Description: Numair's experiments start to consume him while he feels terribly guilty for neglecting his lover. The mages decide to pay tribute to the Black God for All Hallows Eve.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Everything belongs to Tamora Pierce.
Author's Note: We finally get to the first exert in First Test. I didn't mean for it take me this many chapters to only reach October!
Chapter 12
Gossip raged like wildfire through Corus with the majority of people assuming the mage had been bedding his student the entire time. There were some that thought it right Numair was finally doing the honourable thing and living with the girl while most thought it atrocious he still hadn't married her. The young men who had been pursuing Daine thought the mage was far too old for her while the single women of the court thought it a waste that someone so powerful and handsome should attach himself to a bastard. Both the mages in question ignored the talk as much as possible with Daine seeming to brush it off easier than Numair. The talk wasn't unexpected and the silent support from their friends was appreciated when they joined the pair during mealtimes.
Three days after they were discovered, a new bronze nameplate appeared on Numair's door beneath his own. Before entering his rooms, the mage traced his fingers over the letters 'Veralidaine Sarrasri' almost to remind himself it was real. As the days passed, he did it so often it was almost becoming an unconscious habit. It made a nice change to enter his rooms, which were rarely empty these days, to either be greeted by Zek, Kitten or Daine and occasionally all three.
Two weeks later, Harailt of Aili came to hunt down Numair to ask how his Stormwing research was progressing. The college had come across some complications while trying to develop weapons that could pierce a Coldfang's scales. The only thing sharp enough appeared to be Stormwing feathers and they were not in vast supply. Harailt wanted to know if Numair could artificially produce the steel feathers yet. While the mage had been experimenting on reproducing them, everything he had created so far was either too brittle or too heavy to be of any use, but he promised to put all his time and effort into solving the issue.
One evening, Numair was still in his workroom, having skipped dinner with Daine and Kitten, almost certain he was close to a breakthrough when the young woman appeared at his door dressed in her nightgown with an amused expression on her face.
"Are you coming to bed?" she asked.
The mage smiled apologetically. "Soon, I promise." He got off his chair to lean through the doorway and kiss her goodnight. "I'm sorry, I've been so distracted of late."
Daine smiled up at him impishly. "That's alright. You can make it up to me when you've finished your latest working."
His smile was almost wolf-like as he kissed her seductively. "You can hold me to that promise."
She grinned and headed towards the bedchamber shooting him a flirtatious look before entering. The mage groaned almost wishing he could join her, but he didn't want to leave his experiment partially formed. Numair was in the process of recreating several steel samples for the college to test, and this latest attempt seemed to be promising.
It was difficult to focus on his work and not think about the young woman lying in his bed. Since touching her for the first time, Daine had lost all her initial shyness. The young woman had no reservations about seducing him into bed now she knew what he could do with his fingers. The mage had refused to do anything more than touch her, although he wasn't sure if it was more a torment for himself than her. Thankfully, Daine was more than satisfied with this latest development in their relationship and he intended to keep her that way.
"Numair! Have you been at it all night?"
He looked up from his steel samples to see Daine fully dressed outside his workroom door.
"What time is it?" the mage asked rubbing his tired eyes.
"Morning," she said patiently. "You didn't even eat the plate I brought you."
Numair turned and blushed seeing the full plate of dinner that lay cold and untouched on the corner of his desk. "I forgot."
Daine shook her head smiling indulgently. "Do you want me to get you some breakfast or are you going to forget that too?"
He smiled guiltily. "I'll probably forget that too."
"Are you having any success?" she asked looking onto his desk to the steel points that were almost fully formed.
"Some – I think." Numair rubbed a hand over his eyes again and tried to stifle a yawn.
"I'll see you later," the young woman waved. "Don't forget to stop and eat something soon!"
"Daine," the mage quickly followed her into the main room and wrapped his arms around her. "I really am sorry about this. I don't mean to get so caught up in my experiments. I've not been very attentive or spent much time with you this week."
She giggled up at him. "I do know what you get like when someone gives you a new project."
He blushed feeling horribly guilty. "I'm sorry. I'd meant to do better by you than letting my work consume me."
"You're not like this all the time. Besides, you wouldn't be you if you weren't getting excited over some new magical working," Daine reasoned.
Numair winced, his mind returning to the illusion Inar Hadensra had tortured him with: the Wildmage having an affair with another man because he was devoting too much time to his studies.
The young woman placed a hand against his cheek looking at him with sincere blue-grey eyes. "It really doesn't bother me. Would you be annoyed if I stayed out all night because an animal needed me?"
"Of course not –" the mage frowned.
"Then why do you think I'd be annoyed that you need to do something for the college?" she challenged.
"I really don't deserve you." he stroked her cheek lovingly with his thumb.
"Just promise me you'll stop soon and eat something," the young woman gave him a long-suffering look.
Numair kissed her deeply unable to shake the dreadful feeling that he'd let her down. This last week he'd barely left his workroom, but he'd never forgotten to come to bed, until last night.
After she left, the mage took his samples to the college for testing only to have all three fail dismally. The first two shattered on impact and the third, while still remaining intact, didn't even make a scratch. Numair returned to his workroom feeling exhausted but determined to solve the impenetrability issue. When Daine found him at midday still hard at it, she demanded he stop to eat something and get some rest. The mage was too tired to argue and let her drag him down for the midday meal. When he almost fell asleep in his dinner twice, Onua, who was having a good laugh at his expense, suggested that Daine put the mage to bed. The young woman agreed, slinging Numair's arm over her shoulders and carting him off to their rooms. He felt almost mothered as she sat him on the bed, removing his boots before lying him down gently.
"Join me?" the mage asked catching her hand.
The Wildmage looked down at his sleepy expression and giggled. "I wasn't the one who stayed up all night and half of today."
"You know I can't sleep without you," he hated the plaintive whine he could hear in his voice.
"Numair, you were nearly asleep in your pie," she chided.
"Just for a bit," he begged, pulling her closer until he could wrap an arm around her waist.
Daine laughed but didn't put up much of a fight as she climbed in beside him. Numair sighed happily already starting to drift off with the young woman wrapped tightly in his arms.
"Told you!" she teased, tilting her head to kiss his neck.
A sharp rap at his door disturbed the mage from his sleep as he felt Daine slip out from his arms. He heard whispers and the door close, but the Wildmage didn't return. Numair thought about getting out of bed to find her but dosed off again. When he heard the main door open later, having no idea how much time had passed, the mage cracked an eye when Daine poked her head in to check on him.
"Sorry, I was trying not to disturb you," she whispered.
"You left," he grumbled.
"Neal asked me to look at his friend's horse, for that new girl page, Kel – Keladry of Mindelan.?" The young woman explained.
He smiled at her, "Everything alright?"
Daine walked in and sat on the bed. "Peachblossom, that's his name, is all scarred up from his previous riders. That poor horse has been treated real bad, but I think he'll do alright with Kel. She promised not to use the spurs and I taught him some voice commands for her to use."
The mage nodded wondering when she'd changed into her nightdress. When Daine had come to bed with him earlier, she'd been fully dressed. Numair could only surmise he'd been asleep a lot longer than he thought and possibly missed the evening meal.
"I should probably put on a clean nightdress before I come back to bed. I'm covered in horsehair."
Daine stood and removed the gown throwing it into the wash basket. Numair blushed and averted his eyes seeing her naked back meaning she wasn't wearing a breastband. "Did you go to the stables wearing only your nightdress?"
"Yes," she said pulling on a clean one and turning to face him. "Why?"
"It's not – decent," he objected.
The young woman rolled her eyes as she climbed into bed. "I wasn't getting changed just to go down to the stables. Besides it's not that cold out and it's just Neal."
"You know he's in love with you." he complained wrapping his arms around her. "Your freezing!"
"Neal? Don't be silly! According to you, every man in Corus is in love with me," she snuggled into him placing her cold hands on his bare chest making him yelp.
Numair settled the blankets around them and rubbed her back trying to warm her up. "If you can prove my theory to be incorrect then I will happily review the evidence."
Daine rolled her eyes and tilted her head up for a kiss. The mage captured her lips for several long minutes wishing he wasn't so tired.
"Are you staying in bed tonight?" she asked contentedly.
"You couldn't kick me out if you tried." He buried his nose in her curls ignoring the tickling sensation.
"Good. I missed you last night." Daine nuzzled her nose against his chest hair.
In the morning, Numair woke when the Wildmage did, refusing to let her leave the bed. When she tried to protest, he started kissing her neck and suggested she might want to get rid of the animals. The mage didn't think his bedchamber had ever emptied out so fast as he spent the next couple of hours making up for his absence before allowing his lover to leave their bed. His lover. Numair had argued with Onua the other day that the term didn't apply, when she had referred to the young woman as his lover, and he had inadvertently let slip they hadn't had sex. The K'miri had been quite shocked when she learned that detail, but had countered that as the Wildmage wasn't his betrothed what other word applied? Numair felt he should be pleased to call Daine his lover but somehow it only made it sound like they were having an affair, something he absolutely did not want her to think.
The mage returned to his workroom trying to lose himself in his work and not worry about the permanence of his relationship with the woman he loved. He'd created another two samples when his door slammed open. Numair left his working to see Daine pacing angrily with Kitten hiding in her basket, her scales turning grey. It was unusual to see the dragonet at this time of day. She'd lost interest in his experiments ages ago and rarely liked hanging out in the stables with the Wildmage. Kitten required a lot of stimulation for her intelligent mind and the mage preferred not to know how she spent a lot of her days. If no one brought the young dragon to his rooms looking furious at whatever mischief she'd gotten into then he preferred to remain blissfully ignorant.
"What happened?" he asked concerned.
Daine glared at him. "You were right!"
He didn't think it was an appropriate time to make jokes about always being right given her mood. "About what precisely?"
"Neal. He does have a crush on me," she snarled. "I heard it from some of the other pages. Don't gloat!"
The mage quickly smothered the smile. "What did you expect? You're a beautiful young woman. Of course, he's infatuated with you."
"How do I stop it?" Daine threw up her hands starting to pace again.
"Don't encourage him," he replied mildly.
"I didn't encourage him in the first place!" Her stormy eyes flashed dangerously.
Numair had to admit his own jealousy was possibly not the best way to resolve the situation. He approached the young woman cautiously and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "There isn't anything you can do, sweetling. It is likely just a phase and will pass in time. I speak from experience. Young men fall in and out of love as quickly as the seasons change."
"I thought he was just a friend. Someone who liked talking to me," she said mournfully.
"And in time you will hopefully still retain that level of friendship," he kissed her forehead gently and wrapped his arms around her waist.
A very possessive part of him was tempted to kiss his lover quite passionately in front of Duke Baird's son, but he knew that would be cruel for a boy who only had a crush. As long as Daine's nameplate rested beneath his that was as much a statement of their relationship that was needed. Anyone who didn't respect that the Wildmage lived with him and tried something, then he might do something more – drastic, just to make a point, of course.
All the children on the streets of Corus were giddy with excitement for the All Hallows Eve celebrations which would begin tomorrow afternoon when they would collect the offerings to take to the temple. Anyone religious had already begun paying homage to the Black God but Daine and Numair weren't particularly devout, despite having been in the presence of the gods themselves and the young woman having divine parents. The mage was relaxing, reading a book, and taking a break from his failed research while Daine and Kitten played a game on the floor.
"Numair?"
"Yes, darling." He looked up knowing that tone in her voice meant she was about to ask a difficult question.
"Can we visit the Black God's temple tomorrow?" she asked quietly.
"I think we're a little too old to participate in the festivities," the mage teased.
"That's not what I meant…" The young woman bit her lip and fell silent.
Numair closed his book and sat up giving Daine his full attention. "What is it?" he asked gently.
"I wanted to leave offerings for Leaf, Jelly and Rikash," she looked up at him with over-bright eyes.
"I'm not sure if they fall under the Black God's jurisdiction. Rikash was an Immortal and I am uncertain as to what Leaf and Jelly constituted as." The look on the young woman's face made him hold his tongue. "But I doubt there would be any harm in leaving offerings for them if you wanted to."
The Wildmage nodded sadly drawing her knees up to rest her chin on them while she hugged her legs.
"What's on your mind, sweetling?"
The young woman sighed heavily and looked up at him with sorrowful eyes. "I was thinking – I'd like to make an offering to the Black God's temple – to thank him for letting you come back."
Numair blanched and cleared his throat. "I think you may be correct. This year it would be – prudent to make an offering."
The next day, the mages, dressed in black and joined by Kitten, visited the Black God's temple before the festivities began. They left flowers in honour of Jelly, Leaf and Rikash and lit a candle for each of them to guide their passage into the Peaceful Realms. The couple knelt for quite some time, hand in hand, saying silent prayers for their fallen friends. Daine and Numair both left donations for the upkeep of the temple, even though the mage tried to argue against the young woman offering all her gold coins, but she wouldn't hear of it. His life was worth more to her than gold she told him stubbornly. For the rest of the day the pair avoided the festivities feeling too sombre for anything more than cuddling in front of a fire while the mage read to Kitten. Numair came to a decision when Daine fell asleep on him in the chair, that he should start leaving an offering every year to the Black God, Gainel and the Graveyard Hag.
November slipped away quickly with the mage's experiments coming to a dead end. He decided to return to his earlier theory that diet must be a key factor. Numair returned to the college to collect multiple samples of Stormwing faeces to test. Most of the college students thought he was mad, but a lot of the masters were starting to take an interest. One of the medical mages had promised him she would run her own set of tests on the faeces so they could compare the results.
Daine had attended and survived her first official court function with Numair by her side. She'd insisted he stay close even though she hadn't needed him. The Wildmage had performed beautifully in her diplomatic role and the mage had barely been required to speak for most of the evening. It did give him the pleasure of holding his lover's hand and listening to her talk about animals and their habitats.
With preparations underway for Daine's birthday thanks to Their Majesties assistance, temperatures started to plummet as December approached. The seers were predicting it would be one of the worst winters to hit Tortall in a decade. Numair appreciated his lover's warmth in bed more than ever and even encouraged her to invite a few more animals to join them. The Wildmage still didn't entirely believe he was so accepting of sharing his bed with so many of the People. While it made intimacy in the mornings almost impossible, the mage had adjusted to sneaking opportunities when he had Daine all to himself.
Entering his rooms after a meeting with His Majesty and the small council, Numair discovered someone had already lit a fire in the grate. With no sign of Kitten or Zek, the mage smiled and hunted for his lover finding the young woman standing in his study reading a book. The sight of her, bare foot and conducting her own research with his books, was incredibly arousing. The mage walked up behind Daine and slipped an arm around her waist making the young woman jump.
"Hello," she twisted to look up at him.
Numair smiled down at her brushing the curls away from her neck. "What are you reading?" he asked bending down to trail kisses down her throat.
"I was looking up –" the Wildmage stopped, moaning softly, and angled her head to give him better access.
The mage grinned, nibbling his way to the base of her neck while his hands moved up to caress her breasts. "Yes?"
Daine gasped, leaning into him as her breathing began to quicken. The book hung completely forgotten in her hands, while the mage happily distracted her as he undid her breeches. Wrapping his arm around the young woman's waist, Numair slipped the other hand into her loincloth and began to stroke her, delighting in how hot and wet she was already. The book dropped to the floor as Daine moaned loudly and grabbed his hips for support, grinding into his hand uncontrollably. The mage chuckled huskily sucking at the base of her neck making her legs buckle. Numair lifted her with his arm and a touch of his Gift as he slid two fingers inside her while his thumb rubbed slow circles. Curling his fingers, he searched for the spot inside her that… Daine threw her head back gasping loudly. Now he could see her beautiful face lost in ecstasy while the mage focussed all his efforts on her pleasure. With a stifled cry, Daine's body tensed then trembled violently as the orgasm ripped through her. Sweeping the sated young woman into his arms, Numair carried her over to a chair and sat with his lover in his lap grinning smugly.
Sighing happily, the Wildmage snuggled into him. "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining."
The mage chuckled, tilting her chin to kiss her forehead, her cheeks, her nose before capturing her lips in a tender kiss. "You looked irresistible."
She smiled up at him dreamily. "I wasn't doing anything."
Numair wasn't about to explain how arousing he found it when she was engrossed in a book. "So, what were you reading before I so rudely interrupted?"
"I was reading about hypothermia and frostbite," she said drowsily.
"You have a patient?" he asked feeling a stab of guilt for distracting her.
"No – I just wanted to learn about it," she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Everyone keeps talking about how bad winter is going to be this year, so I thought I'd read about the problems and find out how to treat them before they happened."
The mage smiled and kissed her forehead. "I thought we already covered those subjects."
"We did but it was ages ago and I wanted to go over it again," Daine looked up at him with those enchanting blue-grey eyes.
"Would you like a hand?" Numair offered.
The young woman perked up instantly as her eyes sparkled. "You'd give me a lesson?"
He smiled warmly, using his Gift to retrieve the book from the floor and float it towards them. "I'd be happy to."
The Wildmage grinned and wriggled on his lap rubbing up against him. The book dropped to the floor again as Numair groaned and grabbed her hips to keep her still. He was painfully aroused and had hoped a bit of mental stimulation might have distracted him. Now the mage was thinking he might need to make an excuse and escape for a few minutes.
"Numair?" He swallowed knowing that tone in her voice. "Why won't you let me touch you?"
His heart skipped a beat as the mage stared at her. "I – I didn't know you wanted to…"
"You keep running off to the bathroom before I get a chance," she accused crossly.
Numair lowered his eyes and blushed. He'd hoped, rather foolishly, that she hadn't known why he kept disappearing, but Daine wasn't that innocent. "I don't want you to feel pressured into anything. I have no expectations. I'm happy with the way things are between us."
"You don't want me to?" There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.
The mage swallowed carefully feeling himself twitch in response. That was a loaded question, and his brain couldn't formulate a diplomatic answer fast enough.
"What if I wanted to?" the seductive purr in her voice nearly had him embarrassing himself.
His breath hitched as he stared wide-eyed at his lover. "Really?"
She smiled beautifully stroking a hand against his cheek. "Can I?"
Numair licked his lips nervously. "If you like."
