Chapter 15
Aleron set his goblet on the floor, then moved closer to her. As he lay on his back, he placed his arms behind his head and stared up at the mural. He smiled as she scooted closer to him, her shoulder touching his.
“If you look carefully, you’ll see a mermaid catching a lobster near the rocks under the surface of the foam just to the right of that outcropping of pink coral.” He pointed to the location.
“Where? Oh, yes, and a merman nearby who’s watching her. Do you think he’ll snatch it away from her?”
Aleron laughed. “Why would he do such a thing?” His hand groped around the pillows until he held the end of her braid.
“It looks as though he cannot decide which he would rather have—the mermaid or the lobster.”
“And the mermaid?” He untied the ribbon from her hair.
“Why, she has chosen the lobster, of course.” Aleron unraveled her braid. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing your hair wound so tightly gives me a headache.”
“My hair gets in the way when it’s undone.” She wriggled to get comfortable on the pillows. “Why have you dismissed the servants?”
“They talk.”
“Will they not talk concerning you having dismissed them?”
“The stories are greater this way.” He smiled as she frowned at him. “You have said I’m full of myself. What does this mean?”
She shook her head. Aleron touched his fingertips to her cheek.
“Your skin is as soft as the newborn peach in springtime.” He rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. “While mine has a fine stubble, always by late evening.”
She touched his face and smiled. “It tickles.”
He kissed her hand, then leaned over her. Her heart beat beneath his chest, and he smiled as she closed her eyes and puckered her lips slightly in anticipation of his kiss.
“Sire!” Carissian said, before Aleron could touch his lips to Tashama’s.
“Carissian!” Aleron exclaimed as he sat upright.
“May I have a word with you, Your Highness, alone?”
“No.”
“Sire.”
“This is not a good time, Carissian.” Aleron jumped to his feet. Grabbing his sorcerer’s arm, he yanked him into his bedchambers.
“What are you thinking, sire? You cannot get tangled up with the Karthlander princess.”
“I only wish a kiss from her lips, Carissian.”
“One thing leads to another. You must send her back to her room.”
Aleron’s face turned dark. “You forget your place, Carissian. You advise me, you do not make demands of me.”
“Forgive me, Your Highness.” Carissian bowed deeply.
“I’m only concerned that the woman has truly bewitched you.
The word throughout the palace is how several wish the lady would be theirs, and now the gossip is that the prince has fallen in love with the prisoner.
Sire, consider this. She’s the ruler of the realm that has warred with us for years. She is the enemy.”
“She’s the ruler of naught, Carissian. She’s in exile, remember?”
“Exile is it now? What if Loran wants her back? Are we to refuse to send her to him if he agrees to the hefty ransom we’ve asked for?”
“He will kill her, of that I’m sure.”
“What difference does this make to you? She cannot be your wife.”
The prince stared at his advisor, then, as his brow knitted tightly, he scowled, “What’s the matter with you? I have no intention of marrying such a creature. She intrigues me, nothing more. Still, I wouldn’t wish to sacrifice her for some paltry sum of money.”
“The sum is substantial.”
The prince waved his hand at his advisor for his silence, then walked back into the room. He considered Tashama as she slept soundly now. He shook his head. “You were to report concerning activities on the battle front, not come barging in here to give me grief.”
“General Karam has taken Chrisholm Island. Word is he’ll stop at nothing to free the princess from Banff.”
The prince sat at his desk. “She truly is an inspiration to her men. But if General Karam serves Loran…”
Carissian shook his head. “Apparently, his allegiance is to the princess, once he learned she lived.”
“Then their forces are splitting over the woman.” The prince smiled. “Is this not a good thing?”
“Possibly.”
“Then if we keep her here, the troops loyal to the princess’s family will turn on Loran’s troops if they try to take her?”
“But we still have her, sire. They will band together nevertheless to fight us—perhaps with a divided cause—but with the same number of forces.”
The prince rubbed his chin. “Then we must somehow provoke General Karam’s forces to fight Loran instead. Once both sides weaken, we can take the whole region over.” He turned to observe Tashama. “You will deliver your people to me, Princess. You have been sent to me by the gods.”
“You must…,” Carissian said, then changed his wording, “wouldn’t it be more prudent to return the princess to her chambers tonight, sire?”
The prince stood up from his desk, then walked back into his bedchambers. He pulled a blanket from his bed, then walked back into the room where Tashama slept. After covering her with the blanket, he stood up straight. “I’ll see you in the morning, Carissian.”
Before the sunlight was even streaming into the prince’s bedchambers, a lantern light shone into Tashama’s eyes as she blinked them in annoyance. The healer crouched near her feet, and she covered her head with a pillow. “I’m removing your bandages, my lady.” He unwrapped her left foot.
“Couldn’t you do it later?” she mumbled under the satin pillow.
“Is she as obstinate as usual?” Aleron leaned down to get a look at the sole of her foot.
She pulled the pillow from her face and frowned. “I should’ve known you would be the reason for this vexation. Do you not know my sleep is not to be disturbed unless I want it?” She covered her face with the pillow again.
“What do you think?”
The healer touched her skin. “How does it feel, my lady?”
“It tingles like my foot has gone to sleep.”
“Good, then you should be able to walk on them without too much discomfort. By tomorrow, they’ll feel almost as good as new.”
“Good.” She rolled onto her stomach.
The healer reached down to unwrap her right foot. He touched the wounds. “Your injuries were less severe on this foot, my lady.” When she said nothing in response, the healer said, “My lady?”
“Go away,” she said under her breath.
“It’s time for your swim,” Aleron said.
She shook her head, and the pillow wiggled with the movement.
“Now, Tashama. I want to see you swim.”
“Later.”
“You cannot swim.”
“You are right. Leave me be. I was dreaming about a handsome prince who swept me off my feet and had taken me to a lovely restaurant in Dallas…”
“My sorcerer says this is not so.”
She pulled the pillow from her head and rolled onto her side. “Is everyone in here?”
“Only those who count. I want to see how your feet feel when you walk.”
“Later.”
“Now. Do I need to have my guards help you to stand?”
She clasped her arms together. “Can you not sleep, Your Highness, as you desire to see me so?”
“See you swim, you mean.” Aleron motioned to his guards.
They helped Tashama to stand, and she teetered on her tiptoes.
“Do they still hurt?” Aleron took her arm and waved for his guards to step away.
“I’m afraid to touch them to the floor.”
Aleron smiled. “Why do you not tell me what bothers you instead of behaving as though you intend to undermine my authority?”
“I wanted to sleep longer. My dreams were disturbed last night.”
“By?” Carissian asked.
Aleron said to the healer, “Is there a risk that her feet are still too tender to walk on?”
“A dream,” Tashama said in reply to Carissian.
“Of course, but we won’t know unless the princess takes her first step,” the healer said to Aleron.
“A dream.” Carissian’s gaze caught Aleron’s.
“I will help you.” Aleron encouraged her to take a step with him. She walked on the tips of her toes, and he smiled. “You cannot walk like that forever.”
“Certainly, I can. It feels very comfortable up here.”
“All right, then. Perhaps after you show me you can swim, you can walk.”
“Can you tell me about this dream ?” Carissian asked.
She shook her head. “I cannot remember what it was about. Just that it woke me last night and I couldn’t get back to sleep for a while.”
Aleron led Tashama to his bath with a quickened step.
“Are we in a hurry, sire?” she asked.
He glared at Carissian. “Quit reading my mind.”
They entered Aleron’s bedchambers as servants lit the sconces on the walls. The room was filled with a soft light shimmering off the marble bath.
Tashama stared at the onyx marble with white streaks swirling onto the tile as it covered the pool. Candles floating at intervals in the still water cast faint light on the sparkling surface. She turned her face up to Aleron. “I may drown because I’m not yet awake.”
“I will rescue you if you fall asleep.”
“What will Devil think of your making me swim in your bath like this?”
“Daveal? What I do is none of her concern, nor anyone else’s for that matter.”
They reached the edge of the bath, and Tashama raised her arms above her head. He frowned. “What are you doing, Tashama?”
“I need to have the sheer overdress removed. Do you want me to drown in your pool because of the weight of my wet gowns?”
“You wore them in the lake.”
“In desperation.”
Carissian shrugged as the healer and his guards waited in breathless anticipation, to Tashama’s amusement.
“If you insist.” Aleron struggled to slip the sheer fabric over her arms. She continued to stretch her arms in the air. Aleron stared at her. “You cannot be serious.”
“If I’m to take a bath, I always remove my clothes.”
“You’re not to take a bath, just swim for me.”
“Very well.” The tips of his ears had reddened slightly. Good, she had embarrassed him for a change, instead of him doing so to her. She slipped to sit down at the edge of the pool, then poked her feet into the water and took a deep breath.
“Are they all right?” the healer asked.
“They feel hot, but I’m sure they’ll be all right, thank you, healer.” She slid into the pool and touched her toes to the slippery floor. Six men watched her. “Do we have to have such an audience?”
Aleron waved to his guards to leave the room. When they had left his chamber, Tashama waved her hand at the healer. “And your healer?”
“He’ll stay in case your feet hurt.”
“And your sorcerer?”
Aleron shook his head. “Swim.”
“Really, it would be better for me to swim in the lake. It’s not deep enough here.”
“Swim.”
“All right.” Tashama pushed forward with her toes, then floated on the surface of the bathwater for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she made a shallow dive underneath the water and swam like a mermaid boxed into a narrow channel.
Her golden hair flowed around her like the delicate tentacles of a jellyfish. “She’s swimming,” Aleron whispered.
Carissian shook his head as he stared into the pool. “I wouldn’t have truly believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
“Is she part mermaid, do you think?”
“No, the maids said she had all of the features of a human when they helped her with her bath.”
“But how can she swim?”
Tashama surfaced at the other end of the bath. “Have you seen enough?”
“No, let me see you do it again.”
“Oh, honestly. If you’ll be nice, I can teach you to swim, too.”
“Mortals cannot swim.” Aleron folded his arms across his chest. She could truly swim. He couldn’t believe his eyes. And Listra had informed him Tashama knew the language of the water nymphs. What other powers did she possess?
“Right.” Tashama slipped beneath the surface of the water and swam to the other end of the long bath.
Bubbles forming around a built-in seat pulled her like a magnet.
She scooted into the marble chair and leaned against the flow of churning water.
“Now what?” She leaned her head against the pillow and closed her eyes.
Aleron studied her gowns as the wet fabric accentuated her curves, then, as Carissian cleared his throat to get his attention, he turned to him. “What?”
“The lady has swum for you, sire. Do you not think it prudent to allow her to return to her chambers to change into dry gowns?”
Aleron motioned for his healer to leave. The man gathered his bandages and basket of salves and hurried out of the room. Aleron considered Tashama further. “Have her maids dress her here. It would not do for her to drip water all the way back to her chambers.”
“And you, sire?”
“Me what?”
“Surely you have other business to attend to.”
“I’ll see you momentarily, Tashama, to see how you fare with walking once you’ve changed.”
Aleron grabbed the sorcerer’s arm and led him out of his bedchambers. “You can really be quite annoying at times, Carissian.”
“Yes, sire.”
Tashama slumped deeper into the bubbles. Aleron took a deep breath, then pulled Carissian from the room.
Later that afternoon Tashama sat in her chair by the window while Listra embroidered the mermaid’s golden strands of hair on Aleron’s tapestry pillow. “Is it nearly finished?”
“Yes, it is—and not too soon either.”
Tashama saw the young thief in his shabby, blueberry-colored tunic crouching by a dark, green-leafed shrub dotted in blue flowers the same shade as his garments.
He nodded to her as she caught his eye. After placing his hands together, he rested his head on them as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and shrugged.
Tashama indicated that she had slept, using the same gesture of her hands, and then pointed toward the other wing of the castle. He nodded. He displayed a slip of blue paper to her, then stuck it between the delicate leaves of the shrub. She bowed her head.
He dove out of sight, and a guard shouted, “Stop that boy!”