Chapter 11
A/N: Wow! Thank all so much for reviewing. I was happily surprised to see how many reviews I got for the last chapter! And to pay you all back I decided write this chapter up sooner than I have my other chapters. Also because I find I have much more time on my hands these days! :) Anyway to the thank yous:
Nicole: Thank you for your kind comments – and here is the next chapter as your requested.
Lady Alehanra A.K.A Medusagrrl: I love you for reviewing!! Thank you!Kenta Divina: I can't answer that question! I would have to kill you after I did! Keep reading and you'll see.
maxwellschurch: I love romance :) but I'm glad you'll still read
JMJ: as I said to Kenta Divina I can't tell you the answer to your question!! Keep reading…
jazy716: I have written more! Here's the next chapter – I hope you like and will review? It's been about a week I think since I last updated and that's pretty good considering the usual thing with updating for this fic has been about two months or so :)
Arctic Princess: thank you for adding me to your fav's list!! I agree, how could Numair be so mean! Maybe all's not what they seem… *grinz evilly* I hate Varice too… I wish I could kill her but what I have planned for her is much better!! Hehehe…
Anonymous: thank you! And for you here is the next chapter!
melz: I'm what? Lol… sorry!! But here is the next chapter and much quicker than usual because all your reviews gave me that extra incentive to continue.
simplymagikk: thank you! Sorry about the abrupt ending… hehehe…
Please remember to review – if you do I'll write the next chapter even quicker! :) I'm not really blackmailing… just bargaining! Also I'd like to apologise for the typos. Sorry. I don't have someone to check over my work and I hate proof reading… sorry again!
Disclaimer: you all should know what goes here… I've done it enough times for you to know. I don't own anything that is familiar to you. Everything else is mine!!!
Key: --- --- flashback
.: :. Talking mind to mind with animals
¤º~*~º¤ scene change
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"I wasn't talking about that."
It dawned on Daine. The image of Varice and Deiniol locked in a passionate kiss had been pushed out of her mind after Varice's news. She sighed. "Deiniol, please not now. I have to deal with some things…"
Suddenly he was gripping her arms. "Daine, Varice means nothing to me. I just know her from when I was in… when I was at home."
"And this significant to me how? I'm sorry Deiniol but I don't see how this relates to me in anyway. What's between you and Varice has nothing to do with me and I think I'd like to keep it that way."
"You're lying."
A simple statement but it was true and she turned sharply back to face him. Her voice trembled as she spoke, "Why should I care? Why would I lie? You know what? I don't have to answer to you. I don't even know you. Go away, Deiniol."
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He returned to his chambers that had been given to him by the Baron. Opening the door he found sprawled out on the bed, Varice.
He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "What do you want, Varice?" He walked over to the window gazed out blindly at the magnificent view of the sea.
"I was wondering when you'd come back. I have a proposition for you that I would like you to consider seriously." Seeing that he was listening to her she slithered off the bed like a poisonous snake and wrapped her arms around his waist. He was a head taller than her and so she stood on her toes to whisper seductively in his ear, "Come back to Carthak with me. You've nothing here; you know that as well as I do. Come back to me."
"That was the whole reason why you came here isn't it, Varice? Not because you wanted to follow me but because you wanted me to go with you to Carthak. And what makes you think it's safe for me there now?"
"Because I know… don't you trust me? Come with me, you know you really want to. There is nothing here for us. These Tortallans are such uncivilised people. They've got their women wearing breeches! How absolutely stupid. But," she purred in his ear, "I'll be sure you won't regret your decision." When he didn't reply or respond to her advances she gave a loud dramatic sigh. "I'll leave you to ponder about what I've told you. But decide quick, Arram, because Mithros' knows we sure are not welcome here."
When he heard that she had gone he turned back to look at his room but again like before he stared blindly around because he was thinking of what had happened since arriving in Tortall. It had been a hard work travelling from Carthak to Tortall but he had arrived. His juggling and magic tricks had enabled him to survive. He had arrived with the intent of revealing the plans Emperor Ozorne had to conqueror Tortall and hopefully be allowed to stay on. But the events that had occurred were so fast that he had almost forgotten what he had intended to do here.
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"Are you lost…?" Daine began. She stopped when he ran to the other side of the mare and mounted. "What are you doing?"
"I thank you for the horse, my lady," he interrupted bowing a little on the saddle. He dug his heels into Cloud's sides. The mare didn't move. "Move it you stupid mare!" he growled. Cloud snorted and reared up onto her hind legs dropping the arrogant man onto the ground. The horse went to Daine's side.
.:Serves him right:. Cloud said, shaking her head.
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That first meeting with Daine had… intrigued him and he had returned – although he had tried to convince himself that he had only wanted to see the King and Queen. He drawn to her in a way he could not begin to comprehend. He had followed her with the cover story that he needed to see the monarchs but in truth he was just denying to himself that he was incredibly attracted to Daine. He still could not begin to understand his feelings for her. Maybe it was all that destiny stuff those romantics talked about. Certainly he did know her enough to have fallen for her that way. She was physically beautifully but somehow he also knew that it wasn't just because those entrancing blue-grey caught his breath or the way those smoky brown curls fell gently around her face. It something more.
She has a lover, he thought. He remembered a conversation he had heard between the Daine and Onua. Someone called Numair who had left Daine and how distraught she was. When hearing that he had wanted to pound the man to a pulp for causing Daine so much pain. To see her pain stricken eyes after he had kissed her on the beach… he knew he would do anything to make her genuinely happy. He remembered what she had said to him just before when he had attempted to explain himself to her.
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Her voice trembled as she spoke, "Why should I care? Why would I lie? You know what? I don't have to answer to you. I don't even know you. Go away, Deiniol."
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If she wants me to leave, he thought with sudden fierceness, then I will. It no longer mattered that he had felt the need to talk to the monarchs of Tortall. He was going to leave with Varice and let Daine dwell on the past – her past lover. He was going to show himself and to her that he could leave and didn't feel the least bit pained to be parted from her. Never mind that if he returned to Carthak that his supposed best friend could very well kill him.
He went in search of Varice to tell her of what he had decided and found her exploring the castle's extensive library on the second level. Upon seeing him a huge smile broke on her face. She flew down the steps her open mage's robe streaking behind her like the clouds after a storm.
"You've decided then? You'll come? I promise everything will be fixed the way that they should be when we get to Carthak. Emperor Kaddar will be so pleased to have you return…" she rambled on, at his chest. Her blue eyes glimmered in excitement. "Everything is finally working out the way it's supposed to!" She turned her eyes back up at him and began placing butterfly kisses on his jaw line. "We'll be together again," she said in a husky voice. Oblivious to the confused look upon his face she wrapped her arms around his muscular chest and buried her fair head in his chest.
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Daine had attempted to distract herself much the same way she had done in Corus by helping Onua, Thayet, Sarge and Buri with the trainees. It was ironic that she had taken this journey to Pirate's Swoop to escape her thoughts of Numair only to have Varice arrive and flaunt around the fact that Numair had come to her. Daine had thought she had succeeded when she had barely given him much thought at all journeying to Lake Viage. But it all had been false. The arrival of Varice had reawakened her pain at Numair's departure. Before she had only been trying to work out her feelings for Deiniol. Knowing that Numair had run to Varice and then seeing Varice and Deiniol provoked similar feelings of jealousy for both men and she still could not understand her feelings.
Life is so complicated, she thought, calling out to one of the male trainees to fix the straps on his horse. And it seems these few weeks have shown that I know myself less than I thought I did. She almost laughed aloud when she thought about how finding out who her father had given herself more understanding of who she was. She had worked out that her madness was not that – just merely her controls of what had dwelt inside her. Having learnt and mastered her magic she had thought she knew herself pretty well. It was funny to realise that she knew herself only a little more and wondered that it had taken her so long to realise this. Thoughts of her father lead to the Realms of the Gods and the chance to become a goddess and leave all these complications behind. She would have her mother with her and a father she had not known growing up. They would all live happily together in the Weiryn's cottage and she would get to know her father. She wondered had she known things to turn out how they had at this time would she have refused?
"Daine."
She broke out of her thoughts to see who called her and saw Onua approaching her. There were creases of worry in her friend's face, no doubt for her and Daine smiled reassuringly. "Yes, Onua?"
"We've finished for today. You can go off to clean up for lunch if you want."
The younger female nodded and left. So deep in her thoughts she was that when she climbed up the ladder to her loft bed she did not notice someone in there. It seemed that she was staring blankly about as she went to her packs to get out a pale blue shirt. When she turned around she dropped the garment seeing the person.
"What are you doing here?" she stammered.
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A/N: is that a cliff hanger? I believe it is! Lol… I'm evil I know. I reckon this was a terrible chapter but much has been revealed although not all. So you will have to review and then possibly I will write the next chapter quicker. Really depends on you guys though. :)
~Jossie~
