This is for; 'New fan', Lollypops101, XD, kamarooka, Anonymous, nixrenea, MagicalEspionage - well I could go on, but this chapter is for everyone who reviewed this story! Thank you :-)

Chapter 27

He warded the space around him with candles surrounding him in a circle in the dark room. He knew that he could do it without the light, but it gave him a sense of calm as the shadows from the lighted wicks danced when a small breeze swept over the floor only to disappear again. Winter was approaching and in the far north the first snow would already have fallen. It would be several weeks before the first snow would fall in Corus and he hoped that they would have caught the assassin before that.

Inside his study he was sitting calmly, listening to every movement she was making inside his bedchamber, breathing meditatively, without having to worry that any magic he would use on the shackles would affect his surroundings. And as he carried out the task at hand, he was calm enough to reflect over the fact that this time he wasn't going to be the recipient of these shackles.

It was hard for his concentration to know that when this was all over he would have to let her go.

Smiling and pulling in his black aura that twisted with silver his hands checked each of the links for any weaknesses. When he found none, Numair opened his eyes only to stare into the face of a female sitting within the warded space smiling at him.

"How?" he spluttered and turned his gaze to check the candles and the circle surrounding them. "You...I..." he stopped as her blue-gray eyes scrutinized his startled features. Leaning forth he asked seriously "How long have you been sitting here?"

Daine turned her head to the candles around her "Two candle-marks" she replied calmly, not knowing why he was acting so strange.

"Two candle-marks! You'd been sitting here two candle-marks!" Numair questioned angrily and clapped his hands once allowing the crystal-filled glasses take over illuminating the room. The candles on the floor died slowly, each hissing angrily as invisible fingers pressed around the wick, suffocating the fire.

Daine raised her eyebrows questioning "You don't have to shout, you know" she replied calmly, not seeing her sitting in front of him could be so very wrong. "I can very well hear you and you are hurting my ears. Wasn't I allowed to do so?" she asked concerned, wondering if her decision to get near him had been completely incorrect.

"Allowed?" he hissed the question back, clearly angry. "You just broke through my wards!".

"You are angry" Daine stated firmly, shifting so her knees came under her so she could rise from the floor, "and clearly not in the mood to talk". She lifted herself up from the floor.

A large hand grabbed her wrist holding her down and Daine turned her head back to the man she had only known in a week. "How did you managed to get inside?" Numair's voice dropped to a hush, clearly he was trying to calm himself down.

Daine paused at his words "What do you mean 'inside'? I'll been inside your chambers the whole time". She frowned as a thought hit her, didn't he want to be around him anymore? "Do you want me to leave, is that it? Do you want to get rid of me now that you know of my past?" She tried to pull her wrist to her, but he held on firmly.

"That wasn't what I meant. Whatever past you have or don't have, isn't the issue here" he snapped back, not calming down as he felt he was supposed to, "I mean; how did you cross my ward"?

Daine ignored his question "So you don't care that I'd given birth and properly can't give you a family if you can't get it annulled?" she snapped back.

Numair's chin dropped startled "Where did you get that from?"

Daine looked down to where her hands was twisted together, only her white knuckles gave away her thoughts "You had me examined" she glanced up, "did you think that I couldn't hear every word you and that Lady spoke of?"

Numair flinched "You shouldn't have overheard that" he whispered regretfully.

"But I did and you shouldn't be with someone like me. You should be with someone else, not a Commoner or a bastard who can't even give you children if we were to be together". Daine tried a second time to rise from the floor, but he caught her hands.

"Please stay" he begged her "Why are you saying these things?" he demanded.

"Because I doesn't know you!" she replied back sharply. More calmly she added "and you don't know anything about me".

"You are wrong" Numair said slowly, pulling Daine down to the floor again "I may not know everything yet, but I know that whoever told you that you were barren isn't true" he looked her in the eyes before touching and lifting her necklace, carefully not to touch her skin "there's a reason you are still wearing this pregnancy-charm".

Daine glanced down to where two charms was hanging; a badger's claw and the charm she'd received from him. "What else?" she whispered wanting to hear more.

Feeling himself on safer ground, Numair continued "I know that you are uniqe and that you will thrive here in Tortall," she was about to open her mouth in protest, "no don't interrupt me - with or without me. Tortall isn't Galla".

She met his dark eyes "Why are you so nice? You could have left me alone in the woods or even in the castle, back in Galla"

"Because I know how difficult it can be to be 'the new one in another and foreign country" he smiled reassuringly to her, "remember I told you that I was a refugee from Carthak?"

Daine nodded. It seemed that this 'Carthak' was another country which only confirmed her suspicion that he wasn't a child of Tortall, he was too tanned to be from cold regions – but his words still didn't get her to fell calm. Everything about this troubled her. Searching his dark eyes she whispered "Do you also have a feeling that someone are making this a lot easier than it should be?"

She was startled when his response was a short laugh "Easy?" he questioned while tilting his head "you think that 'this' is easy?"

Raising her eyebrows "Yes" she replied slowly.

"You mean that having an assassin on our trail and having the Chamber of Ordeal making jokes of you, is easy?"

"Not when you said it like that" she answered back, giving him a half smile, "and it wasn't what I meant".

"Then what did you mean?" Numair asked while moving himself a bit closer to her so his knees touched hers covered by the woolen dress.

"Did you know that I swore to make it anything but easy for you, so that you would reconsider the arrangement and I have done nothing of that – someone are doing it for me," Daine hurried to explain further when she saw his startled expression, "I think that someone are trying to hinder me and at the same time trying to help me" she gave him a beautiful smile "either way; they are messing everything up, but also making it interesting".

"That's a a fascinating hypothesis" Numair leaned down on his right hand, "so who are 'they'?"

Daine shook her head "Don't know" she replied shyly, "I have someone in mind, but I find that it's best not to say it out loud".

That seemed to amuse him "Afraid of the Gods?"

She looked down, avoiding his gaze "Yes – just look what that page in the bard's story had to go through just because the Goddess herself took interest in her".

"But in the end that turned out okay" he replied and lifted her face to look into her eyes.

Daine smiled "In the bards telling it did. Bards tells stories like that everyday that have ended badly, they only twists their words to tell what the hearer wants to hear and suddenly everything in the stories are okay, but that's just lies".

Numair chuckled low "What if I tell you that in this particular case that it did indeed end just as happy as in the bard's story?"

"Then it is a miracle" she replied quickly, before she added more softly, more sadly "but miracles are rare or they were in Galla".

He paused over her choice of words, but gave her time to wonder of his choice of words and after a few seconds she opened her mouth, looking sharply at him; "You are proclaiming that the bard was telling the truth, how do you know?"

He smiled. It was about time she questioned him about the persons that was part of his life. His own few weeks in this strange court had done nothing for him, only giving him great headaches in trying to keep up with the haste and the oddity of the king and queen, not to mention a certain red-haired temperamental woman trying to coax him into tell why he was running from Carthak; "I know it because my best friend is whom the bard spoke of".

Daine thought back to the letter in the bedchamber. "A close friend?" she asked, knowing that the question may be to personal and hoping without having to elaborate further, that he caught the meaning behind her words.

"No!" Numair replied quickly, almost to quickly clearly catching what she had implied, because Daine only raised her eyebrows. "The Lioness is only a close friend and she's married to the king's spymaster -" his voice trailed of as hers took over.

"Are you allowed to tell me this much?" Daine inquired warily.

"I am" he told her trustfully and Daine felt odd. Never had anyone confined in her on matters more serious than there was something clearly wrong with the Gallan's king's horses. "You already is a member of this court and it will not change if it turns out that the arrangement is annulled; Jonathan has a unique habit of keeping important properties close at hands and he will give and do anything to keep his friends happy".

"Was he thinking of 'happiness' when he arranged our marriage?" she asked startled over the fact that a king that nice would force any man, such as he had done with Numair, into something Numair didn't wanted to.

Numair laughed, shaking his head "You asked the same question I, myself, demanded to know when the news of his decision reached me – I was furious at first, but his argumentation was flawless by the time you ran out of words".

Daine mouth dropped "You scolded the king?" It would be something that would be unheard of in the Gallan court; they was so parochial that they wouldn't notice if the world stood up-side-down. It had been the same with presence of her living at the far end of the stable. It was something they'd discarded, and had done so for years after Rosalie's departure.

He nodded. "'Yelling' is the more correct term, it was like blowing at a rock hoping that the wind from ones lungs would be enough to move it slightly and so after a while I gave up and left".

She looked down at her hands. Somehow he had taken hold of them during their talk and was caressing the inside of her palm with his thumb.

Seeing where her gaze had moved to Numair slowly withdrew his fingers, hoping that she didn't know that the caress was something a lover would do. He cleared his throat, moving the conversation to another matter "Now to another matter; how did you get inside my wards?"

Daine turned to the extinguished candles "So that was what you used them for" she retorted rather amused, hiding the fluttering feelings that floated through her body, "I thought that you where just showing of".

He was about to give her a very rude reply when her words settled into his core; did she want him to show of? To woo her? "Do you like the candles?" Numair asked instead feeling slightly unsure of himself.

She nodded weakly and Numair smiled while scolding himself; he had been so consumed in his frustration over the fact that he had to be ready for when the assassin arrived, that he completely had pushed any thought of her away, but the fact that she had managed to walk straight into the protected circle troubled him. Somewhere during his thoughts his stomach growled making him aware that he had forgotten to eat anything proper during the day, and that must apply to her at well. She must be starving by now.

He rose, leaving her to sit inside the circle and walked over to the door. Opening it softly he formed a speach-ball in his hand and when it was complete he blew at it so it leaped out into the deserted corridor.

Daine watched him smile as he closed the door again "Come" he said to her and held his hands open in front of her, palms up. Daine took them, her hands to small for his large.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he pulled her along to stand outside the circle they before had sat in.

"We, my dear, are going to try something" and as the last word left his lips the candles was illuminated. Another rush jolted through her as eminence power filled the room, leaping from him as he stood just behind her. The crystals in the room became darker only to be black.

"Is this 'something' dangerous?" she whispered, asking a bit unsure as the candles began to throw dark shadows around them with long tentacles trying to reach out towards them, wanting to devour them. She wasn't that comfortable around him yet, but she trusted him nevertheless.

Numair chuckled low "If you can do the thing you did before, there isn't going to be any danger, but if not you will only feel a small electric jolt – this is just a weaker spell then the one I used before".

"How reassuring" she mumbled as his hand closed firmly around hers. Breathing deeply she saw the ward being visible in front of her, flaring up in front of her with black and silver colors, and as if in slow-motion she released his hand and took a step forth, just like she did when she had walked to him.

As she walked away from him and stepping through the shield he had created, nothing happened. Daine turned around and smiled to him, but the pride she held in her eyes only vanished as Numair was shaking his head. "What?" she demanded to know and passed the shield again, feeling nothing but warmth from it.

He pulled her into a bone-crushing hug "You little..." the rest of the words became a complete mumble into her hair as his arms tightened around her. He had been scared about the result and if she would managed to do the crossing without harm, and as his heart thundered in his chest, he tightened his embrace.

Daine relaxed inside his warm arms "So I take it that I did good?" she replied into his chest, hearing how something hammered underneath the skin. Slowly she realized that he had been afraid.

Standing like this she found that if she lifted her head a bit, the tip of her nose would touch the soft skin underneath his chin. If she lifted her head higher it would be her lips that touched him.

Numair held her tighter without looking down "You did marvelous" drawing back slightly he felt the small movement of a head being turned towards the ceiling. When his gaze collided with hers, her fingers was buried into his shirt on his back and his own hands was likely doing the same in her dress.

This close he could see the rosy shade of her lips and the mark where she had the habit of biting her lower lip. As he wallowed in her proximity he noticed the first time how long her dark eyelashes was and as she blinked, her eyes was glowing with the same intensity as the candles behind her.

Lifting his hand he allowed himself to feel the lips he twice before had considered to kiss and parting them with his thumb he decreased the distance.

Daine awaited without taking a single breath. She could live without air if she only was allowed to feel his lips upon hers and as hot air reached her – she flinched startled as someone suddenly knocked softly on the door not far from them.

The moment was over as Numair only laughed softly and pulled away from her, leaving her to stand in the middle of the room a deep red blush burning in her cheek. He clapped his hands once again and the candles behind her died slowly.

The room was for a few brief seconds dark. If one would call her something, they would said that she was reluctant to be present where she stood as the door was being opened and the silhouette of a female's body became visible. Pulling back she almost considered the possibility of hiding inside his bedchamber until whoever it was had gone again, but as Numair allowed the door to open she faltered in her decision. She knew that he would never hurt her, but for the new-comer it was an entirely different matter.

The door was opened slowly and silenced filled the air. Daine's heart was pounding hard inside her chest. Taking several step back, approaching the door to the bedchamber she stopped as a light flirtatious voice filled the air. After what happened that morning with the evil chamber, she didn't want to take any chances. If it was a man, she would have turned and fled the room, but what harm could a woman do to her?

The servant-girl fumbled with the tray and Numair caught it with his hands placed above the other woman's hands holding the tray.

"Oops!" the servant-girl giggled at the contact and Daine almost growled as the girl looked up with gleaming eyes at Numair's guarded face.

"X'cuse me for disturbing you Master Salmalin" the girl said with flushed cheeks, "but Stel told me to get this to you". It clearly wasn't the first time the servant-girl had been so close to Numair, but the girl continued her rambling "Well – um where do you want this?"

"Just leave it with me" Numair replied in his silky voice, making the girl more flustered.

"Right" the girl replied taking her hands away from the tray. "If you need anything for yourself and..." the servant-girl became silent looking past Numair og seeing Daine standing near the door to the bedchamber.

The girl, a few years older than Daine, bobbed a well rehearsed curtsy and stood proud only seconds after, looking directly into Daine's eyes, noticing the flush that still lingered in her cheeks from the previously intimate moment with Numair. The girls eyes moved down over Daine's body as if searching, assessing, judging her appearance.

"Never seen someone with that kind of curly hair before" the servant-girl replied, smiling all over her face.

The girl turned back and looked up at Numair while pushing her blond, short hair out-of-the-way so he could see the serious expression in her eyes, "just a piece of advice; buy her some of those hair-pins her majesty uses and" the girl paused while turning back to where Daine stood, "for Goddess sake – give the girl a pair of breeches and a shirt! She may look astonishing in a dress, but clearly she's uncomfortable in something that expensive".

Daine mouth dropped surprised at the boldness of the girl's words and looked down over her dress - it was an piece of expensive clothes, but so was the other things laying in the chest of drawers inside his bedroom, but nevertheless, the blond girl did have a point; she absolutely hated wearing a dress.

Numair only laughed "That tongue of yours Miri will eventually get yourself into trouble".

The girl, Miri, only smirked back up to the mage "Nah – if it can get me into troubles, then it can get me out of them as well". The blond girl took a step out into the corridor. Before she walked away she turned around and looked up at Numair again sending him a flirtatious smile. "It's nice to have you back Master Salmalin. Hope that you are going to take over the lessons – Duke Baird is so boring" the girl rolled her eyes, empathizing her words "he only talks about healing, but seriously one can only listen to 'how to clean a wound' so many times and I think that I speak for everyone here; we miss the stories about immortals and other strange magic".

"It will only be a few days" he replied back to the girl and Daine frowned. Was he a teacher of some kind? She knew that he held the position of chief mage of Tortall, but could someone like him also be a teacher - teaching was only something priests of Mithros or the Great Mother Goddess did. "Besides, there's a reason for learning about healing before you are sent of on a mission – the Queens riders should be able to take care of themselves and" he gave the girl a strict look, "not bring themselves into troubles".

Miri laughed "Speaking of which – why is there some strange rumors going around the castle that the King have posted guards near the Chamber of Ordeal? Everyone is talking about some incident happening in there that he wasn't particular fond of".

"Miri!" Numair exclaimed with warn in his voice giving the girl a firm scolding glance, "whatever his majesty are doing, it isn't of yours concern".

The girl shrugged, upholding her smile while her blue eyes glimpsed "It was worth a try" she admitted, before looking back to where Daine still stood very still and silent "hope you can speak, because I really want to hear why my gelding is acting strangely. Master Stefan says that it is because I'm the one acting unusually, but he's just as odd as my horse – sleeps in the hayloft and avoiding everyone..."

"Miri!" Numair interrupted the girl's voice for the third time "Behave or else I'm going to have a serious word with Sarge about you doing extra chores".

The girl became serious, but hope glowed from her eyes "You would do that?" she questioned, before continuing "could you please say to him that I need to do them when Duke Baird gives lectures?"

Taking hold of the handle of the door, Numair took a step forth while balancing the tray on his lower arm "Of you go" he told the girl firmly, blocking the view from Daine "and don't let me catch you sneaking away from any lessons or there will be consequences".

"I hope so" came the reply from outside the corridor as Numair closed the door and turned to where Daine still stood frozen to the floor.

"Sorry about that" he mumbled, smiling apologetically.

"She must be quite a mouth-full" she said softly, running her hands down over the fabric of the dress - thinking hard about the girl's choice of words.

Numair smiled. "She is and she's giving every teacher headaches along with some of the Queens riders". He took hold of the tray and came forth, the air was being filled with the scent of food as the soup inside a bowl splashed over the side.

Her stomach was growling loudly now and as he settled the tray on the one table in the chamber, she spoke softly "But she's right – I do appreciate this dress, I really do, but I rather that it was some breeches and a plain shirt. This," she held out the skirt, looking down skeptical "only is for someone who's noble-born and I'm non of that, besides it would be ruined by the time the day was over".

He paused looking at the posture she was standing in. Sighing loudly Numair nodded, agreeing with her "You are right; I'll tell Onua of what you need".

"Who?"

"She's the one who takes care of the Queens horses. She's a K'miri and she's the one who bought that dress, and one of my friends" Numair replied while handing over the bowl with soup.

Daine frowned, looking down into what she guessed was carrot soup "What is K'miri?"