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Chapter 21

A Self-Taught Witch

'I cannot make love with you! You are a stableboy and I am a lady,' she told him dramatically, flinging her delicate hand in the air.

His hungry eyes roamed over her wet and naked body. Quickly, she reached for a nearby towel and covered herself with it.

'You don't have to be a lady tonight, Angelique, my flower in bloom,' the stableboy murmured huskily. This man, this dark angel with great abs, walked towards her, like a tiger would do when hunting its prey.

'Oh, Roger! We cannot! We have just met, and I am soon to marry the Duke! If we make love, I shall no longer be a maiden, and I will be unsuitable for marriage. And the duke…the duke will kill me!' Angelique let out in despair. She sat upon the bed, her legs opening despite her will to keep them closed, her towel sliding down, exposing her pink and hard nipple.

'Oh, mademoiselle de Beauvarnais...' he moaned, his voice husky and grave. 'I am in love with you, and I will fight till death to have your body rubbing against mine!'

She watched him with dramatic intensity. 'Do you mean it, Roger?!'

'Oh, yes, mademoiselle, with all my heart I do!'

The air around them became hot, and passion flared in their chests.

'Oh, Roger, I am so tired of living with regrets!' she gasped, a hand to her heart. 'I wish to live my life fully, with you!'

With her golden locks flying, she galloped to him, like a passionate mare would do before jumping over a fence, and as she did so, her towel fell to the ground.

Absolutely naked, Angelique dived for his mouth, and she tasted the sweetness of his lips, the spice of his tongue. It was almost violent when he shot pleasure through her with only this scorching kiss. He pushed her on the bed and climbed on top of her, covering her body with his own powerful one.

'No, Roger!' she blurted out suddenly, interrupting the passionate moment. 'We cannot make love! Because it

...

...

…

'WHAT! Cannot make love because...because what?' Christine flicked through the blank pages, her avid eyes round. 'It's over? Not finished?! Oh, couldn't they just bang already!' she let out, tossing away Harlette's unfinished Romantic novel, 'Love with a StableBoy.'

In Harlette's baby blue room, Christine, with her feet in shiny red boots propped on the desk, had been reading the manuscript for an hour already; she was addicted to it actually, for she wanted to know what would become of the relationship between Angelique and Roger. Yet, she was disappointed with the still unconsummated love, and the unfinished work.

The large mirror on the wall behind her started to glow. She glanced its way and heaved a sigh of exasperation.

Out of the glowing glass, a gloved hand came out, dragging with it the body of a tall man in his early fifties, dressed in long dark blue leather robes. Behind him, came a woman in her late thirties, also clad in blue leather robes, her hair as black as the night, a pointy hat atop her head. Both the newcomers looked at each other, and then at Christine who remained slumped on her chair, feet on the desk, her back to them.

'Oh, hey dudes,' the nonchalent girl greeted over her shoulder.

'Stop calling us dudes, we are your parents...' the father, Hendrick merely said.

'Well, tough tits!'

'Watch your language, that's not a way to behave! And take your shoes off your sister's desk,' the mother, Katarina, rebuked.

'Well, take off that stupid hat,' Christine groaned, without even looking at her mother whose mouth popped open.

'What is the ugly frock for, dad?'Christine questioned before her mother could reply.

'It's very fashionable and elegant!' Katarina shot back indignantly, hands on her waits, the overly large robes dancing around her form.

'Oh, please, my dear,' Henrick let out, sliding timid hands over his own attire. 'Just admit it…' he turned to Christine. 'We were trying to fit in a little more…'

Christine laughed, and Katarina crossed her arms over her chest.

'Do they wear leather robes in Center Earth?' Christine inquired, inspecting her red nails.

'It's Middle Earth!' Katarina corrected. 'And yes, some do. People like us do!'

'You're not from there. You're impostors!' Christine remined.

'Christine, honey, why are you so rude?' Hendrick inquired suddenly, sitting upon the desk, a hand to his heart, trying to have a father-daughter conversation. She watched him through her lashes.

'Well, I was having a fine moment till the unfortunate happened.'

Hendrick and Katarina waited, their expressions curious.

'You two showed up.'

Her parents rolled their eyes.

'Now, Christine, where is Harlette?' Henrick asked, a little firmer this time.

'Well she's not here.'

'She's not?' Katarina's voice rippled with slight panic.

'Duh...'

'Well, where is she?' Katarina inquired anew, a little pushy.

Christine turned to her questioning parents. She blinked, the shadow of confusion stirring within her eyes. 'What do you mean, where is she? I sent her off to fairy land, like you told me.'

Katarina frowned. 'She was, and still is, expected. It has been a week now that we have been waiting. Are you sure you sent her over?'

'Of course I did! I used the spell you gave me,' she affirmed, and her expression suddenly morphed into uncertainty. 'She's probably having tea with your freaky friend as we speak.'

'He is not freaky,' Katarina annexed, her patience wilting.

'His hat is so medieval...well, yours too now…' Christine specified, gazing at the pointy hat atop her mother's head with amused disdain.

'In Middle Earth, fashion is different! You are such a spoiled brat!' Katarina almost shouted.

'Please, ladies,' Hendrick interjected calmly. 'We have more important matters at hand. Now, did you, or did you not do as we told you?'

'Yes, I did, for the millionth time, I did! She's in Middle Earth!'

'In the Shire?'

There was a pause before Christine replied. 'Well...maybe I forgot to specify an exact location...'

'I knew it!' Katarina shrieked. 'You never listen! It was the Shire!'

'I got the Middle Earth part right, that's the most important.'

'You were supposed to send her to the Shire. It never once crossed your mind that Middle Earth is enormous? '

'Well, no.' Christine deadpanned. 'It's not like I've ever been there. And I don't even wanna; them dudes are so outdated...'

'So you just sent her...anywhere?' Hendrick dared, gulping on his anxiety.

'Yup.'

'It could be Lorien...or Mordor...you have no idea...?'

'Yup.'

'You don't know where she is. You have no clue,' Hendrick concluded, his eyes on the brink of tears, not sad tears, but panicked tears.

'Yep.'

'You are exasperating, Christine, and so is your vocabulary! Your sister might be dead or dying. What if she got captured by orcs or trolls?'

Christine's face drained of all colours. 'Dead?'

'I knew I should have not entrusted you with this task.' Katarina exclaimed, her eyes tearing.

'It's not like you helped me. I had to learn everything myself, I'm a self-taught witch!' Christine yelled, springing to her feet in a defiant manner.

'You mean a self-taught failure,' Katarina highlighted.

'Ha! You're a fine one to talk! You've both been searching for that same hobo, without any success. And how long has it been now? Eighteen…Seventeen years?' she offered, rolling her eyes.

Her parents frowned, the father less than her mother though. 'You should try to look for someone in Middle Earth, it's quite tricky.'

'You should try to look for sex in Harlette's book, that's tricky!' Christine put in. Her mother stumbled from shock, slapping a hand to her heaving chest.

Christine shrugged, 'Anyway, you're never here, and when you are, all you talk about is your precious Harlette.'

Katarina dismissed that comment with a wave of her hand. 'Don't even start, Christine, you know we treat you with much love too. You are the one always kicking us out of the house.'

Christine remained silent for a while, and she shrugged. 'Yeah, yeah ok….'

'Ladies. I am sorry to bother you, but Harlette is alone, in Middle Earth…'

'And in her underwear,' Christine sniggered. This assertion earned her a livid glare from her parents.

'What mischief have you done? You didn't tell her where she was going? And you sent her in her underwear?!'

Christine shrugged. 'I wanted to surprise her...her life is so boring...writing all these novels−'

'Which you so avidly read behind her back...' Hendrick interjected. Christine grinned broadly. 'Anyway, now is not the time for arguing,' he continued sensibly, 'let's find her. She is most definitely in middle-Earth, but where, that is the question. We'll locate her. Hand me a compass and Middle Earth's map.'

Christine rolled her eyes. 'Great, another spell which is gonna take ages…'