Chapter Two

In the Forest

The forest they rode through was ancient, and the sun barely reached the earth, the tiniest bits of it dappling their horse. Draco rubbed Hades' neck briefly as the horse seemed nervous in the deep woods. He ran his hand over his sword belt making certain that the hilt was released from its safety in case they were attacked. He knew his Court Sorceress could handle nearly anything with her magic, but still Draco preferred to be prepared with his blade.

"My prince," the sorceress was saying, "You have to learn to control your magic and that takes practice and concentration. It is why your father has sent us on this quest, so that you might practise your spellcraft with no distractions."

Draco pulled on his horse's reins and turned to stare at Hermione, "If my father wanted me to practise without distraction, why do we travel to Belar Berdea to meet the royal family and settle the marriage contract for their youngest daughter who I have never met and have less than no desire to marry?"

Hermione had the decency to look embarrassed and turn her face. Draco remembered her face the night before at their campsite, flushed with passion as he filled her and she cried his name into the night with only the stars as witnesses. She bit her lip in the way that made him want to pull her off the horse she rode and drive into her on the mossy forest floor. Perhaps if she was full and pregnant with his child by the time they reached Belar Berdea then the king would be so insulted that the arranged marriage would be off. He had nearly four moon cycles before they arrived so that was plenty of time if he applied himself properly.

"My prince must marry an appropriate bride for he is the heir to our kingdom," Hermione said with a false confidence that Draco could see right through.

He tossed his long blonde hair in annoyance, "Stop quoting my father, Hermione, it's bad enough when I have to listen to it from his kingly lips."

"You shouldn't speak to me so familiarly," she said.

"We are literally in the middle of a forest, a fortnight's ride from my father's palace and six days from the last village," Draco waved his arms at her in frustration. And then he began yelling at the top of his lungs, "I am madly in love with the sorceress Hermione of the Grange, but she will not have me! I would give my kingdom up for her in the space of a heartbeat if she would but have me!"

His yelling sent the crows in the trees above them flying upward and all Hermione did was laugh at him, "You are a fool."

"I may be a fool, but I am not afraid to follow my heart," Draco said, sullenly.

"You are spoiled, my prince, and I am the first thing you have ever wanted that you can not have. It is an infatuation and by the time we reach Belar Berdea you will be over it." Hermione pulled her hood over her head to hide her face from him.

They would have to see about that, Draco thought as he pushed his horse to a gallop before coming into a huge clearing. Ahead in amongst the massive old growth trees stood a huge stone tower, the magical wards shimmering around it like a rainbow.

Draco pulled his horse to a stop, "What in the name of all the gods of men is that?"