Disclaimer: I want Cain. Anyone know where he is?
She felt something tickling over her upper thigh and twitched snuggling deeper into her very warm pillow. Relaxing she decided it was awfully rude of her dream to begin tickling her and promptly forgot about the troublesome feeling as she drifted back off. Then the tickle turned into a caress and she felt fabric sliding up and over her knees in a silky wave. Her eyes fluttered open and focused blurrily on blue fabric as a warm weight settled over the skin under her skirt and trailed upward. "Wyatt." She breathed out his name as she pressed an open mouthed kiss against the base of his neck.
He rumbled letting his fingers splay out over the top of her thigh. She responded instinctively tossing her leg over his hip and pressing her chest against his in order to roll him onto his back so she could straddle him. In her half conscious state she forgot that he'd been hurt and when he let out a grunt of pain her eyes snapped fully open and she practically leapt off him. "Did I hurt you?" Hearing the anxiety in her voice he smiled ruefully yanking her back down onto the bed.
"Should have known better than to wake you up that way. Every time I touch you, you surprise me. Don't know why I was expectin anything different." He pulled her head forward so he could kiss her forehead. "One more thing we'll have to finish once this is over."
"One more? What else do we have to finish?" Her mind was trying to kick back into gear and she was worried she had forgotten something.
He looked her in the eye seriously. "Other than a conversation about your safety and running straight into almost certain death without talking to me first?" She winced but didn't have time to think of a response before he continued raising his hand to his eyes. "We also need to tell your parents were getting married and I need to get you a proper ring."
"I think I should take care of the parent part, Cain." He dropped her hand his eyes searching her sleepy ones.
"What? Why?"
"Might be safer for you."
He raised an eyebrow waiting for her to expand on this. She was about to when she heard a sharp knock on the door. She sat up quickly straightening her skirt as Cain swung his legs off the bed his hand on his gun. She leaned up grabbing a fistful of his hair and kissing him with all her might before she pulled back enough for her to speak to him. "I'll see you at sundown. Be careful. I love you."
His eyes spoke volumes to her in the few seconds she gave him. He pressed his forehead against hers and cupping her cheek pressed a swift loving kiss to her lips before she raised her hand, and focusing her thoughts on Jeb she shimmer the Tin Man away. Standing she gave herself two seconds to miss him as she threw on her glamour and made sure her outfit was on properly. Once she was positive she was back in character she dropped the silencing spell and let her magic swing the doors open as she stood facing the window.
"What is it?" She took note of the angel of the suns and realized she must have slept through the night. She turned her head so she could see whoever had walked in. It was Zero watching her warily, big surprise. She decided to make sure he was still aware of who was in charge. "Is everything ready?"
"Of course Sorceress. As soon as all our troops are assembled and we have their supplies organized they can move out. Five hours at most." He said this with the swift efficiency of a trained soldier. One that was sucking up.
"Good"
"If you'd like to see the preparations, I'd be glad to show you." Of course he would. Wouldn't want to mess anything up and piss off the witch later. If she were the witch she'd probably kill him if he screwed up one more time. As it was she was going to kill him anyway so this whole sucking up thing was kinda pointless, but what the hell, he didn't know that. And if he hadn't been a crazy psycho murder she may have felt worse about planning to kill the man.
She took his offered arm and allowed him to lead her out of her room and down the staircase that lead to the entrance hall of the palace. For the first time since she found out she was a princess she was being escorted like the royalty she was down an elegant set of stairs as her loyal subjects watched her. And once again she found an expected experience to be anything than what she had been expecting.
She couldn't be in a freaking fruffy ball gown and led down the stairs by a handsome idiot nobleman to the adoration of a normal crowd of loyal subjects like a normal cornered princess. That would be the expected embarrassing thing, and then Az would get to make fun of her in her room afterwards as they tore off their too tight shoes and laughed at Glitch's perfect rhythm. But alas, she was being escorted by Zero and was being watched by a bunch of renegade Longcoats. It totally ruined the whole thing for her. She knew someone somewhere was laughing at the irony of this situation.
She needed to distract herself from these should have beens. "Have there been any problems?"
"None at all Sorceress." Oh she so heard that. She must be getting Tin Man senses by osmosis.
"Zero?" She said it sweetly with a not so subtle undertone of malice.
The blond shifted uncomfortably beside her and she could tell he was fighting not to let go of her arm. "Some of my, your, commanders are worried that we are sending to many troops out at once."
"I see." She turned her body so that they were heading to the throne room. The soldiers parted before them like a wave. Once they were safely inside she closed the door behind her with her magic and Zero jumped. Her eyes took in the large room quickly and once she was sure they were alone she gave the man instructions. "Picture the men that are questioning me."
He looked at her oddly. "What?"
"Picture them!" She snapped at him. She saw him shake his head briefly and she raised her hand to his forehead. He balked shrinking away. "Stay still. I'm not going to kill you." She quickly sucked out the images of the men and let her hand fall easily to her side.
She went over the men in her head recognizing two of the four from the meeting they had yesterday. One had been far more outspoken than the other that had pretty much blended into the wallpaper. Well then that made it easy. "Bring all the commanders here and have a good replacement ready." She slinked up to the man and ran one blood red nail down his neck absently her voice sweet again. "I am getting so tired of having to inspire fear and awe in people, Zero." She saw the hairs on his neck stand on end but he rallied himself stepping back and sweeping her a bow before turning on his heel and exiting the room.
She sighed once he was gone and walked up white stairs to the throne. She arranged her skirts carefully and waited feeling sick to her stomach over the number of people she was being forced to kill in this production of hers. It didn't much matter that she knew they were bad and a threat to the kingdom and her family and her. It still hurt something inside of her. She pushed her feelings forcefully away knowing there would be time to think about this later. She began to tap her nails on the arm of the chair impatiently.
She heard the doors open and she let her eyes fall briefly over the unsuspecting men before she turned her attention to her nails. Zero walked up the stairs so he could stand next to her and she looked back up. He was like a really dumb dog. Made things easier for her she supposed. Standing below her were ten men all of them appearing to be utterly pleased to be in her presence. She sensed some of them pretending and not just because she knew which ones were worried about her.
"I understand that a few of you are questioning my plan of attack." She saw a stirring in the small crowd. "I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter so I can clear up anything that may have caused you confusion."
The loudmouth stepped out of the small group of men. He was tall and bulky with dark hair. If he'd grown up on the Otherside he could have been a linebacker. "All due respect, Sorceress, but sending out that many troops to one location could be costly. No telling what the Resistance has in store. Especially with that young Cain boy in charge."
She nodded and waved a hand to indicate the floor was still open. Emboldened one of the other men that she had gotten from Zero stepped forward. The man in question remained still and silent next to her elbow. "It is a good plan, Sorceress. However caution may be needed."
She turned her attention to the silent older commander standing in the back of the crowd. She could recognize a serious threat when she saw one. He was average looking in every respect except his eyes were sharp and questioning. They reminded her of her own curious gaze and in this situation she simply couldn't afford to have him around. A loudmouth was easy to control. It was the strong silent type that she was worried about.
She stood up gracefully walking with catlike grace down among the men. They shifted so she could move between them and she suddenly felt very much like a mouse playing with a bunch of tigers. She ignored this feeling as she wove around them every now and them letting her hand run over one of them. She made her way slowly around them watching their reactions with interest. The man in the back never let his eyes waver from her. She was suddenly very worried that she had been found out but she kept her composure and her slow pace working her way casually toward him.
When she did find herself next to him she was disturbed to note that he had drawn discretely away from the crowd and they were now several feet away from the other men. She smiled crookedly at him letting her magic build knowing he was going to try something. She circled behind him noting that he made no move to touch any of his weapons. She leaned in close whispering in his ear so no one else could hear them. "I hear you also have some doubts about my plans, Captain."
His voice was as soft as hers when he answered. "No, Highness. I think your plan is going to be very effective for what you have in mind." His speech was educated and precise, in direct contrast with most of the other men here. And he had called her Highness not Sorceress. Warning bells started going off in her head.
She moved in so her lips were a hairs breath away from his ear. "And what might that be, Captain?"
"Do you really want to discuss that in front of everyone?" He responded his lips barley moving and his eyes flicking up to the dais were Zero was watching them intently. Ok, now she was curious.
"Picture it then if you're so worried about them." She raised her hand so he could see it glowing out of the corner of his eye. His jaw clenched almost imperceptibly but he tilted his head in a graceful manner. She laid her hand on the nape of his neck and let his thoughts flow into her. She was lucky she was so used to surprises because this one was a doozy.
She kept her face smooth as flashes of the mans last fifteen annuals flashed in front of her. He'd been in the Royal Guard as a very young man and educated in the palace before the witch had been released. Then he'd joined the Resistance. Fuck, he'd never left the Resistance. He was a spy and a saboteur, a very good one. This man must have saved hundreds of people doing this from what he was showing her and he knew who she was. She wanted to know what she had done to give herself away. This man was as brave as Cain and as crazy as her. She liked him immediately. Now all she had to do was keep him alive.
She let her spell go and smiled seductively up at Zero from behind his shoulder while she put a slight amount of pressure on his neck. She whispered one more thing in his ear before she moved on. "When the troops leave stay close to me." She felt the tension leave his shoulders and knew he hadn't been a hundred percent sure she wasn't the witch. Talk about a gamble.
She walked back toward the throne and as she passed the outspoken soldier he made the last mistake he ever would. "So you agree that we shouldn't send so many troops out?"
She turned to him and smiled. "Yes. Yes, I do." She raised her hand a blasted him with a bolt of energy smashing his body back into five more of the men and knocking them off their feet. "In fact, I think having one less man on the field is an excellent idea." Men scrambled to get the body off of them and the rest backed hastily away from her. "Any more questions, or has that cleared everything up?"
Silence greeted this and she stalked back up the stairs and sat down. "All of you get out! If I hear so much as a whisper of a rumor that you don't agree with my strategy you'll go the same way as him!" The Longcoats scattered, it took three of them to drag the big man's body out.
Once they were gone she addressed Zero without looking at him. "The man I talked to in the back. What's his name?"
"Whitfield. He's always been a good enough soldier. Do I need to get rid of him?"
"No. I want him to stay here with us when the troops leave this afternoon."
She sensed Zero shift more than heard him. "May I ask why?"
"He has a good head for strategy. I don't want him killed by accident."
"If that's what you want I'll have his division reassigned to a different Commander." He paused for a moment. "If you don't need anything else I'll make sure everything is ready."
She nodded and waved him off. "No, everything is going very well." As Zero walked past her she saw him smirking happily at her grudging praise. She'd let him content himself with the details while she started to conserve her magic. She would need it if she was going to shimmer two people out of the palace.
Author Note: No more term papers! Why! Leave me a review or I may have a nervous breakdown and die.