Amoretta's afternoon did not improve. Getting to spend two hours in Lillet's company had refreshed her in one way, snuffed out those first hints of the creeping, hollow sensation that plagued her when they were separated for too long. But what sated one hunger did nothing but make the other one worse. Mistress Artois was no help at all; she showed no sign of being aware that she'd interrupted a romantic rendezvous, and in an uncharitable moment Amoretta had the thought that she probably wouldn't care if she did know.

However, since shoving the Royal Magician out the door, locking it behind her, and then shoving Lillet up against that door and driving all thoughts of politics, military maneuvers, and magical ethics out before a tidal wave of passion wasn't a viable option, she was forced to watch as the two magicians rose to take their leave.

"Thanks for all your help, Amoretta," Lillet told her. "I really think we've got a few good arguments to suggest to Master Freixenet. We're going to reconvene our discussions at six-thirty, though, so we really need to get going." She hung her head, then added, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to miss dinner as well."

"Lillet, you need to eat something," Amoretta chided.

"They'll be sending up refreshments," Lillet assured her, then grinned. "We magicians like our creature comforts, after all, when we're not getting too distracted."

I just wish that it was me who was the distraction!

"All right; I'll see you this evening, then."

"Thanks, little love. I'm sorry that I've been running around busy so much today."

Amoretta didn't answer, mainly because she didn't trust herself to respond to it without saying things that Mistress Artois really didn't need to hear. She probably should have tried to come up with something, though, because Lillet took her hands, then leaned in for a quick goodbye kiss.

It was just a peck, a gentle brushing of Lillet's lips against her own, but in her hyper-sensitive state it sent a thrill running through her, sharp and electric. Her belly clenched as the sheer need clawed at her, and it took every bit of willpower she had to keep from reaching up and embracing Lillet, deepening the kiss. She wanted to—oh, she wanted to—but she knew that if she did, a taste wouldn't be enough. She would take Lillet in her arms, plunder her lips, drink deeply of her, tear at her clothing, slide her hands beneath fabric to the silken softness beneath.

Then Lillet would have to make her stop, and that would embarrass them both. Or she wouldn't make her stop, and that would be a different kind of embarrassment, one with negative consequences for Lillet's status as a Royal Magician. And given that Lillet did have important business to attend to, putting that aside wouldn't be an act of love, but of indulgence.

So Amoretta fought down the craving within her, letting their lips part with a soft glide of skin on skin, and watched Lillet follow Mistress Artois out the door.

She took a few minutes to compose herself, so she wasn't trembling with need any more...at least, not literally trembling any more. Then, since that particular hunger wasn't going to be satisfied any time soon, she decided that she had might as well satiate a different one.

The idea of being alone was too much to stomach just then, so instead of asking Gaff to bring up dinner as he had lunch, she went to the dining hall. The clink of plates and cutlery and the hubbub of conversation filled the room, echoed off the high, arched ceiling and warmed her to the simple joy of human contact. She made her way towards the apprentices' tables and looked for a familiar face.

As it turned out, hers was the familiar face that someone else found.

"Amoretta! Over here!"

She looked up and saw a round-faced brunette with a waist-length braid waving to her. Since there was an empty space next to the girl, she went over and slipped into the seat on the bench.

"Wow, it's pretty rare to see you here at dinner. And when you do show up, you're usually over at the magicians' tables with Mistress Blan. Which sorts of stands to reason, but it still makes it really unusual to see you." Marne Labatt's voice was like her, chirpy and upbeat.

"Lillet is busy in a conference with several of the other Royal Magicians," Amoretta explained.

"Yeah, there's some big thing going on with some of the military top brass," said the male apprentice sitting across from Marne. Amoretta hadn't seen Stefan in several weeks, and it looked like his hair hadn't been trimmed in that time; it was hanging loose and ragged to brush his shoulders. "I had three different projects get cancelled on me this afternoon."

"Me, too," Marne added, grinning. "It's nice to get a day off when you don't expect it."

"Well, then," chimed in another voice, "you should be well-rested to pass the chicken to those of us who did have to work this afternoon."

The speaker was a boy with coppery-red hair and green eyes. He took the seat opposite Amoretta, and a girl slid in beside him. They shared the same coloration, the same dusting of freckles across the nose, and even the same square-framed, steel-rimmed spectacles.

"So," the freckled girl asked, "who's the new face?"

"Oh, she's not new. This is Amoretta Virgine. She's Mistress Blan's, well..."

"Lover," Amoretta finished for Marne. She never could understand why people had such trouble saying simple things sometimes. Marne blushed in embarrassment, which was just more confusing, since she hadn't even been the one to say it.

Of course, saying it was a little bit uncomfortable for Amoretta, too, just not in the same way.

"Oho!" the red-haired boy exclaimed, grinning broadly. "A forbidden teacher-student romance! Nights of decadent passion where she shows you all kinds of perverse things learned over decades of life, a good mentor properly seeing to your education!"

His (presumed) sister hit him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Nice try, Karon. Mistress Blan is the one who's our age, remember?"

Karon blinked.

"Oh, yeah, that's right."

"And it's not a teacher-student romance, either," Stefan put in. "They're just lovers. The fact that Amoretta's an apprentice has nothing to do with it."

"What, so it's just an ordinary romance, then? You people are absolutely no fun."

Amoretta managed, somehow, to put aside the mental image of a Lillet in her thirties standing over her while she lay on her back, nude, in the center of a Rune whose pulsing green glow sent surges of pleasure through her at every rise and fall of its light.

"Why do you want Lillet and my romance to be a forbidden one?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"What else would be interesting about a love affair without any guys in it?" Karon laughed.

"Can't argue with that," his sister agreed. "True love is great for the people in it and a complete yawn for everyone else. Oh, and it's nice to meet you, Amoretta. I'm Kelce Lauder and my twin here is Karon. We're in Necromancy."

"I work with Alchemy; that must be why I've never met you."

"That and we've only been here three months. We got lucky when Master Oporto was appointed as a Royal Magician; we were students at the Magical Society branch where he worked, and he needed a couple of apprentices, so...here we are."

"So Master Oporto wasn't at the conference because he's too new?" Stefan guessed. "That's why you guys didn't get the afternoon off?"

"No, he was there, but so were we. With all those magicians, ministers, and officers, they needed some readily available flunkies to handle the fetching, carrying, hanging up and taking down charts, and all the other things important people are too busy being important to do."

"I'd sympathize, but I was too busy having fun all afternoon," Marne joked.

"It wasn't all bad, though. We got to listen in on some pretty interesting stuff. And we got to meet that really cute colonel with the long hair and the fine rear aspect. Who, I might add, found me pretty interesting as well."

"Dream on, brother," Kelce put in. "He was definitely checking me out."

"On the contrary, he was definitely winking at me."

Stefan rolled his eyes.

"You'll have to forgive them, Amoretta. Those two are always like this when there's a good-looking guy around." He paused, a thought hitting him. "Hey, howcome neither of you ever hit on me? Wait, don't answer that. I think I'd rather not know."

Marne reached across and patted him on the head.

"There, there, Stefan, we still like you."

"Perhaps your colonel likes women as well as men, and was flirting with both of you?"

"Ooh, and was looking for a mixed-twins threesome?" Kelce said in that tone of voice that suggested that she really wanted to be offended by the idea but was too intrigued to muster up the emotion.

Karon, for his part, just grinned at the homunculus.

"You've got a kinky turn of mind, Amoretta."

"Not that it's doing me any good today," she sighed.