I know it's a long time ago since I updated last, and I hope you will forgive me ... but here is the ninth chapter of Infinity. As you may also have noticed, I have removed "Euphoria" from the title. I did not think that it was appropriate for the story anymore. Please give lots of reviews :-)
Chapter 9 - Jealousy
With each step she ran, she came closer the door that led to freedom. The freedom she longed for. Before Felicia reached it, she was forced to stop. In front of her two people came walking. The tall dark man she recognized as Numair, and the woman who held on to his arm was his student, Daine. Felicia looked around. She had no place to hide, no place to move and no way to escape. Numair and his student had just come in through the door, she wanted to go through. She could hear in the young woman's laughter that Numair a few minutes earlier had said something funny. With no options, she was forced to remain in the place where she had stopped. Within seconds Felicia was forced too get as much control over herself before she made eye contact with Numair's young student. The eye contact got the young woman at Numair's arm to be silent. The cheerful laughter, there a few minutes before had echoed in the corridor, was gone. The silence did not last long, as Felicia heard Numair break the it.
"Good morning, Felicia. Are you already leaving breakfast...it will be an exciting day...are you still planning to see the university later today with us?"
Felicia did not know what to answer. Her needs to escape was still buried deep in every cell within her. She pulled herself together and sent Numair one of her most sweetest smile before she answered. "I was actually not very hungry today ..." She explained while she tried her best to ignore the young woman at Numair's side. Felicia had noticed how the blue-gray eyes, who had shoned amusement, now hide a light concealed disgust. Felicia straightened herself and took the little fan out from her small bag she always carried around. If she was to play the role, she had better get started ... and this involved a controlled flirt with Numair.
"Actually, I was going to change clothes ... this dress ..." Felicia let her other free hand slide down over her hips "is perhaps a little too hot for this day ... don't you agree Numair?" She noted smug, how her conscious movement with her hand got Numair's eyes to look at her body. Felicia smiled again. Not only had she caught his attention, and drew it on her beautiful body, she also had deliberately gotten his student to growl ... though no sound came over Daine's lips. Felicia continued "How hot do you think it's going to be today? I overheard some predict that this should be the warmest day ... "
She considered Numair thorough and felt sure that she now had his full attention.
"I ... think you'r certainly right, Felicia" Daine heard how Numair said it hesitantly. She threw a sharp glance up at her new lover and saw his eyes were fixed on a point below Felicia's collarbone. There, where the bulging breasts rose and fell with each breath Felicia was taking.
Daine remained silent, half interested in how far this red-haired woman in front of them would go with the obvious flirting and half because she knew that if she opened her mouth, not many nice words would get out of it.
Daine waited and finally saw how Felicia throw the last smiling gaze upon Numair and how Numair easily bowed to Felicia. When Daine was sure that Felicia had passed them, and they were again alone ... she pulled her arm away from him and continued alone toward the door of the great hall.
With angry steps she left a seemingly stunned and silent Numair, still standing in the same place as she had left him. Daine reached the door after 50 steps and only then, she heard how Numair had pulled himself together and had caught up with her. She felt his hand in a fleeting moment touching her shoulder, but she shook it furiously off. In her mind, she was again, the howling wolf, she had been a few days ago. This time, the frustration was only targeting one ... her former teacher.
Daine grumbled. She was not usually the type who was jealous and possessive, but this red-haired woman who had arrived with the delegation from Tusaine, made her way up in the red zone. Why? She wondered, while she in rage went over to the big table. The moment she got eye contact with Alanna, she lost her balance again. Daine heard how Numair came to her rescue.
"Magelet ... are you okay?" He asked as he helped her up.
She accepted the hand that was offered her, pulled her up. "I'm fine" she snarled furiously.
"What happened?" Asked Numair, worrying, while he offered his arm again, so she could take it.
Daine shook her head. She had not the slightest desire that Numair should woo her right now, especially when he could not keep his eyes to himself. "Nothing ... let me be, I can walk by myself" she hissed at him. She could clearly see that she wounded him with her behavior, but she could not quite escape the irritation of the red-haired woman. It was as if there was more than just old friendship between Numair and Felicia.
"Daine ... we need to talk ..." Began Numair, but he stopped when he saw Daine shake her head.
"Numair, there is nothing to talk about now ... you've clearly still has eyes for other pretty women ... I'm not in the mood to hear excuses" She rReplied short-tempered. Daine knew that she was legally abusive to him, but her own femininity suffered from the glances Numair had sent in Felicia's direction. And it was not something she readily could forgive him.
She let go of his hand and walked past him. Daine had obvious created a guilty feeling in Numair, but right now she did not care. Even wearing a dress she could not beat Felicia, and it hurt somewhere inside her. She reached the table and sat down between Onua and George. Daine ignored the questioning gaze, they sent to each other, however, there were no comments from them. Which suited Daine well.
Finally, wearing trousers and a blue shirt Daine was standing by the stables. She had been silent throughout breakfast and when Numair had come to wish her a good day, she had ignored him. She had left a sad, confused and longing man. She had, before she disappeared through the door, saw how Alanna had given Numair a comforting pat on the arm.
Now she stood and looked at the long line of horses that were driven by master Stefan and Onua. Work called and she had been looking forward to it. She had missed being among horses. She turned smiling when she heard small soft trilling flute coming toward her. Kitten, came running on all four legs and Daine knelt down to welcome her little foster child.
"Hello Kitten ... did you miss me?" Daine asked as she ran her hand caressing over the baby dragons head. A new series of whistles came from the dragon and Daine recognized some of them as being questions.
"I'm sorry, my little ... I would not have left you, but I couldn't stay" Daine explained, while she discovered that Tkaa walked upright with its tail hanging over one arm.
"Hello ... Tkaa" She greeted the basilisk, who had now reached her. "I assume that she has been with you?" She asked as she straightened up.
"Greetings, Daine" It came politely from Tkaa, he bowed.
Daine smiled. This immortals manners was very similar to Numair's. Daine shook her head. She was still half furious with her former teacher, but rage had subsided so much that she in this second realized that she owed him an apology.
She quickly became present when she discovered that the dragon stood and pulled her one leg. "Kitten, stop it ... I understand that you are happy to see me, but pulling my pants down around my knees ..." she scolded, but it was only half-heartedly. She let one hand search into the bag she always had stuck in the belt. From there, she fished a small stone and handed it down to the dragon. Kitten put in some sharp whistle and stone lit up in a mixture of gold and deep red.
Very happy with the little gift Kitten had received from Daine, it put in a race after the last horses. Daine smiled. Her little foster child had not been damaged by being cared for in a couple of days by Tkaa.
Daine turned to the basilisk and had to put her head back to look up at it. "Thank Tkaa ... I owe you a lot of fine stones, as an excuse for my disappearance the last few days."
Tkaa stood still with his tail wrapped over one arm. The long snout that shaped an elegant mouth, showed what Daine assumed was a smile. "You don't have to thank, Daine. It is my pleasure to look after our little wonder sometimes. She has shown me some very colorful stones the other day, not so far from here ... did you know that the kingdom have natural reserves of rhodolite? "Tkaa said with his human voice, speaking with a soft whisper.
Daine shook her head. "No ... what's that?" She asked as she started to walk towards the fold with the new horses, Stefan and Onua. Again the basilisk reminded her of Numair. The mage and the immortal had a lot in common, and their partnership had at times ended in some grisly experiments. Especially one of the experiment Numair enjoyed to attempt. He got himself to be turned into stone, and then blowing himself free again. After repeated attempts, the king had, however, declared that experiment prohibited by pure fear that one day it would go wrong and the Kingdom would lose their only black robe mage.
"Rhodolite is a stone that promotes the metaphysical processes ... for the first" Tkaa told quietly. The basilisk's voice had from the first day of had a calming effect on Daine and she relaxed instantly. She stood by the long logs that formed the structure of the fold. A black horse whinnied at Stefan and tried to bite him, but as Daine had suspected, Stefan responded just as instinctively as Daine would have done. The horsemaster spun around and grabbed the stallion on its muzzle. The man then took a deep breath and blew out. She recognized that kind of dominating behavior. Daine looked up at Tkaa ... the word, he had said, she had never heard it before.
"Meda ... what? Frankly Tkaa ... sometimes I think that you are the immortal version of Numair. You two must have been one and the same person in your past lives " she laughed as she bent down. Before her stood a wooden barrel and in it was assembled the first summer apples. Daine wondered for a moment if she should take a bite of the bright green apple she held in her hand, but stopped. These were so sour that she would get an overproduction of saliva.
"Thank you for the speculations" Replied Tkaa with a slight nod "But it would be many human generations ago, as I am more then several hunrede years old ... by the way, it is pronounced 'Meta'".
Daine turned the apple in her hand. Her mood had improved. Now she really regretted how she had treated Numair, as she had done. She had to try to give him an apology. But first work called. Stefan had called for her. She caught Tkaa's gaze. "I would really like to see these stones Kitten has found ... maybe we can see them together this afternoon?" Daine asked as she climbed over the fence.
"As you wish ... I'll find Kitten, I have a feeling that she is rooting herself into some trouble ... did you know that she is starting to blow smoke?" Tkaa asked while Daine again stood firmly on the ground. Now, on the other side of the fence.
"Seriously? Shouldn't it take many more years for her to start that? "Daine was wondering. What she knew, or rather, had been told by Numair ... she sighed. Her whole world seemed to revolve around one single man ... as if there were no other male throughout Tortal.
"She should, but she is here in the human kingdom, different rules apply ... hopefully there will be many years before she finds out that dragons are not spewing fire out of their mouths, but out of their claws" Tkaa told her with what looked like a shrug. The basilisk turned and pulled away from the fence.
The immortal just left Daine speechless. She was really happy that she had Tkaa to help with the dragon baby, but her little foster child had begun to develop skills beyond being able to open locked doors, and to get jewelry plated with spells to light. This was something new and something she had to discuss with Numair. Daine cursed loudly, again her teacher or former teacher was in her mind, every time there was some magical issues to be discussed.
Daine trudged over the hard ground and headed for the mare Stefan stood with. The mare had on arrival at the crease stumbled and was now limping. When Daine bent down against the hoof she caught a glimpse of something shimmering light purple ... the substance belonged to a dress, sitting on a red-haired slender and tall woman.