The Changeling

by Jennifer Lyndon

  “Even the Sim’Sci don’t know that,” I replied. “It happened when our blood mixed, after I spoke those strange words during our binding ceremony,” I replied.

  M’Tek opened her hand to see the silver L carved in her palm. “I usually don’t scar this badly,” she said, smiling before seeking my right hand to examine the silver M carved there. She placed our hands together again, as they were in the binding, and shifted over to straddle me. “Can you see all the ways I want you?” she whispered, opening her mind to me.

  Her thoughts were an intoxicant, making me gasp before she even kissed me. Her fingers tightened against mine, as she eased our clasped hands down on the bed next to me. Images flooded my mind; our bodies entwined, her mouth on my breast, her hands gripping my hips as her tongue pressed inside of me. I wanted her.

  She used her knee to spread my legs, as her teeth grazed my neck. A moment later her mouth found mine, her lips teasing. She moved lower, to flick my nipple with her tongue, her teeth scraping the sensitive peak as I writhed under her. Her lips moved lower, her breath tickling my skin, her brilliant white hair fanning out over my breasts, and she descended. Her tongue slipped into the folds of me, taunting at first, and tentative. And then I could feel how she wanted me, how the taste of me flooded her with desire. I arched back as she led me to the edge, and then quickly took me over.

  When M’Tek and I finally managed to drag ourselves from bed, we ate slowly, basking in the knowledge that there was nothing urgent requiring our attention and nowhere else we had to be. Late in the afternoon, we headed down to my bathing chamber. This room was the only extravagance Vilkerdam Palace possessed that surpassed the lavish luxury of Lareem. Vilkerdam had been built upon a hot spring, and therefore offered constant access to warm mineral water bubbling up from deep within the ground.

  We soaked sore muscles and relaxed, for the first time in months careless of one another’s company. M’Tek was playful in a way she never had been, dunking me before I could react, and then keeping at least an arm’s length away until she believed herself safe from retribution. When I reclined back on the flattened surface of the rocks along the edge of the pool, she finally ventured close again, unable to keep from touching me any longer. I had the perfect opportunity to retaliate, but refrained, enjoying the feel of her slippery skin against my thigh as she relaxed beside me.

  With her hair wet, the black roots growing in were striking. I couldn’t help but stare, so accustomed was I to the near translucence of her hair when wet. She glanced over at me, reading my thoughts.

  “I’ll have some acrid substance put upon it to keep it white. Or I can apply chalk to the roots,” she offered. “I’m certain something can be done,” she added. I smiled.

  “It’s fine,” I replied. “I’ll get used to it.”

  “It’s not fine, my love,” she argued. “You’ve been worrying over it all day.”

  “I’m accustomed to your hair being white. It was the first thing I noticed about you the morning we met, in the apple orchard,” I started, trying to explain. “But it’s not only your hair that’s different. You’re changing. Your face is fuller, and your nose appears shorter somehow. And you had a laugh line right here,” I said, grazing the side of her mouth with my fingertip. “I always liked to kiss it. It’s gone, and so is that little crease in your brow from when you’re concentrating too hard, or when you’re extremely irritated with me.”

  M’Tek smiled and relaxed her head down on my shoulder. My hand came up to caress her cheek. “I’ve never been extremely irritated with you, my love,” she corrected. “And I never thought I’d be sorry to have my dark hair back,” she added.

  “I can’t understand why it bothers me, you looking younger,” I said. “When you aged so quickly before, I only cared because it meant you were getting worse. You still looked like my M’Tek.”

  She shifted slightly, moving to sit across my lap, facing me, her arms circling my shoulders. Her lips trailed along my neck, her breath tickling my skin. I tightened my arms around her as she tugged at my ear with her teeth. “You just look so young now, like the girl in the painting with Sarane,” I added. “But I’ll get used to it.”

  “I truly feel young, for the first time since I actually was,” she whispered before relaxing her head forward, against my shoulder. I smiled. “You liked being the younger girl with the more mature woman, I think,” she observed. “I had an advantage I never realized,” she added, laughing lightly.

  “I loved you then,” I replied. “I love you even more now.”

  “Is that so? Even more?” she asked. I nodded, not knowing how to explain what I meant. “Well, while we’re on the topic,” she started, lifting her head from my shoulder to gaze at me again. “You’re a little different too, my love,” she observed. I laughed.

  “How?” I asked, incredulous. “Am I too old for you now?” I teased. She shook her head.

  “I’m serious,” she said gently. “It’s mostly your eyes that have changed,” she explained. “In this dim light, when you look into my eyes, what do you see?” She leaned back from me, offering a good view so that I could study her face.

  “They’re brilliant, almost like liquid silver, holding light,” I replied. M’Tek smiled, pleased by my description.

  “They’re Fae eyes,” she added, summing up what I was saying simply. “Your eyes are the clearest, palest blue right now, and as brilliant as the Luminous Gulf at night,” she said. “Look around the room,” she suggested. “Can you see that small brown spider, tucked away in the far corner behind the bath brushes?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I acknowledged.

  “How about the tiny crack deep in the recess of the ceiling way over there?” she pointed to the far side of the room. I sighted the crack along her finger. It was plain to me. In fact, I doubted I’d ever fail to notice it again, and yet that was the first time I’d seen it.

  “I see it,” I answered.

  “You have the eyes of a Fae,” she informed me happily. “Except, I’ve never in all my many years seen a Fae with blue eyes.”

  “Does it bother you that I look different?” I asked, tempted to ease my way into her mind to find out.

  “No, it doesn’t bother me, Lore,” she said, reassuring me. “I loved your beautiful eyes before,” she said. “I love your eyes even more now,” she added, mirroring what I’d said earlier. “And the reason it bothers you that the lines on my face have disappeared is because I appear less myself. You’ll adjust. You once lived as a boy, and now you’re a powerful queen. Adjusting to the changes in my face will be easy by comparison. And I can help ease you along, by doing something about my hair,” she offered. I shook my head.

  “No. I want to run my fingers through your dark hair,” I said, surprised that I actually meant it. M’Tek leaned close to me again and kissed me gently.

  “Deus that’s a relief! You can’t imagine how I’ve wanted my hair back to normal. I only refrained from darkening it because I saw that white hair as a truth my people had to accept, proof of my looming demise. Thanks to you, I may live forever.”

  ****

  The season in Faeland was scheduled to begin in less than two weeks, and Pet had been obsessing over preparations since she learned M’Tek and I were well. M’Tek was determined the season would not be delayed by the political chaos of the past few weeks, or by the fact that she’d very nearly died. It was her belief that, at more than any point during her exceptionally long reign, the Fae people needed their season. She also knew they needed to witness her renewed health and utter connubial happiness.

  In the midst of all of this, I found myself in a unique political position. M’Tek never stopped for a moment to consider the turmoil my Vilkerling subjects had suffered. Their Queen had vanished into thin air, and their neighbors had begun threatening them with war almost immediately thereafter. I was uncomfortable leaving Vilkerdam so shortly after my return. On the other hand, if I failed to show for the Fae season, it would appear
I was snubbing the Fae people. I was, after all, to be crowned M’Tek’s Queen at some point.

  In my concern over Faeland and Vilkerland, I was not permitted to forget my duties to Nogeland. An almost endless stream of requests was made of me to appear, and to be crowned as swiftly as was possible. I understood the urgency. At that point, there was no real government in place. M’Tek had absolved herself of all responsibility to the Noge, dropping them squarely in my lap, and since then, given them little consideration. After witnessing how eagerly the Noge had rejected her reign in favor of mine, I couldn’t fault her for her evident lack of concern.

  Still, I knew delaying my appearance in Nogeland would be a mistake, so I agreed to a hurried, informal, coronation. Afterward I would spend a week making appointments to my newly formed Noge council. I spent hours sifting through all the information M’Tek could make available, about each family, and their political potentials. I had my list in hand by the time we left for Nogeland.

  M’Tek didn’t approve of a few of my choices for council members, pointing out that the eastern Noge were far more suited to wielding power than those downtrodden westerners. Still, I made the division between these two formerly distinct territories nearly even. I actually chose this council, as opposed to my Vilken council, which had been selected for me by Uncle Toblin. As a result, there were women on the council as well as men, and not only older women.

  In fact while I was working on balancing out the structure of the future Noge council, I started making notes for the eventual changes I planned to make in Vilkerdam, when I returned after the season, unaware that my return would be quite distant.

  The Noge coronation progressed quickly, as was required. Pet would have put the affair together with far more panache, but there was no time. A more elaborate celebration was already in the planning stages for the one-year anniversary of the Noge reunification. I would insist on Pet’s involvement with that one. As that future date of my one-year jubilee fell long enough before the start of the Fae season, M’Tek would attend with me.

  As it turned out, M’Tek and I arrived at Lareem only four hours before the opening ball of the Fae season. For some reason the streets were decorated with poppies and joining wreaths, and swarming with people, more Fae than I’d ever seen collected in one place. This throng slowed our progress toward the palace to a crawl. M’Tek had raised the hood of her cloak as we approached the village, and asked me to do the same. Apparently, she didn’t wish to be recognized. When we rode up to the front entryway of the palace, Pet raced down the steps to greet us.

  “Deus, Lore! You must hurry!” she said, instead of greeting us. The instant I was down from my mount, Pet grabbed my hand and basically dragged me up the steps. I glanced over my shoulder at M’Tek’s wry smile, and nearly tripped on the stairs as it became apparent M’Tek was hiding something.

  “Pet’Wyn of Tannuk, stop this!” I commanded, trying to slow her down. She froze, stunned by my tone, and obstinate halt, in the middle of the entry hall. “I’m going to the stables to visit Sabea,” I insisted, softening slightly. “I haven’t seen her in weeks. I’ll have plenty of time to dress afterward.”

  “No! You don’t understand, Lore,” Pet snapped, refusing me, and trying to drag me toward the stairs again. “We have maybe forty minutes if you’ll move your feet. Please! Move your feet!”

  She seemed truly agitated, so I allowed her to urge me into running, though I didn’t understand at all the purpose in our haste. When we reached M’Tek’s apartments, the chaos evident in her usually well-ordered rooms was overwhelming. There were clothes strewn about the sitting room and both bedchambers, while flowers and gifts overflowed every available surface.

  “What don’t I know?” I demanded, finally fed up with the mess and the senseless hurrying about.

  “M’Tek’s hosting your formal presentation in about thirty-five minutes,” Pet said, flinching as she saw my reaction. I picked up the nearest dress, crushed it in my hands and threw it across the room. “No! Wait!” she protested. “That’s the one you’re wearing!”

  I covered my face with my hands as Pet began pulling at my clothes. Apparently I was having a quick bath, since I smelled like a horse. I was undressed and in the tub within seconds as Pet, ignoring my protestations of modesty, sat behind me, working with my hair. She had it fastened in an impressive twist, with about a dozen pins capped by bright rubies fixing it in place. I insisted she allow me some privacy as I vacated the tub and began drying myself, but no sooner had she left me, than she reappeared carrying the dress I’d thrown across the room. I scrambled to cover myself.

  Before I could prevent it, I was enveloped in a beautiful, vibrant, red dress, made of the finest Old Noge silk, and sewn to my specifications. It appeared a compromise between a traditional Noge joining gown and a Vilken one, having been designed in the Noge fashion, but in that vibrant hue of red, as a nod to Vilkerland. “You’ve lost weight,” Pet commented with irritation, as she started working on the elaborate Fae sandals I was to wear, lifting my feet and fastening my shoes as if I were a child. “At least your feet are the same size,” she added. She then presented me with spectacular jewels.

  As I began examining them, she snatched them away. They were around my neck in the next instant, and draping my chest. Carefully, I studied them as Pet fussed over my final preparations. The detail on the platinum chains alone would have taken hours to appreciate, but the gems were a marvel. I’d never seen stones cut in such a way, diamonds, meant to be ice, catching the light from every direction, made to look more like droplets of light than actual stones, and rubies cut to resemble flames, licking my skin where they touched. Matching armlets encircled my upper arms, and my forefinger bore an unusual ring with a seal embedded in the stone. Pet went for my ears, but stopped.

  “Deus!” Pet cursed. “There are no holes in your ears. How is that even possible? You’re not a child,” she said, clearly irritated. “See, if you’d arrived earlier, maybe we could have done something about that.”

  “Do you have a sewing needle?” I asked. Pet’s eyes grew wide. “Do you want me to wear the earrings or not?” I snapped, and she hurried across the room, returning with the sewing needle she’d brought along for any final alterations needed on my dress.

  I took the needle over to a bottle of torppa, poured myself a dose, and swallowed it quickly, in an effort to calm my anxiety over the impending event. I then covered the needle with a little of the viscous black liquid. As the bizarre cycle of flavors washed through me, I stood in front of a mirror, stabbing my ear with the needle. I then forced the earring through the hole I’d just made. It hurt more than I expected, but the pain was short lived, and sort of pushed to the back of my mind by the strange sensations brought on by the torppa. I did the same with my other ear. Feeling slightly lightheaded from the torppa, I turned to Pet for her approval.

  Pet’s eyes were wide with shock. Apparently she was squeamish around blood, and she looked as though she might throw up for a moment. Instead, she took my glass, filled it with torppa, glanced at me conspiratorially and said, “Do you mind?” I shook my head quickly, giving her permission. “Don’t tell my cousin I let you pierce your own ears,” she said before slamming the torppa to the back of her throat. A moment later, M’Tek walked into our sitting room. She came over to me, taking my hand to turn me around for her inspection.

  “You look amazing, my love,” she told me. “How do you like your jewels?”

  “They’re beautiful,” I replied, glancing down at the elegant stones dancing with light. “You had these made for me?” I asked, surprised. “I thought Pet had done all of this.”

  “My cousin helped organize the event,” M’Tek allowed. “I commissioned the jewels.”

  “What will this presentation involve?” I asked, realizing I’d been kept in the dark intentionally.

  “Pet will explain. I need to hurry if I want a bath,” M’Tek said, squeezing my hand before leaving me.

  “
Pet?” I called sharply to M’Tek’s cousin, not appreciating the fact I was ignorant about something that was so obviously important.

  “The Fae Queen is presenting her chosen Queen to the realm today,” Pet replied, squaring her shoulders to show she wasn’t afraid of my temper, so I needn’t bother being cross with her. “All of Faeland has been invited. The entire village of Lareem and all of the surrounding villages are overflowing with people who’ve traveled days to see you. It’s quite an occasion. I can’t believe my cousin didn’t have you here yesterday to prepare.”

  “She was actually very patient, waiting for me to finish my work in Nogeland,” I said, realizing M’Tek had known we were cutting it close, and still told me nothing, probably in an effort to avoid causing me anxiety.

  “We should go down to the back lawn of the palace. All the members of the House of Tannuk are assembling to greet you, and offer acceptance into our family. It’s the first step of the process. There are a few small matters of protocol I’ll advise you on, and I’ll remain by your side until my cousin arrives. She won’t be too long. I laid everything out for her. She knows we need to start the procession as soon as possible,” Pet observed. “Usually, the monarch to be crowned walks the entire line of well-wishers alone,” she added. “But my cousin insists upon walking with you. It’s been so long since she was crowned, no one living witnessed that ceremony. So, that little detail doesn’t really matter, I guess. Anyway, I estimate the walk should take at least a couple of hours.”

  I allowed Pet to sweep me along, out to the back lawn of the palace. An enormous tent was raised there, overflowing with massive vases filled with red tulips. I encountered an ancient man with white hair and grey eyes that resembled M’Tek’s. He bowed to me as I approached, exhibiting such frailty I thought he might totter over, or simply crumble if I touched him. Pet was quickly whispering in my ear, “This is General D’Ken, he’s the most powerful Tannuk, after me, and of course, my cousin. His hearing is gone. Just return his bow and allow him to touch your shoulder, and move on,” Pet advised.