Narm's Briton 44: You'll hopefully enjoy what's coming up in a couple of chapters so keep reading!
Skysong the Dragonet: Hope this is quick enough for you, although you'll be in suspense for a while longer about the red mage.
Esmerelda 01: It generally is everyone else that's the problem. My job would be so much easier if other people weren't involved (Not you guys though! You guys are cool!)
Sonnet Lacewing: I think our ideas of how certain characters and plots pan out are quite similar. I also like a good twist...
Nativewildmage: In my next story it will become my mission to kill you with suspense!
Lela-of-Bast: I would never let all the riders die! Glad you liked it!
Thank you all for reviewing! Please keep reading!
Disclaimer:It's not mine!
Chapter 13 – Confessions
Daine awoke, for once, in her own bed instead of in a camp about to fight some terrifying immortal. Kitten was curled up in a ball on her chair, her things were around her, she could hear the usual noises of the animals that lived in Corus and she could almost believe that everything was back to normal. Almost. Except for the multiple cuts and bruises and a broken rib she had sustained in a coldfang attack. Shuddering at the memory, she decided to do as many normal things as possible while she had the chance. She and Numair had returned the previous day, both somewhat the worst for wear after weeks of travelling to battle against one set of immortals and then another, and there was no sign yet of it stopping. They had spent most of the afternoon of their arrival discussing theories and battle strategies and formalising various plans. The red mage had seemingly disappeared and no one had any ideas of who he might be. But today was Beltane, and Thayet had insisted that the need to carry out the traditional Beltane celebrations were greater this year than any previously. Oddly, Daine was looking forward to the evening; Alanna and George would be there, as would Onua and even Miri and Evin, her friends from one of the Rider groups. It would be the first time in an age that she had seen most of these people, since Numair's birthday in fact.
Thinking of Numair she gave a great sigh that almost woke the sleeping dragon. He made her heart ache when she thought of him. She had feelings for him that were so different to the ones she had for anyone else. She shook her head in disgust at herself. She was not Numair's type; her chest was far too small for a start! But, Daine half-wondered, if the ladies of the court that Numair has been associated with had been his type then why hadn't he already married? She dressed as she thought, pulling on a barely worn pair of clean breeches and a shirt, momentarily enjoying the sensation of clean clothes.
Numair was undoubtedly her best friend; most of her time was spent with him, she knew him as well as she knew herself. It had felt strange, after two months of travelling and camping together, to not have woken up near him this morning. She felt as if something was missing.
Clipping up her hair, she unlocked her door and began to walk to the hall where the Riders would eat, hoping to see some of her friends. She was in luck; Miri sat alone at a table, hungrily eating her way through a plateful of bacon, eggs, tomatoes and other exciting things that weren't readily available whilst away on duty. Daine grabbed the same breakfast for herself and sat down next to her friend. They had seen each other the previous night, but had had no time to catch up privately. Miri smiled impishly at Daine and let out a slight peel of laughter.
"So, Daine, are you going to tell me now what's been eating you up?" she said quietly so none of the others could overhear.
"How did you guess something was the matter?" Daine puzzled.
"You kept searching for some private girly time last night and every time Numair, Evin or George appeared you looked like thunder! What's on your mind? I, for once, am perfectly content!"
Daine smiled gratefully at Miri. Her friend had come along way since they had first met when Miri had been terrified of horses. "I'm not sure where to start…" Daine began.
"How about telling me who it involves, although I'm sure I could make a good guess!" Miri helped.
"Who, then?" Daine prompted.
"Your exceptionally delicious teacher, who else?" Daine looked open-mouthed at Miri. "Well," Miri continued, "He's pretty much the only person you've spent time with for the past eight weeks, so it must be. Unless you're going to tell me you're in love with a basilisk?"
"No, it is about Numair," Daine whispered as firmly as she could, "But I didn't say I was in love with him!"
"Does he make you feel as if your heart was so heavy it could fall out?" Daine nodded.
"Do you get inexcusably jealous when he talks to other women, including ones he'd never be interested in in a million years?" Daine nodded again. It was safe telling Miri.
"Do you keep finding excuses to touch him whenever possible and you can't deny that Daine because I saw you doing just that last night!" Daine had been going to deny it, but instead she kept her mouth close and looked at the table. Miri was right.
"Do you keep imagining him naked?" Daine went red. "Miri…" she began to squeak.
"It's normal. I kept imagining Evin naked for ages before…well. How serious do you think you are about him?"
Daine bit her lip. She was desperate to tell someone. "No one else can hold a candle to him, Miri. It's not just how he looks, its him, the way he is, the way he knows me…" Daine let out a lengthy sigh.
Miri stood up, gather up her dishes. "I think you should at least drop him a hint!" she advised.
"He's years older! And I doubt he feels the same, although he did say once that he thought of me that way, as in more than just a friend, but he was drunk…"
"Numair drunk? I didn't think he did, I thought it interfered with his gift?" Miri sat back down.
"It does. But it was his birthday and …" Daine began.
"You don't have to defend him!" Miri chuckled. "Sometimes the truth emerges when someone's had a drink, so don't discount what he said…" Miri stopped as their topic of conversation appeared behind Daine.
"Er, Daine -excuse me, Miri - are you alright to go over some maps? Finish your breakfast first, of course. I'll meet you in my study, if you're okay with that?" he started to stutter ever so slightly at the end, somewhat nervous as he thought he might have been the topic of conversation due to the rapidity of how Miri stopped speaking.
Miri watched them, their eyes not leaving each other, Numair standing closer to Daine than anyone else would. She smiled, waited for him to leave, and lent over to her friend. "I certainly don't doubt that he feels the same," she said in a low voice. And with that she left Daine to finish her breakfast while she went to carry out her usual duties.
Numair headed back to his rooms armed with a plate of bacon and thick slices of fresh bread. His thoughts skipped between maps and images of Veralidaine Sarrasri. He was so lost in them he narrowly missed Alanna who was rushing down the stairs.
"For Mithros' sake, Numair! Will you get you head out of the clouds for long enough to not cause a small accident!" She cried in annoyance.
"Sorry," he murmured meekly. Alanna was one of his favourite people as long as it wasn't in the morning. Then she was like a bear with a sore paw. She turned around and walked with him towards his rooms.
"Is everything alright, Alanna?" Numair asked her once he realised she was accompanying him.
"It was you I was looking for," she replied. "Just wanted a chat seeing as I hadn't seen you for ages and that we have some time before someone or something starts to try to kill us again."
Numair racked his brains for a second, wondering if there was anything in particular that Alanna would want him for. Nothing sprang to mind. He opened the door to his palace rooms and let Alanna in. She sat down on a chaise longue and put her feet up casually. Numair turned his desk chair around and faced her. "How are the children?" he enquired.
"They're good. Staying with their grandma. They're safe enough there," she replied in the soft tone she usually reserved for Thom, Alan and Alyanne. "It's so nice to have most people here, even if it's just for one night. George, Onua, Jon and Thayet, Gary, Raoul, you and Daine," she emphasized Daine's name. Numair suddenly clicked what this conversation was going to be about.
"Okay, Alanna, ask what you want to know," he chuckled at her.
"Have you told her yet?" she asked.
"Told her what?" Numair feigned ignorance.
"How you feel about her? How do you feel about her? Have you realised yet?" Alanna smiled irritatingly at him.
Numair rolled his eyes.
"Are you in love with her?" Alanna asked, too politely.
"What would it matter if I was, Alanna? I'm fourteen years older than her. I'm her teacher. I'm not allowed to be in love with her, am I?" he laughed as he said the words, although they cut him to the bone.
"Calm down, Numair. You're lucky you've not got Thayet here, grilling you as well," Alanna said, matter-of-factly. "You are allowed to be in love with her, which you obviously are."
Numair sighed and blushed slightly. "She doesn't feel the same, Alanna."
"How do you know that? Personally, I think she feels exactly the same as you," again, Alanna's tone was down-to-earth. "She adores you, Numair, and I want to know what you're going to do about it."
"At the moment, nothing," Numair said bluntly.
"Why?" Alanna asked sharply.
"Because, my Lioness, now is not the right time. We're in the middle of a war. Emotions are charged. The time to deal with my feelings will be when all this has ended. And besides, Alanna, what if you're wrong? What if she thinks of me as a favourite uncle and is repulsed by the fact I'm in love with her? She'll never want to speak to me again and I will have lost my friend," Numair's eyes glazed over and Alanna realised that perhaps for the third time since she had known him his eyes had filled with tears.
"So you'd rather go on like this? What if she meets someone else and she settles for him, thinking you'd never want her? What if she's thinking that you'll never return her feelings because you're her teacher and you'll think she's too young for you…"
Numair recognised when Alanna was about to start on a long, righteous rant. "Look, Alanna," he interrupted firmly. "I hope that Daine feels the same for me. Sometimes I think she may. But I'm not forcing anything. I'll wait until it happens. I'm just hoping that it does happen."
Alanna watched him carefully. "Good. You know that you're in love with her. Thayet and I just wanted to know that you'd realised," Alanna smiled at him. "We are having a wager as to when you'll get together."
Numair groaned. "I really don't know how Jon and George put up with you two!" He hung his head, slightly embarrassed and began to laugh.
Daine could hear a woman's laughter peeling out of Numair's door. She found a pool of jealousy begin to well inside her and remembered Miri's words. It would be something innocent, she knew. She opened the door, which was slightly ajar, and found Alanna sitting on the chaise longue. Daine felt an immediate sense of relief.
"Numair," Daine said rather shyly. "You said to come to see you about some maps?"
Alanna watched as the pair regarded each other. Numair's attention was now focused solely on Daine and Daine's body language spoke volumes for Alanna. One finger was wrapping around a curl, her lips were ever-so-slightly pouting, the other hand was resting softly against her waist and her eyes were focused only on him.
Oh, for the love of the Goddess! Alanna cursed in her mind. I should have let George lock them in a room together ages ago. If they've not sorted this after we've done with this blessed, rotten barrage of immortals then I am going to get involved!
Alanna stood up, eyeing Numair knowingly. "Right, I'm going to leave you two to get down to it and find Thayet. We'll have more interesting things to talk about than maps! See you at the Beltane celebrations!" Alanna left the room, chuckling to herself at the puzzled silence she was leaving behind.
"What was all that about?" Daine asked the mage, taking Alanna's seat.
"Just Alanna being her usual self, I suppose," Numair said vaguely.
"She's fair strange sometimes," Daine smiled, causing Numair's heart to melt once more and pray to every god he could think of that Alanna was right and Daine did return his feelings.
Alanna found herself grinning mischievously as she walked quickly to Thayet's quarters. She walked into the private living room of the king and queen of Tortall without knocking. "Thayet! I've had a chat with Numair!" she called.
Thayet's head popped out from an adjoining room. "Two seconds, Alanna. Jon's gotten stuck in a pair of breeches and I'm having to help him out of them."
"Did you have to tell her that?" Alanna heard a rather irate and frustrated Jonathan berate his wife. "She'll be telling Mithros knows who about it!"
Alanna chuckled quietly, listening to various curses erupt from the king's mouth and Thayet's attempts to pacify him.
"Finally! I'm freed from the wretched things!" Jon cried and Thayet appeared, sighing with relief.
"Not quite sure what happened with those breeches," Thayet said, sitting down near Alanna.
"Did you make them yourself?" Alanna enquired.
"Hmmm. I think Jon will be asking Kuri to make his clothes after that though. What did Numair say?" Thayet was keener on gossip than most of the servants in the palace.
"He admitted that he's in love with her," Alanna told her. She felt more like a girl when she was gossiping with Thayet than as almost any other time.
"Finally!" Thayet said with relief. "So, is he going to tell her?"
Alanna shook her head. "He's going to see how it goes. He's still worried about her reaction."
"Whose reaction?" Jonathan entered the room, obviously more comfortable in different breeches.
"Numair with Daine," Thayet informed him.
"What about them?" Jon enquired blankly.
"Numair's in love with her," Thayet said dryly without looking at her husband.
Jon gazed open mouthed at his wife. Alanna stifled a laugh.
"Really? He's admitted it? I know you've told me before that you thought something could go on there and they do seem very fond of each other. I think I disturbed them having a moment when Daine was recovering from unicorn fever; but I did wonder how much you were making up for your own amusement."
Thayet jabbed him with her foot. "You should know by now that I don't make up things like that! What happened when you interrupted them? What were they doing exactly and why haven't you told me this before?"
Jonathan shrugged annoyingly. "Shouldn't you be off now, pestering Daine about how she feels?"
Thayet simplyglared.
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