Chapter 27
“You and I will remain the greatest of friends, Listra. This I do foresee. And you will be more powerful than Daveal can ever hope to be.”
“What will happen to her?” Listra watched the bathwater as it sank lower in the tub.
“That I do not know. I have never touched her. Quite frankly, I’m afraid of what I might see. Sometimes knowing the future can be extremely frightening.”
“Do you only know the future?”
“And the past.”
“Then if you touched her wrist, you could discover she had poisoned the lobster.”
“Only, like in Carissian’s case, if she were thinking of it.”
“Then you can see what he is thinking.”
Tashama smiled. “Certainly.”
“But the word has spread across the court that you cannot. I don’t know what it was you couldn’t see, but…”
“I asked what had happened to the lobster when the servants removed it. He said he was thinking of what had happened, and I let on I couldn’t tell. He’s been suspicious of my abilities all along. He cannot believe a human could have them.
“But my family has had these abilities for centuries, the direct result of the mixture of a sorcerer in the family tree many generations ago. It caused quite a scandal at the time. In later years, the offspring had these abilities that only sorcerers had. We were able to keep the otherwise all-powerful sorcerers in their place when need be. My child will have some or all the same abilities someday.”
“But then what was Carissian thinking?”
Tashama shook her head. “He had the pigs’ slop pens searched for remnants of the lobster, but the pigs had already eaten everything from their troughs.
Then, he had the pigs watched for signs of the poison in their systems. He felt they would die from the drug had they eaten it.
The pigs are all still under quarantine.
You might have noticed, no sausages for breakfast.”
“Ah, the food is His Highness’s favorite. I wondered why we hadn't been eating such a thing lately. But what did happen to the lobster?”
The last of the flowers disappeared down the drain, and Tashama said, “We will rinse out the bath first, then fill the tub. But no more flowers.”
“I will be more cautious the next time.”
“She will not try the same thing twice.”
Later that night, as the full moon cast a soft glow in the black velvet sky, Tashama strolled with Aleron through the gardens. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to swim. Tashama sighed deeply. “I’m being blamed for your not selecting a wife, Your Highness.”
“Nonsense.” Aleron walked her to the middle of the bridge. They paused to look over the railing, and he smiled as the water sprites dashed out of the water, then fluttered about their heads. “They told me your secret, Tashama,” he said so softly, she had to turn to hear his words.
“What is that?” She motioned for the sprites to go away.
He smiled at Tashama, then lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “You said I kissed you…”
“Carissian said that.”
“But he saw what you envisioned, and yet I have not kissed you once since you spoke to me of this.”
“You’ve had more important business to attend to than kiss a royal personage in the typical form of a familial greeting.”
“That is not the kind of kiss I shared with you.”
“How do you know?”
“You blush quite easily, Tashama. I know this is not the kind of kiss we share.”
“Tell him, Tashama.” A sprite fluttered next to Tashama’s head again.
“Go away!” Tashama said.
“What do they say, Tashama? Do they tell you to say how you love me?”
Tashama stared at Aleron as his eyes searched hers. She felt her cheeks grow hot. He smiled, and she looked back at the water. “You wanted to swim,” Tashama responded.
“Tell him, Tashama,” the sprite repeated.
“She loves you,” another said as she fluttered about Aleron’s ear this time. “She does. Tashama, Tashama, Tashama, tell him it is so.”
“They tell me you love me.” He nodded, then squeezed her hand.
She took a deep breath. “The night is already late, sire. If you desire to swim, then we should go now before it gets too much later.”
“All right.” He pulled her from the bridge and headed toward the waterfall. As he stood at the edge of the water, he pulled off his tunic to her surprise.
“What are you doing?” Tashama asked.
“You said you desired to touch my bare chest while you floated me on your hands. Since you told me this, I have desired nothing less.” He slipped off his shoes as she stared at his breeches. A smile touched his lips as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.
After crawling into the water, he clung to the edge of the twenty-foot-deep pool. “Are you not coming? I do not believe I will be able to swim without your help, and I cannot sleep another night without feeling your slender fingers on my bare chest.”
Tashama slipped into the water. “Hold onto the edge of the pool, and I will pull your legs out straight.”
He did as he was told.
“Now kick the water with your feet and feel the water circulating about them.”
Aleron experimented.
“Now push yourself a little way away, paddle with your hands and kick with your feet, then swim back to the edge and hang on.”
He tried this. “But you have not shown me how to float on your hands.”
“We needed to be in the shallower water for me to do that with you, and besides, you already know too many of the basics.”
“No, you must show me this.”
“The water is too deep.”
“I insist.”
“All right.”
Aleron reached his hand out to Tashama, and she took his hand, then pulled him away from the wall.
She attempted to place her hands under the prince’s chest, but her own head submerged.
The water sprites lifted her up. She touched the prince’s chest. “Now kick your feet as if you wanted to go somewhere and pull the water behind you with your hands as you go.”
After paddling for a time, she said, “Now I will let you go, and you must swim toward me. If you feel afraid, I’ll come to your aid, or the water sprites will.”
Aleron smiled. “You will.” She moved her hands away from him, scooted away, and he paddled toward her like a new puppy just finding he could swim.
“Good. Now, you’ll roll over onto your back, and I’ll show you how you can float should you weary. You can stay like this and move your arms and legs and get to where you’re going in this way too.”
Tashama placed her hands on his back while she watched Aleron straighten his posture. “Yes, that’s correct. You can even bend your legs at the knee and float like that. As long as there are no waves, you can rest for a long time like this just by moving your hands and feet periodically.”
“Will you kiss me, Tashama?”
“I’m trying to teach you to swim, sire.”
“If I try to move from this position, I will surely sink and drown. Will you not lean over me and kiss me just once?”
“Kiss him, Tashama!” A sprite darted from the water.
“Kiss him, kiss him,” several chanted as they danced upon the water.
“They wish you to also.” He touched her cheek. “I cannot select a wife, Tashama, from the fourteen other women listed, as I have fallen in love with you. Kiss me, Tashama, and show me you love me too.”
“I cannot.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
He reached up to wipe away the tear but sank below the surface of the water.
She pulled him from the water, and he touched his lips to hers and kissed her with determination.
She kissed him back as their spritely audience grew quiet.
All the while, the princess and Aleron paddled their feet to keep afloat in rhythmic motion while their hands touched each other’s faces as if they wanted to memorize every part before they were torn away from each other again.
Aleron wrapped his arms around her in an embrace as tight as any merman would have on his mermaid as Tashama gave into the feeling of his water-moistened lips against hers. His desire for her grew as he held her close while the nymphs giggled as they floated in her golden strands.
“He loves you too, Tashama,” they chanted. “A royal baby water sprite you will make.”
“No,” Tashama said to the nymphs, and Aleron looked at her in surprise. “I weary. We must go in.”
“All right, but I wish another lesson tomorrow night at the same time,” he said as she helped him to return to the edge of the pool. “I wish to swim underneath the water as you do.” After Aleron hurried to climb out of the pool, he reached for Tashama and lifted her out too.
Her gowns clung to her shapely figure. She studied his breeches as his desire for her hadn’t begun to wane. He chuckled, then grabbed up his tunic and hurried her back to her chambers. When they arrived at her room, he said, “Tomorrow, I will see you at breakfast.”
“Tomorrow, sire.” But not if I can help it.
The next morning, Listra hurried to get out of bed. “We’re late to breakfast.” She slipped her robe to her feet.
Tashama sat in bed and stared out the window as she tried to consider what had gone wrong. Were her visions of being aided to escape from Banff incorrect?
Listra pulled her gown over her head. “Hurry, Tashama. We must attend the feast.”
Tashama dragged herself from the bed, then selected a gown from the peg on the wall. As she pulled the green velvet dress over her head, Listra attached veils to her own hair. “That’s the gown His Highness likes best on you of all the rest.”
“He told me he loved me.” Tashama fastened a gold chain at her waist. Listra grew quiet as her dark brown eyes were as round as Aleron’s crown. “But of course I’m sure he tells all of the ladies such a thing.”
“No, my lady. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“How would you know what he says to the other ladies when he’s alone with them?”
“He’s always chaperoned. Though with you, it’s not always been so. And the ladies do gossip, Tashama. Had he told any of them such a thing, the news would have spread like the jasmalange jelly the courtiers coat their bread with at breakfast.”
“He knows it can never be between us, so he says it in mockery.”
Listra shook her head. “When he said this, did he say anything else?”
“He would not choose one of the other ladies to wed, but I know this is not true.”
“You have seen who he has chosen then?”
“No.” Tashama slipped her shoes on. “I just know Carissian, as his advisor, will ensure Aleron does what is expected of him.”
The two women walked into the hall, and the guards hurried to escort them to the great hall. When the ladies entered the room, the first course of the meal had already been served.
The room grew quiet except for a fork poking into a grape as it scraped on the pewter plate.
Tashama and Listra hurried to take their seats, all the while watching the expression on Daveal’s face.
“Well, she’s taking it very well; if she was disappointed that we’re here at all, I cannot see by her emotionless face what she’s thinking. ”
Carissian studied Tashama, and Listra said to her, “Carissian seems to be concerned about you this morning.”
Tashama buttered a slice of bread. “Yes, I let it slip I was thinking of how we had to drain our bath of poisonous orchids last night.”
Listra nodded. “He is speaking to a servant. Now the servant is leaving the great hall.”
“Poor fellow. He’ll be searching the sewers for purple orchids, no doubt.”
“Princess Tashama.” Carissian appeared behind her. “If you suspected someone wished to poison you again, why did you not let me in on this little secret before now?”
“You would have believed me just as much concerning the orchids as you did of the lobster.”
“And now you’ve disposed of the evidence?”
“I got rid of the menace to Listra’s and my health, don’t you mean?”
Aleron watched her as Daveal studied her own plate of food. Tashama cleared her throat. “Does Aleron know of this?”
“I will tell him as soon as I get some answers from you.”
“I wanted to sleep in peace last night. Had the one who wanted us dead discovered we were alive and well, she may have tried a further attempt that night. I cannot keep up my guard always after all.”
“She?”
Tashama smiled. “Or he, of course. How can I know who it is?”
“You suspect Daveal.”
“She is the top of the prince’s list, so she is at the top of mine.”
Carissian shook his head, then reappeared next to Aleron. Aleron’s eyes widened, then he looked back at Carissian, who nodded. Aleron motioned to a servant, then, after speaking to him, the servant hurried to join Tashama.
“My lady, I’m Aleron’s chief food tester. He has asked that I taste your foods throughout the rest of the meal to ensure they’re of the freshest quality.”
“Not poisoned, you mean.” Tashama took a sip of her wine. “She won’t try to poison us here.”
“Aleron requires me to do my duty.”
“Certainly.” Tashama slipped a grape into her mouth and then rolled the fruit over her tongue. She bit into it as Aleron spoke to Carissian further, never taking his eyes off her.
For the rest of the meal, Tashama and Listra allowed the food tester to taste the food from each of their dishes.
When they finished their breakfast, Carissian approached the women.
“Princess Listra, His Highness wishes you to accompany your mutual cousin, Fatima, to Tyrone as she weds the prince of that region within the month.”
“I cannot.” Listra reached for Tashama’s hand. “I want to stay with Princess Tashama.”
“No.” Carissian helped Listra from her seat. He motioned for two guards to take her away. “You’ll be safer where you will go, Princess. His Highness wishes no harm to come to you.”
“No!” Listra tried to pull her arms away from the royal guards. “Tashama!”
Tashama stood, then walked over to Listra and gave her a warm embrace. “We will be together again and soon, do not fear,” she whispered in her ear. “Peace be with you, dear Listra.”
“No,” Listra sobbed as Carissian motioned for them to take her away.
Tashama folded her arms as she waited for Carissian to speak to her. He took her arm and led her out of the room. Seeing what plans he had for her, she turned to look at him with surprise. He smiled. “You do know what I’m thinking after all.”
She remained quiet as she contemplated the knowledge.
They walked for half an hour through the maze of corridors, then finally arrived at his quarters.
He waved his fingers in an unusual pattern, making his door open, then he pulled her into his room.
The door resealed, and he said, “All right, now we can speak freely here.”
“I never thought you would betray your king.”
“I never realized how much he’d fallen in love with you, Princess. It just cannot be.”
“May I?” Tashama motioned to one of his velvet chairs.
“Certainly.”
Tashama sat, then stared up at the sorcerer. “You realize if he discovers this traitorous move, you’ll be banished from Maldovia?”