Author's Note:
Hello everyone! So sorry about the delay in posting this - I've had a crazy week, as well as some computer problems. Also, if you've sent me a message and I haven't answer yet, please forgive me - I will get to you, I promise :)
Besides, it took me a very long time to write this one, because I wanted to get the dancing scene at the end just right, the way I imagined it in my head. Hopefully, I've succeeded. I've been looking at it for so long now I don't know which way is up :S
Anyway, thanks very much to the following wonderful people for reviewing the last chapter: MayFairy, MountainLord-92, pattibon, gallifrey calls now, Theta'sWorstNightmare, The Wicked Heart, Ahsilaa, SawManiac211, Ant-Carrying-A-Rubber-Tree, Geraldine, EmmaMarie, sailormajinmoon, Vincenth, Aietradaea, EDZEL2 (x 2), Imorgen and silentnight.
Especially big welcome to my new reviewers Ant-Carrying-A-Rubber-Tree and Vincenth, so lovely to hear from you :)
To geraldine: You're very welcome for the quick update last time - so sorry I couldn't repeat the performance this time around, LOL.
To sailormajinmoon: Thanks so much for the review - I think we can safely assume that the Chaos-Master won't stay in the Pandorica indefinitely :)
To Silentnight: Thanks for checking so regularly. Hopefully the chapter was worth waiting for XXX
Also, big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to EDZEL2 - this chapter is dedicated to you. (Although I'm still horribly jealous over your experiences at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, sigh...)
And...lastly...WARNINGS: Yep, sexual content warning in this one, you heard it here first :P
- Chapter Fourteen -
"I love to watch a woman dance
She bows her head and lifts her hands
Her hips begin to circle slowly
Her eyes have closed; her face is holy
She holds the whole world in trance
I love to watch a woman dance
Yeah, I love to watch a woman dance.
She likes the slow songs of love lost
They take her a million miles away
'Cause to dream, sometimes, is the only way
To go places you can't get to any other way
Our eyes connect; she takes my hand
I love to watch a woman dance
Yeah, I love to watch a woman dance.
I feel my heart beating, and I wonder
Will it ever satisfy my longing?
I'm gonna hold on to you for as long as I can
For who knows, this dance may be our only dance."
- The Eagles, I Love To Watch A Woman Dance
Tejana and Millennia exchanged a startled glance and then raced simultaneously for the door, heading for the source of the commotion. A screeching female voice was emanating from one of the other rooms, harsh and strident with fury.
"That's Ushas!" Millennia exclaimed.
Leading the way, she hurried into Ushas's room, with Tejana close on her heels. Inside, everything was in a shambles. The floor was littered with shards of broken glass, interspersed with pools of shimmering blue liquid. In one corner, crouched on the floor like an animal, Dyoni cringed, with Ushas looming over her. The Time Lady's arm was upraised, her face contorted and ugly with rage. A glaring red mark on Dyoni's cheek gave mute testament to the fact that Ushas had already struck her at least once.
"Ushas!" Millennia cried, her voice sharp with shock. "What on Gallifrey are you doing?"
Ushas spun around and glared at her. "This stupid little bitch has just destroyed my experiment isolating and synthesising the adenosine triphosphate of a Gallifreyan woprat!" she spat.
"A Gallifreyan woprat?" Millennia echoed, wrinkling her nose. "Aren't they supposed to be extinct?"
"Exactly! Which is precisely why it's been so difficult to do!" Ushas shrieked. "I've had to work with stored DNA from the archives. It's taken me weeks! And now it's all for nothing!"
"I'm so sorry, milady," Dyoni whimpered, her hand raised over her face, as if to defend herself from a rain of blows. "It was an accident, I swear."
Ushas turned on her venomously. "Do you think I care to hear your whining excuses?"
She raised her arm again and Dyoni cried out in fear. Tejana knew that it wasn't a good idea to draw Ushas's attention to herself, but she couldn't sit back and allow her to strike Dyoni again. She was often impatient with the other maid-servant herself, but the girl meant well and, after what had happened to Minya, she had been through more than enough already. Without hesitation, she slipped across the room and crouched down, putting her arm around Dyoni's quivering shoulders, thereby ensuring that her body was positioned between the Time Lady and the terrified girl.
"That's enough," she said coldly, glancing up at Ushas's enraged face. Then, as an obvious after-thought, she added on, "My Lady."
"YOU!" Ushas hissed, beside herself with fury. "Theta's little whore! Oh, I should have known you'd be involved in this somewhere."
"Don't be ridiculous, Ushas!" Millennia spoke up, her manner no longer gentle and vague, but sharp and commanding, every inch a Lady of the House of Brightshore. "Kat was with me in my room at the time of the accident. She had nothing to do with it. And she's quite right, this has gone far enough. Obviously, the girl didn't do it on purpose. Besides, I'm sure you can easily recreate your experiment from your notes. There's no need for all this...ugliness."
Ushas opened her mouth to say something scathing, only to close it again at Millennia's pointed glare. There was something very imposing about Millennia when she was roused, Tejana thought. So many people seemed to write her off and overlook her, but behind that soft, dreamy exterior, she had a backbone of steel. If she'd ever had a chance to mature as a Time Lady, she would have really been quite amazing.
"Now, I'm hoping that will be an end to it," Millennia continued imperiously. "After all, I'm sure you wouldn't like Lord Borusa to hear you've been violent with the servants again, Ushas. Not when you've already been cautioned about such behaviour before."
The inherent threat in her words was more than obvious, and Ushas clearly knew it.
"I have a one-on-one Quantum Physics exam with Cardinal Lenardi in half an hour," she said in a surly, defiant voice. "If I miss it, I'll have to repeat my entire semester. This mess had better be cleared up by then!"
Tejana's ears pricked up at this interesting information. So missing the exam would mean Lady Ushas had to repeat the whole semester? Oh dear, now that WOULD be a shame!
"I'll clean it up," she volunteered. "Dyoni, why don't you go with Lady Millennia and finish up in her room?"
Still trembling, her face wet with tears, Dyoni allowed Tejana to help her to her feet and gratefully left the room. Millennia gave Ushas one last hard stare before following her.
Tejana bent down and began to gather together some of the scattered shards of glass, her mind racing. She knew she couldn't save Millennia. As much as she wanted to, it was out of the question. But that didn't mean she couldn't change some things while she was here. Ushas needed to be taught a lesson and it was within her power to do it. Her thoughts went to her young father, sitting in his Infinite Regression Mathematics class. He was currently failing the subject, Millennia had said. But Tejana knew he ended up passing, and all because he was expertly tutored by a boy who would grow into a man that could eat Infinite Regression Mathematics for breakfast. A man who could create the entire town of Castrovalva as a recursive occlusion merely by manipulating the equations he pulled from Adric's head.
A man who would one day compress all that knowledge, all that ability, into a small laser screwdriver.
Her fingers slid to the heavy folds of her skirt, feeling the comforting weight of the slender, silver rod she had secreted in the inner pocket. She was aware she would be in all sorts of trouble if anyone discovered it, but after Anzor's attack, she was determined never to be so defenceless again. Next time, the young Koschei might not be around to save her.
Her idea was a simple one – possibly risky, but ultimately worth it. She was more than tired of being pushed around and continuing to put up with it went against her essentially proud nature. Just a little change then...not much more than a prank. A 'cheap trick', as the Doctor would have said. But, even as she considered it, she felt a twinge of caution in the back of her mind. Perhaps she shouldn't...perhaps she should just let it go.
"You're not fooling anyone, you know," Ushas said, her harsh voice breaking in on Tejana's thoughts.
Tejana raised her head. "I beg your pardon?"
"I've got you all figured out," Ushas sneered.
A faint, ironic smile crossed Tejana's face. "I doubt that very much."
"An uppity little servant girl, swanning around like a lady, trying to improve your lot by crawling into bed with your betters! Do you really think you're the first one to try it? Theta feels sorry for you, that's all. And as for Koschei, he'll never contaminate himself with a lowly servant!"
Despite her resolve to keep a cool head, Tejana could feel her temper rising and her smile tightened dangerously. "Is that so? Then why are you so jealous...my lady?"
"Jealous!" Ushas hissed. "Me, jealous of a low-blood Shabogan? How dare you? I'm warning you, you'd better keep a respectful tongue in your head, girl!"
Slowly and haughtily, Tejana rose to her feet, the blistering anger inside her suddenly spiralling out of control. "Or you'll what?"
Ushas stared at her in disbelief. She was obviously unused to servants talking back to her. Tejana knew she was taking an enormous risk by challenging the other woman, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. "You can try to hit me if you like. But you needn't think I'll just stand here and take it like Dyoni."
The words were a bluff – thanks to Anzor, she didn't have enough strength to take on a mouse, let alone someone as strong as Ushas. But she raised her chin and locked eyes with the other Time Lady, not allowing any of her weakness to show. She could see the icy hatred in Ushas's gaze as she sorted through her options, easily guessing the thoughts that were passing through her mind. After Millennia's words of warning, she couldn't afford to physically chastise Tejana. But there were plenty of other ways she could make a servant girl's life miserable. All she needed to do was wait for the opportunity.
"You haven't heard the last of this. You're going to be very sorry you crossed me, you little slut!" she said through gritted teeth. "Now get back to work!"
Insolently, Tejana dipped in a deep curtsey. Furious at having to back down, Ushas turned away and began to sort loudly through her papers, as if preparing for her imminent exam took supreme pre-eminence over disciplining a wayward servant-girl. But Tejana was left in no doubt that, if they hadn't been enemies before, they certainly were now.
Swiftly, she completed the cleaning up, leaving the floor spotless, aware that Ushas constantly watched her out of the corner of her eyes. With everything done beyond reproach, she bobbed a farewell curtsey in Ushas's direction, which the other woman studiously ignored, before moving towards the door. She paused in the doorway, one last stab of indecision assailing her. Then she slipped her hand into her pocket and activated the necessary controls on the laser screwdriver. Immediately, she felt a tiny hum shiver over her skin as the recursive time loop settled into place, blocking off the doorway of Ushas's room.
A small, hard grin crossed her face as she continued on her way down to the kitchen to receive her next duty assignment.
What a pity - it looked like Lady Ushas wouldn't be making her oh-so-important exam after all!
Several hours later, Koschei Oakdown strode down a corridor in the guest wing of the Academy, his entire body as taut as a wire, every single muscle clenched as he fought to keep in the rage and hurt and frustration that boiled inside him. It was only through a supreme effort of self-control that he managed not to punch and kick at the walls, screaming like an angry child.
It was always the same, whenever he saw his father. Lord Oakdown regularly visited the Academy, to check up on his son's progress. Koschei would receive a summons to attend his father in one of the guest suites, and he would have to arrive at the specified time, regardless of his own schedule, like some sort of underling called to a job interview. Once he arrived, his father would greet him with a brusque nod and tell him to be seated. There was never any sort of affectionate gesture between them, no hugs, not even a smile, most of the time. After that, he would be subjected to an exhaustive interrogation regarding his recent activities. His overall academic standing in his class, the marks he was receiving in each specific subject, his athletic victories, his social connections. On and on it went, a barrage of sharp, icy questions, until his father was satisfied he knew every detail. And always, no matter what Koschei's achievements had been, they were never good enough. Even if he was top of his class, Lord Oakdown would always say he could have done better, if only he wasn't so lazy, if only he would try harder. And always – always! - Koschei would leave the room feeling as if a herd of elephants had just trampled over his self-esteem.
It had been no different this time. There had been the usual blighting criticisms of his performance, the usual exhortations not to shame his family, the usual stern command to stay away from Theta – as if that was going to happen! Theta was his best friend and always would be. Koschei couldn't care less about the political standing of Theta's family or whether he was a bad influence. Sometimes Koschei thought that his friend was the only thing that kept him even remotely sane. He had no intention of allowing his father to separate them, no matter what Lord Oakdown had to say.
The only interesting thing that had eventuated from this visit was his father's instruction to take extra care after what had happened to Anzor. It had been on the tip of Koschei's tongue to retort that, since his father found him such an unrewarding son, he was surprised he cared so much for his welfare. But of course, he didn't, because he already knew what the answer would be. Whatever his perceived failings, he was still the heir of Oakdown, the one who was destined to carry on his family name, and therefore his safety was paramount.
But, from what Lord Oakdown had told him, the Time Lords were currently at a loss to explain Anzor's injuries. The Chancellery Guard were still investigating, but at this stage, they had uncovered no suspects. Koschei could only hope, both for his sake and Kat's, that no-one ever discovered what had happened in the Refectory that night, because he had no doubt that it would look very, very bad. Especially since he still had no real idea what had happened. He was still unable to account for the time he had lost between leaving Drax in the Deca common room and seeing Anzor running away from the Refectory. Even worse, every now and then, he was still getting the insane feeling that something was stalking him - even though, whenever he looked behind him, there was never anything there.
As his father kept talking, droning on and on about what a terrible loss Anzor was, Koschei's thoughts had immediately flown back to Kat, renewed anger surging inside him as he remembered how small and broken she had looked, lying on the floor of the Refectory after Anzor's attack. In his opinion, the President's son had gotten off very, very lightly, whatever the hell had happened to him. After that, he couldn't stop his mind drifting onwards, to how exciting Kat had felt in his arms and how right it had felt to have her in his bed.
One of Lord Oakdown's earlier decrees had been that Koschei would take the Lady Ushas to the Otherstide Ball. Ushas was the great-niece of the current Chancellor, Lord Umbast, and was therefore high on Lord Oakdown's list of suitable companions for his son. Ordinarily, Koschei would not have cared one way or the other. He had escorted Ushas to the Ball before and, as much as they didn't particularly like each other, at least they were very compatible in bed, so they had always managed to have some fun together, both at the Ball and afterwards. Koschei wasn't interested in any sort of relationship with Ushas, and she was obsessed with Theta, so their occasional sexual interaction was easy and pleasant – physical satisfaction with absolutely no strings, together with the added benefit of keeping their respective families off their backs.
But this year – this particular Otherstide Ball – it wasn't what he wanted at all. He wondered what his father would say if he told him that the only person he wanted to dance with, in every conceivable sense of the word, was a tiny Shabogan servant girl, with hair like molten copper and lips as sweet as honey. The very idea of admitting such a forbidden desire to his cold, autocratic sire was so ludicrous that it nearly made him laugh out loud. Even though it might be worth it just to see the look on his father's face, he knew that if one word of his interest in Kat reached Lord Oakdown's ears, she would mysteriously disappear from the Academy and he would never see her again. His father was notoriously ruthless when it came to safeguarding the family name and he had unlimited resources to get whatever he wanted.
No, he thought to himself as he hurried down the passageway, happy that each step was putting more distance between himself and his father. I'll need to be much more careful than that.
And, in that moment, he realised that it was no longer a question of whether he would take Kat for his own. Instead, it had merely become a question of how and when. Now that he had held her in his arms, all his previous hesitations had vanished. The only important consideration was that he wanted her and he was determined to have her.
His mind flickered to her protests that morning that she already belonged to someone. A man back where she had come from, a lover who was not a good man and never would be. Koschei's eyes narrowed and a cold, cruel smile twisted his lips. He was the heir of Oakdown. He had warned Kat that the motto of his House was: 'To have and to hold'. Now she needed to learn what it meant. Perhaps it was time to take a leaf out of his father's book. If there was an obstacle in the way of getting what he wanted, it needed to be removed, by whatever means required.
All he had to do was to take a little trip down to Low Town to find out everything he needed to know about Kat's unknown suitor. After that, arranging to take the other man out of the equation should be a simple matter. And then Kat would be all his.
Of course, there were far too many risks in venturing into a nest of vipers like Low Town alone. However, he was sure he could tempt Theta into coming with him, without ever telling his friend his real reasons for going. In fact, he knew Theta so well, he could probably even convince the other boy the enterprise was all his own idea without too much trouble. He often manipulated Theta, usually for his friend's own good, and Theta was so naïve he very rarely noticed. Once the idea was raised, the more reluctant Koschei appeared to be, the more intrigued and eager to go Theta would become.
Satisfied with his plan, he reached into his back pocket and withdrew his student data tablet. With a few, swift, skilful commands, he used it to hack into the Academy's staff rotation records. According to today's schedule, Kat was currently assigned to preparing the Academy Ballroom for the upcoming Otherstide celebrations.
His eyes hardened with purpose. He wanted to see her and he would - to hell with his father. In fact, the knowledge that Lord Oakdown was in the building while he held her in his arms would only make the experience all the sweeter.
Kat was his forbidden fruit and, no matter what, he was determined to taste.
Tejana had worked hard for several hours with the other servants, cleaning the enormous room the Academy used for its formal occasions. The Otherstide Ball was only a few days away now and Fionnula had instructed that every surface had to be gleaming by the time they finished. No easy task, given the size of the room, even with the sophisticated sanitation equipment they had to work with. The only good thing about such monotonous, repetitive labour was the amount of time it gave you to think, since doing the same thing over and over again required little in the way of brain power. The bad thing was that Tejana's mind had been going around and around in circles, with no solution to her predicament presenting itself. Every way she turned, there were more questions without answers, more problems she couldn't overcome.
Exhausted, she straightened her back and wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her dress, wishing she had a cool, damp cloth instead. Her head was aching and she felt nauseous. She wasn't sure whether her symptoms were a residual effect of Anzor's attack or whether the baby in her belly was objecting to the amount of strenuous physical activity she was undertaking. Either way, the end result wasn't pleasant.
To her surprise, she realised the other servants were all downing tools and filing out of the room.
"Dinner time," Dyoni said cheerfully, her earlier clash with Ushas apparently forgotten, at least for the time being. "Come on, Kat. We'll finish this later."
Just the thought of eating anything made Tejana's stomach roil violently. Suddenly, all she wanted was some time to herself, away from everybody else.
"Thanks, but you go ahead, Dyoni," she replied. "I'm not hungry."
Dyoni looked at her in concern. "Are you feeling all right? You look very pale. If Lord Anzor hurt you..."
"No, no! Really, I'm fine!" Tejana insisted, desperate now for Dyoni to just go. "I just need some peace and quiet for a bit. I'll wait here until you all get back."
The other girl hesitated, but then nodded. "All right, then. I suppose there's no harm now in leaving you here alone. You know where we are if you need anything. Sit down and rest."
Obediently, Tejana sank down on to a nearby chair. Dyoni fussed over her for a few annoying moments, before finally heading for the door. Watching her finally depart, Tejana sighed in relief and dropped her head into her hands, drinking in the sudden cool silence like a tonic.
Concealed behind a pillar outside one of the entrances to the upper galleries of the ballroom, Koschei was able to look down on the wide foyer below, watching the stream of servants leaving by the main doors and heading for the internal transmat terminal. Cursing to himself, he realised that he had arrived right on the staff dinner hour, which was held considerably earlier than the student meal time. He would never be able to catch Kat and secretly draw her aside in this melee of people. Carefully, he scanned the laughing, chattering crowd, searching for the betraying flame of her hair. But he couldn't see her anywhere. Little by little, the surge thinned, until it became a trickle. Leaving last of all, he saw the maidservant who had been cleaning his room with Kat the day before. But the Shabogan girl was not with her. After that, no-one else emerged from the doors. Puzzled, he waited for a few more moments, to no avail. Had he missed her, somewhere in the crowd? She was tiny enough to be easily overlooked. But surely he would have noticed her hair, since he had been looking so closely. No, he would swear that she hadn't been there.
Frowning, he turned back towards the gallery entrance. Opening the door as quietly as possible, he slipped inside. He had never seen the huge ballroom so still and empty before. Whenever he had previously been here, it had been decorated with banks of sweet-smelling flowers and glittering lights, every available space thronged with people. Looking down from the shadowy balcony, he saw that the room currently had only one occupant, a small, slender, copper-haired figure sitting on a chair.
Kat! As he recognised her, the drums began to pound inside his head, excitement skittering along his veins. It seemed far too good to be true, finding her alone like this. But who was he to argue with fate? Especially when fate was being considerate enough to give him exactly what he wanted.
However, before he could move, he saw her get to her feet. From this distance, he couldn't see her face clearly, but her head was tilted, as though she was listening intently to something. To his surprise, she began to sway gracefully, her arms and feet moving in delicate accord, sweeping her across the floor in a series of intricate steps. He caught his breath as incredible understanding dawned on him. She was dancing...and not just any dance...she was dancing the ancient steps of Otherstide.
Entranced, he stared down at her, his eyes hungrily following every lissome movement. Even though she didn't know he was there, it was as if she was dancing just for him, every step calling to him, an irresistible siren's call of desire he couldn't ignore.
Silently, as if caught in a dream, he moved purposefully towards the grand staircase.
Left alone in the enormous, echoing ballroom, Tejana found herself looking around and thinking of her own youth on Gallifrey. It was incredible to think that this was centuries before she was even born, and yet everything looked exactly the same as she remembered it. The wide upper galleries, the sweeping staircase, the inlaid marble floor – all of it was so clear in her memories of her own past. She had danced here countless times at innumerable Otherstide Balls over the years, always with Damon as her handsome and attentive escort. In her mind's eye, she imagined the room crowded with students and teachers, the upper galleries full to bursting with people eating and drinking and laughing, the floor swirling with eager dancers, formally attired in all the colours of the rainbow. Her foot twitched involuntarily. She had always loved to dance. When she was young, it had been one of her favourite recreational activities. It had been so long since she had done it. Probably not since that light-hearted interlude in the TARDIS, waltzing with Jack, with the Doctor and Rose also merrily dancing nearby. Her cheeks coloured at the memory, recalling how warm and strong Jack's hands had been at her waist, how closely he had held her, how she had nestled so contentedly into his shoulder. A lifetime ago, now.
But Gallifreyan dancing had been different. So much more formal, so intricate and stately. And so much more meaningful. Like all the festivals of her people, Otherstide was about more than just having fun, it was about solemn duty and ceremony. It was an occasion when the Time Lords across Gallifrey came together to celebrate and reaffirm exactly who and what they were. Every step of the ancient Otherstide dances were carefully choreographed to represent the power and the passion and the infinite majesty of the Time Vortex. It had been poignantly beautiful, tracing those mysterious and arcane patterns across the floor, feeling the potent vitality of her heritage surging through her veins, the pride of her birthright as a Lord of Time. Unlike Earth dancing, the participants rarely touched. Nevertheless, the atmosphere had been deeply sensual and intimate on every level, their bodies circling each other, coming together and drawing apart, just as the untold galaxies constantly revolved through the Universe in an elaborate dance older than Time itself.
Even though it had been so long ago, Tejana could still hear the music in her head - the wild, sweet, soul-stirring paean of melody; the driving, throbbing, almost tempestuous beat that echoed inside her hearts, epitomising the very essence of being a Time Lord. Without even thinking about it, she rose to her feet. Closing her eyes, she began to sway and spin, her delicate feet instinctively marking out the celestial rhythm that hummed through her body. Her movements were graceful and entirely feminine, representing the yin of the Universe, embodying all things shadowy, mysterious and hidden, soft and slow and yielding, reflective and enduring. In her head, she was no longer wearing the drab servant's dress, but was garbed in a traditional Gallifreyan silver gown, with full skirts as light as a cobweb, her hair flowing down her back and entwined with flowers. Opposite her danced an imaginary, faceless man, symbolically matching her yin with his yang, his movements open and overt, full of fire and heat and masculine hardness. Together, male and female, they were two aspects of the same reality; dependent, opposing forces that flowed in a natural cycle, always seeking balance, forever transforming each other. Like an undertow in the ocean, every advance across the floor was accompanied by a retreat, every rise in the dance transforming into a fall.
Serenity seemed to spread throughout Tejana's body, a sense of ultimate harmony taking the place of all her worries and cares. All that mattered was the intricate sychronicity of the dance. She was so caught up in the strange magic of the moment, it didn't even startle her when she felt warm fingers graze her own. Opening her eyes, she saw that her partner was no longer imaginary or faceless. Koschei Oakdown danced with her, each step powerful and assured and confident, completely attuned to her in every way. Not even questioning his presence - no longer thinking, but only feeling - she moved across the room with him, revelling in his male strength, both dominating and complementing her, assuaging her yearning need for completion. Their eyes met and held, their fingertips barely touching, and white-hot fire somersaulted through her. Dancing at Otherstide with Damon had been wonderful, but it had never been like this, so exultant, so alive, so real.
It seemed she wasn't the only one who felt it. Looking into Koschei's eyes as they circled together, she saw something dark and dangerous moving behind the blue, something that reached for her, untamed and hungry. He was so very young in this incarnation, but already he simmered with the barely-leashed power that would characterise his later regenerations.
As the dance drew at last to a close, they reluctantly stilled, facing each other across the marble floor, her hand still in his. As required by Gallifreyan protocol, he gave her a formal bow and she responded with a deep curtsey. But he didn't release her hand. Instead, keeping his eyes locked on her face, he raised it to his mouth and slowly brushed his lips over her knuckles. Tejana dragged in a sharp breath, her senses suddenly swimming. His lips were cool, but her skin burned where they had touched.
"Where did you learn to dance like that, Kat?" he asked, his fingers tight and imprisoning around hers. "Even most Time Ladies can't sense the ebb and flow of the Universe enough to dance the Otherstide steps that well. How is it that a Shabogan serving maid can put them all to shame?"
Instead of not breathing at all, Tejana now found she was breathing much too rapidly, her thoughts jumbled into disarray. When she was young, she had fantasised so often about dancing at Otherstide with Koschei Oakdown in this very ballroom. But it had only ever been a silly, secret daydream, because she had always known it was impossible. And yet here he was, so close, looking down at her with unmistakeable satisfaction in his navy blue gaze, evidently pleased at the sensual reaction he was evoking from her.
"I...I learned from watching others dancing, my Lord," she told him, speaking nothing but the truth, since she had observed the Otherstide dances since she was a tiny child of eight and a new initiate to the Academy. "I'm a quick learner."
His eyes darkened at her words, turning almost black with desire, lingering on her upturned face as if he was imagining a few things he would personally like to teach her. "And is that the only dance you've learnt?" he murmured huskily. "Or are there others?"
She swallowed hard, aware that she was once again treading on very dangerous ground. "I don't know what you mean, my Lord."
Turning her hand, he pressed a searing kiss into her palm, leaving her under no illusion as to what sort of dance he was referring to. "I think you do. Dance with me, Kat. And this time, don't stop."
What he wanted from her was more than evident in the glint in his eyes and the arrested anticipation in his tall, slim body. Her response was instant, something hot and needy stirring inside her. Before she knew what she was doing, her tongue came out, licking her lips and leaving them slightly parted. His gaze lowered and, with a guttural curse, he pulled her hard against him and savagely took her mouth. Some part of her mind was trying to remind her just how dangerous he was, but the rest of her just wasn't listening. Pure, erotic heat washed over her. The kiss teased and tantalised, promising so much more if only she would give into him. Despite her best resolve, her mouth opened to his, and she shuddered as he entered, his tongue both demanding and possessive as he took everything she offered. His hands gripped her small backside, angling her hips and lifting her against him, holding her firmly in place so she couldn't move. She could feel the rampant strength of his arousal thrusting explicitly against her belly. Forbidden delight flared inside her; an irresistible temptation to shift her hips against his hardness in wanton abandonment. At that moment, there was nothing she wanted more than to press herself against him, welcoming him to her, caressing him with her body. Sliding her hands up over his shoulders, she allowed her fingers to knead the powerful muscles in his back, before gliding further up to tangle in his soft, dark hair, pulling his head closer still.
He gave a moan of approval and deepened the kiss, even as one of his hands moved to the snap fastenings at the front of her dress, pulling them open, one by one. She felt his fingers slip inside, under the rough fabric, lightly stroking her naked breasts. She knew she was rapidly losing control of the incendiary situation, but she didn't want him to stop. Flames seemed to follow his touch, trailing heat in his wake. She was caught in a swelling tide of desire she couldn't seem to stem. Her body felt hot and heavy, aching with need as his fingers grew more demanding, no longer light and insubstantial, but caressing her in an insistent, erotic rhythm designed to drive her mad.
No-one else had ever been able to do this to her, no-one else had ever been able to exert this degree of control over her. He was the yang to her yin, the only one she would ever want to dance this oldest of dances with. Just him. Only him.
"Koschei," she sobbed, fighting for breath, unable to focus, unable to think, her body mindlessly screaming for more. "Master."
He growled, deep in his throat. "Oh, yes, Kat. I like being your Master. I like it a lot."
Dismay rippled through her, reality at last beginning to filter through the obscuring sensual haze, as she realised the mistake she had made...the mistake she was still making. Desperately, she tried to pull back from him, but he wouldn't let her go. His hand moved to her hair, carelessly yanking it free from the restraining pins until it tumbled down her back.
"So beautiful!" he muttered, winding the long tresses tightly around his hand, holding her head still while his mouth hungrily explored first her lips, then the slim, vulnerable line of her throat.
All at once, without warning, his body seemed to go rigid, as if someone had just plunged a knife into his back. He was still holding her, but his arms were locked in place around her like an iron cage, his lips suddenly motionless against the soft skin of her neck.
"Koschei?" she cried, unsure what had happened, frightened by his unnatural stillness. "Lord Koschei!"
Slowly, he raised his head and looked at her. To her absolute and utter shock, she saw that, apart from a slender ring around his pupils, his eyes were no longer blue. Instead, they were an extremely recognisable whiskey-brown.
And when he spoke, his voice had transformed into a heart-wrenchingly familiar rasp.
"Hello, my Ana."
Author's Note: OK, there it is - PLEASE tell me you enjoyed it, because it took SUCH a long time to write **expires on to the couch!**