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The Seduction Plan Ch. 01

By: PlainJane12



This is why I hadn't bothered to join the resistance in the first place. These guys were nuts. Stupid, and crazy. I mean, did they know who they were talking to?

We were sitting in one of the old bars off the port of San Drumais. One of those places that used be dugout palaces of the El Durar chieftains back before I was born. My father used to take me riding up here, back when I was still a princess and our kingdom still stood and he was still alive. He would tell me stories about the old peoples who sprang from this planet, and how the new peoples came from the stars. But that was back when people could fly and didn't need to breathe air. 

I obviously needed to breathe air; I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pass out. The boys from the resistance weren't pleased with my reaction. "Wait, wait, wait," I said, still trying to stop laughing. "Explain this again." I held up my finger. "One more time."

Bolthos, the big one with the big ears and the dull blonde hair sighed. "We want you to seduce him. Then-"

"Wait!" I cried, before bursting into a fresh round of laughter. Oh damn. This was too funny.

"Then," Bolthos continued once my laughter calmed to giggles, "We will kidnap you, and we can lure him to Gravlor's Peak. His sorcery won't work there."

"Even if it does," began Saymar, "It's the perfect place to attack. We'll have the tactical advantage." I looked at Saymar; I had always had a sort of begrudging respect for the guy. He stood out from the others in the resistance because usually when he opened his mouth, foolishness didn't spring from it like spilled marbles. He was also uncommonly handsome. --Which I never held against a man, unprejudiced as I am. He was scarred, but that just made his bright green eyes look dangerous and calculating. And I liked easily spotted dangers. You could always play near enough the edge for a thrill without getting in real trouble. 

"Please, Princess?" the boy Dartix began to ask. But I slapped him across the face before he had a chance to say it. 

I wasn't a princess. I hadn't been in a long time. Not since Moms and Pops had been slaughtered in the throne room. 

I should have been killed too. But when there are a dozen princesses, three dozen ladies in waiting, and about two hundred other girls under the age of twenty hanging around at court just because the eldest princess is about to be married -- well, it's easy to miss one. I suppose. 

I was twelve and I escaped. All sorts of people wanted to take me in at the time. But I was twelve and I was pissed. -And scared. Mostly pissed. Anyway, even then I knew being a princess would get me killed. And I refused to be anyone's victim. 

"Sorry," Dartix said, rubbing his cheek. 

"Sometimes I wonder whose side you're on," Bolthos said, shaking his head at me. 

"Really? Maybe we should stop meeting then," I replied, and rose to get up. 

A heavy hand landed on my arm. Saymar. He looked at me, and said, "Please sit down. They're both idiots."

I sat. "No. Dartix isn't an idiot. He just should be more careful. Bolthos simply makes the mistake of assuming that I care what he thinks."

"I know you don't believe us effective, Dor. But you don't seem to getting anywhere either. If we work together, we can take him down," Saymar said. 

I closed my eyes a moment before responding. "Look, I realize that it may not seem like a bad plan on paper. But you don't understand the reality of the situation."

------------------------------------------------>

Long story shorter: After wandering quite enough through the world on my own, to the point that I was fairly unrecognizable to most, and not of any interest to all, I decided to get my revenge. 

I was fifteen and still terribly angry that my family had been murdered. --Fancy that. I also was newly aware that the man who had killed them all was living in the glass desert, over beyond the Uspi sea. 

I made a point of trying to find out if I could slip into his palace as a servant, unnoticed. I had vague plans of then slitting his throat in the night or poisoning his dinner. 

Unfortunately the bastard didn't have servants anyone knew of. The people I asked supposed that maybe he used magic, like he had when he killed my parents. --That was actually the first time that I had heard how they had been murdered. An army of dead things swept through the castle and throttled everyone with bony hands. 

Others supposed that maybe he did have servants, but they weren't from around there, and maybe they used magic too. 

Only one way to find out. 

I headed out, on foot -- because yeah, I'm kind of a badass -- to find his palace and demand a servant's position. 

I made it. Barely. 

-But I made it because I'm a badass. 

...Nearly dying of dehydration and being attacked by an army of ants with heads the size of grapes, no big deal. 

Would I do it again? No. -Of course not. But, that's because I'm badass enough I don't have to. 

Anyhoo... I got there, and I discovered the strangest thing. 

No, the strangest thing wasn't that the palace was completely empty. The strangest thing wasn't that I found the man I had been looking for totally unguarded, unprotected. 

The strangest thing was that he wasn't really a man. He was just a boy. --Younger than me. 

Well, maybe not younger than me. We were both at that age where girls shoot up faster than boys. And I had always been pretty stocky, in an athletic way, to start with. 

I first spotted him lying in the courtyard of his palace. He was drawing on the stone floor with chalk, in a dreaming, idle way. 

I limped in past the stone arch entrance -- the ants had taken some pretty necessary chunks out of my legs and the only drink I had had in a while was the blood from my cracked lips. 

"Hey," I said. I was vaguely worried at the time I might die before I see him. I didn't know this boy in the courtyard was conqueror of my planet. 

He stood up immediately; shocked I was even there. 

"I'm looking for the Master of the Realm," I said. 

The boy looked at me in confusion, and then looked around before saying, "Uh, you found him."

I sagged. "Idiot. I am looking for the Master of the Realm," I said, this time slowly. "The killer of the kings. The mighty sorcerer. You know, the one in charge?"

Now he looked vaguely bemused. "Yeah," he said. "That's me."

"Oh shut," I began, but then -- for some reason, probably just a little too much ant poison, I fainted. 

Fast forward a couple weeks -- I had the servant's job, though, in retrospect, I think he just wanted a friend. 

Fast forward a couple years -- I was his trusted counsel, who was regularly making attempts on his life, and failing. 

Fast forward to now --

I'm twenty-freaking-nine. You know how frustrating it is to try to kill someone for over ten years, and never quite succeed?

I know what you're thinking; this girl is completely incompetent. How do you not kill someone in the span of a decade? But you have to understand. 

I can't be overt about it -- or he'll know what I'm up to and kill me. Or maybe turn me into a sea monkey. 

After all, he's a sorcerer. He has potions for everything and magic words for everything, and portals for everything. --I poisoned a shirt once, and he sent it through a portal to the realm of laundering. No joke. ...Okay, minor joke -- but not really; he did send it away somewhere and it came back smelling like flowers. It's disgusting. 

In any case, it usually takes a while to come up with a plan anyway. Factor in the time it takes to pull off said plan without getting caught, and doing the research to make sure it might work, and besides that he actually does have me working a lot. I mean, a lot. I have to help him with spells, and local uprisings; baking up fake armies and dead armies and invisible wind armies. -I get in a couple attempts a year if I'm lucky. He also likes to read and have someone to talk to about what he's reading. He likes for us to each paint something and compare the results. He's a weirdo. 

Then about five years ago, the resistance figured out who I was and thought it would be a good idea to keep tabs on me. 

They're the ones who attack his fake soldiers and break his laws and try to draw him out once in a while by marching off into the desert (much as I did once), but usually they just end up lost in storms or something and never reach the palace.

Anyway, so I meet them once in a while, and I hear their plans and they hear mine -- and usually we just give each other a pat on the back for encouragement, have a drink and call it a night. 

---------------------------------------------------->

"I think the reality of the situation is that you don't really want him dead," Bolthos said. 

"Fuck you. Of course I want him dead. What I'm telling you is your plan won't make him dead. --Because I can't seduce him. We're not like that. We hang out. He tells me things, sure. But I'm the girl he gets advice from. Not the girl he... gets romantic with."

"Bullshit," Bolthos said. 

"Hey," Saymar said, "Just because you don't know better than to shit where you eat, Bolthos; doesn't mean the Master of the Realm doesn't. He's a smart man. Dor is a valuable asset to him; he's probably aware that adding sex to the mix could jeopardize that."

I smiled at Saymar; thank Somebody there's one guy with a brain in the bunch. "Of course," he added then, suddenly looking at his drink, "It's hard to imagine any man, let alone the most evil one in the world, being principled enough to avoid it, looking at eyes like yours, Dor."

I blushed from my hairline to my toes, before quickly raising my glass. "Same time, next month?"

I rode Greystone, my horse, home that night. She carried me and some packs of supplies. The Master of the Realm could conjure up anything he liked, but as I told him over and over again, I preferred not having to ask him for every single little thing. 

It was dark by the time we got to the stables. I began unpacking and I felt a prickling feeling on the back of my neck. "I know you're there," I announced. 

"Damn it!" the Master of the Realm declared. "It's a shadow spell! You're not supposed to be able to notice me; especially not in the dark!"

I turned around, looking for him. "Well, I certainly can't see you. That's something."

Suddenly he appeared in a shimmer of light right in front of me. It was shocking. He was fiddling with an eyeglass and some old paper, trying to reevaluate the spell, so he didn't seem to notice how close we were. But I did. -Especially after the meeting tonight.

Then he paused and looked at me. "You okay?"

"Sure," I said, blushing, glad he couldn't read my thoughts. I turned to finish unpacking. 

"Here, let me help you with that," he offered. He never helped with anything unless he was paying attention, which put me on guard. I would have to be more careful if I didn't want him figuring something out. He quickly slung an entire pack over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. --Things like that always surprised me a little. He had really filled out since were teenagers. 

Seduction. 

Ha! I mean, of course. I would have tried that years ago, back when my thighs were still firm, had it been possible. Don't they think I would have thought of that? Seduction would have opened up a world of possibilities. ...Not that I could think of any right now; but yes, it seemed like a very good plan if it was possible. Oh crap, I was blushing again. 

I followed a few steps behind him with half the other pack into the palace halls, trying to calm down. I hated it here. Everything so huge and empty -- every hall echoed. Everything was cold, especially at night, even though we were in a desert that got so hot in summer that the sands would melt. 

"How many days have you had off now?" he suddenly asked over his shoulder. 

"You mean 'day?' How many, 'day' have I had off? Because there was just the one, and not entirely one because look -- I'm back." I replied. 

"I mean total, since you've lived here. Also, it's nightfall. You left before dawn. Gone the entire day."

"What, you think I've kept track?" I asked, trying to ignore the fact that it would be easy enough to figure out. 

He stopped suddenly and turned to look down at me. I nearly collided with him, but he didn't move. His eyes sparkled a fiery grey. "You sure there's nothing wrong?"

"You want me to make something wrong?"

He smiled at me then, but his eyes were frustrated. Crap. Something was up. "These things to your room, then?" he said, patting the pack. 

"Yes," I replied slowly, like maybe he was stupid. 

"Okay," he said, and turned. We continued down the hall in silence. 

My bedroom was the same as it had ever been. I remembered waking up in it the first time. The bed was softer than anything I had been in for years by that time -- and large. 

The room was otherwise empty, except for a mirror. The room was circular, no corners, but there was a huge balcony that took up half the space. It looked out over the desert. 

That first time, when we were younger -- I woke up and he was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at me like I might have cooties. "You okay?" he had asked. 

"Awesome," I had replied. 

"You look terrible," he said. 

"Thanks for the update."

"I'm Eric."

"Eric?"

"Eric, Master of the Realm, Conqueror of the planet, etc."

"Bullshit," I had said. "Prove it."

"I will, if you tell me your name."

"Dor."

"Your full name?"

"It was my understanding one shouldn't give one's full name to sorcerers."

"You understand a lot," he replied. Then he plucked an apple out of the air and tossed it to me. 

I made a rude sound with my mouth then said, "Big deal."

"Take a bite," he said. 

I took a bite. 

My wounds healed. 

I shook my head. "Still not impressed," I said. 

He invited me to stay on as an assistant soon after that. 

Now he was unloading the pack onto my bed. He wasn't a boy anymore, that was for sure. His muscles moved under his shirt, and he seemed to be investigating my purchases with serious interest. Oh man... that meeting really bothered me! I couldn't stop looking at him, noticing things I had seen before but just hadn't...

"Hey now, just leave it," I said, gently knocking him out of the way with my shoulder. 

"What'd you get?"

"None ya business."

"It is my palace."

"Maybe on your birthday, I'll let you see what I get at the market. Now go away." He backed away quietly. But he was still just standing there watching me. "Okay... some privacy?" I said. 

"I'm not sure I want to leave you alone. You're being weird," he said. 

I smiled, and turned to him. "Now this is getting annoying. Even if I was being weird, what is it to you?"

He looked at me critically, like he was trying to read something written on my face. I didn't like where this was going. "You know, Dor, I've never seen you cry. Ever. There have been times I wish I have."

"Thanks." I turned back to my pack. He was the one acting weird. 

"Not. Not like that. But there's something off about you today. Something's bothering you."

"Gee, I wonder what that could be."

"You know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"I'm sorry, I must have confused sarcasm with unusual burping. I'll do better next time. Perhaps after dinner."

"Would you stop?" he said, in a suddenly forceful tone. "You're the only person on the planet who dares speak to me the way you do, you're the only person I've granted any knowledge of my power or any freedom to do as they wish... but..."

"What?" I demanded. I didn't care what he granted me or what I dared. Now all I wanted was to know what he was getting at. 

"Your eyes... they're always so empty."

...

What could a person say to that?

You killed my family?

I have to kill you... even though you're my only real friend?

Life sucks and then you die?

"But today, they're not. Today they're all... thoughtful and concerned... with something."

I just shrugged at him. 

He sighed. He walked back toward me and then sat on the bed. 

Okay. "Seriously, Eric, it's late and I have to unpack this stuff. If you want me in the spell room on time tomorrow," I began. 

"I set a spell, Dor. One I didn't tell you about. -Years ago."

He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at his hands, like a guilty child. 

"Because of it, I know you... deceived me."

Oh. 

"I wasn't sure the first time; I wanted to be wrong. But I also know you tried to kill me."

Oh shit. I began to back away from him.

"Several times."

"If I ever did anything once for you, anything good," I said suddenly, "Don't make me into some sort of mindless animal. Just kill me. Please." I'm not sure how that outburst came out of me so quickly, but I stared at him waiting for a response. He didn't lift his head. 

"They're making you do it, aren't they?" he said. 

Huh? I looked at him confused. Finally he looked at me. 

"The resistance -- they've got something on you. I know you've been seeing them. I don't know how long, and I don't care."

I cock my head to the side slowly. "What?"

"I mean, I did care, but... The spell I used... thankfully, measures emotions."

What?

"I know that you've been relieved every time the attempts failed."

No wait -- what?

"It's been a roller coaster following you. Emptiness, then relief, ease for a little bit. Then you leave and come back, and after a while you begin to empty again. I started watching you closer when these periods occurred -- it wasn't hard to figure out what you were doing."

He crossed the room suddenly and crushed me to his chest. 

What?!?

"Don't worry, Dor. I'll kill them all. I'll kill them all for you."

"What?!?" I pushed him away. 

"You're the only person on my side, Dor. I know that. I won't let them manipulate you anymore."

"Eric..."

"You don't have to apologize," he said. "It's my fault. I should have said something sooner. But when I first figured it out I was so hurt, I didn't want to deal with it all. I thought my only friend, my only family was trying to kill me. I couldn't deal with it. Thank God I didn't. I might have killed you before I knew the truth. Then, I put two and two together about the resistance. And, I'm sorry -- I thought that rather than say anything I would learn more about them through you."

Oh. 

Oh dear. 

"I have almost all the information I need. I'll take them all out in one blow. I wasn't going to say anything -- I thought that maybe... Anyway, but something's bothering you. You went and you saw them, and now you seem more confused than ever. What is it?"

"Er. Nothing. Nothing at all. You're ah, you're right. Uh. Huh."

"Your mind has been going nuts for hours. And your heartrate... God, Dor. I'm sorry; I felt terrible letting them put you through this, but... I uh, figured it was fair. You know, since you were trying to kill me."

I nod at him. "Er. Ah. Huh."

"But now, you know and I know, and you don't have to be upset."

"Uh..."

"I know this is a lot to take in. But you don't have to worry -- you're my best friend. I won't let them do whatever they've threatened you with."

"Well that's good," I finally managed to say. 

He took my hands in his and led me to sit down on the bed with him. "Just tell me what happened today, and tell me what they've threatened you with."

Oh geez. 

Well for one thing, they wanted me to seduce you. And they've only threatened me with restoring my throne. "Um..."

"You're safe," he said. 

And it was true. I was. He healed me when I was hurt and gave me a home, and things to do. We laughed a lot. And even when things got bad, he was never what I had expected when I first came here. It was hard to reconcile that he was a mass murderer and also that he was the omnipotent buddy I swapped snark with. So hard in fact, that I had considered on multiple occasions asking him -- why my family? Why death? But I thought it would be suspicious. So I never did. 


The Seduction Plan Ch. 01



"You want some truth serum?" he asked. 

"No! Gosh, Eric -- they wanted, they thought that. They wanted me to seduce you, thinking if I was your... that they could kidnap me and you would come to them."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well that's stupid."

"That's what I told them," I began. 

"It's not like I wouldn't just decimate them the minute I found them."

Oh. "Well, they said they'd take me to Gravlor's Peak."

His eyes widened. "Okay, that's not a bad plan on their part," he admitted. He looked at me and smiled. "Well, they're getting better at this, aren't they?"

"Well except for the uh, seduction part. Awkward, right?" I said, immediately regretting saying anything at all. 

He laughed. 

I laughed. 

Oh boy, it was good times. ...Right. 

When he stopped laughing, he said, "You know... that might not be a bad idea."

What?

"In fact... now that I know they'll be at Gravlor's Peak... I could ambush them in their own trap."

"But... uh, I already told them that it wasn't going to work. -That they would have to come up with something else."

He put an arm around my shoulders. "What if you change your mind, and let them know?"

I shook my head and said, "You're creeping me out, Eric."

He pulled me closer, putting his lips to my temple. "What did they threaten you with?" He drew a finger under my chin, and down the length of my neck. I was suddenly very aware of the way he smelled just like a man should, and how large his hands were. 

I ripped away from him. "What was that?" I demanded. 

"Dor. Settle down. I'm just showing you that we can make it look like seduction for their benefit, meanwhile, discuss how to crush them. --Like normal friends."

"Friends?"

"You are my very best friend, Dor. Being my servant doesn't change that."

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"I won't hurt you, Dor. Here; would this make it easier?" He pointed at me briefly, and I felt suddenly light-headed and uncoordinated. 

"You make me drunk?" I asked, dumbfounded. 

"No, just relaxed, and okay - a little inebriated. It's not like you weren't drinking earlier. Come here," he said. 

I sat down on the floor instead. "No. Take it off."

He smiled. "Take what off?"

"The spell!"

He laughed. "Okay, okay, okay." I immediately began to feel a little more clearheaded. 

"You need to stop," I said. "It's not like anyone is here to see this anyway."

"You want an audience?"

"Quit the innuendoes!" I hissed. 

"Gosh, this does bother you! This is what has been bothering you! --Today anyway. I think you have a sex drive and it embarrasses you."

"Shut up! That's -- that's not. It's awkward because you're you and I'm me and this is not us."

He smiled at me and shook his head. "We're totally doing it," he said.

"Doing what?!?"

"The plan -- the seduction plan. You're going to seduce me, and they'll come to kidnap you. They'll of course take a fake, not the actual you, and I will kill them all on Gravlor's Peak." He smiled, and triumphantly stood. "I have to get started on the ambush." 

Instead of using the door, he stepped through my bedroom mirror to exit. I just stared at it as it turned back to glass. 

He knew about the murder attempts. 

He was planning to destroy the resistance. 

He wanted me to seduce him... I wasn't even sure what that meant; how far did he expect me to take it?

He seemed really enthused. He wanted to save me from them. 

Or did he?

And what did he mean I was "relieved" when I failed? I was not relieved! I was... I was frustrated or maybe downtrodden. And I guess, lately -- I had learned to expect failure. Yeah... I had just begun to accept it; that was all. That must have been what confused his spell. --Which turned out good for me, I guess. But how could it have been so wrong?



The Seduction Plan Ch. 02



I couldn't sleep at all that night. --Until I decided: No, we just weren't doing it. Simple. 

Say his plan worked. That would mean just watching him wipe out the resistance. Not that they'd been super useful anyway, but they were basically on my side and it would be bad form on my part to let them die. 

Then again, his plan might not work. Then where would we be? Who knows what would happen on Gravlor's Peak? I mean, he could die. --Which certainly would be a plus. But, I could get killed in the crossfire. 

Was there going to be crossfire?

Point was I decided that I would just tell him. No. 

The next morning I woke up late.

I got dressed quickly and ran down to the spell room. The Master of the Realm was already working, or perhaps still working among the bubbling potions, dissected animals, and dusty old tomes. His dark hair fell down around his eyes as he fiddled with what appeared to be a little brown box. He knew I was there and glanced up at me; but it was strange, he had a dark look in his eyes I didn't see very often. --And it had never been directed at me before.

He had always seemed to enjoy my company; he was a lonely guy. I also always felt like maybe having someone around when he made his decisions, helped to keep him from doubting his decisions. --That used to worry me, because it meant I was helping him do horrible things. But the truth was I had always been more interested in my revenge for the dead than I was in the problems of the living. 

"Dor. You're late."

"Yup," I replied, pulling on my protective gloves. "I'll get started on more of the Portglan juice," I said, before throwing in, "And uh... no."

He straightened. "No?"

"No, we're not going through with the uh... plan."

He smiled, and I tried to pretend I didn't see it by pulling ingredients out of the cupboard. "Which plan?" he asked. 

"The, you know, seduction plan," I replied, concentrating very hard on examining all the labels on the bottles. 

"Ah. Is that the official title? I was thinking 'Mission: Code Red.' But I kind of like 'The Seduction Plan.' Has a nice ring to it." He set down the box. 

"You named it that first. Last night. And I'm telling you, no." I couldn't look at him directly, this was too awkward. But I realized he was slowly walking across the room. 

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous; I already told them no, and they'll be suspicious if I suddenly change my mind," I said. As he came around the corner of the table where I stood, I finally looked him in the eye, and said, "You didn't see my reaction, Eric. I laughed at them."

"Why?"

"Because it's a ridiculous plan!" 

"You don't have to yell; I'm right here, Dor." He took a breath, then said, "I guess we'll have to do something to convince them you're in."

"Like what, Eric?"

"God, you're moody," he replied offhand.

"You would know!"

Suddenly he was right next to me. He grabbed one of my arms, and I didn't know why. I don't think he knew why either -- he was angry and didn't know what to do with it. "You've been trying to kill me," he growled. 

My eyes filled with water then. 

I guess I thought he finally knew -- for real, and he'd finally get rid of me. I refused to blink though; no tear-stained cheeks of regret for him or for me. I did my best and that was good enough.

But he didn't kill me. He looked at me for a long moment, then he pulled me into a hug. --Twice in less than 24 hours. 

Weird. 

He spoke into my hair, laughing a little, manically, "I'm sorry; it's just you're mad at me for spying on you and you still haven't apologized for trying to kill me."

No. And I hadn't planned on it. 

"If you don't stop hugging me, you won't ever get an apology," I replied. "Get off."

He chuckled at my reaction and let go. "You never did tell me how they got you to do it. What did they threaten you with?"

"They said... they would... make sure you knew, that I was one of them... Whether I was or not." Oh, I was a terrible liar. "And," I added, for the hint of authenticity I was clearly missing, "The thing is, I am related to... royalty here. They know that, and they would make it look like I wanted to take the throne."

He looked at me like I had said something hilarious. "You're related to royalty? You couldn't have been that close to the throne -- real royalty would have sent assassins, not been an assassin."

"Right?" I said, returning to my work. 

"I remember when you first showed up here," he said. "You were the most wretched, ugly girl I had ever seen. -And such a raging bitch."

"Hey!"

"No one had acted that way with me for, gosh... centuries."

Yeah. Okay. He said things like this sometimes -- exaggerating the length of his life by a thousand years. "Clearly, you needed it," I replied. 

"Clearly I did," he said. "Why don't you want to do the plan, Dor?"

"Oh my... Look," I began. 

"I mean, you went through with plenty of plans when it was possible that I could have died."

"Obviously it wasn't possible, because you knew about them." 

It suddenly occurred to me then, that I would never be able to kill him. He would always be waiting and ready. 

"But you didn't know that," he said. 

If I couldn't kill him, I couldn't stay. Could I? No, there was no reason to be there. It would mean doing the opposite of what I had always done, always strived for. I would be helping the man that murdered my life. 

He continued, "Now, I have a plan that will put an end to all this deception and you don't want to do it." He drew a finger along my wrist. It startled me; I hadn't realized I had just been standing there thinking, nor had I realized he was standing right next to me again. "I know I'm strict about you helping with the work and contributing to chores and... I thought it about it, and I realize we do a lot of things I like to do and not a lot of what you like to do."

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, I wonder why they call you Master of the Realm."

"I really started thinking about it when I first realized what had been happening. But I'm going to change, Dor. I'm going to be a better friend. We'll do things you like to do. --Like, twice a year?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled at him. He laughed at his own joke. 

"But, if you could just do this. Dor, it can't be that hard to fake a little bit of feeling, can it? I mean, I haven't been so horrible that you really have wanted me dead, right?"

Yes. Yes you have. 

It's been a long time since you did the things that made me feel this way. But feelings like this don't die. 

"Whatever. What do you want me to do?" Maybe I could spin the situation somehow. Who knows? Maybe he would die on Gravlor's Peak. 

He let out a breath I didn't realize he had been holding. "Great. That's great. And I have the perfect plan."

-------------------------------------------------->

This was not the perfect plan. 

Geez. So far I had only been worried about Eric trying to kill me. But after this, I'd be surprised if the resistance didn't come after me too. 

We were going to play-act in public, him falling in love with me. 

I know!

People don't just fall in love over an afternoon!

I tried to point this out to him; that in fact, he had been my constant companion and closest friend for over a decade now and we hadn't fallen in love. His plan didn't make a lick of sense. 

But, there I was. Sitting in the main marketplace just off the river, waiting for him to finish business with one of the local officials he had appointed just after taking over the planet. I looked down the road for the rabid horse. 

Oh, didn't I mention the rabid horse?

No?

So according to Eric, everything he ever read suggested that people fall in love with people who rescue them. 

Yeah, nothing determines compatibility like a good save. 

Anyhoo -- originally he thought he should save me from something. Except he worried that would make more sense if we wanted me to fall in love with him. Big worry, right? So then he thought I should save him from something. 

But he's kind of invincible. 

So why would he need saving?

Then he decided that I wouldn't know it was him. I would just see someone in danger and save them, only later discovering it was the Master of the Realm. 

So then he magicked up a rabid horse that would run through the city, and he told me that he would be in disguise. He didn't tell me what the disguise was going to be, just that I would know it was him. And that I should rescue him from being trampled or eaten by the rabid horse. 

And that's about when I heard the screams and some pretty unexpectedly loud galloping. 

A shadow fell over the walls of the businesses on my side of the street. 

It came around the corner, and I couldn't believe it. 

Eric was a serious dumbass. 

This horse was more the size of an elephant than a horse, and its skin appeared to be bubbling; it left a strange green froth in its wake. The few peasants out on the street immediately scattered in terror, looking for a place to hide. I stood, grabbing the dagger in my vest that would kill the thing. 

It opened its mouth. Did it neigh? No. The thing roared. 

Eric was a fucking idiot. 

...I briefly thought about letting this abomination kill Eric, and then I remembered -- wait no, wouldn't work. Eric would survive and then be pissed with me. 

The horse-thing came barreling down the street, and I quickly tried to guess which person on the street was Eric in disguise. Would he wink at me? Wear his favorite color? What?

I started toward the horse-thing myself, knowing that I would have to deal with it anyway, even if I couldn't find Eric -- that bastard. I pulled out my knife and began the words that would empower the blade further. 

The horse-thing began to charge. 

Out of the corner of my eye, an old man with a cane began to leave one of the taverns. He froze at the sight of the horse, and dropped his cane in surprise. 

The horse's attention was drawn by the noise of the cane bouncing on the street and then rolling away. 

Then it looked at the old man. 

My words wouldn't be ready. 

Boy, I hoped that old man was Eric in disguise. -Because if he wasn't, he was screwed. 

Oh. 

Oh dear. 

The words weren't going to be ready, but I couldn't let the horse get a bite out of the old man, Eric or no. I started running toward the horse-thing, only briefly thinking, "Why in the world am I running TOWARD a horse-thing?" 

And that's about when I heard someone yell, "Dor!"

I threw the knife at the horse, and began to look back. 

I caught sight of Eric's eyes under the hood of a holy man's cloak, yards behind me. He looked frightened. Odd, that. 

When I looked back at the horse-thing, the knife was sticking out of its neck, and it was staring at me, clearly pissed. 

You might ask how I would know that a horse-thing was "clearly pissed." Believe me, you can tell. 

It opened its mouth and roared again. 

I pushed the old man out of the way. And I think I knew I was going to get hit so I closed my eyes. 

----------------------------------------- > 

I couldn't move. 

Ever have those nightmares, where something's happening and you just can't move? Your body twitches, like it works -- teasing you into believing that you have some control, that your effort matters. 

I couldn't even open my eyes. Slowly I began to realize that I hurt like hell from my shoulder to my eyes. I could also smell the fact that I was home, I think down in the spell room. 

Or maybe I was crazy. 

I heard strange words. ...Sounded like a spell. 

Boy, everything hurt. 

Something soft tried to part my lips. But my jaw was stuck, locked together by the same thing keeping my limbs still -- pain, maybe?

Something held my nose shut. 

I was going to pass out. I couldn't breathe. 

"Damn it!"

Now something was back to pulling my lips apart. 

"Dor, oh..." And I wasn't sure, because this really hadn't happened before, but... someone kissed me. -Quick and hard. 

I moved then, my head turned. Too much -- I was confused. Who was there? Something grabbed my shoulder where the pain was! I tried to scream, but my throat was dry and it only hurt more. 

Liquid spilled into my throat and I started to choke. 

"Dor? Come on, you're alive. You're alive, you're alive, you're alive. I said the words. You've taken the potion."

My eyes began to open. 

Eric was crying on my chest. Damn this was a weird dream. I heard him say, "I didn't kill you, I didn't kill you."

My hand lifted and patted him on the back reflexively. 

He stilled. 

He looked up at me. 

My head felt heavy, and I sort of let it fall to the side. 

I was lying on one of the tables in the spell room. It was covered in blood. I was covered in blood. --As well as some green, frothy stuff. 

"Dor?" he asked. 

I wanted to reply. But my face really hurt. I reached up to touch it, but he stopped my hand. 

"Don't worry," he said, anxiously, earnestly, "I'll fix it. I swear, I'll fix it." He paused, like he wasn't sure what to do. Then, "Just, just go to sleep. Go to sleep," he said. 

------------------------------>

Now I was warm, too warm and I couldn't move again. But I felt so much better. I suddenly knew what had happened. It had to be those damn apples all over again. Eric used to give me healing apples at the drop of a hat, until I began to realize how addictive they were. In my early twenties I had told him, no more. 

Right now I felt like I had eaten three dozen in one sitting. 

I opened my eyes. 

It seemed like I was in a cocoon. 

I was wrapped in blankets. 

I tried wriggling out of them, and I almost did. Then I figured out what was stopping me. A large, thickly muscled arm curled around the blankets near my shoulder. A bare knee pointed like an arrow just a short distance beyond, sat in similar fashion around my blanket cocoon. 

Eric was wrapped around the blankets. 

I pushed some of the blankets away from my face to get a better look, and that's when I realized he was not dressed. 

I slid back into the cocoon, eyes wide. I hadn't seen anything, thank the heavens, but... 

I then noticed that I was not dressed. 

What?!

I covered myself, just in case the three layers of thick blankets weren't going to cut it, and closed my eyes. "Hey, Eric?" I asked, my voice a tad high. 

He mumbled in his sleep and pulled the whole bundle of me and blankets tighter. 

"Hey, uh... Eric... You awake?"

"Uh huh..." he said. 

"Pray tell, oh Master of the Realm. Why, exactly uh. Are we naked?"

No answer. No movement. 

"Gee sorry, Dor," he suddenly said, rolling me over and suddenly looking closely at my face as I scrambled to stay covered. "I guess when you have to dip your half-dead friend in a whole bathtub of potions just to keep her alive you don't worry too much about clothes."

He was prodding at my eyes, and testing them by moving his fingers around in front of my face. He opened my mouth and moved my jaw around, peering inside. "Next time," I replied, pulling my face out of his hands, "Worry."

"You've been asleep for days," he said. 

"Have you been crawling in here naked every night for days??"

He looked at me, shocked. "I never left."

Oh screw this. "Okay, get out."

"What?"

"I mean it. I need to get dressed. We've lost days now, right? That's what you're saying. You haven't been out to reinforce the wall energies or replace army units or scare the locals, in days? Do you even know what the result of that freaking horse thing was? Was anyone fooled? A single person?"

His eyes narrowed. "You were supposed to run to protect me. If you had, I could have better protected you from anything that went wrong."

"You mean the plan? You could have protected me from the plan? -Because it was pretty wrong to start with."

"Did you even want it to work? You ran off to protect that old man, didn't even wait to see..."

"You wouldn't tell me what the disguise was! I thought it was you!"

His eyes changed then. 

I looked away, and added, "I mean, I didn't know for sure. It's not like I had to worry about you anyway."

"I'm an idiot," he said. 

"I noticed." Then I suddenly realized that his arms were still around me, that it was only the lucky positioning of the blanket that I couldn't see more. "Why are we still naked?!?"

He laughed. I suddenly felt stifled, warmer. Clothing had materialized around both of us, and I quickly moved to get out of the blankets. I struggled to get off the bed, and suddenly felt woozy. 

He caught my arm before I fell. 

"You're not better yet," he said, worried, picking me up and depositing me back on the bed. 

"I'm okay."

"No, we'll stay here."

I shook my head, pained though it was. "No, you at least have to get back to work. I'll lie down for a minute and join you later."

"You know, I'm the Master of the Realm here."

"Okay, well, when your palace falls down around us and the resistance kills us both, I'll comfort myself with the fact you're the one in charge."

He leaned in and kissed my forehead. 

I found myself lying down then. 

He left. 

I went to sleep. 

------------------------------------------->

I was early. Crap. 

I was never early to meetings with the resistance. 

They were going to know I was off today. 

I still kept getting flashes of memories of the horse stomping on me before just before bursting into flames -- it was giving me headaches. --That and the fact I had no idea where this meeting was going to go. 

"She's alive!" Bolthos gasped, gaping on the other side of the bar. Dartix ran over and hugged me around the waist like a long-lost grandmother. I was surprised, and a little touched.

"I saw you dead," Dartix murmured. "Dead, by the horse."

"She'll be dead by you, Dartix," Saymar said, pulling him away gently, "if you squeeze her any harder." Saymar nodded at me, looking concerned. "Are you okay, Dor?"

"Yeah. A little sore, still."

The three of them slid into the bench across from me. Their faces were different than usual. They looked a little awed. 

"What happened? He whisked you away, but everyone said it was too late. And you've been off the radar for almost a month," Saymar said. 

"Healing up. I'm not sure what he did, but he saved me. It hurt, but I'm still alive."

Dartix's eyes widened. "He didn't kiss you, did he? -Like in the fairy tales?"

I laughed then. So did Bolthos and Saymar. 

Maybe this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. "No, Dartix. I don't think so. But I guess I was in a coma for a few days, so who knows."

Saymar's face suddenly darkened. 

"What?" I asked. 

"The pr- ..." he began, before stopping himself. "You shouldn't be in that position. It's dangerous."

"We all know the dangers."

"This is different. Before, you were in control of all your faculties."

He started to say more, but I held up a finger. "Wait, wait, wait. Last time I was here, you wanted me to seduce him. Now you're worried he might take advantage of me?"

"We wanted you in control," Saymar replied. "That's all we ever wanted. You said it yourself; who knows what he did while you were hurt."

"Saymar, the guy can make people drunk at will." Saymar's face turned from angry to outraged, but I continued, "News to me, too. But it doesn't matter. He's... he's..."

Not like that? Not into me? Eric had been adamant about what I was supposed to do: make it clear he wanted me. But Saymar had pulled the conversation into an odd direction. Somebody probably knows how many times the local people had tried to coerce me back into hiding for my own good; I had lost count. I didn't want to juggle in the issue of whether I should be living with the Master of the Realm, along with everything else that was in the air of this conversation. 




The Seduction Plan Ch. 02



"He's... determined to make up for the horse. It was his fault that thing was there -- spell gone wonky. Anyway, he feels awful about it backfiring on his loyal servant. You don't have to worry about him and me. He's... been waiting on me hand and foot this entire month."

-Not entirely true, but close enough. 

He hadn't waited on me. He had just been... unnaturally kind to me. I mean, I guess he had always been unnaturally kind. --But before the accident he treated me like a buddy he could count on to clean his room. In the last month, he had seemed concerned about how I felt. --Even, at times, whether I was happy. 

Bolthos sat back in the bench appraisingly. Sweet! He was caught. "Maybe then, you can seduce him."

"No," Saymar said, "She already told us it was off the table."

"But he clearly cares for her," Bolthos argued. 

Saymar shook his head. "If anything that means we should just take her now. If he cares for her, he'll come even if he hasn't had her yet."

Uh oh. --And, eww?

"We're not ready now," Bolthos answered. "We need time to prepare. None of the men would know the plan is still on."

"Also, guys -- I'm not exactly at 100% yet. I could use some rest before this all goes down," I added. 

"Then you'll do it?" Dartix asked. 

"Sure," I said. 

Bolthos and Dartix looked excited; like they finally had a plan that would work, like they were going to win their war. 

Saymar stared at me, his green eyes seemed darker than normal. Something about the line of his mouth made me feel uneasy. Usually I just thought of him as an attractive, intelligent guy. But there was something angry inside him now, and it wasn't an easily spotted danger. --Just danger. 

"What's your problem?" I asked. 

"You were so against it, before," Saymar replied, almost accusatory. I thought he had partially guessed the lie. I held my breath, waiting to hear it. Bolthos looked between us, eyes darting between our faces. 

Then Bolthos began to laugh, "When we all thought you were dead, everyone sang your praises, and Saymar regretted you. He thought he was falling in love with a ghost, and now you are alive!"

Saymar punched Bolthos suddenly. I barely saw him move. 

"Excuse me, Dor. I have to prepare for Gravlor's Peak," Saymar said, before leaving. 

Oh crap. 

Bolthos rubbed his jaw. Then he looked at me seriously. "Next we see you, you let us know if the Master of the Realm is really besotted. If he is, we'll kidnap you sometime before the next moon."

Bolthos got up to leave. 

Dartix took my hand. He didn't look me in the eyes. "If you're the Master of the Realm's woman... when he dies, you'll be his widow. There's no sin in being a widow. --No matter who she was with."

Oh geez. 

"Thanks, Dartix."

They left. 

Okay. Well, damn. The Seduction Plan was on after all.



The Seduction Plan Ch. 03



The Master of the Realm was in the library, trying to look nonchalant. But I knew the difference between him reading a book and waiting for me to show up. I trudged in and dropped my satchel on the floor. The noise of it hitting the tile cut through the room. 

He didn't look up from his book. "So?" he asked. 

I shrugged. "They bought it."

A smile crawled over his face and his grey eyes came off the pages, glinting at me mischievously. I looked away before it got contagious. 

"So, next month I'm supposed to let them know if you're 'besotted,' –their word, not mine – and then sometime after that they'll kidnap me."

"When?" he asked, closing his book. 

"I don't know. Sometime after the next meeting."

"Well, that could be anytime. Even before you come home from the next meeting."

"Yeah, I guess it could," I replied. "Um, Eric?"

"What?"

"Uh, you don't have any of those healing apples lying around, do you?"

He stood suddenly. "Are you hurt?" 

Oh geez, I had him all upset again. 

"No, no," I replied, backing away. "Well, I'm just a little sore. I thought just a couple bites..."

He stopped. "You're always Little Miss Don't Get Me Addicted. It must be pretty bad if you're asking."

"Nevermind. Not asking," I said, and I left the room. 

The truth was, I felt like shit after the ride home. I had barely moved in the last month and my muscles were pretty much dead. But, worse than that was that the plan was on. 

And I still didn't know what I was going to do about it. 

I should have told them. I should have just told them that he knew and let the chips fall. But he would have known. And then I would have had to tell him what I'd done. Everything would begin to unravel one lie at a time until he knew that I wasn't being coerced into working with the resistance. I had been planning to kill him all along. 

Geez! I hurt everywhere!

I pushed open the door to my room. 

Eric was sitting on my bed with an apple. 

...And I think he changed clothes. His shirt was sleeveless, and propping himself up on the bed his right arm was taut with cut muscle. In his left hand, the apple. His shirt was just a little open over his chest. –Probably because the shirt was so tight he couldn't close it any further. His legs were straight out across the bed in front of him, linked at the ankles. Playful. 

Right. 

"I said nevermind. You're right. Those are addictive."

"You had enough of these feed the city last month. Two more bites won't kill you," he replied. 

I walked over to the bed and put my hand out for the apple. He reached out too, but we weren't going to span the distance. 

I crawled onto the bed toward him. He seemed to go still. When I neared the apple though, he pulled it away. 

"Fine," I said, easing back off the bed. 

He slumped and tossed it to me. "There."

I took the apple to the little slot in the wall that led to the trash heap. I tossed it in. 

"Really, Dor!" He jumped off the bed. "You know better than to throw magic into the garbage heap. We could end up with giant rats or something." Wanting to get to the garbage slot, he put his hand on my shoulder to push me out of the way. –And it hurt. 

"Oh. Kay." I hissed, rubbing the sore spot. 

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, bewildered. "I thought you were healed. You've been telling me for weeks that you're fine."

"And if you had let me out of the palace weeks ago, I would be. Instead, I can't go for a ride or carry some groceries without wearing out because I've been in an apple coma for weeks." He reached out to touch me again. "I'm fine!" I snapped. "Just sore."

"Come here," he said. 

"I'm fine."

"Come here."

I walked over to him, and gently, he took me by the arms and turned me around. He pressed me up against the wall. "Uh... Eric?"

"Close your eyes," he said.

No. I wasn't going to do that. I opened my mouth to say so when –

Oh. 

His hand pressed into my back and for a second, I thought it was going to hurt. But it didn't. Instead, the place where he pressed felt warm and liquid and the pain was going away. 

Then he pressed somewhere else, lower, near my side. Same thing. 

Both hands slid up my back, more firmly this time and I squished into the wall in front of me. –Still felt amazing. 

His thumbs slid along the edges of my shoulder blades. 

He seemed to be pulling me apart and putting me back together. His hands were emanating heat and power and they just seemed to absorb everything that I didn't want in me.

It was when I noticed that I was drooling into the wall that I realized that I may be a little too relaxed. "I'm fa-hing a-slee."

"What?" Eric asked. 

I pulled my face off the wall. "I'm falling asleep."

He stopped, and I immediately regretted saying anything. Then he was turning me around again and putting my arms around his neck. I was too sleepy to argue, and then he swept up my legs. "You've gained some weight," he said. 

"You're about to lose some teeth," I replied. 

He took me to my bed, and I thought – okay, he's just putting me to bed. –Nice of him. I did say I was falling asleep. 

Then he rolled me over onto my stomach. 

"This isn't necessary," I began. But he was already straddling my waist and rubbing my back again. His weight pushed me into the bed and his hands seemed to melt my flesh into warm dough. 

"I need to take your shirt off," he murmured. 

"Ha! No you don't," I replied. "Believe me," I added, trying now to wriggle out from under him, "I'm not that sore."

But he just pinned me, lying down on me, his stomach on my back, and said, "No, really. I'll be able to fix you." His breath was hot on my neck, and a surge of desire pounded through my veins like a flash flood. 

I had to swallow before replying, "It's okay, Eric. Please get off."

I felt the sudden pause in his already minor movements. Then, he said, "You sound funny."

I didn't answer. 

"It's not like you to say "Please," like that, and your voice has gone all..." He began to laugh. "Thank God for you, Dor!" he said suddenly. But before I even had time to wonder what that meant, I felt and heard the distinct rip of my shirt as he tore it down the middle of my back. 

"Eric!" I yelped, clutching what was left of my shirt tightly to my body. Nothing was exposed, but this was getting ridiculous. 

His hands moved more liberally now, and quickly. But still, they seemed to magically emanate relief, and I accidentally moaned in pleasure at his touch. 

I slapped my hand over my mouth in horror. 

"Oops. Were you saving that for when we're in public?"

"Oh, shut up!"

"That's my girl. Kidding aside though, we do have to talk about the plan."

"Ugh. Why?" I replied in disgust. 

"Our timeframe is quickly dwindling and we haven't exactly gotten down to details."

"What details... oh!" I couldn't believe he wanted to have a conversation right now. It was hard enough not just giving into my instinct to purr like a kitten. "I told them the plan was on. Next time I'll tell them you love me. Then they'll kidnap me. Voila."

Without warning he rolled me over. 

He was straddling my waist with nothing but my ripped up leftovers of a shirt to cover my lady-parts. He stared into my face. "We should make it look real," he said with an intensity in his eyes that made my mouth go dry. 

"Nah..." I replied, hoarsely. 

"Why not?" he asked, insidiously lowering his upper body toward mine. 

"We, we, we don't have to."

"You're in danger, Dor," he said. No freaking kidding! "If something happens to me, they can't know that you weren't doing your job."

Well. Uh. I couldn't think. His face was so close, and I could smell every inch of him. My voice went high. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

"You don't know that," he replied. He looked like he was going to kiss me, but something other than the drooling, conscious part of my brain lifted my hand and grabbed his chin. 

"Yes I do," I said, with certainty I didn't know I had. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

He sat up a little then. The line of his mouth turned – not quite a frown, but almost. My brain scrambled for more talk; it was time to get out of this position, but I wasn't sure what to say. "After all," I finally added, "You're the Master of the Realm. You'll be fine. Now get off of me."

"You don't understand, Dor. Anything could happen on Gravlor's Peak, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen."

"You have some sort of reverse booby trap, don't you?"

"Yeah, but... I still might not make it. And you have to. You'll be the one that takes over, when I'm gone." 

Huh?

"Wait, what?"

"I'm leaving it all to you." He smiled. "What, did you think I had a polite little nephew somewhere to give my things to?" He suddenly leaned down and kissed me on the lips, quickly. 

And I remembered – 

"You've done that before..." I said. He'd kissed me before. When I thought I was dying.

"I'd like to do it again," he replied.

This time he lowered himself slowly down again, sliding his groin over my belly and his legs along mine to get into position just inches above my face. "Why?" I asked, breathlessly. 

But his lips were on mine then, parting them, snaking his tongue inside my mouth. His hands were in my hair. I didn't know what to do with my hands; I moved to rest them on his back, and I could feel that his body was so hard underneath his shirt. 

Then his hand moved down toward my chest and ripped the remnants of my shirt away. "Hey!" I protested. "Whoa. No!" He kept kissing me. "Eric!" I tried to say with my mouth full of his tongue. He moved to my cheek. Then he began kissing down my neck. 

I covered my breasts with my hands. "Stop it, Eric! You're freaking me out. There's no reason to do this," I said, as he tried forcing my fingers away with his tongue. "They'll believe whatever I tell them! We don't have to do this for real." He grabbed my wrists and pulled my arms up above my head. 

I looked away in shame, still jabbering, "Why, Eric? It's just an act! It's just supposed to be an act!"

"Look at me!" he said, his voice low but loud. –So loud he startled me into flinching away rather than looking at him. For a moment, neither of us moved. Then my synapses started firing again and I slowly let my eyes creep back toward his face. 

"I've let you live here for fourteen years. I've spent some of the most... trying years of my life, living alongside you, working with you, laughing with you, and most of all respecting you."

"Because I'm a badass," I squeaked, trying to ignore that my breasts were still fully visible. 

"Because you're a badass," he assented. "But now we have a problem. -Multiple problems. One is that I don't know that should the time come, we'll be able to make a good show of having been intimate with one another. –Which is kind of weird, considering the situation. It's a small detail, but it may be important. Another is that you've tried to kill me, and you haven't yet apologized. Part of me is beginning to wonder if you do care about me at all."

"How needy are you!" I interrupted. 

He yanked on my wrists with force. "And another problem is this: You're not the only badass. I'm the Master of the Freaking Realm, Dor." He tilted his head, and suddenly looked off into space like he was trying to figure out a math problem. "I've been so busy hanging out with you and respecting you, I haven't had a woman in over a lifetime. I might die on Gravlor's Peak." He looked back down at me. "I have no intention of letting any, not one, body of mine die a virgin. As the Master of the Realm I should be able to have any girl I want."

"Then have somebody else!"

He looked like I slapped him. 

I didn't mean to. 

Wait – yes I did! He was acting like he was about to force himself on me. My boobs were out! I wanted him off me!

"Oh," he said. He suddenly crawled off me and got off the bed. He didn't look at me. But over his shoulder he mumbled, "My spell must be off. I thought... well, nevermind then."

As I watched him exit my room, I realized that I had never felt so guilty for anything in my life. –And I had no idea why.

I avoided him for the rest of the night and next day – making a point to be absent from the spell room and the library and anywhere else I knew he'd be frequenting. 

Of course, this was the problem of living in a gigantic palace in the middle of nowhere with just one other human being. When you get in a fight, there's no one else to talk to about it. I found myself just sitting in my room, or the bathroom, or the big bay window off the south hall, thinking about what he said. 

And what he did. 

I tried not to think about it, but I literally had nothing else to think about. Eric was beautiful. I mean, I had to face it sometime or another I guess – and it was true. The guy was hotness. His eyes alone were enough to make a girl's knees pop apart and I while I have no idea when he suddenly became ripped, his body was chiseled like a statue. 

Also, I did... care about him. -Even though I had to kill him. He was my only friend. –Even though I had to kill him. And we did grow up together. Oddly enough, I trusted him. 

Though the moment I thought of this, I recalled the way he held me down on my bed and growled about having any girl he wanted. Ass. 

I supposed he thought I'd be flattered that I'd be the girl he picked. But really – it was probably laziness. He just didn't want to go all the way to town to get laid. 

Of course, he did spend a lot of time in town. 

And the locals were constantly trying to push their virgin daughters on him like free fudge day at the bakery. 

...Boy, I love free fudge day! "Try this, Dor! Try that, Dor!" I always come home stuffed with fudge! So good!

...Of course, I didn't know that Eric had ever indulged in those girls. No, I guess he didn't, if he was whining about being a virgin. 

Well, geez! Big freaking deal! So he's a virgin!

It's not that difficult; I had been one longer than he had. 

Okay! It's a little difficult, I will admit, I guess. 

Sometimes when I was down in the villages, killing time, I would see a woman link arms with her man, or kiss her husband, and I'd think – nice. And then my head would get wrapped up in it, imagining me in her place, running errands with him, walking home with him, setting the table amid kisses, and pulling him into bed later that night. Letting him fill me, and knowing he would protect me and that I never had to worry, because he'd always have my back. 

It would be lovely to be normal and in love. 

I missed having a family. I missed, deeply, being part of something. 

What if I just let him?

Gosh, no. 

I couldn't. 

I just couldn't. 

If I let him do that to me, well, how could I kill him then?

Worse, what if he found out?

He had been hurt enough by my betrayal, before he mistakenly decided I had been blackmailed into it. Gosh, if the truth ever came out...

If the truth came out now, he would kill me. And it would be fine, and fair – in its own way. I would have done my best to avenge my family, and he would know that his servant betrayed him. –Because that's all I would be. –A servant, maybe a friend. But that's why they call it "betrayal," right?

But if we were joined, I don't know. It would be different. 

Suddenly I couldn't stop thinking about him; holding me down again, forcing me for real this time, taking what's his! My brain kept filling up with wrong thoughts and images. 

I'd try to shove them aside, but that was the problem –

This was what was on the table. 

And he had made good points. –Only one good point, actually, which was that we weren't used to touching each other. Playacting the role of lover would be difficult if it came down to it. 

The other points were a little silly. He wanted an apology and he wanted to have sex. –Not really my problem. But I understood them. I felt all warm and sensitive just thinking about owing him something, when I did have only one thing to offer. 

Dor, Dor, Dor! Get this crap out of your head!

I had worked in his spell room for enough years that I didn't owe him a damn thing. –Well, if you ignored the roof over my head and the food in my belly, and all the times he'd healed me when I was injured or sick. 

And now he was my first kiss. 

Okay.

I took a deep breath and exhaled all the sex thoughts. 

Then I inhaled, hoping to have rational thinking find its way inside me. 

I couldn't keep avoiding him. 

The plan was underway. 

We did have to try to be more intimate with one another, but NOT that intimate. –On the off chance he did discover my betrayal. 

I would have to talk to him about this. 

Next time I saw him, I would have to talk to him about this. 

I should know what to say. 

With that, I realized I needed to go for a ride. Yeah, riding hadn't really worked out too well a few days ago, but it didn't matter. I had to get out of the palace and work out what I was going to say. 

I headed down to the stables immediately. 

But even though I was fairly running by the time I reached them, I found myself skidding to a stop on the threshold between the palace and the stables. There was someone in there, and it wasn't the Master of the Realm. 

The stables were dark. 

The horses were uneasy. 

Whoever was there had gone still the same moment I had, but I could almost feel this person holding his breath. 

Part of me wanted to turn back and scream for Eric. 

But I was a badass, remember? 

And what if I was wrong? What if I screamed his name for no reason at all? He would think I was trying to get his attention. He would think I was toying with him. 

If I was right, I could capture this intruder and show Eric how capable I was. Surely, if he saw that, he wouldn't be so worried about the seduction plan going awry. 

Right. So I was delusional. I was having a very bad week, give me a break. 

I stepped further into the stables, trying to think. There was a worktable just ahead of me with some horseshoes and a bucketful of dandelions. Why we had a bucketful of dandelions, I have no idea. Sweet! Punching someone with a horseshoe would have to leave a mark. 

I quietly made my way over to the table, trying to keep my eyes peeled for any sudden movements. I took a horseshoe in each hand. I debated whispering the words that would further empower my punches; it would certainly help me fight, but I didn't want to let the intruder know what I was up to. 

I crept along the stables, trying to find the intruder. 

Greystone was getting ansy in her stall, neighing and stomping and whinnying. I half-wanted to shush her. 

And then I just saw something out of the corner of my left eye – he was behind me. I swung a horseshoe, saying the words – but he grabbed my wrist and practically picked me up off the ground, shaking it out of my hand. I moved to hit him with the other, making contact with his jaw, and he dropped me to rub his face with his hand. 

"By the stars, Dor! You're dangerous!" 

"Saymar?" I asked, recognizing his voice. I was still on the ground, the horseshoes lost in the darkness. 

"Yeah. It's me."

I looked around frantically; what if Eric found him here? "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"Some of us have known for a while that one person can find the Master's palace, if he goes alone," he said. 

"Yeah. I thought everybody was too chickenshit," I replied. 

"Even me?" Saymar smiled in the darkness, before helping me to my feet. 

"Well, do you come here often?" I asked. 

"That sounds like a line, Dor."

I shrugged. "Sorry. Have to get my practice in before I seduce the Master of the Realm."

"Don't," he said quietly. 

"What?"

"Don't do it, Dor. You don't have to."

"It's our big chance, Saymar. We can finally be rid of him," I replied, softly. 




The Seduction Plan Ch. 03



"Some things aren't worth it."

"Seriously, what changed? You were up for it before."

He was quiet for a moment, then I felt his hand on my shoulder. He said, "I owe you an apology, Dor. I thought... All this time I had assumed that..." He suddenly chuckled. "Well, you've been living together for over ten years! He's a man. You're a woman. -A beautiful woman."

I pushed his hand off my shoulder. "I'm okay. But that's neither here nor there."

"I underestimated you. You've been here, doing the same work I have, and holding off his advances. I'm in awe of you, Dor. And I would be ashamed to be a part of any group that would force a good woman to whore herself for the cause."

Did this ass just call me a whore?

"Whatever, Saymar. It's my body; I'll do with it as I please. I'm going back inside now. You'd better leave."

I started back for the palace, but he grabbed my arm. Then he pulled me to his chest and put his mouth on my face. -I think he meant to kiss me on the lips, but his aim in the dark was quite a bit off.

"Saymar! What are you doing?" I pushed him away. 

He fell back a little bit. Then, "This is for your own good, Dor," he said, before rushing me and grabbing me around the waist. "I'll make a good woman of you. You deserve it."

I fought him. But he was dragging me toward a strange horse. I kept fighting; I couldn't leave this way. Also, I probably wasn't interested in Saymar's process of making a good woman. 

And then he pulled out the burlap sack, and my eyes widened when I realized I was losing. He was going to get me!

"Eric!" I screamed. "Eric!" I screamed again and again; I couldn't help it. I was scared! He was going to take me away somewhere before I had the chance to tell Eric... whatever I was going to tell him. I still had things to tell him! –This much I knew. 

And, in my least distinguished moment ever, I began to cry. 

Sob, really. 

I was stressed out. I'm female, I have hormones and emotions and it had been a bad week. Get over it. 

Saymar lobbed me over the horse and I felt him get up on the horse as well. He pulled me over his lap, in the big burlap sack. 

"You don't have to yell, Dor."

It was Eric. 

I couldn't see him, but Eric was here. 

Saymar pulled his horse around. Riding a horse sideways on my belly was super weird. 

"Master of the Realm," Saymar said. 

"That's what they call me," Eric said. 

"I am Saymar."

"Good for you," Eric offered. 

"I am taking Dor," Saymar said. 

"Doesn't sound like she wants to go."

"Women," Saymar said, I think shrugging. 

"My woman," Eric replied.

"You've taken her, then?" Saymar asked. 

"Not yet," Eric replied. "Women should never be forced to do what you can convince them to do." 

"No," Saymar said. "Dor's not for you. Take one of the town harlots. Or even one of its maids."

"I don't want them," Eric said. 

"Why Dor?" Saymar asked. 

"Why not?"

Saymar made a noise as if this was exactly the answer he expected. Then-

"She makes me laugh," Eric said. "She thinks she's a badass even though she's not, and no matter how many times she ends up in over her head as a result. She's not impressed by magic, or power, or even this hard, manly body I worked up just for her. She's bashful, and a smart-ass. She has beautiful hair, and eyes and feet. Even when she's chubby, she has a waist I want to hold forever. She treats me like the idiot I am. And I think sometimes, she loves me, even though I'm the bad guy."

"She's a fraud," Saymar said. All the air went out of me. "She's one of the resistance. She's of royal blood. She was only here to kill you. Let me take her away, before you do something you'll regret later, when you're remembering her feet and how little you've impressed her."

"I can't," Eric said. And I felt Saymar disappear beneath me. I rolled slightly on the horse's back. 

I could hear Eric walking toward me. 

He pulled me off the horse.

He pulled the bag off me, and silently wiped my tear-streaked face. 

This time, I hugged him. 

He said into my hair, "I take it that wasn't the planned kidnapping..."

I started to laugh, "No, no it wasn't."

He held me even tighter. 



The Seduction Plan Ch. 04



"So... uh. What did you do to Saymar?" I asked. We were walking back through the palace, and the Master of the Realm was holding my hand, firmly. I was trying to ignore that. –That and the nearly overwhelming urge to plaster myself to his body like some kind of parasitic octopus. 

He shrugged. "Sent him back to where he belongs."

"Like, hell? Or?"

"That's a lot of vengeance you're desiring against someone who obviously just wanted you for his own," he said with a quirk of his eyebrow. 

"He scared the shit out of me."

Eric began to laugh. "I guess! Gosh, Dor – you were crying! What happened to my little badass?"

"I'm not little," I snapped, embarrassed. "He just, he startled me. He caught me off guard. ...I didn't even hear you say a spell," I said, changing the subject. "How'd you disappear him?"

"It was the palace. I have it rigged to throw out unwanted guests. I actually had to say a spell earlier when I realized he was trying to get in, just so he could get in."

I stopped him there. "Why did you let him in?"

"I wanted to see what he was up to. So once I figured it out, I let the spell go, and the security system kicked in and sent him home."

"Oh," I said. Something wasn't working in my head. He just sent Saymar home. It wasn't that I didn't think that was fair, but... 

He looked at me curiously. "Are you okay?"

No. 

No I wasn't. 

I let go of his hand suddenly. I couldn't touch him; it was frying my brain. 

He seemed surprised by this. "What is it, Dor?"

"Are you lying about Saymar?"

He now looked at me confounded. "Why would I lie about Saymar?"

"Why didn't you kill him?" I demanded. 

"Should I have?" he asked. 

I was beginning to feel sick. Saymar invaded his home and tried to kidnap me. And I thought I recalled Eric referring to me as "his woman." Regardless of how inaccurate that statement was, it seemed to me Saymar should be top of the list of Eric's enemies. 

But Eric had only killed my family. 

-Not the man who tried to take me away. 

Was it that my parents' lives had been somehow more offensive than Saymar's?

Or was it that Saymar hadn't really committed that large of a sin in Eric's eyes?

I was just a servant. 

Maybe if I hadn't said anything, Eric would have just let Saymar take me. 

Maybe that's how simple it was to him. Men want women, they take them. Nothing personal. 

Eric reached out for me, but I couldn't. I couldn't touch him. I put my hands up and ran away. 

Down the halls that only began to light as I ran through them. Up the stairs of cold, smooth stone. I wasn't going to cry again. Not where he could see me. 

Problem was he could see me anywhere. 

I ran into my room, and pushed past him, already waiting for me by the door, looking all confused and frightened by me. I ran into the bathroom adjacent, and started to wretch. 

He came to stand in the doorway. "What. The. Fuck," he said. 

I finished, crumpled beside my toilet, sweating. 

I wanted to scream at him! Why my family! Why not Saymar!

But then he would know. 

And this plan would be for naught. 

It was probably already for naught, but now, oh man, now I really wanted it to work. I wanted the resistance to kill him on Gravlor's Peak. And I wanted it to be because of me. 

"I don't feel so good," I said. 

The Master of the Realm looked so lost for a moment there, trying to figure out how to respond. "Dor. He's not going to get you. I can protect you from him. I always could. I won't let him back in the palace. You don't have to be frightened." He stopped, looking at me, almost visibly wondering if I was comforted. "You're a badass, remember? And you have me." He put his hands out like it was a show. "Master of the Realm, remember?"

I wiped my mouth. "Yeah. Right. Well, in any case, I guess this solves the problem of convincing them. You said I was your woman to one of the leaders of the resistance himself. That'll get them moving," I said, rising to my feet. 

"Oh, we're not going through with the plan now," Eric said. 

I almost laughed. "What?"

"You screamed my name, Dor. You cried at the idea of being away from me. They're going to think that you're the one besotted."

I rinsed my face in the sink. Then I turned to look at him. He had the grace to look away. "It doesn't matter. Hell, it's better." I held up my fingers. "They get two for the price of one. I'm still great bait. Hair, eyes, feet, right?"

A could feel the quiet anger skim over the surface of his skin, touching his eyes, but not his voice. "They might hurt you."

I walked past him into my room, saying softly, "Everyone does."

He turned in the doorway. "It does not escape me that two men claiming to want the best for you have both been on the verge of 'taking you against your will' so to speak in the last couple days. I understand that would affect one's mental state. But-"

I started to undress. 

First, with my back toward him, I pulled off my top. I snapped open the bra, and threw it on the floor. Then I turned, letting him watch me fiddle with the strings and snaps on my pants, my breasts beginning to pout in the cold air. 

He swallowed. "What are you doing, Dor?"

"I'm taking off my clothes, oh Master of the Realm."

"Why?" he asked, looking panicked. 

I shimmied out of my pants and turned toward him, in just panties. "This is what you wanted."

"I'm confused," he said. 

I crawled onto the bed, and then knelt, looking over my shoulder at him. "You coming?"

He almost tripped over himself before his legs even started moving. He got about halfway to the bed, mouth hanging open slightly, before he stopped. He took a step back and closed his mouth in a firm line. 

"I can't figure you out, Dor." He lifted his arm and scratched his head, a strange grin coming over his face. "The other day I was sure you wanted me. The readings I had on you... Now, you seem so... I wasn't expecting this. It doesn't seem right... Not the way you feel inside."

For maybe two seconds there, I reconsidered. 

But it would be so nice to give into the anger and let the plan take over, no more worry, no more conflict. Just let it happen.

From whore to widow to nothing at all...

"If you want to feel me inside, maybe you should stop using magic and start using something else."

His clothes were off instantly. 

Okay, that's when my brain started to back peddle. 

He was already... ready. And being quite aware what was supposed to happen now, I began to wonder how it would happen now. –Because there was no way THAT was going to fit THERE. 

I started to crawl away automatically, but he was already there, grabbing my hips and turning me over. His mouth was on mine, his tongue was everywhere, and I could feel with a start every touch of his man-parts as they bumped into me. 

I gasped for air when he suddenly let go of my mouth to start kissing down the length of my neck and then down between my breasts. His hands were on them, kneading them, hard. I moaned and lost my control of my brain somewhere between the squeezing from his hands and the swirling from his tongue. 

Oh, I could do this.

Then his hands began to roam down around my waist. I had just enough control to look down at him, and caught him staring up at me while his mouth messaged my breast; his eyes were the eyes I had always expected to find in his face. –Dark, dangerous and not from this world. This snapped me back to the universe. 

I was going to mate with the man who murdered my family. 

I shook my head. -Had to think of anything else. 

"So... have you done this before?" I asked, unsure about how conversation worked during, you know.

He smiled, and bit me gently, pulling a gasp from me. "Not in this body," he said. 

"Oh." I nodded. Okay. Whatever. Maybe foreplay was supposed to be cryptic...?

His hands met the waistband of my panties. He pulled them partway down, then suddenly ripped them apart at the seams, tossing the remnants away from the bed. I closed my eyes as he parted my knees. Both hands trailed up my inner thighs. I put my hand over my closed eyes. Then I felt his fingers there, at the apex, and flinched. 

He stopped. 

Moments passed. 

Slowly I got up the courage to look through my fingers at him. He was looking down at me with this strange, worried expression. I lifted my hand from my face. 

"This isn't what you want," he said. 

"What? What do you mean?"

"Why are you doing this, Dor?"

"I, I want to."

"Why?" he demanded, angry. "My spell wasn't wrong, Dor. You wanted me more the other day when I nearly forced you, than you do now that you're the one asking for it. Why are you doing this? Why now?"

"It's your plan! You're the one who said we had problems! Well I'm fixing them!"

He closed his eyes, sitting back, holding my knees. "Dor, don't you know I meant everything I said back there?" He opened his eyes. "Don't you know what this means to me? The only 'Seduction Plan' I've had is for you." He rubbed his thumb on the inside of my right knee. "I've just been waiting and waiting for the right moment. -For when it would seem natural. I've wanted to seduce you since we were teenagers, but I was sure you'd bolt. And you're all I have." He looked off at my balcony. "I thought this was finally a chance to..."

For one moment, I saw a man. Eric there, between my legs, clearly wanting me and pouring his heart out, saying that he loves me. He had said it again and again and again. –When he saved me from Saymar, when he healed my injuries, when he kissed me, when he took me in and became my friend. 

It hurt so badly, knowing he loved me, I wanted to drop dead right there. "Take me."

He looked at me suddenly, and I realized he thought I was finishing his sentence. I shook my head. "No, take me. Take me now, please... Eric."

"What's wrong? I can fix it if you just tell me."

"When we're done," I lied. 

He continued to stare for a deep, long moment. 

He moved my legs, sliding them down on the bed and spreading them wide as they would go. Then he slid down too, and I was began to become alarmed again as his stuck his nose down inside my folds. 

And then his tongue came out. 

And he kissed me, hard, down there. My thighs' first instinct was to snap shut, but he just held them in place and continued to explore me with his mouth. His tongue entered me, and I grabbed my own breasts hard, not sure what to do with thrills of reaction running through my body. 

Soon I wanted more though. I couldn't take the teasing. "Eric!" I said, unthinking. He sat up then, and crawled further up along my body. A sudden wash of terror came over me when I realized he was positioning himself to enter where his tongue alone had been almost enough. "Wait," I said. 

He thrust inside. 

I felt like I had been stabbed. 

He moaned, his face going blank with need. 

Oh it hurt!

He finally looked down at me and caressed my face. "I love you, Dor."

I just nodded. He kissed me. 

Then he began to move his hips, slowly at first, but growing in pace, and then I began to feel it – the want and the need building up, as he stretched out the insides of me, pummeling my walls. 

"I love you, Dor," he said again, his eyes squeezed shut as he churned inside me. "I'll never let anyone take you away. You're mine. Forever."

My body split and shattered into a million pieces without even changing. 

He dripped sweat onto me, and part of me realized that we were one now. 

With one last stiff shudder, he collapsed onto me, filling me with his seed. 

And I knew that when I killed him, I would die too.



The Seduction Plan Ch. 05



He slept, wrapped around me. 

I didn't think I would ever be able to sleep again. My stomach kept knotting up tighter and tighter with each mere moment that passed. 

Saymar was probably telling the others, right now, how I had fallen for the Master of the Realm. They would never trust me again. 

But the plan was on. It had to be on. 

I looked at his sleeping face. His breath was warm and his brow relaxed. The last decade of my life had not been a waste. I had seduced him and now I would get my revenge. I looked at his lips. I could still taste him in my mouth. I closed my eyes and remembered that this was what I wanted. 

Mom had been a jokester; she loved pulling pranks on her daughters and husband King. Dad pretended he didn't approve; he'd sit on his throne and shake his head and tell her that Queens should not pull pranks. Of course he couldn't keep a straight face when a bucket of water would mysteriously spill over his head. And he would chase her through the castle and the guards would look like they didn't know what to do, and the rest of us would roll on the ground laughing. 

My father loved my mother in a quantity larger than could be considered within the bounds of the universe. 

My eldest sister, Ilsara was going to be married. There was a prince nearly an entire continent away named Mavgor; he wanted to marry her. I thought Mavgor was a hideous name at the time and told her often it was a bad idea. She always seemed a little sad that I wasn't happy for her, but there it was. A terrible name is a terrible name, and there was nothing I could do about it. 

Still, when she was gone, killed before she had a chance to meet her groom, I wished I hadn't said anything. I could still remember brushing out her long golden hair, jealous because mine was so different -- dark and curly, and telling her what a mistake she was making. Imagine! A twelve-year-old talking to an adult like that; but I guess that was classic me. My mouth worked better than I did. Why didn't I just tell her how happy I was for her? How beautiful she was? My sister Ilsara had been a girl who had never, and would never do the wrong thing once in her life. Why couldn't I have taken her place? Why couldn't she have been the one to survive?

Ilsara wouldn't be lying in bed with the Master of the Realm. Ilsara wouldn't be plotting to kill him, or anyone. Ilsara wouldn't have betrayed the resistance to him. --Or him to the resistance, for that matter. Ilsara would have known what to do. 

And whatever she did, she would have been graceful about it. 

Eric pulled me tighter, sleep-mumbling, "Mine," and burying his face in my neck. His smell was intoxicating, and I was depressed though not shocked to discover that I wanted him carnally, again, already. How did divorce happen? Surely no one had the complaints I did, and still I was overwhelmed, drowning, in the force of our mating. Even justified, I would go to hell for betraying a bond this strong. 

But this was the plan and it was going to work. 

Somehow. 

Obviously the resistance would suspect that if I was in love with Eric, I would warn Eric. Couldn't really blame them for that leap of logic, seeing as how I had told Eric everything even before... before whatever this was... happened. 

Would they still bother to kidnap me?

Would I be dead to them, or maybe, maybe the plan would change, had already changed. Maybe they still meant to take me away but now kill me, for the betrayal. 

Gravlor's Peak. 

The Master of the Realm's power would be lessened on Gravlor's Peak. Perhaps, perhaps if the resistance wouldn't meet him there, perhaps I still could. I would have to stay out of the resistance's hands long enough to do the job myself.

"Dor," he whispered into my skin. "You said you'd tell me what was wrong when we were done."

"Who said we were done?" I asked. And I kissed him, pulling him on top of me. 

"More?" he asked, unable to help the smile in his voice. 

I nodded, adding, "In my father's day, devoted couples would have to stay in bed for two weeks straight after their first mating, otherwise they weren't allowed to marry."

"How did they eat? Or go to the restroom?" Eric asked, chuckling. 

"They could go to a restroom if it was close to the bed, but a lot of them used chamber pots. And as for food, well -- people in those days were allowed to marry whoever they wanted, but in those two weeks the couples had to rely on the support of their families and friends to bring them food and water. If their loved ones didn't approve, well, those couples didn't make it."

"They had to give up?"

"In some cases. But the ones that were really in love, well, a lot of them just died."

Eric was quiet a moment, simply looking at me under the light of the moon. Then he said, "You want to stay here for two weeks?"

"We'd never make it," I laughed. 

"Yes we would," he said. 

"You have work to do," I replied. 

"What if," he began, then he paused. He leaned in and gently caressed his face against my own. "What if we get up tomorrow, and do all the work we can, set up some spells to keep the place running on its own for a while? Then jump back in bed for two weeks. --That's not too much of a cheat, is it?"

"It's not... I was just telling you a story. --To point out that I'm being exactly insatiable here. It's just a story about how things used to be," I replied. 

"Marry me," Eric said. 

"You know that on this planet, that's just a formality," I said, shaking my head. He was just staring at me though, wanting an answer. Quietly, I pointed out, "When you took me, I became yours." I poked him in the chest with my index finger. 

He kissed me then, suddenly and deeply. 

I felt almost as if I was disappearing, dispersing into the air -

"I'm glad you know that," he said. "Still, I like formalities."

I took a breath, thinking. 

He began kissing me, which was way too distracting. 

Gravlor's Peak. 

A kidnapped bride. 

Oh Eric tasted good. 

I could kidnap myself, if necessary, I guessed.

And his hands... 

I realized that I would need to figure out what Eric had originally planned for Gravlor's Peak.

He got into position between my legs, then spread his hands through my hair. 

...Damn, if only I had found out what the resistance had originally planned, this would all be a lot simpler. I hadn't wanted to know the details though; I had figured they would handle it... and I suppose I really hadn't wanted to know in any case. 

Eric's mouth pulled off mine, and he looked pissed. "WHAT is bothering you?" he demanded. 

"I'm just thinking about the Plan."

"No! No way, Dor -- we're done with the plan. Those bastards want me, they can come get me. They're leaving you the hell out of it."

"For one thing, that might not be entirely within our control," I said. 

"Everything is under my control," he said, serious. "I am the Master of the Realm." For emphasis, I suppose, he pressed his male hardness up against me, eliciting my sudden gasp. 

In a moment's reflection though, his action struck me as pretty silly. So I began to giggle. 

He slumped. "Are you laughing at me, Dor?" he asked. 

I just nodded, still giggling, trying to ignore the pressing weight of guilt and sadness that I couldn't escape no matter how much I tried to focus on the plan or his words or anything, anything at all. 

"Heartless, cruel, badass, Dor," he said, contemplatively. -Everything he said was eerily true. "I would do anything for you. I will do everything, from now on, for you."

"How about a big wedding?" I asked, my heart itself jerking like it didn't want to hear my deceit. 

"Of course."

"In town," I suggested. 

He paused. "Why in town?"

"We can't have it here. We're ALWAYS here. How would I know it was a wedding and not a Thursday?"

"I've always thought the palace would make a great wedding venue," he replied, shocked. 

"First, I'm, I'm flabbergasted you've thought about it before," I began. 

"A man can dream."

"And second, this palace has always been the most maddeningly tacky building on the planet."

Uh oh. 

He actually... looked offended. "I designed every brick of this palace!" he declared. 

"On the same day you came up with the plans for the horse thing? If so, we should make that a holiday. --Is there a patron saint of bad ideas?"

He gave me one last withering look before getting up and leaving the bed. 

I laughed, "Where are you going?" He ignored me. "Eric! It's okay, you're the Master of the Realm, the Patron Saint of Bad Ideas can't steal your thunder!" I was finally cracking myself up. 

It seemed to brighten his mood a bit too -- he was suddenly dressed, and he paused in the doorway to watch me silently laugh, open mouthed. He was trying to look angry with me, but he didn't quite manage it. "I'm going to get working now. You get some rest. Big day tomorrow."

Such a good idea, that. 

And I tried to hold onto my laughter for as long as I could, hoping against hope I could fall asleep with a smile. But it disappeared as quickly as he did, and I was back to feeling like the horrible person I certainly was.

I would never see my family again. --Not the ones in heaven. 

Though... maybe Eric would forgive me in hell. 

Morning light crept over the balcony and through my room almost clumsily; waking me up despite the gentleness of the color and the lack of warmth it brought. I rolled over in my bed, discovering I was still naked from the night before, still sore and messy down below. I felt a little like I wasn't quite complete anymore; being apart from him was like being a piece torn from the whole. 

Oh bullshit, Dor. He's a man. You're a woman. You mated. Big deal. Everyone does it sooner or later. 

I went to wash in the bathroom, considering my options. 

I turned the knobs to fill the tub; the water was instantly warm and scented. I plugged up the drain and watched the level rise. 

Truth was I had as many options as I ever had. If I wanted, I could just get back on track for the ideas I planned on using before this Seduction Plan had even come up. I could just go on trying to kill him my way.

-Except he was reading my emotions, damn him. That's why none of those plans had worked before. -Or at least in the last year. He thought he knew when I was up to something. 

Damn it. I was up to something this moment. He had to know. That was what was bothering him last night, after all. If he could tell that I was trying to kill him all those other times I had been simply a little down about it, what must he have thought last night when I gave him my body as a betrayal?

And it was too much, I realized now. I had gone too far. I had been upset, and scared, and I did something I would always, always regret.

This is why it had to be for something.

I slipped into the bathwater, suddenly realizing how dirty I felt. 

So, no. No more plans bound to fail. 

This was for real, now. 

-Not that it hadn't always been... but... I couldn't fail this time. 

I picked up a scrub brush and a wedge of yellow soap. I started with my feet. 

Gravlor's Peak. 

It was my only chance to kill him. And I had to be sure. If he survived long enough to look at me with sincerely betrayed eyes... 

He would be obviously suspicious if I just planned a picnic up there. The kidnapping was still the best plan. If he was honestly weaker up there, then I had a few options... but I wondered what the Resistance had planned. Hell, they might still have a trap in place up there. 

I had to know. 

I couldn't plan without knowing. 

I'd have to talk to them. 

Eric appeared in the door. My eyes slid over to him. I was blank-faced; his spell almost had me worried he could read minds. And for some reason my first reaction to that sort of threat was a poker face. Yeah, sure that would work. 

"You're late; should have been downstairs ten minutes ago."

"I'll be out in a minute."

He stepped into the bathroom and started walking toward the tub. His eyes had gone dark. He was staring into the water. 

"Eyes up here, Buddy," I said. 

"I forgot how breasts float a little in water," he said. He smiled strangely, like he was lost in a memory, and began to say, "When I was," then he stopped abruptly, almost like he remembered where he was. He looked at me. "You're beautiful; you know that right?"

"I know what I look like, Eric. My room has a mirror."

"Right," he said, coming even nearer. 

I don't know why it made it harder for me to breathe, him standing over me like that. I should have been past that. We had already been together. But my knees shivered, not sure whether to hide myself or present. 

Suddenly he knelt by the tub, rolling up one of his sleeves. 

I swallowed. "Uh, you know I'm really going to get out now; I'll be down in a minute."

He put one of his hands in the water. "It's okay;" he said, just testing the temperature for a moment, "I finished everything last night." His hand then skimmed the surface of the water, headed for me. "When you're done, you can come back to bed." His hand dipped down and cupped my right breast firmly. I gasped. He massaged me with his thumb and my nether regions ached to hold him. 

"Okay," I said, then, "Wait, what? You're done?"

"Yeah," he said, "I'm kind of awesome." Then he pulled gently on my breast and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders as he brought me into his kiss. 

Why were our most intimate parts separated by the tub?!?

Wait -- no, that wasn't the problem. 

The problem was I had things to do. 

I pulled away, though he still hadn't let go with his still massaging hand. "Okay, wait, I'm not done with the... Hey, uh, this is really distracting," I said, pointing to his hand. In reply, he kissed me on the nose. He didn't remove his hand though. "Uh, still... But, anyway -- before we can get back to bed, I have to go into town, for... uh, supplies."

"No you don't," he said, leaning in to kiss me again. 

"Yes I do," I said, discovering the warmth of my bathwater was a tease; warm and seductive like a body with none of the hardness or pressure of one. I was too, too ready. 

"No you don't." He then swept his upper half into the tub, pulling me into his arms and off my feet... er, rear, I guess, and out of the water. He was soaking wet, but he didn't seem to notice as he carried me back into the bedroom. 

Then he dropped me, a sopping mess, onto my best sheets. "Wait!" I finally put my foot down. "Wait," I said calmly, trying to ignore his sex eyes. "Seriously Eric, I have things I have to take care of." He opened his mouth to respond, but I stopped him, putting up a hand. "If you want to do this right, I have to go to town. Lady... stuff," I added, assuming that would shut him up. 

He paused, leaning back on his heels a bit. "I do like your lady stuff."

"I noticed. Look, I'll be back before sundown."

"I'll come with," he offered, his clothes suddenly drying with purpose. 

"No! No, no," I tried to look appalled by the idea of doing lady shopping with him -- hopefully it would seem right compared to his readings of my feelings or aura or whatever it was. "This is not," I waved my hands around, "Not something for you. To be a part of."

He looked at me suspiciously. 

"Can't a girl have some mystery? You're... defeating the purpose of my going in the first place. Nevermind." I'm not sure why "nevermind" felt like such an ace in the hole, but I think it was. The look on his face gave me permission before anything else did. 

I stood up to kiss him, and was startled when he pulled me in hard to his body, one arm trapping me tight to his chest, the other suddenly and unabashedly exploring my backside. He was getting kind of rough. When he let go of me, I almost fell. 

"I thought I was losing my mind before I had you, Dor. Sometimes I wanted you so badly I thought I'd do something terrible. But it was nothing before. It was nothing compared to now." My underwear materialized over my body. It was an odd feeling. I immediately had to readjust the bra. "I've often wanted something, badly, only to lose interest once I had acquired it."

"Since when is that true?" I blurted out. "You acquired the whole damn planet -- and you sure haven't..." I stopped when a shirt and pants appeared over my body. Socks began rolling up my feet. "I'm not wearing socks today." I started pulling them off. 

"You're not wearing... Of course you're wearing socks today. You should wear socks everyday!" 

"It's too damn hot."

"Not later. Not at sundown when you'll be riding home. To me."

"Well hopefully you'll have lost interest in my feet by then," I began. 

He attacked me. His body fell onto to mine and then the bed, and he was kissing, and pressing my arms into the mattress, pinning my waist with his own. "I've been trying to tell you, my stupid, badass Dor. I thought that taking you would calm my desires. I thought if I just did it, went ahead and had you, it would relieve me of this sense of distraction." He kissed my face -- all over. 

"Gee, thanks."

"And I was an idiot. I've sealed my own doom, with you. I want you even more. I can't even believe it. I honestly thought that this would satiate me... make me able to... treat you like a..." he suddenly stilled. 

I shrugged. "Like a person who's tried to kill you?"

Slowly he lowered his lips to mine. "You'll be the death of me."

"Okay!" I said, shoving him off me before grabbing my pack from under the bed. "Sundown!" I said simply as my departing words, fleeing the room and the palace. 

I was riding Greystone, unable to remember how exactly I got out of there so quickly, trying to ignore the water in my eyes that hadn't shed yet, but was going to. But now at least I had my mission. They might kill me on sight, the resistance, but that was better, easier to focus on. A mission. The mission. Calm down, Dor -- the plan was working...

Much too well... 

I made sure to dry my eyes before stabling my horse; the town was awake and bustling with merchants and travelers, gossips and traitors, people, people, everywhere. 

I pulled my pack over my shoulders and managed a smile to some passerby. I would go down to the fruit market and see old Kiel Boringkton about seeing one of the Resistance's members. That might catch them off guard, my asking to see them without warning, but it could buy enough time to...

A hand slipped into mine, clutching my palm. I looked over to find Dartix, eyes wide and honest under the shade of a hood, holding my hand and pulling me to a side alley off the main way. He was nodding in that direction. 

Oh Somebody, I pleaded to the universe, if they're going to kill me, don't let them make Dartix do it. He's just a kid!

I thought about resisting, refusing... but what could I do then? My plan was to meet with them after all. I let him pull me into the alley, where he pulled off his hood while pressing me into a corner behind a garbage heap where no one could hear us. 

It stank there. 

"Dor! We know about Saymar!" he whispered quickly and furiously, "We know what he tried to do!"

My mouth was suddenly dry. "I'm sorry, Dartix, but it's complicated, I had to..."

"You were just sticking with the plan, we know, Dor."

Oh. They did?

Dartix looked so furious all of a sudden; more impassioned than I had ever seen him before. "Once Saymar returned, Bolthos and the others knew there was something wrong with his story. We've been watching him, Dor. We know now. He's... a traitor."

"Oh?"

"We've been waiting for you to return, keeping a close eye. Saymar doesn't know that we've caught him yet. And he's swearing up and down that you're the traitor." Dartix suddenly chuckled, oddly. "Like that makes any sense at all. It's your throne!"

"Shut up!" I hissed, grabbing his mouth. 




The Seduction Plan Ch. 05



He pulled his face out of my hand, carefully. "Sorry. We've led Saymar to believe that we believe him. So we have to be careful. I'm supposed to tell you that the plan is still on, and that we have your back. --Even if it doesn't always look like it."

"Oh, that's a relief," I replied, rolling my eyes. "But what's all this traitor business?" I asked. "Obviously he nearly ruined the Seduction Plan, but I don't think that was his aim, necessarily." The guy had scared the shit out of me, but now that I had cooled down quite a bit I knew I didn't want his blood on my hands.

Dartix swallowed and leaned in conspiratorially. I almost smiled at this, not imagining that we could get any more conspiratorial. Then his words cut through me, making me realize, yes, yes we could. 

"We have evidence he is the Hand of the Master."

I swallowed. I sniffed. I turned away. 

My heart began racing before I even fumbled about for an argument, the old arguments, the old answers. 

----------->

When it first happened... when the Master of the Realm came and killed my family and took over... of course there were rumors. That's all crappy, lame-ass commoners have, you know -- rumors. There were all these stories about the Master of the Realm knew exactly what to do and who to kill and what to put in place. 

They said there was a traitor to my people who helped the Master of the Realm take over the planet. 

Of course, it was ridiculous. 

There were also stories that the Master of the Realm had been to our planet before and had even been a good friend of my father's. 

Old wives' tales included that he was a ghastly monster who could change forms and become other people. 

He also was known to use the skin of his victims to sew hats for poor children during the rainy seasons. He smoked magic herbs out of a witch's skull and drank sand to make his skin like stone. He could speak to his people across the universe, and capture women in his smile -- which is why he always frowned; so they couldn't get out.

I would have gotten the traitor, had there been one. 

The Master of the Realm was more than a man, this had been my difficulty. But a simple traitor? I would have dragged him through the streets with his belly cut open to leave a trail. 

They called him the Hand of the Master... 

------------------->

"Nope! Doesn't exist," I said. 

"It's Saymar, Dor," Dartix said. 

"That doesn't even make any sense. The man who betrayed my family would be rich and well off, and have no beef with the Master. Saymar has a beef." And then I was struck dumb by the thought -- maybe he doesn't. My mouth dropped open. 

Eric had said it himself. The Seduction Plan was for me. He'd mentioned that in the stories, a rescue usually does it; the horse-thing didn't work, maybe was never supposed to work... So he told his Hand to run up and try to take me away, and then he swept in...

No, wait -- he couldn't have known how I'd react. No. No. No. 

"Dor, we don't know all the details yet. We do think he has some animosity toward the Master, but it's because he doesn't feel he's been treated with the sort of appreciation you're talking about. But he's not for the resistance. If anything, he's a spy."

I thought I was going to vomit. 

No. No, that couldn't have been planned. What if I had gone with Saymar willingly? It would never have worked. He couldn't plan that! He just couldn't!

What would the point be?! What was his endgame? Sex? Just sex? He couldn't just go buy a harlot? He had to trick me?! No, no, nu-uh. -Didn't make a lick of sense. "No, Dartix. No, you're wrong." I took his arm, feeling dizzy. I looked into his eyes, pleading for at least one person in this alley to understand. "I saw them together. They didn't know each other. They weren't..."

I turned away in time to vomit. 

And then the color began to leak of the world. Everything went white.



The Seduction Plan Ch. 06



I felt Dartix's little shoulder slip under my armpit as my legs disappeared. I swung my head around; I could still barely see, but he was there. I was cold, slimy and sweating. 

"Dor? Dor! ...Damn damn damn." 

I lurched. 

"Wait. Wait right here." He was easing me to the ground. I was sitting in garbage. 

Boy. Everything stank.

My eyes opened. I blinked color back into my vision. I recalled that I hadn't really eaten since the day before, shaking my arms. The smells assaulting me down here were waking me up, but not helping my instinct to swoon in the least. 

"What's the problem?" hissed a large man in a cloak. I looked at him lazily, wondering if he was going to be a problem, before realizing that Dartix was behind him. 

"She fainted. I told her... anyway, she fainted!"

"Shut up, Boy," the stranger said. 

"I'll be fine," I blurted, "I just, I'm tired and hungry and the sun must be getting to me." Both Dartix and the stranger looked around; the alley was pretty much in complete shade. Okay -- so big news affects me. Even badasses faint sometimes. Shut up. 

The stranger unhooked his cloak; he was sort of handsome close up, but blurry -- and probably a foreigner, and wrapped it around me. Suddenly he had picked me up, but Dartix pulled on his arm. "No, no, no, Seamus. It'll cause too much attention."

"She can't walk," he replied. 

"Yes I can," I said, trying to push out of his grasp. He fought me though --

"Don't," he growled, before I finally got to my feet. ...And almost fell into more garbage. He put out an arm to help me though, and I took it. 

"I have to walk. Just help me," I said. 

"She needs food," Dartix said, taking my other arm. "And Saymar can't see her."

"Okay!" said the stranger, AKA Seamus, annoyed.

After trekking down the road the ways with the help of Dartix and Seamus, we skirted down an alley and another, where we weren't likely to be seen but more than likely to get food. Dartix's mother had an alehouse out here, not very popular though. The food was expensive and the beer was not tasty. She was ugly and her waitresses were mean. I had no idea how a cute young thing like Dartix had managed to pop out of her; I always smiled trying to imagine that maybe his mother had been with a very handsome man, somehow. Of course, it was impossible to know. Apparently Dartix's dad had been a palace cook once upon a time, but several years after my parents were killed, he met his own end trying to find work out in the islands off the coast of Handrasi. Dartix blamed his father's death on his not being a palace cook, so of course, Dartix was for the resistance. Sometimes I would sit and try to remember the faces of the palace cooks... but I could barely remember the faces of my own family. 

It then occurred that Dartix really wasn't much of a boy anymore. He had to be fourteen now. So skinny. I didn't remember kids being that skinny when I was his age. Of course, I only had myself and Eric to really compare him with. 

I wouldn't live to have children of my own. 

I was the last of my line, and it would die with me. 

Dartix interrupted my thoughts with a large tankard of nasty smelling ale. "Oh Dartix!" I said, before putting my hand to my mouth. 

"Food's coming up, Dor," he said, eyes wide, before scurrying off. 

"It can't be that bad," Seamus said, pulling the tankard away from me and taking a gulp. He looked like he was going to turn green. "Okay. You were right."

I nodded back feebly, and leaned back. The one and only good thing about this place was the padded booth seats. I wanted to roll up in mine and pass out. 

"You look terrible," Seamus said. "What happened to you?"

"No, no, no," Dartix said, "You're not authorized to talk to Dor, Seamus. No one but me and Bolthos from now on."

"I just asked her how she was, Dartix," Seamus said. 

"I heard you ask her 'what happened,' Seamus. That's not, 'how are you?'" Dartix said. 

I closed my eyes and listened to them argue until there was the distinct clang of full dishes hitting the table. I looked down at the plates. Oh, thank Somebody! Food. Breakfast food, like the palace cooks used to make. Why I could remember food and not faces... well, one more strike against me -- I suppose I was always destined to be a horrible person.

"It's on the house, Dor," Dartix said proudly, before adding, "Not for you though, Seamus. You've got to pay." Off Seamus's look, Dartix said, "You're new to the Resistance, Seamus. You don't eat for free for at least... six more months."

"You're making that up," Seamus said.

Dartix just smiled roguishly and began digging into his own plate. 

I ate and ate and ate some more. It was soothing, the food. Everything seemed less horrible, and I could feel that I was beginning to think more clearly. 

Of course there was no such thing as the Hand. 

Eric had worked alone. 

I had to figure out what the plan for Gravlor's Peak was.

Then return to Eric and figure out... his plan... sometime in the next two weeks we'd be spending in bed. Oh geez... How was I going to...?

I shoveled more food in my mouth. 

"You were hungry," Seamus said. 

I began to nod when the main door to the establishment swung open. The few others in the room looked up; not in a curious way, but in a ready way. Shit. 

"Dartix," I said. He frowned, motioning me to hide under the table. 

I slid under, already knowing that it was likely fruitless. After a few steps, I knew who was coming through the door. 

Saymar. 

I watched his boots approach the table. 

"Dartix," he said, in a friendly way. "Seamus..." he added, pausing... I closed my eyes. Of course, he would be looking at my empty plate right about now. 

"We're waiting for Hogarth!" blurted Dartix. 

"Looks like you couldn't wait for Hogarth," Saymar said. He put a hand on the table, and I watched his knees begin to bend. 

I leapt up, knocking the table off its feet and into Saymar. Surprised, and half-covered in food, he stepped back long enough for me to grab Dartix and press a dagger to his chest. Granted, it looked like a bluff at that angle, but that's what it was. 

It was Dartix after all! I wasn't putting anything that sharp near his throat. 

"I'm leaving," I said. 

Saymar smiled and the color of his eyes went flat and still. 

"If you want me to leave the boy alive," I added, "You'll let me go." I backed toward the door. 

"You'd kill Dartix," Saymar chuckled. 

Okay. Bluff called. "Maybe just maim him," I said, eyebrows raised. 

Saymar drew his thumb down the deepest scar on his face. "Maybe that's just what the boy needs."

"You're a mess. In the head. You're a headcase, that's what you are! And probably a liar," I said, hoping loud accusations would keep him from following. But they didn't; he stepped slowly toward me, mirroring every step I took - except his strides were terrifyingly longer. 

"Please!" Seamus suddenly pleaded, stepping between us and Saymar, "Please don't hurt the boy!"

"Out of my way, Seamus!" Saymar growled. 

"He's just a boy!" Seamus said, ignoring Saymar. 

I continued to back up. Luckily, Seamus stayed frozen in place. Suddenly Saymar threw a table out of the way to get around Seamus. I threw Dartix into Seamus's arms, and ran for all I was worth out of there. 

Once outside, I held my dagger tight and began murmuring words of empowerment. I could hear Saymar following, but I didn't dare look back yet. Once the dagger felt heavy with power in my hand, I took a breath and looked back. 

Oh, he was gaining on me, even as he barreled through the townfolk milling about. Geez! Running after me like this, he seemed like he was the same size as that fucking horse thing! Where in him could I put the dagger? What could I cut that would stop him from chasing me?

I quick tried to call Greystone with magic words, the way that Eric taught me... but I had never been any good at that. Greystone didn't come. 

I made a sharp turn around a corner, and ran straight into an errand boy. He had been running too. Now we were both on the ground. I moved to leap to my feet, but suddenly my feet were off the ground. 

Saymar had picked me up again. He threw me over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. I quickly thrust the dagger into his back. 

He stopped. I froze. He turned his head to look at me, just as I slowly turned my head to get a look at him. "You just stabbed me in the back, Dor," he said quietly, eyes narrow. 

"Uh. Wasn't me?" I tried. 

He moved a hand to get it out, and I tried to use this as a chance to escape, but he just squeezed his remaining arm around me tighter, like a snake squeezing its dinner to death. 

I probably shouldn't have eaten so much. The squeezing was uncomfortable -- something was going to give if he didn't stop. 

He batted at the knife a bit before saying, "Take it out of my back, Dor."

"No," I replied. 

"Dor, if you don't get it out of me right now," he began. 

"Saymar, it was a magical blade. It's not coming out," I lied. 

His voice bellowed like the horns of the old royal symphony, "What?!"

"But, if you let me go, I can undo the spell that makes the dagger poisonous." As these lies spilled from my mouth, I began to wonder why I didn't know any spells like these. They certainly would be useful. Maybe I could ask Eric about it... you know, before I betrayed and murdered him and sexed him up. --Not in that order. 

"You lie," he said, in a voice that had just a tad more hope than it would if he were sure. 

"Okay. Great. I'm lying. Let's uh, go about our business then. What's the plan, man? You're going to kill me, right? Where should we go to do that? Take your time though, it'd be nice if the poison kicked in before you have a chance to make me a good woman."

He laughed at me then. "Dor, you bitch. You're in love with enemy. You must be an excellent liar."

"I'm in love with the enemy? Do you think that because I'm not in love with you? Or do you think that because I stuck to the plan? --Because in either case, you're a dumbass."

"You were there, you called out his true name, pled it like a wife."

"That was the plan, Ass-hair."

"And he came for you, not because he wanted you, but because you were his."

"Okay Saymar, I'm surprised they didn't go over this when you joined the resistance, but there's this thing called, 'A plan.'"

"I know what you are, and I'm going to use you," he said, low and slow, practically just to himself. -That scared me. I began a new assault, beating him and slapping him around the neck and back of his head. I kicked as violently as I could, but didn't seem to hit anything. 

"What? Couldn't wait for the poison to set in?" he laughed. 

But then I heard it; I almost wept from relief at the sound. It was one of Eric's patrols -- his little army men made out of old bones and sand and rain. I looked over my shoulder and saw them. Two dozen of the little faceless guys, all only about 5'5 but bulky and the color of the desert, were coming down the street. The townspeople all did as they had already been doing; retreated further into the buildings but made sure to stick around long enough for the show. 

I looked at the shadows the buildings cast. Huh. Wasn't time for a patrol... but I wasn't about to complain. 

"Help!" I shrieked. 

The little faceless captain jerked in alert, and pointed a sandy finger at me. They all began to march for us. 

"Fuck," Saymar said, turning to run. I restarted my assault as he fled with me over his shoulder. He twisted one my arms in his hands until I screamed. I kept my tearing eyes on the soldiers though -- they were coming for me, they would save me. 

The captain of the little patrol was close enough on Saymar's heels, I reached out for him, and he did the same. I felt the grain of his fingertips on mine. At the touch, the swirl of his face changed, and I thought I could see the outline of a mouth, a shallow cavern open where a face should be, and it said, "Dor!"

Quickly, its free hand also reached out, but this time not for me. The arm turned to blade and stabbed Saymar through. Saymar jerked on the sword, but even then I think I knew it wasn't as bad a blow as it looked. The way he felt beneath me, I knew something was off. 

But I was tumbling away from him, and sand soldiers were throwing themselves on the ground to break my fall, and I wasn't so worried about whether or not he was playacting. 

"Thank you," I said to them, even though they weren't real. One put out his hand to help me as I got up, after all. I could return the favor of being polite. 

That's when I saw Dartix warily approaching. Obviously, members of the resistance and the masters' armies didn't mix. He kept an anonymous distance.

"You know who I am," I said to the captain. He nodded his head. "I'm second in command to the Master of the Realm. I'm ordering you all to wait here. I have to do some business." He nodded and saluted and began gesturing to the other sand soldiers. I looked at Saymar's body lying on the ground, wounded. His eyes were closed. He looked sort of dead -- but I didn't want to get too close. I kicked him in the ass. He didn't flinch. 

Well, that part at least was over. 

I walked over to Dartix. 

"Sorry, Dor. I ran to get help. I told Seamus to try and stop Saymar, but I don't know where he went." Suddenly he looked surprised. I turned around. Saymar was gone.

Crap. I walked back to the soldiers. I looked at the captain. "Did you see the man you stabbed leave?" 

He nodded his head. Damn it. I had ordered them only to stay there. 

And Eric always wondered why I wasn't impressed by magic. 

I walked back to Dartix. "All I want to do is go home and take a bath, but I need to find out what the plan is."

Dartix nodded. "I'm supposed to bring you. Bolthos was already on his way to... well, we're going somewhere important."

-------->

It was getting later in the day. We hadn't gone far on foot, but it was further than I had bothered to go in years. I began thinking about the ride back and what I needed to get so that I didn't return to the palace empty-handed. Lady stuff... Geez. What could I pickup that would look like "lady stuff" to Eric?

I noticed some of the old architecture Dartix and I were passing; these were buildings I hadn't seen since I was a kid. "Gosh," I said, "I remember these. I think. It's been so long."

"You haven't been this far south?" he asked. 

"Well, I don't need anything I can't get from the main market. I meet you guys up in the San Drumais area."

"I always thought you traveled more," Dartix said. 

"Actually we do. I've been to the towns on the other side of Shoreblood Lake, the islands of the Upsi sea, there are people out north of the deserts so far that there are trees everywhere. But, we never stay long -- a few hours here and there. The Master prefers his palace," I said, rolling my eyes. "I even saw Gravlor's Peak once, from a distance. He pointed it out to me. Something about the stone up there -- it's not from this world."

"That's how they'll trap him," Dartix said. "Those stones will make him normal, take his power. Then he'll be like any other man."

"I didn't know that," I replied, truthfully. But part of me doubted it immediately -- because Eric wasn't like a sand soldier or a magic apple or even the palace. He wasn't composed of something other than normalness, he wasn't composed of magic. He just knew how to use it. Saying that something could take his power from his body was like saying it could take his mind from his brain. 

"When he's just a man, they'll hunt him down like a dog. Bolthos is worried he's too smart to be captured easily in any case, which is way we're building the big, spring loaded," Dartix was saying just when Seamus appeared out of nowhere and smacked him hard in the face. 

I immediately punched Seamus in the eye, and he staggered back. 

"The boy shouldn't talk in the street!" Seamus sputtered, like he was going to cry but was just this side of able to refuse it.

"He's right, Dartix," I agreed, though I would have loved to hear the rest here rather than bother with more clandestine meetings. 

"Where have you been?" demanded Dartix, still rubbing his sore mouth. 

"I uh, was going to cut off Saymar, but those soldiers got in the way. In any case, she's safe."

"No thanks to you, Seamus," Dartix grumbled. 

"Okay, okay -- how much further do we have to go?" I asked. Dartix and Seamus exchanged a look. 

---------------------------->

"Daaartix!" I whined, looking at the sky. I still had shopping to do, we were an hour's walk from the marketplace, and we still hadn't reached the meeting location. "Why didn't Bolthos just wait for us?"

"We already had a meeting planned, Dor."

"With who?"

He smiled and pointed up ahead at an abandoned building. "You'll see."

Inside, everything was dark. Dartix took my hand and led me through the labyrinthine ruins of what might have once been a complex building. We came to a curtained door, and Dartix slowed down, holding the curtain open for me. 

"Here we are!" he announced brightly. Then, he faltered. Looking around, I could guess his confusion. 

"No one's here," I said. 

"The whole resistance should be here tonight," he said, worried. "All the men, anyway. What happened?"

I realized there was someone behind him; seeing the look on my face, Dartix began to turn, but whoever it was hit him in the back of the head. "Dartix!" I yelled. 

I moved to catch him before he hit the ground, but there were arms linked with mine suddenly, holding me. Seamus was pulling me away from Dartix. I struggled to get off his grasp, then I saw Bolthos come out of the darkness with a shovel. He looked sad.  

I couldn't breathe. 

Why? Why would he do that to Dartix?

Bolthos wouldn't look at me. 

"Dartix!" I said again. 

"That's what happens to traitors, Dor," came a voice still in the shadows, though I knew who it was. 

Saymar strode into the light then, eyes dancing. 

"Dartix isn't a traitor!" I said, finding my voice. I looked to Bolthos. "How could you do this? He's just a boy!" Bolthos hung back, not answering. I looked back at Saymar. "It's you. It's you that's poisoned everything. Out of, out of jealously and, just plain evil. That boy lying on the ground is the very spirit of the resistance. He's the reason we fight for a better world, and you, you couldn't stand it. You see something pure and honest and you just want to rub it out, don't you?"

He grabbed me by the shirt, shaking me loose from Seamus' grasp. "Purity? I'd have saved your purity."

"No, you just wanted to destroy it yourself."

"You're one to talk." He threw me to the ground. It hurt, but there was still run in me. I could have made a break for it. But something was telling me that they weren't finished with Dartix. "You're the one that made that boy a traitor. You seduced him to your side," Saymar said. 

"What?!?"

"I always knew the kid would follow you to the ends of the earth; months ago, Bolthos and I had tried having a talk with him, warn him not to be too attached. We thought you might be a traitor. He'd have none of it."

"Maybe because I'm not," I replied, but my voice struggled -- and everyone in the room heard. It wasn't that it was simply a lie. This, all this, all my lies and deceit and double-dealing, had hurt Dartix. --The only innocent involved. 

Saymar just smiled. "We've been paying attention, Dor. If you became a traitor, we knew he would too. And it was much, much too easy for Bolthos to set me up as the bad guy. -As the Hand?"

I wanted to cry then. "Why? Why do this to Dartix? Even if he did like me, follow me, what's the problem? He's not all-powerful. He's not special. He's just a kid in the resistance, trying to do what's right. Bolthos?" I pleaded. Bolthos still wasn't looking at me. 




The Seduction Plan Ch. 06



Saymar moved toward me, and I began to scoot away. "This is war, Dor. You're on the wrong side, and for that -- you're going to be punished." He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me up. I struggled against him, hitting him; and horror began sinking into me as I realized my struggles just seemed to excite him --

Then someone else grabbed my other arm. 

Seamus. 

"I'll take her to her room," he offered, stone-faced. 

"I'll handle it," Saymar said. 

Seamus' eyes hopped over to Bolthos a moment. They exchanged a look. Seamus straightened. "Are you sure that's a good idea, sir? She does appear to be a handful, and with the plan underway you'll be needed at the peak. You may not have the time to deal with her properly, right now."

"Let me guess," Saymar said. "You do."

"I'm a newbie. They don't want me at the peak, so all I'll be doing otherwise is going back to the bar for one of this kid's mother's putrid ales." He nodded to Dartix lying still on the ground. "Only I'd feel a little awkward about that now, considering. And I won't touch her;" he said, nodding to me, "Not like that, I promise."

Saymar suddenly looked insulted. "What do I care if you touch her? She's just the Master's whore." The arm he held in his steel grip was suddenly released as he flung it back at me, forcing me to fall into Seamus's arms. "Do what you want to her."

Saymar walked back toward Bolthos. 

Surprising everyone, I ripped out of Seamus' grip and went to Dartix. "Dartix, Dartix, wake up!" I said, tapping his face with my palm, feeling for his pulse under his jaw. I put an ear to his lips -- he was breathing, thank Somebody. 

Seamus pulled me off him. Bolthos picked up Dartix's limp body and put him over a shoulder. "YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM! HE'S JUST A BOY!" I screamed, as Seamus pulled me up the stairs hidden against the wall, and Bolthos, Dartix, and Saymar disappeared into the shadows. 

-------------------------->

Seamus pushed me through the door roughly, then put himself between me and the door as I tried to scramble out of it. "Stop it, stop it, you're being like a child," he said, blocking my blows. Pissed, I aimed two fingers at his eye and made pretty good contact -- he hollered and moved his arms to cover his face. I went for the door, but even doubled over in pain he was able to put a leg out and sweep my feet. I hit the floor, and watched as his foot came toward my stomach -- and I cringed because there wasn't time to do much else --

But he didn't kick me. 

He just put his foot down between me and the door, holding his eye, and looking down at me. 

"It's not the end of the world, Dor. This was the plan all along, right?"

"What are they going to do to Dartix? He's just a boy!" I yelled. 

"I know," Seamus said softly. He knelt then, and took my hand. --Which struck me as sort of odd. 

"The resistance claims to be the good guys," I said bitterly, looking away and shaking his hand off mine. I got up. "Everyone claims to be the good guys. But no one is. There is no good. There's no good in the world."

He stayed against the door, watching me. I looked around. The room was deep and dark, and it appeared to be lined with twin beds up each of the longest walls. "What is this place?" I asked. 

"Old hospital."

"Oh."

I looked at him, then looked away. There was something about his face, something off. Before, when I first saw him, I thought I was just dizzy from hunger. But nothing had changed. 

He turned then, decisively, and fooled around with the door a bit. --Locking it. 

"You think I can't unlock a door from the side the lock is on?" I demanded. 

"Not if I keep you busy," he replied with a smirk in his voice. I didn't like it.

"I hope you mean fighting," I said. "That's all you're going to get."

He smiled at me, calculatingly. His eyes were... I looked away. Something about looking at him made my head hurt. I wasn't sure what the color of his eyes were. "You okay?" he asked. 

"Yeah. Long day," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Maybe I can help you relax," he said, walking toward me. 

I stepped away, quickly. "No. No, no, no. You stay over there."

"Come on. You need a massage, and I'm dying to know... more about your talents."

"My talents?"

"You have to have some. I've seen the Master of the Realm turn down handfuls of virgins at a time. Beautiful, young," he began. 

"Shut up. Go away," I declared, pointing at him, in a badass manner. 

"But you. You're supposedly tasty enough that instead of just replacing you, he'd come to save you. That's quite a seductress, isn't it?"

"I will kick your ass," I said, getting angry. 

"You can't blame me for being curious," he said. 

"Stay away from me." He was slowly backing me down the room's center into the darkness. The skin on the back of my neck tingled as I realized I wasn't sure what I was backing into. I looked over my shoulder. I couldn't see anything behind me. I swallowed, and tried a different tactic. "Aren't you worried?"

"About?" he asked. 

"That the Master of the Realm will find out about this and kill you?"

"By the time he finds you, he'll be caught in that trap. But that's what you wanted, right?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. 

It was too hard a question; even for lies. 

"Oh, this is interesting," Seamus said, pausing in his step. "You don't know."

"I know."

"Tell me," he said. 

"Why should I tell you anything? I don't know you, and even if I did," I realized I was yelling without even meaning to. 

"...Even if you did, there's no good in the world. -No one to turn to. Not the resistance, certainly; they just hurt a little innocent boy. Not your Master, he... um..."

When I realized what this stranger was asking, it chilled me. It couldn't, couldn't, couldn't... 

He stalked toward me, and now I didn't move back. 

I shouldn't have said anything, either way -- stranger or... 

But, Dartix might be dead. And he might have been dead because of me. And suddenly it didn't matter. It didn't matter what the result was, I just had to say it. 

"He killed them! He killed them all. Everyone," I said, and my face hurt like hell because it was coming out in tears, and I was trying so hard to make myself into a dam, but I was bursting. "And he acts like he hasn't done anything. All these years, he'll show remorse for the smallest of things, but not for them. And he pretends! The damn liar! He pretends to be this wonderful man, this beautiful magical boy who reads and paints and learns lovely things and takes me interesting places, but he's a killer! He's a murderer, and they're gone and I can't have them back, and now I'm alone. And I won't even have him now. Or me. I'm gone. I gave him everything and when he's gone, I will be too!"

Seamus grabbed me then. He held me and I felt the change, but I already knew. "Who do you think I've killed, Dor?" Eric asked, whispering into my hair. 

"Everyone," I said. 

He pulled away to look me in the face. His disguise was melting away slowly. There was still the strange image of Seamus hovering around him like spilled sludge. But Eric was there, beneath it. "Why didn't you," he began to say, but now that it was out I had to say goodbye. 

I kissed him. He seemed reluctant at first, but then his hands were in my hair and my heart, relieved of its burden, let me enjoy it. 

Then I realized his hands were moving elsewhere. I pulled away before it could get too far. "That's why, Eric. That's why I didn't tell you anything. Now you better leave."

"What are you talking about?"

"You still have a chance to trick them. They don't know that you know about me. If you leave now, you can still win."

"No. Saymar means to," he began. 

"What does it matter? I'm your betrayer, dummy. I tricked you. I wanted you dead, and I almost succeeded." I shrugged at him. "That's what you get for underestimating a badass."

"This isn't funny, Dor."

"I know."

"They might kill you."

"I sure hope so."

"I'm not leaving you here. You're supposed to marry me." His hands felt so big on my arms as he shook me. Oh man, I hadn't appreciated what I had when I had it. Why hadn't I just stayed that two weeks? What was two weeks? What had been so important I couldn't have just stayed?

"Haven't you heard anything I've said?" I asked. Damn, he still looked like he wanted me. 

"Yes, but I still don't know what I," he began, only to be interrupted this time, by a knock at the door. "Who is it?" he yelled, the disguise crawling back up his skin like ants on a hill. 

"Bolthos, damn it. And you better get this door open," he threatened, loudly. 

Eric gave me a look, I'm not sure what he meant by it, and went to the door. His disguise finished crawling, and he undid the locks. Bolthos burst inside. 

He took one look at me, and grabbed Eric, er, Seamus, by the throat. "What did you do to her?" he demanded. 

I put up a hand, suddenly realizing how drained I felt. "It's okay. Nothing happened!"

Bolthos shook him once, then let go. "You okay, Dor?" he asked. 

"What do you care?"

Bolthos looked tired all of a sudden. He looked at Seamus, and pointed a thumb to the exit. "Out of here, now," he said to Seamus. Seamus nodded, leaving, and suddenly everything in me wanted to cry out for him not to leave me there. But, that was what I wanted, right? He was supposed to leave me there. He had to leave me there. I wanted to kiss him again. But he was gone, without a glance back. 

I guess he figured out what I had said. 

I guess he knew I had betrayed him. 

Bolthos shut the door. 

"I thought Dartix told you; we're onto Saymar."

Wait, what?

"He's the Hand, Dor. We had to treat you this way, and I'm sorry. But we need everything in place to catch them both, the Master and the Hand."

"Well, wait. If that's true, how did he know that's what you told Dartix?"

Bolthos sighed, rubbing his head. "It's complicated, and Dartix is a terrible actor. Saymar's been suspicious of him feeling too much for you all along and when he showed up talking shit about you being a traitor, I knew Dartix wouldn't even be able to pretend to believe it. So I told Saymar that we should feed Dartix a story and use him to capture you."

I sat down. Wow. Bolthos was as big a liar as I was. 

He walked over the bed across from me and sat as well. 

"So, everything's still going according to plan," I said. "Tell me Dartix is alright."

"Dartix is alright," he said. 

My eyes began to water again. Today sucked. 

"He's hurt, but he'll live."

I nodded, thankful. 

We sat in silence a few moments. Then I said, "When is the trap... set to... trap?"

He didn't answer at first. 

He played with his hands. 

"Dor. I have a problem."

I looked up at him. 

"It's a big problem. And you're the only person I know who might be able to... shed some light."

"What do you mean?"

"I know Saymar is the Hand. I know that for certain. But in gathering evidence, well..."

"What?"

"Now I'm not sure who the Master is."

...

...

What?



The Seduction Plan Ch. 07



"Wait, what?" I asked. I almost pointed in the direction of the retreating Seamus; who had turned out to be Eric in disguise. Of course Bolthos didn't know that, so I turned it into an idle gesture; circling my finger in the air like an idiot. "How do you NOT know who the Master is? Tall guy? Muscles? Grey eyes? Magic?"

"The guy you've been living with," Bolthos added. 

I nodded, "Yes."

"The one you've been trying to kill," he said. 

"Right," I said.

Bolthos made a face. A face I hadn't seen him make before, but I'd seen it on other people's visages. Eric had made that face often -- especially often. It meant roughly, "Hear me out; you're going to hate what I have to say." My stomach dropped. 

"It's hard to explain. I'd been worried about Saymar for a while, long before all this Hand business came up. He always seemed like he had been preparing for something else, you know? -Something other than just getting rid of the Master. There was this time..." Bolthos suddenly paused in the story, raking over the memory for a way to tell it, and shaking his head. "He's not trustworthy, Dor."

"I'm not going to argue with you," I replied. 

"There's three reasons I know Saymar is the Hand. It would take some telling to explain two of them. But the one easy thing is this: I know for certain that he truly believes that man you've been living with all this time, is not the Master. Saymar once believed that the Master had gone back on his word, changed his mind -- that's the long part of the story... But it wasn't until Saymar found you in the stables that he decided that the man you've been there with wasn't the same man who invaded the kingdom."

The words coming out of my mouth surprised me; I was whispering and not sure why, "What do you mean?"

"The person who came here and killed your family," Bolthos began, and already I was shaking my head. I couldn't have been wrong all this time. That... that... "The person who obliterated the military and then burned the villages, letting children die in waves," Bolthos continued. 

-I tried to ignore that voice that came from somewhere beside my lungs, that shock of thought I had kept burying all these years that was now smugly yelling, Eric's always been all talk! He makes these armies, and he goes about ordering the commoners around, and he certainly bruises up the resistance, but when have you seen him really honestly do wrong? I had seen him kill a man. I was 22. Eric was still young, and it was horrifying to watch the darkness in his young face. It was the first time I feared him. That was a condemned prisoner, YOU ASS. A prisoner condemned by the locals who had been killing random people left and right and had raped two women. If you had been in charge, you'd have killed him too! Badass, my ass. 

"That guy, well... He may have been here as long as a year. -Maybe less. I'm not sure. Saymar thinks though that at some point one of the Master's own kind came to replace him. I don't think he knows where the real Master is, or whether he's even still alive."

Eric wasn't the Master. 

Fuck. 

Oh fuck. 

No, wait. 

Oh fuck. 

He didn't kill my family. He had just taken me in and hung out with me and protected me and healed me and... I had tried to kill him. I had tried to kill him more times than I could count. For... nothing. 

I betrayed him. 

And... I loved him. 

Oh man, how did this happen? 

"You okay, Dor?" Bolthos asked. I just stared at him open-mouthed. "I know. I know. I mean, it can't really change anything, can it?" he asked. 

Now I looked at him in real confusion. "What do you mean it can't change anything? It changes EVERYTHING."

"Damn it," he said, standing. He paced the room. "You feel that way too."

"Who wouldn't? Oh my Somebody, Bolthos! We've been persecuting the wrong guy. I seduced the wrong guy!"

"Wait, wait -- don't panic. I mean, let's think about this. He's still some Otherworlder who's set himself up as king when he's had no right to. It's still true that you're the only one who should be ruling right now."

"That's our justification? Bolthos, I don't know how to rule. I never learned. I was like, tenth in line when my family was killed, and if they had lived I would be 45th in line by now." I knew this from all the hours I had spent imagining how the family would have grown, should have grown. I imagined marriages and children -- my nieces and nephews. Sometimes I had dreams that we were all, all grown up and living together in the old castle, drinking tea and playing games, Mom still cheating even in her old age, and Dad still laughing at her. 

Usually the dream would end when I would feel a hand curl around my own and I'd look to find Eric sitting beside me. Logic dictated that he wouldn't sit with a family he had already murdered, and that would wake me up immediately. --Every time. 

But he hadn't killed them. 

He wasn't the murderer. 

Bolthos was still pacing around the room. "Dor. We can't just go to the rest of the Resistance and tell them we have to disband due to a miscommunication. They're still angry."

"It's been almost twenty years, Bolthos. How can they still be angry over someone who's..." Oh geez. What if Eric had killed the original Master? That'd make him... 

"He's on this planet illegally," Bolthos tried. 

I just shook my head. "Aside from the original invasion and murders, we've got nothing. So if he's not the guy..."

"Dor," Bolthos said, sitting and shaking his head, "You can't do this. You can't break down and be on his side now."

"What else can I do?" I asked. But as desperate as my voice sounded, suddenly it felt as if something broke inside me. Something hard and angry and hurt just fell apart and I felt this... euphoria. It was like the healing apples, but somewhere deeper. And that's when I realized it. I could be on his side. 

I could go to him now and just... be on his side. 

I didn't have to fight. I didn't have to die. 

I could just be on Eric's side. 

"You can give me something," Bolthos said, "Anything that might give me a clue how to... frame this. You're the closest person to him. You have to know something. You've seen him at his worst, right? You can't tell me that in all these years he hasn't done something wrong, something ill-befitting a ruler. I mean, it's pretty shady he didn't say anything, right? Why wouldn't he have pointed it out?"

Good question. Except, actually, I thought I was already beginning to figure out the answer to that. "No, Dor," Bolthos said, "He has to be hiding something. There's something we don't know. Something that's worse than being that murderous one, otherwise he'd have said something. Why just let us think he was so evil?"

I sat back a little. Eric was my hero. Geez, that's so cheesy. But it was true. He had already avenged my family. He had saved me. "We're wrong, Bolthos. It's time to give up." And then, I laughed. --Not hard or for a long time, but I laughed. And I imagined running into Eric's arms, pulling him through the palace, up the steps and into my room... or maybe his. His room was always dark and the floors were soft. I wanted to kiss him all over. 

I looked at the door, where I had last seen Eric as he left. "All this crazy crap is over," I said, grinning. I looked back at Bolthos. "It's over!"

But Bolthos wasn't grinning. He just stood, staring at him, grimly. "I was really hoping that you wouldn't look at it that way."

"What do you mean? There's not exactly another way to look at it," I replied. 

He suddenly grabbed me by the shoulder, hefting me to my feet. I tried to get away from him, but I began to trip over the bed beside me, and he used the opportunity to grab my wrists and lock them in old-fashioned irons he had pulled out of his jacket. I was yelling, "Get off me! Get off me!" But once my arms we stuck behind my back, he gagged me with a bandana. 

"There's lots of ways to look at it, Dor. It's just too bad you don't see the other choices."

I struggled against him, but it was pretty pointless. 

"I'm sorry about this, Dor. You're a sweet kid. And, for what it's worth, I would have totally put you on the throne if you could have just come up with something. Anything."

Really? Okay -- I tried to look at him like I had something. 

He pulled down the gag. 

"Uh, well. Eric was thinking about raising taxes. Kids these days are so dumb he thinks they could use more books. --Kids will hate that." 

Bolthos tried to put my gag back in and I bit his hand quickly, attempting to make a run for it. 

Unfortunately he tripped me. 

And with my hands bound behind my back, I fell flat on my front. --Knocking the air out of me. 

I couldn't get the air back into me. And I was gagged. 

Bolthos just picked me up and carried me over his shoulder out of the room. 

I thought I was going to die. 

Unfortunately, Bolthos had something worse in store. 

Downstairs, he piled me into the back of a wagon. The one highlight of my day was that Dartix was there -- alive. Unfortunately he was gagged and tied as well. 

As Bolthos tied up the back, he said, "I don't... I don't want to do this to you, Dor. But we're talking about the fate of the world. We can't give up now." Bolthos looked away then. "I don't think Saymar will kill you in the end. He's a brute, but he does want you. And later, when we get this Hand business sorted out... Well, maybe he'll be convicted, and then you'll be free. But if he isn't, well, you'll be alive, Dor."

My bowels churned under the weight of what Bolthos was telling me. My life was in the hands of Saymar now? The guy who betrayed and effectively killed my entire family? And what did Bolthos mean, that I'd only be free if Saymar was convicted? I didn't belong to Saymar! I didn't belong to anyone! I was a free woman, and royalty at that. This was kidnapping, and no matter how entrenched the minds of the resistance were in the idea that Eric was the bad guy, no one would support just giving me away to someone to keep as a possession! It was preposterous. Slavery hadn't existed on this planet since... Eric did away with it. 

Dad had been trying to abolish it, but as I was beginning to remember, he was encountering some serious dissension over it. He never wanted us to worry, but there was one night, yes... someone broke into the palace, and tried to find him. I remembered; the would-be assassin had gotten lost in the halls and I got up because I had heard a strange noise. I saw him. He ran right past me, knocking me into the wall. He leapt out a window, but I had gotten a good look at him. 

Later, when I told my dad what he looked like, they made up posters and... Dad said he was calling a friend, and that no one was going to ever threaten our family again. He was ending this slavery business and with the help of his friend, he would get rid of these criminal, evil elements. I would be safe. 

The friend never came, I guess. 

Night was beginning to fall; the canvas wagon covering that surrounded us was turning pink in the sunset. I stared at Dartix and Dartix stared at me. Our eyes had nothing to say really, except, "I'm scared," and "What the hell is going on?" But I already had an idea of what was going on. Considering the direction of the waning sunlight, I knew we headed toward Gravlor's Peak. 



The Seduction Plan Ch. 08



Gravlor's Peak would take some time to reach, given that we were traveling by wagon. The first night was cold. I worried about Greystone, my horse, left in the town stables by herself. It was a public stable and it was well known that it was my horse – so someone would care for her... maybe. Unless they already knew I was good as dead. 

They might steal her. That wouldn't be so bad if they were good to her. Then again, they might kill her – bad luck that she served the Master's whore. 

Of course, Eric wasn't dead yet. 

They wouldn't kill my horse while Eric still lived and breathed.

But, who knew how long that would last. 

It was hard not to panic that night, as the dark and chill descended. 

I wanted Eric to save me. 

I'm an idiot, basically – so I couldn't help imagining him coming to my rescue, pulling me into his arms. I would say, breathlessly, "I didn't know," and he instinctively would understand that I meant that I hadn't known he wasn't the bad guy, and he would reply, "I forgive you," and kiss me... but...

I didn't want Eric to save me. 

What if he came to Gravlor's Peak and was trapped? What if I was still gagged, and I never got to tell him? What if...

If he died...

If I died and never got to tell him... well, that would probably happen anyway. So I had to hope that he wouldn't come to save me, wouldn't even try, because if he never came then I could always imagine that though I hurt him – I hadn't killed him. 

Ergh. That left me in the hands of Saymar though. 

I looked over at Dartix sleeping off the rough day behind us. 

Nope, this was no good. 

Given the options, it looked like I was going to have to rescue myself. Had no idea how I was going to do it, but, given that I was a badass, I was sure I could figure out something.

Noon the next day came and went, and I had nothing. There wasn't anything in the back of the wagon that could help us. Once I had figured that out, I had figured I could wait and see what I had to work with when Bolthos came to feed us. 

-Except he didn't. 

This is when I started drifting in and out of naps. Dartix had slept most of the night, so I noticed now and again that he was playing the same game I had played the night before – looking for something to pick locks with, looking for something to pry apart chains. He kept trying to find some way to get some slack from the chains – but they were wrapped through the wagon so that the driver would notice any slack as well. 

The day was hot as the night was cold, and sweat got in my eyes when I didn't keep them closed. Between the hunger and the heat, I thought I was having a dream, then a hallucination when I heard, "Dor!" whispered and hissed, before it was followed by swift kick. 

I jostled myself to a full wake and looked at Dartix. His gag was missing. I tried to figure out what happened and he shook his head and whispered, "I ate it."

"You did not!" I tried to say through my gag. Impossible! But he just kicked me again, annoyed at how loud I was despite being incomprehensible. 

"I did; you can too," he whispered. 

First of all, I could not. Second of all, I'm pretty sure the gags were the least of our problems. He blinked at me. Then he stuck out his chin and nodded me toward him. "Scoot over here," he said. 

Not bothering to question Dartix for a moment, I tried leaning toward him, only to fall back into my original spot. We were wrapped up like cocoons really, and the chains were too heavy on me to maneuver well. But, I did find with some creative shifting, I could get closer to him an inch at a time. 

When we finally shoulder to shoulder, I was covered in sweat and looked at him expectantly – this better be good. 

He lowered his face to my cheek and tried pulling the gag off with his teeth. 

It was a good idea, so I tried to ignore the awkwardness of his tongue trying to pull the gag into his mouth, as it slathered against my skin. 

But it wasn't working. 

Eventually he nudged me to roll over. I tried, and didn't get very far. But he got low enough to work the gag's knot at the back of my head. 

Finally it came off. 

"Well, that was constructive," I whispered. "Now if you'll just chew through my chains."

He looked at me wide-eyed and scared. "Princess... I mean, Dor, I thought you knew magic words!"

I looked back at him. 

Oh yeah. 

I sort of did. 

Eric had taught me a few. 

Okay, okay, he had taught me more than a few magic words. Geez, we spent most days of the week just working out spells with magic words – and we'd been doing it for years. He quizzed me on that crap often enough; you'd think I'd be all powerful by now. 

Except I wasn't. 

I mean yeah, sometimes I'd pull off something spectacular. 

One time, I think I was like 22, 23, Eric wanted me to learn how to make a clean water spring emerge from desert sands. Survival tool, he said. Why a badass like me would need a survival tool like that, I'm not sure. Last time I had been lost in the desert I drank my own blood and sweat when I got thirsty and was totally fine. –The ant poison chaser wasn't bad either. Sure, I was practically dead and not a little bit loopy for quite a while afterward, but what doesn't kill you, right?

Anyway, turns out Eric was thinking about practicality but I was thinking about taking on Nature itself and well, it's lucky Eric's such a good swimmer. 

The palace was nearly destroyed. 

The desert around it was basically a swamp for a few days. 

And I had never felt so powerful!

But Eric was a little more careful about our projects after that. 

I smiled, remembering that. –Because though Eric and I had occasionally rough-housed as younger people, that was one of the first times that as an adult he slung his arm around my shoulders familiarly, as we looked at the devastation I had caused. At the time I had battled with the all the crazy urges running through my body caused by his touch. I didn't want to admit it but I really wanted to lean my head in to rest on his shoulder. But half my brain was screaming about how he killed my family and how I couldn't let him touch me, while the other half was trying to calm it down by pointing out that being relaxed around him would help draw him into my trap. 

I didn't end up leaning my head in after all. 

But I let him leave his arm there while he laughed at my spell. 

"You don't know magic words?" Dartix asked sadly. 

I sighed. "Yeah, I do. I just... crap, Dartix. This is bad."

"What is it?"

"It's just, Eri- The Master teaches me new magic words all the time. I mean, all the time. And I haven't exactly been keeping it all straight. And usually we only use certain words for certain projects..." I looked around the wagon. Each handful of words usually came with an action and a goal. Like empowering a blade – that was a spell I had always liked because it was simple. A few words, throw the knife, let it strike down the enemy. 

And geez, outside of the palace I had used that spell exactly twice – once on the horse thing and once on Saymar. It was zero for two. 

And there weren't any blades here anyway. 

I said to Dartix, "I mean, there's things I can do but... Like, I could heat something."

Dartix looked excited, "Yeah?"

"But chained up like this we risk getting burned horribly to death."

"Oh," he replied. 

"I can call forth a flood but..."

"Drowning wouldn't save us either. You couldn't burn through the chains? Just a little bit of chain, one link?" he asked. 

"What if the spell puts fire through the whole chain? We'd be meat."

"You couldn't shield us somehow?"

"Oh, Dartix. I'm not the Master. Keeping two spells going at once, I don't know."

"Maybe don't heat the chains – turn them to something else?"

I let out a breath. I should know how to do that. Eric had taught me how to transmute things ages ago. We used it to make dinner out of rocks for a week before we began to make ourselves sick. 

Suddenly Dartix looked really excited. "Or, or," he said, "You could make us smaller, so we could slip out?" A miniaturization spell? Yeah, I think I'd rather be dead than end up accidentally the size of an ant for the rest of my life. 

Boy I wanted to save Dartix. 

And I had an idea. 

It was a terrible idea, but... 

Between needing to save Dartix and definitely not wanting to end up in Saymar's hands, it had to be done. 

"Dartix. I'm not good enough to hold two spells at once. I'm just not. But, if you knew some magic words, maybe I could protect us and you could burn through the chains."

"Really? You think I could?"

"If I can do it, you can," I replied honestly. "Not that I'm sure I could do it. This very well may end horribly."

"Yeah, that's a problem because it looks like Bolthos is taking us to my birthday party and I want to see that," he replied. 

I smiled at him. I had never heard Dartix so sarcastic. "Okay then," I said. I began teaching him the words. 

As night began to fall again, the horses slowed. I didn't imagine we were nearing our destination quite yet, but part of me filled up with panic that I would be handed off to Saymar before Dartix and I even had the chance to try our escape. 

Bolthos brought the wagon to a stop, and it sounded like he was taking the horses away for a drink. Dartix was practicing the words, separately, quietly. We weren't ready to give it a try, and I had to make sure I had the protection spell going strong before he did. 

I had spent the afternoon and evening whispering to him about confidence and purpose and feeling. I practically quoted some of Eric's old speeches from when he was in professor mode. I had always rolled my eyes at him when he got that way, but here I was spitting it back out at Dartix, and actually remembering things as I did – things about the spell, about all the spells, how to hold your hands, how to use focusing tools, and I just let it all out to Dartix. Dartix listened patiently and thoughtfully. As he tried whispering some of the words back to me, I heard the errors and corrected them, and he began to improve right in front of me. 

I began to feel like we could do this. 

But now Bolthos appeared to be getting settled for the night, which would mean that eventually he would come in here and find our gags off. I wasn't sure what he was going to do about it; but if he put them back on, saying the spells was going to be a lot harder. 

"He has the one gag now, right? You ate yours. If he tries to put it back on one of us, it should be me. You could get it off again maybe, but if push comes to shove I could still do alright with spell mumbling it... I think." I was trying to convince myself more than Dartix. 

"Damn it," Dartix said, just now realizing that this would be a problem. "I should have eaten that one too." Then he looked at me strangely. "Aren't you starving?"

I nodded, and said, "Yes! But not enough to eat that."

We both looked at the cloth Bolthos had used to gag us. After yanking it off me, Dartix had spit it too far away for either of us to reach now anyway. 

"He hasn't fed us. Maybe he won't try to gag us until after he's fed us?"

"What was that?" Bolthos suddenly asked, ripping the back of the wagon open and peering down at us. "I didn't want you two talking together." He shook his head. If I hadn't been so mad at him, and a tad tiny, tiny bit scared of him after all that happened, I would have felt sorry for Bolthos. He looked tired, and like he felt guilty. 

He really didn't want to be doing this. 

I glanced at Dartix and was surprised by the anger on his face. I had never seen him like that before. Sure, Bolthos had betrayed us, roughed us up, and tied us up in the back of a wagon... Okay, I guess it was understandable. Still, Dartix had only been hit in the back of the head with a shovel while I was going to be handed off to Saymar. If anyone should have been angry, it was me. 

And I was. 

Though, I guess everything was getting overwhelming, because I couldn't get worked up the way Dartix was. 

"Traitor!" Dartix said, and he spit. "You'd treat the princess this way? You're as bad as the Master himself!"

Bolthos leaned back. "So if you two haven't been talking about the Master all this time, what have you been talking about?"

Dartix looked confused. –Yeah, I probably should have mentioned something to him about Eric not being the one who killed all the royals and half the commoners. But it wasn't a priority at the moment. "Er, yeah – I forgot. We have the wrong guy," I said to Dartix. 

"What?" Dartix asked. 

Bolthos just shook his head, released a couple locks in the wagon, and pulled me to my feet. I looked around; he had taken us to the middle of nowhere. There were a lot of trees, sounded like there was a babbling brook nearby, but other than that – nothing. The moon was huge in the sky, giving us almost as much visibility as we would have had in the day. Bolthos looked at Dartix and said, "Don't get any ideas," as he began to unwrap me from the chains. Soon I was practically free except for the hand irons on my hands and feet. 

He took off the ones on my feet. But he never let go of the ones on my hands. I briefly considered yanking free long enough to make a run for it – but I didn't know the area and Dartix was still stuck. 

Then again...

I ripped away as hard as I could, and slipped out of Bolthos' grasp. Immediately I lifted my hands and tried to knock him in face, hoping the irons would make enough of a difference to knock him out. 

He went down. 

"Run Dor! Run!" Dartix screamed, but I wasn't going without him. I knelt by Bolthos and tried to find his keys. He wasn't completely out though – and he tried pushing away at me. 

I could see the keys on his waist, and I grabbed for them-

And I was on my back. 

Bolthos was above me, one hand on the side of his face where I hit him, the other hand twisted in my shirt and holding me flat on the ground. I fought him, trying to hit him again. He straddled me, letting go of my shirt to grab my shackled hands and hold them against the ground above my head. 

Time slowed down then. I was wheezing for air and I think I heard Dartix calling my name. Bolthos let go of his face – already purple where I hit him. He brushed the hair out of my eyes. "I get it," he said. "I get it." His hand lingered on my face a moment, then he traced my jaw down to my neck, and lower. 

I looked away, blushing my face off, suddenly completely incapable of speech. He wasn't rough or anything – he ran the back of his knuckles along the sides of my breast, then ran a thumb over the tip. I felt my lower regions clench in response, and I gasped. No – that's not how it should work! I belonged to Eric; body, heart, and sometime in the last couple days, mind. I was panicking and had no idea how to stop the thrill of arousal shooting through my limbs. 

"Dor!" Dartix screamed. 

This made Bolthos close his eyes. He shook his head, pulling back his hand and getting up. He pulled me to my feet. "Don't try anything like that again," he said. 

He then went about unwrapping Dartix, but a bit more wary this time. I stood there, anxious, wondering what was wrong with me. Bolthos?!? 

When he had us both loose, and then chained up together, he led us to a log we could sit against while he made a fire. He did plan to feed us. 

No one spoke while Bolthos built the fire. Dartix stared daggers at him. I found myself watching how the tops of the trees moved in the wind, and the stars beyond. 

How had I gotten life so wrong?

I was too old to be this wrong. Shouldn't I have figured this out ages ago? Shouldn't I have realized something, anything, that would have made me realize – you know what, Dor? Maybe this isn't the best life path for you, maybe you shouldn't devote your whole existence to killing Eric. I had been at it so, so long. How had this many years passed in this way?

"You two play this right, you'll still be alive," Bolthos said, back to us as he knelt by the kindling. "We're in a bad situation at the moment."

"We? Did you just say, 'we?' You think we are all in the same boat right now?" Dartix demanded. 

Bolthos stood and turned to him, angry. "Yes. Yes we are. We are all in the same boat. The Knows-Way-Too-Much boat. The boat composed entirely of people who know the identity of the Hand. -The Hand who doesn't like having said identity known. –The Hand who brought down a fucking creature from the heavens to crush his enemies. They're all dead now, oh, unless you count us, because we only became a threat a few days ago!"

"So you do count yourself among his enemies?" I asked. 

Bolthos sunk to the ground, sitting. "Of course I do, Dor. But, you don't understand. You're not a regular; you don't know what the meetings are like, have been like." Bolthos looked at Dartix. "You think I should walk into the meeting tomorrow, tell everyone that Saymar is the Hand and that the Master is dead, has been dead for years. We've been fighting a... a... mirage?"

Dartix was still pissed, but even I could see in the way his eyes turned that he understood Bolthos' position. 

"He's a god, Dor," Bolthos said. "Saymar's been working himself up into leader for some time, and now, now that they know the plan is in place... Those men will follow him to the ends of the earth."

"So let the plan not be in place. Let us go. I'll go back and tell Eric what the miscommunication's been, and we can leave it to him to clear it up. He has magic, remember?"

Bolthos got to his feet, shaking his head. He began busying himself making dinner. "No. We have to ride it through. Those men are hungry for the Master's blood. We have to give it to them. That's top priority. If we lose the people, if we look like we're on the wrong side, we're lost."

"Good thing you have Dartix and me in chains then."

"Saymar needs you alive to tempt the Master into coming to Gravlor's peak. You have the opportunity to do it willingly. Everyone will think of you as a savior. Saymar, to further secure his power, would take you as a wife."

I was about to say hell no, but Dartix said, "No! Never. She's royal blood, Bolthos. That slime-"

"Or," Bolthos began, "You won't do it willingly. You'll be caged and left as bait. The men will be told you've gone mad as result of the Master's spells. When he is dead, Saymar will take you as a slave. I have no doubt in my mind he'll keep you alive. He's too... obsessed, to kill you."

"Awesome," I replied, rolling my eyes. 

"Dartix, it will be the same with you – except you may not escape death so easily. The men love you now; you're our little brother, but Saymar will say that the Master used a spell on you to scramble your brain. You can support Saymar, or be put out of your misery."

"Who wants to be in misery?" Dartix spat. 

Holy shit! Dartix is a revolutionary! -I felt like I was watching someone evolve into a hero right in front of me. 

"Well, you have a little while more to think about it. Saymar isn't coming to hear your decisions for another couple hours."

Crap! Knowing Saymar was about to show up nearly had me up and running then and there. But I was attached to Dartix and enough weight in chain to keep me slow enough for a rabid turtle to catch me, let alone Bolthos. 

Yeah... why hadn't Eric used something other than a horse to do that whole rescue shenanigan thing we tried in town? A giant green frothy turtle would have been way better. 

Okay, so my mind wanders sometimes. 

"I'm thirsty," I said to Bolthos. He stood, and immediately looked off in the direction of the babbling brook. 

"You two aren't going to run off in those chains, are you? It'll be embarrassing when I catch you," he said. 

I shook my head. 

"I'm just going down to the river," he said, pointing.




The Seduction Plan Ch. 08



I nodded. 

He watched me for a long moment, then, I think the part of Bolthos that hated all this, decided to let it go. He walked off toward the water. The second he was out of sight – "Do it, Dartix," I said.

"What?" he asked. 

"The spell!"

"Oh, oh yeah," he sputtered. While he quickly tried to remember the words, I began the protection spell. He started whispering his spell into the chains closest to his face. For a full minute, it seemed like nothing was happening. 

Then the fire went out. 

Dartix froze, midspell, surprised.

I started chanting my spell louder, hoping he'd catch the drift that he wasn't supposed to stop. He did, and continued. 

"Dor!" called Bolthos, from the river. I guess he could tell the fire was gone. 

I began to feel the change. The chains were warming, and they felt different wrapped around us. The metal began to glow. I couldn't feel the heat, but I felt the way the protection spell felt bowed in against me, knowing there was something harmful on the other side. 

The chains were losing their shape, melting on our bodies, but we couldn't feel their heat. Finally a couple of them dripped apart. 

Bolthos was coming back up from the river. I could hear him. 

Dartix stood, shaking the molten metal off of himself. He helped me to my feet; he could stop his spell because it was clear we were free, but I had to keep chanting because the metal was still hot and on our clothing. He wiped the metal off me, and I tried to do the same. 

Bolthos was in sight now. He got one look at us, and stared a moment, then ran toward us. 

Dartix grabbed my hand and we ran into the woods. 

The dark woods. 

Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of heavily wooded areas? It was light enough out under the full moon, but that didn't make me graceful. Dartix nimbly leapt through the brush, and I stumbled like an idiot. Bolthos barreled through after us. 

He was catching up with us, and we didn't know where we were going anyway. Dartix yanked hard on my arm to hurry me, and I stumbled, getting stabbed in the arm by a sharp stick that came with me as we continued. I removed the stick from arm, feeling like I was going to be sick all over myself at the sensation of this foreign object pulling at the inside of my skin, ripping painfully as we ran awkwardly through the woods. 

I moved to throw it away, and then thought about spell that had just worked. 

I modified the words I used on my daggers, and let the stick go behind me. 

Bolthos screamed, and I paused to look. 

Dartix kept pulling on my hand, but I had to see. 

Bolthos was on the ground, the stick jutting out of his leg just above the knee. My first instinct was to make sure he was alright. 

"Princess! Saymar is coming," Dartix reminded me. 

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah. You're right."

We turned and left Bolthos in the darkness. 

Neither Dartix nor I spoke again until the grey of almost morning began to make the darkness grainy and wet. Fog clouded the ground, and colors appeared in patches as we walked. I told Dartix about the Master. –About Eric. 

"But... But Dor, how could you... not have known?"

I was silent for a moment. That was the question I had been asking. 

"I never thought about it much, I guess."

"I don't understand. How...?"

"Dartix, he's my best friend." Dartix looked at me funny when I said that, but I shook my head and continued. "For the last decade I've spent every waking moment planning to kill him. If I had bothered to look into things, to question him... what if what he said changed my mind? What if he had been exactly what I thought he was, and he explained himself? What would I do? What if the explanation was so good that it was enough to convince me to stop trying? So many times I wanted to stop trying. I couldn't take any more convincing. Or worse, what if the explanation was terrible? What if I couldn't even love him anymore? What would I have had left? Nothing."

Dartix was quiet for a while. He was thinking. Then, "I never thought about it like that, Princess. I never thought you'd be friends. I always sort of imagined you as a servant in his palace, somebody he'd ignore or maybe yell at a lot. But, that doesn't even make sense the more I think about it. Of course he'd be friends with you. You're great. You're the best person I know. And with you stuck there and nobody with you most of the time, of course a person trying to be your friend would end up being your friend, even if you meant to hate him. I didn't think about the position you were in. That must have been awful."

"It wasn't a walk in the park."

Dartix smiled. "Was it a night in the park, running from enemies?"

"This is so not a park, Dartix," I laughed looking around. "This is the Nature. I hate it."

"Used to be a park," Dartix said, looking around. 

"What? How can you tell?"

He nodded, off to our right. I looked and saw the top of a high wall hidden by trees. "It's Kedmirl Castle. ...What's left of it."

My jaw dropped. 

It was home. 

My feet were carrying me in its direction before I knew what was happening. 

I heard Dartix behind me, sounding anxious, "I wasn't sure if I should point it out or not. Are you okay, Dor?"

I was climbing the small stones between trees, hands getting wet on the rocks. I began to really see it then – the wall, and I thought I could remember which one it was. I hurried; I don't know why, it was like I had forgotten that my family wouldn't be inside. I had forgotten that it wasn't my home and that I wouldn't be safe there with my father and mother and siblings and guards and servants. I had forgotten that all I had left in the world was Eric and now perhaps Dartix, and neither of them were inside the castle. 

I reached the wall and almost shocked that I couldn't just walk through it, suddenly realized I'd have to go around. I ran alongside it – yes, I was running now, Dartix close behind. We came to the corner. I knew that just around it I'd find an entrance. 

I turned. 

And fell. 

The sight knocked my feet out from under me. 

...

Slowly I realized Dartix was sitting beside me, a hand on my shoulder. "I don't remember it like this. The Master's army..."

"Nah, Princess. This wasn't the Master. This was people. People over the years with nothing better to do."

The castle had been ransacked – entire walls taken away. It now resembled a cave, a ruin. The wall we had seen, well it was the last one left somewhat whole. Mossy overgrowth barely covered the evidence of long lost bonfires held in the mess. My childhood home was a scab on the earth. 

I wanted Eric. 

"Don't cry, Dor!" Dartix said. 

"I'm not crying," I said, wiping my nose. "I'm thinking. Sometimes I think so hard it makes my eyes run. You have to help me with a spell."

"Sure, Princess," Dartix said, pulling me into a hug. 



The Seduction Plan Ch. 09



I could contact Eric, with Dartix's help -- I knew I could. But it would take some effort, and even though I was so elated at first to realize he wasn't the murderer I thought he was, now I was beginning to feel... a bit... well, stupid. When I thought back on everything he said, everything he asked last time I saw him, I realized just how in the dark he had been about me too. 

How must I have looked?

How must I have sounded?

Crazy. 

I looked and sounded crazy. And now I knew I had to contact him, but I wasn't sure exactly what to say or how to say it. Should I merely point out that there was a trap, I was free, and that he shouldn't bother going to Gravlor's Peak? 

Should I ask if he could come pick me up at the castle and bring me home?

Maybe the question was whether or not I was allowed to come home... 

Dartix and I explored the ruins of my old castle, finding that the basement levels -- servants quarters, dungeons, armory, etc., weren't too bad. Above ground, almost everything was gone, but some of the small rooms remained. Some of the turrets were still up to snuff. I found that one of my sister's rooms was still there, but I didn't dare enter -- I couldn't have taken it. 

"Dor!"

I shook myself out of the trance I had been in, staring at my sister's door. "What?"

"Come here!" Dartix insisted. 

He was around the wing where my parents' room would have been. I already knew it was gone; it was the first thing I checked, and I had turned from it immediately. I found him by a small, fist-sized hole in the wall lining the staircase. "I found something here under the stairs. I wouldn't have noticed it, except what's left of these walls aren't matching up, so I was looking for a door."

"You found it," I replied, immediately remembering something I had forgotten long ago, sticking my hand in the hole and untwisting the puzzle inside. I heard the clunk of the door being unlatched, but it didn't swing open as it should have. I had to put my shoulder against it. 

"What is it?"

I smiled then, "Dad's hobby room." --That's exactly what I remembered it as. He didn't let us come in there alone or even often; it was his little sanctuary where he worked on his little projects. But sometimes he'd shuffle one or two of us inside, and he'd make a flying machine whirr through the air or show us... 

Wait. Dartix and I entered the room, and though it was exactly as I remembered it, something had changed. 

No, the room hadn't changed. 

I had changed. 

I looked around and I recognized the stuff in there. A lot of it was the same kind of stuff Eric kept in his spell room. Potions, and contraptions, and even --

Eric's little portal thing, the one he used to clean the poisoned shirt I gave him (Oh Somebody, that was embarrassing!); a similar one was sitting on Dad's desk. 

Now I was super confused. 

Dartix walked around, fascinated. "What is this stuff?" he asked. 

"It's, it's... hobby stuff. The Master... Eric has this stuff too though." I picked up a tuning fork beside a small becor. "We use it to make things -- potions, armies, walls, food. I remember Dad having this stuff, I remember it being his hobby room. I just didn't know at the time... and now I do, but I didn't remember until now."

"Ancient history, huh?" He sat in the large chair behind my father's desk. He picked up a large, leather bound book. "What's this?"

"My father's notes," I replied, a little in awe. I wanted to touch them, feel close to him again. At the same time, the idea of remembering him better repelled me -- it might be having my insides ripped from me all over again. 

"Think we can use them to contact Eric?" Dartix asked. Thank Somebody for Dartix. I'd been struggling with what I should call Eric since the day he healed my wounds so long ago. But as soon as Dartix had accepted Eric wasn't the bad guy, he was just Eric to him. 

"Maybe..." I said, thinking. Suddenly, that little portal thing in the corner caught my attention. I knew I couldn't use it to talk to Eric -- I didn't know how. He always said his was off-limits. But I remember Dad saying he used it to talk to the stars. I'd never seen him do it. I'd never seen it work, but... 

Eric was from the stars.

Suddenly, Dartix froze. I noticed then how dark it had become in the room.

"Or maybe not," growled a voice from the doorway. Saymar was blocking the door. --The only door. "Thought you'd be safe here, didn't you? That's so predictable, Dor. I'm disappointed." He had to move sideways to squeeze through the small entry. That's when I noticed there were others behind him. "It's worse than finding you hiding under a table." This was true; I was feeling pretty lame now. "But it's nice of you to have let me in here. I knew it was here, but I never quite figured out the puzzle."

"You must be pretty dumb," I replied. 

"I think you should reconsider how you speak to me, Dor," he said, stalking toward me, green eyes blazing, scars seeming deeper in the low light. "How the events of this night proceed will decide whether you become a queen or a slave. It's entirely up to you."

My hand closed around a jar on the workspace. 

Saymar noticed, and paused. His eyes darted between the jar of dark glass and my eyes. "So. You choose slavery?" he asked. 

"And you choose death," Dartix said, pulling out a dagger, and saying the heating words I had taught him to use for the chain. I was surprised by his creativity. He whipped it at Saymar, and I could see the dagger turn red and yellow with heat as it flew toward him.

But not only did it cool as quickly as it heated, Saymar knocked it away with the back of his hand. While he was distracted, I ran toward him and broke the bottle on his chest. 

Saymar got one whiff and fell to his knees. 

The substance inside got on my hands and I quickly put them in the air as I indicated to Dartix to run for it. He grabbed the dagger and another bottle, which he threw at Saymar's people just beyond the door. They scattered when they saw vapors being emitted, but they didn't go far. 

Dartix threw the dagger again, and it missed its target again. 

We tried to make it out, and when one of them grabbed me, I put my hands on his face and he passed out. 

Dartix slowed down for me, and for that, I'll never forgive myself. An arrow hit him in the arm, and then something wrapped around my legs and I tripped. I tried to break my fall with my hands, and ended up on the ground with my face just above my wrists. I knew a split-second before it happened, that I was about to be unconscious. 

-------------------------------------

When I woke up, it became quickly apparent that I was pretty damn naked. I was freezing cold. Everything was hazy though, I didn't realize where I was until I saw the dressings on the windows. --My sister's room. I looked at down, finding I was naked on top of a pile of the dustiest, spider-webbiest, oldest, moth-eaten bedclothes on the planet, and it took everything in me not to die of heebie-jeebies right there. 

"You're awake," Saymar said. I then found he was sitting in a chair back at my sister's dressing table, a little bit behind and to the right of the bed. 

"Well, hard to stay asleep when you're about die of cold." I tried to get up, but I was definitely tied down.

He got up and walked over to the side of the bed. "I'd say. Those must hurt." --He was referring to my breasts. He sat down on the bed. 

"Do. Not. Touch. Me."

He reached out and began to massage the clenched tight tip of my right breast. I tried to ignore the sensation. It hurt, it felt good, it hurt. It was all wrong. My lower regions thrilled awake at his touch, hungry for Eric and unaware he wasn't here. I wanted to glare Saymar away, but he just stared back at me, and suddenly -- when I knew my hips were about twitch, I had to look away. 

He chuckled, lying down on the bed, on his side, planting both his arms on me so he could play with both breasts, resting his head on my stomach. 

I thought I might vomit. 

"You're so beautiful," he whispered. He cupped and squeezed me. "And strong. You'd make such a good queen, Dor." He opened his mouth and all I could think, as he took my flesh in his mouth, was what would Eric think if he found me like this? Tears ran down my eyes. "Stop that now," Saymar said, pausing to wipe the tears away with his thumbs. He was rough; it hurt my cheekbones and the skin under my eyes. "I'm going to be a great king, Dor. I'm going to unite all the lands under my reign. I can give you everything you ever wanted."

"I want Eric," I mumbled. 

"I'll give you his head on a platter," he spat in return, jumping off the bed. For a moment I was relieved, then I realized he had only stood to start removing his clothes. 

"Don't do this, Saymar. Please. You don't need to do this. There's no reason to. Just leave me alone. My family's reign ended long ago. Raping me wouldn't secure your claim to the throne anyway. Let me go."

When he got down to his pants, I looked away. But he called my name, and I looked back reflexively. 

He was gripping himself in his massive hand, and at first I was a little startled because he did seem not very big at all. --Then I slowly began to realize it was perception of dimension issue. The guy was huge, and in comparison to the rest of his body, only looked small. And now it was growing. 

I turned away again, crying in earnest. "No! I belong to Eric."

He moved around the bed, and I shut my eyes tight. I felt his hand touch my ankle and move up my leg; the calf, the knee, the though. His fingers met the joint of leg to hip, then curled into the folds there, parting them. I sagged, feeling and hearing the squish of his fingers moving through, then playing in the wetness. He tapped at the hood with his thumb, then without warning -- stuck a huge finger inside me and my whole body arched in response. 

"You want this," Saymar said. 

"I want Eric!" I pleaded. 

"You'll be screaming my name soon enough. --That's why I'm going to forgive you, Dor, for all this 'Eric' nonsense. You're just confused because of joining with him. Once I'm inside you, planting my seed in you," he touched my belly then I did vomit a little bit in my mouth, "you'll be mine forever. You'll want me as much as I want you."

"You're the FUCKING HAND!" I finally screamed, mad with rage at his complete lack of reason. "YOU KILLED MY FAMILY! I'LL NEVER LOVE YOU."

"Killing your family didn't stop you from loving him," Saymar replied coldly. "You opened your legs quickly enough when you still thought it was him, didn't you?" He climbed on top of me, knocking my knees further apart as he grabbed my head and kissed me hard and sloppily. "Dumb whore." He moved to position himself at my entrance. 

"No!" I sobbed, "I WANT ERIC."

"You don't have to yell, Dor."

Saymar's weight disappeared. 

I looked through teary eyes -- Eric was there, on the other side of the room. -Watching me from the door. I began to sob and laugh from relief. "Eric!"

I should have noticed how slowly he was moving as he walked to the bed and sat down. He didn't move to untie me. I was just staring at him adoringly, oblivious to the look in his eyes as he stared down at me. And then I just said, "I'm sorry, Eric, I'm so sorry for thinking... what I thought. I love you. I always have and I should have known -- just from that I should have known it wasn't you."

"You thought I was the one who killed the royals... your family. You're the princess. --The one who survived. Princess Windorina."

I nodded. 

"I guess understand you changing your name."

I laugh-sniffled. "Shut up. It's been my nickname forever."

He turned away from me, rubbing his palms together. --This is when I noticed I still hadn't been untied. This is when I noticed he didn't seem happy to see me. "Eric?"

"Hmmn?"

"You're not mad that I... tried to kill you and betray you and...?"

"That you seduced me for the purposes of trying to kill me?" he said, smiling bitterly. 

Quietly, I tried to quip, "You called it 'Mission: Code Red.'"

"But it was real. --The Seduction Plan."

"You said that the only Seduction Plan was for me. That you wanted me," I replied, my voice too, too high with fear I didn't even understand yet. "That you always had. You said you knew about all the assassination attempts, but that you also knew what I felt! You know what I feel, Eric."

He wasn't facing me, so I couldn't be sure that when he swiped the heel of his hand across his cheek, it wasn't sweat. But it was so cold in here. "Eric..." I wanted to beg him, plead for him to take me away, to take me home and make love to me, make me fully his -- two weeks, two years, two lifetimes together. 

But a sharp pang of shame rippled through me.

I just... didn't have the right to ask anything of him. 

He had given me everything, and in return I had done everything in my power to destroy him. I licked my lips. "If you untie me, I'll go," I said. 

"Go?" he asked, voice heavy. 

"Leave. I'll leave here. You won't have to worry about me or the Resistance for that matter. They won't have a bargaining chip. I'll leave. Untie me and I'm gone."

He looked back at me then -- his eyes could have killed me more easily than poison. And his hands reached up for the knot in the rope.



The Seduction Plan Ch. 10



He pulled on the restraint, and I reflexively glanced up. He wasn't untying me, just feeling whether or not it would give. His eyes were empty as he studied the knot. Then they flicked down to me. His mouth was still, unblemished by smile or frown. My lungs had stopped, my heart had slowed. He was going to send me away!

I tried to tell myself that this was good! That this was what I wanted; for him to be safe and to know what happened. But damn. Damn, damn, damn -- no. This wasn't it. This couldn't be it. 

I was startled into a ragged gasp when he let go of the ropes, leaving them tied, and grabbed me by the hair. 

He didn't say anything, revealed nothing, closing his eyes and then -- he kissed me. -Hard and desperate and not like any kiss he had given me before. It hurt, but all I wanted was Eric, and that was what I was getting. 

My only instinct was to cling to him, grateful and relieved that he wasn't sending me away. But, he had left me tied and I couldn't ditch the feeling that this wasn't it. I wasn't safe, tied and naked. He could disappear and leave me like this, alone. 

I felt his clothes begin to melt away from him as he moved on top of me. His mouth moved up my face with kisses, to my eyes, to my forehead. 

"I will never untie you," he whispered. 

My breath caught in my throat. He would leave me here?

He rubbed his cheek against my face, "You tell me you love me, and then... in practically the same breath, you're going to leave me? Fuck you, Dor."

"Eric, I," I began, but he put his hand over my mouth. 

"No." He shook his head. And then, hand still over my mouth, he moved to spread my legs. 

It was a strange sensation, to lose so much -- I couldn't move my arms, I couldn't speak, Eric moved my legs how he wished. 

And then my sight gave away as he sunk into me and my eyelids dropped in bliss. This was home. This was where I belonged; wrapped tight around Eric. 

He began to move, slowly. He kept his hand over my mouth, and I began to realize he looked mad. He shook his head, the movement of his eyes showing the pleasure he took while his lips and shoulders seemed to leak rage. "I asked you to marry me and you ran away to get kidnapped. I came to save you, and you sent me away. A smaller man might have gotten his feelings hurt, Dor. Is that your plan? To play a game of hide and seek with me until I die of sheer frustration?"

I tried to shake my head no, but he held my face firm in his hand. There was no way I could have fought him now anyway, my body was too occupied by the agonizing pleasure growing in me while he took his time, almost seeming more interested in marking his territory than in the reactions of my body. And obviously my hips didn't care about his intentions, as they kept rising to meet him. 

"How could you have let yourself be caught by that man?!" he suddenly demanded. 

I froze, shocked by his tone and the rise of intensity in his voice. 

He continued, still pumping languorously, "I waited at Gravlor's Peak, disguised as Seamus. Everything was in place. I had as good a chance at beating all this as anything..." he paused with a groan, then, "But then I hear Saymar's left to meet Bolthos and hasn't come back. The men there all said he was probably getting to know his wife better. --His wife, Dor. And I knew you were aroused last night, and ashamed, and then scared, and hurt, and then sad and confused..."

He stopped moving and pulled his hand off my mouth. 

"Nothing happened. He didn't find me until this morning. --The other stuff, it was nothing," I offered.

"Dartix?" Eric asked. 

I lowered my eyebrows in confusion. "What about Dartix?"

"He's the one you... wanted?"

"Eww! Eric! He's just a kid. No! No. Gross." I sighed out my nose. I didn't want to think about it, but I needed to explain. "Bolthos... I didn't want him to touch me. But he did. --Not in a serious way. He just got handsy was all. And I had been thinking about you all day, so..."

Eric curved a finger below my chin and brought my eyes back to his. I hadn't even realized I had looked away to start with. I began to cry, "I'm sorry, Eric."

He kissed my cheeks. "I thought that you had given in to Saymar. I didn't want to think about it. I was hurt. For that foolishness, I'm sorry, Dor. It wasn't until this morning when you were so frightened and then -- then you were out completely, so suddenly. I was worried you were dead. I got here, and the men were all outside talking about having captured you and the boy and then... 

"You called my name."

I blushed and tried to laugh it off, "Er, I think I called it a couple times."

"In all my lifetimes I have never been as hurt by a woman as often or as badly as I have been by you, Dor. But God, you could call me from hell with that voice. It was like suddenly knowing where I was supposed to be... I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." He took my face in both hands. "I will never leave your side nor let you leave mine ever again." He kissed my forehead. "I make that promise to you, as your husband." I felt him growing, still inside me. His words, his body, everything was ecstasy. 

We kissed and I was crying full out now. When he pulled away, I said, "Okay, untie me, I want to hold you." Instead, he just smiled, 

"Ha! Beans to that, Dor. After everything's that's happened? Er, no. No way. No way, in hell, or out. You say two weeks of sex is just an old tradition; I say it's just a necessity." He began really working at me again -- my head fell back on the pillows and I kept trying to get back to where reason and logic resided in my head, but it was so hard...

There was nothing in the universe except his body working in me. 

...

This, what we had now, perfection. Pleasure thrilled through my body, threatening to break every bone with shattering release. 

But this was nothing to pleasure of being held and loved and wanted by Eric. --Nothing to knowing he still wanted me. He knew everything and still wanted me.

He knew everything and still wanted me. 

It was in his touch and his need, the lines of his sweat, his gaze so deep into mine that it seemed he was branding my mind with his eyes. 

He knew everything and still wanted me.

He honestly needed me... so badly that none of my crimes mattered.

We would be together forever... now. 

I wanted to touch him with my hands... 

Instinctively I tried to move my arms, further bruising my wrists in the process. It hurt, and the sudden feel of my wrist skinning itself reminded me of falling earlier on my hands... 

No, we have to stop. We have to stop, I finally remembered. 

There was still a world around us. 

-A dangerous one. 

"Eric, my arms will fall off if you don't untie me. Also..." he thrust into me harder as if to shut me up, and it would have worked but, "We're in a dirty old abandoned castle, and there are a bunch of Saymar's men outside the door. I'm a little surprised that they haven't caught on yet. And that Saymar isn't back yet... Where did you send him this time?"

"I didn't send him. I sent us. We're in the basement of my palace. We're home." 

"What?" I tried to sit up, but yeah -- tied down. "How?"

He slumped, then, slowing down, but still moving, replied, "I had some... tricks up my sleeve for Gravlor's Peak. When I found you screaming under Saymar like that, I knew I had to get us out of there before I killed him right on top of you." He made a face, and rolled his eyes a little. "Thought that might have been a little traumatizing... and we know how you get when you're all traumatized."

"Wait... what about Dartix? He's a good kid, Eric!"

"I know... I know... I freed him long before I even found you. Sent him home."

I cocked my head. Dartix wouldn't have left me there. I knew it. I knew it as surely as I knew I wouldn't have left him. "Eric... when you freed him, you let him know it was you? Or were you still disguised as Seamus?"

He stopped again, groaning in frustration. "Why?" he demanded, clearly wanting to get the conversation out of the way once and for all. He settled down on my body, ready for a talk. 

"If it was you, he might have thought you were there to save me. But if it was just Seamus... Eric, he might think Saymar still has me."

Eric blinked, then waved to bring my sister's mirror closer to the bed. I looked around, seeing that he had taken the room's items, but that yes -- those were the walls of his palace around us. --Not the stone of Kedmirl castle. 

He drew invisible symbols on the mirror with his finger and it began to shimmer and glow. "Fuck. You're right. Saymar's got him."

"Well? Eric, he's like a brother to me."

Eric sighed, pulling out of me completely now, still very aroused -- though come to think of it, he must have finished at least three times in me already. 

Feeling the sudden loss of his body in mine, I groaned in disappointment. He looked down at me, "Oh don't even sound like that; this is your fault."

He reached for the ropes and untied them. My arms flapped to my sides in relief. Eric was watching me. "I should leave you here," he said. 

"And break your promise?" I asked. 

"Yeah, that was a stupid promise, wasn't it? Never leave your side?" He was suddenly dressed, and I felt clothes crawling up my body as well. "Who says stuff like that?"

"Not anyone I'd associate with," I replied. 

He shook his head. "As soon as we're home again..."

"What?"

"You don't want to know."

I pulled off my socks. He looked like he might strangle me. I shrugged. 

"You can't just pop him over here like you did with us?"

"Nope. Saymar's not as dumb as he looks."

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"He's already gotten Dartix to Gravlor's Peak."

-------------------------------->



The Seduction Plan Ch. 11



We prepared the horses. I rode Greystone, and he rode Blackwood. We were going the long way around, through the desert and up through the canyons that would be unprotected – too dangerous to be covered by the likes of the resistance. For a long while, we were silent – focused on the ride, what was coming. We began to slow as we neared the canyons. 

I looked over at Eric. He didn't need to look back to notice my stare. "What is it, Dor?"

"Tell me what happened?" I asked. The sun was setting, and he rode close to me.

He looked at me then. He shrugged. "It's a long story. I don't know where to start, really." He stopped looking at me. –Part of it seemed like he was looking around for a memory. But there was also something about it that seemed guilty. "I guess it starts with your dad. –Trying to abolish slavery. He knew my people were against it – well, that's a lie. Most of my people are against it. And then others... well. See Dor, there's good people in the universe and bad."

I gave him a low, annoyed stare. Yeah – I was a little bit aware that there are both good people and bad people in the world. 

He sighed, realizing how he sounded. "Let me start over. Your dad and I were friends, and,"

"Impossible!" I interrupted. "You were just a little boy when he was killed. I would have known you."

"This was another life, Dor. Could you just listen?"

"Okay," I answered, unsure how my question was going to be answered when nothing he said made any sense.

"I met your dad on another world, long ago. He was an amazing person, your father. You see, everyone had thought this world was just full of primitives. Some people, some of the bad people came here anyway, for vacations – in order to enjoy a primitive lifestyle for a short period of time. –This quickly became illegal, and even before it was illegal they weren't allowed to go about changing things. Still, sometimes equipment would get lost on the planet and your dad – one of the so called 'primitives,' he actually figured a lot of our stuff out. No education – just collected and tinkered with forgotten toys until one day he used our science and our magic to come to one of our planets. 

"That's how we met. After that, well, there's a lot to that story, a lot. ...But after a while he revealed that he was in line to be king, and he had to go home and assume his duties. I was actually, kind of pissed about that. He was probably," Eric said, with a face almost like he was laughing at himself, laughing in sadness, "...probably my best friend." He smiled at me. "Until I met you."

I shifted in my saddle, suddenly blushing, suddenly feeling the strange crawling wonder of being loved when you don't deserve it. 

He went on, "Anyway, he came back to this planet and got married and became king. We still talked... all the time at first, but you know friends. You're thick as thieves and then someone leaves... We used to talk about all sorts of things. And he never did believe in slavery and I encouraged him to put an end to it – he was king after all. Not that I had any clue what that meant. I had never been here; I didn't know what it was like. Everyone said it was a primitive planet, but my friend had always been evidence to me that it was not. I never imagined that this world would be so untamed, that he was in so much danger that he never spoke of. ...If I had known, Dor. God, Dor. I swear, if I had known the danger I'd have been here so much sooner. I'd have come back with him."

Quietly, I said, "It's okay," but something in my stomach kept my voice low, wondering what exactly I was forgiving here, worried that it might be too much. 

"I remember how excited he was that it was finally happening. –That he was finally going to bring an end to it all. I was happy for him. ...And a little. Dor, you haven't had anyone but me. You don't know what it's like to have thousands of so called friends, keeping up with them decade upon decade. You don't worry about the happy ones, Dor. It becomes like a chore. It shouldn't be a chore, but, you put the happy ones on the shelf, and just sort of bother to say hello on holidays – check in, see if everything's okay. Then his letter came.

"He was worried. There had been attempts on his life. –Threats to his children and wife. And he had the suspicion that he was threatened by someone not of his own world. When he had been on my planet, the most your father ever asked of me was to explain something. He wanted to learn. But he never asked for help, not for real help, not for something more than a definition or instruction. In his letter, he asked for help. I remember seeing the words, and – I don't know. I'd never been so cut with fear by written words before. Maybe something in me knew. I think I might have been connected to this world by those words – by the ink on the paper that had come through the portals.

"I prepared to leave, to come to this planet, to help your father. But I was old by then, and slow – and the body I had been building to inhabit next wasn't quite ready. My people, ages ago, found they could transplant brains from body to body in order to save minds whose bodies were lost. –It wasn't a popular practice at first given that it required a donor. But we have since learned how to grow mindless bodies, and with certain magics we can retain the flesh of our brains somewhat indefinitely. Anyway, it's rather frowned upon to change bodies before your new one has reached adulthood. –For a few reasons. It doesn't really matter. But... I hesitated. It was illegal to travel to your father's planet and I wasn't sure I was up to it in my current condition. I was afraid, Dor. I had heard word they were permanently closing off entry to your world. –One of many in a campaign to end corruption.

"By the time I got over it – my fear, it was too late. Still quite old, I traveled with my new body in tow, here – only to find your family murdered by a madman from my planet. He was setting up shop. He had heard about how the routes between our many worlds and this one were going to be closed, and he imagined it a good opportunity to remake himself in the form of a deity. I confronted him. He nearly killed me. But I was older and meaner and very upset that my friend was dead. So I killed him. Of course, then I began to die, and I ended up having to make the transfer to my new body, and in the process I missed my chance to go home.

"I was stuck in this not quite adult body, on a strange planet, with no connections. I went on a walk – tried to learn what I could, and what I learned was that... scared as the people were of the master – the man who had destroyed their government and world – they were more scared of not knowing what was going to happen next. They still worried about laws and if there would be food to eat, whether they could raise their kids in peace, run any sort of business. They didn't want any more upheaval. They just didn't want to be scared anymore. 

"So I built a palace, where the Master could stay – far away from the villages and towns. I made sure that when the Master sent an army, that it was menacing, but did no wrong. The people, I thought, would begin to believe that the Master was there and would have his way, but that they could go about their lives in peace. I didn't think the chaos of anarchy would be a good thing. But I didn't want to introduce myself, or a stranger as yet a new leader." He stopped, dismounting from his horse. I followed suit – surprised suddenly that we had already reached the canyons. 

He helped me down, and began unpacking his pack, grabbing some food and a blanket. He continued, "And for a few years, I never even thought about living beyond this body because I was certain this was hell. –My punishment for failing a friend. And then you showed up. –Jaded and compassionless, sarcastic and impossible to impress. -Also pathetic, and weak and sad – sadder than me. You never cared how depressed I was." He set out a picnic on the ground, easily – like we were discussing math and not how sad we were that my family was dead. 

"Thank God for you." He pulled me into him. "I have you, I have you, I have you," he said into my hair. 

We sat at his picnic. –Our last meal before facing Saymar and Gravlor's Peak. "I think you know the rest," he said. "You and me against the world... I had heard rumors about there being a survivor, a princess. But the most I learned was that she was some wild ghost living in the desert sands."

"And you didn't make the connection?" I asked, chuckling a little at the idea. 

"I guess I didn't think of you as belonging to this world. At first..." he trailed off, shaking his head. 

"What?"

"I sort of worried that I was going crazy. –That I had imagined you."

"How long did that last?"

"Up until that time you tripped and fell down the stairs. Remember? You had only been at the palace for a couple months, but..."

"I remember," I replied flat. –That had sucked. He gave me healing apples almost immediately, but that didn't erase the memory of the pain, or the sheer embarrassment. I don't know how that happened. I was just walking and I knew there were stairs, but somehow! Bloop! I ended up rolling down hard marble steps at break-neck speed for what felt like half an hour. That had sucked. 

"Nothing I ever imagined, made up in my own head, could have every in million years, been that spontaneously clumsy."

"Yeah, I get it," I said. 

"Seriously, Dor – you just kept rolling!"

"Yeah, I remember. I told you, I remember."

"I would have stopped it, but it all caught me off guard! It's like my brain shut off out of surprise."

"Okay, Eric."

"And here you were an assassin all along."

"Obviously you were completely safe, bumbling as I was."

He pulled the sandwich out of my hands and threw it into the dirt. 

"Hey!" I said, pointing to my sandwich. I then felt a breeze. 

I looked down. 

I looked back at Eric. "Eric, no – we have to save Dartix." I covered myself with hands as best I could, looking around to make sure there wasn't an audience. 

"I won't be able to do things like this on Gravlor's peak. The stone there will inhibit my abilities. I can't believe this, Dor. You know how long I waited to be able to be like this? And now we're marching off to a place where..."

"Where we'll save Dartix very, very quickly, then come home where you can do anything you want to me."

He seemed to move his tongue along his teeth a moment, and his eyes went dark. His clothes suddenly began to melt away from him from the shoulders down. Boy he looked good. And then I saw how much he wanted me. It was a lot! "We won't make it there without camping for one night anyway," he said, voice low. "We have to rest sometime."

"Rest?"

He smiled at me, and reached out to pull me toward him by the arm. He kissed me. "If I don't make it," he began. 

"Take me with you," I said. 

"What?" 

I pulled his face closer, kissed him, and said, "If you aren't going to make it, take me with you."

"Dor, you're not," he began again. Again I interrupted him. 

"You promised me, as my husband, never to leave my side and never to let me leave yours. If you don't make it, there'll be no one to save me from Saymar."

"You'll save you from Saymar!" Eric declared gruffly, pulling away. "You're my badass, Dor. You're my assassin. You found the man you thought murdered your family and doggedly pursued ending his life for nearly fifteen years! You live in the desert with the Master of the Realm. You fought the monster horse and won!"

"I don't remember it that way," I pointed out, "In fact there's a lot about that monster horse thing I don't remember because I think it stomped my brain." But, I did have to admit, inwardly, hearing him say it out loud – that I was a badass - reminded me. –It was true.

Sure, I wasn't great at being a badass. A monster-horse thing had stomped me pretty good. But, I was one. I was Eric's badass. 

"I love you, Dor. I'll die for you, easy. And there's a larger number of people I'd kill for you in existence than what little good that's left of me wants to admit. But there's still some people I wouldn't kill for you too, Dor." He took my face in his hands. "And you happen to be one of them."

"You don't really think there's a chance you'll die? You seemed confident about it before – when you were pretending to be Seamus."

He smiled, rolling his eyes. "I have a feeling that they're not going to be so trusting of Seamus, who should have arrived at Kedmirl Castle about the same time the Master spontaneously disappeared the princess and freed Dartix, and of course – never showed up."

"Well, you could make a..." Wait. I had an idea. 

It was an awful idea that would never work... but...

Eric was pushing me to lie down. 

"Eric, I have an idea."

He straddled me, and I was suddenly distracted by the sensation of feeling him draw his sensitive parts along the length of my stomach as he brought himself closer and closer to my chest and mouth. Oddly enough my mouth was watering, and not so oddly I felt achingly empty down below. Concentrate, Dor! "Eric," I said. 

He pressed my breasts beneath his palms, before drawing them up and rubbing his male hardness between. My whole body tingled, and my arms and legs and eyes were confused – I had no idea what to do with any of them. A strange wave of warmth slid through me, and I slowly realized, dazedly - that he was using magic again, as he had with the back rub. "Oh shit, Eric."

He slung a hand behind my neck to guide me to take him in my mouth. He was so large up close, and for the first time I felt him press against my lips this way. –Soft skin, but so hard still, and the taste... I would have never expected it. He tasted the way my body felt. I felt delicious. My body was unlinking, melting with pleasure. I think my insides had begun to mix into something better – something magic. The earth shifted beneath us until I was propped up, his knees sunk into the dirt beside my ribcage. I kissed, licked, worshipped him and then he pulled away just long enough to bring his mouth to mine. 

He sunk into me and I thought I would disappear. 

"We're one, Eric," I managed to say. 

He kept moving. His mouth was on my neck and my face. 

"We're both getting through this," I said. 

"Yes," he replied. 

"You won't have to do anything to me," I said. "What happens to you will happen to me anyway."

He paused above me, his steel grey eyes staring into mine. 

"And vice-versa," I added. "So, no need to worry. I'm badass enough to get us both out of this. I have a plan."

He grinned, and that was enough to put me over the edge. My breath caught in my throat, and I gripped his upper arm in my hand like it was a rope I was trying to climb. –Only difference was that his arm was too thick for me to get my hand around, and the feel of his arm in my hand made me want him even more. 

Suddenly he was filling me with his seed, his face strained, and I came again, just knowing that I was his, and that what was his was in me.

"Another plan from Dor?" he asked sardonically. "We're saved."

"Hey," I said, wiggling beneath him demonstratively. "Looks like the Seduction Plan worked out pretty well."

"The seduction worked. I don't know about the plan."

I ran my fingers through his hair. "The old plan was to kill you. The new plan is to save Dartix, go home, and be a family. I like the new plan better."

"Oh," he said, grinning that impossibly beautiful smile again. "I like that plan too."

He started to kiss my face again. I kissed him back. His eyes were perfect. His mouth was perfect. ... "So wait, did you say that you just change bodies when you die?" I asked. 

"Yep."

"Do you look different every time?"

"Uh, sometimes there's slight changes. Once I was missing a toe," he offered. 

"Ew," I said. 

"Yeah, I was a little put out myself." He rolled off me, onto his back. But his arm was beneath me, around my shoulders. Night was closing in, but the sky was still pink and dotted by early stars. Warm, comfortable clothes spread over our bodies. 

"Eric?"

"Yeah?"

"Someday, we'll both get old and die, but you'll go on. You'll get your new body when I'm gone and Dartix is old. You'll still be around to take care of things, once I'm gone."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm taking you with me. Forever. –As long as I survive this, of course." He drew his nose along my cheek. 

"You will," I said. 

I rolled onto my side and began to whisper to him. 

I finally had a plan that I wanted to succeed.