Lady Trina... and another

Who is she? you wonder, for she is a woman you have never seen before. Tall and slender, with hair the shade of shadows at dusk, adorned in shimmering gold, her softly swollen bosoms just barely uncovered... her deep and dark eyes regard you as a curiosity, as if you do not belong here in your own bedchamber.

"King of Iron," she says in greeting, "do you take the warnings of the spirits so lightly?"

"This is a dream," you say to her, realizing the truth of those words as you say them. "You are not real."

"In the here and now, I am as real as you," she returns, not quite smiling. "You may doubt me, King of Iron... but do you doubt the reality of she who stands beside me?"

There is no one there - but then, there is! From whence she came you could not say, but beside the strange spirit-woman stands Lady Trina, as you have never seen her before. Her face is painted with the colors that women use to enhance their beauty, her eyes dark and smoldering, her lips glowing a soft, luminescent pink... and she stares at you with open lust and desire.

"I am forbidden," Trina whispers, licking her full, plump lips softly to make them shine even more. "Are you so weak as to surrender to such temptation?"

"I am not weak," you insist, even as you feel your will begin to slip, the undeniable desire for this woman threatening to overwhelm.

"You cannot hide your cravings from me, King of Iron," the spirit-woman says. "I know the secrets of your heart, the longings you feel. The Maid of Steel calls to you."

"If you will not come to me, then I shall satisfy my needs with other women," Trina says, her words an echo of what the real woman said in life... and she and the spirit-woman drop to their knees, their breasts bared, their lips caressing each other, tongues reaching to touch in the center of their kiss.

The pressure in your loins swells near to bursting as the women make heated love in front of you, their bodies glowing in the candle-light, soft hands stroking smooth bodies, the delicate sighs of their pleasure filling the air.

Why do you hold yourself back? This is a dream, somehow you know it is only a dream... you could go and join the women in their lusty embrace without consequence! And yet, you feel that to do so would cross a line from which you could never return, that this is somehow more than just a dream, that the warnings of the spirits are real indeed.

"You want what you cannot have, King of Iron," the spirit-woman whispers. "The Maid of Steel can never be Queen. Only disaster and sorrow await you should you try to make it so."

"But you might be wrong!" you insist. "Even if you are real, the future cannot be known for certain. Even the spirits cannot say all that may come to pass!"

"Do you dare to take the chance?" Trina asks you. "Is the love of one woman worth a kingdom? Will you pursue this heart with your life in the balance, King of Iron?"

"If my answer is yes, what then?" you ask.

The women offer no answer, but merely embrace each other, staring into you.

"What then?" you repeat loudly. "WHAT THEN??"

"Xavier! Xavier, wake up!"

Your eyes snap open, and the image of Trina and the spirit-woman dissolve away like snow dropped into a boiling cauldron. Valerie's face appears above you, looking into your eyes with deep concern.

"Valerie! It is... nothing, merely a dream," you say to her as the rest of the room swims dimly into focus. The barest glow of approaching dawn illuminates the horizon outside your windows, and though the room is cool your body is drenched in sweat.

"Of course," she says, calming down. "Forgive me, my love... I have never heard you cry out so in your sleep, and I was worried. Perhaps I ought not have awakened you."

"No, it is good that you did," you say, reaching to the bedside table for a handkerchief, which you use to mop the beaded sweat from your forehead. Valerie gets up and soaks a linen in the basin by the looking-glass, and brings it back so that she can wash your back and chest.

"Your bedclothes are drenched, darling," she says. "Come to my bed, it is much too early to be rising."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," you say, wondering if you will be able to sleep again... but once you are settled into Valerie's bed with her head upon your shoulder and her arm across your chest, sleep comes more easily than you would have thought, and the remaining hours until dawn are untroubled by further visions.