots. Then he put on a plain white shirt and tan breeches. Daine hid under her book again when he came out.
Numair took it from her and set it on the floor. Then he laid down beside her and put his head on her shoulder. Daine turned so she could hold him in her arms and stroked his back.
"Long day?" she asked quietly and he nodded.
"The longest. I had a meeting this morning with the Council of Mages, then another one on the other side of the castle. And of course I couldn't simply walk through the hall. Oh, no, because if I could my day might just have been slightly passable."
Numair rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.
"The only hallway to the north side of the castle was, of course, being re-tiled. So I had to run through freezing rain only to arrive very, very late to my meeting."
Daine played with his hand.
"How late?"
Numair sighed.
"Let's just say that when I sat down they where going over final questions."
"Oh," Daine said quietly.
"And then, to make my day even more miserable, I had that wonderful little chat with Johnathan and then was given a Royal Order to go on Progress. So, yes, magelet; It was a very long day."
Daine cuddled up to him and kissed his cheek.
"I could make it better, I think."
He opened one eye.
"How?"
She smiled and played with his hair.
"Well I hope your not too hungry. We'll probably miss dinner."
Numair smiled back at her.
"I'm not hungry at all."
Daine walked into the large meeting room only to see it was a lot smaller looking than usual. She looked around to find an empty chair, but they had all been taken. Seeing Numair on the other side of the room, she went over to him.
Numair looked up from the piece of paper he had been reading and Daine jerked her thumb over her shoulder.
"Out."
He sighed and let her have his chair, then sat on the floor and leaned against her legs.
All through the meeting about what a good Court does and doesn't do while on Progress Daine watched her lover. Numair seemed to find it funny when the person explaining the certain topic would refer to the Court as the 'group'. At first Daine wondered why he was acting so silly. She looked around the room to see if anyone was paying attention to him. She only saw one person; in a chair in the corner sat the king, who was shooting Numair a look that would kill.
Now it made sense. Numair had been mad at Jon ever since he had given him the Royal Order. So of course he was acting like an idiot; he wanted to make the king mad. Daine sighed to herself. They were worse than little boys.
She kicked Numair hard in the side. He ignored her.
Jon finally stopped paying attention to Numair. So Numair decided to get him even angrier.
When the man was done speaking (Daine didn't know who he was) he asked for questions. Numair raised his hand.
By now Daine was kicking him as hard as possible and didn't cared who noticed. The man nodded to Numair.
"Instead of calling our Court a 'group' you might as well call us a 'herd'. Most of us act like cows anyways."
Things were quiet for a few moments; then much to Daine's relief a few people chuckled. She watched Numair give the king a proud smirk, and the meeting continued.
That night Daine refused to talk to Numair. He begged and pleaded with her to forgive him, but she ignored him (much like the way he ignored her when she was kicking him)
Numair tried to persuade her while she got undressed, put on one of his old shirts, combed out her hair, and washed her face and her teeth. She had to lock him out of the wash room while she used the chamberpot, and when she came out he was standing at the door. He followed her to the bed and got on his knees when she laid down.
"Please," he whispered.
"Please what?" she asked.
"Please forgive you for acting like a three-year-old and an idiot?"
"Well if you call me a three-year-old than it's not fair to call me an idiot-I'm simply innocent."
Daine rolled on her other side.
"Good night, Numair."
He sighed.
"I'm sorry. I am being an idiot."
She turned to face him again.
"Please forgive me."
She held his chin in her hand.
"You shouldn't be telling me your sorry. You should be apologizing to your king."
Numair sighed.
"Fine. I'll go apologize tomorrow. Then will you forgive me?"
Daine let his hair out of the leather tie that held it.
"Maybe. But only if you can prove you aren't a little boy."
Numair leaned forward to kiss her, but she stopped him.
"Tomorrow's our last night in this bed, in any bed, for a few months. So let's make it special."
He thought about this for a minute, then sighed and gave her a little kiss.
"Fine. Tomorrow."
The next day Daine woke Numair up when the morning bells rang. She made him get dressed and go see the king before he got too busy. When she was sure he was gone she got back under the blankets and went to sleep.
Daine finally woke up before noon. She got dressed and pinned her hair back, then went about packing.
Numair came up well after lunch.
"Where have you been?" Daine asked as she put her final pack with her other two.
Numair shrugged.
"Talking."
She sat down in one of the armchairs.
"To who?"
"Jonathan. Isn't that what you wanted me to do?"
Daine smiled.
"So you two aren't fighting anymore?"
"No," he said flatly and went to start packing for himself.
Daine came up behind him in the wardrobe and put her arms around his waist.
"Have you ate yet?"
He shook his head.
"Come with me, then. You can pack later."
Numair looked back at her and Daine put out her lower lip. He sighed and followed her to lunch.
By the time they were done eating it was dusk. Daine helped Numair pack his things. When they put his packs in a pile she noticed that he had two more bags than her.
"You're going to get in trouble," she warned, and Numair shrugged.
"And what will they do?"
"Give you a Royal Order, probably."
Numair looked Daine over for a minute. Then he picked her up and put her over one shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Daine yelled.
"Punishing you."
"For what?"
He put her down on the bed and put her legs on his shoulders, then slowly started to unbutton her shirt, kissing the skin that each button uncovered.
"For being bad," he whispered, and Daine asked no more questions.