The Sorceress of Belmair (35 page)

“Because I want to take pleasures with you,” he replied low.

“When?” she wanted to know.

“Tonight. After the feast has ended,” he told her.

“Will you wed me, Majesty?” she inquired coolly of him.

“Nay,” he responded without any hesitation. “I am not ready to remarry. I want a mistress for my bed.”

“Then you are asking me to be your mistress?” Sapphira said.

“Aye, I am.”

“I will ask my uncle and my mother. They will give you my answer.” Sapphira curtseyed to him as the music ended, and turning, walked away.

Dillon’s heart was pounding. What had ever possessed him to ask Sapphira such a question? And yet she had not been shocked or dismayed. Was it as Alban had said? Did she believe that by giving herself to him she would eventually become his queen? He watched the sway of her hips beneath the violet silk of her gown as she walked, and felt his cock tightening with his desire for her.

Sapphira felt his eyes on her as she left him, and she smiled a little cat’s smile. She was shortly going to reap the benefits of a long and most boring summer. She found her uncle first. “I must speak with you, sir,” she said, and walking on found her mother. “Mama, my uncle and I must speak with you,” she said. “I will meet you in our apartments. Please do not delay.” Then Sapphira walked away.

“Girls!” the lady Margisia exclaimed, rolling her eyes to the other women with whom she had been sitting and gossiping.

“She was just dancing with the king,” one sharp-eyed woman noted. “You don’t think he has approached her, do you?”

“I doubt it,” Margisia replied. “My brother says he does not think the king will ever marry again, for he loved Queen Cinnia deeply.”

“Your daughter looks just like the queen,” another lady spoke up. “We have all noticed it. Do you not think he might wed your daughter for that reason if no other?”

“I had not really considered it,” the lady Margisia lied smoothly. Then she arose. “I see Tullio has already left the hall so I had best join my daughter and my brother and see what this is all about. Good night to you all, and may you all have a safe journey home, my dears.” Then she left them.

“That daughter of hers is a sly boots,” one of the remaining women said, and the others nodded their heads in agreement.

“Do you think the king has approached her?” another asked.

“Well, if he has it was not with marriage in mind,” the first lady answered. “He has been celibate, I am told, ever since the queen was stolen away, and I must say I admire him for that. But he is a man, and we all know men need to take pleasures or they become almost impossible to live with. Look at how he has behaved for most of the summer until a few days ago. We did not see him during the day, and he would make but a brief appearance each night, and then disappear. The girls have been so disappointed although several have actually made good matches while being here. The king comes from Hetar, and we all know how carnal Hetarians are. I think he wants Duke Tullio’s niece for his mistress, ladies. But we shall soon see if that is it, or something else.”

In the apartments that had been assigned to them, Sapphira sat with her uncle and her mother. “The king wants me as his mistress,” she told them bluntly.

“Oh, my darling, how wonderful!” the lady Margisia cried, clapping her hands.

“It is an arrangement that does not please me at all,” Duke Tullio said. “It must be marriage or nothing, Sapphira, and I am shocked by your words, Sister.”

“Uncle, listen to me,” Sapphira answered him urgently. “The king is not ready to wed again, but if I can go to his bed, I can make him love me. I look like Cinnia. If I must I will be Cinnia to him. And sooner than later he will want to wed me.”

“You are being foolish in your ambition,” her uncle said angrily.

“Nay, Brother,” the lady Margisia said. “My daughter is being wise. The king desires her enough to have asked her to come to his bed. And as long as she pleases him no other woman will attract him.
Think!
If your niece becomes queen of Belmair, Dreng can no longer lord it over you. The king did not ask his granddaughters or Alban’s nieces to warm his bed. He asked
your
niece,
my
daughter. This is a good thing, my brother. We should rejoice in this incredible bit of good fortune.”

“Is this Hetar that you would have your daughter behave like a common Pleasure Woman, Sister? Our women marry. They do not spread themselves for any man but their husbands. You would risk Sapphira’s greatest marriage value, her virginity, on the gamble that King Dillon might wed her? What if the queen is found and returned?” Duke Tullio asked his sibling. “Do you seriously believe the king will choose your daughter over Queen Cinnia? Or if she is not found, and the king grows weary of Sapphira and sends her away, what happens then?”

“Even if Cinnia is found he cannot take her back,” Margisia said. “She is unclean, and will be driven into the wild to die as those few who have returned from the Yafir have. No matter what the king may say, Belmair will not accept a woman who has been with the Yafir. This is Sapphira’s big chance, Brother. I beg you do not forbid it!”

“Please, Uncle!” the girl begged him.

“Do not tell me that you love him, for I will not believe you,” the duke said.

Sapphira laughed. “Nay, Uncle, I do not love him. And he certainly does not love me. But I love the thought of the power being his mistress will offer, and if I can eventually persuade him to marry me then my power will be doubled. And when I give him a son…” She smiled archly. “If I give him a son then no one can stop me!”

Duke Tullio shook his head. His niece’s behavior went against everything he believed in and held dear. When his wife had died he had asked his sister to become his hostess, for he had no intentions of remarrying. She brought with her her undisciplined daughter, a charming but spoiled girl of eleven. Sapphira was now eighteen, and as determined as ever to have her way. “If I cannot stop you from this precipitous, rash behavior, Sapphira, at least let me make certain provisions for you with the king for your future well-being.”

“I do not need them,” the girl said confidently.

But then her mother spoke up. “Nay, Daughter, your uncle is right. The king will put a greater value upon you if Tullio negotiates strongly on your behalf. You do not want to be at his mercy for everything. You will need an allowance, and servants, and your own horses and a carriage. You must have beautiful gowns and jewelry that bespeaks to everyone the king’s devotion and respect for you.”

“Oh,” Sapphira said. “I had not considered such things, but you are correct, Mama. Yes, Uncle, you will arrange these things for me with the king.”

“I will indeed, Niece,” the duke replied. Foolish women, he thought to himself. What they wanted was negligible in the grand scheme of things. He intended arranging a binding agreement with the king that would give his niece both a wealthy husband and a large dower portion when Dillon tired of Sapphira, which he certainly would. After a certain amount of time had passed a man needed more from a woman than just a lush body and a willingness to enjoy pleasures. He needed a woman with whom he might speak with on a variety of subjects. His niece was not that sort of woman. She was totally involved with herself to the exclusion of everything else. She had avoided her small education as much as possible, and was quite ignorant if the truth be told. But she was beautiful and proud, and she looked enough like Cinnia to be her twin. For a brief while that would be enough for the grieving king.

Duke Tullio sought out the king in his apartments. He found Dillon taking his ease out upon a small, tiled terrace, lounging upon a double couch, garbed in a silk robe. The duke bowed respectfully. “We must speak together, Majesty,” he began. “My niece tells me you wish her for your mistress, my lord. Is that so?”

“It is,” Dillon replied.

“Before I give my consent to such an arrangement, Majesty, I need to assure myself that Sapphira will be taken care of beautifully. She must have an allowance, clothing, jewelry, servants, horses, a carriage.”

“Of course,” Dillon said.

“And there is more, Majesty,” the duke continued. “By allowing this, my niece loses her greatest value to a future husband—her virginity. She must be compensated for it. An agreement must be drafted that will guarantee her a wealthy husband and a large dower portion when you grow tired of her and send her away.”

Dillon refrained from smiling at this. Here was a perfect example of how close in nature the Belmairans and the Hetarians were. Taking Sapphira for a mistress was to be a financial and commercial venture. “You may draft your paper, Duke Tullio,” Dillon said, “but know that I should never just cast your niece off when our liaison ends. However I realize that you and your family will feel safer if Sapphira’s future is set in stone.”

“I thank you for understanding, Majesty. My sister worries about her child as I am sure you know your own mother worries about you,” Duke Tullio responded.

“When everything is done to your satisfaction you will turn Sapphira over to me,” Dillon told the duke. “I am anxious to enjoy her company.”

The duke bowed. “It should be but a few days, Majesty,” he said, and backed from the king’s presence.

When his niece, however, learned that she was not going to the king this night she grew furious. “He wanted me tonight! What if he changes his mind while you dawdle and fuss over the bits and pieces of your agreement?”

“You, yourself, have said that he is eager for you. He will wait, and you will not seem so much like a loose woman,” the duke told her. “The proprieties will be observed.”

“You are right, Brother,” Margisia spoke up. “Now tell us exactly what you have obtained for our Sapphira.” And when he had, she was ecstatic, and turned to her daughter. “Thank your uncle, my child! He has done well for you. And when the king is finished with your company you will have a wealthy man to wed and a large dower. Far larger than we might have provided for you.”

“I mean to be his queen,” Sapphira said in a hard voice. “Do you think that I do this thing lightly, without thought, Uncle? I will
make
him love me, and he will never want me to leave him, nor will he think of Fflergant’s daughter, Cinnia, ever again. I will be queen of Belmair within a year. I swear it!”

“If it should come to that I will negotiate a marriage agreement for you,” the duke told her drily. “But for now I have preserved your reputation and your value as best as I might, Niece.” Tullio of Beldane doubted Sapphira would obtain her way in the matter but it would be impossible to convince her otherwise. She would learn by hard experience.

“I must go to him now,” Sapphira said.

“Nay. Not until the agreement has been written and signed,” the duke told her. “Remember, you are not some farmer’s daughter to be taken by the lord of the land. You are my niece. You have value. An apartment must be prepared here in the castle especially for you. Your wardrobe must be filled with gowns of the finest silk. The dower portion he has promised must be with my goldsmith. Only then can you go to the king. I will see you treated honorably,” the duke told the girl.

Sapphira pouted, but she nodded reluctantly. “I know you are doing what is best for me, Uncle. I am just anxious to be in the king’s arms.”

And while Sapphira dreamed of her lover, Dillon found himself both reluctant and eager for the girl. “She looks so much like Cinnia,” he told the dragon.

“She is not Cinnia,” Nidhug said in disapproving tones.

“You do not favor my taking a mistress,” he said.

The dragon sighed softly. “I know you are faithful in your heart to Cinnia,” she said. “And I know that you are passionate. How can you not be, given your parents? It could not be expected that you would eschew pleasures forever, Majesty.”

“But you do not like the lady Sapphira,” Dillon replied.

“Nay, I do not. It is not simply that she looks so like my mistress. There is a darkness in her. We have all sensed it. And I know that your mother would not be pleased with your choice. Either of Dreng’s granddaughters would have been a more suitable choice.”

“Dreng seeks to make one of his granddaughters my queen,” Dillon said.

“True, but he would have jumped at the opportunity to put one of them in your bed without a crown. He is an ambitious man or he should not have put those two girls in your path, my lord. I personally favored Panya,” Nidhug said.

“Why?” Dillon asked her, amused.

“She is intelligent, and would be able to converse with you on all manner of subjects. All Sapphira can offer you is her body.”

“It is a most luscious body,” Dillon noted.

“She will bore you to death, my lord,” the dragon said.

Dillon laughed. “I have no interest in carrying on a serious conversation with her, Nidhug. I want only to enjoy her body, and sate the months of pent-up lust.”

“Thus speaks your cold faerie heart,” Nidhug murmured.

“It is my nature,” he responded. “My heart belongs only to Cinnia. My cock, however, must be entertained, else it shrivel up and die.”

Nidhug tittered but then she grew serious again. “This girl means to be your queen. She is Belmairan from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Like most of the others she believes Cinnia is despoiled and cannot be queen again even if she were to be found and returned to you. Sapphira wants to be your wife. She believes by climbing into your bed she can accomplish that goal.”

“She cannot,” Dillon said.

“I know that!”
Nidhug answered him. “But she does not. Tell Duke Tullio you have changed your mind, my lord, I beg of you. Find another female for your bed. One who will understand her place is but temporary. Sapphira gives herself to you because she truly believes she can overcome your reluctance to let Cinnia go.”

“You are Belmair’s Great Dragon,” Dillon told her. “You hold the ancestral memories of all the previous dragons. Is there any law written in Belmair that says women taken by the Yafir are unclean, and cannot return to their families?”

“There is such a law, my lord,” the dragon said. “It was enacted long ago because the Belmairans did not want to mix their blood with the blood of the Yafir. But laws can be amended, changed or even dispensed with, as you know.”