Chapter 20
It was as if he hadn't noticed her presence as she stood among dusty books and waited for him to look, but he was to busy reading in the book that lay in front of him that it gave her time to study him further.
The body was to large for the poor chair he had decided to sit in and with his long legs spread out underneath the table she wondered if he was to get up quickly, he would overturn it the instant he rose. Dressed in dark colors only complimented his features and the white shirt, properly made of the finest wool one could ever lay ones hands on, was a sharp contrast to the raven-brow hair.
She hadn't wondered about what a king's decision had brought into her life, but now she did – she looked at him, studied every breath he took while he rested his head on his right fist as he read the book that lay in front of him on the table. Scrolling the book he seemed to find something that was too important to miss and once again, with his relaxed and controlled breathing, he began to read.
Daine wondered as his eyes followed each line in the book how lucky she really was to be part of something that involved having him standing beside her or even sitting in front of her, but then again, her whole life had been unlucky from the start – so wasn't she allowed some happiness?
She had never thought herself cable of such feelings, even though she the first time she was near him and he had laid in her bed in Galla, had hoped for something like this to happen. Tilting her head sideways, she noticed how autumn-rays from the sun, that lingered in the window, caught his raven hair. It was gathered in the neck, something he was very fond of she noticed, but it suited him and only made him more handsome and attracted – and those hazel eyes – Daine almost dropped the tray she was carrying, when she found that she stared directly into his eyes that only smiled with kindness and understanding.
"You found my hiding-place," Numair said with a soft and low voice as if the young woman standing in front of him was some deer that he was afraid to scare away and gestured to the empty chair that stood at the opposite side of the table where he was sitting. It hadn't been his plan, but when he found her eyes lingering on him, he couldn't help himself to smile a little.
Not only had the Kings order caused that he was married, something he never would have considered in the first place or even thought himself capable of, but that the King and his friend had found a beautiful creature, was something he not yet had the time to understand or even comprehend, and as she moved forth in a slow pace while, he continued his talk allowing some of his practiced, in-control, feelings to come forth – standing among dust she was a treat for the eye.
She was even more beautiful standing in front of him, all innocent and his - ready to take.
Numair snapped out of his thoughts. Where in Mithros' name did that come from? He wasn't a man that took woman like apples that were ready to be plucked from a tree, he was a man that always charmed his way into their bed for pleasures only. No commitment, no attachment, no obligations – until now that is. Charming her would be the best way to ensure that she stayed with him.
Their time together had been brief and he could still feel the touch of her as she had lay beside him during their wedding night, and how he had pushed back on his hips as a part of him had pressed against the fabric of his trousers.
Slowly he rose to stand while he allowed his eyes to glide down over her body, taking in the indecisive small movements her body shoved.
Smiling calmly, hiding the fact that his body reacted to her presence, he added slowly. "I thought I finally had found a place where I could sit alone, but I certainly," he noticed with some discomfort that she was looking apologetic at him and he rushed to add "am clearly surprisingly mistaken."
Why were she tense around him? Could she see the small burning desire in his eyes? Or the way he looked at her body, specially where the fabric of the dress covered her skin tightly around her breasts? Wanting to distract himself, he pushed away the book he had been reading. Hopefully she wouldn't notice his eagerness for her.
"So it is a good thing?" Daine asked a bit unsure while she lowered the tray down on the table and he pushed the opened book away. It wasn't hard to notice the way his eyes had shifted colors from light hazel to a darker shade as his gaze fell upon her. She had seen the same look in other men's eyes before and such wasn't inexperienced in what came next, but she hoped that he would take it slow.
Trying to ignore him she turned her attention towards the book he had pushed away. She managed to get a few glimpse of the strange and twisting letters in the book before it was closed by his tanned and overly large hands. Her husband wasn't a man build slim, large shoulders complimented his soft facial features along with the long black hair he had gathered at the neck – what would it be like to run her fingers through it? Would it feel as soft as it looked?
Daine hurriedly took a step back – what was she thinking? Never had she engaged on such thoughts before. Tracing a finger along the side of the tray she used the distraction to get her mind away from the man that were standing so close to her, but yet so far way. She half wished that he would move towards her, touch her if he wanted to...
Stop it! Daine ordered inside herself and focused on the food on the tray. The woman from the kitchen had been generous.
Numair lifted his face in surprise, only to meet her uncommon and strangely mixed colored eyes. Had she really asked him if it were a good thing? Of course it were a good thing for him to have her standing like a goddess before him, a goddess he longed to touch again and feel her body pressed...
"Good thing?" he asked cutting off his line of thoughts while making sure that there was a small notion of flirtation in his voice and smiled. He wanted so much to see her smile, it was one of the things he had noticed that she wasn't keen to do.
His smile seemed to do the trick – she gave a smile back and relaxed while he continued with his small flirt. "Always when it comes to you," he replied, "and it's nice to see that you are up and about." He pulled the tray with various food to him and looked down raising his eyebrows, "where did you get all this?"
Daine breathed low as Numair purred water from the pitcher and handed her the first glass. "I accidentally stumbled into the kitchen..." so close to her, he gave her butterflies deep down in her stomach. Trying to conceal her nervousness she looked down into the water only to find a reflection starring back at her. The image of him was clear until her hands couldn't hold still anymore and the water rippled, blurring him away.
Lifting her gaze she found that he had placed his glass back on the table, only to move to stand in front of her. His spicy smell that drifted from him was intoxicating and Daine realized that she wanted him to walk near her, be near her and maybe touch her – which was exactly what he did as he moved to stand only millimeters from her. Another move and she would have her breasts pressed up against him.
"And?" Numair asked as if unsure she wasn't finish with her sentence. She had stopped her words as he had approached her and he could see that her breathing had changed as well. Was she feeling the same attraction that he, himself, felt?
"Sorry?" Daine looked up into intense eyes that looked down at her, barely noticing that large hands carefully took the glass from her hands to set it down on the table that stood beside them. Daine's breath caught in her chest as his eyes lowered from hers to move down to where her lips could be found slightly parted and further down to where her chest rose and fell with each breath she took.
Numair found it difficult not to move his eyes downwards and the sight that meet him, the soft, smooth skin that rose and fell – if she wasn't standing in front of him like a frightened rabbit, he would have turned her around, pushed her up on the table beside them regardless of the tray occupying the space. But he couldn't – she was new to this, new to him and he would frighten her away if he ever did such a bold move. Forcing himself to back down he took a small step back, to give her space to breathe. Taking up the conversation would be the best way to distract him from this tempest that stood in front of him.
"Then what happened? You didn't just stumble of in the right direction to end up here," he waved his hands out to their surroundings.
Daine couldn't help but smile a bit. He had detected her nervousness and had given her space to breathe, which came to be difficult when he had been standing so close.
Thought seeing him standing with his arms widespread he seemed more relaxed then she had seen him during his short stay in Galla, didn't improve anything. There he had been tense, careful and strict with his manners. He had acted more noble than any of the nobles she knew, but still he had been brave enough to stand up to the King and his old-fashion lifestyles. He stood in front of her, massive, attractive and very much manly and she was sure, which she knew, that his muscles underneath his fine cotton shirt flexed with his movements.
That had been one thing that had captivated her while she stood in the room among the men of King Angus' court – he had been taller then the other men and he had protected her. Her small smile slowly fainted away from her lips as she recalled everything that had happened afterward and he saw it clearly, which brought him to take the step that parted them.
"What's wrong?" Numair asked concerned, wondering if he had said something completely wrong to her. He still didn't know her to the fullest intent and still he felt as if he had been around her for ever. Slowly he lifted his large hand and held her chin between his thumb and forefinger, wanting her to look at him again.
Inside her beautiful eyes he saw depths of sorrow, unknown to him, but he could handle everything that would come. His own life experience proved this; his escape from a maddening emperor who sought to behead him if he ever got the chance.
"Nothing," Daine tried to reply, but something in her voice betrayed her. She was overwhelmed by his presence, the nearness of him, the heath she could detect on her skin where the neckline of the dress was cut low. He was standing so close to her and she wondered if he could read her thoughts as clearly as her cheeks flared.
Numair said nothing. Before he knew of it he had his arm placed on the small of her back, pressing her flush against him. She was so right for him – he could feel it in every cell of his body.
Everything vibrated inside him as he searched her eyes for something, anything that could explain him why he felt so attracted to her. It almost frightened him that she affected him such. No other woman had had the same affect on him and it wasn't until he had lifted up her chin, exposing her neck that he realized that he was shaking, almost trembling when his lips touched the warm and soft skin of her neck.
Numair hadn't considered what he was doing, he wanted her, craved her, but he couldn't get himself to kiss her just yet. He wanted her to know that he wasn't only her husband, but he desired her and had desired her from the moment she had sought him out on the floor on their wedding night.
This wasn't what she had expected from him. She didn't really know what she had expected, but this – his lips lingering on her neck, kissing her skin softly created something inside her, something she hadn't experienced ever during her life. She was gasping for breathe as his large hand moved from her back, trailing over the softness of her gown and up her sides, towards her breasts.
His hand wasn't the only thing that trailed upwards, his lips followed and they ended at the line of her chin. She could feel that he hesitated, but her body burned and she ached to touch him and so she did. Standing in the middle of a dust attic her hand moved on her own accord and buried her fingers into his black mane.
After a few seconds she slowly turned her head, making his lips wander over the skin and towards her own lips – whatever made her do this was beyond her comprehension, but she did it anyway and as she was feeling his lips lingering at the corner of her mouth when a cough sounded nearby and Daine abruptly pulled back, her eyes fluttering wide open in shook while realizing that a boy, or actually a young man, stood at the beginning of the stairs, looking at them with a strange expression and a deep blush coloring his cheeks.
"Roald," Numair greeted the young calmly while taking a step back from her, composing himself, pushing the roaming desire back.
The young man, dressed in colors of dark blue and black that both matched his hair and eyes bowed for them. Daine had seen boys like him before at her former home and she knew that the boy was a squire. His age suggested that he was early in his teens, but a strong air of something floated around, giving him more an adult appearance. Her cheeks burned scarlet as the young man regained his place and began to talk.
"Sorry to disturb you Master Salmalin, but Stel told me that you were up here after she caught me in the kitchen seeking for you. I've been looking all over for you," the young man paused and backed down one step on the staircase, trying retreat from the intimate scene he had interrupted, "but she didn't tell me that you where..." his voice faltered "occupied".
Numair took half a step away and placed a soft hand on the small of Daine's back. The touch almost made her flinched, but she haltered the motion before she did anything. "No worry Your Highness," he said and bowed lower than the boy had done only seconds before.
Daine hurried after and curtsied. She starred at the boy and suddenly she could see the same motions a royal would make. There was authority about him and she recognized him as the crown-prince. She didn't say anything, she didn't need to, because the man standing beside her took the word.
"What do you mean that you didn't know where I was?" Numair asked with concern, his palm burned where he touched Daine, as if her skin was burning through the fabric of her plain shirt.
The Prince took a step forth, bringing him up and away from the stairs. "You know Esmond?"
"Yes of course," Numair nodded, he could quit clearly remember the boy who had a strange habit for getting himself into trouble. "He's the boy with the many freckles?"
"Yes, and he's been sneaking of to the Chamber of the Ordeal during the last four nights. Keladry found him there yesterday and dragged him back to his room, scolding him," the Prince added while Numair nodded yet again.
Daine, on the other side, was completely lost in their exchanged of words. Who was Esmond and the last name must be a girl, but a girl in training to be a knight? That was even stranger than anything she had heard about this country and what in Weiryn's name was the Chamber of Ordeal, some sort of room of punishment since the young man's face became pale when he had mentioned it? She had a weak feeling that she soon was going to found out.
"And what has he done this time?" Numair asked while taking his hand from her shoulder, leaving her to stand alone. He walked over to the table where he picked up the book he had read.
"It's not what he has done," the Prince replied calmly, looking into Daine's eyes. "It's what the Chamber has done to him, Uncle."
That shocked her completely. She snapped her head to where her soon-to-be husband was standing. She couldn't see the resemblance between them; the only thing they had in common was the hair; only that the Prince's hair was pitch black where Numair's was raven-brow. Frowning over the boy's words she missed the next part of the conversation and it was only when Numair's dark eyes found her, that her ears caught the next thing.
"...so he sought out the Chamber again?" Numair asked and came forth, carrying the books in his arms.
"No," Prince Roald replied. "The Chamber brought him to it – I was there when it happened."
Numair raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'The Chamber brought him to it?' The Chamber can not do anything physical, other than to those who enters it during their test into knighthood." He was about to continued his talk, when the Prince interrupted him.
The Prince nodded eagerly. "It did."
"How?" Numair asked with a strange notion in his voice. He was standing with his feet safely planted on the floor, looking questioningly.
Daine looked down. Somehow – somewhere during the talk he had grabbed her hand. For the first time she saw how small and delicate her hand was inside the large palm of a man's. Her hand was small compared to his huge hand and she wondered briefly how a touch from him on her body would feel like.
That thought was quickly replaced by a frown. She couldn't allow herself to think such, but then again it was indeed the first time she had someone how wanted to be near her and it seemed that he wanted to, she thought and nearly missed the next sentence.
"We were in the training yard getting lectured by Lord Wyldon about the importance of being under the service of a knight, when a misty silvery fog surrounded him. Esmond tried to fight of the fog with his sword, but it only became thicker, attacking him and just as everyone thought that it was going to leave him alone, it grabbed him and pulled him screaming through the corridors to the door of the Chamber. Master Wyldon tried to attack the fog as well, but a silver arm broke off and was whirled around him so he couldn't move – he was having a tantrum by that time and it just suddenly let go of him when he stopped fighting. That was nearly an hour ago. Dad is trying to calm him down now, they are standing before the Chamber where the door has Esmond trapped. It won't let him go – Master Wyldon tried to pull him away, but Dad told him no."
'Misty fog' where had she seen that before? Looking down to where their hands was linked together she remembered suddenly where she had seen it.
"And I'm assuming that Wyldon are biting your father's head of as we are speaking?" Numair asked.
Prince Roald nodded. "He told me that I should fetch you" he turned his emerald blue eyes to Daine "I'm so sorry about earlier Mistress Sarrasri" he said referring to his interfering of the kiss, and Daine could see that he meant it, but was she sorry that he had interfered she wondered? "It was nice to finally meet the legendary Wildmage everyone is talking about" he gave her an honest smile before he continued "I hope that you someday will come down to the stable and greet my horse – she's a beauty."
She could see the hope in his eyes and she nodded while she bobbed a small curtsy. "Of course your Highness." She ended the sentence while feeling a small squeeze around her hand.
Numair took the lead and gestured to the table where the tray of food stood. He sighed. "Then I guess that breakfast has to wait. Roald, if you take this back down to Stel, Daine and I will go the other way to the Chamber."
Prince Roald nodded and took a step toward the table.
To be continued