Daine looked up at the sound of a knock on her door. "Come in!" she called.
Numair came into the room, bearing a trey of food and a stack of books. He set his burdens down on the bedside table and sat himself on the bed next to Daine's thigh. He then gently took the book she had been reading out of her hands, putting a finger in it so she would not lose her page. He knew how irritating that could be.
"I have brought you some refreshments," he said, grinning, "and a lesson. If you are not too tired, that is. If you are, we can postpone it until you feel better."
"I'm fine, Numair. I've been fine for almost three days now. I'm up for a lesson, even if you don't think so," she said reproachfully. "In fact, I'm almost bored to tears. So please give me a lesson. Now." Truth be told, Daine needed someone to talk to more than anything. She had no windows, and her door was closed all day, so the cats and dogs of the palace couldn't get in to lay with her. Alanna, Onua, Buri, and Numair came when they could, but Alanna had been sent to some fief or another to fight stormwings, Onua had to work with the ponies all day, and Numair…
"What are you thinking of, magelet?" he asked, watching her face. "I think I must be rubbing off on you; you just went off and stared into space." He thought for a moment, then sighed. "Maybe you aren't well enough for a lesson. I could come back tomorrow-"
"No!" Diane reached and grabbed his hand before she stopped to think about it, giving the cut on her leg a painful wrench. Numair watched as she grimaced in pain and sat back against her pillows, breathing hard. She still held his hand and squeezed it painfully.
"Magelet, are you alright?" he asked, scooting closer to her and cupping her face with his large hand. She nodded, and let his hand go almost reluctantly. He looked into her eyes for another moment, then sat up and began their lesson like nothing had happened.
cCCcCCcCCcCCcCCc
Numair stayed with her for the rest of the day, teaching her, and, when they were done with that, talking to her. Eventually, though, he had to leave for dinner. She watched him go wistfully, wishing he didn't have to eat.
She was reading her book again when she heard a noise coming from next door. It sounded like something heavy was falling off of a table, and she wondered what Numair was up to. A few moments later she heard a distinctly female groan coming from the direction of his room. Diane felt herself blush and tried not to listen, but they were loud. Unfortunately, she knew what they were doing and found she was more bothered by it than she would be hearing anyone else in the room next to hers. After half an hour of trying to ignore them, she decided she was tired and settled in to try to sleep.
cCCcCCcCCcCCcCCc
She slept late the next morning, and was awoken by a healer coming in to check her leg. When he was done, he told her that she should be able to get up and walk a little on her own, but not to push it too much.
Numair came in later, looking very pleased with himself, and sat down next to her on the bed. "Good morning, magelet. How are you doing?"
Daine found she couldn't look at her teacher. She knew he had a reputation for taking court ladies to bed, but she had never experienced it so close at hand.
"Daine?" he said, taking her hand and dipping his head in an attempt to see her face. "What's the matter? You haven't been this shy since we first met."
"Nothing," she said quickly. The only thing worse than hearing him in his room with one of his…friends was to have to admit that she had and that she was bothered by it.
"Daine, why won't you tell me? I thought we were past this." He sounded so sad, just like when she had been faking her lessons for fear of losing herself. She hated disappointing him, but she was not going to say a word about something like this.
"I'm just tired," she replied. "The healer came up here and checked my leg. He made me a little sleepy so it wouldn't hurt." It wasn't a lie, she told herself; she had just failed to mention that the healer had woken her back up when he was done. She looked up at Numair, to find an odd expression on his face. He almost looked angry, and she couldn't imagine why.
"Was it the same healer that checked you before?" he asked.
"Yes, Duke Baird put him in charge of me once he was sure I wasn't going to die."
"All right, magelet, you can go to sleep. Do you want me to stay or leave?"
It was a strange question. "I'll be asleep, so I don't think I'll know either way." He started to get up. "But I wish you would stay, even though it'll be fair boring, watching me sleep."
"I'll stay, Daine. I have nothing else to do," he chuckled.
She was just drifting into a cloudy dream when she heard Numair get up and go to the door. He opened it and let someone in. Diane heard the swish of skirts and a giggle, quickly shushed by Numair.
"She's sleeping!"
"So this is your student," said a rather giggly female voice. "You talk so much about her. I wondered if I would ever get to see her. There isn't much to look at, is there?"
"Yes, she is smaller than you would think, isn't she." Daine wasn't sure if he was ignoring the other meaning in her voice or if he hadn't heard it in the first place.
"Why is she up here?" the woman asked. "Doesn't she usually sleep down in the stables with the animals?" The way she said it made it sound as if she were sneaking into the men's barracks and crawling into bed with them. Why was letting her friends in to keep her warm so inappropriate? The most they ever did was leave a little fur on her night shirt.
"She was recently involved in an accident with the royal huntsmen. She was in deer shape and was understandably mistaken for a doe and brought down with a wound to the leg. Her rooms were too far for the healers to come if the wound reopened, and so they put her up here where we could keep an eye on her," explained Numair.
"Why don't you keep an eye on me instead?" the lady said, and Daine heard what could only be kissing. This went on for a while, and she eventually fell asleep.
Daine woke up a little while later and rolled over, opening her eyes. She wished she hadn't. Numair was sitting in the chair with the lady in his lap, happily nuzzling her neck. Daine choked back a gasp and turned over as quickly as she could, not caring if he saw. She heard a rustle, then a yelp of surprise.
"She's awake! You have to leave," Numair whispered fiercely.
"I don't want to leave, I'm sure she won't mind," came the lady's voice, short of breath.
"She will mind!" She could tell Numair was getting irritated. "You're not supposed to be here! Go!"
After a pause, she said, "If I leave now, you won't see me again; surely I am more important than your student."
"Out. Now. I never should have brought you here in the first place," Numair growled. She heard the woman stalk out of the room and Numair turn around. He sat on the bed beside her, though not as close as he usually would have.
"Daine, I apologize. I had no intention of that sort of thing happening. Had I been aware of the situation I would not have brought her here." His voice was soft and slightly pleading, and she could imagine the look on his face, but she couldn't find it in her to forgive him. Not yet. She stayed silent.
"In fact, magelet, I only brought her here because she expressed an interest in you. We were talking of your powers and she asked how you were doing. I suggested a visit on the supposition that you were awake. We came in and found you asleep. Things just went downhill from there." The last sentence was said in a self-conscious murmur, Numair seeing that he was gaining no ground at all with his explanation. He sighed.
"I guess I will see you when I bring you dinner, Daine." He patted her shoulder, and she felt him rise. He stood there for a moment, watching her, then turned and walked dejectedly out of the room. She could tell all this by the sound of his footsteps on the floor; she hadn't turned around at all since she had woken up. It was bad enough that she had to hear them, but now she had to see them too? It hurt her that Numair would do things like that; he was too good to be frolicking around with women that did that sort of thing.
Daine tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn't relax at all. She tried talking to the animals, but she ended up getting snappish with them and making them nervous. In the end, she decided to read her book, because at least then she could concentrate on concentrating rather than on what had happened.
She had finished a page and a half by dinnertime, and she was about to give up completely when a knock sounded on her door. She tensed. It was probably Numair with dinner, but she didn't want to see him yet. If it was him, she would most likely explode at him, and that was not a good thing.
"Come in," she called. To her relief, it was Onua, with supper.
"I decided to bring you dinner since you and Numair seem to be in an argument. I was hoping you would tell me something about it, since he won't talk to anyone."
"If he won't say anything, then how do you know I'm mad at him?" Daine asked.
"Oh, so it is true! He's been walking around like a ghost. It reminded me of the time when you were faking your lessons because you thought you were going to go mad, and were lying to him. This time it was much worse, of course, but you've known each other longer and have gotten closer. Also, When I went up to ask him if you were having problems, he flinched violently and walked away. I think he went to his rooms, nobody has seen him since."
Daine sighed and looked at the whorl of sheets in her lap. "It all started last night an hour or so after he brought me my dinner…" Diane told the whole story to Onua, sparing no details, and by the end of her tale she was sobbing into Onua's shoulder.
"I don't know why I'm being such a –sniff- baby, it's no business of mine who he takes to his rooms and… and…" she broke off to let a few more tears fall. "It just bothers me that he does things like that. I don't know why…" Onua held her until she had calmed down, and then let her go so she could eat. She had her suspicions about why Daine was so bothered by the fact that Numair took women to his bed, but she wasn't going to say anything.
cCCcCCcCCcCCcCCc
Meanwhile, Numair was in his rooms, on the bed, a speaking spell to Alanna in his open palm. "She was so upset! I didn't think that Asta would act in such an appalling fashion! Shewas so sweet at dinner last night, and ,well…"
"Good in bed?" Alanna asked. Seeing his blush, she added, "You have no need to spare my innocence Numair, I am a married woman."
"I know, but that is a very personal matter, and-"
"Not when it's something like this, Numair," Alanna interrupted. "I think you should apologize, at least. Daine is probably hurting right now. You've betrayed her trust."
"I am aware of that, Alanna. She probably puts me in with the men who courted her mother." Alanna opened her mouth to protest, but Numair interrupted "You're right, Alanna, I have betrayed her. What I have done is completely unacceptable and I should go apologize right away." He took a deep breath. "But I won't, because I can't bear to see the look on her face when I walk into the room. She'll hate me now." He leaned over and put his elbows on his knees, resting his face in one of his hands. "What am I going to do?"
Look, I know it's been a long time. I have a very good excuse, which you can find on my profile. However, I have returned, and you can expect semi-regular updates now. You can tell me how happy that makes you in a review:)