Quiet conversations

"Is it true that you cheated at the contest to become King?" Katyana asks.

"I think 'cheating' would be too strong a word," you reply. "The selection was made by having every man in the settlement who was of age choose a coin from a great cauldron, which held a thousand coppers and one gold coin. Being a blacksmith, I knew that the gold coin would be twice the weight of a similar-sized copper coin, so I sifted through them and was lucky enough to find the gold one fairly quickly. I confessed to this trick afterward, but the elders agreed that I had taken no unfair advantage; anyone else could have done what I did, they just didn't think of it."

"Yes, I agree, that was hardly cheating. Your turn, then."

Basking in the warmth of the waters and the afterglow of lovemaking, you and Katyana have begun a little game of asking about the rumors you have each heard about the other, with the only rule being that only the truth may be spoken. Soon, you will need to leave the pool, as one can only take so much of the heat before being overcome; but, it feels very wonderful holding her in the water, and the pain from the arrow wound has all-but vanished.

"Let's see... ah, I have one. It is said that the first man who kissed you received a dagger in the chest for it, is that so?"

"Well... yes and no," Katyana says, stroking your chest lightly.

"Come now, that is no answer."

"Did he receive a dagger in the chest? Yes. But it was not for kissing me, and I did not put it there; my father wielded the knife, and he did it not because the man had kissed me but because he dared to boast of it. Then, my father deliberately spread the word that I had stabbed him, to discourage other men."

"I'll have to remember not to boast, then," you say, following your words with a very deliberate kiss upon her lips.

"Mmm... you know, the problem with this game is that many of the more interesting stories I have heard about you have already been proven false in the time that I have been here. There is little point in asking you if the Vixen is your secret lover, for instance!" She thinks for a moment, and then looks up at you. "It is said that Lady Trina sleeps in your bed, with a sword beside her so that she may defend the King through the night."

"That's absolutely not -"

"I know that," Katyana interrupts. "What I am wondering is if you have ever taken her to your bed? She is a very attractive woman, after all."

"No, certainly not," you say. "That is, I would agree that Trina is an appealing woman; but we have never so much as kissed, or shared any similar intimacy. She is first and foremost one of the Kingsguard, and she earned that honor in the same way as the men: by proving her fighting prowess and taking the oath, not by wooing me with her womanly charms."

"You seem rather passionate about this," Katyana says quietly.

"She saved my life, once - the rest of the Kingsguard were all there in the room, and she was the only one who saw danger and acted to defend me. I would go so far as to say that she is the finest of my Kingsguard, with the possible exception of Captain Navarre, but he has twenty years of experience on her. She is already second in command, and I fully intend to promote her to Captain when Navarre retires. It troubles me that Lady Trina is the subject of such rumors. She has had to work twice as hard to earn half the respect of a man, and even so it sometimes seems as though nothing she does will ever be enough."

"I know what it is to be a woman in a man's world," Katyana says. "She would not have lasted long if she were in her position because of her full lips and her flaxen hair. I never believed such lurid stories of her, but I wanted to hear the truth from you. It tells me something about you that these rumors upset you so; and it tells me something more that you recognize that she is a beautiful woman, and yet that does not affect your judgement of her skill, her strength, and her honor."

"Just so we are clear, Katyana... I see those other qualities in you as well, and yet I also have a deep appreciation for how your naked body glows in the moonlight, and how it feels to hold you like this." You caress one of her breasts to make the point. "The two sentiments need not be mutually exclusive."

"I should hope not," she smiles. "Hm... Xavier, I begin to feel light-headed... perhaps it is time to leave this place, as wonderful as it is."

"That does not seem quite fair. You asked the first question, lovely one; you should not also ask the last."

"One more, then."

"Tell me... why did you kiss Yuri?"

Katyana sits up and looks accusingly at you. "We are meant to be asking each other about rumors and tales, not things which just happened!"

"We never agreed to that," you point out. "The only rule was that the truth be told."

"Oh, very well!" she says, pouting slightly. "If you must know... I honestly am not sure what came over me. I have always avoided wine and ale because I have seen what it does to men, how it takes away their judgement and makes them behave like fools. I knew that if I were to survive in this world, I would need to always have my wits about me. The sip of wine I took with Arethousa as we entered this place was in truth the first I have had in years... but there was still something tonight that made me feel free and wild, as if I could leap into the air and take flight if I so chose." She pauses for a moment. "Have you ever been in battle, Xavier?"

"I have trained for war, but I have never had to put such training to the test. It is actually something of a point of pride among Elyssians that my sword has never known blood on its blade; the people here are lovers of peace."

"Sometimes during a battle, one may be overcome by a feeling of power and fearless invincibility, as if one channels the spirit of a warrior god of old. It can possess you with a ferocity which strikes terror into the enemy; but it can also rob you of your mind, make you reckless and overly confident. The soldiers called it Goryachiy Krovi, the Blood Fever. An experienced commander will encourage his men to use its power, but caution them never to surrender to it. I have seen men fall in battle when they allow the fever to overwhelm them, for though they feel invulnerable, it is only an illusion and a fatal blow will still strike them just as dead. What I felt this night was something similar... but it was a lust for life rather than ****, a joy and elation which filled me and needed to be released." She pauses for a moment. "Though, since we are speaking only the truth, I must confess that my newfound joie de vie had only very little to do with it."

"So, what else inspired such a display?"

"Truth be told, Yuri needed to put her in her place," Katyana says, affecting a half-smile under narrowed eyes. "You don't think she really kissed you by accident, do you? Doubtless, she had made some sort of wager with her companions that she could get a kiss from the King, and when she failed to entice you into a dance, she decided instead to make it look as though she was so overcome that she lost her head. And I might have fallen for her ruse... but I can't tell you how many times I've had to teach a lesson to some headstrong man-at-arms who thought he could try something similar with me."

You stop yourself from saying that it surprises you that Lord Velimir would permit such a thing; now is not the time to be reminding her that she recently renounced her father's name. Of course, if he were truly grooming her for command, it would be necessary that she learn to fight her own battles. "What happened to those idiots?"

"Let's just say that their first order of business afterward was usually to stop the bleeding." Katyana reaches over to her goblet of wine by the side of the pool, and takes a tiny sip. "Of course, for you to take similar action with Yuri would have been more than a little inappropriate, but I did intend to let her know that if she ever tried anything like it again, she would have me to deal with. Perhaps you did not see that I gently drew my fingernail across the large vein in Yuri's neck... but believe me, she knew exactly what I was implying."

Your own throat feels a bit tight, all of a sudden. "Truly, you are a dangerous woman," you say to her.

"Oh, do not misunderstand, I would not have done poor Yuri any harm," Katyana says. "She is not a soldier who needs a hard and painful lesson in respect, she is but a simple girl. Still, especially since she will be staying here in Elyssia, I wanted to be sure that she knew beyond doubt: no one kisses my betrothed without my leave."

She kisses you again, and smiles this time with contentment... but then, as if a cloud had covered the Sun, the happiness drops from her face.

"What is it, lovely one?" you ask.

"I speak as though we have not a care in this world except for pretty girls who want to kiss you," she whispers. "But the Warlord is coming. If he is not here tomorrow, he will be the following day, of that we can be certain. I have set my plan in motion but I do not know that it will work... there is much that may go wrong. I have tried to anticipate what he will do, but if he so much as suspects that I am making plans against him, they will come to ruin. I know him so well, but he knows me even better."

"We are very much alone at this moment, Katyana," you tell her. "Perhaps you might reveal to me what you intend?"

She shakes her head. "No... please Xavier, you must understand! I trust you with my very life and soul, and if I could KNOW that only your ears were listening, I would tell you all. But even in this secluded place, I cannot be certain. He always had his ways of knowing the plots against him, even when it seemed impossible. We risk too much by even speaking of a plan at all - we must not do so again, I beg you. I will tell you this: if we are successful, then no one need die tomorrow. I want so much to live, now that I know what life can be like! And I want you to live as well, and all of the people of Elyssia. I want even my father to live, for whatever else he is, he is still that to me. Yes, I have renounced my name, but this does not change that I was born of his seed, raised as his child."

"I can appreciate the need for secrecy, Katyana, but I must know what part I am to play."

"When the time comes, you must do as I have already bid you," she insists, "and you will know what to do next if all goes well. If it does not, then... I will do what I must."

The look in her eyes then is fleeting, but unmistakable, and it is a look you have never seen in her before.

"She was terrified," you say to Valerie, keeping your voice as low as you possibly can. Out on your balcony, it seems all-but impossible that anyone could find a place to hide and listen to a whispered conversation between you and your mistress, but Katyana's need for caution should not be ignored.

After leaving the pools, both you and Katyana felt the full exhaustion of the day's events, and so you made your way back to the castle. Though it was a temptation to invite her into your bed, you both went to your separate chambers for the night; there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two of you, that this was not the time to be sleeping together. A troubling thought upon your mind prevented sleep from coming, and as you did not care to discuss intimate details of your evening with your advisors, you summoned Valerie. It occurred to you only after the fact that you may have awakened her - it IS after midnight - but she showed no sign of her sleep having been disturbed. Most likely, she had been waiting for you to return.

"What do you think frightened her so?" Valerie asks. "She does not seem like someone who would be afraid of very much."

"It is something about her father, that is for certain," you say. "What I do not know is why her eyes have not betrayed these feelings until now. She has shown trepidation, uncertainty, caution, concern... everything one might expect of a young woman who defies her powerful father for the first time. But this... this was fear, a raw fear which struck her very heart. What makes her so afraid now when she was not before?"

"She does not fear simply defying him, that is clear," Valerie says. "She shouted such defiance to a crowd of thousands, and though I am sure it required her to summon her courage to do so, she did it with the greatest possible conviction. No, this is something new which chills her blood, something that perhaps she did not think of before."

"She spoke of what may happen if her plan goes awry, whatever that plan is," you consider. "She said that she would do what she must... Valerie, do you think that if her plan fails, she may try to kill me and seek forgiveness from her father?"

Valerie shakes her head. "I spent considerable time with Katyana today, preparing for the feast. I refuse to believe that she is such an accomplished actress that she could be secretly plotting your ****, and yet outwardly showed only affection and desire. No, I believe that what she has in mind as a last resort may be a greater evil even than that."

You raise an eyebrow at her. "More evil than to **** a man to whom she owes her own life? One to whom she has openly professed love?"

"Do not forget, there is another man who she loves and who gave her life," Valerie says. "If Katyana's plan fails, I believe that she may attempt to kill her own father rather than allow his attack upon Elyssia to proceed. And it is that which terrifies her. If she fails at that **** deed, then her life is done; I do not think the Warlord would put her to ****, but he could not let such an action go unanswered. He would likely lock her away in some castle tower, perhaps for the rest of her days. And if she succeeds... then the cost will be her very soul. To plot against her father's plans to conquer a peaceful kingdom is one thing; it is quite another to thrust a knife into his heart. Of course the idea frightens her, it would frighten any sane human being."

"I think you are right," you say to Valerie, nodding. "And so it must not come to that. But since she will not tell me what she intends, there is nothing I can do. Anything I tried to implement might be the thing which causes her plan to fail. Always it comes back to this, that I must simply trust her no matter what the consequences may be."

"Then, your course is clear, my love. The path of honor, which is the only path I have ever known you to take, demands that you continue to trust in her; both in her honesty and in her ability to succeed in this."

"If I could think of another way to succeed without great loss of life, I would take it," you say. "But, I cannot conceive of any such plan. Valerie... let us speak of something else. Katyana and I have not discussed the matter, but considering her reaction to Yuri's kiss, I find it difficult to believe that she would accept that her husband keeps a mistress."

"I have already arranged for Yvette and I to take other quarters within the castle," Valerie says. "It is my hope that the Queen will not object to my staying on as Hostess of the Crown - organizing parties and entertaining guests are not among Katyana's stronger talents, I'll warrant. But I have also surmised that she will prefer not to share your bed with another woman." Valerie looks up at you, her eyes free of tears. "I always knew that this day would come, my love. This is the life I chose; I could have married a nobleman, perhaps a widower who had already sired his heirs and who sought only a wife and companion. Indeed, I still may; I am certainly not resigned to spending the rest of my life alone. I have no regrets, dear Xavier. You must embrace your new wife, and find love with her, and I will be content."

"Katyana and I do not marry until tomorrow," you point out. "Perhaps I have no right to ask this of you... but I would feel you in my arms one last time as we fall asleep. I do not ask for more... though I am a bachelor for a few hours longer, it would not seem right to make love to you on the eve of my wedding to another woman, and in any event I believe I am rather spent. But I wish to hold you this night, Valerie, unless you feel it would break your heart."

Valerie smiles, and this time she cannot entirely keep the tears from shining in her eyes. "One last night in your arms will keep me warm for all the nights to come, Xavier, my love," she says.